Written Ministerial Statements
Monday 1 February 2010
Home Department
Control Orders (Lord Carlile's Fifth Report)
The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Alan Johnson): In accordance with section 14(3), 14(4) and 14(5) of the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005, Lord Carlile of Berriew QC has completed the report on the operation of the Act in 2009, which will be laid before the House today. I am also laying before the House the Government's memorandum to the House Affairs Committee on post-legislative scrutiny of the Act.
Justice
Women's Diversionary Fund
The Minister of State, Department of Justice (Maria Eagle) : Two years ago I announced our commitment to a fundamental change in how the criminal justice system deals with women. In December last year we reported on the substantial progress made through the Government's strategy to divert women away from crime.
Today, I am announcing the creation of a Women's Diversionary Fund, a £2 million joint funding venture between the Ministry of Justice and the Corston Independent Funders' Coalition. The Women's Diversionary Fund will offer grants of up to two years and will assist us in consolidating good progress and in taking forward our strategy to divert women from crime, and reduce reoffending.
This exciting partnership between the Ministry of Justice and the alliance of charitable trusts forming the coalition represents a commitment on both sides to transform further the way women are treated by the criminal justice system. By working together in this exceptional way we will build on the initiatives already announced.
service development or continuation, meeting gaps and further developing services; and
building organisational capacity.
This new initiative will support further growth in community services for women and contribute to building the confidence of courts in alternatives to custody.
Interpreters (Expenditure)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Bridget Prentice):
Errors have been identified in the written answers given by the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice, my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Garston (Maria Eagle) to the hon. Members for Wycombe
(Mr. Goodman) on 9 May 2008, Official Report, c. 1270-71W and for Romsey (Sandra Gidley) on 2 June 2008, Official Report, c. 640-41W and by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor to the hon. and learned Member for Beaconsfield (Mr. Grieve) on 16 March 2009, Official Report, c. 955-56W and the hon. Member for Ashford (Damian Green) on 20 April 2009, Official Report, c. 337W on the subject of interpreters expenditure.
All the information the Ministry of Justice holds on interpreters expenditure is provided in the table below. I have written to the Members who received incomplete information and provided them with a full response.
Expenditure on interpreters in England and Wales by the Department and its agencies:
| The Expenditure for Financial Years 2007-08 and 2008-09 | ||
| To the nearest £000 | ||
| 2008-09 | 2007-08 | |
| (1) This figure includes translation costs as well as interpretation costs. The amounts are not separately recorded and can only be disaggregated at disproportionate costs. | ||
The information in the table excludes the following expenditure:
It is not possible separately to identify expenditure on interpreters by magistrates courts from other magistrates court costs financed from the Central Fund Budget without incurring the disproportionate cost of examining every transaction, the supporting records for which are held locally. Sample exercises have been undertaken in the past to estimate the proportion of magistrates court expenditure that relates to interpreters but they have yielded inconsistent results.
The NOMS figure excludes expenditure by the National Probation Service which is held locally by 42 probation boards and trusts who use separate and different accounting systems. Information could only be determined at disproportionate cost through examination of local records.
Suspects, charged individuals and victims
Her Majesty's Courts Service meets interpreters' costs for victims, which are provided above. The police meet interpreters' costs for suspects and charged individuals. Police costs are funded by the Home Office.
Transport
Transport Security
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Paul Clark): My right hon. and noble Friend the Secretary of State for Transport, Lord Adonis, has made the following ministerial statement:
I would like to update the House on one of the specific decisions made by the Government following the recent review of aviation security-the introduction of advanced imaging technology (AIT), also known as body scanners at UK airports.
The requirement to deploy AIT machines at Heathrow and Manchester airports comes into effect today and I expect additional scanners to be deployed at these airports and to be introduced at Birmingham airport over the course of this month. This will be followed by a nationwide roll-out of scanners in the coming months. These scanners are designed to give airport security staff a much better chance of detecting explosives or other potentially harmful items hidden on a passenger's body.
The Department for Transport has introduced an interim code of practice covering privacy, health and safety, data protection and equality issues. The code will require airports to undertake scanning sensitively, having regard to the rights of passengers. This is available in the Libraries of both Houses and on the Department's website.
Given the current security threat level, the Government believe it essential to start introducing scanners immediately. However, I
wish to consult widely on the long-term regime for their use, taking full account of the experience of the initial deployment. The Department will, therefore, shortly be launching a full public consultation on the requirements relating to the use of scanners as set out in the interim code of practice and will consider all representations carefully before preparing a final code of practice later in the year. I am grateful for the representations already received from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
In the immediate future, only a small proportion of airline passengers will be selected for scanning. If a passenger is selected for scanning, and declines, they will not be permitted to fly. However, the interim code of practice stipulates:
"Passengers must not be selected on the basis of personal characteristics, that is; on a basis that may constitute discrimination such as gender, age, race or ethnic origin".
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