Industrial Diseases: Compensation
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many Legal Complaints Service complaints relating to coalminers compensation were (a) unresolved and (b) disputed on the most recent date for which figures are available. [31905]
Mr Djanogly: The latest figures available from the Legal Complaints Service show that, as of 16 December 2010, there were six outstanding complaints relating to coal miners compensation. The LCS is expecting these cases to be closed by the end of January 2011.
Legal Aid: Cumbria
John Stevenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what his Department's expenditure on civil legal aid other than on family matters was in (a) Cumbria and (b) Carlisle constituency in each of the last three years. [30302]
Mr Djanogly: I refer the hon. Member to the answer that I provided him on 13 December 2010, Official Report, column 499W.
Legal Aid: Social Security Benefits
Mr Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the likely effects on disabled people of (a) removing welfare benefits from the scope of legal aid and (b) means-testing for income or capital to determine eligibility for legal aid. [30915]
20 Dec 2010 : Column 1113W
Mr Djanogly: A set of impact assessments, including equalities impact assessments, were published alongside both the Legal Aid and Civil Litigation Green Papers, which include a preliminary assessment of the impact of individual proposals, including those raised in the question. The impact assessments can be found at:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/consultations/consultations.htm
and respondents are invited to comment on the preliminary impacts indentified.
Legal Complaints Service: Leamington Spa
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what provision his Department plans to make for the transfer of disputed Legal Complaints Service (LCS) complaints after the closure of LCS operations in Leamington Spa. [31870]
Mr Djanogly: The Legal Complaints Service (LCS) will cease operation on 31 March 2011. Any outstanding complaints will be redirected to the Legal Services Ombudsman for completion in accordance with the Legal Services Act 2007 (Commencement No. 8, Transition and Transitional Provisions) Order 2010 that was laid in Parliament on 20 August 2010.
If complainants wish to dispute the findings of the LCS it will remain open to them to refer the matter to the Legal Services Ombudsman.
All new complaints should be directed to the new Legal Ombudsman scheme which became fully operational from 6 October 2010.
National Offender Management Service: Finance
Mr Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 8 November 2010, Official Report, columns 68-69W, on national probation service: Wales, when he expects to announce the funding settlements for (a) the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), (b) NOMS Cymru and (c) the North Wales Probation Board for 2011-12. [31499]
Mr Blunt: The publication of the comprehensive spending review gave the high level funding settlements for Government Departments. Following on from the publication the Ministry of Justice and the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) have been undertaking detailed modelling and planning in order to produce budgets with the required level of detail to enable the allocation of funds across their areas of business.
This process is an iterative one and although we have identified and agreed the majority of the funding allocations there are still some areas where further work is required before all the figures can be finalised.
As a consequence it is anticipated that the final allocation for NOMS will not be known until the end of December, although even then, this figure may be subject to some amendment should there be a shift in priorities.
The future structure of the National Offender Management Service is under review at present and as such the way in which funding for offender services across England and Wales is allocated will follow a different route, hence an allocation for NOMS Cymru as a whole will not be made for 2011-12.
20 Dec 2010 : Column 1114W
For the individual business units covered by the National Offender Management Service, which includes the Wales Probation Trust, negotiations are ongoing and it is planned that the financial delegations will be issued in March 2011. The allocation made to Wales Probation Trust will be to deliver probation services across the whole of Wales and so will include the geographic area formerly covered by the North Wales Probation Board.
Prisoners' Release
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 22 November 2010, Official Report, column 118W, on prisoners' release, (1) how (a) long into and (b) far from the end of the sentence the crime was committed in each case; [31732]
(2) for what reasons there were 785 failures of licence between 1 January 2006 and 31 December 2009. [31733]
Mr Blunt: The information requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost since this would require interrogating each of the individual incident records in order to identify, extract and collate the relevant information.
In general, temporary release failures can occur for a variety of reasons including: prisoners who are late in returning to the establishment; failure to comply with the conditions of the licence; not returning voluntarily to prison; or because prisoners may have committed an offence while on licence.
Prisoners: Per Capita Costs
Mr Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average cost of a prison place for a category C prisoner was in the last five years. [31691]
Mr Blunt: The average direct establishment cost per prison place in Category C establishments is as follows:
| Category C establishment s : Direct public sector establishment expenditure | |
|
|
Cost per place (£) |
The costs comprise the public sector establishments' direct resource expenditure as published in the annual report and accounts of Her Majesty's Prison Service (HMPS). This is only expenditure met locally at each establishment.
The costs represent the total cost per place at each prison where the majority use at the end of each year was for category C prisoners. There is no adjustment for prisons holding prisoners of more than one category.
For the last two years (2008-09 and 2007-08) an overall cost per place which also includes prison related costs met by HMPS and NOMS at regional and national level has been calculated as follows:
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| Category C establishments: Total overall cost of public and private establishments | |
|
|
Cost per place (£) |
The overall average cost for 2008-09 comprises the expenditure on public and private prisons (as recorded in the NOMS Agency annual report and accounts), increased by an apportionment of relevant costs borne centrally and in the Regions by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). This involves some estimation. The figures do not include the cost of prisoners held in police or court cells under Operation Safeguard, nor expenditure met by other Government Departments (e.g. Health and Education). The prisoner escort service costs are included. Expenditure recharged to the Youth Justice Board in respect of young people is included.
The overall cost for 2007-08 was calculated on a broadly similar basis.
Cost per prison place is expressed in terms of the certified normal accommodation number of places; this gives a higher unit cost than the cost per prisoner.
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many complaints have been referred to the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman in each of the last three years. [31728]
Mr Blunt: The information in the following tables shows the number of complaints received by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman from prisoners, offenders who are or have been under probation supervision, and immigration detainees. Also shown is the number of those complaints deemed eligible for investigation. The other major part of the ombudsman's remit is the investigation of all deaths in prisons and immigration detention and those are not included in the figures in the tables.
| Number of complaints received | ||
| Complaints received | ||
|
|
Prisoners and probation | Immigration detention |
| Eligible complaints received | ||
|
|
Prisoners and probation | Immigration detention |
| (1) Years are April to March.( 2) The system for recording the number of complaints changed in this year. | ||
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the cost to his Department was of the office of the prisons and probation ombudsman in each of the last three years. [31736]
Mr Blunt: Information on the expenditure of the prisons and probation ombudsman is given in the following table.
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| Prisons and probation ombudsman expenditure | |
|
|
Cost (£ million) |
| n/a = Not available | |
The PPO receives limited income from the Home Office in relation to immigration detention. The figures above are net total expenditure on all of the PPO’s functions (complaints and fatal incident investigations) including for immigration detention.
Prisons: Drugs
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice in which prisons no use of controlled drugs has been detected in the latest period for which figures are available. [31269]
Mr Blunt: Prisons have achieved considerable success in reducing the drugs. Drug misuse as measured by random mandatory drug testing has fallen 68% since 1996-97.
A single episode of drug misuse over a defined period, strictly interpreted, would deprive a prison of drug free status. Over the 2009-10 financial year one prison, HMP Deerbolt, reported no drug misuse, as measured by random mandatory drug testing.
The prisons in the following list reported no drug misuse, as measured by random mandatory drug testing, in at least one month of the 2009-10 financial year.
Prisons that recorded no positive random mandatory drug tests in at least one month in 2009-10
Albany
Ashfield
Askham Grange
Aylesbury
Bedford
Belmarsh
Blantyre House
Blundeston
Brinsford
Bronzefield
Bullwood Hall
Bure
Canterbury.
Prisons that recorded no positive random mandatory drug tests in at least one month in 2009-10
Castington
Channings Wood
Chelmsford
Coldingley
Dartmoor
Deerbolt
Dorchester
Downview
Drake Hall
East Sutton Park
Eastwood Park
Edmonds Hill
Elmley
Erlestoke
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Exeter
Featherstone
Feltham
Foston Hall
Frankland
Full Sutton
Gartree
Glen Parva
Grendon
Highpoint
Hindley
Hollesley Bay
Holloway
Huntercombe
Kingston
Kirklevington
Lancaster
Lancaster Farms
Latchmere House
Lewes
Leyhill
Littlehey
Long Lartin
Maidstone
Moorland
Moorland Open
Morton Hall
New Hall
Northallerton
Nottingham
Onley.
Prisons that recorded no positive random mandatory drug tests in at least one month in 2009-10
Peterborough Female
Peterborough Male
Portland
Ranby
Reading
Risley
Rochester
Rye Hill
Send
Shepton Mallet
Shrewsbury
Spring Hill
Standford Hill
Stocken
Stoke Heath
Styal
Swaleside
Swansea
Swinfen Hall
Usk/Prescoed
Verne
Wakefield
Warren Hill
Wealstun
Wellingborough
Werrington
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Wetherby
Whatton
Whitemoor.
The information given in this answer has been drawn from live administrative data systems which may be amended at any time. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. The data are not subject to audit.
Prisons: Riots
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners were involved in riots in prisons in each of the last three years; and how many prosecutions have been brought as a result. [31735]
Mr Blunt: In the last three years there have been six major disturbances, commonly referred to as riots, at HMP Ashwell and HMYOI Cookham Wood and more recently at HMYOI Warren Hill and three incidents at HMP and YOI Moorland. To date these have resulted in seven prosecutions.
30 young people were involved in the incident at Cookham Wood in 2010 resulting in seven prosecutions.
The precise numbers of prisoners actively involved in the instigation of the disturbance at Ashwell in 2009 was never determined. Many prisoners were caught up in the incident and more were affected as their accommodation became inhabitable. A total of 425 prisoners were transferred out. Despite an extensive police investigation it was not possible to prosecute any of the perpetrators.
Details of the three recent incidents at HMP and YOI Moorland and the incident at HMP Warren Hill are not available as these are still under police investigation.
Public Order Offences: Convictions
Mr Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people were convicted (1) for using insulting words or behaviour under section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 in (a) 2000, (b) 2001, (c) 2002, (d) 2003, (e) 2004, (f) 2005, (g) 2006, (h) 2007, (i) 2008, (j) 2009 and (k) 2010; [30917]
(2) under section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 in (a) 2000, (b) 2001, (c) 2002, (d) 2003, (e) 2004, (f) 2005, (g) 2006, (h) 2007, (i) 2008, (j) 2009 and (k) 2010. [30920]
Mr Blunt: The number of defendants found guilty at all courts for offences under section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986, England and Wales for 2000 to 2009 (latest available) can be viewed in the table as follows.
Data held centrally by the Ministry of Justice contain information on defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales. No information about the circumstances of each case is held other than that specified in a statute. It is therefore not possible to separately identify from offences under section 5 of the Public Order Act those in which insulting words or behaviour were used.
Court proceedings data for 2010 are planned for publication in the spring, 2011.
20 Dec 2010 : Column 1119W
20 Dec 2010 : Column 1120W
| (1 )The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (2 )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. (3 )Excludes data for Cardiff magistrates court for April, July and August 2008. Source: Prepared by Justice Statistics Analytical Services within the Ministry of Justice. | |||
Sentencing
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 16 November 2010, Official Report, columns 668-70W, on sentencing, how many offenders had received over 200 previous convictions. [31731]
Mr Blunt: The following table shows figures for sentences given for indictable offences to offenders with 201 or more previous convictions or cautions, who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence, by offence category and offence. These figures are derived from table 6.2 of “Sentencing Statistics: England and Wales 2009” which was published on 21 October 2010. The published table gives a breakdown of offenders sentenced by number of previous convictions and cautions, and the same basis has been used for this answer.
20 Dec 2010 : Column 1121W
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.
Squatting
Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what definition of squatting his Department uses. [30816]
Mr Blunt: For the purposes of our ongoing work, we have been looking at the harm caused by squatters who occupy residential and non-residential property without authority.
20 Dec 2010 : Column 1122W
Welsh Language
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when his Department last published a Welsh language scheme in accordance with the provisions of the Welsh Language Act 1993; and at which web addresses these can be accessed in (a) Welsh and (b) English. [31169]
Mr Blunt: The Ministry of Justice published its Welsh Language Scheme on the 24 March 2010. The scheme can be downloaded in Welsh and English from
http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/moj-welsh-language-scheme.htm
This scheme focuses on the Ministry of Justice’s corporate functions.
HM Court Service and the Tribunal Service have their own schemes as do a number of other organisations sponsored by the Ministry of Justice. The National Offender Management Service is currently developing their own scheme. HM Court Service revised and updated their 2007 scheme which was republished in August 2010. The scheme can be downloaded in Welsh and English from:
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/cms/files/Cynllun_diwygiedig_wedi_ei_gymeradwyo_Awst_2010.pdf
Witnesses
Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans he has for funding for witness care units in each year of the Spending Review period. [31069]
Mr Blunt: The Government are currently reviewing spend on services to victims and witnesses. Witness Care Units are jointly funded by the local police authorities and the Crown Prosecution Service. No decisions have yet been taken on additional central government funding for witness care units.