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18 Jan 2010 : Column 25W—continued
Prison Sentences: Mentally Disturbed Offenders
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many offenders imprisoned with an indeterminate sentence for public protection have been held in secure hospitals since 2005; and if he will make a statement. [310956]
Maria Eagle: Prisoners may be detained in hospital under powers of the Mental Health Act 1983, either if directed to hospital by the court on sentencing or if directed by the Secretary of State during their sentence. They may also be remitted to prison during sentence.
Information is not available in the form requested. To answer how many offenders sentenced to an IPP who have been detained in a secure hospital at some time since 2005 would require manual checking of a large number of case files, which could be undertaken only at disproportionate cost.
On 14 January 2010, Ministry of Justice records showed 115 prisoners in hospital under powers of the 1983 Act, who were also serving indeterminate sentences of imprisonment for public protection (IPP).
Prisons: Drugs
David Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what (a) internal and (b) external audits of mandatory drug testing in prisons have been undertaken. [308738]
Maria Eagle: The most recent thematic internal audit of mandatory drug testing (MDT) was undertaken in 2009. Mandatory drug testing will be included in the NOMS audit programme which means that the extent to which each prison is complying with MDT policy will be assessed and reported once every three years.
Independent research on the effectiveness of mandatory drug testing was published by the Office for National Statistics in 2005 at:
The performance of the MDT analytical laboratory is the subject to regular independent audit.
David Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent assessment his Department has made of the level of accuracy of mandatory drug testing statistics. [308758]
Maria Eagle: A comprehensive assessment of the accuracy of mandatory drug testing (MDT) was undertaken by the Office for National Statistics published in 2005 at:
It concluded that the mandatory drug testing programme provides a reliable and statistically valid way of measuring patterns and trends of drug misuse in prisons. Random MDT continues to be the best overall measure of drug misuse in prisons.
In addition, MDT processes are assured by a rolling programme of internal audits and an independent quality assurance provider. The last audit concluded that comprehensive guidance was available to prisons and, by extension, did not require updating. Further, urine samples were taken correctly and chain of custody was generally well documented.
The audit also identified areas of concern, which NOMS is now working with prisons to address:
at a third of establishments sampled, there were long periods each month where no random testing was undertaken;
at one establishment the disciplinary award given for test refusals was more lenient than that for positive results; and
establishments were not sending details of refusals to the laboratory. Central records on refusals therefore did not match those held locally.
MDT roles were not always properly recorded in staff performance and development records.
Where urine samples were left with the prison gate prior to collection, a number of establishments did not require gate staff to complete a form to acknowledge receipt of samples.
Victim Support Schemes: Finance
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much funding his Department and its predecessors have allocated to Victim Support in each year since 1997. [310957]
Claire Ward: The following table details the amount of Government funding allocated to Victim Support since 1997.
| Total Government funding to Victim Support | |
| £ million | |
Voluntary Work: Offenders
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people have been (a) convicted and (b) prosecuted for offences committed while working as a volunteer with vulnerable adults. [311109]
Claire Ward: Statistical data held by the Ministry of Justice on the Court Proceedings Database record the number of defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales.
Other than where specified in a statute these data do not include information on the circumstances of an offence and it is therefore not possible to identify whether an offence was committed by a volunteer while working with vulnerable adults.
The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) has been created to help prevent unsuitable people from working with children and vulnerable adults. Increased safeguards introduced under the Vetting and Barring Scheme from 12 October 2009 make it a criminal offence for individuals barred by the ISA to work or apply to work with children or vulnerable adults in a wide range of posts.
Court proceedings data for 2009 are expected to be published in the autumn of 2010.
Youth Custody
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many hours on average a young offender spent in (a) general education, (b) literacy work, (c) numeracy work, (d) training, (e) physical education and (f) recreation/association in each (i) secure children's home, (ii) secure training centre and (iii) young offender institution in the latest period for which figures are available. [308780]
Mr. Coaker: I have been asked to reply.
Figures collected by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) and the Youth Justice Board (YJB) for September 2008 to August 2009 indicate that in Young People in Prison Service YOIs received an average of 27.5 hours per person per week of education, training and personal development. From October 2009 NOMS have implemented new data collection systems which, along with data returns from the LSC will allow greater accuracy and detail in reporting on education, training and constructive activities in the future.
The YJB report that in private YOIs, young people received an average of 33.9 hours of education, training and personal development activity per week during August 2008 to September 2009.
Data from the YJB indicate that between September 2008 and August 2009, 91.3 per cent. of young people in SCHs received a minimum of 30 hours of provision and in STCs this was 99 per cent. of young people.
These figures encompass a range of education and constructive activities and information is not collected broken down by specific type of activity.
Home Department
Borders: Personal Records
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what impact assessment has been made of the cost of the e-Borders programme to the aviation industry. [310312]
Mr. Woolas: The potential financial costs to the aviation industry of implementing the data collection requirements of the e-Borders programme were analysed as part of a regulatory impact assessment published in January 2008. The link to the RIA can be found on:
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) original and (b) current estimated cost is of establishment of the e-Borders programme. [310321]
Mr. Woolas: The original planned expenditure for e-Borders from award of the contract to Trusted Borders in November 2007 through to November 2017 was £1.2 billion.
The current forecast of expenditure for this period, including contingency, is £1.2 billion.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the Oral Statement of 5 January 2010, Official Report, columns 28-32, on aviation and border security, what proportion of the e-Borders programme is complete. [310337]
Mr. Woolas: We estimate that e-Borders is currently tracking 45 to 50 per cent. of all passenger movements into and out of the UK, which equates to approximately 100 million passengers annually. This figure is pending formal verification by statisticians.
e-Borders aims to track 95 per cent. of all passenger and crew movements by December 2010. This will represent all major commercial traffic. The remaining 5 per cent. represents private aviation and the small craft category. e-Borders expect that there will be 100 per cent. coverage by March 2014.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the oral statement of 5 January 2010, Official Report, columns 28-32, on aviation and border security, whether his consideration of additional targeted passenger profiling includes non-behavioural profiling. [310338]
Paul Clark: I have been asked to reply.
We are examining carefully whether targeted passenger profiling might help to enhance airport security. We will be considering all the issues involved, mindful of civil liberties concerns, aware that identity-based profiling has its limitations, but conscious of our overriding obligations to protect people's life and liberty.
Departmental Advertising
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of his Department's expenditure on (a) television, (b) radio, (c) print and (d) online advertising in (i) 2009-10 and (ii) 2010-11. [309931]
Mr. Woolas: The forecast for Home Office media spend for 2009-10 is as follows:
| £ | |
The activity that has been scheduled may still be subject to alteration and the total for each media may change. Activity that has not yet been planned and booked is not included as specific media spend will not yet be known.
The figures quoted are for net media costs and do not include production costs or fees.
The projected Home Office media spend on television, radio, print and online advertising for 2010-11 cannot be forecast as budgets have yet to be allocated.
Departmental Buildings
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many residential properties his Department owns; and how many (a) are occupied and (b) have been empty for more than six months. [304000]
Mr. Woolas: The Department owns one residential property which has been empty for more than six months. Agents have been appointed to dispose of it.
Departmental Data Protection
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many members of staff of his Department and its agencies have been disciplined for inappropriate use of information obtained from (a) a police database, (b) an immigration database and (c) an identity card or passport database in each of the last 10 years. [310128]
Mr. Hanson: The available information is set out in the following tables.
| Home Office headquarters staff that have been disciplined for inappropriate use of information obtained from a police, immigration database and identity card or passport database( 1) | |||
| Disciplined | Dismissed | Total | |
| (1) No central records exist prior to January 2005. | |||
| National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) staff that have been disciplined for inappropriate use of information obtained from police databases( 1) | |||
| Disciplined | Dismissed | Total | |
| (1) The NPIA has had responsibility for national police databases since 1 April 2007. No information is available prior to 2007. | |||
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