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1 Feb 2010 : Column 118W—continued
Prison Service: Recruitment
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether his Department has set targets for the recruitment of prison officers in the next five years. [313774]
Maria Eagle: There are no centrally directed targets for prison officer recruitment. The National Offender Management Service recruits to officer vacancies as and when they are required. The level of staffing is approved locally by each regional manager for custodial services based on the level of activity required and an operational assessment of overall safety.
Prison Service: Television
Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many televisions were purchased by HM Prison Service in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09. [313196]
Maria Eagle: Available data for the units of televisions purchased by the HM Prison Service are limited for the years 2007-08 with more comprehensive data available for the years 2008-09, due to increased availability of supplier management information. The following information is available and has been drilled down into two separate categories:
(a) In-cell televisions
(b) Other televisions purchased for group.
In-cell televisions are purchased as replenishments for the prisoner rental scheme, as part of local incentives and earned privileges schemes, where prisoners can rent televisions for £1 per week from their own personal funds. In-cell televisions are also an earned privilege that can be lost due to poor behaviour.
Other televisions are defined as units, which have been purchased for various reasons-for example establishment information systems, training rooms, communal areas and visitor areas.
The following data have been provided by the current contracted supplier of domestic appliances and electrical products, DSGI Business Equanet, part of the Dixons Group.
| 2007-08 | ||
| Category | Amount | Comments |
|
Limited data due to ad hoc supply and under previous contracts of various non-contracted suppliers, where detailed unit information is not available | ||
| 2008-09 | ||
| Category | Amount | Comments |
Prisoners
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners are on each level of incentives and privileges. [313366]
Mr. Straw:
The latest available data for the three levels of the Incentives and Earned Privileges Scheme (IEPS) is set out in the following table. The data are
drawn from different systems and also represents an average so figures do not precisely match population figures on any one day. However, they do provide an indication at national level of the operation of IEPS. The figures are for the average numbers on each level of the scheme over a period of eight months for April to November 2009.
| Level | Number | Percentage |
Prisoners Release: Homicide
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether any persons convicted of homicide since 1997-98 having previously been convicted of homicide have been released from their sentence for the second offence. [313365]
Mr. Straw: Much of the requested information is available from the Home Office's Homicide Index, which holds information about all offences initially recorded as homicide by police in England and Wales. Latest available statistics are presented in the Home Offices Statistics Bulletin "Homicides, Firearm Offences and Intimate Violence 2008/09", released on 21 January 2010 and which can be found at:
The term "homicide" covers the offences of murder, manslaughter and infanticide.
Table 1 replicates part of Table 1.11 from this Bulletin. It reflects the position as at 24 November 2009 and shows the numbers of suspects who were convicted of a homicide offence that had been recorded between 1998-99 and 2008-09 and who had previously been convicted of a homicide offence. The data include all previous homicide convictions (where known) wherever they took place, but the second offence must have occurred in England and Wales to be included in this analysis.
| Table 1: Suspects convicted of homicide, 1998-99 to 2008-09, who had been convicted of homicide on a previous occasion, by year in which second homicide offence was committed, England and Wales( 1,2) | |
| Year in which second homicide offence was recorded | Number of offenders |
| (1) Data are as at 24 November 2009; figures are subject to revision as cases are dealt with by the police and by the courts, or as further information becomes available. (2) Data are shown according to the year in which police initially recorded the offence as homicide, which is not necessarily the year in which the offence took place or the year in which any court decision was made. | |
According to data held on the Homicide Index, two of these offenders received indeterminate sentences for public protection for their second homicide offences, one received an immediate custodial sentence of 14 years, and a fourth received a Restriction Order under the Mental Health Act 1983. The remainder received life sentences.
Table 2 shows, for the offenders covered in Table 1, the year in which their previous homicide offence was recorded.
| Table 2: Suspects convicted of homicide, 1998-99 to 2008-09, who had been convicted of homicide on a previous occasion, by year in which first homicide offence was committed, England and Wales( 1,2) | |
| Year in which first homicide offence was recorded | Number of offenders |
| (1) Data are as at 24 November 2009; figures are subject to revision as cases are dealt with by the police and by the courts, or as further information becomes available.( 2) Data are shown according to the year in which police initially recorded the offence as homicide, which is not necessarily the year in which the offence took place or the year in which any court decision was made. | |
One of the offenders shown in Table 2 received a Restriction Order for his first homicide offence. For a further three offenders the custodial sentence lengths are not recorded on the Homicide Index. The custodial sentences given to the remaining offenders are shown in Table 3.
| Table 3: Suspects convicted of homicide, 1998-99 to 2008-09, who had been convicted of homicide on a previous occasion, by length of custodial sentence on previous occasion, England and Wales | |
| Sentence length for first occasion | Number of offenders |
None of the 31 offenders identified on the Homicide Index as having been convicted of homicide between 1998-99 and 2008-09 with a previous homicide conviction, have been released from prison, according to data held by the Ministry of Justice.
Under the Data Protection Act 1998 we are unable to release personal information about individual offenders.
Prisons: Carbon Emissions
Tom Levitt: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps his Department is taking to reduce the carbon footprint of prisons. [313867]
Maria Eagle: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) is working with constructors to attain the Government's goal of constructing new buildings which emit zero carbon by 2018.
NOMS aim is to produce increasingly sustainable prisons within the budgetary constraints in which it operates, focusing, in particular, on energy and emissions, water, waste and recycling. All new prisons are constructed with the aim of achieving an "excellent" rating under the Building Research Establishment's Environmental Assessment Method which measures a building's environmental performance.
NOMS are also working with the Partnership for Renewables the Carbon Trust subsidiary, to enable the generation of renewable wind power at sites across the estate that are not needed for operational purposes. If planning decisions are favourable, this could lead to the production of enough energy to offset up to half the Prison Service consumption.
Since 1999 the Prison Service and NOMS have reduced energy consumption by 29 per cent. Currently, 23 per cent. of energy used in prisons is procured from "green" suppliers. In addition to the 29 per cent. reduction the Carbon Management Implementation Plan aims to achieve a 3 per cent. year-on-year saving in carbon emissions in the next five years.
Recently the Prison Service has been awarded the prestigious Carbon Trust Standard for its efforts in reducing the prison estate carbon footprint.
Prisons: Finance
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 26 January 2010, Official Report, column 733W, on prisons: budgets, which prison governors have been required to identify savings in their budgets for 2009-10 by Directors of Offender Management. [314596]
Maria Eagle: As a general principle all public sector prisons are expected not to exceed their delegated budget for 2009-10. However at some sites this may not possible and the Director of Offender Management will look to cover local pressures from underspends elsewhere within the region. A year-end forecast outturn is agreed locally between the prison Governor and the regional Director of Offender Management taking into account regional financial performance which may require some sites to deliver savings compared to their original budget.
There has not been a specific requirement on public prisons to deliver savings against their delegated budget for 2009-10. But the National Offender Management Service has maintained the need for prisons to use resources efficiently; economically to deliver both value for money and in preparation for planned efficiency measures in 2010-11 which are part of the overall Ministry of Justice budget settlement.
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