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1 Dec 2009 : Column 588W—continued
National Offender Management Information System: Expenditure
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what expenditure his Department incurred on the C-NOMIS IT project. [302334]
Maria Eagle: The cost of the C-NOMIS project was £160.7 million (which excludes depreciation and cost of capital). The majority of this work has been re-used in the Prison-NOMIS project, which now forms part of the NOMIS Programme.
Peterborough Prison
Mr. Stewart Jackson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many offenders were detained at (a) HMP Peterborough and (b) Young Offender Institution Peterborough as at (i) 31 December 2008, (ii) 31 March
2009, (iii) 30 June 2009 and (iv) 30 September 2009; what proportion of capacity at the relevant institution these figures represent; and if he will make a statement; [303550]
(2) how many foreign prisoners were detained at HMP Peterborough as at (a) 31 December 2008, (b) 31 March 2009, (c) 30 June 2009 and (d) 30 September 2009; and if he will make a statement. [303551]
Maria Eagle: The following table gives the numbers of adults and young offenders, and also the number of foreign nationals detained in HMP Peterborough at the dates shown, with the prison population total given as a percentage of operational capacity.
| Adults | Young offenders | Total population | Total as percentage of operational capacity | Operational capacity | Foreign nationals | |
The operational capacity of a prison is the total number of prisoners that an establishment can hold taking into account control, security and the proper operation of the planned regime. It is determined by area managers on the basis of operational judgement and experience.
Figures for the numbers of prisoners held in all prison establishments in England and Wales can be found at the following website:
Figures for the numbers of foreign national prisoners are available at this site for each quarter.
The prison service website at:
gives figures for operational capacity.
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.
Prison: Drugs
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the drug testing programme in prisons. [301384]
Maria Eagle: There are three types of drug testing programmes in prisons:
clinical drug testing which may be used by healthcare staff in support of drug misuse diagnosis;
mandatory drug testing (MDT); and
compact based drug testing (CBDT).
Clinical drug testing is the responsibility of Primary Care Trusts and must be undertaken in line with Department of Health Guidance, "Drug Misuse and Dependence: UK Guidelines" on Clinical Management. Diagnosis does not rely entirely on indicative drug screening results.
Drug testing methodologies used by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) match the requirements of the drug testing programmes, and are based on analytical industry standards. Drug testing services were subject to a rigorous evaluation at the time of procurement and are subject to independent quality control.
Independent research carried out by the Office for National Statistics in to the effectiveness of MDT
concluded that the mandatory drug testing programme met its key objectives.
The effectiveness of CBDT is difficult to isolate from the range of other interventions offered to drug-misusing offenders in prisons. However, contingency management, which operates by providing incentives to modify behaviour, is well evidenced as being effective in the treatment of drug misuse and is recommended by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE). CBDT is broadly consistent with the principles of contingency management.
Both MDT and CBDT continue to be integral parts of the wider NOMS Drug Strategy in prisons. The success of the strategy overall is reflected in the reduction in drug misuse in prisons of 68 per cent. since 1996-07.
Prisoners Release
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 24 November 2009, Official Report, column 85W, on prisoners release, when he expects (a) his Department's investigations to be concluded and (b) the hon. Member for West Chelmsford to be given a summary of the findings. [302657]
Maria Eagle: It is expected that the investigating officer's report will be complete by 4 December. Depending on the recommendations in the report, and the possible need for any further proceedings as a result, I will write to the hon. Member as soon as possible.
Prisoners: Muslims
Mr. Ronnie Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent reports he has received on the exemption of Muslim prisoners from participation in sex offender treatment programmes. [302181]
Maria Eagle:
We are not aware of any such reports. There are no exemptions from any parts of the Sex Offender Treatment Programme (SOTP) on the grounds of religion. SOTP, as with other offending behaviour
programmes has clear selection criteria, based on risk and need, and rigorous assessment procedures which are used to assess the suitability of offenders referred for the programme.
Self-Harm: Prisoners
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what mechanisms are in place to monitor the risk of self-harm and suicide among prisoners detained on the female prison estate; [302324]
(2) how many incidents of self-harm among prisoners have been reported in each of the last four quarters of the last year. [302325]
Maria Eagle: Prisoners at risk of suicide and self-harm in both the male and female prison estate are identified, cared for and monitored using the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) process. This is a prisoner-centred, flexible and accountable care-planning system based on a multi-disciplinary approach. ACCT was introduced across the prison estate in partnership with the Department of Health during 2005-07.
Every death in prison is a tragedy, and affects families, staff and other prisoners deeply. Ministers, the Ministry of Justice and NOMS are committed to learning from each death and to reducing the number of such incidents. Good care and support from staff save many lives, but such instances go largely unreported. Prisons successfully keep safe in any given month approximately 1,500 prisoners assessed to be at particular risk of suicide or self-harm. Deaths in prisons are among the most scrutinised of all incidents and each case is subject to a police investigation and an independent investigation by the Prisons Probation Ombudsman. Robust systems are in place for monitoring deaths and learning from them.
NOMS does not compile quarterly statistics on incidents of self-harm in prisons. However, there was a provisional total of 24,686 incidents of self-harm recorded on NOMS Incident Reporting System in 2008, of which 12,938 incidents were in the female estate. In the community self-harm is often covert but in prison it is much harder to hide.
NOMS has a broad, integrated and evidence-based prisoner suicide prevention and self-harm management strategy that seeks to reduce the distress of all those in prison. This encompasses proactively identifying prisoners at risk of suicide and self-harm through the ACCT procedures described above. ACCT has helped prisons manage self-harm. Approximately 33,000 ACCT plans were opened in 2008. More than one plan can be opened for any prisoner. There are no easy answers to managing self-harming behaviour but NOMS remains committed to finding ways to manage it.
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