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Lord Tunnicliffe: The Department for International Development (DFID) mainly receives petitions from members of the public supporting campaigns run by
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If a petition which is part of a campaign is accompanied by a covering letter from, for example, a school or a faith group, we also send a reply to the petition organiser.
DfID occasionally receives petitions which are not part of civil society campaigns. These are received, acknowledged, dealt with and responded to in the same way as other correspondence received by the department. A letter is sent to the originator of the petition confirming receipt and addressing the issues raised.
Piracy
Questions
To ask Her Majesty's Government in which jurisdiction, and under which laws, pirates captured by Royal Navy forces were last prosecuted. [HL1600]
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Malloch-Brown): The last pirates detained by the Royal Navy were those captured by HMS “Cumberland” in the Gulf of Aden on 11 November 2008. As piracy is a crime of universal jurisdiction, they were transferred to Kenya for investigation. They have been charged with piracy offences under Kenyan law and are currently being prosecuted in Kenya.
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether piracy is an offence under the law of the United Kingdom; and what is the maximum penalty upon conviction. [HL1601]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Bach): The Piracy Act 1837 deals with piracy with violence; the punishment for piracy is life imprisonment. In addition, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982, which defines piracy, was incorporated into UK law by the Merchant Shipping and Maritime Security Act 1997, Section 26 and Schedule 5.
Places of Religious Worship
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord West of Spithead on 12 February (WA 235), which faiths and denominations have met the criteria and are recognised by the Registrar General for the purposes of the Places of Worship Registration Act 1855; and how many places of worship of each faith and denomination have been registered. [HL1707]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): I refer the noble Baroness to my Written Answer to her on 25 February (Official Report, col. WA 91).
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Planning: Eco-towns
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the cost of the consultation exercise on the eco-town proposals; and what has been the effect on the cost of the extension to 30 April. [HL1838]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Andrews): In terms of the cost of the consultation exercise I refer the noble Lord to the Answer given in the other place to the honourable Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Mr Shapps) on 23 February 2009 (Official Report, House of Commons (col. 108W). This sets out the costs for the different elements of the eco-towns programme, which input into the Government's eco-towns consultation.
The Government do not expect their extension to the eco-town consultation to impact significantly on the costs of the programme. Importantly it will ensure that all parties, irrespective of their views, are given the full opportunity to have their say and consider the financial viability study on the eco-towns programme, which was published on 5 March 2009 and is available on Communities and Local Government's website.
Police: Northern Ireland
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they propose to remove any religious discrimination in the recruitment of officers to the Police Service of Northern Ireland. [HL1781]
Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: The Government are committed to reaching 30 per cent Catholic composition within the Police Service of Northern Ireland regulars by 2010-11. When this target is reached the temporary 50:50 recruitment provisions will end.
Preventing Violent Extremism Pathfinder Fund
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government which groups have been funded under the Preventing Violent Extremism Pathfinder Fund in each of the past three years; and how much they have received. [HL1706]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Andrews): The preventing violent extremism pathfinder fund provided £6 million in funding to around 70 priority local authorities in 2007-08. The Secretary of State for Communities wrote to Paul
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From 2008-09 funding to support local authorities' work to prevent violent extremism is paid through the non-ring-fenced area-based grant. While we continue to work very closely with local authorities, both directly and through government offices, we cannot require them to report on the use of their funding.
Prisoners: Parole
Questions
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many prisoners serving life and indeterminate sentences have not had their cases reviewed by the Parole Board at a point three years before the expiry of their judicial tariff. [HL1581]
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action the Parole Board and the Prison Service are taking to prevent delays in indeterminate parole reviews. [HL1582]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Bach): Under current policy, every life and indeterminate-sentence prisoner serving a sentence with a tariff of six years or more is entitled to have their case reviewed by the Parole Board three years prior to the expiry of their tariff. The purpose of this review is to enable prisoners who have made good progress to be transferred to open conditions prior to the expiry of tariff, in order that the risk of harm they present may be tested in open conditions, to inform the Parole Board's decision on or post tariff expiry as to whether they might be released into the community.
To be able to confirm the number of prisoners who have not had their cases reviewed by the Parole Board at a point three years before the expiry of their judicial tariff would require a manual audit of all records of all such prisoners serving a tariff of six years or more. To undertake a manual exercise of this scale would incur disproportionate cost. However, modifications which are currently being made to the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) Public Protection Unit Database (PPUD) will enable such information to be stored centrally, albeit in respect of those prisoners whose pre-tariff parole review commences on or after 1 April 2009 and I will write to provide you with that information at that time.
The National Offender Management Service, working in conjunction with the Parole Board, is devising a new and integrated parole process for considering the cases of prisoners serving life and indeterminate public protection sentences. The new system, which is due to be introduced from 1 April, is aimed at improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the process, with the performance of every agency being monitored centrally. This process brings for the first time a unified timetable with an overall end to end target, monitored by performance on PPUD.
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To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to decide changes to the Parole Rules to give greater flexibility in setting up panels. [HL1583]
Lord Bach: The Parole Board (Amendment) Rules 2009 were laid before the House on Monday 2 March.
The amendments will provide the Parole Board greater flexibility in the deployment of its resources so as to cope with an increasing workload and reduce delays, particularly in relation to the appointment of oral panels to consider the release of individual prisoners.
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many prisoner hearings have been postponed by the Parole Board in the past 12 months; and for how long, on average, they are postponed. [HL1604]
To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the reasons for the postponement of prisoner hearings by the Parole Board. [HL1605]
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the cost of postponement of prisoner hearings by the Parole Board. [HL1606]
Lord Bach: In the current financial year there have been 479 cases which were listed for hearing but postponed before the due date. In addition there were 339 cases which went to a hearing but were adjourned or deferred on the day.
The average amount of time for cases that have been postponed to be heard is 3.9 months.
There are a number of reasons why prisoners' hearings are postponed. In the report Protecting the Public: The Work of the Parole Board published by the NAO in March 2008, the main reasons were identified as l. Incomplete dossier. 2. The Board could not arrange a panel. 3. Witness not available. 4. Key documents arrived too late. 5. Prisoner transferred to a different establishment. 6. Prisoner to complete a behavioural/educational course.
The cost of postponement of prisoner hearings by the Parole Board is difficult to calculate given the broad variety of circumstances in individual cases. However, the NAO calculated that failures to release on time and the cost of administrative delays amounted to £3 million for the nine months from 1 September 2006 to 1 June 2007.
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether staffing levels at the Parole Board have risen in accordance with the increase in the prison population since 1997. [HL1607]
Lord Bach: In 1997-98 the average number of staff employed was 46 and this has risen in 2007-08 to 96 (108 per cent increase).
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In 1997-98 the average prison population, as published in Home Office statistics was 61,114. The most recently available comparative figure is for 2006-07 and is 79,734 (30.5 per cent increase).
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many long-term prisoners there are in England and Wales. [HL1608]
Lord Bach: At the end of January 2009 (latest available), there were 24,192 and 12,093 prisoners serving determinate long-term and indeterminate sentences respectively in all prison establishments in England and Wales.
Long-term prison sentences for the purpose of the answer mean prisoners serving sentences of four years or more.
These figures are taken from Table 1 within the Ministry of Justice statistical bulletin, Population in Custody Monthly Tables, January 2009, England and Wales, copies of which can be found in the Libraries of the House and at www.justice.gov.uk/publications/populationincustody.htm.
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.
Prisoners: Sentences
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps have been taken to ensure long-term prisoners are prepared for a return to the community when they have served their sentences. [HL1603]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Bach): The Government have implemented the offender management model for the management of offenders in custody who are assessed as presenting a high risk of serious harm, are considered a prolific or other priority offender or who are serving an indeterminate sentence for public protection. These groups are highly likely to be serving a long sentence. The offender management model requires a community-based offender manager to oversee the sentence from start to finish, paying particular attention to the transition from custody to the community. The offender manager prepares a sentence plan to cover the custodial period of the sentence, ensuring that the offender receives the interventions required to enable him or her to resettle in the community. Following release, long-term prisoners are subject to a period of licence when they will be supervised by the probation service.
Subject to the requirements of the sentence plan, which is based on an individual assessment of needs, prisons participate in a range of accredited programmes designed to tackle offending behaviour and substance abuse. The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) works in partnership with the Learning and
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In 2007-08, the Prison Service exceeded its targets for the percentage of prisoners released with employment (109 per cent against target) and accommodation (115 per cent) on release.
Prisons: Northern Ireland
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the current prison population in Northern Ireland; and by what percentage it is different from the same dates in 2008, 2007 and 2006. [HL1667]
Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: The Northern Ireland prison population at 3 March 2009 and the percentage increases since the same date in 2008, 2007 and 2006 are as shown in the following table:
| Population 3 March 2009 | % Population increase since 3 March 2008 | % Population increase since 3 March 2007 | % Population increase since 3 March 2006 |
Prisons: Population
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the prison population in England and Wales in each of the past five years, broken down by (a) ethnic origin, (b) religious affiliation, (c) gender, and (d) age. [HL1570]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Bach): Available information on the breakdowns requested of the prison population in England and Wales from February 2003 to June 2007 (latest available) can be found in the tables below.
These figures are taken from published tables within the Ministry of Justice statistical bulletin Offender Management Caseload Statistics, copies of which can
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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.
Table C: Population in prison establishments (1) under sentence (2) by age and sex, England and Wales, June 2003-June 2007
| 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | ||||
| Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female | |
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