Leasehold Valuation Tribunal
Sir Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) for what reason costs ordered by the Leaseholder Valuation Tribunal are limited to £500; where he advertises that limit; what exceptions there are; and if he will make a statement; [128524]
(2) on how many occasions the Leaseholder Valuation Tribunal has made a costs order above £500 in the last two years; and what the highest costs order was. [128525]
Mrs Grant: Costs ordered by the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal (LVT) are limited by statute to £500. Their function is to provide a potential sanction where a tribunal determines that a party has behaved in a frivolous or vexatious manner or abused the tribunal process. The limit is set out in the Department for Communities and Local Government publication “Residential Long Leaseholders—A guide to your rights and responsibilities” and the Leasehold Advisory Service publication “Applying to a Leasehold Valuation Tribunal”. There are no exceptions to the costs limits. For this reason the LVT has not awarded costs above £500 in the last two years.
Methamphetamine
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people have been convicted of (a) manufacturing and (b) using methamphetamine in (i) the London Borough of Havering and (ii) the UK in the last 12 months. [127674]
Jeremy Wright: The Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database holds information on defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales.
The number of defendants found guilty at all courts for selected offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 relating to methylamphetamine (Crystal meth) and amphetamines, within the Havering local justice area and England and Wales in 2011, can be viewed in the following table.
19 Nov 2012 : Column 291W
19 Nov 2012 : Column 292W
|
| ||
| (1) Includes the following offences relating to the controlled drugs methylamphetamine (Crystal meth) and amphetamines: Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 S.4(2)—Production of or being concerned in the production of a controlled drug. Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 S.5(2) as amended by Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 S.157 Sch.8— Having possession of a controlled drug. Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 S.5(3)— Having possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply. Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 S.8 & Sch.2 as amended by Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 S.157 & Sch.8 Part II— Permitting premises to be used for unlawful purposes. (2) The figures given in the table 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. (3) 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. | ||
Offenders: Rehabilitation
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether he proposes that the changes in England and Wales to rehabilitation periods in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 as amended by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 should also apply to recruited service personnel from Scotland. [127731]
Jeremy Wright: The reforms to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) apply to convictions within the jurisdiction of the England and Wales. It is for the Scottish Parliament to decide whether or not it wants to introduce similar reforms to the Scottish legislation dealing with convictions in that jurisdiction.
Policing and Crime Act 2009
Gavin Shuker: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many convictions there were under section 14 of the Policing and Crime Act 2009 in (a) 2011 and (b) 2012; [127827]
(2) how many offenders have received the maximum penalty under section 14 of the Policing and Crime Act 2009. [128111]
Jeremy Wright: The Ministry of Justice are aware that there were issues in the central recording of the data relating to this offence in 2011. These issues are being investigated and revised information for 2011 and 2012 figures will be included in the next annual Criminal Justice Statistics publication, planned for release in May 2013.
The number of defendants found guilty and sentenced at all courts, with sentence breakdown, for offences under section 14 of the Policing and Crime Act 2009, in England and Wales for 2010, can be viewed in the following table.
The maximum sentence available for offences under section 14 of the Policing and Crime Act 2009 is a £1,000 fine. Zero offenders received this maximum sentence in 2010.
19 Nov 2012 : Column 293W
Prisoners: Repatriation
Dr Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners have been returned to the UK under the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons from (a) the US, (b) European Union countries and (c) the rest of the world in each of the last 10 years. [128465]
Jeremy Wright: The following table gives the information requested for each of the last five years. Information relating to the transfer of prisoners prior to 2007 is not available.
| USA | EU | Rest of world | |
The figures given in the table relate to England and Wales only. The transfer of prisoners to Scotland and to Northern Ireland is a devolved matter, and is therefore the responsibility of the relevant Minister.
The numbers reported here are drawn from a Prison Service Case Tracking System. Care is taken when processing these cases but the figures may subject to inaccuracies associated with any recording system.
Dr Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how long on average a prisoner waiting to be returned to the UK under the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons has to wait to be removed from (a) the US and (b) European Union countries. [128492]
Jeremy Wright: The date on which a foreign jurisdiction notifies the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) that arrangements can be made for the collection of an individual following agreement for repatriation is not recorded on NOMS IT systems. In order to obtain the information required an examination of each of the individual case files for the 215 prisoners returned since 2007 would have to be made and a calculation made. This could be done only at disproportionate cost.
NOMS is not routinely informed of the date on which a prisoner submits an application to the relevant authorities of a foreign jurisdiction to be transferred to England and Wales, and therefore cannot undertake a calculation on the length of time an application takes from submission through to conclusion.
The transfer of prisoners from other countries to Scotland and Northern Ireland is a devolved matter and is the responsibility of the relevant Minister.
Prisons: Finance
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much funding each prison will receive in the current financial year; and what funding is budgeted for 2013-14. [128231]
Jeremy Wright: The latest resource budget allocations for each public sector and private prison for the financial year 2012-13 is given in the following tables.
19 Nov 2012 : Column 294W
| Public sector prison budgets 2012-13 | |
| Establishment name | £ million |
19 Nov 2012 : Column 295W
19 Nov 2012 : Column 296W
| Notes: 1. All figures in £ million and subject to rounding. 2. Figures are the current (as at October 2012) resource budget allocations for 2012-13 for public sector prisons. These are the local establishment budgets and do not include expenditure/income managed centrally at regional or national level. 3. Budget figures may be subject to change during the year to reflect operational business decisions. 4. Data for Elmley, Standford Hill and Swaleside prisons included under Isle of Sheppey Cluster. 5. Data for Blakenhurst and Hewell Grange prisons included under Hewell Cluster. 6. Data for Albany, Camp Hill and Parkhurst prisons included under Isle of Wight Cluster. 7. Edmunds Hill prison is clustered with Highpoint prison. 8. Castington prison is clustered with Acklington prison, and known as Northumberland. 9. Dover, Haslar and Morton Hall not included as they are immigration removal centres. 10. Figures are not directly comparable as a number of factors can cause differences between prison budgets such as size and security category, mix of prisoners (including gender and age), and internal regime and rehabilitation work provided. | |
| Private prison budgets 2012-13 | |
| Establishment name | £ million |
| Notes: 1. Figures subject to rounding. 2. Figures are the current resource budget allocations for 2012-13 for private prisons. 3. Budget figures may be subject to change during the year to reflect operational business decisions. 4. Ashfield and Parc figures include funds provided by the Youth Justice Board in respect of sentenced under-18 offenders. 5. Figures for contracted prisons are not directly comparable with public sector prisons because of differences in scope, type of prisoner and financing method. | |
The Department has not set prison budgets for 2013-14. Budgets will be set as part of the Department's regular annual budget allocation process. Allocations will be made on the basis of need and according to departmental priorities.
Prisons: Procurement
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many full time equivalent staff of his Department are involved in the prison marketisation process. [128548]
Jeremy Wright: There are 15 staff in the dedicated programme team and a further 2.5 staff in the Procurement Group. These numbers will be supplemented as necessary by staff from other areas as the programme progresses through the remaining negotiations and then into contract mobilisation.
19 Nov 2012 : Column 297W
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) when officials in his Department sought approval from Ministers in his Department for the outcome of the recent marketisation of prisons process; [129056]
(2) when Ministers in his Department approved the outcome of the recent marketisation of prisons process. [129057]
Jeremy Wright: Officials provided advice to Ministers once the evaluation of the competition to manage the prisons had been completed. Once Ministers had considered this advice, the Secretary of State for Justice then made an announcement at the earliest opportunity.
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans he has for further market testing of prisons up to 2015. [129058]
Jeremy Wright: As the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, my right hon. Friend the Member for Epsom and Ewell (Chris Grayling), set out in his written ministerial statement to the House on 8 November 2012, Official Report, column 44WS, we will apply to all public sector prisons a new benchmark for running prisons to maximise savings over the next two spending review periods. This involves retaining core custodial functions within the public sector, but delivering them at lower cost while providing ancillary and “through the gate” resettlement services through market competition. We have not ruled out further individual prison by prison competitions but if the public sector rises to the challenge to deliver the improvements and savings required from the new public sector benchmark we do not anticipate a need to launch further market tests for individual prisons in this Parliament.
Richard III
Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Burnley Central of 25 October 2012, Official Report, column 997W, on Richard III, whether it is still the intention that should DNA show that the remains found in Leicester are that of Richard III, that they will be reinterred at Leicester Cathedral. [128174]
Mrs Grant: This is a matter for the university of Leicester archaeologists who were granted the licence to exhume remains which may be those of Richard III. Should the remains be found to be those of Richard III, the archaeologists' current plan is to reinter in Leicester Cathedral.
Risley Prison
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he is taking to reduce the number of illegal drugs and mobile telephones being smuggled into HM Prison Risley; and if he will make a statement. [129013]
Jeremy Wright: NOMS remains committed to tackling the supply of illegal drugs and mobile phones within prisons and deploys a comprehensive range of security measures to do so.
19 Nov 2012 : Column 298W
These measures include drug detection dogs, procedures to tackle visitors who seek to smuggle drugs and phones into prisons, and mobile phone detection technology. NOMS is also increasing the number of drug free wings in prisons, where increased security measures prevent access to drugs.
The Government has given its full support to the Prisons (Interference with Wireless Telegraphy) Bill being taken forward by Sir Paul Beresford and Lord Laming, which will create clear statutory powers for HMP Risley and other institutions to employ signal denial technology to suppress the use of mobile phones being illegally used within prisons.
HMP Risley has seen a significant decrease in the number of prisoners testing positive for drugs and the rate of positive random mandatory drug results has fallen from 11.5% in 2007-08 to 3.9% in 2011-12. Recently, the prison governor has introduced a drug recovery unit and has referred prisoners in possession of a mobile phone to the police, resulting in three recent convictions
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many assaults on staff have taken place at HM Prison Risley in each of the last five years. [129014]
Jeremy Wright: The number of assaults on staff at individual establishments can be found in Table 3.15 of the Safety in Custody Statistics. This can be found at:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/statistics/prisons-and-probation/safety-in-custody
For the last five years the number of assaults on staff at HMP Risley are shown in the following table.
| Assaults on staff at HMP Risley 2007 to 2011 | |
| Number of assaults on staff | |
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what consideration he has given to the recent report of the Independent Monitoring Board on HM Prison Risley; and if he will make a statement. [129015]
Jeremy Wright: I will be sending a full written response to the Chair of the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) at Risley, addressing the concerns raised in the Board's Annual Report, as soon as the issues have been fully considered. I will forward you a copy of my reply in due course.
Sentencing
Mr Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many convictions for offences of (a) murder, (b) rape, (c) unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, (d) robbery, (e) burglary, (f) arson and criminal damage, (g) section 18 offences under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, (h) section 20 offences under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and (i) sexual assaults there have been in each year since 1997; what proportion of people convicted for such offences received a custodial sentence in each year since 1997; and what the average length of such sentences was in each year since 1997. [128389]
19 Nov 2012 : Column 299W
Jeremy Wright:
The number of defendants found guilty and sentenced at all courts, with immediate custody rate and average custodial sentence length (months), for
19 Nov 2012 : Column 300W
selected offences, in England and Wales, from 1997 to 2011, can be viewed in the following tables.
| Defendants found guilty and sentenced at all courts, with immediate custody rate and average custodial sentence length (months)(1), for selected offences, England and Wales, 1997 to 2011(2, 3, 4, 5) | ||||||||
| Offence and outcome | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
19 Nov 2012 : Column 301W
19 Nov 2012 : Column 302W
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | |
| Offence and outcome | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008(6) | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
19 Nov 2012 : Column 303W
19 Nov 2012 : Column 304W
Universal Credit
Mr McCann: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how the qualifying conditions for each passported benefit for which he is responsible will change under universal credit. [128412]
19 Nov 2012 : Column 305W
Damian Green: There are three distinct areas of the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) that use qualifying benefits as an administrative marker to passport claimants to MOJ services. These are:
Legal Aid
Fees Remissions
Assisted Prison Visits Scheme
We are currently considering how to accommodate the introduction of universal credit in each of these areas.
Wandsworth Prison
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proposed changes at HMP Wandsworth will be implemented following the 2011-12 annual report from the Chief Inspector of Prisons. [128229]
Jeremy Wright:
HM chief inspector of prisons' (HMCIP) annual report for 2011-12 was published on 17 October 2012. This report referred to findings from the unannounced prison inspection of HMP Wandsworth undertaken between 28 February and 4 March 2011. The chief inspector's report of this inspection was published on 10 August 2011. The report made a number of
19 Nov 2012 : Column 306W
recommendations and the governor of Wandsworth prepared an action plan in response to each of the recommendations which was submitted to the chief inspector early this year.
Since the inspection was undertaken in early 2011, Wandsworth prison has made significant progress in implementing the chief inspector's recommendations. The management team has been strengthened and measures have been taken, for example, to improve induction and first night provision, increase access to purposeful activity and improve provision of showering facilities and access to telephones. I will write to the right hon. Member separately to provide him with a more detailed update on progress with the recommendations.
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what funding HMP Wandsworth received from the Government in (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11 and (c) 2011-12; and what the budget for 2012-13 is. [128230]
Jeremy Wright: The figures in the following table show the direct resource outturn expenditure for HMP Wandsworth for financial years 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 and the latest allocated resource budget for 2012-13.
| £ million | ||||
| 2009-10(1) | 2010-11(1) | 2011-12(1) | 2012-13(2) | |
| (1) Outturn (2) Budget Notes: 1. Figures are subject to rounding. 2. Figure for 2012-13 is the current (October 2012) direct resource budget allocated to the prison. 3. Figures are the local direct resource outturn expenditure published with the Management Information Addendum to the NOMS Annual Accounts and resource budget allocated to the prison. This does not include expenditure / income managed centrally at regional or national level. 4. Budget figures may be subject to change during the year to reflect operational business decisions. 5. The figures are not directly comparable between years due to a number of factors, including: i) The 2009-10 figure is restated to exclude Cost of Capital, which was included in the 2009-10 accounts but was no longer included in expenditure from 2010-11 onwards due to a change in accounting treatment. ii) The 2009-10 figure includes expenditure on non-clinical substance misuse, but the 2010-11 figure is restated to make it more comparable with the 2011-12 figure, by excluding this expenditure, as responsibility for this transferred to the Department of Health in 2011-12. iii) The budget for 2012-13 includes a withdrawal of funding of £2.2million due to the temporary closure of the Onslow Unit at the prison for refurbishment work. | ||||
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners were in HMP Wandsworth on 1 April and 1 October in (a) 2009, (b) 2010, (c) 2011 and (d) 2012. [128343]
Jeremy Wright: Data are held centrally on the prison population on the last day of each month, so figures are not available for 1 April and 1 October of each year. Additionally, annual trends are typically compared using the 30 June figures for each year.
The following table shows figures as at 31 March and 30 September of 2010, 2011 and 2012. Due to changes in the data collection, figures for September 2009 refer to the last Friday of the month.
| Population in prison on specific dates at HMP Wandsworth | |
| Number of prisoners | |
| Note: Due to changes in data collection, the figures for September 2009 refer to the last Friday of the month. All other figures refer to the last day of the month. | |
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.
Work Capability Assessment
Mike Crockart: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average length of time was for an appeal to be heard in respect of employment and support allowance in the latest period for which figures are available; and how many appeals were heard in that period. [128624]
Mrs Grant:
Appeals against decisions made by the Department for Work and Pensions on an individual's entitlement to employment and support allowance (ESA)
19 Nov 2012 : Column 307W
are heard by the First-tier Tribunal—Social Security and Child Support (SSCS), administered by Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS).
During the period 1 April to 30 June 2012 (the latest period for which data has been published) the average time taken from receipt of an ESA appeal by the SSCS Tribunal to disposal was. 19 weeks, down from 21 weeks at the end of March. Data are taken from management information and include appeals disposed of without the need for a tribunal hearing.
A total of 52,300 employment and support appeals were disposed of by the Tribunal during the same period.
HMCTS is working hard at a national level to increase the capacity of the SSCS Tribunal and reduce waiting times. It has implemented a range of measures which include recruiting more judges and medical panel members; increasing administrative resources and streamlining processes; securing additional hearing venues across the country; increasing the number of cases listed in each Tribunal session; running double shifts in its largest processing centre; running Saturday sittings in some of the busiest venues; and establishing a customer contact centre to deal with telephone inquiries.
All of this is having a positive effect. The total number of disposals has increased significantly from 279,000 in 2009-10 to 380,000 in 2010-11, and 433,600 appeals in 2011-12 and the average waiting time has fallen nationally.