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21 Jun 2010 : Column 48W—continued

Justice

Burglary: Self-defence

Miss Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he plans to take to review the law on homeowners using force to protect their property from burglars. [2945]

Mr Blunt: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice, my right hon. Friend the Member for Arundel and South Downs (Nick Herbert) on 15 June 2010, Official Report,
21 Jun 2010 : Column 49W
column 735. We are reviewing the law and its interpretation carefully and will explore all options before bringing forward proposals. We must make sure that householders protecting their homes from intruders have the appropriate level of legal protection and a clear understanding of their rights.

Cemeteries

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent estimate he has made of the number of gravestones which have temporary wooden stakes for health and safety reasons. [3419]

Mr Djanogly: We have not made any such estimate. Last year, the Ministry of Justice conducted a sample survey of burial ground operators to assess how far they were aware of, and acting on, the Ministry's recent guidance on dealing with unstable memorials. The results indicate that memorials presenting a risk of causing serious injury are now more likely to be identified by suitable signs instead of being supported by stakes or laid down. We are keeping under review the need for any further action, in conjunction with burial professionals.

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Cookham Wood Secure Training Centre

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many children of each (a) sex, (b) race and (c) age have been (i) remanded to and (ii) received into Medway Secure Training Centre in each year since it opened. [2499]

Mr Blunt: The following tables show the number of custodial remand episodes and total custodial episodes (including remands) started in Medway Secure Training Centre in each year from 2001 to 2009 by sex, ethnicity and age. Complete data are not available for the period before 2001.

An "episode" is a period a young person has spent in custody. In some cases, a young person starts more than one custodial episode during a single 12-month period, either for a new offence or because of a change in the legal basis for his or her detention, such as from remand to sentence.

These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing and may be subject to change over time.

Custodial episodes by sex, 2001-09
	Remand episodes			Total custodial episodes
	Female	Male	Total	Female	Male	Total
2001	1	0	1	37	88	125
2002	22	2	24	52	100	152
2003	36	29	65	116	168	284
2004	32	26	58	114	120	234
2005	33	23	56	114	121	235
2006	39	24	63	128	106	234
2007	20	35	55	91	124	215
2008	26	26	52	122	108	230
2009	21	41	62	88	157	245

Custodial episodes by ethnic group, 2001-09
	Remand e pisodes
Ethnicity	Asian	Black	Mixed	Not available	Other	White	Total
2001	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
2002	1	1	4	0	0	18	24
2003	0	16	5	6	0	38	65
2004	2	15	5	2	0	34	58
2005	0	8	7	4	2	35	56
2006	3	9	11	4	1	35	63
2007	0	18	3	1	0	33	55
2008	1	9	7	8	1	26	52
2009	4	10	5	3	0	40	62

	Total custodial episodes
Ethnicity	Asian	Black	Mixed	Not Available	Other	White	Total
2001	3	10	14	0	0	98	125
2002	4	25	18	3	1	101	152
2003	3	47	22	11	5	196	284
2004	9	37	22	7	6	153	234
2005	5	30	24	9	4	163	235
2006	6	38	26	13	3	148	234
2007	2	38	15	11	2	147	215
2008	1	43	23	24	1	138	230
2009	7	37	28	14	1	158	245

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Custodial episodes by age , 2001-09
	Remand e pisodes
Age	12	13	14	15	16	17	Total
2001	0	0	0	0	1	0	1
2002	0	2	4	9	9	0	24
2003	1	8	22	20	13	1	65
2004	1	5	15	18	19	0	58
2005	1	3	20	15	16	1	56
2006	0	1	20	13	29	0	63
2007	1	3	23	12	16	0	55
2008	1	5	14	15	17	0	52
2009	1	5	22	17	17	0	62

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