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6 July 2009 : Column 618W—continued
Pleural Plaques: Compensation
Mr. Clapham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what reports he has received on the implications for his policy on the payment of compensation for pleural plaques of the Damages (Asbestos-related Conditions) (Scotland) Act 2009; and if he will make a statement [284311]
Bridget Prentice: No reports have been received on this issue.
Prison Accommodation
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 8 June 2009, Official Report, column 776W, on prisons, what the standard infrastructural, physical and security criteria are for prison buildings that are designated for use by category (a) A, (b) B and (c) C prisoners. [283355]
Maria Eagle: Because of the wide variety of properties that make up the prison estate, there are no standard infrastructural or physical build specifications for the different security categories of prisons. Instead, there are physical and special security guides. For security reasons these are not publicly available documents. By applying these we can ensure that all prisons meet the required standard of physical security appropriate to the category of prisoner held.
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 23 June 2009, Official Report, columns 734-5WS, on prison accommodation, how many category (a) C and (b) D prisoners are held in prisons designated for use by category B prisoners; and what percentage of category (i) A and (ii) B prisoners are held in prisons designated for use by category A prisoners. [283362]
Maria Eagle: All prisoners are placed in the lowest security category consistent with the needs of security and control. Categorisation involves an assessment of the risk of escape or abscond and the potential risk of harm to the public. Prisoners may be held in a prison of a higher security category for operational reasons, although the numbers of such prisoners must be limited by agreement between senior managers.
The information necessary to give a comprehensive answer to the questions about the numbers of category C and D prisoners who are detained in prisons designated for category B prisoners, and the percentage of category A and B prisoners held in category A prisons is not held centrally and obtaining it would involve disproportionate cost.
Prisoners Release
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people imprisoned for (a) domestic violence and (b) sexual violence offences have been released under the end of custody licence scheme; and how many of each category have committed similar offences since their release. [283605]
Mr. Straw: Domestic violence is not a specific offence. Offenders who commit domestic violence are charged with one of the offences of assault. Prisoners serving a sentence for a serious violent offence are ineligible for release on the end of custody licence (ECL). It would not be possible to identify the number of prisoners convicted of domestic violence related offences without examining individual case files and therefore breaching cost limits.
Sexual violence is not a specific offence. Prisoners who are subject to the registration requirements of the Sex Offenders Act 1997/Sexual Offences Act 2003 are ineligible for release on ECL.
The number of releases and recalls on end of custody licence (ECL) has been published monthly since July 2007 on the Ministry of Justice website:
The most recent data was published on 30 June 2009. The number of releases by all offence groups since the scheme began is in the following table:
| ECL releases by offence group | 29 June 2007 to 31 May 2009 |
Of the nine prisoners released on ECL having served a sentence for a sexual offence, six were eligible for
release whilst the other three were released in error. None of these nine prisoners re-offended while on the period of ECL.
For all other prisoners released on ECL, it is not possible to establish how many of each category has committed similar offences since their release without checking individual prisoner and police records. This would exceed cost limits.
The monthly ECL report shows figures for recalls by reason. Of the 2,022 prisoners recalled, 874 have been recalled for alleged re-offending.
More generally, figures on re-offending are published annually on the Ministry of Justice website:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/reoffending juveniles.htm
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.
Prisoners: Swine Flu
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners have been diagnosed with swine flu to date. [284033]
Maria Eagle: Two, as of 1 July. Contingency plans are in place to prepare for pandemic flu in prisons, in order to minimise the transmission of infection and ensure that prisoners and staff receive appropriate medical care and advice. Guidance has been provided to all prisons, and NOMS is working closely with the Department of Health and with the NHS at national, regional and local level to ensure that our response is robust and closely aligned with key partners.
Probation Officers
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent estimate he has made of the average cost of training a probation officer. [282570]
Mr. Straw: The average cost of training a probation officer is approximately £74,000. This amount covers the cost of the two-year training programme, salary and related costs.
Probation Officers: Redundancy
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what reports he has received from local probation areas and trusts on levels of planned redundancies to 2012; and if he will make a statement. [283088]
Maria Eagle: There has been a sustained increase in probation service funding since 1997. Total funding for probation rose by 70 per cent. in real terms between 1997 and 2007, and the number of staff employed by the probation service over the same period rose by 7,000, or almost 50 per cent. This includes an increase of 54 per cent. of frontline staff; probation officers, senior probation officers, and probation service officers.
The chief operating officer of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) submitted staffing
projections for 2009-10 and 2010-11 from all probation areas and trusts to Ministers in March this year. These were unverified estimates for internal management purposes only.
Following these estimates, Ministers have made clear their commitment to ensuring that front-line redundancies are avoided wherever possible. Directors of Offender Management are ensuring that probation areas focus their savings on reducing management layers, streamlining support services and cutting bureaucracy, in order to minimise the impact of budget reductions on frontline staff.
However, responsibility for staffing levels ultimately lies with each probation board or trust as they are the employers of probation staff. It is for them to take the action necessary at a local level to ensure they can deliver the required service within available resources.
Probation: Essex
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many high risk (a) male and (b) female offenders in each age group there were in Essex probation area in each of the last five years. [283515]
Maria Eagle: The number of male and female offenders assessed as high risk of causing harm, through the Offender Assessment System supervised by Essex probation area by age group is outlined as follows:
| 31 March each year | ||||
| 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | |
| 31 March each year | ||||||||
| 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | |||||
Reoffenders: East of England
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the reoffending rate for offenders in (a) Cambridgeshire probation area and (b) Peterborough probation area was in each of the last 10 years. [283424]
Maria Eagle: The local reoffending figures are produced by aggregating the data of four snapshots of the probation case load at the end of each quarter. Therefore the number of offenders quoted in the table is approximately four times the number of offenders on the case load at any one time.
The Cambridgeshire probation area has two local authorities (Cambridgeshire and Peterborough). The reoffending rate for both the probation area and the local authorities is shown as follows.
| Local reoffending rates for Cambridgeshire: January-December 2008 | ||
| Number of offenders | Actual reoffending rate (percentage) | |
It is not always possible to assign a local authority to an offender so the totals for the local authorities do not sum to the number of reoffenders in the probation area.
Local adult reoffending rates by probation area or local authority are not available for periods prior to 1 October 2007-30 September 2008.
Further details on local adult reoffending is available at:
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