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Prisons

Volume 405: debated on Friday 16 May 2003

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To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many bullying incidents there were on girls aged 15 to 17 years in prison in each year since 1997. [112514]

All prisons have anti-bullying strategies. These are designed to detect incidents of bullying, confront and address the bullying behaviour and support the victim. Under these arrangements, the available information shows that since 1 March 2002, there have been 151 incidents concerning juvenile girls in prison.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list for each year since 1997 the ratio of prison officers to prisoners for (a) the general prison population, (b) women prisoners and (c) girls aged between 15 and 17 years in prison. [112566]

The information is as follows:

DateOfficers to all prisonersOfficers toprisoners in female only establishmentsOfficers to female juvenile prisoners (15 to 17 years)
30 April 19971:2.491:1.67
30 April 19981:2.601:1.84
31 March 19991:2.501:1.74
31 March 20001:2.481:2.26
31 March 20011:2.511:2.29
31 March 20021:2.761:2.63
31 March 20031:2.811:2.35
12 May 20031:1.27
Officers include prison officers, senior officers and principal officers. The Prison Service personnel database can only differentiate staff by establishment rather than individual units within establishments. Therefore, information relating to female prisoners can only be provided for establishments that only accommodate female prisoners.There are no establishments that only hold juvenile female prisoners and therefore staffing numbers are not available centrally. A manual count of female juvenile prisoners and officers responsible for them has been carried out but no historical staffing data are available.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Director General of the Prison Service is responsible for the operation of private prisons in England and Wales. [112133]

On 6 May 2003, operational responsibility for the nine private prisons in England and Wales was transferred from the Director General of the Prison Service to the Office for Contracted Prisons, a newly created unit within the Home Office, under the Commissioner for Correctional Services.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) which companies hold contracts to supply the Prison Service with meat products; and on what basis those contracts were awarded; [111879] (2) whether meat products rejected by suppliers for sale to the general population are being supplied to the prison service for consumption in HM Prisons. [111880]

[holding answer 8 May 2003]: The Prison Service currently contracts with two companies to supply meat products; Harry Yearsley Ltd. and N. H. Case Ltd. These companies supply products on a national basis and in competition with each other. Both companies were awarded contracts as a result of a competitive tendering action undertaken in strict adherence to European Union procurement regulations. The award was made on the basis of best value for money to the Prison Service, which took account of a range of evaluation criteria including price, quality, availability and the ability of the bidders to provide the requirements of the Service. All products supplied are fully compliant with all meat hygiene regulations including full product traceability.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners were moved from HM prisons and kept temporarily in police custody, broken down by (a) police authority and (b) month, in the period March 2002 to March 2003. [110844]

The information you have requested is not collated centrally and cannot be provided except at disproportionate expense.