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DfID is also working to build an international partnership on security and justice. This has included working with the United Nations Rule of Law Unit and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development International Network on Conflict and Fragility to promote greater co-ordination between donors on security and justice issues.
Prime Minister's Office: Pay Gaps
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what the pay gaps were in respect of gender, race and disability among employees in the Prime Minister's Office on the latest date for which figures are available. [HL1874]
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Baroness Royall of Blaisdon): The Prime Minister's Office forms part of the Cabinet Office.
The latest information for which figures are available on the pay gap in Cabinet Office in respect of gender is published on the Office for National Statistics website.
This information is also shown below:
| Grade | Male | Female | % Difference |
Because of the small numbers in individual pay bands, robust conclusions cannot be drawn from the analysis on pay gaps in respect of race and disability for the Cabinet Office. However, information on earnings for the Civil Service as a whole in respect of race and disability is also published on the Office for National Statistics website. The relevant tables are "32" (gender), "27" (race) and "27" (disability) and can all be found at this link: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_labour/Civil-service-tables-2009-final.xls
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Prisoners: Education
Questions
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether their approach to prisoner education takes account of the research by A. Pike and T. Irwin into improving access to higher education and distance learning in prisons. [HL1962]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Lord Young of Norwood Green): Yes it does. The Government have taken close account of the research conclusions in Improving Access to Higher Education and Distance Learning in Prisons in developing strategies for the delivery of learning in custody through modern technologies.
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether their approach to prisoner education takes account of Wings of Learning: the role of the prison officer in supporting prisoner education by T. Braggins and J. Talbot. [HL1963]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Bach): There is no explicit reference to learning advocates in the prison officer role. The majority of education delivered in prisons in England and Wales is delivered by trained teachers though there are a number of officer instructors who work and supervise prisoners in workshops. Prison officers have a number of tasks to fill which will change depending on their existing role. But a key component of the vast majority of an officer's role will involve interacting, supporting and encouraging prisoners. Part of this process will be to encourage and motivate those prisoners who will benefit from education.
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, following the transfer of responsibility for the education of young offenders from Learning and Skills Councils to local authorities, funds from local authorities to provide education to young offenders may be used to fund the development of prison officers as learning advocates, the training of prison officers in paired reading or the development of prison officers in supporting prisoner education. [HL1964]
Lord Bach: The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) assumed responsibility for the planning and funding of learning and skills delivery in public sector prisons and young offenders' institutions (YOIs) in England, in August 2006.
Last year, the LSC extended an invitation to tender (ITT) as part of a procurement process for learning and skills provision in YOIs and adult prisons; these contracts commenced on 1 August 2009 as part of a new five-year contracting round.
From September 2010 the contracts will transfer to the host local authorities (LA) (the LA area within which the YOI is based). In assuming their new responsibilities the host LAs will inherit an agreed bed price funding methodology for YOIs. The bed price is based on a national education cost per custodial place. The bed price requires the education provider to deliver
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The Youth Justice Board (YJB) recently funded a project at HMYOI Wetherby which trained prison officers to provide a similar function to learning and support assistants. The officers are active participants in the classroom, offering one-to-one support and assisting with group work. A second YJB-funded project at HMYOI Feltham trained prison officers to give them the skills to deliver sessions from an accredited life skills course. The officers deliver sessions on independent living, including budgeting and cooking, as well as writing a CV and preparing for job interviews.
Prisoners: Education
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to adopt in England and Wales the use of prison officers as learning advocates, as in Northern Ireland. [HL1961]
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Prisons: Costs
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the average annual cost of keeping a prisoner in jail in (a) Northern Ireland, and (b) England; and what is the average length of time it takes to bring a prisoner to trial in each of those jurisdictions. [HL1647]
Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: In 2008-09 the average cost per prisoner place in Northern Ireland was £81,340, and in England and Wales it was £45,000. Information specific to the average length of time it takes to bring a prisoner to trial in Northern Ireland is not available; however official statistics relating to the average time taken to bring criminal cases to the onset of trial in Northern Ireland for each of the three court tiers during 2008-09 is published on the CJSNI website and is also shown in the following table.
| Criminal Justice Performance Standards: Performance during 2008/09 | ||||
| Court Stage1 | 2006 Baseline2 | 2008-09 Performance2 | % Improvement | Desired standard2 (to be achieved by 31 March 2011) |
1. Monitoring data for all stages are based on persons committed for trial (Crown Court standard only) or persons dealt with in the courts (Magistrates' and Youth Court standards). Performance data reflect cases investigated by PSNI only. All statistics exclude defendants issued with a bench warrant during the course of proceedings.
Figures relating to the most recent average times to trial for England and Wales are available from the Ministry of Justice website: www.justice.gov.uk/publications/courtstatisticsquarterly.htm
However, it should be emphasised that average time figures are not directly comparable between Northern Ireland and England and Wales on account of different practices regarding charging, summonsing and committal which have arisen for historical reasons. The Northern Ireland Criminal Justice Board has recently approved an extensive programme of work covering case preparation, case progression and governance / accountability arrangements to secure significant improvements in the timely progress of cases.
Railways: Timetables
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what directions have been given to Network Rail and the Office of Rail Regulation to reduce the practice of operators extending timetabled journey times to improve punctuality statistics. [HL2077]
The Secretary of State for Transport (Lord Adonis): Network Rail is responsible for producing the national rail timetable, and detailed processes are in place governing the way that timetables are constructed. The Department for Transport does not direct Network
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It is expected that Network Rail will devise efficient timetables which reflect the time actually required by trains to complete their journeys.
Regulatory Bodies
Questions
Asked by Lord Campbell-Savours
To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the titles of all regulatory bodies reporting to departments. [HL1923]
The First Secretary of State, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and Lord President of the Council (Lord Mandelson): The table below lists the titles of all regulatory bodies reporting to departments.
The above list includes only regulatory bodies and not all public bodies. While all regulatory bodies are public bodies, not all public bodies exercise a regulatory function, that is, a function, under any enactment, of imposing requirements, restrictions and condition, and setting standards in relation to any activity, and of securing compliance, or enforcement. This is consistent with the definition of a "regulatory function" in the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006. Thus, the list does not include public bodies that carry out mainly advisory, research and tribunal functions. A list of all public bodies is available on the Cabinet Office website at http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/Assets/PublicBodies2008_tcm6-6429.pdf.
Asked by Lord Campbell-Savours
To ask Her Majesty's Government what arrangements exist for the accountability of regulatory bodies to Parliament. [HL1924]
Lord Mandelson: Regulatory bodies created by statute are answerable to Ministers for the exercise of their statutory functions and, ultimately, to Parliament either indirectly through Ministers or directly through scrutiny by relevant committees of Parliament, such as the Public Accounts Committee, departmental Select Committees of the House of Commons, and cross-cutting (thematic) committees.
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