17 Oct 2011 : Column 665W
Coroners
James Wharton: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the composition will be of the proposed Ministerial Board to oversee non-judicial aspects of the services provided by coroners. [73168]
Mr Djanogly: The full composition of the Ministerial Board has yet to be finalised. It is likely to include representatives of those responsible for delivering coroner services, independent members and representatives of the new Bereaved Organisations Committee that will support the board.
Courts: Expenditure
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the level was of capital expenditure on magistrates and Crown courts in (a) 1997-98 and (b) 2010-11; and how much he plans to allocate for these purposes in (i) 2011-12, (ii) 2012-13 and (iii) 2013-14. [73871]
Mr Djanogly: Her Majesty’s Courts Service was formed on 1 April 2006. Prior to this magistrates courts were the responsibility of local authorities and information relating to capital expenditure is not held centrally. Capital expenditure on Crown courts for 1997-98 is not available.
In order to offer greater flexibility and improve the efficiency of Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service—HMCTS—Estate, there are numerous court buildings which are equipped to handle more than one jurisdiction. Therefore, in cases where there is more than one court located within a building, it is not possible to provide a breakdown of capital expenditure for each court.
The following table shows the 2010-11 capital expenditure for magistrates courts, Crown courts and combined courts where there is a magistrates or Crown court on site:
|
|
2010-11 outturn (£ million) |
The following table the latest budgeted HMCTS capital spend for 2011-12:
|
|
2011-12 budget (£ million) |
The capital budgets for 2012-13 and 2013-14 have not yet been allocated and therefore it is not possible to provide a breakdown of proposed expenditure.
Departmental Buildings
Dr Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what (a) building and (b) refurbishment projects his Department plans in the (i) current and (ii) next financial year; and what the cost will be of each such project. [74382]
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Mr Blunt: I will write to the hon. Member with the information requested as soon as possible.
Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether any (a) Ministers, (b) officials and (c) special advisers in his Department use private e-mail accounts for the conduct of Government business. [73207]
Mr Kenneth Clarke: The Ministerial Code, the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers, and the Civil Service Code set out how Ministers, officials and special advisers should conduct Government business.
Official Hospitality
Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department spent on hospitality for events hosted by each Minister in his Department in each of the last 12 months. [73669]
Mr Kenneth Clarke: The only expenditure incurred for events during this period was by me, as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice on the following events:
|
|
Event | Cost (£) |
|
Judiciary and European Court Justice Dinner, hosted by Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice |
||
All hospitality is closely scrutinised and carefully monitored to ensure good value for taxpayers' money and that it stays within the appropriate rules and guidelines.
Departmental Press: Subscriptions
Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department spent on newspapers, periodicals and trade profession magazines in 2010-11. [75004]
Mr Kenneth Clarke: The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) subscribes to many different periodicals and professional magazines (hard copy and online via individual purchase and subscription) for both staff and the judiciary in order to keep up to date with the latest news and thinking in a wide range of professional areas, including law, corporate services and job specific roles.
Accounting systems for the MoJ, Her Majesty’s Courts Service, Tribunals Service and Office of the Public Guardian do not differentiate between soft and hard copy purchases. The same account codes also include some books and it would incur disproportionate costs to tease these separate costs out. The natural account codes for the National Offender Management Service do not differentiate between purchased publications and publications created for their organisation.
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Procurement
Gordon Henderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of employing civil servants to undertake procurement for his Department in (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10 and (c) 2010-11; and what estimate he has made of the cost of (i) employing civil servants and (ii) engaging consultants to undertake procurement for his Department in 2011-12. [73186]
Mr Kenneth Clarke: The cost of civil servants to undertake procurement for the Ministry of Justice is detailed in the following table. The cost shown for 2011-12 is a forecast. There are no plans to engage consultants to undertake procurement in 2011-12.
| Civil servants—estimated cost | |
|
|
£ |
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what contracts of a monetary value of (a) between £100,000 and £500,000, (b) between £500,000 and £1 million, (c) between £1 million and £5 million, (d) between £5 million and £10 million, (e) between £10 million and £50 million, (f) between £50 million and £100 million, (g) between £100 million and £500 million, (h) between £500 million and £1 billion, (i) between £1 billion and £5 billion and (j) over £5 billion his Department and its predecessors have entered into with private suppliers in each year since 1990. [74213]
Mr Kenneth Clarke: Details of contracts entered into by the Ministry of Justice and its predecessors going back to 1990 are not held centrally. To obtain the information in the format required would necessitate approaching a number of Departments and their agencies. We estimate that to undertake this exercise would be at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what savings to the public purse will be realised as a result of contracting out HM Prison (a) Featherstone II, (b) Buckley Hall, (c) Birmingham and (d) Wellingborough in each of the remaining years of the comprehensive spending review period; [73778]
(2) what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of indexation for the contract for running HM Prison (a) Birmingham and (b) Featherstone II in each remaining year of the comprehensive spending review period. [73779]
Mr Blunt: The information is as follows:
(1) The information requested is provided in the following table. As Featherstone II is a new build prison and therefore currently not in operation, the savings values stated are calculated as the difference between the expected price outlined in the original business case and the price submitted by the successful contractor during competition.
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| £ | ||||
|
|
2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-2015 |
The services commencement date for HMP Featherstone II is April 2012 therefore there are no savings to be reported in 2011-12.
The Ministry of Justice withdrew HMP Wellingborough from the competition in autumn 2010 therefore this portion of the parliamentary question is not applicable.
(2) The information requested is provided in the following table.
| £ | ||||
|
|
2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 |
Bids for the prison competition were submitted on a price year one basis and then evaluated on a net present cost basis. Indexation is included in the contract to take account of the inflationary impact upon costs. Elements of the contract are not indexed, staff costs are up-rated in line with the average weekly earnings index, and non-staff costs are up-rated in line with the retail prices index.
This indexation rate broadly reflects the inflationary pressure on public sector prisons.
The savings figures quoted for each of the prisons already take account of indexation.
The services commencement date for HMP Featherstone II is April 2012 therefore there is no cost of indexation until 2013-14.
Prisons
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much (a) his Department, (b) the Prison Service bids unit and (c) its other agencies and non-departmental bodies spent on (i) staff, (ii) travel and subsistence and (iii) other costs in respect of the competition to run HM Prison (A) Featherstone 2, (B) Buckley Hall, (C) Birmingham and (D) Wellingborough. [73777]
Mr Blunt: I will write to the right hon. Member with details of actual aggregate spending relating to the competitions held for HMP Birmingham, HMP Buckley Hall, HMP Doncaster, HMP Featherstone 2 and HMP Wellingborough, The Ministry of Justice does not hold the requested information for each of the individual competitions for the five establishments.
Estimated or forecast spending on the prison competitions for HMP Birmingham, HMP Buckley Hall, HMP Doncaster, HMP Featherstone 2 and HMP
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Wellingborough, together with underpinning caveats and assumptions, is detailed as follows. All costs are given to two significant figures.
(A) For their contribution to the work on the competitions for the five prisons named above, we forecast that the combined spending of Ministry of Justice Procurement and Ministry of Justice ICT will be:
(i) £1,070,000 on staff;
(ii) £0 on travel and subsistence; and
(iii) £1,600,000 on other costs.
Operational input to supplier dialogue and evaluation phase have been excluded from this cost model.
(B) The overall agreed value of the Public Sector Bids Unit/Business Development Unit for prison competitions was £1,100,000.
An agreed value was used in bidding, as the cost of the Public Sector Bids Unit/Business Development Unit was not identified separately by expenditure or by Public Sector Bids Unit/Business Development Unit itself within the accounts. No local cost tracking was undertaken. Delays in the bidding process added costs to the Public Sector Bids Unit/Business Development Unit, although the work undertaken could not be directly attributed to the above bids.
Public Sector Bids Unit/Business Development Unit costs for HMP Wellingborough and HMP Doncaster ceased when MoJ Procurement stopped developing the relevant bids. Work on HMP Birmingham and HMP Featherstone 2 stopped when the announcement of contract award for these two prisons was made on 31 March 2011. Some support costs, which have not been quantified, have been incurred in the mobilisation phase at HMP Buckley Hall.
(C) For their contribution to the work on the competitions for the five prisons named above, we forecast that the combined spending of NOMS Business and Service Development Group, Estates, and NOMS ICT will be:
(i) £1,300,000 on staff;
(ii) £70,000 on travel and subsistence; and
(iii) £700,000 on other costs.
Operational input to supplier dialogue and evaluation phase have been excluded from this cost model.
Some teams in NOMS were deployed to these prison competitions from other work, including during evaluation stages in the procurement phase. The Department has not accounted for this potential opportunity cost.
Driving Offences
Grahame M. Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 10 October 2011, Official Report, column 163W, on driving offences: speed limits, how many people with 12 points on their driving licence have been given exemptions from a driving ban in (a) the north-east and (b) England in the latest period for which figures are available. [74571]
Mr Blunt:
Information held centrally by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) on the Court Proceedings Database does not contain information about the circumstances behind each case beyond the description provided in the statute under which proceedings are brought. Information
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is not held on whether drivers incurring or exceeding 12 penalty points were given an exemption from a driving ban.
Drugs: Convictions
Nicola Blackwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 15 June 2011, Official Report, column 839W, on drugs: convictions, how many of those receiving custodial sentences for each category of offence were (a) first offenders and (b) repeat offenders. [74105]
Mr Blunt: The following table shows, for the years 2007 to 2010, for drug offences that resulted in immediate custodial sentences, the proportion of each category involving offenders with no previous criminal history and the proportion involving offenders with a record of a previous reprimand, warning, caution or conviction.
These 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 presented here are provisional and subject to change as more information is recorded by the police.
| Proportion of offenders receiving an immediate custodial sentence for a drug offence who were either first time offenders or repeat offenders, 2007-10, England and Wales | ||
| Percentage of offenders receiving an immediate custodial sentence | ||
| Drug offence | First time offender | Repeat offender |
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| (1) Percentages are not shown where the total number of convictions is small (less than 50). | ||
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Fines
Mr Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many fines issued in the most recent year for which figures are available were (a) paid in full within one year, (b) paid in part and (c) remain unpaid in each of the smallest geographic areas in England for which data are maintained. [74663]
Mr Djanogly: Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service systems do not currently identify how many fines that were imposed in a particular year were paid in that period or remain outstanding at the end of the year. This data could be provided only at disproportionate cost as it would require a manual search of all fine accounts.
Procurement
Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what progress his Department has made in eliminating pre-qualification questionnaires for procurements with a value of under £100,000. [73832]
Mr Kenneth Clarke: As of September 2011 the Ministry of Justice eProcurement sourcing system has been updated to eliminate pre-qualification questions for procurements with a value of less than £100,000.
Human Trafficking: Victim Support Schemes
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the nationality was of each suspected victim of trafficking referred to the Trafficking Victim Support Scheme run by the Salvation Army between (a) 15 to 31 July and (b) 1 to 31 August 2011; in which region each of the suspected victims was found; and which agency referred each case to the scheme. [73426]
Crispin Blunt: The tables below set out the information requested.
| (a) 15 to 31 July 2011 | ||
| Nationality | Region | Referring Organisation |
| (b) 1 to 31 August 2011 | ||
| Nationality | Region | Referring Organisation |
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Legal Aid Scheme
Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many claims were brought against public authorities using legal aid in each of the last five years. [73460]
Mr Djanogly: The information requested is not readily available and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Legal Aid Scheme: Greater London
Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many legal aid matter starts there were in (a) social welfare law, (b) family law, (c) clinical negligence and (d) immigration law in (i) West Ham constituency and (ii) the London borough of Newham in each of the last five years. [73457]
Mr Djanogly: The Legal Services Commission (LSC) is responsible for administering the legal aid scheme in England and Wales. Further breakdown by category of law per constituency is not available.
The following tables show the numbers of acts of assistance delivered by legal aid providers with postcodes falling within the West Ham constituency separately and in the London borough of Newham as a whole, which comprises the West Ham and East Ham
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constituencies in the last four years. This information represents the nearest matches of the LSC's available data to the information requested. The figures for 2010-11 are not yet available.
| West Ham constituency | ||||
|
|
Crime lower claims | Legal help new matter starts | Civil representation certificates issues | Crime higher cases |
| London borough of Newham (comprising West Ham and East Ham constituencies) | ||||
|
|
Crime lower claims | Legal help new matter starts | Civil representation certificates issues | Crime higher cases |
Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many organisations in (a) West Ham constituency and (b) the London borough of Newham are under contract to the Legal Services Commission to provide legal aid services; how many legal aid cases those practices have taken on during the current contract period; and what the monetary value of each such contract is. [73458]
Mr Djanogly: The Legal Services Commission (LSC) is responsible for administering the legal aid scheme in England and Wales. Based on the postcode of legal aid providers recorded in the LSC's systems, there are currently 28 active civil and 22 active crime providers with offices in the West Ham and East Ham constituencies.
The information in the following table represents the nearest matches of the LSC's available data to the information requested. The figures for 2010-2011, number of cases during the current contract period and claims are not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
| London borough of Newham ( c omprising West Ham and East Ham constituencies) | ||||
|
|
Crime lower claims | Legal help new matter starts | Civil representation certificates issues | Crime higher cases |
Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many claims against (a) local authorities in London and (b) Newham London borough council were brought using legal aid in each of the last five years. [73459]
Mr Djanogly: The information requested is not readily available and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
17 Oct 2011 : Column 675W
Offences Against Children
Michael Connarty: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how the implementation obligations in respect of each article of the draft EU Directive on Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children will be met by existing domestic law and practice. [73032]
Mr Kenneth Clarke: The Government considered that the Council agreed text of the EU directive on combating child sexual abuse and exploitation and child pornography, which was the subject of a debate in the House on 26 April 2011, would not have required changes to existing legislation and practice in England and Wales. The final text of this directive however has still to be agreed as changes were made to the text over the course of negotiations with the European Parliament. An article-by-article account of the plans for implementation across the UK will be provided once the text is finally agreed.
Offenders: Speech Therapy
Mr Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) young and (b) adult offenders are recorded as having speech language and communication needs; and at what stage in the incarceration process each category of offender is assessed for any such needs. [74627]
Mr Blunt: The number of young and adult offenders with speech, language or communication needs is not recorded.
Education providers under contract with the Young People’s Learning Agency (YPLA) assess the learning levels and needs of young people within the first seven days of entering custody.
A health needs assessment is undertaken when individuals enter prison to assist in identifying speech, language and communications needs.
Office of the Chief Coroner
Mr Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what costs his Department has incurred in relation to the Office of the Chief Coroner in each of the last four financial years. [73689]
Mr Djanogly: The Office of the Chief Coroner has not been established, therefore the Ministry of Justice incurred has incurred no costs relating to the office in any of the last four financial years.
Prison Accommodation
Mrs Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many hours per week (a) young offenders and (b) adult prisoners at Parc prison, Bridgend spent in their cells in each year since 2005; and if he will make a statement. [74117]
Mr Blunt:
As a measure of safety and decency in prisons, the National Offender Management Service collects data on the average hours per week day that prisoners are unlocked. By subtracting the average hours unlocked from the 24 hours in a day it is possible to
17 Oct 2011 : Column 676W
estimate hours spent locked in cell. It should be noted that the latter will include hours when prisoners are asleep.
The information is not available in the format requested. Data cannot be broken down by prisoner type for HMP and YOI Parc. Figures for time locked in cell are set out in the following table for HMP and YOI Parc for the financial years 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11.
| Estimated average time locked in cell | |
|
|
Hours per prisoner per day |
Prisoners : Education
Mrs Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many hours per week (a) young offenders and (b) adult prisoners at Parc prison, Bridgend spent on (i) work-based activities and (ii) education-based activities in each year since 2005; and if he will make a statement. [74118]
Mr Blunt: The information is not available in the format requested. Data cannot be broken down by prisoner type for HMP and YOI Parc. The data available are for the whole of HMP and YOI Parc's population. The following table shows the average number of hours per week per prisoner spent on work-based and education-based activities for the financial years 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 at HMP and YOI Parc.
|
|
Education | Work |
| Note: 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. | ||
Prisons
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will estimate the total cost to the public purse of the preparation of the competitions for (a) HMP Featherstone 2, (b) Buckley Hall, (c) Birmingham and (d) Wellingborough. [74502]
Mr Blunt: It is not possible to separate the cost of preparing for the prison competitions for HMP Birmingham, HMP Buckley Hall, HMP Doncaster, HMP Featherstone 2, and HMP Wellingborough from the total costs associated with the competitions for those five prisons.
For estimates of aggregated costs associated with the above prison competitions, I refer the right hon. Member to my response to his question of today.
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Estimated or forecast spending on the prison competitions for HMP Birmingham, HMP Buckley Hall, HMP Doncaster, HMP Featherstone 2 and HMP Wellingborough, together with underpinning caveats and assumptions, is detailed as follows. All costs are given to two significant figures.
(A) For their contribution to the work on the competitions for the five prisons named above, we forecast that the combined spending of Ministry of Justice Procurement and Ministry of Justice ICT will be:
(i) £1,070,000 on staff;
(ii) £0 on travel and subsistence; and
(iii) £1,600,000 on other costs.
Operational input to supplier dialogue and evaluation phase have been excluded from this cost model.
(B) The overall agreed value of the Public Sector Bids Unit/Business Development Unit for prison competitions was £1,100,000.
An agreed value was used in bidding, as the cost of the Public Sector Bids Unit/Business Development Unit was not identified separately by expenditure or by Public Sector Bids Unit/Business Development Unit itself within the accounts. No local cost tracking was undertaken. Delays in the bidding process added costs to the Public Sector Bids Unit/Business Development Unit, although the work undertaken could not be directly attributed to the above bids.
Public Sector Bids Unit/Business Development Unit costs for HMP Wellingborough and HMP Doncaster ceased when MoJ Procurement stopped developing the relevant bids. Work on HMP Birmingham and HMP Featherstone 2 stopped when the announcement of contract award for these two prisons was made on 31 March 2011. Some support costs, which have not been quantified, have been incurred in the mobilisation phase at HMP Buckley Hall.
(C) For their contribution to the work on the competitions for the five prisons named above, we forecast that the combined spending of NOMS Business and Service Development Group, Estates, and NOMS ICT will be:
(i) £1,300,000 on staff;
(ii) £70,000 on travel and subsistence;
(iii) £700,000 on other costs.
Operational input to supplier dialogue and evaluation phase have been excluded from this cost model.
Some teams in NOMS were deployed to these prison competitions from other work, including during evaluation stages in the procurement phase. The Department has not accounted for this potential opportunity cost.
Prisons: Manpower
Mrs Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the ratio of prison officers to (a) young offenders and (b) adult prisoners was in each year since 2005; and if he will make a statement. [74119]
Mr Blunt: Information on the ratio of officers to young offenders and officers to adult prisoners since 31 March 2005 is provided in the following table. The ratios are calculated as the number of prisoners to each officer.
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It is not possible to disaggregate staffing information for sites that hold both young offenders and adults. For the purposes of calculating the ratios such sites are allocated as either young offender or adult depending on largest number of prisoners of each type held.
| Ratio of prisoners to officers, end of March 2005 to 2011 | ||
|
|
Young offenders | Adult prisoners |
| Note: 1. Staffing information includes prison officers, senior officers and principal officers and their equivalent in private sector establishments. 2. Staffing information was not available for Ashfield, Doncaster, Dovegate, Forest Bank and Lowdham Grange prior to 2008. These establishments have been excluded from ratio calculations prior to 2008. | ||
Prisons: Private Sector
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) whether operational staff in private sector prisons are barred from taking strike action under section 127 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994; whether such staff have access to the Prison Service Pay Review Body; and whether any other compensatory measure is available to prison staff in the private sector; [73769]
(2) whether staff in prisons operated by the private sector have a right to strike; and what arrangements are in place to operate such prisons in the event of such industrial action. [73846]
Mr Blunt: The restrictions placed on industrial action by prison officers by section 127 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (as amended) apply in both public sector and privately contracted prisons. This means that prison custody officers in private sector prisons are unable to take strike action.
The Prison Service Pay Review Body makes recommendations to the Government for the pay of a defined group of public sector Prison Service staff. Private contractors have separate pay determination processes for their staff. Any compensatory measures for the restriction of staff’s ability to strike would be at the discretion of the private contractor.
Contingency arrangements for operating privately-run prisons in the event of unlawful industrial action are the responsibility of the private contractor.
Probation: Finance
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the budget was of each probation trust in (a) 2007-08, (b) 2008-09, (c) 2009-10 and (d) 2010-11; and what budget he has set for (i) 2011-12, (ii) 2012-13 and (iii) 2013-14. [73870]
Mr Blunt: Probation Trusts were put in place between 2008 and 2010, following the implementation of the Offender Management Act 2007 and replaced the former Probation Boards. Financial year 2007-08 falls prior to the existence of Trusts. Figures for Boards and Trusts in financial years prior to April 2010 are not directly comparable.
17 Oct 2011 : Column 679W
Figures compiled from annual net operating costs reported in the NOMS Agency annual accounts and supporting data for Probation Boards and those Trusts set up in 2008-09, show total spend of £897 million (of which £112 million relates to Trusts), and for 2009-10 total spend of £899 million (of which £194 million relates to Trusts).
Financial years 2010-11 and 2011-12
The overall budget for Probation was £864 million in 2010-11 and £820 million in 2011-12. The following table sets out budget allocations for each Probation Trust in 2010-11 and contract values for financial year 2011-12 as agreed with each Probation Trust. It should be noted that, in addition to these amounts, some funds were held centrally for specific offender related initiatives. These are not embedded in the budget and contract values and therefore excluded from the table. Individual amounts may vary throughout the year, but are shown as at the start of the financial year. Probation Trusts may also receive income from elsewhere. Figures are rounded to the nearest million pounds.
| £ million | ||
| Probation Trust | 2010-11 | 2011-12 |
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Budgets for periods 2012-13 and 2013-14
Given the demanding settlement the Department received in the 2010 spending review, we are continuing to finalise our savings plans for the remainder of the SR period, and as a result detailed budgets for individual trusts are not yet available.
Remand in Custody
Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many and what proportion of adults remanded in custody were subsequently (a) acquitted and (b) given a community sentence in the last three years for which figures are available. [73761]
Mr Blunt: The number and proportion of adults remanded in custody at magistrates courts and the Crown court in England and Wales who were subsequently acquitted or went on to receive a community sentence between 2008 to 2010 (latest currently available) can be viewed in the table.
Court proceedings data for 2011 are planned for publication in the spring, 2012.
| The estimated number and percentage of adults (1) remanded in custody (2) who were subsequently acquitted (3) or received a non-custodial sentence (4) at magistrates courts and the Crown court, England and Wales 2008 to 2010 | |||
| Final outcome | Adult defendants | ||
|
|
2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
17 Oct 2011 : Column 681W
17 Oct 2011 : Column 682W
| (1) Defined as being aged 18 or over at the date of appearance in court. (2) Includes those remanded in custody at any stage of proceedings at magistrates and the Crown court who may also have been given bail at some stage of those proceedings. (3 )Acquitted includes proceedings discontinued, discharged, withdrawn and dismissed at magistrates courts and acquitted and not tried at the Crown court. (4 )Non-custodial sentences include discharges, fines, community sentences, and a number of other sentences that do not involve incarceration. (5) Percentages presented here represent the proportions of all adults who were remanded in custody, excluding those who failed to appear and where the magistrates court committed the defendant for trial or sentence to the Crown court. (6) Magistrates courts’ figures exclude those committed for trial or sentence at the Crown court and those who failed to appear. Also excluded are data for Cardiff magistrates court for April, July and August 2008. Notes: 1. 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. 2. Some percentages may not sum to 100 due to rounding. Source: Prepared by Justice Statistics Analytical Services within the Ministry of Justice. | |||
Reoffenders
Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many convictions for repeat offenders there were in (a) the south-east, (b) Kent and (c) Dartford constituency in each of the last 10 years. [74755]
Mr Blunt: The following table shows the number of offenders sentenced for indictable offences by area and criminal history, 2001-10. These figures relate to separate sentencing occasions and therefore an offender may be included on more than one occasion, either within an area, across areas, or across time. These figures are a further breakdown of table Q7.5 in ‘Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly Update to December 2010’ which was published on 26 May 2011.
Sentencing occasions have been allocated to a location on the basis of the police force that processed the offence, or in the case of Dartford the offender's address at the time of conviction. Repeat offenders are those with a previous conviction or caution anywhere in England or Wales.
These 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.
| Number of convictions for repeat offenders dealt with in the Dartford constituency, by Kent police and police forces in South East region, 2001-10 (1,2) | ||||||||||
| Sentencing occasions | ||||||||||
|
|
2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
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| (1) Repeat offenders are those who had at least one previous caution or conviction. (2) Figures are counts of sentencing occasions. | ||||||||||
Restraining Orders
Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people breached restraining orders issued under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 on (a) one, (b) two, (c) three and (d) four or more occasions. [72997]
Mr Blunt: The figures requested are provided in the following table. These 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.
| O ffenders recorded on the police national c omputer in England and Wales as having been convicted of breaching a restraining order on one or more occasions between 1997 and 2011 | |
| Number of occasions involving a conviction for breach of a restraining order | Number |
Suspended Supervision Orders
Mrs Riordan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many suspended supervision orders were made in 2010-11; and how many were breached. [73416]
Mr Blunt: Suspended sentence supervision orders (under sections 122-124 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000) were repealed by the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and none was imposed in 2010-11. They were replaced by suspended sentence orders, introduced in the Criminal Justice Act 2003, which enable the court to suspend a prison sentence of 12 months or less while ordering the offenders to undertake one or more requirements in the community, including supervision.
The total number of suspended sentences handed down at all courts for 2010 in England and Wales was 48,118 for all offences.
Information on the number of suspended supervision orders breached is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Treasury
Air Passenger Duty
Mr Hanson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what (a) projections of numbers of flights and (b) economic data he used to inform his decision to reduce the rate of air passenger duty in Northern Ireland; [72987]
(2) what his policy is on devolving air passenger duty to the Scottish Parliament; [72994]
(3) whether he plans to alter the air passenger duty rates for passengers travelling in premium economy class on flights from airports in Northern Ireland; [73076]
(4) whether he plans to introduce any exemptions to standard rates of air passenger duty other than for long haul flights from Northern Ireland; [73085]
(5) which year’s figures for the potential number of flights from UK airports his Department used as a basis for the Air Passenger Duty revenue forecasts announced in the 2011 Budget; and whether his Department plans to update the revenue projections for each financial year up to 2015-16 to take account of the latest forecasts from the Department for Transport. [74008]
Miss Chloe Smith: Northern Ireland’s airports operate in unique circumstances within the UK. The decision to reduce air passenger duty (APD) was made in order to ensure that local airports remain competitive. The reduction also applies to premium economy passengers.
On the broader reform of APD, including consideration of devolution of APD to other parts of the UK, HM Treasury will publish a full response later in the autumn.
The APD forecast published at Budget 2011 used air passenger numbers up to and including 2010 Q4. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published the forecast of passenger numbers at:
http://budgetresponsibility.independent.gov.uk/wordpress/docs/APD%20(3).pdf
The revenue forecasts will be updated in the OBR’s economic and fiscal outlook on 29 November, alongside the autumn statement.
Bank Services: Switzerland
Caroline Lucas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if his Department has assessed whether a one-off deduction of between 19% and 34% of funds held by UK taxpayers in Swiss bank accounts would be sufficient to settle past tax liabilities. [70436]
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Mr Gauke: The agreement with Switzerland on co-operation in tax matters provides for a significant deduction from Swiss accounts to settle past tax liabilities. In considering the level of the deduction, HM Revenue and Customs reviewed a number of settled tax investigations involving assets held offshore.
The level of deduction provided for in the agreement is in line with the outcomes of the reviewed investigations.
Caroline Lucas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what his policy is on full tax disclosure by UK taxpayers with Swiss bank accounts other than to the Swiss authorities; [70437]
(2) what his policy is on the disclosure of the identities of UK taxpayers who will be affected by the proposed UK-Swiss tax agreement; and if he will make a statement. [70439]
Mr Gauke: It is the Government's policy that taxpayers should make a full account of their tax affairs to HM Revenue and Customs.
Mr Hanson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the yield to the Exchequer in tax revenue attributable to the agreement with Switzerland on offshore tax evasion in (a) 2012, (b) 2013, (c) 2014 and (d) 2015. [71196]
Mr Gauke: The UK expects to receive billions of pounds as a result of this historic agreement with Switzerland.
Caroline Lucas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what assessment his Department has made of the effects of the tax withholding rate to be applied to the accounts of UK taxpayers holding bank accounts in Switzerland being lower than their UK marginal tax rate; and if he will make a statement; [70404]
(2) what analysis his Department undertook in reaching its determination that a withholding tax rate of 48% on investment income and 27% on gains will ensure the effective future taxation of UK residents with funds in Swiss bank accounts. [71360]
Mr Gauke: Without knowledge of the worldwide tax positions of individuals with assets in Switzerland, it is not possible to determine the correct marginal rate of taxation. For this reason, the rates of withholding tax provided for by the agreement between the UK and Switzerland on co-operation in tax matters are set very close to the top rates of UK tax.
The small difference between the top UK rates and the rates in the agreement with Switzerland reflects a timing advantage to the UK from the new withholding tax: the tax will be collected at source, and will reach the UK authorities significantly earlier than it would under self-assessment.
Caroline Lucas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the application of the proposed UK-Swiss tax agreement to (a) trusts and (b) limited companies (i) established, owned, or settled by UK resident people and (ii) of which UK resident people might be beneficiaries; by what mechanisms it is proposed to verify whether taxation is applied to them in all reasonably foreseeable situations; and if he will make a statement. [70438]
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Mr Gauke: The agreement with Switzerland was signed on 6 October. It contains a requirement for Swiss banks to look through complicated structures such as trusts and companies to identify whether the beneficial owner is a UK resident taxpayer. The full text of the agreement is available on the HMRC website at:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxtreaties/ukswiss.htm
Child Benefit
Chris Leslie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 15 September 2011, Official Report, column 1268W, on child benefit, (1) by what means a higher rate taxpayer who is not currently obliged to complete a tax return will be required to inform HM Revenue and Customs of their household child benefit status; [73602]
(2) by what means a higher rate taxpayer will be able to inform HM Revenue and Customs if their household is in receipt of child benefit if they are not required to complete a tax return. [74653]
Mr Gauke: The changes to child benefit will be administered through the tax system. People will be able to either contact HMRC to stop receiving child benefit or have it recovered through the PAYE or self-assessment systems. The withdrawal will be implemented through existing systems and processes. Further details of the changes to child benefit will be announced in due course.
Children: Day Care
Philip Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the costs and benefits of allowing child care costs to be tax deductible. [73938]
Mr Gauke: The tax relief and associated national insurance contributions—NICs—disregards for employer-supported child care were introduced to advance the Government's strategy of encouraging parents into work by promoting safe, good quality child care and providing incentives and wider options to encourage more employers to support child care provisions for their staff.
Income tax and NICs forgone on employer-supported child care are estimated to cost the Exchequer £600 million in 2011-12.
Climate Change
Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he plans to take to ensure that progress is made on the developed world’s climate finance responsibilities when he meets his G20 counterparts in October 2011. [74795]
Miss Chloe Smith: The Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne), has been actively involved in discussions with international and European counterparts, including G20 Finance Ministers, on international climate finance. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government’s practice to provide details of all such discussions.
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Credit: Low Incomes
Mr Bain: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with high street banks on making affordable credit available to those on low and minimum incomes. [73382]
Mr Hoban: Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings.
Departmental Billing
Dr Whiteford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of invoices from suppliers his Department paid within 10 days of receipt in July and August 2010. [74375]
Miss Chloe Smith: The Department's aim is to pay suppliers within five working days. Details of our payment performance are published monthly on the Treasury website at:
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/group_payment_performance.htm
Buildings Maintenance
Andrew George: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent estimate he has made of the (a) monetary value of his Department's maintenance backlog and (b) time required to complete such maintenance. [74196]
Miss Chloe Smith: The management of maintenance and other building facilities is included in the contract HM Treasury has for its building at 1 Horse Guards road in London, details of which are available in Note 23.2 on page 160 of the HM Treasury Annual Report and Accounts 2010-11 (HC 984).
Other buildings are occupied by HM Treasury under agreement with other Government Departments that are responsible for maintenance arrangements in those buildings.
Consultants
David Simpson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what procedures his Department uses when engaging external consultants. [73103]
Miss Chloe Smith: HM Treasury operates a business case approval process for the procurement of consultancy services. In addition to the departmental approval process, Cabinet Office approval is sought where:
contracts are expected to last longer than nine months;
pre-existing contracts when extended take the total life of the contract to beyond nine months; and
spend is over £20,000 on procurement-related consultancy.
The process for engaging advisers follows the departmental procurement process and is dependent on the level of spend and the availability and suitability of pan-Government framework agreements.
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Transport-related Fines
Dr Whiteford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many transport-related fines his Department has settled on behalf of its staff; and at what cost in each year since 2007. [74377]
Miss Chloe Smith: For the period 2007-08 to 2009-10 I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 15 September 2010, Official Report, column 1044W, to the hon. Member for Dundee East (Stewart Hosie). In 2010-11 one transport-related fine was paid at a cost of £60.
Departmental Flags
Ian Austin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 14 June 2010, Official Report, column 274W, on departmental flags, whether his Department has flown the Union flag at the official buildings for which his Department is responsible on each day of the year since June 2010. [73691]
Legal Opinion
Angela Smith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average hourly rate paid was to external (a) solicitors and (b) barristers engaged by his Departments in 2010-11; what guidance his Departments uses in commissioning external legal advice; and if he will publish (i) the names of each external (A) solicitor and (B) barrister engaged by his Departments in 2010-11 and (ii) the sums paid in each case. [72576]
Justine Greening: This answer relates to HM Treasury spend only.
The Treasury Solicitor's Department (Tsol) provides legal services to the Treasury. It has published its hourly rates for 2011-12, which offer a 5% discount on the previous year. Further information is available on:
http://www.tsol.gov.uk/Publications/Scheme_Publications/business_plan.pdf
The Treasury engages external solicitors firms to advise in specialist areas using the Government Procurement Services Buying Solutions lists of approved legal suppliers. The specific rates for senior and junior solicitors are negotiated by central Government although better rates may be agreed during the contractual tender process. Further information is available at the following web address:
http://www.buyingsolutions.gov.uk/services/Legal/
In relation to direct instruction of barristers by the Treasury, and by the Treasury Solicitor's Department on behalf of the Treasury, the guidance issued by the Attorney-General and Tsol is followed:
http://www.tsol.gov.uk/PanelCounsel/appointments_to_panel.htm
The hourly rates for advocates on the Attorney-General's Panels of Counsel who are approved to undertake Government work are shown in the following table. The panel system is supplemented by the retention of two First Treasury Counsel to advise and represent Government in particularly complex and sensitive matters. Their hourly rate is also shown in the table.
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| Level of experience | Hourly rate (£) |
| (1) Under five years' experience (2) Over five years’ experience (3) Five to 10 years’ experience (4) Over 10 years’ experience | |
The Treasury is required to seek the Attorney-General's nomination in any case in which it wishes to choose advocates who are not on the panel (for example, to use leading counsel). Fees in these cases are individually set but the nomination process ensures that a strong business case must be made for the engagement of higher charging counsel. QCs are instructed in line with the guidance published by the Attorney-General's Office, i.e. negotiated at between £180 and £250 per hour. Guidance on this is available at:
http://www.tsol.gov.uk/PanelCounsel/work_outside_panel.htm
The following list shows the external barristers and solicitors who have undertaken work for HM Treasury in 2010-11. Except where otherwise shown the amount paid in 2010-11 was less than £25,000.
Counsel engaged for HM Treasury:
Mr Jonathan Charles Ashley-Norman
Mr Daniel Awrey
Mr Daniel Beard
Miss Catherine Callaghan
Mr. Martin Chamberlain
Mr Richard Craven
Mr Jonathan Crow QC
Mr Alan Dashwood QC
Mr Jonathan Davey
Malcolm Davis-White QC
Mr James Eadie QC (£30,000 to £35,000)
Mr Tim Eicke
Miss Shaheed Fatima
Mr David Friedman QC
Mr Andreas Gledhill
Mr Martin Goudie
Mr Steven Gray
Mr Andrew Henshaw
Mr Javan Herberg