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Written Answers
Monday, 23rd July 2001.
Prisoners and Tuberculosis
Baroness Stern asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How many prisoners have been diagnosed with tuberculosis during the last three years; and[HL374]
How many prisoners diagnosed with tuberculosis during the last three years showed resistance to any of the main tuberculosis drugs; and[HL375]
How many times in the past three years prisons have been contacted by the public health authorities and asked to screen a prisoner who has been named as a contact by a tuberculosis-infected person.[HL376]
The Minister of State, Home Office (Lord Rooker): The number of new cases of tuberculosis reported by Prison Service establishments over the three previous years for which complete data are available was as follows:
- 1997-98: 50
- 1998-99: 50
- 1999-2000: 52
The remainder of the information requested is not collected centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Baroness Stern asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether there is a written agreement between the public health authorities and the prison service on the procedure to follow in cases where a prison is contacted by a public health authority and asked to screen a prisoner who has been named as a contact by a tuberculosis-infected person.[HL377]
Lord Rooker: The Prison Service undertakes diagnosis, care, treatment and contact tracing for tuberculosis in conjunction with local National Health Service specialists and in accordance with British Thoracic Society guidelines. While there is no written agreement to this effect, establishments would be expected to co-operate fully with any contact-tracing exercise initiated in the community.
Prisons: Budget for Chaplains
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What is the budget for the chaplaincy at HM Prisons Ashwell, Gartree, Long Lartin, Sudbury, the Verne and Wandsworth; and what items are covered by this budget.[HL387]
Lord Rooker: While prison establishments have a specific budget earmarked for equipment, materials and expenses for the conduct of religious education and activities, this does not include the salary and related costs for full-time chaplains and the fees paid to visiting ministers which cannot be immediately separated from other salary and agency fee budgets. When all the relevant funding provision for the establishments concerned has been identified, I will write to the noble Lord and place a copy in the Library of the House.
British Nationality Act Review
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What was the closing date for submissions in connection with their review of the British Nationality Act 1981; and when they expect to announce their conclusions.[HL388]
Lord Rooker: No closing date was set for submissions relating to the review of the full capacity requirements in the British Nationality Act 1981. We asked the original group consulted to respond, if possible, by 13 October 2000 and the later group by 17 November 2000. We are now examining the responses to the consultation exercise and hope to be able to announce our conclusions later this year.
Drugs Strategy: Residential Care Standards for Younger Adults
Lord Taverne asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What plans they have to ensure that the residential care standards for younger adults do not adversely affect the Government's national drugs strategy and its crime reduction agenda, and in particular access to the residential treatment and the effectiveness of such treatment. [HL398]
Lord Rooker: There has been a detailed consultation exercise undertaken as part of the development of the residential care standards for younger adults. In addition to the general consultation, four workshops have been held involving service users and residential drug treatment providers. These gave this group the opportunity to raise any concerns they have regarding the impact that the care standards would have on the residential drug treatment sector. The Department of Health has also undertaken a detailed analysis of the current provision in the residential treatment sector.
These pieces of work will inform the Department of Health in setting suitable standards and a timescale for their introduction in order to prevent a reduction of availability within the residential drug treatment sector so that they do not adversely affect targets within the Government's drugs strategy.
Police Officers: Retirement
Lord Janner of Braunstone asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How many police officers, and what proportion of each category of rank of police officers, the Metropolitan Police Service expects to lose after 30 years of service, in each rank of the years 2001-11; and[HL413];
How many police officers, and what proportion of each category of rank of police officer, each of the police authorities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland expect to lose after 30 years service, in each of the years 2001-11.[HL414]
Lord Rooker: I can answer only for the police service in England and Wales. Information about the total number of police officers who will leave after 30 years service in each of the next 10 years is not collected. Projections of retirements each year in total, though not by rank, are available for the Metropolitan Police and have been provided by the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis. The available information is set out in the table.
| Year | Projected Number of officer retirements with 30 years service |
| 2001-02 | 383 |
| 2002-03 | 391 |
| 2003-04 | 410 |
| 2004-05 | 393 |
| 2005-06 | 540 |
| 2006-07 | 661 |
| 2007-08 | 524 |
| 2008-09 | 516 |
| 2009-10 | 619 |
| 2010-11 | 687 |
Lord Janner of Braunstone asked Her Majesty's Government: What consideration they have given to methods to encourage appropriate police officers to delay their retirement after 30 years service.[HL416]
Lord Rooker: We are considering a range of options that might be used to encourage suitable police officers to delay their retirement as part of the police reform process.
Lord Janner of Braunstone asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will detail the current provision that enables police officers to carry on for a further five years after their initial 30 years service, subject to the agreement of the chief constable and the conditions prevailing in the force; and what proposals they have for changing this situation.[HL417]
Lord Rooker: A police officer is entitled to retire with maximum pension benefits after completion of 30 years' service. However officers are, unless their retirement is required in the interests of the efficiency of the force, entitled to continue to serve until
compulsory retirement age. Compulsory retirement age for the majority of officers--those who are constables and sergeants--is age 55.Whether or not an officer has completed 30 years' service on reaching compulsory retirement age, there is provision made in the regulations for retirement to be postponed for a period of up to five years. In the case of the ranks up to superintendent, the decision to postpone is one for the chief constable. For more senior officers it is a matter for the police authority. This is set out in Regulation A18(2) of the Police Pensions Regulations 1987.
Whether an extension of service will be granted if requested is a matter for local discretion depending on the fitness for continued duty of the individual officer and the needs of the force.
We will be considering whether any changes are required to the power to postpone, or whether guidance for forces on the use of the power to extend service is required, as part of the police reform process.
Police Morale
Lord Janner of Braunstone asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will take appropriate steps to improve morale in the police forces of the United Kingdom.[HL418]
Lord Rooker: As part of the process of police reform, the Government are determined to tackle those elements of police officers' working lives that can create frustration and detract from their ability to do their jobs in the way that they would wish.
We are determined to reduce the burden of unnecessary bureaucracy.
We are investing in technological support to help increase the effectiveness of the police in fighting crime and to ensure that officers are able to spend as much of their time as possible on the front line.
An ambitious programme of work in police training has begun to raise professional standards for officers and support staff and to achieve greater consistency nationally.
We have turned round the decline in police numbers that started under the previous government. Substantial government investment in the police service is now delivering the positive results that we promised when the Crime Fighting Fund was launched in September 1999 and commenced in April 2000.
Police numbers rose in the 12 months to March 2001 by 1,349 officers, to 125,519. An increase of 1.1 per cent. This is the largest single annual increase in police numbers since 1988-89.
We intend that police numbers overall should continue to rise. We expect that police strength will reach 130,000 officers by March 2004.
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