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26 Oct 2009 : Column 84W—continued
Corruption
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice on what date he expects to publish his Department's anti-corruption plan for 2009. [295076]
Mr. Straw: The publication of a Foreign Bribery Strategy is expected before the end of the year.
Departmental Electronic Equipment
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 30 March 2009, Official Report, column 991W, on departmental electronic equipment, how much (a) his Department and (b) its agencies have spent on (i) flat screen televisions, (ii) DVD players and (iii) stereo equipment in the last three months. [289172]
Mr. Wills: During the period in question, the Ministry had one main supplier for the provision of flat screen televisions, DVD players and stereo equipment. The contract for this supplier has been in place since October 2008. Prior to this, there had been one main supplier for such goods for the National Offender Management Service but this contract was not open to the wider MOJ for use. Since November 2008, the expenditure on these items with the current main supplier by the Ministry is as follows:
| £ | |
This contract is available to MoJ headquarters and its executive agencies (HM Courts Service, Tribunals Service, the Office of The Public Guardian, and the National Offender Management Service). The figure may, however, be incomplete as some equipment may have been purchased outside of the contract using the Government Procurement Card (GPC). To investigate whether any flat screen televisions, DVD players or stereo equipment had been purchased with the GPC card would incur disproportionate cost.
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond) of 30 March 2009, Official Report, columns 993-95W, on departmental electronic equipment, how much his Department, its predecessor and its agencies spent on (a) flat screen televisions, (b) DVD players and (c) stereo equipment in the 2008-09 financial year. [279239]
Mr. Straw: In 2008-09 the Department and its agencies spent the following amounts (excluding VAT):
| £ | |
These figures exclude HM Courts Service, where the information could not be obtained without disproportionate cost.
The significant increase in HQ expenditure in 2008-09 is a result of the refurbishment of the new consolidated building in 102 Petty France which has itself enabled £10 million savings as part of the MoJ Estates Strategy. The whole building was gutted, and re-fitted. In addition this is the first year that full information on these items has been available for NOMS expenditure.
In collating the information to this response it has been brought to my attention that there were factual errors in the answer to the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond) on 30 March 2009, Official Report, columns 994-96W.
My right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Justice (Mr. Wills) will be writing to the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge to correct these errors and will issue a corrected answer to be printed in the correction section of the Official Report.
I apologise for these errors and for the unacceptable delay in providing an answer to this question.
Gambling: Crime
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people have been convicted of offences under (a) section 328, (b) section 330 and (c) section 331 of the Gambling Act 2005 since its entry into force. [295318]
Claire Ward: Sections 328, 330 and 331 of the 2005 Gambling Act came into force on 1 September 2007. No convictions under theses offences from 1 September to 31 December 2007 (latest published) have been reported to the Ministry of Justice.
Data for 2008 are planned for publication at the end of January 2010.
Legal Aid
Frank Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice for what reasons the Legal Services Commission permits consortium bids for funding on social welfare cases. [294863]
Bridget Prentice: The "Community Legal Services Strategy" published in 2006 advocates a new approach of moving towards more integrated advice services that better reflect the way in which clients experience legal problems.
In order for providers to move towards the objective of delivering integrated services, providers will be able to bid in consortia for the delivery of core Social Welfare Law (SWL) categories: debt, housing and welfare benefits. These core SWL categories were identified as being those that tend to be most interlinked when addressing clients' SWL problems. For example, a client facing eviction from a private landlord may also be experiencing debt and welfare benefits problems. In order to provide an efficient and effective service for this client, it is important that the provider from whom the client seeks advice is able to offer assistance across the range of problems that the client is experiencing.
Offences Against Children: Convictions
Mr. Dunne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people convicted of offences against children committed in (a) schools, (b) sports clubs and (c) dental surgeries have received a custodial sentence of (i) between six months and two years and (ii) two years or more since 1979; and how many had previous convictions. [295322]
Claire Ward: Information held centrally by my Department does not hold specific information on offences beyond descriptions provided by the statutes under which prosecutions are brought; therefore the Ministry of Justice cannot identify all offences against children or if the offence was committed in a school, sports club or dental surgery.
Prison Accommodation
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many additional prison places his Department plans to provide in each year between 2008 and 2015; and what the total prison capacity will be in each such year; [295383]
(2) when he expects work to start on each of the five 1,500 capacity prisons his Department has proposed as an alternative to Titan prisons; and what the annual capital cost of constructing them will be in each year to 2014-15. [295386]
Maria Eagle: The Ministry of Justice aims to increase capacity to 96,000 prison places by 2014 which includes delivering an additional 20,000 prison places through the Capacity Programme. The precise numbers and delivery timings will depend on construction schedules and prioritisation within the prisons estate.
The procurement process for the five 1,500 capacity prisons, known as the New Prisons Programme, is already under way. An OJEU notice to establish a private finance initiative (PFI) framework for firms who could design, build and operate these prisons was published on 3 August 2009. We anticipate appointing up to seven firms onto the framework in spring next year with the first prison being operational in 2013. Under the design, build and operate contracts, National Offender Management Service, will not pay a capital cost for construction and operation, and will instead be charged a single revenue stream covering these elements for the full period of the PFI contracts. It is therefore not possible to identify the capital cost of construction. However, we estimate the total cost of the five new prisons to be in the region of £1.2 billion (at 2008-09 prices and excluding VAT and site purchase costs).
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the estimated annual capital cost of his Department's plan for additional prison capacity is for each year to 2014-15. [295385]
Maria Eagle: The estimated annual capital costs for additional prison capacity for the current prison building programme (excluding the 1,500 place new prisons) for each year up to 2013-14 are set out in the following table:
| Current forecast | |
| Capital (£ million) | |
The 8,500 programme and expansion measure programme is expected to finish in 2011-12. Further capacity will be provided by the New Prisons programme.
Prisoner Escapes
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners serving sentences for (a) murder, (b) attempted murder, (c) rape and (d) attempted rape are currently unlawfully at large having escaped or absconded from prison. [295849] [Official Report, 14 January 2010, Vol. 503, c. 13-14MC.]
Mr. Straw: The following table shows that there is only one offender currently unlawfully at large who was serving a sentence for any of the four index offences named. Data prior to the periods shown in the table are not available centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Absconds (which are from open prisons) and escapes (from closed prisons) have been falling for some years
and 2008-09 recorded the lowest number of absconds and escapes on record. Tracking down prisoners unlawfully at large who may be a danger to the public is taken very seriously by the police and 96 per cent. of absconded prisoners are rearrested and returned to custody.
| Prisoners still unlawfully at large in October 2009 following an escape or abscond and broken down by specific index offences | ||||
| Prisoners unlawfully at large with an index offence of: | ||||
| Murder | Attempted murder | Rape | Attempted rape | |
Prisoners: Per Capita Costs
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average cost of keeping a person in prison was (a) in each year since 1997 and (b) in the latest period for which figures are available. [295817]
Maria Eagle: The average direct establishment cost of keeping a person in prison for the years since 1997 is shown in the following table:
| Average cost per prisoner | |
| £ | |
For these years the average costs comprise the public sector establishments' direct resource expenditure as published in the Annual Report and Accounts of Her Majesty's Prison Service (HMPS).
For the last two years (2008-09 and 2007-08) an overall cost per prisoner including prison related costs met by NOMS outside of HMPS has been calculated as follows:
| Overall average cost per prisoner | |
| £ | |
The overall average costs comprise the public sector establishments' direct resource expenditure, increased by an apportionment of costs borne centrally by HMPS and the National Offender Management Service; and the resource expenditure of contracted-out prisons also increased by certain costs borne centrally. This involves some estimation. The figures do not include prisoners held in police and court cells under Operation Safeguard, nor expenditure met by other Government Departments (e.g. for health and education). The prisoner escort service is included.
Prisons
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent assessment he has made of the risk of disorder in prisons in England and Wales. [295325]
Maria Eagle: While major disorder within prisons is notoriously difficult to predict the National Offender Management Service does monitor routinely the stability of prisons both at local and national level.
The latest assessment shows that, although roof climbs and other incidents at height have increased, other incidents relating to disorder such as concerted indiscipline, barricades, hostage taking and assaults, have not shown an overall increase and in some cases have decreased. Staff continue to perform an excellent job in maintaining control and order within prison establishments.
Prisons: Overcrowding
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent estimate he has made of levels of overcrowding in prisons in England and Wales; and if he will make a statement. [295324]
Maria Eagle: At the end of September 2009, 24.1 per cent. of prisoners in England and Wales were held in overcrowded accommodation.
It remains our priority to reduce overcrowding by increasing capacity through building new prisons, expanding existing prisons and making more effective use of the estate.
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