Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 20 February 2008
Children, Schools and Families
Children: Homicide
I have been asked to reply.
Available data from the Homicide Index relate to offences currently recorded as homicides in England and Wales as at 12 November 2007, and the requested information was published in ‘Homicides, Firearm Offences and Intimate Violence 2006/07’ (Home Office Statistical Bulletin 03/08, page 14 and table 1.04).
During 2006-07 there were 33 homicides recorded where the victim was aged under 16 and the relationship to the principal suspect was ‘son/daughter’ (which includes step- and adoptive-children, and children of the suspect's cohabitant or lover). Cases with a relationship category of ‘carer’ cannot be identified.
Class Sizes
The available information covers pupils at key stage 1 and is given in the table.
1997 2007 Number of pupils 476,820 23,210 Percentage of all pupils 29.0 1.7 Source: School Census
Departmental Responsibilities
The Implementation Review Unit issue an Annual Report each year and have done so since they were established in 2003. Their most recent report, for 2007, can be found on their website at:
www.iru.org.uk
Education: Families
[holding answer 19 November 2007]: Family learning programmes strengthen families, promote community cohesion and support our commitment to embedding a culture of learning across all levels of society. The wide-ranging consultation on Informal Adult Learning announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, on 15 January, will help ensure that these popular and high quality programmes can be further developed and strengthened to meet the needs of the whole community.
We are working with colleagues in the Department for Children, Schools and Families to enable more adults and children to access extended schools facilities. Schools provide language, literacy and numeracy support as well as other activities that can help engage adults in learning, especially those from marginalised communities and others who need particular help in taking a first step on the progression ladder.
It is for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families to encourage schools to provide more opportunities for family learning, and parents, carers and other adults will benefit from those facilities being made more widely available. The Children's Plan published in December 2007 committed an additional £30 million over the next three years to provide more family learning.
Faith Schools: Islam
Maintained and independent schools, including those designated as Muslim schools, are inspected by OFSTED on a regular basis. There are currently nine Muslim schools open in the maintained sector. Since 2005, when the-three year cycle of inspections was introduced, six have been inspected and all judged by OFSTED to be satisfactory or better in terms of their overall effectiveness. The other three were opened since September 2006 and will be inspected, as usual, in the second year of operation. In the independent sector there are 115 Muslim schools of which 83 have been inspected since 2003, with inspections at a further 18 schools scheduled this school term. The remaining schools were all opened since September 2003 and were inspected against independent schools standards before opening and will be inspected again in due course, as part of the three-year cycle of inspections which OFSTED will commence in the summer term. Inspection reports, which are published on OFSTED's website, provide an overview of provision in all inspected schools, detail of whether or not the statutory standards for independent schools are met where appropriate and include recommendations for improvement.
On one occasion OFSTED referred a specific concern raised with it about a Muslim school to the Department. The case was investigated and found to have no substance.
All independent Muslim schools are currently inspected by OFSTED against standards set out in the Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2003, as amended. These cover the quality of the curriculum and teaching; the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils; and their health, safety and welfare. Reports of independent school inspections are published on the OFSTED website.
The Bridge Schools' Inspectorate (BSI) has recently been approved in principle to undertake inspection of around 110 independent schools affiliated to the Christian Schools Trust (CST) and the Association of Muslim Schools UK (AMSUK). BSI inspections will assess schools against the same statutory criteria as OFSTED and its inspectors will also assess the religious ethos of CST and AMSUK schools. Any inspection work BSI carries out will be monitored by OFSTED, which will produce a published annual report on its performance.
General Certificate of Secondary Education
(2) what percentage of children in schools of between 500 and 999 pupils gained five A* to C GCSE grades in the latest period for which figures are available;
(3) what percentage of children in schools of fewer than 1,000 pupils gained five A* to C GCSE grades in the latest period for which figures are available;
(4) what percentage of children gained five A* - C GCSE grades in schools that had (a) up to 1,000, (b) between 1,000 and 1,999 and (c) over 2,000 pupils in 2006-07
The following table provides data on the percentage of pupils achieving five A* to C at GSCE for schools:
(a) With fewer than 500 pupils
(b) Between 500 and 999 pupils
(c) With 1,000 or more pupils
(d) With fewer than 1,000 pupils
Number of pupils1 Number of schools Percentage of 5A*-C Fewer than 500 158 49.4 500 to 999 1,391 57.1 1,000 or more fewer than 1,000 1,563 63.8 All Schools2 3,112 61.0 1. Number of day pupils on roll. 2. Includes Maintained Mainstream schools, CTCs and Academies.
General Certificate of Secondary Education: Nottingham
The available information is given in the following table.
1997 11998 2007 England2 45.1 46.3 60.8 Nottinghamshire Local Authority (1997) 37.6 n/a n/a Nottingham City Local Authority (1998-) n/a 26.2 53.2 Nottinghamshire Local Authority (1998-) n/a 42.3 54.6 n/a = not available 1 Due to local government reorganisations, figures have also been given for 1998 to allow comparisons to be made to the latest year. 2 includes all schools, not only those in the maintained sector.
Figures are published annually in the Statistical First Release (SFR) ‘GCSE and Equivalent Examination Results in England’. The latest figures, for 2007, are available at:
http://www.dfes.qov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000768/index. shtml.
Home Education
The requested information is not collected centrally.
Primary Education
To date, the Department has not invited any authorities to submit primary strategies for change before the 16 June deadline.
Pupils: Disadvantaged
The available information is given in the following table.
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 All pupils2 Number 591,391 576,084 591,774 584,259 594,417 600,968 Percentage achieving 5 A*-C 49.0 50.7 51.9 54.9 56.9 59.3 Percentage achieving 5 A*-C including English and Mathematics n/a n/a n/a 42.5 43.8 45.4 Eligible for free school meals Number 80,626 81,278 82,738 79,839 78,179 76,641 Percentage achieving 5 A*-C 23.0 24.4 26.1 29.9 32.6 35.5 Percentage achieving 5 A*-C including English and Mathematics n/a n/a n/a 18.0 19.5 21.1 Not eligible for free school meals Number 477,798 493,336 508,060 501,857 514,779 522,088 Percentage achieving 5 A*-C 53.7 55.2 56.1 58.9 60.7 62.8 Percentage achieving 5 A*-C including English and Mathematics n/a n/a n/a 46.4 47.5 49.0 n/a = not available. 1 Figures for 2002 to 2004 are based upon pupils aged 15 whereas figures from 2005 onwards are based upon pupils at the end of Key Stage 4. 2 Includes pupils with unclassified Free School Meal status.
The percentage achieving 5 A*-C grades including English and Mathematics has only been published since 2005.
Figures have been taken from the Statistical First Release ‘National Curriculum Assessment, GCSE and Equivalent Attainment and Post-16 Attainment by Pupil Characteristics, in England’ which has been published annually by the Department since 2002. The latest figures, for 2007, are at:
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000759/index. shtml.
Figures for earlier years are not available split by free school meal status as this was first collected at pupil level on the School Census in 2002.
Pupils: Per Capita Costs
Per pupil expenditure figures for 2013 will not be available until the next spending review announcement. Total per pupil funding has more than doubled from under £2,500 in 1997-98 to £5,600 in 2007-08. The next three years will see per pupil funding rise by almost 20 per cent. in cash terms to over £6,600 by 2010-11.
Schools: Bureaucracy
The Department has not set any specific targets to reduce bureaucracy in schools. However, we have said in our 2007 Simplification Plan (published December 2007), that we will work towards the Government’s target to reduce our administrative burdens by 25 per cent.
Schools: Milton Keynes
The Department allocates capital funding to local authorities and schools, and relies on them to prioritise how this should be spent. It expects local authorities and schools to prepare their own asset management plans which set out how resources from the Department, and other resources available locally, should be used. It does not maintain central records of changes made to Milton Keynes or other authorities’ asset management plans.
Science
(2) what steps his Department is taking to assess the impact of science and engineering clubs on pupil (a) interest and (b) achievement in science, technology, engineering or mathematics.
The Department has commissioned Sheffield Hallam University to undertake an evaluation of the clubs. An interim report is due to be published in the next few weeks and a full report is due in autumn 2008.
We propose to monitor pupils’ progress, attainment and subject choice in future years.
Science: General Certificate of Secondary Education
The information can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The information requested is provided in the following table:
Number of 15-year-olds in maintained secondary schools entered for science dual award Percentage of 15-year-olds in maintained secondary schools entered for science dual award 2006/07 406,021 69.9 2005/06 414,291 72.2 2004/05 423,496 72.6 2003/04 455,918 77.3 2002/03 451,665 79.0 2001/02 446,769 77.1 2000/01 445,487 77.3
Figures relate to 15-year-olds (age at start of the academic year, i.e. 31 August).
Special Needs Education
I have been asked to reply.
The number of appeals made in the last five years, against the decision of a local authority to refuse to issue of statement of special educational needs, are presented in the following table, broken down by local authority.
Local authority 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Total Barking and Dagenham 1 1 2 2 — 6 Barnet 1 2 — — — 3 Barnsley 2 2 — — — 4 Bath and NE Somerset — 1 — — 2 3 Bedfordshire 1 2 — — 1 4 Bexley — 2 6 11 13 32 Birmingham 2 2 6 1 5 16 Blackburn — — — 1 1 2 Bolton — — 1 — 2 3 Bournemouth 1 1 — 1 — 3 Bradford — — 1 — 1 2 Brent 1 1 — 1 1 4 Bridgend 1 — — — — 1 Brighton and Hove — — — 1 — 1 Bristol City 4 1 4 1 5 15 Bromley 3 1 — 9 7 20 Buckinghamshire 1 3 5 1 — 10 Calderdale — 6 5 4 1 16 Cambridgeshire — 1 — 3 1 5 Camden — 1 1 — — 2 Cheshire 3 4 2 6 8 23 Cornwall 12 7 6 1 2 28 Coventry 1 — — — — 1 Croydon 1 1 2 2 3 9 Cumbria 3 — 1 1 — 5 Darlington — 1 — — — 1 Derby City — 3 — 1 1 5 Derbyshire 3 2 2 4 — 11 Devon 2 1 3 1 3 10 Doncaster 1 1 — 2 8 12 Dorset 1 1 — 1 1 4 Dudley — 1 3 — — 4 Durham 9 11 5 7 6 38 Ealing 1 — 5 1 — 7 East Riding of Yorkshire — — 1 — 1 2 East Sussex 5 7 6 5 8 31 Enfield — — — 1 — 1 Essex 2 4 3 4 6 19 Gateshead 2 1 1 — — 4 Gloucestershire 1 — 1 2 4 8 Greenwich — 2 2 — 1 5 Gwynedd 1 — — — — 1 Hackney 2 2 2 3 — 9 Halton — — 1 — — 1 Hammersmith and Fulham — — — 1 — 1 Hampshire 2 9 3 9 3 26 Haringey 1 — — — 1 2 Harrow 2 — 1 — — 3 Havering — — — — 1 1 Herefordshire — 1 — 2 1 4 Hertfordshire 3 6 2 4 2 17 Hillingdon 1 — — 1 — 2 Hounslow — — 1 2 1 4 Isle of Wight 3 1 1 1 1 7 Islington — 1 — — 2 3 Kensington and Chelsea 2 1 2 — 1 6 Kent 8 11 13 12 6 50 Kingston upon Thames 1 — — — 2 3 Kingston-upon-Hull, City 4 1 — — — 5 Kirklees 1 1 1 1 — 4 Knowsley — — — 1 — 1 Lambeth 5 1 — 3 — 9 Lancashire 10 6 7 9 1 33 Leeds 2 2 4 1 — 9 Leicester City 3 2 1 3 4 13 Leicestershire 5 7 6 12 9 39 Lewisham — 5 1 3 5 14 Lincolnshire 2 2 1 6 4 15 Liverpool 5 3 1 3 8 20 Manchester — 2 2 2 — 6 Medway 3 3 1 2 — 9 Merton 2 — 2 — 5 9 Middlesbrough — 2 — 1 2 5 Milton Keynes 2 1 1 1 1 6 Neath Port Talbot 2 — — — — — Newcastle upon Tyne — — — 1 — 1 Newham 3 1 1 2 2 9 Norfolk 1 — 1 5 3 10 North East Lincolnshire 3 2 — 1 2 8 North Lincolnshire 4 2 3 3 — 12 North Somerset 2 2 2 3 1 10 North Tyneside 2 2 — 2 — 6 North Yorkshire 3 2 2 7 1 15 Northamptonshire 3 — 1 — 1 5 Northumberland — — 1 2 — 3 Nottingham City — — — 1 1 2 Nottinghamshire — — — 2 1 3 Oldham 2 — — 2 — 4 Oxfordshire — 1 — — — 1 Pembrokeshire 1 — — — — 1 Peterborough — — 2 — 2 4 Plymouth — — 1 1 2 4 Poole — — — 1 1 2 Portsmouth 1 4 1 1 — 7 Powys 2 — — — — 2 Reading — — — — 1 1 Redbridge — — — 1 — 1 Redcar and Cleveland 2 — — 1 1 4 Rhondda, Cynon, Taff 3 — — — — 3 Richmond upon Thames — 2 — — — 2 Rochdale — — — — 1 1 Rotherham — 2 — 1 3 6 Salford 4 1 2 1 1 9 Sandwell 3 3 3 2 — 11 Sefton — 1 1 — — 2 Sheffield 2 5 4 3 4 18 Shropshire 2 4 3 10 3 22 Slough — — 1 — 1 2 Solihull — — — — 1 1 Somerset 1 4 3 5 4 17 South Gloucestershire 2 2 1 1 — 6 South Tyneside — — 1 — — 1 Southampton — — — 4 — 4 Southend 2 1 2 — — 5 Southwark 2 5 5 2 1 15 Staffordshire 10 7 4 1 2 24 Stockport 1 — — 1 1 3 Stockton-on-Tees 1 — — — — 1 Stoke-on-Trent — 1 2 2 1 6 Suffolk 2 — 1 1 5 9 Sunderland 2 1 1 1 1 6 Surrey 1 9 3 2 14 29 Sutton — — — 1 — 1 Swindon — 1 — 2 — 3 Tameside — — 1 1 3 5 Telford and Wrekin 1 5 — 3 — 9 Thurrock — 1 1 2 2 6 Torbay — 7 1 — — 8 Tower Hamlets — — — — 2 2 Trafford 2 — 5 3 — 10 Wakefield 1 1 — 1 2 5 Walsall — 2 1 1 — 4 Waltham Forest 1 — 5 1 — 7 Wandsworth 1 5 — 1 — 7 Warrington — 1 — 2 — 3 Warwickshire 2 2 2 2 — 8 West Sussex 3 7 3 1 2 16 Westminster — 1 — 1 1 3 Wigan 4 3 3 4 1 15 Wiltshire 5 5 5 9 4 28 Windsor and Maidenhead 3 1 — — 1 5 Wirral 1 2 1 — — 4 Wokingham — 1 1 2 — 4 Wolverhampton 1 1 — — — 2 Worcestershire 1 1 — — 1 3 York City — 1 — — — 1 Total 230 256 209 268 233 1,194
Vocational Guidance: Science
The information requested is not collected centrally.
GCE A-level
I have been asked to reply.
Admissions are a matter for individual higher education institutions (HEIs) who, as independent bodies, have discretion over their own admission policies and procedures. The Department does not therefore issue guidance in this area.
The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) have told us that HEIs which are members of the UCAS scheme will keep a place open for an applicant, in the event of a missing or queried exam result, up to 31 August unless an earlier date has been agreed.
Latest published figures on the number of inquiries about results and appeals are available on the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority website at: http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_10312.aspx The Department does not collect information on the number of HE admissions affected by those inquiries and appeals.
Justice
Emergency Workers (Obstruction) Act 2006
The Emergency Workers (Obstruction) Act 2006 came into force on 20 February 2007. We do not yet have prosecution figures covering 2007. We would expect the number of prosecutions to be small. Any act involving violence against emergency workers would be covered by the general law on assault and the new offence is limited to obstruction only.
Debt Collection: Standards
The analysis of the responses to the Regulation of Enforcement Agents consultation is now complete and will be published in March 2008.
Departmental Publications
The Ministry of Justice was created on 9 May 2007. The public information booklets which it has published since then, together with print runs and costs, are listed in the following table.
Lists of the public information booklets published by the Ministry of Justice's five agencies (National Offender Management Service, Her Majesty's Courts Service; Office of the Public Guardian, Tribunals Service, and the Office for Criminal Justice Reform) will be placed in the Library of the House.
Title of booklet Print run Total cost (£) Legal Services Bill 100 10 Legal Services Act 2007 200 10 Claims Management Regulation: What you need to know 2,000 10 Your Jury Service in the Coroners Court 12,000 3,000 Work of the Coroner 10,500 1,500 When Sudden Death Occurs 20,500 3,000 War Memorials in England and Wales: Guidance for Custodians 2,000 1,000 Step Up to a Judicial Career 4,500 4,400 You Don't Have to Live in Fear (Domestic Violence) 42,000 33,900 You Don't Have to Live in Fear (Domestic Violence) (Welsh) 2,000 2,100 Making Sense of Human Rights (booklet and DVD) 24,600 20,000 Human Rights Act explanatory booklet 5,000 7,900 Human Rights, Human Lives (handbook for public authorities) 7,500 9,100 Magistrates Recruitment Pack 15,000 39,500 Magistrates information booklet 10,000 1,800 1 Printed in-house
HM Prison Service's Race Equality Action Plan
The HM Prison Service Race Equality Action Plan (REAP) is updated approximately monthly, the most recent of which has been placed in the Library.
The REAP is a detailed and comprehensive plan that sets out all the high-level actions that the public sector Prison Service is taking on race equality. Its production involved contributions from a range of individuals and groups across the Prison Service, and its implementation involves actions by a range of headquarters policy groups and in prison establishments. It is therefore not possible to give an estimate of the cost of producing or implementing the plan.
Knutsford Crown Court
Her Majesty's Courts Service in Cheshire-Merseyside has developed an estates strategy that aims to identify opportunities to maximise the utilisation of all its buildings. The option to utilise Knutsford Crown Court as a magistrates court does not presently form part of the strategy, although cases are occasionally listed at Knutsford magistrates court from both Macclesfield and Vale Royal magistrates courts. Dates on which such cases are currently listed are as follows:
Date Local justice area 12 February 2008 Macclesfield 13 February 2008 Vale Royal 14 February 2008 Vale Royal 25 February 2008 Macclesfield 26 February 2008 Macclesfield 27 February 2008 Macclesfield 28 February 2008 Macclesfield 4 March 2008 Vale Royal 5 March 2008 Vale Royal 6 March 2008 Vale Royal 7 March 2008 Vale Royal 17 March 2008 Vale Royal 18 March 2008 Vale Royal 19 March 2008 Vale Royal 31 March 2008 Vale Royal 1 April 2008 Vale Royal 2 April 2008 Vale Royal 3 April 2008 Vale Royal 4 April 2008 Vale Royal
A feasibility study to improve and/or replace Macclesfield magistrates court and a potential integration scheme with Macclesfield county court is under consideration and the Ministry of Justice Building Review Group will shortly receive a bid in this respect.
Legal Aid Scheme
Legal aid covers a number of different areas of justice, and the extent to which applicants’ financial circumstances are taken into account in granting legal aid varies considerably across these areas. It is therefore not possible to give figures for the number of people eligible for legal aid as a whole. However, some estimates of the likely number that would be eligible are available for certain areas.
In criminal cases, all those arrested in England and Wales are eligible to receive free advice and assistance at the police station. Defendants are financially eligible for representation in the Crown Court, subject to judicial discretion to recover costs. We estimate that around half the population of England and Wales would be financially eligible to receive legal aid in magistrates courts cases following the introduction of the means test in October 2006.
Prior to April 2001 there was a legal aid contribution scheme in operation for criminal cases. The court decided the level of contributions according to the defendant's means. Estimates of eligibility levels under this scheme would be available only at disproportionate cost.
The following table provides estimates of the proportion of the population of England and Wales that were in principle financially eligible for civil legal aid in those categories for which financial circumstances are taken into account in each of the past 10 years where figures are available. However, decisions on granting of legal aid also depend on the merits of the case, while some areas of civil law are not now covered by legal aid. The decline over recent years in the proportion of the population eligible for civil legal aid is likely to reflect increases in general levels of prosperity, changes to the structure of the benefits system, demographic changes, and also the Government’s drive to focus legal aid support on the most vulnerable people in society and to achieve the more effective delivery of civil legal aid.
More effective delivery is evidenced by the number of acts of assistance of civil legal aid not declining in parallel with eligibility over the last 10 years and increasing significantly from 856,000 in 2004-05 to 1,137,000 in 2006-07. Moreover, cash expenditure on civil legal aid (excluding immigration and asylum legal help whose costs reflect the volume of people arriving), rose from £615 million in 2001-02 to £730 million in 2006-07.
Estimated proportion of the population of England and Wales eligible for civil representation (%) 1998 52 1999 51 2000 50 2001 46 2005 41 2007 29
Legal Aid: Expenditure
The information is not readily available. In order to extract this information a manual inspection of all legal aid certificates issued in the past five years would be required. To do so would be of disproportionate cost.
Legal Aid: Negligence
Figures covering the whole of 2007 will not be available until after the end of the current financial year. However, during 2006-07, 2,415 cases are known to have progressed beyond the investigation stage to the issue of proceedings. These included 300 cases that resulted in an award of damages and 1,240 settled cases that involved an agreement to pay damages or compensation.
Figures covering the whole of 2007 will not be available until after the end of the current financial year. However, during 2006-07, 3,009 cases were closed at the investigation stage, before the issue of proceedings. Of these, 468 cases had resulted in a settlement involving an agreement to pay damages or compensation.
Offenders: Deportation
(2) if he will place in the Library a copy of the prisoner transfer agreement between the UK and Libya.
On 28 May 2007, the then Prime Minister signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Libyan Prime Minister which stated that negotiations would take place on four agreements in the field of judicial co-operation. These agreements were: Extradition, Mutual Legal Assistance, Civil and Commercial Law, and Prisoner Transfer.
The prisoner transfer agreement, which has not yet been finalised, will provide for British nationals imprisoned in Libya, and Libyan nationals imprisoned in the United Kingdom, to serve their sentences in their own country. Transfer will only take place if both Governments give their consent in respect of each individual applicant prisoner. At 31 December 2007, 16 Libyan nationals were imprisoned in England and Wales. On the same date no British nationals were detained in prison in Libya.
Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi is serving a life sentence in Scotland for his part in the bombing of Pan American Flight 103 on 21 December 1988. As a prisoner detained in Scotland the decision on whether or not he can be transferred from Scotland to a prison in Libya would be a matter for Scottish Ministers. The Government have not entered into any arrangement for the transfer of Mr. al-Megrahi to Libya.
In accordance with the Ponsonby Rules a copy of the Prisoner Transfer Agreement between the UK and Libya will be laid before Parliament once it has been signed.
Offenders: Rehabilitation
(2) how many offending behaviour programmes in prisons in England and Wales over the period 1997 to 2007 were subject to randomised controlled trials to assess their effectiveness;
(3) how many prisoners in England and Wales participated in offending behaviour programmes during the period 1997 to 2007;
(4) what the cost of offending behaviour programmes in prisons in England and Wales was in each year from 1997 to 2007.
In 1997 the Prison Service offered a range of six accredited offending behaviour programmes, and by 2007 the repertoire of accredited offending behaviour programmes had increased to 15.
Various measures have been used in the evaluation of the effectiveness of offending behaviour programmes in England and Wales. Predominantly quasi-experimental and non-experimental research designs have been used, many examining the reconviction rates of those who have completed programmes compared to those who have not. Other measures used to judge effectiveness include pre to post-examines treatment psychometric data which short term treatment impact, as well as gathering audit and qualitative information on programme participants and the delivery of programmes.
During this period, one randomised control trial has been conducted on the effectiveness of offending behaviour programmes. The Treatment Change Project (TCP) is an evaluation of HM Prison Service accredited Enhanced Thinking Skills (ETS) programme which aims to examine the impact of ETS courses on impulsivity in adult male offenders over the age of 18, and to investigate whether changes in levels of impulsivity were reflected in changes in prison behaviour.
The TCP was conducted as a randomised control trial (RCT), and as such is the first large-scale RCT evaluating the impact of ETS in prisons.
The draft report is at the peer review stage, with publication scheduled for April 2008.
From 1 April 1997 to 31 March 2007 the number of accredited offending behaviour programmes completed by prisoners was 65,233. Some prisoners will have completed more than one programme.
The funding for the delivery of accredited offending behaviour programmes is part of establishment baselines, therefore it is not possible to accurately disaggregate the cost of this work. The Prison Service is currently working on developing a costing process to provide more accurate costs for regime activities and interventions.
Additional funding was provided by the Government to expand the delivery of accredited offending behaviour programmes as shown in the following table:
1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 Comprehensive Spending Review 7.3 8.4 8.9 8.9 8.9 Crime Reduction Programme 0.7 1.1 1.5 — — Spending Review 2000 — — — 3.6 11.6
Based on an estimated average cost per programme completion and the number of completions in 2006-07, we estimate that the cost of delivering accredited offending behaviour programmes in 2006-07 to be approximately £25 million.
Prisons: Community Engagement Implementation Guide
The Community Engagement Implementation Guide was produced by a member of the Race Equality Action Group (REAG): the senior executive officer (whose annual salary was about £35,000) spent approximately 10 per cent. of her time developing the document, which formed part of the revised Prison Service Race Equality Order (PSO 2800). The order is available on the Prison Service website and in the parliamentary Library. A copy of the Implementation Guide has been placed in the Library.
At a national level the Prison Service spent £5,000 on undertaking and publicising community engagement events in the last 12 months. Local community engagement events are held in prisons across the estate and details are not held centrally, so it is not possible to give a figure for the cost of such events.
Prisons: Race Equality Action Team Training
24 members of staff are employed in HM Prison Service’s Race Equality Action Group (REAG). The group’s annual budget (including pay and non-pay) for 2007-08 is £1.475 million.
Prisons: Traveller Day
Traveller Days are local initiatives held by prisons: they are dependent on establishments having recognised groups of prisoners from Traveller background. The Prison Service considers it best practice for establishment to hold such events.
Information is not held centrally on events such as Traveller Days held in prisons. To collect the information requested would require contacting all 125 public sector prisons in England and Wales individually and for each establishment to conduct a manual check of their local records. It is not therefore possible to provide figures for the number of such events in the last three years or their costs.
Home Department
Anabolic Steroids: Misuse
The British Crime Survey (BCS) collects information on the illicit use of anabolic steroids. As the following table shows, the proportion of young people aged 16 to 24 years using anabolic steroids not prescribed by a doctor has remained at less than 0.5 per cent. since such questions were included in the survey in 1996.
Due to the small number of anabolic steroid users in the BCS sample it is not possible to provide a separate breakdown for men and women.
Anabolic steroids Unweighted base 1996 0.5 1,412 1998 0.5 1,233 2000 0.1 1,455 2001-02 0.2 3,984 2002-03 0.1 4,209 2003-04 0.4 5,327 2004-05 0.4 6,182 2005-06 0.3 5,876 2006-07 0.2 5,687
Antisocial Behaviour Orders
(2) how many antisocial behaviour orders issued to children were breached in each of the last five years;
(3) how many children were sent to prison as a result of breaking an antisocial behaviour order in each of the last five years;
(4) how many children have been subject to more than one antisocial behaviour order in each of the last five years.
Data showing the number of antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) issued to juveniles aged 10 to 17, by gender, can be found in the following table. Of the total number of ASBOs issued to juveniles aged 10 to 17 since inception, 2,293 were proven to have been breached at least once by the end of 2005. Such data, further broken down by year, are not available. The data held by the Department do not identify whether multiple ASBOs have been issued to the same person.
Data on the type of sentence received for breach of an ASBO will be published later this year.
England and Wales 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Males 187 237 573 1,195 1,424 Females 6 13 52 125 134 All aged 10 to 17 193 250 625 1,320 1,558 Note: Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.
Asylum
[holding answer 21 January 2008]: The requested information is not collated centrally and could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost through the examination of individual cases.
Asylum and Immigration Act 1996
Operational activity within local enforcement offices includes staff resources involved in illegal working operations. The cost of enforcing section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996 (illegal working), is not separately identifiable from the overall budgets allocated to local enforcement offices.
Asylum: Social Security Benefits
The use of section 9 was introduced by way of a pilot scheme which ran from December 2004 to December 2005. During this time asylum support was withdrawn from 26 families. Six of these families are on support again, having become eligible during 2007.
Crime
The recorded crime data returned to the Home Office by police forces are at police force, basic command unit and crime and disorder reduction partnerships levels. Data are not routinely submitted to the Home Office at smaller geographic levels. A pilot collection of recorded crime data at middle super output area level has been released by the Home Office on the Neighbourhood Statistics website. The data were provided on a voluntary basis by a number of forces and are available for years 2003-04 to 2005-06 for selected offences:
http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/dataset List.do?JSAllowed=true&Function=&percent24ph=60& CurrentPageId=60&step=1&CurrentTreeIndex=-1&searchString=&datasetFamilyId=904&Next.x=8&Next.y=9
As part of the broader agenda to enhance responsiveness, accountability and public engagement with policing and community safety, the Home Office are working with ACPO, the APA and practitioners from police forces, authorities and local partnerships on the provision of crime information at a level that would make sense to the public locally. The aim of the project is to make local data and information on policing, crime and community safety available on a monthly and consistent basis from July 2008 onwards by local agencies, such as police authorities, police forces and local authorities.
Crime: Firearms
Information on deactivated or reactivated firearms has been centrally separately collected since 2004-05. Available data from 2004-05 up to and including 2006-07 are given in the following table.
Number of offences Weapon type 2004-051 2005-06 2006-07 Reactivated handgun 2 2 2 Deactivated imitation firearm 1 4 2 Other reactivated firearm — 2 1 1 More explicit guidelines for the classification of weapons introduced on 1 April 2004 may have increased the recording of firearm offences, particularly those committed by imitation weapons.
Driving Under Influence: Drugs
The data on arrests collected by the Ministry of Justice do not include information on the outcomes in court of those arrests.
Information is available on convictions and custodial sentences for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs by police force area from 1997 to 2005. This is provided in the following tables. 2006 data will be available later this year.
The data provided cover both drink and drugs offences.
Number of offences 1997 1998 1999 Police force area Findings of guilt Immediate custody2 Findings of guilt Immediate custody2 Findings of guilt Immediate custody2 Avon and Somerset 2,812 163 2,566 157 2,728 165 Bedfordshire 1,146 119 1,060 96 869 87 Cambridgeshire 1,092 56 1,060 62 941 43 Cheshire 1,969 97 1,903 119 1,827 133 Cleveland 926 61 870 63 811 57 Cumbria 931 49 856 51 871 37 Derbyshire 1,612 147 1,547 202 1,463 181 Devon and Cornwall 2,342 91 2,265 127 2,277 112 Dorset 1,214 93 1,186 88 1,120 96 Durham 1,044 66 1,035 53 1,137 81 Essex 2,736 228 2,438 233 2,528 261 Gloucestershire 1,067 48 985 36 889 51 Greater Manchester 4,806 440 4,715 453 4,850 464 Hampshire 3,774 243 3,597 231 3,725 213 Hertfordshire 1,670 90 1,672 91 1,679 90 Humberside 1,274 76 1,358 87 1,323 97 Kent 2,321 97 2,627 155 2,633 133 Lancashire 3,389 224 2,945 178 3,010 184 Leicestershire 1,648 183 1,485 140 1,624 188 Lincolnshire 1,088 47 979 36 941 44 London, City of 436 8 301 9 236 5 Merseyside 2,719 304 2,451 326 2,137 296 Metropolitan Police 16,165 1,270 13,889 1,050 12,414 838 Norfolk 1,116 49 1,118 43 1,010 64 Northamptonshire 1,107 109 1,062 73 1,058 91 Northumbria 2,625 184 2,457 194 2,463 229 North Yorkshire 1,365 77 1,205 77 1,124 60 Nottinghamshire 2,031 255 1,804 247 1,802 262 South Yorkshire 2,296 204 2,002 178 1,927 149 Staffordshire3 2,036 132 1,955 140 1,711 143 Suffolk 1,050 53 1,042 60 1,089 71 Surrey 1,380 64 1,328 58 1,417 47 Sussex 2,373 110 2,113 113 2,224 120 Thames Valley 4,070 215 3,896 195 3,725 216 Warwickshire 837 44 784 53 856 38 West Mercia 1,947 87 1,794 97 1,747 114 West Midlands 6,351 598 5,582 532 4,775 532 West Yorkshire 3,953 394 3,669 329 3,597 358 Wiltshire 1,043 27 1,108 39 1,009 45 England 93,761 6,802 86,709 6,471 83,567 6,395 Dyfed Powys 1,029 44 995 38 944 48 Gwent 1,166 61 1,203 84 1,079 78 North Wales 1,354 96 1,306 95 1,248 94 South Wales 2,892 257 2,903 239 2,526 282 Wales 6,441 458 6,407 456 5,797 502 England and Wales 100,202 7,260 93,116 6,927 89,364 6,897
2000 2001 2002 Police force area Findings of guilt Immediate custody2 Findings of guilt Immediate custody2 Findings of guilt Immediate custody2 Avon and Somerset 2,462 152 2,197 129 2,401 124 Bedfordshire 797 89 914 79 955 82 Cambridgeshire 793 41 813 51 852 41 Cheshire 1,652 122 1,529 96 1,993 103 Cleveland 777 56 887 77 921 71 Cumbria 806 50 761 51 768 37 Derbyshire 1,417 126 1,411 140 1,465 164 Devon and Cornwall 2,199 104 2,369 128 2,441 95 Dorset 1,115 84 1,150 91 1,199 83 Durham 1,124 76 1,097 86 1,136 68 Essex 2,462 237 2,456 264 2,522 267 Gloucestershire 804 37 865 39 926 44 Greater Manchester 4,801 428 4,715 454 4,720 474 Hampshire 3,472 244 3,464 235 3,846 243 Hertfordshire 1,552 98 1,666 94 1,894 90 Humberside 1,371 128 1,259 126 1,395 113 Kent 2,592 134 2,575 165 2,745 152 Lancashire 2,584 163 2,304 148 2,599 159 Leicestershire 1,531 152 1,546 140 1,659 140 Lincolnshire 816 48 877 60 847 56 London, City of 162 4 162 10 221 12 Merseyside 2,128 286 2,195 217 2,293 216 Metropolitan Police 11,801 891 11,260 928 12,905 927 Norfolk 935 45 1,143 75 1,220 55 Northamptonshire 782 90 399 65 236 35 Northumbria 2,621 215 2,529 217 2,588 188 North Yorkshire 1,073 67 1,066 55 1,119 63 Nottinghamshire 1,722 210 1,598 187 1,420 129 South Yorkshire 2,122 170 2,020 159 1,945 165 Staffordshire3 n/a n/a 1,513 136 1,704 143 Suffolk 902 74 920 43 1,105 79 Surrey 1,539 61 1,592 65 1,614 68 Sussex 2,112 136 2,358 128 2,306 149 Thames Valley 3,496 212 3,275 210 4,317 219 Warwickshire 786 42 880 33 841 40 West Mercia 1,631 101 1,740 91 1,719 93 West Midlands 4,559 451 4,914 471 5,050 438 West Yorkshire 3,375 287 3,220 331 3,564 268 Wiltshire 930 28 1,045 53 1,005 54 England 79,671 6,076 78,684 6,127 84,456 5,947 Dyfed Powys 858 45 867 36 927 47 Gwent 1,211 99 1,152 76 1,074 74 North Wales 1,332 92 1,227 87 1,270 71 South Wales 2,757 255 2,812 295 2,761 236 Wales 6,158 491 6,058 494 6,032 428 England and Wales 85,829 6,567 84,742 6,621 90,488 6,375
2003 2004 2005 Police force area Findings of guilt Immediate custody2 Findings of guilt Immediate custody2 Findings of guilt Immediate custody2 Avon and Somerset 2,666 167 2,692 145 2,595 127 Bedfordshire 1,072 72 1,028 65 1,050 81 Cambridgeshire 933 56 1,083 52 1,214 65 Cheshire 1,905 110 2,128 106 1,709 113 Cleveland 981 61 1,071 60 959 44 Cumbria 843 37 907 50 853 54 Derbyshire 1,617 168 1,874 143 1,645 118 Devon and Cornwall 2,667 121 2,560 120 2,446 102 Dorset 1,264 73 1,239 52 1,207 63 Durham 1,170 77 1,277 80 1,168 56 Essex 2,622 311 2,853 349 2,549 262 Gloucestershire 890 37 913 38 834 29 Greater Manchester 4,743 437 4,811 379 4,653 317 Hampshire 3,663 234 3,743 199 3,372 189 Hertfordshire 1,904 78 1,881 94 1,836 87 Humberside 1,445 150 1,623 112 1,592 117 Kent 2,811 179 3,010 155 2,907 157 Lancashire 2,652 146 2,706 125 2,723 136 Leicestershire 1,725 143 1,754 145 1,631 122 Lincolnshire 1,111 42 1,209 46 1,176 36 London, City of 230 4 169 5 184 4 Merseyside 2,687 215 2,849 261 2,964 252 Metropolitan Police 12,621 922 13,227 832 12,887 766 Norfolk 1,274 59 1,240 64 1,265 50 Northamptonshire 799 65 922 73 853 67 Northumbria 2,747 187 2,675 183 2,561 107 North Yorkshire 1,194 51 1,131 40 1,244 51 Nottinghamshire 1,644 149 1,669 111 1,626 112 South Yorkshire 2,089 125 2,224 140 2,220 124 Staffordshire (3) 1,733 141 1,733 124 1,718 111 Suffolk 1,213 66 1,332 89 1,103 59 Surrey 1,464 44 1,425 51 1,503 53 Sussex 2,430 120 2,368 104 2,379 108 Thames Valley 3,884 159 3,539 190 3,474 181 Warwickshire 918 33 845 23 871 28 West Mercia 1,797 100 1,689 103 1,917 96 West Midlands 5,233 420 5,584 423 5,693 347 West Yorkshire 3,720 260 3,897 276 3,863 163 Wiltshire 1,031 62 1,024 39 1,038 41 England 87,392 5,881 89,904 5,646 87,482 4,995 Dyfed Powys 995 46 986 47 932 36 Gwent 1,149 94 1,188 69 1,129 74 North Wales 1,326 76 1,349 75 1,364 68 South Wales 2,840 211 2,811 222 2,811 199 Wales 6,310 427 6,334 413 6,236 377 England and Wales 93,702 6,308 96,238 6,059 93,718 5,372 n/a = Not available. 1 Data provided cover summary offences of driving etc after consuming alcohol or taking drugs (which cannot reliably be distinguished separately). 2 Immediate Custody includes sentences of Secure Training Order, Detention & Training Order, Young Offender Institution and Unsuspended sentence of imprisonment. 3 Staffordshire Police Force were only able to submit sample data for persons proceeded against and convicted in the magistrates' courts for the year 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robust enough at a detailed level and have been excluded from the table. Notes: 1. It is known that for some police force areas, the reporting of court proceedings in particular those relating to summary motoring offences, may be less than complete. 2. Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when these data are used.
Drunkenness: Crime Prevention
(2) what estimate has been made of the number of alcohol disorder zones that will be implemented by local authorities in the first full year of operation of the legislation.
Alcohol disorder zones (ADZs) are designed to tackle the problem of alcohol-related crime and disorder in the worst affected parts of town and city centres through a focus on the public space and/or the management of certain licensed premises. There will be no maximum levy that may be imposed on licensed premises, but the purposes to which the money raised can be put will be regulated, and the money raised will have to be spent on additional enforcement services which are over and above the baseline levels already in place.
The regulatory impact assessment for ADZs estimates that in the first year of ADZ being in force, approximately 30 areas may move to the action planning phase of the ADZ. However, it is unlikely that all areas which move to the action planning phase will continue to implement the full ADZ, as it is expected that as progress is made towards reducing alcohol- related crime and disorder, a significant proportion of ADZs will not proceed further than the action planning phase.
Human Trafficking: Children
Following a series of meetings involving all partners in the operation to discuss media strategy, the decision was taken by the Metropolitan Police Service Gold Commander for Operation Caddy.
Identity Cards
The Identity and Passport Service held the National Identity Scheme Strategic Suppliers Group Framework procurement bidders’ conference in September 2007. The bidders’ conference was part of the procurement process rather than a conventional conference and the venue and associated costs amounted to £4,028.
Immigration: Biometrics
We are planning for our new identity cards for foreign nationals, who are subject to immigration control, to contain biometric data in the form of two of the holder’s fingerprints and a digital facial image. Biographical and other important information will also be included on the cards, such as the holder’s name, date and place of birth, nationality, and whether the person is entitled to employment and access to public funds in the United Kingdom.
Internet: Crime
This information is not held centrally.
The Government criminalise acts based on the offence committed and not the medium used; therefore many Home Office teams make policy on crimes which can be committed over the internet. Teams specifically dealing with cybercrime (for all or some of their time) employ six full-time and one part- time members of staff.
Migration
The voting procedure in the Council of Ministers for EU policy on legal migration will be Qualified Majority Voting.
The UK position remains unchanged. We will opt into EU asylum and immigration measures where it is in the national interest to do so and consistent with our policy of retaining frontier controls.
Muslim Media Issues
The Home Office press office has had, since June 2006, one post whose work includes engagement with black and minority ethnic media. Some of this work naturally includes work with Muslim media.
National Identity Register
It is too soon to give the precise number of Government officials who will be permitted to access the national identity register. However, only a small number of strictly vetted officials will be permitted to manage information held on the register under the provisions of the Identity Cards Act 2006.
Opium Crops
During 2007 a total of 2,744.98 hectares of opium poppy crop were grown in 67 locations in the UK. The size of individual sites ranged from four to 229.25 hectares with a mean average location size of 40.96 hectares.
Police
The information requested is as follows:
(a) The available data, based on mid year estimates from the Office for National Statistics, are given in Table 1 placed in the House Libraries.
(b), (c) Authorised establishments were abolished by the Police and Magistrates' Courts Act 1994. It is a matter for each chief constable in consultation with the police authority to determine the number of police officers a force would have. Information on police service strength is published annually in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin series “Police Service Strength, England and Wales” and details for officers are given in Table 2 placed in the House Libraries.
(d) The arrests collection undertaken by the Ministry of Justice provides data on persons arrested for recorded crime (notifiable offences) only. The available information is given in the Table 3, placed in the House Libraries, by police force area, from 1999-2000 (previous years data are unreliable) to 2005-06 (latest available).
(e) Information on arrests rates is not collected centrally and, from the information available centrally, arrests rates cannot be computed with any accuracy. Numbers of arrests are only collected by the Ministry of Justice on a recorded crime (notifiable offences) basis and from the Home Office data on numbers of police officers; one does not know the duties to which they have been assigned.
(f), (g), (h), (i) The available data are given in Tables 4, 5 and 6, placed in the House Libraries.
[holding answer 18 February 2008]: The information requested cannot be calculated from the centrally collected data within the police personnel statistics series. Length of service data are only collected in a number of fixed time bands and are set out in the following table.
Percentage Up to 5 years 5-10 years 10-15 years 15-20 years 20-25 years 26-30 years 30-35 years1 35 years and over1 Kent 29 19 16 16 9 9 1 0 Metropolitan police 29 18 12 14 12 12 2 0 Surrey2 — — — — — — — — Sussex 32 17 15 16 11 8 1 0 England and Wales 28 18 14 15 12 11 2 0 1 Police officers are eligible for retirement after 30 years service. 2 Data for Surrey are not available.
Police: Manpower
[holding answer 18 February 2008]: The Home Office centrally collects statistics on the total number of police officers transferring in to each force, and separately collects the total number of police officers transferring out from each force. The data do not identify the force to or from which the transfer occurred. In 2006-07 (the latest period for which figures are available), 40 full-time equivalent police officers transferred out from Sussex police to other forces, and 24 officers transferred in to Sussex police from other forces.
Serious Organised Crime Agency: Expenditure
The Serious Organised Crime Agency, which was established on 1 April 2006, has the aim of reducing the harm caused to the UK through serious organised crime. It does not have a function to provide border security. At any given time, SOCA officers may be engaged, to a greater or lesser extent, in activity which bears on border security and enforcement.
Staffordshire Police Authority: Finance
(2) how much Staffordshire Police Authority has received from central funds in each of the last 10 years.
Government grants since 1997-98 to Staffordshire police authority are set out in the following table.
Staffordshire police authority has increased its police precept for 2008-09 by 3.75 per cent.
Government grant1 (£ million) 1997-98 96.15 1998-99 95.09 1999-2000 96.27 2000-01 100.13 2001-02 105.23 2002-03 106.36 2003-04 112.87 2004-05 117.62 2005-062 122.43 2006-073 122.05 2007-08 126.77 1 Revenue funding includes all grants inside Aggregate External Finance (AEF) (i.e. revenue grants paid for councils’ core services), and includes formula grant and all specific grants. 2 In 2005-06 figures were adjusted for comparison purposes following the transfer of pensions and security funding from general grant in 2006-07. 3 2006-07 Government grant figures are provisional outturn figures. 2007-08 figures are budget figures. Source: DCLG
Terrorism
The Home Office does not employ any Islamic scholars. Expert advice on Islam and other religions is obtained from independent experts as and when required.
Treaty establishing the European Communities
The measures the UK has decided to participate in through the opt-in arrangements under Title IV of the Treaty establishing the European Communities are in the table, a copy of which has been placed in the House Library.
Health
Abortion
This information is not available.
The Department has received no representations on the public funding of abortions overseas.
Maternal deaths associated with termination of pregnancy that were reported to the Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths for the period 1994 to 2005, are set out in the following table. The data for 2006 to 2007 are not yet available.
Triennium Number of deaths from termination of pregnancy 2003-05 2 2000-02 5 1997-99 2 1994-96 1 Notes: 1. There were around 500,000 abortions in the UK in each three year period and hence the number of deaths represent less than 0.0001 per cent. of all abortions carried out. 2. Direct deaths (occurring during pregnancy and up to and including 42 days inclusive after termination). 3. The numbers are too small to be broken down by age group. Source: Figures are from the reports of the Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths in the UK for the relevant triennium.
Abortion in Clinics Overseas
The Department has neither commissioned nor evaluated research on the number or causes of United Kingdom women over 24 weeks gestation undergoing abortions in clinics overseas. Such data would be difficult or impossible to collect reliably.
Abortion: Private Sector
There is no legislation on advertising by private abortion clinics specifically. However advertisements must comply with the law in general as well as the advertising codes.
Adverse Drug Reactions
(2) how many people in each age cohort experienced an adverse drug reaction in (a) England, (b) each region, (c) each strategic health authority and (d) each primary care trust area in each year since 2003; and how many such reactions in each category were fatal;
(3) how many people aged between (a) 50 and 64-years-old, (b) 65 and 74-years-old and (c) over 75-years-old (i) died and (ii) were injured by adverse drug reactions in each year since 2003.
Reports of suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are collected by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the Commission for Human Medicines through the spontaneous reporting scheme; the yellow card scheme.
Table 1 shows the number of suspected ADR reports received by the MHRA in the specified time periods where an anti-psychotic drug was listed by the reporter as being suspect. The total number of ADR reports for all antipsychotics is not equal to the sum of both atypical and traditional antipsychotics since an individual ADR report may provide more than one drug as suspect.
All antipsychotics Atypical antipsychotics Traditional antipsychotics 2003 1,812 1,694 140 2004 2,060 1,963 105 2005 2,614 2,473 160 2006 2,127 1,920 226 2007 2,327 2,172 173
The numbers of antipsychotic prescription items from the Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) database are shown in table 2.
All antipsychotics Atypical antipsychotics Traditional antipsychotics 2002 5,167.0 2,471.6 2,695.3 2003 5,513.2 3,088.7 2,424.4 2004 5,687.8 3,333.9 2,353.8 2005 5,872.9 3,597.7 2,275.2 2006 6,196.1 4,049.1 2,147.0 1 Prescriptions items—prescriptions are written on a prescription form. Each single item written on the form is counted as a prescription item.
Table 3 gives the numbers of suspected adverse reaction reports received for the three age cohorts each year since 2003. Reports of suspected ADRs do not always specify the original reporter’s address; therefore data on ADRs cannot be provided by region, strategic health authority or primary care trust area.
Age group 50-64 65-74 75+ 2003 3,832 2,633 2,595 2004 4,242 2,904 2,503 2005 4,280 2,896 2,585 2006 4,414 2,919 2,374 2007 4,692 2,693 1,998
The number of suspected adverse reaction reports associated with a fatal outcome each year for the last five years is shown in table 4. It is important to note that the submission of a suspected ADR report does not necessarily mean that it was caused by the drug. Many factors have to be taken into account in assessing causal relationships including the possible contribution of concomitant medication and the patient's underlying disease.
Age group 50-64 65-74 75+ 2003 139 117 172 2004 180 146 196 2005 242 174 186 2006 201 191 160 2007 220 177 184
Alcoholic Drinks: Rehabilitation
A number of resources are already in place:
Drinkline, which is funded by the Department, assists people who want to drink sensibly, providing them with advice over the phone and, if required, signposting them to the appropriate services. Advice is also available from NHS Direct.
Advice on alcohol consumption from several interactive websites:
the new Drinkaware website;
the Know Your Limits campaign site; and
from NHS Choices.
Many local providers have established support groups as one aspect of their broader alcohol harm reduction service.
The forthcoming campaign to raise awareness of units and encourage people to drink within the sensible drinking guidelines is due to launch in May and will strengthen the available support. It will include a website that will provide information designed to help people reduce their drinking and will signpost potentially harmful drinkers to telephone, web and paper-based materials as required.
The Department is conducting social marketing research to identify the best ways to help people to choose healthier lifestyles, including help lines, websites and support groups. New information and advice, targeted towards people who drink at harmful levels, their families and friends, will be available from the summer.
Ambulance Services: Cornwall
This information requested is not held centrally.
The Department expects ambulance trusts to plan their resources to ensure that there is an appropriate provision of ambulance coverage for the communities they serve.
Therefore, this is a local matter for the South Western Ambulance Service National Health Service Trust, and the hon. Member may wish to approach the chief executive of the trust for this information.
Anabolic Steroids: Misuse
This information is not collected centrally.
Data on finished hospital admissions episodes are not recorded against a specific definition of conditions caused by the abuse of anabolic steroids.
However, data are collected on the number of finished hospital admissions episodes where there was a diagnosis, in any primary or secondary field of poisoning by androgens and anabolic congeners. This is recorded under the code T38.7.
Based on this code the number of finished hospital admissions episodes in 2006-07, the last year for which figures are available, is 68.
Note:
As these data are for admissions to hospital where it is identified that the patient had a condition of poisoning by androgens and anabolic congeners they do not represent any information about the longer term conditions of the effects of abuse of anabolic steroids.
Source:
Hospital episodes Statistics—The Information Centre for health and social care.
Autism
This information is not held centrally.
British Pregnancy Advisory Service
The Department published “An investigation into the British Pregnancy Advisory Service response to requests for late abortions: A report by the chief medical officer” in 2005. No other reports on the organisation have been produced by the Department.
British Pregnancy Advisory Service: Abortion
This information is not collected centrally.
Cherry Knowle Hospital
Part of the Cherry Knowle hospital site is included in a portfolio of properties that it was agreed would transfer from the ownership of the Secretary of State for Health to English Partnerships to assist the Government’s Sustainable Communities programme. It will be for English Partnerships, in consultation with the local planning authority, to determine the future development of this part of the site. The remainder of the site is intended to be developed by the national health service locally to provide new health care facilities.
Dental Services: Essex
The information requested is not collected centrally. It is for local national health service organisations to determine how best to manage patients seeking NHS dental services.
Under the old contractual arrangements, which were in place until 31 March 2006, patients had to register with an individual dentist. Under the new contractual arrangements, introduced on 1 April 2006, patients do not have to be registered with an NHS dentist to receive NHS care.
Dental Services: Standards
In 2001, as a result of action by the manufacturer and distributor of a tooth whitening product, the House of Lords made a judgment that the Government had the right to consider tooth whitening products as falling under the EC Directive on Cosmetic Products(76/768/EEC) and therefore within the terms of the Cosmetics (Safety) Regulations.
Currently the Schedules to the Cosmetics (Safety) Regulations restrict the permitted percentage of hydrogen peroxide present or released in cosmetic products used in the mouth to 0.1 per cent. but we understand that the Scientific Committee on Consumer Products has given its opinion to the European Commission that the permitted limit may, subject to prescribed conditions, be increased to 6 per cent. We are awaiting the Commission's response to this advice.
The General Dental Council (GDC), which is independent of Government, is responsible for the professional standards of dentists and dental care professionals. We understand that the GDC considers that tooth whitening constitutes the practice of dentistry. Any registrant who undertakes work for which they are not sufficiently competent risks fitness to practice proceedings.
Diabetes: Children
Data on the numbers of children diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes are not available in the format requested. Estimates of the number of children with Type 2 diabetes vary, but in the United Kingdom it has been suggested that it may be around 1,000.
Data are not available on the numbers of children diagnosed with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. The following table gives the number of patients, aged 0 to 17, admitted to hospital in each year since 1997 with a diagnosis of non-alcoholic fatty liver.
Number 1997-08 4 1998-09 7 1999-2000 18 2000-01 21 2001-02 44 2002-03 44 2003-04 45 2004-05 46 2005-06 72 2006-07 81 Note: Diagnosis code: K76.0 -fatty (change of) liver, not elsewhere classified. Source: Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) 1997-2007, Information Centre for Health and Social Care Information Centre. These figures represent a count of all patients with finished consultant episodes (FCEs) within each HES data year, where the diagnosis was mentioned in any of the 14 diagnosis positions (seven prior to 2002-03). An FCE is defined as a period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider.
Dietary Supplements
Information on prescription items dispensed in the community in England and classified by the Prescription Pricing Division of the NHS Business Services Authority as for intravenous or oral nutrition, is in the following table. This excludes minerals or vitamins prescribed on the national health service.
Prescription items dispensed for intravenous and oral nutrition (thousand) Net ingredient cost (£000) 1997 2,689.2 84,500.9 1998 2,851.3 93,642.6 1999 3,005.7 103,839.6 2000 3,100.5 111,418.5 2001 3,315.2 125,089.0 2002 3,453.3 135,403.6 2003 3,671.8 148,647.1 2004 3,950.2 163,426.6 2005 4,207.0 177,217.7 2006 4,673.0 200,774.9
Drugs: Advisory Services
The National Drugs Helpline ceased in England in March 2003 and was replaced by the FRANK helpline in April 2003.
No staff are employed exclusively to FRANK on a full-time basis. The Central Office of Information advise that a total of 74 trained advisors are shared across other helpline services relating to alcohol and drugs abuse and sexual health services. This equates to 37.5 full-time equivalent advisors given the shift patterns the service is required to fill.
The National Drugs Helpline ceased in England in March 2003 and was replaced by the FRANK helpline in April 2003.
The Central Office of Information advise that FRANK can handle an average of 63 telephone calls per hour.
Electricity: Health Hazards
(2) what steps have been taken since 27 November 2007 to implement the Health Protection Agency’s guidance to Government on the SAGE First Interim Assessment on power lines and property, wiring in homes and electrical equipment in homes; and if he will make a statement;
(3) what the timing of the current round of consultation on the SAGE First Interim Assessment on power lines and property, wiring in homes, and electrical equipment in homes is; and if he will make a statement;
(4) what (a) meetings and (b) other contacts there have been between officials from his Department and other Departments and devolved Administrations on the implementation of the Health Protection Agency’s guidance to Government on the SAGE First Interim Assessment on power lines and property, wiring in homes, and electrical equipment in homes;
(5) if he will take steps to reduce the exposure of children to electromagnetic radiation.
The Health Protection Agency (HPA) advice to Government on the “Stakeholder Advisory Group (SAGE) on Extremely Low Frequency Electromagnetic Fields (ELF EMF) Precautionary approaches to ELF EMFs First Interim Assessment Power Lines and Property, Wiring in Homes And Electrical Equipment in Homes” is available in the Library and also on the HPA website at:
www.hpa.org.uk/radiation/understand/radiation_topics/emf/hpa_response__statement_sage.htm
The HPA advice supports precautionary measures that have a convincing evidence base to show that they will be successful in reducing exposure, are effective in providing reassurance to the public, and where the overall benefits outweigh the fiscal and social costs.
Since November, officials in the key Government Departments have been in contact with agencies, industry and trade associations to seek initial views on the practicalities of implementing the SAGE recommendations in the light of HPA advice. After exchanges of correspondence, some exploratory meetings have taken place. When these initial soundings have been completed, a work plan will be drawn up for detailed consideration and discussion will be held with officials in the devolved Administrations.
Fats: Health Hazards
At its meeting in December 2007, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) board agreed that voluntary measures taken by the United Kingdom food industry to reduce levels of trans fats in foods have been successful in reducing consumer's average dietary intakes. Legislation would be therefore unlikely to deliver any further significant health benefit.
In his response to the FSA in January 2008 the Secretary of State (Alan Johnson) supported the agency's priority to reduce saturated fat intakes while maintaining the current position on trans fats.
Fluoride: Drinking Water
The central funds to be managed by the Department are for the capital costs of setting up a fluoridation scheme. Strategic health authorities (SHAs) would meet the costs of any consultations from their core allocations. Guidance issued by the Chief Dental Officer on 5 February advises that an SHA should take account of the oral health needs of the population it serves and the technical feasibility of fluoridating its water supply before preparing for a consultation.
None so far. The funds are for the capital cost of setting up the plant for a fluoridation scheme. Strategic health authorities would not therefore apply for funds until they had consulted on proposals for a fluoridation scheme and demonstrated that it was supported by the local population that would be affected.
The Department has commissioned three completed research studies on fluoridation and health, “A Systematic Review of Water Fluoridation” published by the University of York in 2000, “Water Fluoridation and Health” published by the Medical Research Council in 2002 and the “Bioavailability of Fluoride in Drinking Water: a Human Experimental Study in 2005” published by the University of Newcastle in 2004. The Department is also funding a further project on the use of fluorescent imaging to develop objective and quantitative measures of enamel fluorosis, which is currently in progress.
Foetal Alcohol Syndrome
This information is not collected centrally.
Food: Allergies
The guidance on the provision of allergen information in foods sold non-prepacked was introduced because eating out is recognised to be a high-risk situation for allergic consumers. The aim of the guidance is to increase awareness of food allergy issues in food businesses so that, should they be asked, they can provide accurate information on the allergens in the foods they sell, both deliberate ingredients and from the potential for accidental cross-contamination. By raising awareness of allergy issues it is hoped that businesses, such as caterers, will be able to provide this information pro-actively to customers.
The guidance was issued as best practice to reflect the practical issues, raised during the public consultation, for small businesses in this part of the food sector in providing this information on a statutory basis. The European Union has recently issued a proposal on food labelling following a review of the existing legislation, that includes strengthening the requirements to provide allergen information in this sector. There will be a full public consultation on this proposal prior to negotiations.
Food: Labelling
Due to the voluntary nature of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) guidance, compliance will not be monitored. However, the FSA will be monitoring the awareness and uptake of the guidance package by food business operators.
No discussions have been held on the standards of allergen labelling on foods imported from outside the European Union (EU). All food products imported from non-EU countries are required to comply with the requirements of the European labelling legislation, including the provisions on the labelling of allergenic ingredients. These provisions are implemented through the Food Labelling Regulations 1996 as amended.
No assessment has been made of the effectiveness of the cross-contamination information contained within the guidance because the main aim of the Food Standards Agency guidance is to raise awareness of allergens in the non pre-packed foods sector. The guidance focuses on deliberate ingredients as these present the greatest risk for allergic consumers. However, cross- contamination is highlighted in the guidance as an additional factor to consider when answering queries from allergic consumers.
General Practitioners: York
Data on average general practitioner (GP) pay by individual primary care trusts and at national level are not available in the format requested.
Information on average GP net profits was determined at United Kingdom level only until 2001-02. However, since 2002-03 information on average GP pay has been available on a country basis (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) as well as at Great Britain/UK level.
The following table provides the latest available average GP net profit from 1997 to 2005-06 as agreed with the Technical Steering Committee which is a UK- wide committee incorporating representatives from all UK Health Departments, the NHS Confederation and the British Medical Association.
Amount (£) Increase over previous year (percentage) 1997-98 46,031 3.5 1998-99 48,037 4.4 1999-2000 52,606 9.5 2000-01 54,219 3.1 2001-02 56,510 4.2 2002-03 72,716 1— 2003-04 81,566 12.2 2004-05 100,170 22.8 2005-06 110,004 9.8 1 Not applicable as a new data series started this year Notes: 1. Figures for 1997-98 to 2001-02 inclusive are for national health service income only in Great Britain (GB). 2. Figures for 2002-03 onwards are for all sources of income, including private, but for 2002-03 is for GB and for 2003-04 onwards are for the UK. The figures do not include earnings of those doctors working as salaried employees. Source: Information Centre for health and social care.
Health Services: Private Sector
[holding answer 18 February 2008]: The Department's role in relation to the involvement of private health care companies in providing national health service services is to establish the conditions and rules to ensure that such involvement is in the interests of patients, the public and taxpayers. The Department does not directly regulate or monitor private companies' involvement in specific local services.
It is for primary care trusts (PCTs), the local leaders of the NHS, to commission an appropriate range of high-quality health care services to meet the needs of their population. In circumstances where existing services are not of the required quality, or where new services are needed, PCTs may decide to procure alternatives from other NHS organisations or from the private sector or the third sector. Strategic health authorities ensure that PCTs carry out their commissioning role effectively, and in line with the principles and rules for competition established by the Department.
The Healthcare Commission is responsible for regulating independent sector providers and assessing NHS providers.
Hospitals: Food
The Department produced, in 2003, a guidance document entitled ‘Catering Services for Children and Young Adults’, which was designed to assist national health service trusts in providing appropriate catering services for these groups of patients. Decisions relating to the implementation of the guidance, or any parts of it, are a matter for individual trusts. A copy of the guidance document has been placed in the Library.
Human Papilloma Virus: Vaccination
Guidance on the implementation of the human papilloma virus (HPV) immunisation programme will be issued to the national health service and others through various information channels such as the Chief Medical Officer Letters, Chief Executives Bulletin, the guide “Immunisation against infectious disease” (the ‘Green Book’), websites and a range of NHS immunisation leaflets when all the appropriate information becomes available. A national conference for primary care trusts (PCTs) was held in October on the HPV vaccination programme. A second conference is planned, and a range of supporting resources is being made available on the www.immunisation.nhs.uk website as they are developed.
The principles for consent for HPV vaccination are the same as those for other childhood vaccination, and are covered in Chapter 2 of the “Immunisation against Infectious Disease”.
Introduction of a HPV immunisation programme to routinely vaccinate girls aged 12 to 13 years of age against cervical cancer will start in September 2008 and a two-year catch up campaign will start in autumn 2009, for girls up to 18 years. PCTs will plan how to deliver the vaccination programme locally, and the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has advised that HPV vaccination would be most efficiently delivered through schools.
The principles for consent for human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination are the same as those for other childhood vaccination, and are covered in chapter 2 of the “Immunisation against Infectious Disease”. A copy of the document has been placed in the Library and is also available on the Department’s website at:
www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_079917
A range of information materials to support the HPV vaccination programme are being prepared and will be distributed in due course.
Incontinence: Medical Equipment
(2) if he will issue guidance to dispensing appliance contractors on how to prioritise those patients who should receive a stoma customisation service in the event of a volume cap being placed on this service.
During the course of this review there have been meetings with the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform—formerly the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). Lord Sainsbury represented the DTI. These covered all aspects of the review, including reimbursement for items.
There have been no discussions with the Office of Fair Trading specifically about the potential impact of the proposed reimbursement for items, although it is aware of the review taking place.
It is premature to decide if any guidance should be issued to dispensing appliance contractors regarding any aspect of the proposed service provision, as the review is ongoing.
Infant Foods: Fluoride
Fluoride: Drinking Water
(2) what proportion of the population have dental fluorosis; and what estimate he has made of the proportion of the population likely to have dental fluorosis in areas where the public water supply is fluoridated.
Dental fluorosis is a cosmetic effect with no implications for systemic (general) health. It may nevertheless, in a small minority of cases, give people concerns about the appearance of their teeth. A research project reported in the British Dental Journal (volume 189 No 4 August 26 2000) on the prevalence of fluorosis of children who had been continuous residents in fluoridated Newcastle or non-fluoridated Northumberland found that 54 per cent. of children in water fluoridated areas had fluorosis and 23 per cent. in the fluoride deficient areas. In response to the advice from the American Dental Association, we are to investigate the aesthetic impact of fluorosis. We are funding a research project involving the use of intra-oral cameras and automated software to obtain consistent readings in surveys of levels of dental fluorosis. If, as we expect, the project is successful, the researchers will use the photographs to obtain the views of a representative sample of people on the appearance of teeth with fluorosis at different levels of severity.
Macular Degeneration: Wirral
The information requested is not collected centrally. There are no plans to introduce screening at this time.
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust: Pay
(2) on what grounds he determined that the severance payment to the former Chief Executive of the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust should not be made.
The employment of staff, clinicians and managers within the national health service is a matter for local NHS boards. Secretaries of State have power to give directions to NHS trusts about their exercise of any functions, which may include the making of payments to staff. This power could still be relevant to any matters outstanding regarding severance payments.
In the case of Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells we asked the NHS trust to withhold any severance payment to the former chief executive prior to considering legal advice on the matter. We understand that the trust has since taken legal advice on this matter, and following that advice, has issued a statement that the former chief executive will be paid her legal entitlement of six months salary.
Maternity Services
[holding answer 19 February 2008]: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to him on 18 December 2007, Official Report, column 1390W. Also on 25 January 2008, we announced extra funding for maternity services for each of the next three years, totalling £330 million. This will ensure that mothers will get the best possible care and will be guaranteed a full range of choices. Trusts will have access to this additional money from April.
Mental Health Services: Training
The NHS Security Management Service organises conflict resolution training for national health service staff. Within this training programme, the Promoting Safer and Therapeutic Services syllabus has been specifically designed for staff working in mental health and learning disability settings. The aim is for all staff to have received training by 31 March 2008.
Midwives: Training
A table which shows how many midwifery training places there were in each strategic health authorities in each of the last five academic years has been placed in the Library.
[holding answer 18 February 2008]: The total estimated cost of training student midwives for each year since 2004-05 is set out in the following table.
Financial year Total cost (£ million) 2004-05 79.4 2005-06 82.2 Notes: (i) 2004-05 and 2005-06 are forecasts. No data are available for 2006-07 onwards. (ii) Data in the above time series are not strictly comparable due to changes in the way data were collected. (iii) Average bursary costs for nurses and midwives have been added to tuition costs from 2004-05 onwards.
Neurology
The Department does not hold the numbers of neurosurgeons who qualified each year because the annual national health service workforce census does not separately identify the number of consultants specialising in neurosurgery who qualify each year.
The number of consultants specialising in neurosurgery employed in the NHS in each year from 1996 to 2006 is shown in the following table.
Numbers All staff, of which: Consultants Doctors in training and equivalents 1996 367 124 236 1997 358 127 218 1998 371 130 231 1999 368 136 222 2000 407 139 252 2001 427 152 252 2002 466 161 280 2003 491 168 311 2004 534 180 345 2005 561 190 352 2006 553 187 358 Source: The Information Centre for health and social care Medical and Dental Workforce Census.
NHS: Contracts
Guidance on this matter is not issued centrally.
National health service trusts are responsible for their own good financial management. This will include looking closely at all opportunities to prevent or minimise any impact on services to patients.
Suppliers must decide for themselves whether to support a particular tender invitation after giving due consideration to the potential benefits and process savings that might be accrued from it.