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1 July 2009 : Column 262W—continued
National Probation Service for England and Wales: Secondment
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) whether any people seconded from the Probation Service to (a) the National Offender Management Service and (b) regional offender management services have been (i) offered permanent posts within the Director of Offender Management Structure (DOMS) and (ii) allocated to join a surplus employees' group; [283044]
(2) what his policy is on the secondment of Probation Service staff to the Prison Service; [283045]
(3) under what circumstances a prison establishment can opt out of arrangements to second Probation Service staff to prisons; [283046]
(4) what the average length of a Probation Service secondment to a prison was in the latest period for which figures are available; [283047]
(5) from which budget the salaries of Probation Service staff seconded to work in prisons in England and Wales are drawn; [283048]
(6) whether he plans to review the deployment of Probation Service staff to prisons in England and Wales. [283049]
Maria Eagle: Within the Ministry of Justice, prison and probation services in England and Wales have been brought together under the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), an executive agency. It is the agency's responsibility to ensure that the two services operate together to provide the most effective outcomes for offender management, to reduce crime and improve public protection. Each region now has its own Director of Offender Management (DOM), responsible for the operation of both services, and it has been an essential component of the restructuring arrangements that probation service staff continue to operate in prison establishments and to be seconded to NOMS headquarters (including to DOMS' offices).
In particular, throughout the regional restructuring, there has been a clear recognition of the benefits in bringing together skills, competencies and experience from all parts of the new agency. Probation staff were selected for the posts generated by the restructure through established secondment arrangements. It is not possible for probation staff to apply for permanent positions in the civil service other than through open competition where the post is advertised externally. Probation staff are employees of probation areas and secondment arrangements ensure that an appropriate level of integration takes place.
Probation staff work in prisons in the public and private sector under service level agreements (SLA) between the governor or director of each establishment and the chief officer of the local probation area. It is ultimately for the Director of Offender Management to commission the level of service that he or she considers to be appropriate within the region and to determine budget allocation. The budget for probation services provided within prisons is part of the prisons overall budget and the amount is designated by the governor of the prison.
Information on the average length of deployment for probation staff to prison establishments is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate
cost. In respect of NOMS HQ, the current requirement of the Civil Service Commission is for secondments to be limited to a maximum of two years. This is currently being reviewed as the future structures with NOMS are developed.
Offences against Children: Sentencing
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people were sentenced to terms of imprisonment for offences related to (a) child abuse, (b) child neglect and (c) sexual abuse of children in the latest period for which figures are available. [282978]
Claire Ward: The available data are shown in the following table. The data show the number of offenders sentenced to immediate custody for child neglect and sexual abuse of children in the last year for which figures are available. The term “child abuse” has no specific recognised definition but includes a range of sexual and physical offences against children, such as it describes harm caused to a child arising from physical, sexual abuse or neglect caused by a parent, guardian, carer, or stranger. A number of other offences such as offences against the person including physical assault may frequently be used by the police to charge offenders but where the age of the victim is not known. This data are based on the principal offence. Where an offender has been sentenced for more than one offence it is the one for which the heaviest sentence was imposed, where the same sentence has been imposed for more than one offence the principal offence is the one for which the statutory maximum is most severe.
| Number of persons sentenced to immediate custody for child abuse including child neglect and sexual abuse of children, 2007 | |
| Number of children | |
| (1 )Includes the following offences: Sexual assault of a male child aged under 13 Rape, attempted rape of a male or female aged under 13 or under 16 Sexual assault of a female child aged under 13 Sexual activity with a male or female child aged under 13 Sexual activity with a male or female aged under 16 Familial sexual offences of a male or female child aged under 13 Abuse of children aged under 18 through prostitution and pornography Abuse of trust sexual offences against a child aged under 18 Meeting a male or female aged under 16 following sexual grooming. (2 )Causing or allowing the death of a child or vulnerable person. Cruelty or neglect of children. Abandoning children under 2 years. (3 )The term child abuse has no specific definition, in this answer it refers to the offences included in sexual abuse of children and child neglect. Notes: 1. The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. 2. The Sexual Offences Act 2003 came into force on 1 May 2004. 3. These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Source: OMS Analytical Services, Ministry of Justice. | |
Probation
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the caseload of the Probation Service in London was in each of the last five years. [282568]
Mr. Straw: The total case load of offenders supervised by the probation service in London as at 31 December in each of the last four years (the latest figures available) is shown in the table.
| Number | |
The 2008 figures are provisional and were published on 30 April 2009 in the Ministry of Justice statistics bulletin “Probation statistics quarterly brief October to December 2008, England and Wales”. Copies can be found in the Libraries of both Houses and may be accessed via the Ministry of Justice website:
These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Probation Officers: Manpower
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many trained probation staff there were in the Probation Service in each of the last five years. [282809]
Maria Eagle: The following table shows the number of trained probation staff in each of the last five years:
| Full-time equivalents | |||||
| 2003( 1) | 2004( 1) | 2005( 1) | 2006( 1) | 2007( 1,)( )( 2) | |
| (1) Figures taken as at 31 December each year. (2) Figures for 2007 will shortly be published on the Probation Service Intranet and Internet sites. (3) Includes; senior probation officers, senior practitioners, probation officers and practice development assessors. (4) Includes; probation services officers and treatment managers. | |||||
Young Offender Institutions: Injuries
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many incidents of (a) self-harm, (b) injury caused by restraint and (c) assault there were in each young offender institution in each of the last five years. [282913]
Maria Eagle: The annual numbers of recorded self-harm incidents for each of current, single-function young offender institution for each of the last five years is given in table 1.
The National Offender Management Service has a broad, integrated and evidence-based prisoner suicide prevention and self-harm management strategy that seeks to reduce the distress of all those in prison. This
encompasses a wide spectrum of prison and Department of Health work around such issues as mental health, substance misuse and resettlement. Any prisoner identified as at risk of suicide or self-harm is cared for using the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) procedures. ACCT is the prisoner-centred flexible care-planning system introduced across the prisons estate in partnership with the Department of Health during 2005-07
Most self-harm is not directly life threatening, but nevertheless can be extremely distressing for all those concerned. A prisoner-focused care planning system for those at risk, (ACCT), has helped prisons manage self-harm. There are no easy answers to preventing self harming behaviour but we remain committed to finding ways to manage it.
| Table 1: Recorded self-harm in single-function young offender institutions, 2004-08 | |||||
| Incidents | |||||
| Prison | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
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