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21 Jan 2010 : Column 455W—continued
In addition to these outward-facing campaigns, the Ministry's Communications Directorate has undertaken various internal campaigns to promote specific corporate initiatives to staff. The cost of these campaigns cannot be separately identified from the wider work of the Communications Directorate.
Departmental Training
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many sessions of media training were organised for Ministers in his Department in each of the last three years. [311513]
Mr. Wills:
Training is available to Ministers on a range of issues, including handling the media, as part of both their induction and continuing development to help them carry out their duties effectively under the
Ministerial Code. No sessions of media training have been organised for Ministry of Justice Ministers in the last three years.
Departmental Waste
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what volume of waste his Department generated in each of the last three years; what percentage of this was (a) paper, (b) plastic, (c) glass, (d) metal, (e) electrical goods and batteries and (f) food waste; and what percentage of his Department's waste was (i) disposed of securely, (ii) disposed of in landfill and (iii) recycled. [311840]
Mr. Wills: The waste figures for the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) are not separated out therefore individual figures for the amount of: paper, plastic, glass, metal, electrical goods and batteries and food waste generated and the percentage of each type that was recycled are not available; nor are figures for the amount of waste disposed of securely and disposed of in landfill.
The MOJ was created in May 2007. All central Government Departments and executive agencies are required to report on sustainable operations on the Government estate (SOGE) targets as part of the sustainable development in government (SDiG) reporting process. The waste reduction and recycling targets are to:
Reduce waste arising by 5 per cent. by 2010 and by 25 per cent. by 2020 relative to their 2004-05 levels, and to
Increase recycling figures to 40 per cent. of their waste arising by 2010 and by 75 per cent. by 2020.
The estimate made of total waste arising from the Ministry of Justice in 2007-08 was 71,060 tonnes of which 22 per cent. was recycled. The assessment of 2007-08 performance can be found on the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) website:
The estimate made of total waste arising from the Ministry of Justice in 2008-09 was 82,3277 tonnes-a reduction of 19.9 per cent. against a revised baseline. This represents excellent progress and the Ministry of Justice has already exceeded the 2010-11 waste reduction target; 36.6 per cent. was recycled. The assessment of 2008-09 performance, published by CESP on 18 December 2009, can be found on the OGC website:
Recording food waste as part of SOGE (sustainable operations on the Government estate) is optional. The following table gives an estimate of food waste generated at the Ministry of Justice by those areas that have collected the data.
| Tonnes | |||
| 2007-8 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | |
HM Prison Service carried out two surveys as part of a business case to evaluate requirements for in-vessel composting and de-watering technology with the overall aim of providing an effective solution to sites with food waste disposal issues and upholding the philosophy of "waste to resource". The philosophy of "waste to resource"
means taking waste and processing it into a useful, useable product and adding value to it. In 2006, based on 32 prisons, on average 1.45 kgs of food per prison place were wasted per week. In 2007, based on 51 prisons, the figure was 1.34 kgs of food waste per prison place per week.
| Number of prisons responding | Operational capacity | Average food waste per place per week (kg) | |
The use of de-watering and in-vessel composting technology has been introduced at around 35 prisons to process food waste into compost. The compost is used on prison gardens and horticultural activities thereby reducing the requirement for bought-in compost and contributing towards the HM Prison Service strategy for phasing out peat-based products.
Additionally, a small scale anaerobic digestion plant has been installed in Guy Marsh Prison with the objective of processing biodegradable wastes, including food waste, into biogas.
Industrial Health and Safety
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether written health and safety advice is issued to each new employee in his Department. [311374]
Mr. Wills: While formal written health and safety advice is not issued to each new employee in the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), written policy and guidance is available to all staff on the intranet. The MoJ is committed to ensuring that all staff receive appropriate information, instruction and training on the health and safety matters relevant to their roles, and health, safety and fire awareness are an important part of the induction process for new staff. Moreover, health and safety risk assessments and safe systems of work are available at the point of use. HM Prison Service was awarded the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents Training Trophy in 2007 for excellence in the delivery of work-related health and safety training.
Prisons: Drugs
Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many internal audits of mandatory drug testing have been carried out in each of the last two years; and if he will publish them. [300954]
Maria Eagle: National Offender Management Service's (NOMS) Internal Audit completed two audits of mandatory drug testing (MDT) in the last two years. A follow-up audit which assessed progress made in implementing recommendations made in an earlier report was completed in 2008. A further full audit of MDT was completed in August 2009. From January 2010, Internal Audit will undertake a regular programme of MDT audits. This will be become part of the existing establishment audit programme and will review MDT procedures in approximately 35 establishments per year. Reports are published internally.
Remand in Custody
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many young people of each ethnicity aged (a) under 18, (b) between 18 and 20 and (c) between 21 and 25 years old have been (i) remanded in custody and (ii) sentenced to custody in each of the last five years. [312256]
Maria Eagle: Figures requested are shown in the following tables.
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.
| Remand receptions by ethnicity and age band 2004 | |||||
| Ages | |||||
| 15-17 | 18-20 | 21-25 | Over 25 | Total | |
| Sentenced receptions by ethnicity and age band 2004 | |||||
| Ages | |||||
| 15-17 | 18-20 | 21-25 | Over 25 | Total | |
| Remand receptions by ethnicity and age band 2005 | |||||
| Ages | |||||
| 15-17 | 18-20 | 21-25 | Over 25 | Total | |
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