Michael Turner

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many times he has met Michael Turner, head of the Criminal Bar Association, in the last year; [167134]

(2) what recent discussions he has had with Michael Turner regarding the Government's proposals for criminal legal aid. [167135]

11 Sep 2013 : Column 787W

Jeremy Wright: The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, my right hon. Friend the Member for Epsom and Ewell (Chris Grayling), has met regularly with the legal profession to discuss the Transforming Legal Aid proposals. This includes meetings with the Law Society, Bar Council, Circuit Leaders and roundtable meetings with Law Society members.

The Secretary of State for Justice has not met Michael Turner QC. However, Lord McNally, lead Minister for legal aid at the MOJ met Mr Turner on 30 May 2013.

The Department publishes quarterly meetings between Ministers and all external organisations. Quarters from March 2013 will be published in due course. This can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications ?departments%5B%5D=ministry-of-justice&publication_type=transparency-data

Prisons

Mr Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the prison performance rating was for HM Prison (a) Blundeston, (b) Dorchester, (c) Northallerton and (d) Reading in the latest period for which figures are available. [168141]

Jeremy Wright: The annual prison performance ratings for 2012-13 were published by the Ministry of Justice on 25 July 2013 at the following location:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/225226/prison-annual-per-ratings-12-13.pdf

Prisons: Drugs

Grahame M. Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) passive and (b) active drug dogs there were at each prison establishment in England and Wales in each of the last four years; and if he will make a statement. [166347]

Jeremy Wright: Drug misuse in prisons, as measured by Mandatory Drug Testing (MDT), has continued on a downward trend. In 2011-12, 1% of prisoners tested positive for drug misuse, compared to 24.4% in 1996-97.

The total number of passive and active drug detection dogs in prison establishments in England and Wales in each of the last four years is given in the following table.

Data have not been provided on an individual prison basis for security reasons. Placing such information on the public record would expose to those who may wish to smuggle drugs into prisons the extent of each prison's specific drug dog capability.

Prisons deploy a range of robust security measures to reduce drug supply—including passive and active search dogs, “closed” visits (ie through a glass screen) or visit

11 Sep 2013 : Column 788W

bans, CCTV surveillance in most social visits areas and low-level furniture in social visits areas in all category C prisons and above, to make it more difficult to pass drugs; deployment of technology to detect and disrupt mobile phones, and analysis of recovered handsets and SIM cards; and a comprehensive programme of mandatory drug testing for prisoners with disciplinary sanctions for those testing positive. Criminal proceedings are invoked against visitors and prisoners alike wherever sufficient evidence exists of an attempt to supply.

The reduction in numbers of dogs across the prison estate is largely due to efficiency savings and also the formation of area based specialist search teams to make resources more flexible. Area based search teams provide a level of dog searching depending on risk and level of threat by way of a service level agreement.

All figures have been drawn from live administrative data systems which may be amended at any time. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the pilot study of drug-free prison wings; and when he intends to publish the outcome of that project. [166534]

Jeremy Wright: The Government are committed to increasing the number of drug-free wings in prisons, where increased security measures prevent access to drugs.

Evaluation of the pilot of these wings will begin once the pilot concludes at the end of September. I expect the evaluation to be completed by the end of March 2014.

I will consider whether and how to publish the evaluation carefully. It may be that publication of the evaluation, containing details of measures that are effective in reducing drug availability in prisons, could compromise the effectiveness of those measures if they are placed into the public domain.

Property

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what progress his Department has made in reducing its central London estate; [166032]

(2) what progress his Department has made in its plans to relocate 1000 posts out of London by 2015. [166027]

Mrs Grant: Since April 2010, we have reduced the central London administrative estate from 18 to seven buildings with a target of having just two core buildings by 2015. Across the whole MOJ estate, we have already reduced the number of properties from 185 to 111. This has resulted in savings of about £41 million per annum with a target reduction of £47 million per annum by 2015.

Around 500 posts from the Office of the Public Guardian have relocated from London to Birmingham. The Office of the Public Guardian is an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice. As part of its Estate

11 Sep 2013 : Column 789W

Transformation Programme, the MOJ is promoting flexible workspace in its central London estate with a 70% desking ratio (seven desks to 10 full-time equivalent employees).

Salvation Army

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will list by (a) region and (b) month the (i) nationality, (ii) gender and (iii) age of each suspected victim of trafficking referred by the Gangmaster's Licensing

11 Sep 2013 : Column 790W

Authority to the Trafficking Victim Support Scheme operated by the Salvation Army since June 2010. [168330]

Mrs Grant: The Salvation Army has administered the Government-funded support service for adult victims of human trafficking in England and Wales since 1 July 2011. Details on the referrals received from the Gangmasters Licensing Authority by the Salvation Army are provided as follows.

11 Sep 2013 : Column 791W

Staff

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many posts in his Department have been relocated from London to each other region in each of the last 10 years. [168281]

Mrs Grant: The Ministry of Justice is committed to reducing costs and to exacting the greatest possible value from its resources. As part of the Estate Transformation Programme, the Ministry continues to

11 Sep 2013 : Column 792W

promote flexible workspace in its central London estate with a 70% desking ratio (seven desks to 10 full-time equivalent employees).

Information about the total number of posts relocated from London to each region is not recorded centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, I can inform the hon. Member that since April 2010, around 500 posts from the Office of the Public Guardian, an executive agency of the Ministry, have relocated from London to Birmingham.