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24 Feb 2010 : Column 583W—continued
The figures on mandatory and other lifers have been drawn from the prison IT system. The IPP figures were taken from the Public Protection Unit Database (PPUD) in the National Offender Management Service. The PPUD is a live database, updated on a regular basis. Data taken from the database on consecutive days will contain differences reflecting updates.
Both the prison IT system and the PPUD are administrative systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Prisoner Escapes
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many abscondees from each prison were foreign nationals in each year since 1997. [317636]
Maria Eagle: Figures on the number of foreign national prisoners who have absconded from each prison since 1997 are not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost by accessing the individual record of each absconder.
A prisoner absconds if he or she absents themselves from prison without overcoming a physical security barrier such as that provided by fences, locks, bolts and bars, a secure vehicle or handcuffs. The rate of abscond from open prisons continues to fall and absconds are now at their lowest level since centralised reporting of this type of incident began in 1995.
Foreign nationals, including those subject to enforcement proceedings under the Immigration Act, must be risk assessed for open conditions in the same way as all other prisoners but with the additional requirement that the UK Border Agency is asked to contribute any information which might indicate an increased risk of abscond.
Prisoners
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether his Department has implemented programmes for the purposes of de-radicalising prisoners who are serving sentences for terrorism offences. [317014]
Maria Eagle: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) is taking forward a wide-ranging programme of work to manage the risks of violent extremism and radicalisation among offenders. Part of this programme includes work to research, develop and evaluate potential intervention approaches.
Given the comparatively low numbers of terrorist offenders and the different motivations and behaviours they present in relation to their offending, it is difficult to identify with statistical significance and reliability factors associated with terrorist offending or reoffending. Therefore prison and probation staff need to use all available sources of evidence to assess the risk of serious harm or reconviction which terrorist offenders pose, and to identify appropriate intervention strategies.
For any intervention to be effective it will need to target the reasons why people offend which are different for each individual. There are currently no group work programmes specifically accredited for use with those convicted of offences related to terrorism. NOMS is working to understand the potential use of a wide range
of intervention strategies which may help combat violent extremist offending and address the criminogenic factors of the individual violent extremist offender.
Prisoners' Discharge Grants
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department spent on subsistence payments to offenders on end of custody licence in (a) 2007-08, (b) 2008-09 and (c) 2009-10. [317125]
Mr. Straw: The available information on the subsistence payments to offenders on end of custody licence in (a) 2007-08, (b) 2008-09 and (c) 2009-10 is as follows:
| 1 July to 31 March 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 1 April to 30 September 2009-10 | |
|
Paid by DWP on behalf of the National Offender Management Service | |||
Prisoners released on End of Custody Licence, ECL, are paid subsistence in place of benefits. This subsistence payment is necessary to ensure that during their period of ECL they are able to purchase food and meet essential living expenses. Sentenced prisoners known to have over £500 in personal funds do not receive any subsistence payments.
When the ECL scheme was first introduced, offenders released for the maximum of 18 days received their subsistence payments in instalments through the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), which made payments on behalf of the Ministry of Justice. Prisoners released for less than 18 days were paid in full by prisons on release. From 23 June 2008, payment in instalments by DWP was extended to prisoners spending 15 days or more on ECL. From 15 December 2008, payment in instalments by DWP was further extended to offenders spending eight days or more on ECL. The advantage of the system of payments through DWP is that prisoners receive their subsistence in instalments rather than in a single lump sum.
It is not possible to break down the amount paid directly by prison establishments between 2007-08 and 2008-09. The available information has been collected manually from all prison establishments and may be subject to a margin of error. In addition, figures for payments by prisons in January-March 2009 cannot be identified and an estimated element has been included for these.
Prisoners Release: Reoffenders
Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 11 January 2010, Official Report, column 792W, on prisons: release, how many of the 12 serving ex-prisoners who have not been back into the criminal justice system since their release in error have committed further offences; what the original offence was for which each was convicted; and what proportion of the original sentence each had served at the date of release. [318052]
Maria Eagle: Only one of the 12 offenders listed as follows is shown on the police national computer as having committed a further offence (theft/fraud) or is wanted for anything other than the release in error.
Prisoner discharge can be a complex area and the following table and associated notes reflect this complexity. Despite this the number of releases in error is small, accounting for fewer than 0.05 per cent. of discharges from prison.
The following table shows the details of the 12 offenders who had not been accounted for at the time of my answer of 11 January 2010. Since then, four of these 12 offenders have been returned to custody or have appeared in court and resolved the outstanding issue.
| Individual offenders released in error according to offence and proportion of sentence served at time of release | |
| Offence | Proportion of sentence served (percentage) |
| (1) Served all of sentence but released in error because offenders were due to be interviewed by another law enforcement agency. (2) Served all of sentence but released in error because offender was due to appear in court on further charges. (3) Sentence length not applicable-remand prisoner released in error prior to trial. (4) Four offenders have since appeared in court or been returned to custody to resolve the outstanding error. (5) Served all of current sentence but released in error because he had, prior to the current sentence, served a previous period in prison. He had been released on licence to serve the remainder of that earlier sentence in the community. While he was serving his second sentence it had been decided that he should serve some or all of the remaining period of the earlier sentence in prison. He was released in error before that could happen. The additional period he could have served would have been subject to the view of the Parole Board. That period could have been up to a maximum of a further one year and one day. (6) Committed further offence of theft/fraud since release in error but is now back in custody. | |
These figures have been drawn from live administrative data systems which may be amended at any time. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.
Prisons: Construction
Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice in what locations his Department intends to provide the 3,500 further prison places announced for 2010; how many will be (a) part of new-build prisons, (b) additions to existing prisons and (c) refurbished disused cells in existing prisons; and how many will have been brought on stream at the end of each month in 2010. [318053]
Maria Eagle:
In total, over 3,600 places are currently planned for delivery in 2010 as part of the Core Capacity Programme. Over 500 of these places have been provided through the more efficient use of cellular accommodation.
The following table shows the locations of the new places to be provided in new prisons, expansions on existing sites and through cell reclaim schemes:
| Location | Places | Accommodation type | |
| (1) Already delivered. (2) Final phase of opening of new prison Bure. Not new build but a conversion of the former RAF Coltishall. (3 )Places created through conversion of open accommodation to closed conditions. | |||
The following table shows how many of these places are currently planned for delivery in each month in 2010. The number of places delivered in each month may be subject to change.
| Number of places | |
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