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23 Jun 2010 : Column 216W—continued
Departmental Public Expenditure
Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) how many of her Department's contracts with its suppliers are under review as a result of the recently announced reductions in public expenditure; and what the monetary value is of all such contracts which are under review; [3648]
(2) how many officials in her Department are working on renegotiating contracts for the supply of goods and services to the Department as a result of recently announced reductions in public spending; what savings are expected to accrue to her Department from such renegotiations; how much expenditure her Department will incur on such renegotiations; and when such renegotiations will be completed. [3670]
Mrs Gillan: The Wales Office is a separate entity within the Ministry of Justice, and uses their centralised contracts. Wales Office staff take no direct role in any negotiations but my department will benefit from any savings gained.
Devolution
Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many times she has met Members of the European Parliament representing Wales since her appointment; and what was discussed at each such meeting. [3456]
Mrs Gillan: I have met one Welsh MEP, exchanged correspondence with another MEP and my private office is still waiting to find a mutually convenient date to meet them all in the near future.
Economic Situation
Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent discussions she has had with CBI Wales on the state of the Welsh economy. [3042]
Mrs Gillan: I have had initial meetings with several Welsh business organisations, including CBI Wales, who I addressed last Friday in Cardiff. I intend to have further such meetings in the weeks and months ahead in order to forge constructive working relationships with these key stakeholders in the Welsh economy.
RAF St Athan
Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions she has had with the Deputy First Minister of Wales on the effects on the economy in Wales of the proposed St. Athan Defence Training Academy. [3457]
Mrs Gillan: I have met the Deputy First Minister on several occasions since I took office. Discussions focused on a range of issues affecting Wales.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Algeria: Foreign Relations
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to encourage bilateral relations with Algeria. [3462]
Alistair Burt: The UK already enjoys a good bilateral relationship with Algeria. There is established cooperation on trade, migration, counter-terrorism and energy and our two countries have signed agreements in areas of judicial cooperation, migration and defence relations. Recently we have worked closely together at the UN to deter the payment of ransoms for hostages to terrorist groups and at the Conference on Disarmament and the Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference and I look forward to discussing further action in areas of mutual interest with my Algerian counterparts over the coming months.
Aung San Suu Kyi
Glenda Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has made to the Burmese government on the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi. [3618]
Mr Jeremy Browne:
I raised Burma with ASEAN Ministers at the EU-ASEAN Ministerial on 26 May 2010 at which the Burmese Foreign Minister was present.
I made clear that without the release and participation of all political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's elections will not be free and fair. The subsequent summit statement reflected the EU's concern. To mark Aung San Suu Kyi's 65th birthday, my right hon. Friends the Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary and I called on the military regime to end her detention. Our ambassador in Rangoon repeatedly raises the need for the release of prisoners of conscience, including Aung San Suu Kyi, with Ministers in the Burmese military government. We will continue to raise the plight of Burma's political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi through the EU, with Burma's neighbours, and we will highlight the issue in the UN Security Council and UN's human rights bodies. We endorse the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention's recent observation that the ongoing detention of Aung San Suu Kyi is illegal and in violation of international human rights law.
Colombia: Political Prisoners
Alun Michael: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received on the number of political prisoners being held in Colombia. [3407]
Mr Jeremy Browne: We have not received any recent reports on the number of political prisoners held in Colombia.
Departmental Reviews
Andrew Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer by the Leader of the House of 8 June 2010, Official Report, column 137W, on Government departments: reviews, what reviews are being undertaken by his Department; for what purpose in each case; and on what timescale. [2632]
Mr Lidington: The Coalition Agreement sets out in detail the Government's future plans, including the key reviews it will be undertaking. My Department will bring forward detailed information about these reviews in due course.
Northern Ireland
Departmental Pay
Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to the answer of 7 June 2010, Official Report, column 19W, on departmental manpower, what the salary range is of staff employed at each grade in (a) the London office and (b) the central support staff team. [3252]
Mr Paterson: The salary range for staff employed in the joint Private Office in London and the central support staff team in Belfast is set out as follows.
| London Office and central support staff (Belfast) | |
| Salary range | |
London based staff are paid an additional sum of £4,400 per annum for London Weighting.
Belfast based staff receive an additional revised environmental allowance payment of £287 per annum.
State Retirement Pensions
Mr Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people in Northern Ireland are in receipt of the state pension. [3406]
Mr Paterson: This is a devolved matter which is the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Minister for Social Development whose department sponsors the Social Security Agency.
Terrorism
Ms Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he has received a security assessment of the murder of a man on the Shankill Road, Belfast on 28 May 2010; and if he will make a statement. [3561]
Mr Paterson: I receive regular security assessments from my security advisers. The murder of Bobby Moffet on the Shankill Road on 28 May is subject to an ongoing police investigation and I do not wish to make any further comment on it at this time.
Justice
Marriage: Homosexuality
Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will bring forward proposals to allow civil weddings and partnership ceremonies to include religious readings, music and symbols. [2119]
Lynne Featherstone: I have been asked to reply.
Currently, same-sex couples can enter a civil partnership under the Civil Partnership Act 2004 which gives them the opportunity to obtain legal recognition of their relationship. Couples who register their civil partnerships gain vital rights and protections, similar to married couples. Civil partnership registrations are entirely secular in nature and, as with civil marriage, prohibited from taking place on religious premises, or containing any religious language. An amendment made to the Equality Act 2010 removed the express prohibition on civil partnerships taking place on religious premises.
This Government are committed to supporting civil partnerships. This week, the Prime Minister launched Working for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Equality, an ambitious programme of work to tackle outdated prejudices and ensure equal chances for everyone, whatever their sexual orientation or gender identity. It contains a commitment to talk to those with a key interest in this issue about what the next stage should be for civil partnerships, including how some religious organisations can allow same-sex couples the opportunity to register their relationship in a religious setting if they wish to do so.
Prisons: Drugs
Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what arrangements are in place for rehabilitation of drug addicts in prisons in England and Wales. [3843]
Mr Blunt: The National Offender Management Service has in place a drug treatment framework, based on the National Treatment Agency's revised Models of Care, to address the needs of drug misusing prisoners. The interventions available are designed to meet the needs of low, moderate and severe drug misusers - irrespective of age, gender or ethnicity. Core elements of the framework are available in all adult prisons across England and Wales. Higher intensity services are available in selected sites according to the drug treatment needs offenders.
Clinical services, detoxification and/or maintenance prescribing;
CARATs (Counselling, Assessment, Referral, Advice and Throughcare service) - specialist support and advice services that, following assessment, deliver psychosocial interventions, treatment and support. CARATs are available in all adult prisons in England and Wales and take the lead Drug Interventions Programme (DIP) role in prisons, engaging with prison Resettlement teams and Criminal Justice Integrated Teams (CJITs) in the community;
Drug Rehabilitation Programmes - There are 113 drug rehabilitation programmes running in 96 establishments. Prisons provide a range of drug rehabilitation programmes that vary in programme length - from four weeks (Short Duration Programme) to more than a year (therapeutic communities).
The intensive drug treatment programmes available in prison can be split into four main categories:
The cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT)
The 12-Step approach
Therapeutic Communities (TCs)
Short Duration Programme (SDP)
This Government believe that more can be done to cut drug related reoffending by overhauling the system of rehabilitation. We are considering how sentencing and treatment for drug use can help offenders to come off drugs once and for all. This includes the exploration of alternative secure treatment based accommodation.
Prisons: Religion
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much the HM Chief Inspector of Prisons report on experiences of Muslim prisoners cost to produce. [3091]
Mr Blunt: This material for this review was gathered between February 2009 and June 2010, during which time the inspectorate also produced 14 other thematic reviews, 132 inspection reports of prisons, young offender institutions, immigration detention facilities and police custody, as well as a range of other work. The report drew on material gained in the course of the Inspectorate's normal inspection activity with some further research by inspectorate staff. For this reason, it is not possible to produce discrete costings for this review.
Scotland
Departmental Pay
Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland pursuant to the answer of 7 June 2010, Official Report, column 3W, on departmental manpower, what the salary range is of staff employed at each grade in the private office of each Minister in his Department. [3249]
David Mundell: All staff in the Scotland Office are on secondment, mainly from the Ministry of Justice or the Scottish Government. There are currently four full-time staff in the Secretary of State for Scotland's office and two full-time staff in the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State's office. There are also three other full time staff in the Private Office. They are all employees of the Ministry of Justice. Detailed information relating to salary ranges by grade is available from the Ministry of Justice.
Home Department
Alcoholic Drinks: Crime
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the number of people convicted of crimes in which alcohol was a contributory factor in each of the last three years. [3317]
James Brokenshire: The data requested on crimes where alcohol is a contributory factor are not collected centrally.
Children
Mr Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the number of mothers of babies classified by the police as having been abandoned who were subsequently re-united with their babies in each of the last five years. [3765]
Nick Herbert: The requested data are not collected centrally.
Although the Home Office collects data on the number of offences of abandoning a child under the age of two years recorded by the police, the Home Office does not collect related data on the number of these children who are subsequently re-united with their mothers.
Closed Circuit Television
Alan Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans she has for the future regulation of closed circuit television; and if she will make a statement. [3817]
Mrs May: [holding answer 22 June 2010]: In our Coalition programme for Government, we have stated that we will further regulate CCTV. We will bring forward proposals in due course.
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