Employment Tribunals Service
Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with reference to the answer of 29 February 2012, Official Report, columns 368-9W, on Employment Tribunals Service, how many of the unpaid employment tribunal awards and ACAS settlements passed to the High Court Enforcement officers in financial year 2011-12 (a) have been fully enforced, (b) have been partially enforced (paid in part), (c) were enforced with payments in instalments, (d) are ongoing and (e) were unenforceable. [109650]
Mr Djanogly: The information is as follows:
In financial year (FY) 2011-12, 1,438 unpaid employment tribunal and 185 ACAS settlements were passed to High Court Enforcement Officers (HCEOs).
Of these cases, 515 have been fully enforced, of which 97 were paid in instalments; 30 were paid in part; 553 cases remain ongoing and 507 were unenforceable. 18 cases are the subject of continuing investigation with HCEOs.
Of the 507 cases individual reasons for non enforcement are set out in the following table:
| Category | Cases |
Fraud
Mr Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the level of (a) procurement and (b) other fraud affecting his Department's spending in (i) 2010-11 and (ii) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement. [110171]
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Mr Kenneth Clarke: The Ministry of Justice do not make an estimate of the level of (a) procurement and (b) other fraud affecting Departmental spend.
The Ministry of Justice report on detected fraud and error in the Quarterly Data Summary. The Cabinet Office will be providing guidance on how Departments should quantify fraud and error that was previously unknown.
Human Trafficking: North West
Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many convictions for human trafficking there have been in (a) the North West, (b) Lancashire and (c) Pendle in each of the last three years. [110084]
Mr Blunt: The number of defendants found guilty at all courts for offences of human trafficking, by police force area in the North West, from 2008 to 2011 can be viewed in the table.
Court proceedings data are not available at parliamentary constituency level.
| Number of defendants found guilty at all courts for offences of human trafficking in the North West police force areas, 2009 to 2011(1,2) | |||
| Police force area | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
| (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. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice | |||
Isle of Man
David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he is taking to assist closer co-operation with the Government of the Isle of Man; and if he will make a statement. [109302]
Mr Kenneth Clarke: The Ministry of Justice provides the main channel of communication between the Isle of Man and HM Government. In doing so it works closely with the Isle of Man Government and acts on their behalf by liaising with other UK Government Departments on a wide range of issues, including those of mutual interest and benefit including, though not exclusively, fisheries, immigration and crime.
My Department is actively encouraging officials from across UK Government to engage directly with their Isle of Man counterparts in the interests of fostering a
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greater understanding of the UK’s relationship with the island across UK Government; and with the aim of building closer working relationships with the Isle of Man authorities that will be of benefit to the UK and Isle of Man.
Judges
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with reference to the answer of 1 May 2012, Official Report, column 1464W, on Crown court, if he will place in the Library figures for each judge in each court. [110800]
Mr Blunt: The Crown court IT system does not enable the Ministry of Justice to produce readily the data requested to a quality acceptable for publication. As well as concerns about data quality, there is a lack of sufficient contextual information to explain sentencing decisions in each individual case. The data would therefore be without value.
Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012
Mr Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what the timetable is for the implementation of secondary legislation in respect of Part 2 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012; [110489]
(2) what the timetable is for the Civil Procedure Rule Committee's consideration of the rules to be implemented in respect of Part 2 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012; [110490]
(3) what consultation he expects to undertake in respect of Part 2 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012; and what the timetable is for any such consultation. [110491]
Mr Djanogly: I refer the hon. Member to the written statement issued on 24 May 2012, Official Report, column 94WS, regarding the implementation of Part 2 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012.
The provisions in Part 2 relating to civil litigation funding and costs will come into force in April 2013, with the exceptions of mesothelioma claims and insolvency proceedings.
Changes to the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) will be considered by the CPR Committee in the autumn, in order for the necessary changes to come into effect for April 2013.
The Ministry of Justice will continue to engage with key stakeholders as necessary and will announce further details by the summer recess.
Legal Systems: Wales
Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether he has had recent discussions with the Welsh Government on the introduction of a separate legal jurisdiction for Wales. [106842]
Mr Djanogly:
The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, my right hon. and learned Friend the
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Member for Rushcliffe (Mr Clarke), has not discussed the introduction of a separate legal jurisdiction for Wales with the Welsh Government.
Magistrates Courts: West Yorkshire
Simon Reevell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many cases were commenced in the magistrates courts in the West Yorkshire police area in (a) 2001 and (b) 2011. [108646]
Mr Blunt: The number of proceedings for criminal offences in the magistrates courts in the West Yorkshire police force area in 2001 was 98,117. The figure for 2011 was 63,555.
Departmental Staff
Mr Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the number of full-time equivalent staff who will transfer from his Department, its non-departmental public bodies and Executive agencies work force to a mutual in (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13; and if he will make a statement. [110192]
Mr Blunt: There have been no staff transfers from the Ministry of Justice, its non-departmental public bodies and Executive agencies to a mutual organisation for the period 2011-12. There are no plans to transfer staff to a mutual organisation in 2012-13.
However, the Ministry of Justice is actively exploring opportunities to encourage public service mutuals across its services. In our recent consultation, “Punishment and reform: effective probation services”, we set out our intention to support new models for delivering probation services, such as joint ventures, social enterprises and public service mutuals, and are consulting on how we can best support staff in this process.
Mr Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what target he has set to reduce headcount across his Department, its non-departmental public bodies and Executive agencies in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13; and if he will make a statement. [110233]
Mr Kenneth Clarke: No headcount reduction targets have been set for my Department.
Estimates suggest that the Ministry will lose around 14,000 to 15,000 posts by the end of the spending review, including a significant reduction in its headquarters and administrative areas. Headcount reduction will be through natural turnover and voluntary redundancy, avoiding compulsory redundancy where possible.
Departmental Administration
Mr Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much was spent on the administration of his Department in (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11 and (c) 2011-12. [109844]
Mr Kenneth Clarke: Administration costs, excluding staff and judicial costs and operating income, in 2009-10 and 2010-11 for the core Department and its three Executive agencies (Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service, National Offender Management Service and the Office of the Public Guardian) is given as follows:
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| Administration costs | |
| Amount (£million) | |
Detailed information on expenditure appears in the Department's annual report and accounts which are published on our website. Please refer to page 99 of the report by using the following link;
http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/corporate-reports/moj/2011/annual-report-accounts-2010-11
The Department's resource accounts for 2011-12 are currently being audited. Information on the cost of administration for 2011-12 will be available upon publication.
Personal Injury: Compensation
Mr Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what the timetable is for the consultation on including personal injury cases up to £5,000 within the small claims court; [110487]
(2) for what reasons he has decided to extend the small claims limit for personal injury claims; [110488]
(3) whether his Department is considering including personal injury cases up to £5,000 within the small claims court; [110532]
(4) what plans he has to consult on his proposed increase in the small claims limit for personal injury claims to £5,000; [110640]
(5) whether he proposes to apply the increase to the small claims limit for personal injury claims to £5,000 to all types of personal injury claims; [110641]
(6) what additional resources he plans to make available to the Courts and Tribunals Service in respect of any increase in the number of claimants in person resulting from an increase in the small claims limit for personal injury claims to £5,000; [110642]
(7) what assessment he has made of the likely change in the number and proportion of claimants in person if his proposal to increase the small claims limit for personal injury claims to £5,000 is implemented. [110643]
Mr Djanogly: The Prime Minister hosted an insurance summit on 14 February where the Government made a number of commitments designed to address the issue of the rising cost of motor insurance premiums.
Among other action already ongoing, we are planning to launch a consultation document this summer which will contain a number of questions designed to seek stakeholders' and members of the public's views on issues around personal injury claims for whiplash in road traffic accidents.
Through the consultation we will seek views on reducing the costs of challenging fraudulent cases in court by raising the small claims threshold for personal injury claims. We will also consider the use of independent medical panels to reduce fraudulent claims by tackling questionable medical evidence.
However, work is ongoing and the outcome of the consultation cannot be predetermined.
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Prisoners
Roberta Blackman-Woods: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice for what reason his Department did not submit information to the Council of Europe for the annual report on penal statistics. [109586]
Mr Blunt: The Council of Europe Annual Penal Statistics, also known as SPACE (Statistiques Pénales Annuelles du Conseil de l’Europe), were published on 23 April 2012 and contained the penal statistics that the Ministry of Justice submitted for England and Wales.
Prisoners: Females
Mr Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many women with home addresses in Swindon were held in women's prisons between April 2011 and April 2012; what their average sentence length was; of what offences they had been convicted; and what the average number was of previous offences committed prior to their imprisonment. [109687]
Mr Blunt: The information is not available in the format requested. The following tables show the number of female adult offenders with home addresses in Swindon who were held in female prisons in March 2011 and March 2012, on a set day in each month where data are available. Due to the small numbers involved it is not possible to produce meaningful averages from these data, so the information on sentence length and offence type has been grouped.
| March 2011 | |
| Sentence Status | Total |
| Offence Group | Total |
| March 2012 | |
| Sentence Status | Total |
| Offence Group | Total |
Providing information on the number of previous offences for the offenders represented in the following
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data would require an individual search for each offender's record to establish their offending history, which would incur disproportionate cost.
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.
Information on offenders' residences is provided by offenders on reception into prison and recorded on a central IT system. Addresses can include a home address, an address to which offenders intend to return on discharge or next of kin address and these figures are provided in the table above.
If no address is given, an offender's committal court address is used as a proxy for the area in which they are resident. These figures are also included in the table above. No address has been recorded and no court information is available for around 3% of all offenders; these figures are excluded from the table above.
Mr Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many women held in women's prisons had children under the age of 18 in each of the last three years; and of those children, how many were (a) cared for by another parent, (b) cared for by a different family member, (c) taken into state care and (d) otherwise cared for during their mother's imprisonment. [109688]
Mr Blunt:
Data on the numbers of prisoners with dependent children under 18, and their arrangements
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for care during parental imprisonment are not routinely collected. However, a number of research studies have explored this issue. One estimate comes from the Ministry of Justice's Resettlement Surveys (2003 and 2004). These surveys suggested that around 60% of women prisoners with dependent children under 18 lived with their children before custody. Around three quarters of these women reported that their children now lived with another family member and around one quarter reported that their children now lived with their partner. A small proportion (around 3%) reported that their children had been taken into care. This information was published in a recent Ministry of Justice Research Report (“Prisoners' childhood and family backgrounds”).
Mr Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many female adult offenders with home addresses in Swindon were held in (a) young offender institutions, (b) women's prisons and (c) other parts of the secure estate in each month since May 2009. [109689]
Mr Blunt: The following table shows the number of female adult offenders with home addresses in Swindon who were held in female prisons, on a set day in each month where data are available since May 2009. As all female adult offenders are held in female prisons, none were held in young offender institutions or other parts of the secure estate over the period.
| May 2009 | September 2010 | November 2010 | January 2011 | March 2011 | May 2011 | |
| July 2011 | September 2011 | November 2011 | January 2012 | March 2012 | |
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.
Information on offenders' residences is provided by offenders on reception into prison and recorded on a central IT system. Addresses can include a home address, an address to which offenders intend to return on discharge or next of kin address and these figures are provided in the table above.
If no address is given, an offender's committal court address is used as a proxy for the area in which they are resident. These figures are also included in the table above. No address has been recorded and no court information is available for around 3% of all offenders; these figures are excluded from the table above.
Prisoners: Repatriation
Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 22 May 2012, Official Report, column 634W, on prisoners: repatriation, what (a) the offences committed by and (b) the nationalities were of each of the 22 prisoners transferred to serve their sentences in European countries in 2011. [110130]
Mr Blunt: The following table gives the member state of the European Union to which each of the 22 prisoners where transferred in 2011, together with the offences committed.
| Member state of the European Union to which each prisoner was transferred in 2011 | ||
| Offence | Member state | Number |
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Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many applications were received to transfer foreign national prisoners from the UK to their country of nationality under the Council of Europe's convention on the transfer of sentenced persons in the latest period for which figures are available. [110131]
Mr Blunt: From 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2011. 138 applications were received from prisoners who wanted to transfer to another country to serve their sentence of imprisonment there. 127 have been referred to other jurisdictions for consideration. Those not referred either did not meet the criteria for transfer, had withdrawn their requests, or had ongoing legal proceedings in the United Kingdom.
Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many UK nationals were repatriated to serve their prison sentence in a UK prison under the Council of Europe's convention on the transfer of sentencd persons in each of the last five years. [110132]
Mr Blunt: The number of prisoners repatriated to England and Wales under the Council of Europe convention on the transfer of sentenced persons in each of the last five years is as follows:
| Number | |
The repatriation of prisoners to and from Scotland and to and from Northern Ireland is a matter for the relevant devolved Administration.
Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the country of nationality was of foreign national offenders transferred to that country under the Council of Europe's convention on the transfer of sentenced persons in each of the last five years. [110133]
Mr Blunt: The following table gives the country of nationality of foreign national offenders transferred from England and Wales in each of the last five year.
| Country | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
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The repatriation of prisoners to and from Scotland and to and from Northern Ireland is a matter for the relevant devolved Administration.
Prisoners: Veterans
Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what assessment he has made of whether former military personnel sentenced to imprisonment have failed to declare their military service on reception into prison in order to protect their pension arrangements; [109946]
(2) whether prisoners on reception into prison are asked whether they have previously served in the armed forces; and how any such information is recorded; [109947]
(3) whether he is taking steps to ensure that former military personnel sentenced to prison disclose their military service on reception into prison. [109948]
Mr Blunt: There has been no assessment carried out to date.
Prison reception staff are not specifically required to ask newly-arrived prisoners whether they have served in the armed forces. However, prisoners do discuss aspects of their background, including their previous employment, with staff during the induction and assessment processes and if this information is disclosed, it will be recorded on the prisoner central database and can be shared with other Government Departments and agencies, both internal and external.
There are no current plans to introduce amendments to the existing procedures.
Prisons: Crimes of Violence
Mr David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many extra days' imprisonment have been given to prisoners for assaults committed on (a) prison staff and (b) prisoners in each of the last five years. [108263]
Mr Blunt: The adjudication process exists to allow prison governors and independent adjudicators to deal with breaches of prison discipline. Additional days are one of the punishments that can be given for proven adjudication offences. Data are held and published on proven adjudication offences and the punishments given.
The following table gives the total number of proven violence offences, and the number where additional days were given as punishment. Data on punishments
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for assaults have been provided for 2007-09, but this more detailed breakdown is not available for 2010 and 2011.
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.
| Number of violence offences punished by additional days awarded | |||||
| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010(1) | 2011(1) | |
| (1) Data quality issues introduced as a result of changes to prison recording systems for adjudications prevent a more detailed breakdown of offence type in 2010 and 2011. (2) The number of offences punished and punishments given are not equal because in many cases two or more punishments are given for a single offence. Source: Offender Management Statistics 2007 to 2011 | |||||
Mr David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many assaults on (a) prisoners and (b) prison staff have resulted in admittance to an intensive care unit in each of the last five years; [108264]
(2) how many incidents of assaults on (a) prisoners, (b) prison staff, (c) prisoners requiring hospitalisation and (d) prison staff requiring hospitalisation were recorded in prisons in the UK in each of the last five years. [108265]
Mr Blunt: The information is as follows:
(1) Information on the number of assaults resulting in admittance to an intensive care unit is not recorded centrally. We do record overall numbers of assault incidents in which victims were admitted to a hospital as an in-patient (see table 2 as follows).
(2) In answer to parts (a) and (b), table 1 as follows shows the number of prisoner on prisoner assault incidents in England and Wales and numbers of assaults on staff from 2006-10.
| Table 1: Assault incidents in prison custody, England and Wales | |||||
| 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | |
As more than one person may be assaulted during an incident, these categories overlap and should not be added. The figures are from assaults tables 8 and 11 in safety in custody assaults 2010 which are available at:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/statistics/prisons-and-probation/safety-in-custody
Prisoner on prisoner assaults exclude a small percentage of incidents in which prisoners may have been assaulted by others—for example, visitors.
In answer to parts (c) and (d), we only produce overall figures for assault-related attendances at hospital as an in-patient. As more than one person may be
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assaulted during an incident it is not always possible to distinguish from centrally recorded data who was hospitalised. Table 2 as follows shows the number of assault-related attendances at hospital as an in-patient compared with the overall number of assault incidents.
| Table 2: Assault-related hospital attendances England and Wales | |||||
| 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | |
| (1 )The figures are from assaults table 13 in Safety in Custody Assaults 2010. | |||||
Probate: Winchester
Mr Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice on how many occasions the Bournemouth caller office of the Winchester District Probate Registry has been open in the last six months; and how many applications have been made to attend the office for a grant of representation before a member of staff of the Probate Service. [110290]
Mr Djanogly: The Bournemouth caller office has not been opened in the last six months.
A full list of appointments (50-60 applications) is required to justify on cost grounds the opening of a probate caller office. All applicants are therefore given an earlier appointment date at Winchester to avoid unnecessary delay in them receiving their grant. Applicants also have the option of swearing an oath, prepared by staff of the Probate Service, in front of a solicitor of their choice.
Over the last six months, 160 personal applicants (out of 3568) initially asked to attend the caller office at Bournemouth to swear the oath in support of their application. However, when they were informed the office would only be opened when a full list of appointments had been requested for Bournemouth, all but one applicant were happy to take an earlier appointment at Winchester or swear their oath before a solicitor.
Russia
Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the purpose of his visit to Russia was; who accompanied him; and if he will make a statement. [109984]
Mr Kenneth Clarke: The purpose of my visit to Russia was to attend the St Petersburg International Legal Forum; to promote UK legal services; and discuss other important topics, including human rights and the rule of law.
I met Alexander Konovalov, to discuss justice co-operation, rule of law, the protection of human rights (including the cases of Sergei Magnitsky and Mikhail Khodorkovsky) and legal sector reform. I discussed a number of justice reform matters with the US Attorney-General, Eric Holder. I also met a number of other Justice Ministers during the Forum.
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Outside of the Forum, I took part in a round table discussion with a mixed audience of researchers, business people, judiciary and local government officials where I spoke about the Bribery Act 2010 and anti-corruption measures.
I discussed legal sector regulation and its impact on attracting foreign business and the benefits of continuing judicial exchanges through the Slynn Foundation with Anton Ivanov, President of the Russian Supreme Commercial Court.
I discussed the judicial reform agenda in Russia. Russia's relationship with the European Court of Human Rights and human rights more generally with Valery Zorkin, Chairman of the Russian Constitutional Court.
I also met a number of Russian academics and legal and human rights experts.
I was accompanied on this visit by my Parliamentary Private Secretary, my hon. Friend the Member for Wyre and Preston North (Mr Wallace), my Principal Private Secretary and one policy official.
Translation Services
Dr Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many times he has met (a) the Association of Police and Court Interpreters, (b) the Association of Sign Language Interpreters, (c) the National Union of Professional Interpreters and Translators, (d) the Professional Interpreters Alliance, (e) the Society of Official Metropolitan Interpreters, (f) the Society for Public Service Interpreting and (g) Visual Language Professionals since May 2010; [109549]
(2) if he will meet (a) the Association of Police and Court Interpreters, (b) the Association of Sign Language Interpreters, (c) the National Union of Professional Interpreters and Translators, (d) the Professional Interpreters Alliance, (e) the Society of Official Metropolitan Interpreters, (f) the Society for Public Service Interpreting and (g) Visual Language Professionals to discuss the provision of interpreting facilities in the justice system. [109550]
Mr Blunt:
The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (Mr Clarke), has not met with these representative interpreter groups. However, the Ministry sought interpreters’ views on the industry during a series of four road shows during late 2009; met various stakeholders in August and September 2010
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and consulted key interested parties, including the police, on the proposed Framework Agreement as part of the procurement process and received a wide range of views in response. Now that the Framework Agreement has been implemented the Ministry continues to receive, consider and respond to correspondence from interested parties and groups. We will consider all meeting requests received.
Trials
Dr Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice on how many occasions a retrial was required because of interpreting failures in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012. [109528]
Mr Blunt: The Ministry of Justice does not centrally record the number of retrials in either the magistrates or Crown courts. We are aware of one reported instance of a retrial ordered due to interpreting failure during 2012. Information is not available for 2010-11.
Victim Support Schemes
Dan Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what his policy is on the future of support services for victims and witnesses of crime when the responsibility for the commissioning of those services has been transferred to police and crime commissioners. [110676]
Mr Blunt: Our policy proposals were set out in the consultation "Getting it right for victims and witnesses". The consultation closed on 22 April and we are considering the responses received. We intend to publish the Government response to the consultation shortly.
Young Offenders
Roberta Blackman-Woods: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people were (a) acquitted and (b) convicted of offences under section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 in each of the last 10 years. [109646]
Mr Blunt: Persons acquitted and found guilty at all courts under section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, in England and Wales, from 2001-11, can be viewed in the following table.
| Number of persons acquitted and found guilty at all courts under section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, England and Wales, 2001-11(1, 2) | |||||||||||
| 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008(3) | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | |
| (1) The figures given 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. (4) Acquitted includes: discharged and dismissed at the magistrates court and acquitted at the Crown court. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services: Ministry of Justice. | |||||||||||
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Education
Academies
Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many schools in (a) Coventry South constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) nationally have applied for academy status since May 2010. [110028]
Mr Gibb: The information requested is as follows.
(a) Coventry South constituency, four schools have applied to convert to academy status;
(b) Coventry, nine schools have applied to convert to academy status;
(c) The West Midlands, 205 schools have applied to convert to academy status;
(d) Nationally, 2,160 schools have applied to convert to academy status.
Information about schools that have applied to convert to become academies is available on the Department for Education website at:
http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/leadership/typesofschools/academies/b00208569/open-academies
Adoption: Ethnic Groups
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of children awaiting adoption are black and minority ethnic. [109887]
Tim Loughton: The proportion of children awaiting adoption who are black and minority ethnic was 16% (970) of all children who were waiting to be adopted (5,990), at 31 March 2011, the latest date for which this information is available.
The data items in relation to whether adoption from care is/is no longer the plan were introduced on a mandatory basis in the SSDA903 return from local authorities in 2008-09. There may have been some children for whom the decision was made that they should be adopted in earlier years and are still awaiting adoption; however these have not been included in this response due to the partial nature of the data received for earlier years.
The decision that a looked after child should be placed for adoption is made by their local authority but a child cannot be placed for adoption without either a placement order from the court or parental consent. Children who are waiting to be adopted include those who have already been placed for adoption (but an adoption order has not yet been made or applied for), those for whom the local authority has applied for a placement order and those where the local authority is identifying a family suitable to meet the needs of the child. Once a child is placed for adoption, it is for the prospective adopters to apply to the court for an adoption order. Being “placed for adoption” means the child goes to live with or continue to live with prospective adopters.
Information on adopted children can be found in the Statistical First Release “Children Looked After by Local Authorities in England (including adoption and care leavers)—year ending 31 March 2011”, which is available on the Department’s website via the following link:
http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001026/index.shtml
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Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many black and minority ethnic families have adopted children since January (a) 2011, (b) 2010, (c) 2012 and (d) 1992. [109888]
Tim Loughton: Information on the ethnicity of adopters is not collected centrally by the Department.
Child Abuse
Roberta Blackman-Woods: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many people were charged for offences under section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 in each of the last 10 years. [109645]
The Solicitor-General: I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Attorney-General.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains no central record of the number of people charged with offences under section 1 of the Children and Youth Persons Act 1933 (CYPA 1933). This information could be obtained only by examining all of the CPS’s case files, which would incur disproportionate cost.
The CPS central management information database does provide a record of the number of offences charged under section 1 CYPA 1933 and in respect of which a prosecution was commenced in the magistrates court rather than the number of defendants prosecuted. The data are available from 2004-05 and the figures are summarised in the following table.
| Offences | |
Classroom Assistants
Simon Hart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many attacks on classroom assistants occurred in (a) 2009, (b) 2010 and (c) 2011. [109381]
Mr Gibb: There is no requirement that either schools or local authorities in their role as the employer of the school workforce notify the Department about the number of attacks that have taken place against members of the school workforce, including classroom assistants. This information is not therefore held centrally.
Complaints
Mr Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many complaints about the work of his Department and each of its non-departmental public bodies were received in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement. [108956]
Tim Loughton: In 2010-11 the Department received 195 complaints and in 2011-12 it received 349. These range from complaints about the handling of a telephone conversation to complaints about third party institutions.
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Central data are not held for all non-departmental public bodies, but we do hold the following information:
The Young People's Learning Agency (YPLA) had 11 non-academy related complaints in 2010-11 and 10 in 2011-12. Over that two year period there were 13 complaints relating to academies in YPLA.
The Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA) received 908 complaints in 2010-11, and in 2011-12 it received 321 (as the QCDA to September 2011, and as the Standards and Teaching Agency from that date).
Partnerships for Schools received six complaints in 2010-11 and two in 2011-12.
The National College for School Leadership (NCSL) received 24 complaints in 2010-11 and 35 in 2011-12.
The Office of the Children's Commissioner received no formal complaints over this period.
Anthony Douglas, the chief executive of CAFCASS, has written to the hon. Member answering this query and a copy of his reply has been placed in the House Libraries.
Letter from Anthony Douglas, dated 22 May 2012:
I am writing to you in order to provide answers to the Parliamentary Question that you tabled recently.
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The following table indicates the number of complaints Cafcass has received in 2010-11 and 2011-12.
| Number of complaints received | |
Correspondence
Mr Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many letters to Ministers in his Department were (a) not answered, (b) not answered within six months and (c) not answered within three months in (i) 2010-11 and (ii) 2011-12; how many such letters were from hon. Members; and if he will make a statement. [109431]
Tim Loughton: The information requested by the hon. Member is in the following tables:
| Ministerial replies sent | |||
| Ministerial Replies sent to MPs | Ministerial replies sent to others | Total ministerial replies sent | |
| Ministerial replies sent late | ||||||
| Late replies—over 3 months from receipt | of which from MPs | Late replies—over 6 months from receipt | of which from MPs | Total | of which from MPs | |
| Ministerial correspondence cases—No Reply Required(1) | ||
| Cases for which no reply required | Of which from MPs | |
| (1) “No Reply Required” category includes correspondence such as “thank you” letters; cases where a correspondent has asked for no reply; correspondence sent for information only; where the correspondence resulted in a meeting with the correspondent. | ||
Dominic Cummings
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what meetings his special adviser, Dominic Cummings, has had with external organisations since his appointment; and on what dates. [109229]
Tim Loughton [holding answer 24 May 2012]: Mr Cummings meets with a variety of people from different organisations as part of his role as special adviser.
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will publish all e-mails sent by his special adviser, Dominic Cummings. [109230]
Tim Loughton [holding answer 24 May 2012]: This information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Dyslexia
Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many teachers in (a) Dartford, (b) Kent, (c) the south-east and (d) England participated in specialist dyslexia training courses in each of the last five years. [109496]
Mr Gibb: The information is not available in the format requested.
The Government funded 3,200 teachers to undertake postgraduate qualifications in dyslexia between 2009 and 2011. These were accredited by the British Dyslexia Association and managed by the Dyslexia SpLD Trust (2009) and by the Training and Development Agency (2010 and 2011). In addition 9,000 Special Educational Needs co-ordinators have been funded to secure the mandatory masters qualification in the three years up to March 2011. This includes identifying and meeting the broad range of pupils' special educational needs and supporting classroom teachers to do so.
Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps his Department is taking to ensure that initial teacher training course providers provide dyslexia awareness sessions. [109499]
Mr Gibb: All teachers should have a clear understanding of the needs of pupils with special educational needs, including dyslexia. In order to be awarded qualified teacher status from September 2012, all trainee teachers must demonstrate that they can adapt their teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils, as set out in the new Teachers' Standards. Specifically, teachers will have to have a clear understanding of the needs of pupils with special educational needs or disabilities.
The Secretary of State for Education does not set the content of initial teacher training courses or require that training providers deliver dyslexia awareness sessions. It is for training providers to decide what trainees
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should be taught to enable them to achieve the Teachers' Standards. The Department does not mandate content of initial teacher training courses.
Education Maintenance Allowance
Mr Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many people in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the north-east and (d) the UK received education maintenance allowance in the most recent year for which figures are available. [110143]
Mr Gibb: During the 2010/11 academic year, the final year of the education maintenance allowance (EMA) programme:
(a) Data on education maintenance allowance (EMA) were collected at local authority level. Data on the number of EMA payments made to people in the Jarrow constituency are therefore unavailable.
(b) 2,409 people in South Tyneside received EMA payments.
(c) 37,213 people in the north-east of England received EMA payments.
(d) 636,496 people in England received EMA payments. The Department does not hold data on EMA for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Education Maintenance Allowance: Middlesbrough
Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the amount of education maintenance allowance paid to residents of Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency in 2010-11; and what estimate he has made of the total value of discretionary 16-19 bursaries that will be paid in 2011-12 in respect of students who are residents of Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency. [110000]
Mr Gibb: The Department does not collect constituency-level data on the education maintenance allowance (EMA) or the 16-19 bursary fund. The 2011/12 academic year is the first in which the 16-19 bursary fund has been operating, and a breakdown is not yet available on the proportion paid as discretionary payments and on the number of £1,200 bursaries paid to vulnerable groups.
Data for 2010/11 and 2011/12 academic years are available on the total EMA and 16-19 bursary payments for the two local authorities which the Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency falls within. This includes data on EMA transitional arrangements which are in place this year.
| £ | |||
| Local authority | 2010/11 EMA payments | 2011/12 EMA transitional payments (year to date) | 2011/12 bursary funding |
| Note: By phasing out EMA this year the Government will have reduced spending from around £580 million a year for EMA to £180 million a year by more effectively targeting the funding at those young people who genuinely need financial support to continue in further education. | |||
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Financial Services: Education
Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the provision of teaching of financial literacy in primary schools. [109554]
Mr Gibb: Finance education is currently taught as part of Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education. The last Ofsted survey of PSHE, in 2010, included limited evidence about the teaching of personal finance education because the subject was relatively new. We are looking at the quality of finance education as part of a review of PSHE to determine how we can improve the quality of all PSHE teaching.
We set out, in our White Paper, “The Importance of Teaching”, how schools will be freed from central Government direction, and how we will trust the professional judgment of teachers to decide on the teaching that best meets the needs of their pupils. Consistent with that principle, we have also protected front-line school budgets, and reduced central Government programmes, so that schools can also decide how to use their resources to meet local priorities. We therefore have no plans to create a database of personal finance education teaching resources and volunteers. Schools are aware that there are a number of sources available from which they can obtain useful information, including, for example, the Personal Finance Education Group, who have a wide range of resources on their website aimed at teachers and finance education practitioners.
Fraud
Mr Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the level of (a) procurement and (b) other fraud affecting his Department's spending in (i) 2010-11 and (ii) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement. [110181]
Tim Loughton: In 2011-12, the level of fraud affecting the Department for Education was £5,400. We do not record fraud in this Department in the categories of "procurement fraud" and "other fraud". We do, of course, have details of the fraud(s) which make up the figure of £5,400. This figure will be published as an Annex to our imminent Annual Report.
There were no material cases of fraud in 2010-11, as stated in our Annual Report and Accounts, for that year, point 21.15:
http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/d/annual%20report%20and%20accounts%202010%2011.pdf
Free School Meals: South East
Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children received free school meals in (a) Dartford, (b) Kent and (c) the south- east in each of the last five years; and what proportion of eligible children in each area took them in each year. [109505]
Mr Gibb: Information on the number and percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals is shown in the tables.
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Information on how many pupils meet the eligibility criteria but do not make a claim is not available.
Information on the number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals as at January 2011 is published in the Statistical First Release “Schools, Pupils and their Characteristics, January 2011” available at:
http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001012/index.shtml
| Maintained nursery, state-funded primary, state-funded secondary, special schools and pupil referral units(1,2,3,4,5), January 2007 to 2011: Dartford constituency, Kent local authority, south-east and England | |||
| Number and percentage of pupils eligible for and claiming free school meals | |||
| 2007 | |||
| No on roll(6,7) | No of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals(6,7) | % known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals | |
| Number and percentage of pupils eligible for and claiming free school meals | |||
| 2008 | |||
| No on roll(6,7) | No of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals(6,7) | % known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals | |
| Number and percentage of pupils eligible for and claiming free school meals | |||
| 2009 | |||
| No on roll(6,7) | No of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals(6,7) | % known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals | |
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| Number and percentage of pupils eligible for and claiming free school meals | |||
| 2010(5) | |||
| No on roll(6,7) | No of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals(6,7) | % known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals | |
| Number and percentage of pupils eligible for and claiming free school meals | |||
| 2011(5) | |||
| No on roll(6,7) | No of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals(6,7) | % known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals | |
| (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Includes primary academies. (3) Includes city technology colleges and secondary academies. (4) Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools. Excludes general hospital schools. (5) From 2010, includes pupil referral units (when the collection became pupil level). (6) Includes full time and part time pupils who are sole or dual main registrations. Includes boarding pupils. In pupil referral units, also includes pupils registered with other providers and further education colleges. (7) Pupils who have full time attendance and are aged 15 or under, or pupils who have part time attendance and are aged between five and 15. National and regional totals have been rounded to the nearest 5. Source: School Census | |||
Free Schools: Finance
David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what additional funding is available for church groups operating free schools outside that made available through the free schools programme. [109826]
Mr Gibb: Church groups operating free schools do not receive any additional funding.
Freedom of Information Act 2000
Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what meetings he has had with the Information Commissioner to discuss his Department's compliance with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in the last 12 months. [109211]
Tim Loughton [holding answer 24 May 2012]: None.
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Further and Higher Education
Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of school leavers in (a) England, (b) the north-west and (c) Lancashire enrolled in (i) further education and (ii) higher education courses in 2011. [109296]
Tim Loughton: The Department does not currently publish statistics on school leavers.
The best current proxy for school leaver statistics is the data on participation in education post-16 published in a Department for Education (DFE) Statistical First Release (SFR) entitled “Participation in Education, Training and Employment by 16-18 Year Olds in England”. The latest data on participation at local authority level relate to a snapshot at the end of 2010, part way through the 2010/11 academic year.
Table 1 shows the proportions of young people of academic age 16, 17 and 18 years old in England in further and higher education. Table 2 shows the proportion of academic age 16 and 17 years old in further education and higher education in the north-west region and Lancashire.
| Table 1: Participation in further education and higher education in England at end 2010 | |
| Percentage of cohort | |
| Table 2: Participation in further education and higher education in the north-west and Lancashire at end 2010 | ||
| Percentage of cohort | ||
| North-west | Lancashire | |
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| Notes: 1. Participation figures for 18-year-olds are not available disaggregated by local authority. 2. The definition of further and higher education is made in terms of the type of institution attended and not the level of study. Further education comprises maintained schools, academies and city technology colleges, independent schools, sixth form colleges and colleges of further education, tertiary colleges and specialist colleges. Higher education comprises higher education institutions. | ||
The first statistics on students progressing from schools and colleges will be published in July 2012 as an experimental statistical release. Known as “destination measures”, the first version will track progression into education destinations at the end of key stage 4 and the end of key stage 5 from schools, sixth form colleges and general further education (FE) colleges. As such the data will cover different cohorts of young people, for those at the end of key stage 4 will usually be aged 16, while those at the end of key stage 5 will usually be aged 18. The data published in July 2012 will look at those transitioning between academic year 2008/09 and 2009/10.
GCSE
Damian Hinds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many pupils in each maintained secondary school in England were on roll in year 11 in 2010; what the unique reference number is of each school; how many children sat the GCSE exam in (a) English and (b) mathematics in (i) 2005 and (ii) 2010 with each awarding body in each school; and what proportion of pupils achieved grade C or above in each subject in those years in each school. [108413]
Mr Gibb: The information requested for 2010 has been placed in the House Libraries. The information for 2005 could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education further to the answer of 30 April 2012, Official Report, column 1235W, on GCSE, what proportion of pupils achieved five GCSE A* to C grades, including mathematics and English, in schools (a) without and (b) with sixth forms in each local authority in each of the last five years. [109708]
Mr Gibb: The requested information is shown in the following table.
| GCSE and equivalent results of pupils(1) by sixth form provision(2) for each local authority(3) and region, 2006/07 to 2010/11(4, 5) (revised), England | |||||||||||
| Percentage of pupils achieving 5+ GCSEs at grade A*-C or equivalent including English and mathematics GCSEs | |||||||||||
| Without sixth form | With sixth form | ||||||||||
| Region/local authority | LA/region number | 2006/07 | 2007/08 | 2008/09 | 2009/10 | 2010/11 | 2006/07 | 2007/08 | 2008/09 | 2009/10 | 2010/11 |
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| n/a = Not applicable. (1) Pupils on roll aged 15 at the start of the academic year or at the end of key stage 4. (2) Presence of sixth form based on school’s status in Edubase on 28 March 2012, so represents a snapshot at this point in time. (3) Local authority, region and the England (maintained sector) figures in this table do not include pupils recently arrived from overseas. Local authority and regional figures cover achievements in maintained schools including academies but exclude hospital schools, pupil referral units (PRUs) and alternative provision (AP). (4) Figures For 2010/11 are revised, all other figures are final. The figures given from 2009/10 onwards includes iGCSEs. (5) Including attempts and achievement in previous academic years. (6) In 2009, Cheshire local authority split into Cheshire East and Cheshire West and Chester. Similarly, Bedfordshire LA split into Bedford and Central Bedfordshire. | |||||||||||