| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
25 Jan 2010 : Column 707W—continued
In 2007, there were nearly 136,000 persons sentenced to custody (immediate and suspended), the highest in a decade. This was an increase of 4.9 per cent. from 2006 and 39.6 per cent. from 1997.
This growth reflects increased use of immediate custody in the first half of the decade and in recent years growing numbers of suspended sentence orders (introduced in April 2005 for those aged 18 or over) which have more than compensated for the decline in the number of immediate custodial sentences.
Prisoners: Voting Rights
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he plans to publish his response to his Department's second consultation on the voting rights of prisoners. [310966]
Mr. Straw: The second stage consultation on the voting rights of convicted prisoners closed on 29 September. We are carefully analysing the responses to the consultation. A detailed analysis of the replies to the second stage consultation-including a breakdown of respondents-will be available upon publication of the Government's response.
Prisons: Parking
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice which prisons in England and Wales provide (a) free parking and (b) charged parking for (i) disabled and (ii) other visitors. [310959]
Mr. Straw: Parking for all visitors at those prisons which have car parking facilities is free.
Details on which prisons provide parking places for disabled and other visitors is not recorded centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate costs as this would involve approaching each prison across England and Wales.
Privacy: Impact Assessments
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether his Department issues guidance to other Government Departments on the circumstances in which privacy impact assessments are (a) required and (b) encouraged. [312292]
Mr. Wills: The report of the Cabinet Secretary's Review of Data Handling Procedures, published in June 2008, mandated that all Government Departments carry out privacy impact assessments (PIAs) when introducing new policies or processes involving the use of personal data. Each Department is responsible for implementing an appropriate process to undertake these assessments, taking into account the nature of their business and existing procedures.
The Ministry of Justice has not issued any guidance to Departments, but the Information Commissioner's Office has published helpful guidance on PIAs which we would expect Government Departments to consult. Earlier this month, Government published the Protecting Government Information report, which noted that 270 PIAs are now complete or under way across Government Departments.
Public Sector: Disclosure of Information
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice on what grounds a public body may make a request under the Re-Use of Public Sector Information rules. [312185]
Mr. Wills: Under the Regulations on the Re-use of Public Sector Information (S.I. 2005 No. 1515) public bodies can make a request for the reuse of public sector information under the same conditions as any other reuser.
Rape
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Thames Valley Police's rape awareness campaign. [310223]
Claire Ward: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, my hon. Friend the Member for Tynemouth (Mr. Campbell) on 19 January 2010, Official Report, column 268W.
Red Hook Project
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent discussions he has had with the US authorities on the Red Hook Project; and whether he plans to introduce such a project. [311943]
Claire Ward: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor visited the Red Hook Community Justice Centre in February 2008. Recent discussions were held with the US Attorney-General in October 2009.
The North Liverpool Community Justice Centre was directly modelled on the Red Hook approach and opened in September 2005. The lessons learned from North Liverpool form the basis of the Government's policy on Community Justice Teams which are being introduced in 30 local authority areas across England and Wales.
Reparation by Offenders
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans he has for the further use of restorative justice schemes in respect of young people. [311944]
Maria Eagle: Restorative justice is already available for use in a wide variety of circumstances in the youth justice system, both out-of-court and in community sentences. National Standards for Youth Justice Services state that the providers of youth justice services must maximise victim involvement through a restorative justice strategy. In addition the Youth Restorative Disposal is currently being piloted and independently evaluated and a decision will be made on the future of the scheme once the evaluation is completed.
Road Traffic Offences: Fines
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what average fine was imposed for each type of (a) summary non-motoring offence, (b) summary motoring offence and (c) indictable offence in 2008. [310965]
Mr. Straw: Court proceedings data for 2008 are planned for publication on 28 January 2010.
The average fine imposed at all courts by type of offence, England and Wales, 2007 (latest available) can be viewed in the following table:
Standards Board for England: Finance
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman) of 19 October 2009, Official Report, column 1321W, on the Standards Board for England: finance, what the budget is of the Adjudication Panel for England in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11. [311826]
Bridget Prentice: The direct budget for the Adjudication Panel for England(1) for 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010 is £306,275. This excludes all overhead costs-such as Estates, IT, Finance, Policy. These are budgeted for separately within the overall Tribunals Service management structure.
The budget for 2010-11 is not yet finalised. However, it is expected to be at a similar level to 2009-10, adjusted for inflation.
(1) From 18 January 2010 the Adjudication Panel for England has moved into the General Regulatory Chamber and become the First-tier Tribunal (Local Government Standards in England).
Voting Methods
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he plans to publish his response to his Department's consultation on weekend voting. [310967]
Mr. Straw: The Government's response to the Election Day: Weekend Voting consultation will be published shortly. The responses to the consultation reveal that there is a wide range of views on whether weekend voting would have a positive impact on turnout.
Young Offenders: Sentencing
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many sentences for each type of offence were handed down to young offenders in 2009. [313021]
Claire Ward: The available information is provided in the following table.
Sentencing Statistics 2008 will be published on 28 January 2010. Data for 2008 will not be available until after this date.
These data are presented on the principal offence basis: where an offender has been sentenced for more than one offence the principal offence is the one for which the heaviest sentence was imposed; where the same sentence has been imposed for two or more offences the principal offence is the one for which the statutory maximum is most severe.
Youth Custody
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many juveniles sentenced to a custodial sentence in the last year for which information is available had served more than three previous custodial sentences. [310962]
Mr. Straw: In 2007, the latest year for which figures are available, there were 529 occasions when juvenile offenders were given immediate custodial sentences for indictable or triable-either-way offences in England and Wales having received more than three previous custodial sentences.
The figure represents a further breakdown of the statistics published in Table 6.8 of 'Sentencing Statistics 2007' which can be found at:
The 2008 edition of 'Sentencing Statistics' will be published on 28( )January 2010.
This figure has been drawn from the police's administrative IT system, the police national computer, which, as with any large scale recording system, is subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. The figure is provisional and subject to change as more information is recorded by the police.
Youth Justice Board
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the policy of the Youth Justice Board is on access by former employees to (a) laptops, (b) emails, (c) electronic files and (d) information systems operated by the Board. [312510]
Maria Eagle: The Youth Justice Board's (YJB) information and communication technology (ICT) policy for leavers states that former
"employees and all other personnel leaving the YJB are required before their last working day, to:
Return all YJB equipment on loan to them to their line manager
Return hard storage material such as CDs, DVDs and USB memory sticks to their line manager
Return paper files, document passwords and office passes to their line manager
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |