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12 Nov 2009 : Column 842W—continued
Interpreters: Finance
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much has been spent by (a) HM Courts Service and (b) his Department in (i) England and Wales and (ii) Essex on interpreters for (A) suspects, (B) charged individuals and (C) victims of crime who are unable to speak English in each of the last three years. [296937]
Bridget Prentice: The information to answer this question is still being collated and verified. I will write to the hon. Member once this process is complete, before Christmas.
Joint Advisory Committee for Qualifications Approval: Freedom of Information
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will designate the Joint Advisory Committee for Qualifications Approval as a public authority under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. [299529]
Mr. Wills: The Joint Advisory Committee for Qualifications Approval (JACQA) could be designated as a public authority under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) by means of a section 5 order. The JACQA was not nominated for inclusion in an initial section 5 order during the Government's consultation on this in 2007 (the JACQA was not established until 2008). However, Government are keeping the possibility of further section 5 orders under review and would consider the inclusion of JACQA in a subsequent order as appropriate.
Political Parties: Finance
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the timetable is for the commencement of (a) new reporting and recording thresholds for donations and (b) section 17 of the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009. [299386]
Mr. Straw: My right hon. Friend the member for Swindon North wrote to party leaders and representatives of parties with more than two MPs at Westminster on 14 September advising them of the timetable for commencement of the new thresholds for reporting and recording donations and loans in Section 20 of the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009 ("the 2009 Act"). We intend that commencement will take place in a timescale that brings the limits into force on 1 January 2010.
Section 17 of the 2009 Act is consequential on Section 15. Taken together, these sections enable holders of elective office to appoint compliance officers to share with them the responsibility for complying with the controls on donations and loans in Schedule 7 and Schedule 7A of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. I intend to commence those provisions so that they come into effect from 1 January 2010.
Prison Accommodation
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many offenders were transferred (a) from HM Prison Pentonville to HM Prison Wandsworth and (b) from HM Prison Wandsworth to HM Prison Pentonville in each of the last 24 months. [296024]
Mr. Straw: Complete information is not held centrally. Transfers can be carried out by different methods according to the urgency and nature of the transfers, and are recorded in different ways. On 20 October, in response to the hon. Member's urgent question, Official Report, column 777, I announced that Her Majesty's chief inspector of prisons would work with the Ministry of Justice's director of analytical services to investigate whether the temporary transfer of prisoners prior to inspections has occurred in other prisons. Following the completion of this review of transfers prior to inspections, I will write to the hon. Member.
Prison Sentences
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people from Northern Ireland are serving sentences in prisons in England and Wales. [298897]
Claire Ward: Information on the nationality of prisoners, rather than their place of birth is collected on the Prison Service IT system. As such, any prisoner from Northern Ireland is recorded as British.
To obtain the information would require a manual search of the records of around 61,000 sentenced British prisoners which would be required to establish if they were originally from Northern Ireland at a disproportionate cost.
Prisons: Contracts For Services
Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice which prisons have been market tested; and how much it has cost to market test prisons to date. [299741]
Maria Eagle: The following prisons were market tested between 1992 and 2001: Blakenhurst, Brixton, Buckley Hall, Doncaster, Manchester and the Wolds.
The cost of putting together the public sector bid for these prisons was in a range between £250,000 and £350,000 per prison. There are other administrative and procurement costs which cannot now be identified separately. Experience has shown that the costs of market tests are significantly outweighed by the efficiency savings that the market test process identifies.
The competition for five prisons, as originally announced on 27 April 2009 by my right hon. friend the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor (Mr. Straw), will commence shortly. Two prisons-Birmingham and Wellingborough-will be market tested during this exercise.
Prisons: Costs
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the percentage change in the operational costs of HM Prison Garth was in each of the last five years; and how many (a) prisoners and (b) prison officers there were at HM Prison Garth in each such year. [299858]
Maria Eagle: The information requested is shown in the following table.
| Year on year costs | |||
| Prison officers | Prisoners | Change (percentage) | |
| (1) 31 October 2009 | |||
Prisons: Inspections
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the Written Ministerial Statement of 20 October 2009, Official Report, columns 53-54WS, on temporary transfer of prisoners prior to inspection, for what reason the then Governor of HM Prison Wandsworth has not been either (a) suspended or (b) placed on detached or alternative duties under Prison Service Order 8460 in respect of the allegations made; and if he will make a statement. [298934]
Mr. Straw: The Chief Operating Officer of NOMS carefully considered whether staff should be suspended in advance of any disciplinary hearings. In doing so he followed the principles set out in the Code of Conduct and Discipline and considered the risks to due process and to the Agency should individuals remain in post. It would not be appropriate to comment on decisions made in individual cases.
Prisons: Manpower
Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prison staff are employed by contracted private companies; and whether these prison officers have personal protective equipment of (a) extendable batons and (b) mace spray. [299742]
Claire Ward: NOMS does not collate centrally numbers of staff employed by prison establishments which are operated by contracted private companies. I will write to the hon. member with this information as soon as it has been collected.
Prison custody officers working in private contracted prisons do not routinely carry extendable batons. Private contractor staff who participate in the national response to serious disorder in prisons (Tornado) are trained and issued with side-arm batons for use only as part of any Tornado intervention. Mace spray is not used within public or private prisons in England and Wales. PAVA spray (Pelargonic Acid Vanillylamide) is an advanced incapacitant spray which may be deployed within prisons; however, it is not routinely carried or stored within prisons and has been used only six times in the last four years. PAVA is considered to be the safest incapacitant available for anyone who may come into contact with it. The use of PAVA is authorised by a senior prison service manager acting as gold commander during serious incidents of disorder in public or private contracted prisons. It may only be used in these circumstances by selected and highly trained staff from the central Prison Service National Tactical Response Group as such, staff in contracted private prisons do not use PAVA.
Prisons: Mother and Baby Units
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many babies were born to mothers in prison in each month of (a) 2008 and (b) 2009. [295825]
Maria Eagle: Information on, and the number of babies born to mothers during a custodial sentence, is not collected centrally. This could be provided by examining each individual's record, which would be only at disproportionate cost.
Probation: National Offender Management Service
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he will announce the planned (a) Probation Service and (b) National Offender Management Service budgets for each (i) probation area and (ii) probation trust in (A) 2010-11 and (B) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement. [297594]
Maria Eagle:
No budgets are set outside of the current comprehensive spending review period, hence there is no information available on the announcement
of the 2011-12 budgets. The 2010-11 budget for probation was announced on 29 October by the Secretary of State for Justice as £870 million. This shows an increase on indicative budgets issued for planning purposes of £26 million. The allocation for each probation area and trust will be agreed with the relevant Director of Offender Management before the end of December.
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much was spent on the (a) Probation Service and (b) National Offender Management Service in each probation area in (i) 2009-10 and (ii) each of the previous five years; and if he will make a statement. [297595]
Maria Eagle: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) was created as an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice in April 2008 with the goal of helping Prison and Probation services work together to manage offenders throughout their sentences by providing end to end offender management.
NOMS provides funding for Probation Services for England and Wales.
(a) The total figures for the Probation Service are as shown in table 1.
| Table 1: Expenditure on the Probation Service | |
| Financial year | £ million |
| (1) Budget (2) Provisional expenditure (3) Expenditure | |
The probation accounts for 2008-09 have not yet been finalised, as a result it is not possible to provide figures by probation area. Probation budget figures have been provided for 2009-10 because the financial year does not end until 31 March 2010. The expenditure by the Probation Service in each of the 42 probation areas for the financial years 2004-05 to 2007-08 is shown in table 3.
(b) In addition to funding Probation Services NOMS also funds Custodial Services in England and Wales for both public sector and contractually run prisons, and other associated contracts such as Prisoner Escort and Custody Services and Electronic Monitoring. However, NOMS does not break down all its activities by probation area. The expenditure figures (excluding probation) for the financial years 2004-05 to 2008-09 have been provided in table 2. NOMS budget figure (excluding probation) for 2009-10 has also been provided.
| Table 3: National Probation Service-expenditure by Probation Board | ||||
| £000 | ||||
| 2007-2008 | 2006-2007 | 2005-2006 | 2004-2005 | |
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