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12 Jan 2010 : Column 932W—continued
Area level figures are not available before 2003. However, the following table gives, for each year from 1998 to 2002, the most recently published national figures.
| Non-molestation orders applied for, and made, in England and Wales between 1998 and 2002 | ||
| Applications made | Orders made | |
Open Prisons
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 2 December 2009, Official Report, column 800W, on open prisons, how many prisoners convicted of murder are being held at each open prison. [306327]
Mr. Straw: The following table gives the numbers of prisoners detained for murder at each open prison in England and Wales, as at 30 June 2009 the last date at which data are available:
| Number | |
The total number of prisoners convicted of murder and in prison was around 4,900 at the end of June 2009. The figure in the open estate is therefore 5 per cent. of the total. There have been open prisons since 1936 and they are widely accepted as the most effective means of ensuring prisoners are tested in the community before
they are released. To release prisoners directly from a closed prison without the resettlement benefits of the open estate would undoubtedly lead to higher levels of post-release reoffending.
Prisoners are assessed objectively in a process looking at all aspects of their offending behaviour, actions they have taken to reduce their likelihood of reoffending and the risk they pose to the public. They are placed in the lowest security category consistent with their assessed risk. Only prisoners placed in the lowest security category (D) may be allocated to open conditions. If their behaviour becomes a cause for concern, they can be moved back to more secure conditions.
Prisoners convicted of murderer serving life sentences and other indeterminate sentence prisoners will be transferred from closed to open prison conditions only following the acceptance of a Parole Board recommendation to the Secretary of State. Before making such a recommendation, the Parole Board must be satisfied that the case meets the criteria set out in the directions to the Parole Board under section 32(6) of the Criminal Justice Act 1991, of which the risk of abscond is a central factor.
Transfer of any prisoner to open conditions will only take place if continued detention in closed conditions is no longer necessary for the protection of the public. Open conditions allow prisoners to find work, re-establish family ties and reintegrate into the community. All these are essential components for successful resettlement and an important factor in protecting the public.
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. Totals for each prison have been rounded to the nearest five and the grand total to the nearest 10; separately rounded sub-totals may not add to the rounded total.
Prisoners: Ex-servicemen
David Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when his Department plans to produce statistics on the number of former servicemen and women who are currently either serving a custodial sentence or the subject of community supervision. [308851]
Maria Eagle: The Ministry of Defence's Defence Analytical Services and Advice has undertaken an exercise to match Ministry of Justice data on prisoners in England and Wales with the MoD database of service leavers to establish the numbers of armed forces veterans in custody. The analysis indicates that almost 3 per cent. of the prison population in England and Wales were former armed forces personnel. We are exploring the feasibility and cost of extending the data matching to encompass those subject to community supervision.
Prisons: Disciplinary Proceedings
Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many investigations took place under Prison Service Order 1300 in each year since 2000; and what offences triggered such investigations. [308959]
Maria Eagle: Information on the number of formal investigations conducted under Prison Service Order 1300 in each year since 2000, and the categories (including disciplinary offences) of these investigations, is provided in the following table(1).
HR processes including investigations have been centralised and are managed by the NOMS National Shared Service Centre (SSC). The former Investigation Support Section (ISS) started to transfer its role to the SSC in January 2008 on a region by region basis. This was completed by February 2009.
During this time the business took the opportunity to review the categories under which investigations were recorded with a view to improving the data held. As such at the point of transfer to the SSC a number of new categories were created under which investigations could be registered. Therefore, any fluctuations shown in the table, particularly significant increases or decreases between 2008 and 2009, are a result of the creation of the new categories and improvements made by the business in the collation of such data from the NOMS estate. The overall trend relating to the total numbers of formally registered investigations has remained fairly consistent for at least six years.
(1) This information is based on data extracted from a central investigations database and data provided by the National Offender Management Service-National Shared Service Centre (SSC) during December 2009.
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