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6 Apr 2010 : Column 1177W—continued
In 2008-09 there was a switch from the House of Lords Refreshments Department to the House of Commons Catering and Retail Services. The usual function rooms and catering services were not available and consequently the costs of staging the event were higher. The choice of menu/catering has since been reviewed and economies made, enabling a reduction in costs for 2009-10.
Departmental Pay
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 16 March 2010, Official Report, column 833W, on legal costs, how many employees have instigated legal proceedings against his Department in cases concerning remuneration in each month of the last three years. [325258]
Mr. Wills: Details of the number of employees instigating legal proceedings against the Ministry of Justice (excluding NOMS) are contained in the following table.
| Number | |
| (1) Including one Employment Tribunal claim with 54 claimants. (2) Including one Employment Tribunal claim with 34 claimants. | |
The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) is an agency of the Ministry of Justice. It has not been possible to obtain information covering NOMS in answer to this question without incurring disproportionate cost.
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 16 March 2010, Official Report, column 833W, on legal costs, in how many cases concerning remuneration of employees the final ruling was (a) in favour of and (b) against his Department in each month of the last three years. [325259]
Mr. Wills: In the core Ministry of Justice (excluding NOMS) none of the cases whose legal costs or compensation values reported in my answer of 16 March were subject to a final ruling.
All cases were either withdrawn by the claimants or where applicable, settlement was agreed by the Ministry in advance of a ruling.
The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) is an Agency of the Ministry of Justice. It has not been possible to obtain information covering NOMS in answer to this question without incurring disproportionate cost.
Magistrates: Age
Jacqui Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps are taken to ensure that appointments of magistrates avoid discrimination on grounds of age. [325386]
Mr. Straw: The Lord Chancellor appoints magistrates with the concurrence of the Lord Chief Justice. They are recruited and selected by 101 local advisory committees. The following steps are designed to avoid all forms of discrimination in that process:
appointment is strictly on merit; eligible candidates are assessed solely against the key qualities required of all magistrates, irrespective of factors such as age
all advisory committee members undertake mandatory training on how to avoid bias or discrimination during the selection process
the selection process has been reviewed by my Department's legal advisers to ensure compliance with applicable anti-discrimination legislation.
Opposition
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether his Department has undertaken costings of the policies of the (a) Conservative party and (b) Liberal Democrat party at the request of Ministers or special advisers in the last 36 months. [324251]
Mr. Wills: I refer the hon. Member to answer given by my hon. Friend, the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Sarah McCarthy-Fry) on 30 March 2010, Official Report, column 1044W.
Political Parties: Finance
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer to the right hon. Member for Horsham of 26 February 2010, Official Report, column 795W, on political parties: finance, what response he made to Sir Hayden Phillips' request on release of the minutes and background papers. [324408]
Mr. Straw: My response to Sir Hayden Phillips consented to the release of the minutes and background papers from the inter-party talks on party funding.
Prisoners: Mobile Phones
David Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many prosecutions there have been for offences relating to pornographic or violent images discovered on telephones seized from inmates in prisons in England and Wales in the last 12 months; [324863]
(2) whether his Department has evidence of the transfer of violent or pornographic images from telephone to telephone by inmates in prisons in England and Wales. [324864]
Maria Eagle: The court proceedings database holds information on defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales. The court proceedings database does not hold specific information on offences beyond descriptions provided by the statutes under which prosecutions are brought. Information available centrally on defendants proceeded against does not identify if the defendant is a prisoner. While data are extracted from mobile phones by a central unit, action taken as a result of that data is a matter for individual establishments and their partners. This is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
David Blakey's report and the Government response were published on 7 July 2008. The report emphasised the difficulties inherent in reducing contraband supply in prisons, and highlighted the link between drug supply and mobile phone availability in prisons.
Good progress has been made in implementing Blakey's recommendations and the Government are committed to reducing the number of mobile phones in prisons and addressing the risks that mobile phones present both to prison security and to the safety of the public. We have implemented a strategy to minimise the number of mobile phones entering prisons, to find phones that do get in and to disrupt mobile phones that cannot be found.
As part of this we have already strengthened the law through the Offender Management Act 2007, which made it an offence with a penalty of up to two years' imprisonment to bring a mobile phone or component into a prison. We are also taking forward legislation to criminalise the possession of devices including mobile telephones within a prison without authorisation.
Due to the covert nature of mobile phone use in prisons, the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) is not able to estimate the number of mobile phones or component parts in circulation. NOMS is also unable to assess their usage.
Prisons in England and Wales are instructed to send mobile phones and SIM cards found to a central unit and the data extracted from these mobile phones are then shared with establishments so that appropriate action can be taken locally. A record of these local actions is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Prisons: Organised Crime
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people convicted of offences relating to involvement in organised crime were in prison when charged with those offences in each of the last three years. [325661]
Maria Eagle: The data requested are not held.
There is no list of offences that relate to involvement in organised crime. Therefore, to provide these data would require an investigation into each individual conviction where the offender was in prison custody
when charged, and in many cases a subjective assessment as to whether the offence related to serious organised crime. This would incur disproportionate cost.
The National Offender Management Service is also fully engaged in action to address serious and organised crime strategically, including the work identified in the Government report "Extending Our Reach: A Comprehensive Approach to Tackling Serious Organised Crime" to develop a strategy to manage serious organised criminals while in prison.
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate the Prison Service has made of the incidence of organised crime carried out by serving prisoners over the last three years. [325663]
Maria Eagle: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 30 March 2010, Official Report, column 1086W.
Covert criminal activity is, of its nature, very difficult to quantify. Prisons have a well established security information reporting framework. Where concerns are identified about a prisoner's potential criminal activity, prisons can draw on a range of measures to identify and disrupt that activity.
The National Offender Management Service is also fully engaged in action to address serious and organised crime strategically, including the work identified in the Government report "Extending Our Reach: A
Comprehensive Approach to Tackling Serious Organised Crime" to develop a strategy to manage serious organised criminals while in prison.
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners were charged with a serious crime carried out while they were in prison in 2008-09. [325664]
Maria Eagle: While the number of serious offences, as defined by schedule 1 to the Serious Crime Act 2007, are recorded, data as to whether the offender was imprisoned at the time of charge are not held. To provide the data would require an investigation into each such offence, which would incur disproportionate cost.
The National Offender Management Service is also fully engaged in action to address serious and organised crime strategically, including the work identified in the Government report "Extending Our Reach: A Comprehensive Approach to Tackling Serious Organised Crime" to develop a strategy to manage serious organised criminals whilst in prison.
Protection of Badgers Act 1992
Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there have been for offences under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 in each year since 2006. [325344]
Claire Ward: The requested information is shown in the following tables:
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