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27 Oct 2009 : Column 330W—continued
Intimidated Witness
The advertising expenditure for these two initiatives is not separately identifiable from the rest of the publicity and advertising expenditure of the CJG and it would be at disproportionate cost to undertake this exercise.
The vast majority of advertising expenditure was incurred by HM Courts Service (an agency of Access to Justice) for the Operation Payback initiative. The costs incurred is as follows:
| £ | |
| (1) via the Central Office of Information | |
2007-08: £204 was spent on the launch of the Welsh Language Scheme.
The Ministry's accounting records identify all amounts paid to the Central Office of Information (COI). They do not, however, separately identify those amounts relating to advertising initiatives and it would be at disproportionate cost to investigate.
The Office of the Public Guardian has incurred no expenditure with COI.
Departmental Motor Vehicles
Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department spent on hire vehicles in each of the last five financial years. [291613]
Mr. Straw: Information is provided for the two financial years since the Ministry's formation.
The expenditure on hire vehicles for 2008-09 is:
| £ | |
The expenditure on hire vehicles for 2007-08 is:
| £ | |
The Office of the Public Guardian and the National Offender Management Service Agency cannot separately identify expenditure on vehicle hire from within their accounting system and their expenditure is not included. Furthermore, the figures provided may be incomplete because there may be expenditure on hire vehicles assigned to generic travel and subsistence codes which cannot be separately identified from the accounting system.
To collate the information for the constituent parts of Government that were merged to form the Ministry of Justice for the years 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07 would incur disproportionate cost.
Departmental Telephone Services
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many helplines his Department operates; and how much his Department has received from the operation of such helplines in each of the last three years. [294983]
Bridget Prentice: Ministry of Justice operates the following 11 helplines either directly or through its Executive Agencies: National Offender Management Service Victim Helpline, Home Detention Curfew and Release on Temporary Licence Helpline, National Mediation Helpline, Family Mediation Helpline, Sentence Calculation Helpline, Prisoners' Families Helpline, Prisoners Abroad Helpline, Nacro Resettlement Plus Helpline, Her Majesty's Courts Service Bulk Centre Helpdesks, Office of the Public Guardian Helpline, the Land Registry telephone service.
In addition the Legal Services Commission (a non-departmental public body of the Ministry of Justice) operates the following three helplines: Community Legal Advice, Criminal Defence Service Direct and the Duty Solicitor Call Centre.
The Department continually reviews the provision and usage of its helplines to ensure that they meet the needs of their users and to ensure that value for money is optimised in respect of these services.
Three of these helplines operated revenue sharing agreements with their telecoms providers in respect of their telephone services.
The Land Registry received the following sums:
| Revenue received (£) | |
This arrangement ceased in February 2008. The sum received in 2008-09 is a rebate figure relating to the previous year.
Her Majesty's Courts Service Bulk Centre Helpdesks received the following sums:
| Revenue received (£) | |
The Legal Services Commission received the following sums in respect of the Community Legal Advice helpline:
| Revenue received (£) | |
Injunctions
Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what guidance the judiciary issues on the circumstances in which injunctive orders may be granted in such a way as to conceal the identity of the claimant; and if he will make a statement; [295030]
(2) what (a) guidance issued to the judiciary and (b) rules of procedure in operation to the courts govern the issuance of injunctive orders; and what provision is made in each case in respect of the qualified privilege to report parliamentary proceedings. [295032]
Mr. Straw: The judiciary is independent of the Government and so the Government do not issue guidance to it.
I understand that the judiciary has not issued guidance on the circumstances when an injunction may be granted in terms that conceal the identity of the claimant. The procedure to be followed to obtain an injunction is specified in the relevant rules of court. None of these rules refer to parliamentary privilege. Whether or not an injunction should be issued and, if so, the terms in which it will be issued are governed by the general law of England and Wales. This includes the qualified privilege to report parliamentary proceedings and the absolute privilege enjoyed by Members of Parliament in respect of parliamentary proceedings. The Bill of Rights provides that the freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament may not be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament.
Iraq Committee of Inquiry
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether he has received a request to give evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry. [293561]
Mr. Straw: I refer to my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister's answer on 19 October 2009, Official Report, column 1210W.
Prisoners Release
Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many offences have been committed by offenders recalled to prison from release on licence but who remained at large since 2000. [295885]
Maria Eagle: There is no central record of the number of offences committed by offenders during the period following the revocation of their licence and their apprehension and return to custody.
If an offender has not been returned to custody following recall and is known to have committed a further offence, the police responsible for apprehending the offender will be aware of the revocation of the offender's licence because the Police' National Computer holds the details of all outstanding licence revocations.
Prisoners Transfers
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many temporary transfers of prisoners between prisons in England and Wales have taken place in each year since 1997; and for what reason each transfer was authorised. [295323]
Maria Eagle: Transfers of prisoners between prisons take place daily for a variety of reasons and for varying lengths of time. Reasons may include, for example, temporary moves on compassionate grounds; or to allow visits to take place; or to take part in particular regime activities. Information on the number and reasons for every temporary transfer of a prisoner is not recorded centrally. On 20 October 2009, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor (Mr. Straw) made a statement to the House asking Her Majesty's chief inspector of prisons to work with the Ministry of Justice director of analytical services to investigate whether any temporary transfer of prisoners had occurred before an inspection by Her Majesty's chief inspector of prisons. The results of this investigation will be made available in due course.
Prisoners: Females
Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many hours of exercise women in (a) a normal prison environment and (b) prison mother and baby units receive each week. [295204]
Maria Eagle: The information requested is not available. However, figures are available for the percentage of women prisoners attending physical education. During the period April to September 2009, an average of 50.3 per cent. of women prisoners were attending structured physical education. This is a rise from 50 per cent. in 2008-09 and 43.1 per cent. in 2007-08.
Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what diet is provided for women in (a) prison mother and baby units and (b) women's prisons. [295214]
Maria Eagle: All prisons, including those with women prisoners, provide multi-choice pre-select menus from which prisoners make their individual choices. Each prison devises a menu based on a number of factors including gender and age.
Detailed catering guidance is provided to all prisons. The guidance includes sample menus for women prisoners together with nutritional analysis. The document also contains specific advice and guidance to catering staff relating to pregnant women and mothers in prison mother and baby units and women who have recently given birth and/or who are nursing mothers. Pregnant women, mothers in mother and baby units and women who have recently given birth and/or who are nursing mothers will normally make choices from the daily
menu, with any required additional supplements provided by health care staff to meet their individual and specific needs.
Prisons: Construction
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what he expects the additional running costs of the capacity added by his Department's prison capacity building programme to be in each year to 2014-15. [295818]
Maria Eagle: The estimated annual running cost of the capacity provided as part of the Core Capacity Programme is around £480 million, once the programme has been completed. The Core Capacity Programme is expected to be complete by 2012.
This figure excludes the running costs of the proposed new 1,500 place prisons.
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. This is designed to allow private sector innovation into the full lifecycle of the prisons construction and operation. As such, the running costs will differ for each provider, each site and depend upon the function of the prison. At this early stage in our procurement it is not possible to reveal the estimated running costs from the New Prisons element of the Capacity Programme.
Prisons: Convictions
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people have been (a) prosecuted and (b) convicted for smuggling or attempting to smuggle (i) mobile telephones, (ii) drugs and (iii) other contraband into prisons in each year since 1997. [294215]
Maria Eagle: The Prison Act, as amended by the Offender Management Act, defines the criminal offence and penalties for smuggling contraband such as mobile phones, drugs and weapons into prisons. The Offender Management Act strengthened the penalties for smuggling contraband, and made it a specific offence with a penalty of up to two years' imprisonment to bring a mobile phone or component part into a prison.
To provide the information requested would require contact with all Prison Service establishments, requesting a check of their local records. This would incur disproportionate cost.
Prisons: Manpower
Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prison officers have been employed (a) in total and (b) full-time (i) as at 31 March in each year since 1997 and (ii) on 31 January 2009. [295654]
Maria Eagle: Information on the total and full-time number of prison officers and prison custody officers in each year since 1997 is contained in the table. The information covers both public sector and contracted establishments and public sector headquarters functions.
| Prison officers and prison custody officers , 1997 to 2009 | ||||
| Date | Full-time | Part-time( 1) | Total | Full-time equivalent |
| (1)Full-time/part-time split is not available prior to 2001. | ||||
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