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11 Nov 2009 : Column 468W—continued
Children: Protection
Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many care applications have been issued in (a) Doncaster, (b) Yorkshire and (c) England in (i) the last quarter for which figures are available and (ii) the equivalent quarter in the previous year. [298660]
Bridget Prentice: The number of applications for care orders in Doncaster, Yorkshire and England in the second quarter (April to June) of 2008 and the second quarter of 2009, the latest quarter for which statistics are currently available, are shown in the following table.
| Care applications made in April to June of 2008 and April to June of 2009 in county courts and family proceedings courts (FPCs) in specified areas | ||
| April to June 2008 | April to June 2009 | |
| Notes: 1. The data are taken from Her Majesty's Courts Service's (HMCS's) FamilyMan database and from monthly electronic returns sent in by those Family Proceedings Courts not using FamilyMan. 2. The figures reflect the number of applications counted by child. This means that where an application was made in respect of two children the application will be counted twice. 3. The figures exclude a small proportion of applications made to the High Court. 4. The figures for Yorkshire include applications made in the two HMCS areas of North and West Yorkshire and Humber and South Yorkshire. | ||
Statistics on public law applications in the family courts of England and Wales are published on a quarterly basis by the Ministry of Justice in the statistical bulletin "Court Statistics Quarterly" and annually in the command paper "Judicial and Court Statistics". Statistics for Q3 (July-September) of 2009 are due to be published in the next edition of Court Statistics Quarterly on 15 December, and will be available from the Ministry of Justice website at
Community Orders
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the (a) breach rate of community sentences and (b) imprisonment rate of those who breached community sentences was in the latest period for which figures are available. [295815]
Maria Eagle: A full set of data to enable this question to be answered in terms of rates is not centrally available.
However, centrally held and published data shows that for those Community Orders which terminated in 2008, 30 per cent. terminated either for failure to comply with the order or for conviction of a further offence. Further published data show that there were 4,429 receptions into prison establishments in England and Wales in 2008 as a result of community sentence breaches.
This information can be found in tables 5.1 and 6.12 respectively of Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2008, a copy of which has been placed in the House of Commons Library and which can also be found at the following 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.
Crime
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people were (a) convicted of and (b) cautioned in relation to a criminal offence in each year since 1989. [298075]
Claire Ward: Information showing the number of persons found guilty at all courts and cautioned in England and Wales from 1989 to 2007 (latest available) is shown in the following table. Data for 2008 are planned for publication on 28 January 2010.
Crimes Against Humanity: Prosecutions
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent representations he has received on the prosecution of (a) genocide and (b) war crimes in UK courts. [298213]
Claire Ward: We have received representations recently from a number of sources, including from non-governmental organisations, parliamentarians and members of the public, about genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
We have introduced new measures in the Coroners and Justice Bill to strengthen the law on these categories of crimes. Firstly, the provisions amend the International Criminal Court Act 2001 so as to cover the offences of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity to 1 January 1991 as far as the legal principles applicable to retrospection allow. Secondly, we are providing more certainty to the term "UK resident" in the 2001 Act by adding a list of specific categories of people who are to be treated as UK residents to the extent this would not otherwise be the case. These include those in custody and those in the UK applying for asylum (including failed asylum seekers). We have also included a non-exclusive list of factors that a court must have regard to in determining whether a person is a UK resident, including the purpose of being in the UK and family and other connections.
Debt Management Schemes
Alun Michael: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the self regulation of debt management schemes in protecting those who are in financial difficulties; [299144]
(2) what assessment he has made of the likely effect of statutory regulation on debt management schemes as proposed in Option 3 of his Department's consultation published on 18 September 2009. [299151]
Bridget Prentice: The current economic downturn is causing real hardship for many hardworking consumers and the Government are determined to do all they can to help those in financial difficulties, while balancing this against creditors' rights to recover their debts wherever possible, both now and in the future.
The consultation paper "Debt Management Schemes-delivering effective and balanced solutions for debtors and creditors" was published on 18 September 2009 and looks at the current operation of the debt management
market. It seeks views on whether any changes are needed in this area and, if so, what those changes should be.
It sets out three broad options: continue with the measures currently under way to raise awareness about current schemes and enforce existing rules with operators (Option 1); improve current schemes without regulation, possibly through the introduction of a protocol (Option 2); or implement the Lord Chancellor's powers to approve debt management schemes contained in Chapter 4 of Part 5 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 (Option 3).
An initial impact assessment was published alongside the consultation paper which considered the potential effectiveness of all of the options contained in the consultation paper.
The consultation paper and initial impact assessment can be accessed via the Ministry of Justice website at:
Defamation: Internet
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent steps his Department has taken to seek to reduce the incidence of publication of defamatory material on the internet. [298216]
Bridget Prentice: The Ministry of Justice is concerned to ensure that the law on defamation operates fairly and effectively in relation to publications on the internet.
We therefore published a consultation paper "Defamation and the Internet: the multiple publication rule" on 16 September 2009. This consultation seeks views on the effect of the multiple publication rule (which provides that each publication of defamatory material can form the basis of a new cause of action) in relation to online archives and will close on 16 December 2009.
Departmental Data Protection
Mrs. Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether his Department's information assurance procedures have been subject to an independent audit. [299380]
Mr. Wills: The Ministry of Justice has subjected its information assurance procedures to an independent audit as mandated by the Cabinet Secretary's report into data handling processes across government and the Security Policy Framework.
The Ministry of Justice has used the Information Assurance Maturity Model, supported by CESG (the national technical authority for information assurance), to benchmark progress.
Departmental Energy
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the (a) energy rating and (b) energy band of each building occupied by his Department and its agencies was in each of the last five years. [299174]
Mr. Wills:
Display Energy Certificates (DEC) were introduced in 2008. OGC publish central government departments' Display Energy Certificate (DEC) operational
ratings on a building-by-building level twice a year. The most recent data for the Ministry of Justice, published on 31 July 2009, which includes DEC ratings up to and including 28 February 2009 and can be viewed at:
Data to October 2008 can be seen at:
Data relating to the month ending 30 September 2009 will be published on 18 December 2009.
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