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14 Jan 2010 : Column 1146W—continued

Departmental Conferences

Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much was spent by his Department and its agencies on conferences they organised which were subsequently cancelled in each of the last three years; and what the title was of each such conference. [308832]

Claire Ward: No conferences were organised then subsequently cancelled in the last three years in the Ministry of Justice and its agencies.

Departmental Information Officers

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) press officers and (b) communications staff were employed by his Department (i) in each year since it was established and (ii) on the latest date for which figures are available; and what the cost of employing these staff was in each such year. [309929]

Mr. Straw: The salary related cost of press officers (including contractors and agency staff) employed in 2008-09 and 2007-08, excluding support staff, and the number employed at the end of each year are as follows:

	2008-09		2007-08
Press officers	Cost nearest £000	Number at 31 March 2009	Cost nearest £000	Number at 31 March 2008
MOJ HQ	1,976	40	1,560	33
HM Courts Service	136	3	159	3
Tribunals Service	107	1	55	1
National Offender Management Service(1)	0	0	0	0
Office of the Public Guardian(1)	0	0	0	0
Total	2,219	44	1,774	37
(1 )MOJ HQ provides press office services to NOMS and OPG.

The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) press office operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, dealing with all media relations for the Department, including the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), from the international, national and regional media.

The MOJ is one of the largest Departments in Government. Communications, including the work of
14 Jan 2010 : Column 1147W
the press office, is an important element of this. The rise in the number of press officers is attributable to the need to increase the capability of the press office to deal with the expanded remit of the work undertaken by the MOJ, compared to its predecessor, the Department for Constitutional Affairs.

Communications officers include intranet/internet staff, event organisation, marketing and publishing staff and
14 Jan 2010 : Column 1148W
others involved in communications roles. The salary related cost of communications officers employed in 2008-09 and 2007-08 (include contractors and Agency staff, where known) and the number employed at the end of each year are as follows:

	2008-09		2007-08
Communications Officers	Cost nearest £000	Number at 31 March 2009	Cost nearest £000	Number at 31 March 2008
MOJ HQ	2,801	38	2,286	42
HM Courts Service	510	9	439	9
Tribunals Service	360	11	355	11
National Offender Management Service(1)	847	19	609	18
Office of the Public Guardian	176	4	173	3
Total	4,694	81	3,862	83
(1) Figures for NOMS do not include agency staff or contractors.

For both press officers and communications officers, the number of staff employed at the end of each financial year may not be typical of numbers employed in other months of the year so a comparison of average costs based on the table above is misleading. Average staff numbers are not available for the whole period for press and communications staff separately.

The increase in expenditure on communications officers in MOJ HQ reflects the significantly increased size and remit of MOJ compared to its predecessor, the Department for Constitutional Affairs, and a consequent need to increase the capability of staff employed. To meet this challenge, a number of communications-led projects were undertaken which required the employment of specialist contractors by the MOJ HQ communications directorate for a limited period of time which further increased costs in 2008-09 on a one-off basis.

Expenditure on communications officers by the National Offender Management Service is not directly comparable between years. The 2007-08 figure relates only to Her Majesty's Prison Service (HMPS). HMPS was merged with the National Probation Service and some former headquarters functions from 1 April 2008. The expanded remit and responsibilities of the enlarged agency necessitated the employment of more senior staff within the communications unit.

The number of staff employed as at the current time and the expenditure incurred from 1 April 2009 to 31 December 2009 is:

	2009-10
	Cost nearest £000	Number at 31 December 2009
Press officers
MOJ HQ(1)	1,717	38
HM Courts Service	118	2
Tribunals Service	43	1
National Offender Management Service	0	0
Office of the Public Guardian(1)	0	0
Total	1,978	41
Communications Officers
MOJ HQ(2)	1,927	51
HM Courts Service	321	8
Tribunals Service	232	8
National Offender Management Service(3)	756	17
Office of the Public Guardian	136	4
Total	3,372	88
(1) MOJ HQ provides press office services for NOMS and OPG. (2 )Nine staff, based previously in the Information and Communications Technology directorate have transferred to the MOJ HQ communications team in 2009. This team now provides a shared service in design and publication to the wider MOJ, including many of its agencies and NDPBs. This shared service is significantly reducing the use of external suppliers. In addition MOJ HQ has taken on the Directgov and business link franchises. (2 )Figures for NOMS do not include agency or contract staff.

14 Jan 2010 : Column 1149W

Departmental Public Participation

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many citizen juries or summits have been hosted by his Department since October 2008; on what date each event took place; and which Ministers were present at each event. [310780]

Mr. Wills: The Ministry of Justice has not held any citizen's juries or summits, as they are defined in the Government's "National Framework for Greater Citizen Engagement", since October 2008.

14 Jan 2010 : Column 1150W

Drugs: Crime

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) community sentences, (b) fines, (c) custodial sentences and (d) cautions were imposed for drug dealing offences relating to each type of drug in each of the last three years. [310095]

Claire Ward: The requested information is shown in the following tables.

The Number of persons sentenced for drug dealing offences and all types of drugs 2005-07
	2005
	Absolute Discharge	Conditional Discharge	Fine	Community Sentence	Immediate Custody	Suspended Sentences	Total sentenced
Supply or offering to supply Methamphetamine	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Cocaine	0	10	14	94	316	15	451
Heroin	0	10	5	301	902	29	1,252
LSD	0	1	0	3	4	0	8
MDMA	0	6	7	59	91	7	172
Crack	0	1	1	57	198	7	265
Methadone	0	1	1	7	6	3	18
Other Class A	0	12	7	142	353	14	529
Amphetamine	1	4	6	22	30	6	71
Other Class B	0	4	1	7	22	3	37
Cannabis	3	22	25	159	135	19	367
Anabolic Steroids	0	1	0	0	3	0	4
Other Class C	0	28	19	75	89	10	223
Ketamine	0	0	0	0	0		0
Unspecified	0	0	0	16	217	6	242
Total	4	100	86	942	2366	119	3,639
Possession with intent to supply
Cocaine	0	5	14	129	748	26	930
Heroin	2	6	5	225	848	19	1,118
LSD	0	0	0	4	5	1	11
MDMA	3	5	8	165	342	25	551
Crack	1	0	7	36	246	10	303
Methadone	0	1	0	3	3	1	8
Other Class A	0	2	5	42	141	6	198
Amphetamine	0	2	7	107	123	14	254
Other Class B	0	1	2	8	5	0	16
Cannabis	0	30	62	526	272	53	950
Anabolic Steroids	0	0	0	2	1	0	4
Other Class C	0	20	28	285	230	43	614
Ketamine	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Unspecified	0	2	1	12	67	5	87
GBH	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	6	74	139	1,544	3,031	203	5,044

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