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26 Feb 2010 : Column 781W—continued


26 Feb 2010 : Column 782W

The Court Proceedings Database holds information on defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales. These data include information on the offence and statute for the offence. The Court Proceedings Database does not hold specific information on offences beyond descriptions provided by the statutes under which prosecutions are brought nor the circumstances of each case.

There is no specific statute of 'hijacking commercial lorries and tankers'. Defendants may be proceeded against for offences of theft or conspiracy to steal, etc. Centrally available motoring offences data do not separately identify commercial lorries and tankers from other types of motor vehicle. Data for 2009 are planned for publication in autumn, 2010.

Departmental Disabled Staff

Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many and what proportion of staff in (a) his Department and (b) the executive agencies for which he is responsible are disabled; and what the average salary in (i) his Department and (ii) the executive agencies is of (A) full-time disabled staff, (B) full-time non-disabled staff, (C) part-time disabled staff and (D) part-time non-disabled staff. [317894]

Mr. Wills: The requirement to make a declaration about disability is voluntary and significant numbers of staff have chosen not to make a disclosure. Overall, within the Ministry of Justice (excluding the National Offender Management Services (NOMS)) 73 per cent. have completed a declaration. Among full-time staff 58 per cent. have completed a declaration form, with 3.9 per cent. recording that they have a disability. Among part-time staff 3.5 per cent. declared a disability.

For NOMS, 55 per cent. of directly employed staff have completed a declaration, with 6 per cent. recording that they have a disability. Among full-time staff 55 per cent. completed a declaration, of whom 6 per cent. declared a disability and among part-time staff 58 per cent. completed a declaration and 6 per cent. of those declared a disability.

2 per cent. of senior civil servants (SCS) employed within the Ministry have declared a disability. As the actual number of SCS staff involved is less than 10, any disclosure of their working patterns and average salaries may lead to individual identification.

For staff employed in grades below the SCS, insufficient numbers of employees have made any declaration of their status in relation to disability to enable the Ministry to determine, with any accuracy, average salary information.

However, during 2008-09 (the latest figures available) the average salary for full-time staff employed in the Ministry of Justice (excluding National Offender Management Services (NOMS)) was £23,986 and the average full-time equivalent (FTE) salary for part-time staff for 2008-09 was £20,717. For staff employed within NOMS, at 31 January 2010 the average full-time salary was £24,876 and the average FTE salary for part-time staff was £23,986.

Both the Ministry of Justice and NOMS encourages staff to declare relevant information to assist with diversity monitoring.


26 Feb 2010 : Column 783W

Drug Offences

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many children were (a) arrested, (b) prosecuted and (c) imprisoned for (i) all drugs offences and (ii) Class A drugs offences in each of the last five years. [317770]

Claire Ward: The arrests collection is held by the Home Office and covers arrests for recorded crime (notifiable offences) only, broken down at a main offence group level, covering categories such as violence against the person and robbery.

Information provided by the Home Office on 10 to 17-year-olds arrested for drug offences covering 2003-04 to 2007-08 (latest available) is provided in Table 1. It is not possible to separately identify arrests for Class A drugs from the information on arrests for drug offences reported to the Home Office.

Data on arrests for 2008-09 are scheduled to be published on 15 April 2010.


26 Feb 2010 : Column 784W

The number of persons aged 10 to 17 years proceeded against at magistrates courts for all drugs offences and Class A drugs offences, and those receiving a sentence of immediate custody at all courts, England and Wales, 2004 to 2008 (latest available) is given in Table 2. Court proceedings data are published on a calendar year basis.

Court proceedings data for 2009 are planned for publication in the autumn 2010.

Table 1: Number of persons aged 10 to 17 arrested for drug offences, England and Wales 2003-04 to 2007-08( 1)

Number of arrests for drug offences

2003-04

18,100

2004-05

14,600

2005-06

14,400

2006-07

12,800

2007-08

15,018

(1) Figures for 2006-07 onwards are unrounded, previous years rounded.
Source:
Home Office Statistics.

Table 2 : The number of defendants aged 10 to 17 proceeded against at magistrates courts and sentenced to immediate custody at all courts for all drugs offences and Class A drugs offences, England and Wales, 2004-08( 1, 2, 3)
Defendants
Proceeded against Immediate custody
Offence 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

All drugs offences

5,125

5,214

4,977

5,855

6,928

181

200

214

214

284

Of which:

Class A drugs offences

850

875

897

1,067

1,064

133

160

168

170

225

(1) The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
(2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.
(3 )Excludes convictions for Cardiff magistrates court for April, July and August 2008.
Source:
Justice Statistics Analytical Services-Ministry of Justice.

Drugs: Convictions

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people have been convicted of a drug trafficking offence (a) as a result of an investigation by the Serious Organised Crime Agency and (b) in total in each year since 1998. [314751]

Alan Johnson: I have been asked to reply.

The number of defendants found guilty at all courts in England and Wales for drug trafficking offences, from 1998 to 2008 (latest available) can be viewed in the table. Court proceedings statistical data held by the Ministry of Justice do not include the circumstances of each case and therefore cannot identify any investigating agency.

The Serious Organised Crime Agency was set up to reduce the harm to the UK caused by serious organised crime. Criminal prosecution is only one of a number of tools SOCA uses. With its partners, SOCA undertakes a range of activities against drug trafficking, including work to secure criminal convictions. SOCA is not able to say how many people have been convicted of a specific drug trafficking offence since its inception. However, SOCA records show that the following number of people have been convicted as a result of operations countering drug trafficking.

Convictions for drug trafficking

UK Overseas

2006-07

215

20

2007-08

199

24

2008-09

197

20



26 Feb 2010 : Column 785W

26 Feb 2010 : Column 786W
The number of defendants found guilty at all courts in England and Wales for drug trafficking offences1, from 1998 to 20082,( 3)
Offence description 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008( 4)

Unlawful importation of a drug controlled under misuse of Drugs Act 1971

1,190

1,171

1,165

1,648

1,599

1,063

975

1,026

835

783

745

Unlawful exportation of a drug controlled under misuse of Drugs Act 1971

59

25

40

30

21

18

37

35

35

36

31

Production of or being concerned in the production of a controlled drug.

1,779

1,477

1,175

952

1,114

1,657

1,379

1,360

1,480

2,120

2,627

Having possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply.

5,549

5,069

4,607

4,405

4,452

4,834

4,887

5,097

5,062

5,499

6,443

Supplying or offering to supply (or being concerned in supplying or offering to supply) a controlled drug.

3,819

3,717

3,341

3,214

3,300

3,461

3,619

3,707

3,499

3,507

3,940

Having a controlled drug in possession on a ship; Being knowingly concerned in the carrying or concealing of a controlled drug on a ship.

16

1

1

6

1

1

1

1

1

1

-

Concealing or transferring the proceeds of drug trafficking; Assisting another person to retain the benefit of drug trafficking; Acquisition, possession or use of proceeds of drug trafficking

16

30

26

42

38

49

27

20

6

7

6

Total

12,428

11,490

10,355

10,297

10,525

11,083

10,925

11,246

10,918

11,953

13,792

(1) Includes offences under statutes: Customs and Excise Management Act 1979; Misuse of Drugs Act 1971; Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 as amended by Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994; Criminal Justice (International Co-operation) Act 1990; Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
(2) The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
( 3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.
(4) Excludes Convictions for Cardiff magistrates' court for April, July and August 2008
Source:
Justice Statistics Analytical Services - Ministry of Justice

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