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26 Feb 2010 : Column 793W—continued
With regard to prosecutions, data are not available for the constituency of Hackney, North and Stoke Newington. However, the total number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts by the Metropolitan police was 260,328 in 1997 compared to 279,581 in 2008.
The latest data, which cover reoffending in the period 1 October 2008 to 30 September 2009, showed that the three month reoffending rate for offenders on the probation caseload in Hackney was 8.04 per cent. After controlling for changes in the characteristics of offenders on the probation caseload, there was a reduction in reoffending of 8.49 per cent. compared to the 2007-08 baseline. Data are not available prior to 2007 on this basis.
The number of persons commencing court order supervision by the probation service in London was 17,214 in 1997 and 23,787 in 2008.
158,440 civil non-family proceedings were started in the county courts of London Civil and Family HM Courts Service (HMCS) area in 2008, compared to 263,305 in 1998, the first year for which these figures are available. In respect of family law, there were also 15,512 private law applications and 870 public law applications made in the county or High Courts of this HMCS area in 2008-09, compared to 11,684 and 1,095 respectively in 2003-04, the first annual period for which these figures are available.
In addition, at a national level:
Local communities are being better engaged in criminal justice-by giving them a say in the types of Community Payback projects offenders carry out and allowing them to see justice being done, for example through the use of high visibility jackets. Offenders have now worked more than 14 million hours, with an estimated value to the taxpayer of over £80 million.
Major constitutional reforms have been delivered, including devolution, the Human Rights Act, Freedom of Information, Lords Reform, and a new Supreme Court for the UK.
Knives: Sentencing
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 5 February 2010, Official Report, column 548W, on knife sentencing, what the (a) lowest, (b) highest and (c) average fine was for the selling of knives to a minor in each year since 1998. [317838]
Claire Ward: The requested information is provided in the following table.
| Average, highest and lowest fines given for selling a knife or other bladed article to a person under age( 1) , 1998 to 2008 | |||||||||||
| 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | |
| (1) 16 as enacted by the Criminal Justice Act 1988 amended to 18 by Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006. (2) Not applicable (zero fines) (3) Figure suppressed as number too small to give meaningful average. Note: 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. | |||||||||||
Legal Aid: Sexual Offences
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will instruct legal aid providers to withdraw support from an individual in circumstances in which that individual presents a continuing threat to others, with particular reference to offences of paedophilia and rape. [317527]
Bridget Prentice: Any individual charged with a criminal offence has the right to a fair trial, and is also entitled to legal aid if the interests of justice so require and if the relevant financial eligibility criteria are met.
The criteria governing eligibility for criminal legal aid take no account of whether or not the applicant has previously been convicted of a criminal offence. Nor do they allow for the withdrawal of legal aid if details of criminal offences committed by the applicant subsequently come to light.
The same principle applies to the civil legal aid, although exceptionally the applicant's past conduct may be taken into account if it has a direct relevance to the funding being sought.
Offenders
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 4 February 2010, Official Report, column 501W, on offenders, how many (a) adult and (b) juvenile offenders there were in each category. [317833]
Claire Ward: Figures for number of (a) adult and (b) juvenile offenders sentenced for indictable offences in England and Wales between 2000 and 2008 with no previous convictions or cautions are presented in the following table.
| Offenders sentenced for indictable offences with no previous convictions or cautions by age group( 1) , 2000-08, England and Wales | ||||||
| Adult | Juvenile | |||||
| All sentenced offenders( 2) | First time offenders( 3) | Percentage of first time offenders | All sentenced offenders( 2) | First time offenders( 3) | Percentage of first time offenders | |
| (1) Excluding offenders whose age at sentence was not recorded on the PNC. (2) Counts of person sentenced during the year. An offender may be counted more than once if he or she has been sentenced more than once during the year. (3) Offenders who have never been cautioned or convicted previously. | ||||||
These figures are taken from Table 6.4 of 'Sentencing Statistics 2008' which was published on 28 January 2010 and can be found at:
The figures have 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 figures are provisional and subject to change as more information is recorded by the police.
Political Parties: Finance
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what discussions he has had with Sir Hayden Phillips on the online publication of the background papers to his consideration of the funding of political parties. [318346]
Mr. Wills: On 21 October 2009, Sir Hayden Phillips wrote to the representatives of each of the political parties participating in the inter-party talks asking whether they would consent to the release and publication of the background papers and minutes from the inter-party talks on the funding of political parties. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor (Mr. Straw) has since responded to Sir Hayden in his capacity as Labour Party participant. Ministry of Justice officials have responded separately to Sir Hayden in respect of the background papers prepared by the Department. I understand that Sir Hayden is currently considering the parties' responses.
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will publish the minutes of the final meeting of Sir Hayden Phillips' review of the funding of political parties. [318347]
Mr. Wills: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor (Mr. Straw) to the hon. Member for Chichester (Mr. Tyrie) on 16 October 2009, Official Report, column 1194W.
Prisons: Drugs
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what progress has been made on the development of a National Intelligence Model to enable the National Offender Management Service to disrupt the supply of illicit drugs into prisons. [316189]
Maria Eagle: The National Offender Management Service is preparing revised guidance on the management and use of intelligence in prisons. While not meeting the specific technical criteria of a National Intelligence Model, it describes key strategic tools and processes for the effective gathering, analysis and action from intelligence. On the specific issue of addressing illicit drug supply, a range of measures in combination disrupt the supply of drugs into prisons. The level of drug misuse in prisons as measured by mandatory drug testing has declined by 68 per cent. since 1996-97.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people in each of the 10 (a) most and (b) least deprived local authority areas have (i) undertaken drug treatment programmes and (ii) been convicted of (A) alcohol-related offences and (B) violent crimes in each of the last five years. [317769]
Claire Ward: The available information from the Department of Health is shown in the following tables, showing the number of adults in drug treatment by year in the top 10 most and least deprived partnerships:
| Number of adults in treatment by year in top 10 most deprived partnerships, 2005-06 to 2008-09( 1) | ||||
| Partnership name | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 |
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