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15 Dec 2009 : Column 1040W—continued
Christmas
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many Christmas trees were purchased by his Department and its agencies in each of the last five years; what the cost was of those trees in each year; from where the trees were sourced; what account was taken of the sustainability of the sources of the trees; and by what process the trees were disposed of. [305630]
Mr. Wills: Since the Ministry's creation in May 2007, the following amounts have been spent on Christmas trees in its headquarters estate, inclusive of VAT and decorations. The 2008-09 figure includes the purchase of reusable lights.
| Financial year | £ |
The costs are for three trees, one for each building in the MOJ HQ estate for each year.
The information for agencies can be gathered only at a disproportionate cost. All four of the Ministry's agencies (National Offender Management Service; HM Courts Service; Tribunals Service and Office of the Public Guardian) have regionalised structures. Each individual building orders its own trees and decorations.
It would incur disproportionate cost to investigate where the trees had been sourced, the sustainability of those sources and the process for their disposal. The decisions on what Christmas trees to purchase are left at local management level.
The Ministry is committed to sustainable development and improving its environmental performance, including the achievement of key targets to:
Reduce CO2 emissions by 30 per cent.
Recycle 75 per cent. of waste
Reduce the waste we generate by 25 per cent. and
Reduce water consumption by 25 per cent.
Courts: Physiotherapists
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what provisions in rules of court permit physiotherapists to appear as expert witnesses in cases involving low-value personal injury claims in road traffic accidents. [305828]
Bridget Prentice: There are no specific provisions in rules of court permitting physiotherapists to appear as expert witnesses in cases involving low-value personal injury claims in road traffic accidents. In these claims the court may allow the reasonable costs of obtaining a medical report and attendance of an expert medical witness where the expert evidence was reasonably required.
Health Services: Channel Islands and Isle of Man
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent assessment he has made of the effects on (a) educational institutions and (b) businesses in the Isle of Man of the decision of the National Health Service to terminate its reciprocal agreement with effect from April 2010; and if he will make a statement. [306507]
Mr. Wills: No such assessments took place. The Department of Health ended the bilateral agreement with the Channel Islands (including Jersey and Guernsey) and gave notice on the agreement with the Isle of Man, as it considers that they are out of place considering the wide availability of travel insurance, and there is little robust data to justify the business case and value for money for the national health service.
Pleural Plaques
Chloe Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he will provide the response to his Department's consultation on supporting people with pleural plaques launched in July 2008. [306047]
Bridget Prentice: The House of Lords decision has raised extremely complex and difficult issues which have required very careful consideration within Government. It has also been important to look beyond the issue of pleural plaques itself to consider how people who have been exposed to asbestos can be supported much more widely. We are actively considering all these issues in order to be in a position to publish a final response as soon as possible.
Prisoners: Suicide
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners committed suicide in each month of 2009. [306525]
Mr. Straw: The number of self-inflicted deaths in prison establishments in England and Wales for each month of 2009 to date, are as follows:
| Self-inflicted deaths | |
| Note: There are a further five deaths awaiting classification. The National Offender Management Service's definition of self-inflicted deaths is broader than the legal definition of suicide and includes all deaths where it appears that a prisoner has acted specifically to take their own life. This inclusive approach is used in part because inquest verdicts are often not available for some years after a death (some 20 per cent. of these deaths will not receive a suicide or open verdict at inquest). Annual numbers may change slightly from time to time as inquest verdicts and other information become available. | |
Every death in prison is a tragedy, and affects families, staff and other prisoners deeply. Ministers, the Ministry of Justice and the National Offender Management Service 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 independent investigation by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman. Robust systems are in place for monitoring all deaths and learning from them.
The National Offender Management Service 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 requires proactively identifying prisoners at risk of suicide and self-harm. The strategy encompasses a wide spectrum of NOMS and Department of Health work around such issues as mental health, substance misuse and resettlement. Prisoners identified as at risk of suicide or self-harm are cared for using the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) procedures.
Prisoners: Voting Rights
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he plans to take in response to the recent Council of Europe resolution on prisoner voting rights in the UK. [307595]
Mr. Wills: The Government note the interim resolution by the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers' Deputies in the case of Hirst (No 2). We have recently completed a two-stage consultation on the voting rights of convicted prisoners. We are carefully analysing the responses to the consultation. The Government take their obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights seriously. But we must arrive at an approach which respects the judgment of the Court in Hirst (No 2) while at the same time taking into account the political context and traditions of the United Kingdom.
Prisons: Visits
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice which prisons in England and Wales allow visits to inmates on Christmas day. [306526]
Mr. Straw: Visits do not normally take place on Christmas day, Boxing day or Good Friday. Some prisons may have their own local arrangements where there may be some provision for visits on these days. However, this information is not recorded centrally and could only be obtained by approaching 135 prisons and young offender institutions across England and Wales.
Reintegration Support Scheme
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what expenditure his Department incurred on its reintegration support scheme in 2008-09. [303883]
Mr. Woolas: I have been asked to reply.
The cost of the 2008-09 Voluntary Assisted Return and Reintegration programmes is currently not available as it is subject to audit.
Written Questions: Government Responses
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he plans to respond to question 301329, tabled by the hon. Member for South-West Bedfordshire on 19 November 2009, on departmental working practices. [305837]
Mr. Straw: I replied to the hon. Member's question on 7 December 2009. I apologise to the hon. Member for the delay in replying, but I concluded that the original draft answer needed clarification and referred it back.
Young Offenders: Children in Care
David Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what percentage of juveniles imprisoned for breach of (a) bail and (b) statutory orders had previously been looked after in each of the last three years. [305393]
Maria Eagle: Information on the number of juveniles in custody in England and Wales who had previously been looked after is not held centrally.
However, a joint Youth Justice Board and HM Inspectorate of Prisons report "Children and Young People in Custody 2008-2009" published on 9 December 2009 reported on a survey of every juvenile prison
establishment in England and Wales. Responses to the survey indicated that a quarter of young men and nearly half of young women had been in care at some point.
Health
Abortion
Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost to the NHS was of the abortion procedures undertaken on non-UK residents in hospitals and clinics in England in 2008. [306031]
Gillian Merron: There is no cost to the national health service for non-UK residents receiving non-emergency abortions as these will be privately funded.
Data for the cost of emergency abortions for non-UK residents are not held centrally. It is important to note that emergency abortions are a rare occurrence.
Cholesterol
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when his Department's Prevention Strategy will be published; and whether it will include reference to cholesterol as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. [306122]
Ann Keen: We have recently published "NHS 2010-2015: From Good to Great, Preventative, People Centred, Productive". A copy of this has been placed in the Library. As set out in the section on supporting people to stay healthy, we are rolling out NHS health checks, as part of the range of initiatives that are aimed at preventing heart disease, stroke, diabetes and chronic kidney disease.
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans his Department has to encourage people to take steps to reduce their cholesterol levels. [306123]
Ann Keen: Everyone between the ages of 40-74 will be made aware of their cholesterol levels and told how they can reduce it through the NHS health check programme. It will assess people's risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and diabetes and will support people to reduce or manage that risk through individually tailored advice.
These checks will be based on straightforward questions and measurements such as age, sex, family history, height, weight and blood pressure. They would also include a simple blood test to measure cholesterol.
Diet and exercise are important parts of any strategy to minimise risk factors for heart disease, including cholesterol. Earlier this year we launched the Change4Life Campaign which aims to help everyone to "eat well, move more and live longer".
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in England have high cholesterol rates; and if he will make a statement. [306124]
Ann Keen: According to data from the Quality Outcomes Framework that are available, approximately 700,000 adults in England had a cholesterol in 2008-09 of more than five millimoles per litre.
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what recent assessment his Department has made of the effect of high cholesterol on the population; [306125]
(2) what recent assessment his Department has made of the effect of raised cholesterol on the cardiovascular health of the population; [306126]
(3) what assessment his Department has made of raised cholesterol as a cause of disability in England. [306127]
Ann Keen: We know that raised cholesterol levels are a significant risk factor for all cardiovascular diseases including coronary heart disease and stroke.
Everyone between the ages of 40-74 (who has not been diagnosed with a vascular disease) will be made aware of their cholesterol levels and told how they can reduce it through the NHS health check programme. It will assess people's risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and diabetes and will support people to reduce or manage that risk through individually tailored advice.
These checks will be based on straightforward questions and measurements such as age, sex, family history, height, weight and blood pressure. They would also include a simple blood test to measure cholesterol.
The Quality and Outcomes Framework of the general practitioner contract includes quality indicators that provide incentives for practices to measure and control cholesterol in people who have been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease, diabetes and chronic kidney disease.
Christmas
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many Christmas trees were purchased by his Department and its agencies in each of the last five years; what the cost was of those trees in each year; from where the trees were sourced; what account was taken of the sustainability of the sources of the trees; and by what process the trees were disposed of. [305649]
Phil Hope: The mandatory requirement for Departments prior to 1 April 2009 was that Christmas trees should be procured from legal sources which are preferably sustainable. The requirement since 1 April 2009 is that Christmas trees must also be purchased from sustainable sources. The Government have developed a set of criteria and a definition of sustainable which can be found on the latest guidance, the 'Timber Procurement Advice Note (TPAN April 2009)'. This is available on the Central Point of Expertise on Timber website at:
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