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21 July 2009 : Column 1372W—continued
Departmental Accountancy
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he expects to publish his Department's resource accounts for 2008-09. [287330]
Mr. Wills: The Ministry of Justice resource accounts have been laid before the House of Commons today. The resource accounts will be made available on the MOJ website shortly after and published within a month.
Departmental Consultants
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much (a) his Department and its predecessor and (b) its agencies spent on consultants in each year since 1997. [285788]
Mr. Straw: The information requested is as follows.
The Ministry of Justice was formed on the 9 May 2007. This merger included the former Department of Constitutional Affairs and the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). NOMS previously formed part of the Home Office. The following information is fragmented due to Machinery of Government and organisational changes. The Ministry of Justice do not hold data in relation to the National Offender Management (NOMS) for years prior to the Machinery of Government change in 2007-08. For this reason, NOMS consultancy costs, prior to 2007-08 cannot be provided in this answer.
While it appears possible to get detail of consultancy spend for the whole Home Office before the Machinery of Government change on 9 May 2007, it is not possible to get the spend relating to just those sections that are now part of the Ministry of Justice as these figures are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
(a) Subject to the above, the Department and its predecessors spent the following amounts on consultancy in each accounting year:
| Ministry of Justice (MOJ) 2007-08 to 2008-09 | |
| Accounting year | £ m illion |
| (1 )Provisional. This figure was an early estimate and has been extrapolated based on the nine month actual position. The 2008-09 consultancy figure will be finalised following a manual data collection exercise for April 2008 to March 2009. This exercise is scheduled to commence in the summer of 2009, with a target date for availability on 31 October 2009. Note: The figures between 2007-08 and 2008-09 are based on spend provided from the Department's systems. These figures do not include the Office of the Public Guardian. | |
| Department of Constitutional Affairs (DCA) 2003-04 to 2006-07 | |
| Accounting year | £ m illion |
| The Lord Chancellors Department (LCD) 1997-08 to 2002-03 | |
| Accounting year | £ million |
Due to the organisation reshuffle of the former Lord Chancellor's Department, figures prior to 2001-02 are unavailable and can be obtained only via disproportionate costs.
(b) The figures above can be broken down into spend by individual agencies as follows:
Ministry of Justice (MOJ) 2008-09
A breakdown of MOJ consultancy costs by agency(1) for 2008-09 is not yet available. A manual data collection exercise for the period April 2008 to March 2009 is scheduled to commence in the summer of 2009 with a target date for the availability of the full data set on 31 October 2009.
(1) The 2008-09 breakdown will highlight the Ministry of Justice, National Offender Management Services and HM Prison Services spend only. Lower level breakdown of the 2008-09 data by agency can be obtained only via disproportionate costs.
| Ministry of Justice (MOJ) 2007-08 | |
| £ million | |
|
National Offender Management Services and HM Prison Services | |
Lower level breakdown of the 2007-08 data by agency can be obtained only via disproportionate costs.
| Department of Constitutional Affairs (DCA) 2003-04 to 2006-07 | ||
| £ million | ||
| 2005-06 | 2006-07 | |
Between 2003-04 and 2004-05 a breakdown of DCA's (formally LCD's) consultancy costs by agencies can be obtained only via disproportionate costs.
Lord Chancellors Office (LCD) 1997-08 to 2002-03
Between 2001-02 and 2002-03 a breakdown of LCD's consultancy costs by agencies can be obtained only via disproportionate costs.
Departmental Dismissal
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many members of staff at each pay band in (a) his Department and (b) its agencies have been suspended (i) on full pay and (ii) on sick pay for (A) over 12 months, (B) between six and 12 months and (C) between three and six months, broken down by pay band. [285822]
Mr. Straw: For the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) excluding the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), the number of staff currently suspended on full pay is 20, see table.
| Length of suspension | |||||
| Pay band | Over 12 months | Between 6 and 12 months | Between 3 and 6 months | Up to three months | Total |
For those staff on sick pay the information is not held centrally in a format that would enable us to answer this part of the question without incurring disproportionate cost.
The National Offender Management Service does not hold any of the detailed information centrally in a format that would enable us to answer this question without incurring disproportionate cost. I have given instructions that this information must in future be collected.
Departmental Manpower
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the change in the employee headcount in (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies in the next 12 months. [285258]
Mr. Straw: In October 2008, the Ministry of Justice announced controls on recruitment to enable the Department to drive out inefficiencies and look strategically at where we have skills gaps and how to manage our people more effectively across the business.
We estimate a reduction of 1,135 in the Full Time Equivalent (FTE) headcount between March 2009 and 2010. This estimate does not include information relating to the Land Registry, National Archives, Scotland Office, Wales Office or National Probation Service, where responsibility for staffing lies with each individual body.
The table breaks down the changes in Full Time Equivalent headcount by agency. The figures include employees and agency/interim staff.
These figures are projections; as with all projections, future operational and policy decisions will also influence what actually happens. The information provided in this answer is not part of the Department's Official Statistics and is not covered by the Code of Practice for Official statistics.
| Estimated change in FTEs over the 12 months to 31 March 2010 | |
| Reduction of: | |
| (1) Full Time Equivalents. (2) The figures for NOMS refer to HQ and directly employed staff in public sector prisons only. They do not include the National Probation Service where the responsibility for staffing lies with the 42 areas and trusts who employ these staff. | |
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people were employed by (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies at the latest date for which figures are available. [285259]
Mr. Straw: The Office for National Statistics publish public sector employment statistics quarterly. The latest available data are from 31 March 2009, and are set out in the table.
The table provides full-time equivalent (FTE) figures for the Department as published by the ONS.
| FTEs as at 31 March 2009 | |
| (1) The figures for the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) refer to HQ and directly employed staff in public sector prisons only. They do not include the National Probation Service where the responsibility for staffing lies with the 42 areas and trusts who employ these staff | |
Drugs: Prisons
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prison officers at each prison have been (a) dismissed, (b) charged and (c) convicted for smuggling drugs into prison in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [286492]
Maria Eagle: Central National Offender Management Service (NOMS) records show six prison officers have been dismissed under the internal disciplinary procedures for bringing drugs into a prison since January 2005.
| Number of staff dismissed | |
NOMS has accepted and implemented the Blakey report on disrupting the supply of illicit drugs and mobile phones into prisons and is determined to address this security threat. In line with Blakey's recommendations, we are using legislation where appropriate to deal with prisoners, visitors or staff who attempt to smuggle such items. There are a range of offences used to prosecute staff in these circumstances, including misconduct in public office, possession with intent to supply, and the offences created by the Offender Management Act 2007 which attract tough penalties of up to 10 years imprisonment and an unlimited fine.
We do not, though, record information in the form requested. To do so would incur disproportionate cost. However, we are taking steps to record more detailed information in this area.
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