Roads: Repairs and Maintenance

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answers of 22 November 2013, Official Report, column 1052W, on road traffic control, and of 11 December 2013, Official Report, column 221W, on roads: repair and maintenance, what the real terms funding for local road maintenance spent but not announced was in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012 and (d) 2013. [191630]

Mr Goodwill: The Department does not hold or publish local authority expenditure figures that can be directly compared to the Highways Maintenance Capital Block Grant Funding which is allocated to local highway authorities.

All expenditure information held by Government is published by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), split by categories that do not align with the intended scope of the Highways Maintenance Capital Block Grant Funding. For example, one recorded expenditure line that may be funded by this grant is the improvement of roads, however this grant forms only one of several possible sources of funding for such work. Consequently it is not possible to disaggregate from the information published by DCLG precisely where this funding is spent.

More information on the total capital expenditure of authorities, including details of all transport expenditure lines, can be obtained from the DCLG's “Local Authority Capital Expenditure, Receipts and Financing” statistical series:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/local-authority-capital-expenditure-receipts-and-financing

The Department's best estimate of combined capital and revenue expenditure on highways maintenance, across all local authorities and the Highways Agency, can be found in the published Table RDC0310 “Maintenance Expenditure by Road Class”:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/rdc03-roads-requiring-maintenance-and-road-lengths

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West Coast Railway Line

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he is taking to increase rail competition for passengers on the West Coast Main Line. [191294]

Stephen Hammond: Competition in the passenger rail market is provided by franchised operators, where there are multiple operators on the same line, and open access rail operators. Open access operators apply to the independent Office of Rail Regulation ("ORR") for the right to run services. ORR considers applications against published criteria, which are set out on their website. I understand that the ORR is currently considering an application for open access services on the west coast main line and a decision is expected in due course.

Justice

Fines: Surcharges

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much and what proportion of the victim surcharge imposed by adult courts since 1 October 2012 has been collected where the main sentence in the case was (a) a conditional discharge, (b) a fine, (c) a community order, (d) a suspended prison sentence of up to six months, (e) a suspended prison sentence of more than six months, (f) a prison sentence of up to six months, (g) a prison sentence of between six months and two years, (h) a prison sentence of between two and four years, (i) a prison sentence of between four and 14 years and (j) life imprisonment. [191440]

Mr Vara: The Ministry of Justice does not centrally collate the information in the manner requested, and it is not possible to attribute the amount of victim surcharge collected by type of sentence imposed by the courts.

Mental Health

Dr Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if his Department will sign up to the Mental Health Concordat. [189410]

Jeremy Wright: The Government are fully supportive of the Mental Health Concordat albeit we are not an explicit signatory to the document. We are already working in partnership to guarantee a better service for offenders with mental health needs. For example, we are currently rolling out liaison and diversion services at police stations and criminal courts, to identify, assess and refer those with a range of vulnerabilities, including mental health issues, into treatment so that health problems can be picked up early on in the criminal justice process.

Ministerial Policy Advisers

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many special advisers are employed in his Department; what the budget is for the employment of special advisers; and what the cost of employing special advisers in his Department was in each year from 2010. [190578]

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Damian Green: Remuneration for special advisers across Government is published on the gov.uk website. The most recent publication can be found at this link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/253081/SPAD_list_Live_UPDATE.pdf

Prison Governors

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice which prisons saw (a) a change and (b) more than one change of governor in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011, (iii) 2012 and (iv) 2013. [191291]

Jeremy Wright: The number of changes of governor for each prison establishment for (i) 2010, (ii) 2011, (iii) 2012 and (iv) 2013 are provided in the following table.

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Prisoners: Death

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many deaths in custody there were in the secure estate between 2 and 9 March 2014. [191679]

Jeremy Wright: Deaths in prison custody are designated National Statistics and published in the Safety in Custody statistics bulletin. The latest statistics cover the 12 months to the end of September 2013 and are published at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/safety-in-custody-statistics

Prisons: Discipline

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) acts of active concerted indiscipline, (b) acts of passive concerted indiscipline, (c) hostage situations and (d) incidents at height occurred in the prison system between 2 and 9 March 2014. [191678]

Jeremy Wright: While the number of active concerted indiscipline, passive concerted indiscipline, hostage situations and incidents at height are available centrally, it has not been possible to provide the number occurring between 2 and 9 March 2014 at this time as they are currently subject to data validation checks.

I will write to the right hon. Member once these data are validated to provide the information requested.

Prisons: Females

Jenny Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what the capacity is of each women’s prison in England and Wales; [188761]

(2) how many women are currently held in each women’s prison in England and Wales. [188782]

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Simon Hughes: The following table shows the population and operational capacity of each women’s prison in England and Wales as of 28 February 2014.

This information is published monthly on the Government website at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prison-population-figures-2014

These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible error(s) with data entry and processing.

Jenny Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the estimated estate value is of each women’s prison in England and Wales. [190611]

Simon Hughes: The audited value for each women’s prison in England and Wales as at 31 March 2013 as listed in the Department’s asset register, is shown in the following table.

Prisons: Monitoring

Jenny Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the running costs were of the Independent Monitoring Board in each prison in England and Wales in each year since 2010. [190597]

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Jeremy Wright: Independent Monitoring Boards (IMBs) scrutinise prisons and immigration removal centres on behalf of the Secretary of State. IMB members are volunteers who monitor the day-to-day life in their local prison and make sure that proper standards of care and decency are maintained. Annually, each board reports to the Secretary of State.

The table provides a breakdown of running costs for Independent Monitoring Boards in each prison in England and Wales from 2010 to 2013. These figures cover travel and subsistence of IMB members and other miscellaneous expenses relating to the work of the boards at each establishment. An improved system of allocating of resources to boards, with levels of monitoring activity agreed at the outset of the year, was put in place for 2012-13. This has reduced variation between some boards’ expenditure.

The total IMB budget has decreased in recent years, from £3 million in 2010 to £2.2 million in 2013-14.

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Prisons: Wrexham

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much has been spent on preliminary work associated with the building of a new prison in Wrexham to date. [188769]

Jeremy Wright: The Department has spent c. £505,000 on the preliminary work associated with the building of a new prison in Wrexham. This is a responsible and proportionate amount of preparation for a £250 million project, and includes the cost of the design, surveys, preparation and planning, all of which are essential requirements for a project of this size. Internal costs, such as staff time associated solely with the building of the new prison at Wrexham, are not held separately and could, therefore, be provided only at disproportionate cost.

We need a fit for purpose, modern prison estate that provides affordable, modern prison accommodation in the right places to deliver our ambition of reducing

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reoffending. That is why we are replacing older prisons across the estate with newer, more efficient, accommodation at a much lower cost.

This new prison will be a huge boost for the regional economy, with the creation of around 1,000 jobs and an estimated £23 million per year for the area. We will also hold prisoners close to their homes, which we know helps prevent reoffending.

Probation

Jenny Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how much his Department has spent to date on external legal advice on the design of contracts with community rehabilitation companies; [189475]

(2) who has been employed by his Department to provide legal advice on drawing up contracts for community rehabilitation companies; and how many such advisers are Queen's Counsel. [189477]

Jeremy Wright: Under our Transforming Rehabilitation proposals we are opening up the market to a diverse range of new providers across the public, private and voluntary sectors to bring innovation to rehabilitative services and help deliver reductions in reoffending rates. We are currently engaged in a competition to appoint the 21 owners of the new Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) which will be responsible for the provision of services to all but those offenders which pose the highest risk.

The design and set-up of CRCs, and the drawing up of contracts require specialist legal advice. Alongside the Department's own legal teams, Allen and Overy, who were appointed following a competitive process, are delivering that advice to the Rehabilitation Programme. The contract with Allen and Overy gives us access to a range of specialist and highly skilled legal advisers, but to date we have not used Queen's Counsel to draft any part of the contractual suite. Invoiced and accrued costs by the programme on external legal advisers between April 2013 and January 2014 are £3 million. We use external advisors and consultants for complex projects where there is a strong business case and the specialist skills are not available in-house. This represents less than 1% of the annual value of what the new CRC contracts are worth. It is right to seek high quality legal advice to protect the taxpayer. The cost of the implementing these reforms are affordable within the context of the overall MOJ budget and our commitment to deliver annual savings of over £2 billion by 2014-15.

Reparation by Offenders

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether his Department maintains a public register of restorative justice and similar schemes operating in England and Wales. [191650]

Jeremy Wright: The Government are committed to ensuring that restorative justice is victim-focused, of a good quality and available at all stages of the criminal justice system across England and Wales. That is why we are providing almost £23 million to Police and Crime Commissioners over the years 2013-14 to 2015-16 to deliver victim-initiated and pre-sentence restorative justice.

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The Ministry of Justice does not maintain a public register of restorative justice schemes operating in England and Wales. However, the Ministry has provided funding to the Restorative Justice Council to assist Police and Crime Commissioners to map the services available in their areas.

Secure Colleges

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will publish a detailed breakdown of his Department's £85 million budget for a Secure College. [191649]

Jeremy Wright: To avoid prejudicing the effectiveness of the design and build competition for the Secure College, the Ministry of Justice will not be able to publish a breakdown of the budget until the competition has been completed.

Sexual Offences: Rehabilitation

Jenny Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many places are available annually on sex offender treatment courses in each prison in England and Wales. [189476]

Jeremy Wright: The number of treatment programmes attended by sexual offenders does not provide a complete picture of the availability of sex offender treatment, or the range of services NOMS is providing to reduce risk and protect the public. We provide a range of programmes for this highly complex group of offenders. These are tailored to address an individual's risk and need, and can also include substance misuse, anger management and violence reduction. Sex offender treatment programmes are not suitable for every prisoner, in each case a thorough assessment will be carried out.

Interventions are commissioned on an annual basis in response to the National Offender Management Service Commissioning Intentions. The commissioning round for 2014-15 has not yet been finalised so the final number of sex offender treatment places that will be available is not yet known.

The number of completions of sex offender treatment courses commissioned for each prison in 2013-14 is set out in the following table.

As well as sex offender interventions, NOMS invests in a range of services, assessment, management and public protection arrangements to reduce the risk posed by sexual offenders.

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Trials

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many defendants elected jury trial in each of the last five years and (a) pleaded guilty and (b) were found guilty by each offence category; what proportion of defendants in each offence category received a prison sentence; and what average prison sentence per offence category was handed down; [191217]

(2) pursuant to the answer of 24 February 2014, Official Report, column 262W, on sentencing, in how many of the cases listed in each year (a) there was a plea of (i) guilty or (ii) not guilty and (b) the case had been sent to the Crown Court (i) by magistrates for trial, (ii) by magistrates for sentence or (iii) as the result of the defendant electing a jury trial. [191283]

Jeremy Wright: Owing to the way in which information is collated centrally by the Ministry of Justice, it is not possible to identify separate sentence outcomes for those cases completed at the Crown court in which the defendant elected jury trial.

To provide this information would involve the creation and validation of new data sets and the cost of doing so would be disproportionate.

Young Offenders

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what average length of custodial sentence was handed down to those aged 18, 19 or 20 and found guilty of criminal offences and receiving a custodial sentence in 2013; [189896]

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(2) how many and what proportion of people aged 18, 19 or 20 who were found guilty of criminal offences received a custodial sentence in 2013; [189897]

(3) how many people aged 18, 19 or 20 received a custodial sentence of (a) under six months, (b) under 12 months, (c) under 18 months, (d) under 24 months, (e) under five years, (f) under 10 years, (g) under 20 years and (h) 20 years or over in 2013. [189898]

Jeremy Wright: For offenders within the 18 to 20 age group that were sentenced for indictable (more serious)

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offences the proportion of offenders given custody increased between 2010 and 2012. The number and proportion of persons aged 18, 19 and 20 sentenced to an immediate custodial sentence by length of sentence and the average custodial sentence length (ACSL) from 2008 to 2012 (latest data available) can be seen in the table.

Please note that court proceedings statistics for the year 2013 are planned to be published by the Ministry of Justice in May 2014.

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