Trees: Import Controls
Mr Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he is taking to prohibit the importation of ash trees to prevent the spread of disease. [123396]
Glyn Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what consideration his Department is giving to prohibiting the import of young ash trees from countries where the fungus Chalara fraxinea is known to exist; [123568]
(2) what steps his Department has taken to prevent the fungus Chalara fraxinea from entering the UK. [123570]
Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will take steps to temporarily ban the import of ash trees. [123625]
Mr Heath: The Government are taking the threat posed by Chalara fraxinea extremely seriously.
19 Oct 2012 : Column 468W
Officials from the Forestry Commission and the Food and Environment Research Agency are working together to protect the UK's ash trees in response to the UK findings of ash dieback caused by Chalara fraxinea.
The Plant Health Authorities are following up findings. Trees found to be infected are destroyed and those in the vicinity of infected sites are also being monitored by the Plant Health Authority to check for the presence of the disease. Inspections of nurseries growing and trading ash plants as well as monitoring of the wider environment are taking place. The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the right hon. Member for North Shropshire (Mr Paterson), recently confirmed our intention to introduce a ban on ash imports and movements, if this was supported by the outcome of the current consultation on the Pest Risk Assessment for this disease and the results of the surveillance being carried out. The consultation will close on 26 October. A ban could then come into force before the main planting season gets under way in November. In the meantime, we will continue to act on a precautionary basis against any further findings.
Work and Pensions
Housing Benefit: Young People
Mr Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many recipients of housing benefit under the age of 25 years (a) have children, (b) are orphans, (c) are care leavers and (d) have parents in prison. [124055]
Steve Webb: Information on the number of housing benefit recipients who are orphans, care leavers or who have parents in prison are not collected on the housing benefit data source (SHBE). The information that is available for those aged under 25 years by family type is shown in the following table.
| Housing benefit recipients under the age of 25 by family type, May 2012 | |||
| Family type | Total | Male | Female |
| Notes: 1. The figures have been rounded to the nearest ten. 2. SHBE is a monthly electronic scan of claimant level data direct from local authority computer systems. It replaces quarterly aggregate clerical returns. The data is available monthly from November 2008 and May 2012 is the latest available. 3. Age groups are based on the age on the count date (second Thursday in the month), of either: (a) the recipient if they are single, or (b) the elder of the recipient or partner if claiming as a couple 4. Components may not sum to total due to (i) independent rounding (ii) exclusion of claimants with unknown age. 5. This information is published on the Department's website at: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/index.php?paae=hbctb Source: Single Housing Benefit Extract (SHBE) | |||
19 Oct 2012 : Column 469W
Industrial Health and Safety
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his Department's target is for consolidating or revoking health and safety regulations. [123876]
Mr Hoban: Professor Lofstedt in his independent review of health and safety legislation recommended that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) undertake a programme of sector-specific consolidations and revocations of regulations in order to simplify the regulatory framework, reduce duplication and avoid gold plating. The Government have not, however, set a target for consolidating or revoking health and safety regulations.
Social Security Benefits: Uprating
Mr Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the potential savings to the Exchequer of uprating (a) jobseeker's allowance, (b) attendance allowance, (c) carer's allowance, (d) disability living allowance and (e) employment and support allowance in line with wage growth rather than CPI in each of the next three years; and how many people would be affected by such a measure in each year. [124053]
Steve Webb: The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr Duncan Smith), has yet to commence his review of benefit rates for 2013-14, following the publication of the relevant inflation indices. Decisions on these will be taken in due course.
Potential savings and costs based on the latest Consumer Price Index and earnings growth figures for uprating in 2013/14, combined with Budget 2012 forecasts, are given in the following table. Forecasts of inflation and earnings growth for future years consistent with the latest CPI and earnings figures will not be available until the Office for Budget Responsibility publishes its Economic and Fiscal Outlook in December.
| Impact on expenditure if uprated by earnings | |||
| £ million | |||
| 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | |
| Notes: 1. The expenditure estimates in the table are rounded to the nearest £10 million. 2. 2013/14 estimates are based on the relevant Consumer Prices Index increase of 2.2% in the year to September 2012, and revised Average Weekly Earnings increase of 1.6% in the year to the three months ending July 2012 (provisional August figures are also available but are not used here). These were published on 16 and 17 October 2012. 3. 2014/15 and 2015/16 estimates are based on the latest published Office for Budget Responsibility inflation and earnings projections from their March 2012 Economic and fiscal outlook. Specifically: CPI—2014/15=1.9% CPI—2015/16=1.9% AWE—2014/15=3.0% AWE—2015/16=4.4% | |||
19 Oct 2012 : Column 470W
All claimants receiving payments of the above benefits would be affected by any changes to uprating. Forecast caseloads for each of the listed benefits are available in Table 1 c of “Benefit expenditure and caseload forecasts” on the Department for Work and Pensions website at:
http://statistics.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd4/index.php?page=medium_term
Unemployment Benefits: Young People
Mr Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many school leavers began immediately to claim out-of-work benefits in each of the last three years; and what the total value of those benefits was in each year. [124051]
Mr Hoban: The information requested is not available.
Work Capability Assessment
Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 9 July 2012, Official Report, column 65-7W, on work capability assessment: appeals, which Tribunal Service centres (a) currently operate a six-day week to hear appeals against the work capability assessment (WCA) and (b) are planning to operate a six-day week to hear appeals against the WCA. [122402]
Mrs Grant: I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.
Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) hears appeals against Department for Work and Pensions decisions on entitlement to employment and support allowance (ESA) (decisions in which the work capability assessment is a key factor) rather than appeals against work capability assessment decisions themselves.
HMCTS has continued to respond strongly to the significant increase in appeal cases received by the First-tier Tribunal—Social Security and Child Support (SSCS). It is working hard to increase the capacity of the SSCS Tribunal and reduce waiting times. The SSCS Tribunal disposed of 433,600 appeals in 2011-12. This is a 14% increase in output when compared to 2010-11 (380,200) and 56% more than 2009-10 (279,300).
All SSCS hearing venues hear appeals on the range of benefit types, including ESA. Saturday sittings are used on a flexible basis in a number of hearing venues to meet particular increases in demand for hearings. Appellants are asked before their case is listed if there are any days of the week, from Monday to Saturday, when they would be unable to attend a hearing.
(a) The following hearing venues are currently running Saturday sittings: Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle, Darlington, Basildon, Enfield, London (Fox Court and Anchorage House), Bedford, Nottingham, Sutton, Bexleyheath and Cardiff.
(b) The Liverpool hearing venue will run sittings on Saturdays from November 2012. Saturday sittings have also previously been held in Wrexham, Langstone, Plymouth, Dundee, Hamilton, Wolverhampton, Leicester and Derby.
Tom Greatrex:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff were employed by the Tribunals Service to deal with appeals against the
19 Oct 2012 : Column 471W
work capability assessment in each month of 2012 to date. [122496]
Mrs Grant: I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.
Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) hears appeals against Department for Work and Pensions decisions on entitlement to employment and support allowance (ESA) (decisions in which the work capability assessment is a key factor) rather than appeals against work capability assessment decisions themselves.
It is not possible to identify how many staff deal specifically with ESA appeals. The following table shows the number of administrative staff employed in relation to the Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) Tribunal as at the end of each month between January and September 2012 (the latest date for which figures have been published). The Tribunal hears appeals on a range of benefits, of which ESA is one.
Of the 994 staff in post as at 30 September 2012, 886 were permanent staff and 108 staff were on fixed term contracts. A number of efficiency improvements have been made and continue to be made in the SSCS Tribunal. These enable each member of staff to process more cases.
| Social Security and Child Support Tribunal staff numbers, January to September 2012 | |
| Number of staff(1) | |
| (1) The data are taken from management information. The figures quoted refer to the total number of people employed and includes those who work part-time or on a full-time basis and on temporary or fixed-term contacts. Some of the staff included may work in multi-jurisdictional centres dealing with other work as well as SSCS appeals. Equally some staff working in multi-jurisdictional centres who deal with SSCS appeals may not be included. (2) This figure is different from the figure of 988 given in answer to PQ 115318 on 9 July 2012. The reason for this is that staff have been moved retrospectively into a different budget code. | |
Work Programme
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for what reason his Department informed providers of an additional 33,000 referrals of employment and support allowance claimants to the Work programme over the three-month period from September 2012; and whether he expects these additional referrals to be made. [123878]
Mr Hoban:
The Department wrote to Work programme providers in August to announce that, responding to the lower than expected number of employment and support allowance claimants being referred to the Work programme, the Department has taken steps to increase the number of ESA claimants who have mandatory access to the Work programme. In September, the Department began to mandate ESA claimants who had a three or six month work capability assessment prognosis,
19 Oct 2012 : Column 472W
and who had previously received support from Pathways to Work. The Department believes that the time is now right to provide these claimants with the personalised and intensive support that Work programme providers can offer.
In August 2012, the letter sent to Work programme providers said this:
“In November 2011, the Department identified 33,000 ESA claimants nationally who belong to this group. Whilst this number is now likely to be lower, over the next few weeks we are undertaking a new scan to identify current volumes of eligible claimants by Contract Package Area. This information will be shared with providers as soon as it becomes available—we will be in touch shortly to confirm when we think this can be done.”
When a repeat scan of our records took place in September, we identified 29,500 claimants who had previously received Pathways to Work support. Jobcentre Plus is now working through this list of claimants to ensure that claimants are only referred if it is appropriate to do so. The total number of claimants referred from this list is therefore likely to be lower than 29,500.
Referrals to the Work programme are part of Official Statistics and will be released in due course.
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for what reason the number of jobseeker's allowance claimants referred each month from jobcentres to the Work programme has declined over the last year. [123879]
Mr Hoban: Jobseeker's allowance referrals have declined over the last year, but this is against a backdrop of much higher than anticipated JSA volumes in year one. The additional year one numbers were largely due to the transition from the Flexible New Deal and increased numbers of mandatory early entry claimants. It remains the case that overall jobseeker's allowance volumes are higher than those published during the bidding process.
Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many officials working on the Work programme have left to work for Work programme providers since October 2010. [123880]
Mr Hoban: Business appointment applications have been received in respect of three officials connected to the Work programme, one of whom subsequently did not take up an appointment with the provider. In each case, the Department restricts the individual's subsequent activity, consistent with the business appointment rules.
International Development
Afghanistan
Mrs Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development (1) how many (a) schools and (b) clinics have been financed and constructed by the UK Government in Helmand Province in Afghanistan; how many such schools and clinics (i) have been closed and (ii) she expects to close; and if she will make a statement; [122514]
(2) what discussions she has had with the Government of Afghanistan on identifying future sources of funding for schools and clinics in Helmand Province; and if she will make a statement. [122515][Official Report, 21 November 2012, Vol. 553, c. 5MC.]
19 Oct 2012 : Column 473W
Mr Duncan: UK funding through the Helmand Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) has built 11 health clinics and seven schools since 2007, with two of each currently under construction. The Helmand provincial education and health departments are responsible for the future of these facilities. They have stated that all are open and active and that they intend to maintain these services in the future.
The UK-led PRT is in regular contact with the Afghan Government, in Helmand and Kabul, to ensure that adequate funding is provided for future operation and maintenance of these services.
Burma
Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many internally displaced people there are in Arakan State, Burma; and what proportion of such displaced people are (a) Rakhine and (b) Rohingya. [122539]
Mr Duncan: According to the latest United Nations figures there are around 75,000 internally displaced people in Arakan State of whom around 70,000 are Rohingya and around 5,000 are Rakhine.
Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether she discussed aid to refugees from Burma at her recent meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi. [122591]
Mr Duncan: Since becoming Secretary of State for International Development, my right hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Justine Greening) has yet to meet Aung San Suu Kyi.
Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what involvement her Department has had in the Millennium Development Goals fund for Burma. [122592]
Mr Duncan: The 3MDG Fund (Millennium Development Goals fund), which was launched on 25 September as the successor to the Three Diseases Fund, will provide support for reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health services, as well as for HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria services. DFID will provide £40 million for the 3MDG Fund's first two financial years (2012 to 2014) and up to an additional £40 million up to 2016. DFID is represented on the board of the 3MDG Fund.
Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what proportion of aid delivered by her Department to Burma is channelled through (a) UN agencies, (b) international aid agencies and (c) local community-based organisations. [122623]
Mr Duncan: In 2011-12 approximately 70% of UK aid to Burma was channelled through UN organisations, 25% through international aid agencies and 5% directly through local community-based organisations. A significant proportion of funds channelled through the UN and international aid agencies are in turn channelled to local community-based organisations to deliver results.
19 Oct 2012 : Column 474W
Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what role the Government is playing in the Myanmar Peace Support Initiative. [122680]
Mr Duncan: As part of the Donor Support Group, the UK works closely with key stakeholders on the Myanmar Peace Support Initiative's (MPSI) structure and operations. Through DFID, the UK has pledged up to £3 million to support the MPSI, subject to the need for funds and the results that can be achieved.
Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what measures are in place to ensure that UK international development programmes implemented in Burma comply with the 2008 UN Development Group Guidelines on Indigenous Peoples' Issues. [122900]
Mr Duncan: The 2008 UN Development Group Guidelines on Indigenous Peoples' Issues apply to the UN system. The UN in Burma applies these guidelines in its strategy and programming. DFID is committed to ensuring the needs and views of indigenous peoples are fully taken into account in its programming in Burma.
Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps she has taken to ensure that UK international development aid is not channelled through the Burmese Government's Ministry for Border Affairs. [122901]
Mr Duncan: No UK aid is provided through Burma's central Government. UK aid to Burma is provided through United Nations organisations, trusted international and local non-government organisations and, where circumstances allow, at local government township level. Strict spending controls are in place to ensure that UK funding is properly channelled and accounted for.
Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much her Department has allocated to development aid in Burma in 2013; what percentage of this has been allocated to Chin State; and what the aid programme priorities are in Chin State. [122902]
Mr Duncan: The current allocation for development aid in Burma through DFID is £40 million in 2012-13 and £55 million in 2013-14. DFID support in Chin State is channelled through our contributions to two major multidonor Trust Funds, which work across the whole of Burma, including Chin State. These are, firstly, the Three Millennium Development Goals (3 MDG) Fund, which when operational later this year will provide support for health and is the successor to the 3 Diseases Fund, also active in Chin State. Secondly, the UK is providing support through the Livelihoods and Food Security Trust Fund (LIFT) which has been implementing livelihoods and food security programmes in Chin since 2011. A precise percentage breakdown of development aid to Chin State in 2013 is not available.
Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps the Government is taking to support refugees in western Burma. [123119]
19 Oct 2012 : Column 475W
Mr Duncan: The UK has provided humanitarian support to refugees in western Burma through DFID's core contributions to the United Nations and the European Union. We have called on all sides—including through several ministerial statements—to end the violence in Rakhine State, grant full humanitarian access to affected areas and build a process of reconciliation among the communities.
Research
Chris Kelly: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what external policy research her Department has commissioned in each of the last six years; from which organisation each such piece of research was commissioned; and what the cost of each such piece of research was. [123190]
Lynne Featherstone: We are unable to answer this question comprehensively without incurring disproportionate costs. A strong evidence base in development is essential as value for money and optimal impact starts with an understanding of what works. We commission research in agriculture, health, education, growth, climate and the environment, governance, conflict and social development and in cross cutting issues such as urbanisation. The amount spent on centrally commissioned research over the last six years by the Department for International Development (DFID) is as follows:
| £ million | |
The commissioning of research is largely undertaken directly by competitive tendering. However DFID also commissions research through indirect partnering with other organisations such as the United Kingdom Research Councils who manage a competitive process of research calls on our behalf.
The main sources of information that can give more precise details relating to this request are as follows:
ResearchforDevelopment (R4D) is an online portal containing details of research funded by DFID over the last 10 years, in over 30,000 project and document records. You can search the site in many different ways, including by project start and end date. The database also includes details of project spend and the organisations from which research is commissioned:
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/R4D/Default.aspx
DFID's projects database contains summaries of each project DFID funds, including research ones. You can search the database in many different ways, including by start date, and by DFID Department, including Research and Evidence Division. The database includes details of project spend by financial year:
http://projects.dfid.gov.uk/
DFID Research Report 2009-10 which describes projects that DFID was funding at that time:
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/r4d/PDF/Publications/rsrch-rpt-09-10.pdf
19 Oct 2012 : Column 476W
Justice
Antisocial Behaviour Orders
Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) men and (b) women have been imprisoned for breaching antisocial behaviour orders in each police force area; and how many such people have been the (i) victim or (ii) perpetrator of domestic violence. [122259]
Mrs Grant: The number of males and females who received an immediate custodial sentence for breach of an antisocial behaviour order (ASBO) in each police force area in England and Wales in 2011 (latest currently available) can be viewed in the table.
Data on breaches of ASBOs held centrally on the Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database do not include information about all the circumstances behind each case other than those which may be identified from a statute. Therefore, from these data, it is not possible to separately identify cases where an offence of breach of an ASBO occurred in which the offender was either a perpetrator or victim of domestic violence from those cases where they were not.
| Antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) proven in court to have been breached(1) where the breach resulted in a sentence of immediate custody, in each police force area(2) in England and Wales in 2011(3) | ||
| ASBOs breached resulting in custody | ||
| Police force area | Males | Females |
19 Oct 2012 : Column 477W
| (1) In this table ASB0 breaches are counted on the occasion on which the severest penalty for breach of an ASBO was received. (2) ASBOs may be issued in one area and breached in another ASBOs breached are counted baaed on the police force area in which the court at which the breach was proven is located; this may be different to the area in which the court that issued the ASBO is located (3) Many of these breached ASBOs will have been issued in years prior to 2011. Note: ASBO breach data are compiled by matching records of ASBOs issued with ASBOs breached. The nature of this matching process means that previously published ASBO breach data are subject to minor revision. Every effort is made lo 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 within the Ministry of Justice | ||
Apprentices
Mike Crockart: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many apprentices working in his Department are (a) paid and (b) completing a qualification as part of the apprenticeship. [123091]
Jeremy Wright: For the period 1 April 2012 to 1 October 2012 the Ministry of Justice has enrolled 408 members of staff on apprenticeships. Additionally there is one directly recruited apprentice. All are paid members of staff. It is a condition of any new apprenticeship recruitment that we provide training so all our new recruits and those completing ‘up skilling’ are completing qualifications as part of the apprenticeship.
Mike Crockart: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) paid apprentices and (b) paid interns are employed in his Department. [123092]
Jeremy Wright: For the period 1 April 2012 to 1 October 2012 the Ministry of Justice has enrolled 408 members of staff on apprenticeships. Additionally there is one directly recruited apprentice. All are paid members of staff. Records are not held centrally of the number of paid internships and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. It is planned that a system for recording paid internship details will be in place from 1 January 2013. The Ministry, as part of the Whitehall Summer Diversity Internship Programme, provided eight paid internships in 2012.
19 Oct 2012 : Column 478W
Bail
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what his policy is on bail for a defendant charged with a summary only imprisonable offence where such a defendant has in previous unrelated proceedings failed to surrender and where there is a reasonable belief they may fail to surrender again if released on bail. [120231]
Damian Green: Decisions on bail are for the courts to determine in accordance with the statutory framework set out in legislation. The courts currently have discretion to refuse bail where a defendant charged with a summary imprisonable offence has failed to surrender in previous unrelated proceedings and it appears to the court that he or she may fail to surrender again if released on bail.
That discretion will be qualified when amendments to the Bail Act 1976 in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 come into effect. Schedule 11 to the 2012 Act, which will be brought into force before the end of this year, removes the option of remanding defendants in custody where it is apparent that there is no real prospect of their receiving a custodial sentence if convicted. Where defendants bailed to appear for trial in a magistrates court fail to turn up, there is a presumption that the court will proceed in their absence.
Burglary
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what the 12-month reconviction rate was for each type of sentence for those found guilty of domestic burglary in each year since 1994; [123001]
(2) what the average number of reconvictions per offender was of those found guilty of domestic burglary in each year since 1994; [123002]
(3) how many people found guilty of committing burglary went on to commit (a) no more crimes, (b) between one and five crimes, (c) between six and 10 crimes, (d) between 11 and 20 crimes and (e) more than 20 crimes in each year since 1994; [123003]
(4) what the 12-month reconviction rate was of those found guilty of domestic burglary in each year since 1994. [123004]
Mrs Grant: Table 1 presents the number of adult (aged 18 or over) and juvenile (aged 10 to 17) offenders in England and Wales released from custody, receiving a non-custodial conviction at court, caution reprimand or warning in each of the years 2000, 2002 to 2009 (the latest calendar year available) after being found guilty of domestic burglary. Also presented are the proven re-offending rates (i.e. the proportion of the offenders found guilty of domestic burglary who re-offended in a one year follow up period) and the average number of re-offences per offender.
2000 is the earliest year for which proven re-offending data exist on a comparable basis and data are not available for 2001 due to a problem with archived data on Court Orders. Data for 2010 will be published on 25 October 2012.
Table 2 is a further breakdown of table 1 showing re-offending rates by the type of sentence received by those found guilty of domestic burglary. Re-offending rates by sentence type should not be compared to assess the effectiveness of sentences, as there is no control for known differences in offender characteristics.
19 Oct 2012 : Column 479W
It is not possible to provide a breakdown of all re-offences committed by these offenders to date because re-offending data are based on a one year follow up period. However, for your information, Table 3 presents those offenders found guilty of burglary which includes domestic and other burglary offences and the number of re-offences they committed in a one-year follow-up period.
19 Oct 2012 : Column 480W
Proven re-offending is defined as any offence committed in a one-year follow-up period and receiving a court conviction, caution, reprimand or warning in the one- year follow-up period or a further six month waiting period to allow cases to progress through the courts.
| Table 1: Proven re-offending rates of offenders found guilty of domestic burglary | |||||||||
| 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 200S | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | |
| Note: Data is not available for 2001 due to a problem with archived data on Court Orders. | |||||||||
| Table 2: Proven re-offending rates of offenders found guilty of domestic burglary by type of sentence received | ||||||||||
| Index disposal | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | |
| (1) Data based on less than 30 offenders or offences are removed as they make data unreliable for interpretation. Note: Data is not available for 2001 due to a problem with archived data on Court Orders. | ||||||||||
| Table 3: Number of re-offences committed in the one year follow up period by offenders found guilty of burglary | ||||||
| Year | No re-offences | 1 to 5 re-offences | 6 to 10 re-offences | 11 to 20 re-offences | 21 and over re-offences | |
19 Oct 2012 : Column 481W
19 Oct 2012 : Column 482W
| (1) Less than 30 offenders—treat data with caution. Note: Data is not available for 2001 due to a problem with archived data on Court Orders. | ||||||
Courts: Interpreters
Alun Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent assessment he has made of the quality of interpretation services in courts in England and Wales following changes to the centralised contract. [122235]
Mrs Grant: Under the previous arrangements there was no monitorable system for recording complaints about quality. The contract with Applied Language Solutions provides the Ministry, for the first time, with a way to monitor complaints related to interpretation and translation.
Statistics published on 18 October 2012 by the Ministry of Justice on interpretation services show that of 72,043 completed requests for language services, there were 174 complaints related to interpreter quality.
Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many civil court cases have been adjourned as a result of lack of interpreters supplied by Applied Language Solutions in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [122595]
Mrs Grant: The reasons for civil court case adjournments are not recorded as a matter of course. It is not possible to identify which adjournments are due to a lack of interpreter.
Departmental Responsibilities
Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Hastings and Rye (Amber Rudd) of 18 September 2012, Official Report, column 777, on departmental responsibilities, if he will set out the role to be played in his Department by the hon. Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford (Mr Evennett). [122697]
Chris Grayling: As I announced to the House on 18 September 2012, Official Report, column 777, I have agreed with the Chief Whip that, on occasions, when necessary, the Lord Commissioner of Her Majesty's Treasury, my hon. Friend the Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford (Mr Evennett), will provide support to the team and the House.
My hon. Friend will assist other Ministry of Justice Ministers during debates in the House and will respond to other parliamentary business on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.
Driving Offences: Speed Limits
Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many motorists were prosecuted for speeding offences in (a) Pendle constituency and (b) Lancashire in each of the last three years for which figures are available. [122561]
Jeremy Wright: The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts for speeding offences in the Lancashire police force area from 2009 to 2011 can be viewed in the table as follows.
Court proceedings data are not available at parliamentary constituency level.
| Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts for speeding offences in the Lancashire police force area, 2009-11(1,2) | |
| Number | |
| (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 | |
Fixed Penalties
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the total value of all penalty notices issued by police was in each of the last three years; and what proportion of such notices were not paid. [122550]
19 Oct 2012 : Column 483W
Mrs Grant: The total value of penalty notices for disorders (PND) issued by police and what proportion of such notices were not paid for each of the last three years can be viewed in Table A. The information covers the years 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.
19 Oct 2012 : Column 484W
Data relating to fixed penalty notices (FPN) issued for motoring offences are collected by the Home Office. The information in Table B covers the years 2008, 2009 and 2010. Figures for 2011 are scheduled to be published next spring.
| Table A: Number of penalty notices for disorder issued and related monetary values paid and what proportion not paid by tier, England and Wales, 2008-11 | |||||
| Offence | Number issued | Value of PNDs issued(£) | Number of PNDs not paid(1) | Percentage of PNDs not paid | |
| (1) Includes outcome of fine registered, court hearing requested, PND cancelled, potential prosecution and outcome known. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice | |||||
| Table B: Number of fixed penalty notices for motoring offences (FPNs) issued, related monetary values(1) paid and the proportion not paid by type of notice, England and Wales, 2008-2010 | |||||
| Type | Number issued | Values of FPNs issued (£) | Number of FPNs not paid(2) | Percentage of FPNs not paid | |
| (1 )The calculated monetary values are based upon the standard value of endorsable (£60) and non-endorsable (£30) FPNs. The value of FPNs may vary for a small number issued, therefore the figures presented should be considered to be estimates only. (2) A large proportion of fixed penalties that remain unpaid after the statutory period (28 days) are registered as fines at one and a half times the original fixed penalty amount. Data on the outcome of these fine registered FPNs are not held centrally. | |||||
Homicide: Prisoners' Release
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what the shortest sentence served by a convicted murderer before their release from prison was in the last 15 years; [122650]
(2) what assessment he has made of the current average sentence served by those convicted of murder; [122651]
(3) how many people have been murdered by individuals who have previously been convicted of murder and then released having served their prison sentences in each of the last 15 years. [122653]
Mrs Grant: A mandatory life sentence is the only sentence that can be imposed on anyone who is convicted of murder.
Life sentence prisoners must serve a minimum period of imprisonment to meet the needs of retribution and deterrence. This punitive period is announced by the trial judge in open court and is known commonly as the “tariff” period. No life sentence prisoner can expect to be released before they have served the tariff period in full.
Release on expiry of the tariff period is not automatic. Release will take place only once this period has been served and only if the Parole Board is satisfied that it is
19 Oct 2012 : Column 485W
no longer necessary, on the grounds of public protection, for the offender to remain detained in custody. As such, some life sentence prisoners remain in prison beyond their tariff as they are considered to present a risk to the public which may not be effectively managed in the community.
Data on the shortest sentence served by a convicted murderer before release in the last 15 years are not in a readily accessible electronic format. In order to answer the question precisely, it would be necessary to retrieve and search manual files for this information. This would exceed cost limits.
Data from 2010 are available in a suitable format. The shortest time served by a person convicted of murder is 3.6 years. The tariff of just under three years was set because of the special circumstances of the offence, where the offender pleaded guilty to what might be described as assisted suicide.
On 26 April 2012, the Ministry of Justice published Offender Management Statistics quarterly bulletin for October-December 2011, see:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/statistics/prisons-and-probation/oms-quarterly/oms-quarterly-editions
This included data on the average time spent in custody for mandatory life sentence prisoners. These data are shown in the following table:
| Average time served for persons convicted of murder (years) | |
Data on the number of people who have been murdered by those on life licence for murder are not in a readily accessible electronic format for the last 15 years. However, data are available since 2007. Since then, eight people have been murdered by seven offenders on life licence.
Magistrates
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many district judges have left the magistracy in each of the last 10 years; and from what courts such judges left. [122549]
Mrs Grant: The following table shows the total number of district judges who have left the magistracy in England and Wales in each of the last 10 years. "Left" has been interpreted to include retirement and death. There have been no removals from office.
| As at 1 April to 31 March each year | Total | Retired | Died | Base court |
19 Oct 2012 : Column 486W
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many new Justices of the Peace have been appointed in each of the last 10 years; and to which courts they were appointed. [122551]
19 Oct 2012 : Column 487W
Mrs Grant: The following table shows the total number of magistrates (justices of the peace) appointed in England and Wales in each of the last 10 years.
| As at 1 April to 31 March each year: | Magistrates appointed |
On appointment, magistrates are assigned to a local justice area and may then sit at a number of courts within the area. It has not been possible in the time available to provide a breakdown of appointments by local justice area. I will provide this information in a letter shortly.
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many Justices of the Peace have left the magistracy in each of the last 10 years; and from which courts such justices left. [122552]
Mrs Grant: The following table shows the total number of magistrates (justices of the peace) who have left the magistracy in England and Wales in each of the last 10 years. "Left" has been interpreted to include retirement, resignation, removal and death.
| As at 1 April to 31 March each year: | Total | Retired | Resigned | Removed | Died |
On appointment, magistrates are assigned to a local justice area and may then sit at a number of courts within the area. It has not been possible in the time available to provide a breakdown of the above figures by local justice area. I will provide this information in a letter shortly.
Members: Correspondence
Mr Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Walsall North dated 5 September 2012, ref 330806. [123332]
Mrs Grant: I have now replied. I am sorry for the delay.
19 Oct 2012 : Column 488W
Parole Board
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many full-time equivalent employees there were at the Parole Board on 30 September (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012. [122943]
Mrs Grant: The number of full-time equivalent staff employed by the Parole Board as at 30 September in each year indicated was:
| Number of full-time equivalent staff | |
Prison Sentences
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many of those given indeterminate sentences of imprisonment for public protection received a minimum tariff of (a) two to five years, (b) over five years up to and including 10 years, (c) over 10 years up to 15 years, (d) over 15 years up to and including 20 years and (e) over 20 years in (i) 2009, (ii) 2010 and (iii) 2011; [123018]
(2) what the average minimum tariff was for people given indeterminate sentences of imprisonment for public protection in (a) 2009, (b) 2010 and (c) 2011. [123019]
Jeremy Wright: Based on the population at the end of June 2012, the number of prisoners who were given indeterminate sentences of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) by the required tariff length bands in the years 2009, 2010 and 2011 is shown in the table.
| Tariff length | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
Any time spent on remand is not taken into consideration during the tariff band calculation.
The average tariff imposed for those serving IPP sentences in the years 2009. 2010 and 2011 is shown in the following table.
| Average tariff length (months) | |
These figures were drawn from administrative 11 systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
19 Oct 2012 : Column 489W
Prisoners' Release
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether he has any plans to review the release test for those prisoners on indeterminate sentences for imprisonment for public protection who have served their minimum tariff. [122940]
Jeremy Wright: There are no current plans to review the release test for prisoners serving sentences of imprisonment for public protection whose minimum term has expired. The National Offender Management Service is using a range of measures to improve the progression of these prisoners in reducing the risk they pose.
Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 15 October 2012, Official Report, columns 123-4W, on prisoners; release, and the figures given in Table 4, if he will provide the number of offenders recalled to custody for committing (a) further criminal offences, (b) further sexual offences and (c) further violent offences. [123870]
Jeremy Wright: All prisoners subject to supervision by probation trusts are liable to recall to prison should they breach the conditions of their licence or for further offending.
The precise reasons for recall are not held in a readily accessible electronic format. In the year 2011-12, there were over 16,500 recalls of prisoners on licence. All of these records would need to be checked manually in order to answer the question fully. This would substantially exceed cost limits.
Each quarter, the Ministry of Justice publishes a report on licence recalls and returns to custody. This may be found at the following web address and in the House Library:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/statistics/prisons-and-probation/oms-quarterly
Prisoners: Domestic Violence
Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what support his Department provides to (a) male and (b) female inmates who have experienced domestic violence. [122562]
Mrs Grant: The Government are committed to supporting all victims of domestic and sexual violence and abuse.
Disclosure of information about domestic violence can be extremely difficult and traumatic for the individual, and we aim to provide support and help to all prisoners who need it as part of the rehabilitation services offered in custody. Some ways in which prisons achieve this include ensuring that staff create an environment where offenders:
feel able to disclose in confidence
always receive a sensitive and professional response
have access to appropriate and relevant information
are referred to appropriate services if required.
Governors can also commission and/or deliver specific services or activities that support individuals who have experienced domestic violence, rape or abuse.
19 Oct 2012 : Column 490W
Prisoners: Foreign Nationals
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what offences the foreign nationals in prison in England and Wales on 30 September 2012 were found guilty of. [122941]
Jeremy Wright: As at 30 June 2012 there were 7,679 foreign national prisoners serving sentences in prison establishments in England and Wales.
The following table shows the breakdown by offence group.
| Foreign national prisoner population under immediate custodial sentence (including recalls) by offence group, England and Wales, 30 June 2012 | |
| Offence group | Total |
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.
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many foreign nationals there were in prison in England and Wales by nationality on 30 September 2012. [122942]
Jeremy Wright: The following tables show the number of foreign national prisoners of each nationality being held in prisons in England and Wales, as at 30 June 2012. These figures are published quarterly in table 1.6 of the ‘Offender Management Statistics Quarterly Bulletin’ available at:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/statistics-and-data/prisons-and-probation/oms-quarterly.htm
Data for the quarter ending September 2012 will be published shortly.
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.
| Population in prison, by nationality and sex, 30 June 2012, England and Wales | |||
| Nationality | Male | Female | Total |
19 Oct 2012 : Column 491W
19 Oct 2012 : Column 492W
19 Oct 2012 : Column 493W