Written Answers to Questions
Monday 22 June 2009
Wales
Departmental Data Protection
There have been no breaches of information security in the Wales Office in the last five years.
Northern Ireland
Antisocial Behaviour
The Northern Ireland Office had begun a review of antisocial behaviour orders in Northern Ireland but this was superseded by the 2008 Criminal Justice Inspectorate’s review of antisocial behaviour orders.
The review concluded that there has been a sensible approach to the introduction of antisocial behaviour orders in Northern Ireland. The review also highlighted that antisocial behaviour orders are used as part of a staged approach to tackling antisocial behaviour alongside other interventions such as warnings and acceptable behaviour contracts.
Departmental Billing
The following table shows the number and proportion of invoices paid by the Northern Ireland Office, including the Public Prosecution Service Northern Ireland, and its agencies within 10 days of receipt in each of the last 12 months.
Invoices % Invoices % Invoices % Invoices % Invoices % 2008 June 291 5.4 626 33.8 32 74.4 — — — — July 874 15.3 486 24.4 20 58.8 — — — — August 1,981 66.9 759 38.8 29 70.7 — — — — September 1,523 45.7 757 36.3 22 56.4 — — — — October 2,002 48.0 913 37.5 29 72.5 — — — — November 2,542 58.7 896 39.1 21 75.0 86 36.6 — — December8 2,692 82.5 1,448 80.7 30 85.7 166 46.5 679 93.7 2009 January 3,122 79.0 2,688 76.2 25 92.6 141 57.6 593 76.3 February 3,231 82.6 1,749 85.4 27 100 219 80.2 524 77.6 March 3,611 82.2 2,141 85.8 33 100 254 76.7 759 79.7 April 3,026 83.3 1,109 72.2 31 100 185 69.6 505 65.2 May 3,074 91.6 1,770 89.3 23 95.8 136 69.2 427 80.9 1 Northern Ireland Office including the Public Prosecution Service Northern Ireland. 2 Northern Ireland Prison Service. 3 Compensation Agency. 4 Forensic Science Northern Ireland. 5 Youth Justice Agency. 6 Figures for invoices paid within 10 days of receipt in each of the last 12 months for Forensic Science Northern Ireland are only available from November 2008. 7Figures for invoices paid within 10 days of receipt in each of the last 12 months for Youth Justice Agency are only available from December 2008. 8 The Northern Ireland Office and it agencies revised procedures for the processing and payment of invoices following guidance issued by the Cabinet Office on 17 November 2008 relating to a target to pay invoices within 10 days with effect from 1 December 2008. Prior to December 2008 the Northern Ireland Office and its agencies sought to comply with the “The Better Payments Practice Code” for achieving good payment performance in commercial transactions. Under this Code, the policy was to pay bills in accordance with contractual conditions or, where no such conditions exist, within 30 days of receipt of goods and services or the presentation of a valid invoice, whichever is the later.
Employment Tribunals
The following table details the 10 actions brought against the Northern Ireland Office core Department in the last three financial years. Of these, one was withdrawn by the complainant and four were settled prior to hearing. The remaining five cases have not yet reached tribunal stage.
Category of action 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 Total per category Sex discrimination 1 — — 1 Fair employment discrimination 3 — 1 4 Equal pay — — 4 4 Unlawful deduction of wages — 1 — 1 Total per year 4 1 5 10
Police Service of Northern Ireland
(2) how many (a) Protestant, (b) Roman Catholic and (c) non-determined appointees to the Police Service of Northern Ireland there have been since the inception of the 50/50 recruitment process.
That is an operational matter for the Chief Constable. I have asked him to reply directly to the hon. Member, and a copy of his letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
Police Service of Northern Ireland: Housing
There are currently no vacant residential units owned by the Northern Ireland Policing Board. The Northern Ireland Prison Service presently have 25 vacant residential units within the grounds of their training college at Millisle. These will be sold as part of the planned sale of the Millisle site upon the completion of the new public sector college at Desertcreat.
House of Commons Commission
Copyright
I expect this review to be completed by the summer recess.
Democracy Live
The Commission has not received any representations on the forthcoming BBC Democracy Live service. I understand that the Administration Committee will shortly be considering a proposal to permit the embedding of video content by end users.
Scotland
Cabinet: Glasgow
(2) what car journeys he took in attending the Cabinet meeting in Glasgow on 16 April 2009;
(3) how much expenditure was incurred by his Department in respect of the Cabinet meeting in Glasgow on 16 April 2009;
(4) what expenditure on (a) travel, (b) accommodation and (c) food (i) he and (ii) officials in his Department incurred in connection with the Cabinet meeting in Glasgow on 16 April 2009.
I was accompanied by one official and one special adviser and undertook one car journey when attending Cabinet in Glasgow on 16 April 2009.
For information in relation to the Cabinet and public engagement event held in Glasgow on 16 April I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 3 June 2009, Official Report, column 487W.
Demos
Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government’s practice to provide details of all such meetings.
Departmental Data Protection
There have been no breaches of information security at the Scotland Office in the last five years.
The Office would report all significant personal data security breaches to the Cabinet Office and the ICO. Information on any personal data security breaches would be published on an annual basis in the Department’s annual resource accounts as was announced in the Data Handling Review published on 25 June 2008.
Additionally, all significant control weaknesses including other significant security breaches are included in the Statement of Internal Control which is published within the annual resource accounts.
Written Questions: Government Responses
These parliamentary questions were answered today.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Bees
[holding answer 19 June 2009]: DEFRA and other funders are currently considering whether an independent expert should be invited to join the panel considering research proposals submitted to the Insect Pollinator Initiative being developed under the Living with Environmental Change programme.
Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control
[holding answer 15 June 2009]: The cost impacts of bovine tuberculosis (TB) on farm businesses will vary, though we know that for some farmers these costs will be serious. We have made no specific estimates of the effects of the cost to the farming industry of cattle slaughtered as a result of infection with bovine TB.
The Bovine TB Eradication Group have recently discussed ideas to enable farmers affected by bovine TB to maintain their farm businesses, including enhancing trading opportunities for TB restricted herds and options for support for individual farmers.
Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Research: Manpower
The table provides the requested data. We have included total staff numbers to give an indication of the relative level of management effort, and CEFAS turnover figures to illustrate substantial growth in the volumes of work delivered by the agency over this period. Total staff numbers are average full year figures (as reported in the annual accounts; the detail breakdown reflects the position at financial year end).
2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 Total staff 523 508 520 508 522 Turnover (£ million) 37.4 40.4 43.3 47.5 57.1 Directors 7 7 8 3 3 Senior managers 8 7 6 5 5 Specialist and delivery managers 332 326 333 352 343 Executive support and admin. 120 115 112 93 65 Notes: 1. Directors are executive members of the CEFAS management board. 2. Senior managers lead operational management across the organisation, and form part of the CEFAS “Senior Management Team”. 3. Specialist and delivery managers: have an extensive proportion of their time focused on managing/delivering customer projects and are typically professionally qualified. This is an estimated figure based on staff grade. 4. Executive support and administration: provide the “corporate services” function for CEFAS.
Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Research: Pay
The table provides the requested data. Figures for 2008-09 have not yet been finalised.
The CEFAS “performance related pay” (PRP) scheme has varied in recent years. It comprises a “corporate bonus” payable to all eligible staff as well as an “individual PRP” for a smaller proportion. The table shows percentage corporate and values of individual PRP estimated. The current scheme allows for:
A corporate bonus for all eligible staff of 2.2 per cent. of salary, explicitly linked to achievement of agreed agency targets
A corporate “growth” bonus for all eligible staff of up to 1.3 per cent. of salary self-funded and explicitly linked to generation of additional income from sources other than DEFRA.
An “individual PRP” paid at two levels, 4 per cent. or 8 per cent., for approximately 25 and 15 per cent. of staff respectively. This is assessed on the basis of achievement of personal objectives together with consideration of how these were delivered, the latter taking account of CEFAS values.
Bonus arrangements for four senior civil servants in CEFAS, including the chief executive, form part of wider DEFRA arrangements.
2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 “Corporate bonus” (percentage) 1 3 5 5 — Individual PRP (£): Directors 22,780 9,860 19,512 20,860 — Senior managers 5,680 3,180 2,833 2,447 — Specialist and delivery managers 136,483 73,502 88,184 92,462 — Executive support and admin. 42,442 28,639 29,196 21,624 —
Common Agricultural Policy
The Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) under the Common Agricultural Policy provides the system for managing direct payments to farmers (such as the Single Payment Scheme), and those rural development measures which are based on the area farmed or number of animals held by the farmer (such as agri-environment payments and Less Favoured Area payments). The Rural Payments Agency (RPA), Natural England and the Forestry Commission all administer IACS-related schemes in England.
It is not possible to provide the specific costs to these bodies of administering IACS-only schemes in the time available without incurring disproportionate costs, as they do not separately collect such figures.
The table sets out indicative costs to these organisations as follows:
(a) RPA: total running costs for administering around 60 CAP schemes and for Trader schemes payments to traders throughout the UK as well as all its non-CAP functions such as livestock tracing.
(b) Forestry Commission: administration of their ‘land-based’ IACS grant schemes, the English Woodland Grant Scheme together with the legacy Woodland Grant Scheme and Farm Woodland (Premium) Schemes.
(c) Natural England: administration of their RDPE schemes, including agri-environment schemes which are subject to IACS controls.
Financial year RPA1 Forestry Commission2 Natural England3 2004-05 249.1 4.2 n/a 2005-06 236.5 4.2 n/a 2006-07 229.8 4.2 n/a 2007-08 242.8 5.0 444 2008-09 5— 5.0 *38.8 1 Taken from the Agency’s Annual Report and Accounts. 2 Net administration costs 3 Natural England was formed in October 2006. Costs for its predecessor bodies are not available. 4 Includes direct costs incurred by Natural England of £13.6 million, and costs of using DEFRA systems (including depreciation and support/running costs). 5 Not yet available.
Dairy Farmers of Britain: Insolvency
Dairy Farmers of Britain had 1,800 members when they went into receivership on 3 June. The vast majority of those members have succeeded in finding new outlets for their milk. We were informed by the receivers (PwC) at a meeting on 17 June that 190 members have yet to find a new buyer, so PwC are collecting their milk at present.
Demos
The core-Department's financial system records expenditure in 2008-09 with Demos of £922.87 categorised as Training in People Management Skills.
Departmental Billing
[holding answer 12 June 2009]: Following the statement by the Prime Minister at PMQs on 8 October 2008, central Government Departments were asked to make payment of SME supplier invoices within 10 days. From information held centrally the 10 day payment performance for all supplier invoices from November 2008 for the core-Department and Executive agencies and NDPBs that utilise core-DEFRA’s financial system is as follows:
10 day performance 2008 2009 Organisation November December January February March April May Core DEFRA 33.5 77.1 99.8 99.8 99.4 99.7 99.9 Animal Health Agency 25.5 74.6 99.9 100.0 99.9 99.9 100.0 Natural England 99.5 99.4 99.5 99.6 99.9 99.8 99.7 Marine and Fisheries Agency 41.6 84.6 100.0 96.3 100.0 100.0 99.5 Gov. Decon. Service 35.7 67.3 100.0 99.5 100.0 — — DECC cost centres 28.1 81.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 99.5 100.0 Note: GDS merged into FERA from 1 April 2009.
Departmental Official Hospitality
[holding answer 3 June 2009]: From information held centrally, the core-Department's financial system records expenditure on hospitality in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09 of £441,259 and £132,414 respectively.
Departmental Press
For the period October 2008 to June 2009, DEFRA Ministers had the following newspapers and periodicals delivered to their offices:
Hilary Benn
Newspapers
Financial Times
Times
Daily Telegraph
Guardian
Independent
Daily Mail
Mirror
International Herald Tribune
Evening Standard
Periodicals
Farmers Weekly
Spectator
New Statesman
Economist
New Scientist
Jane Kennedy
Newspapers
Financial Times
Times
Daily Telegraph
Guardian
Independent
Daily Mail
Periodicals
Farmers Weekly
Farmers Guardian
Fishing News
Lord Hunt
Newspapers
Guardian
Independent
Periodicals
Farmers Weekly
Farmers Guardian
Huw Irranca-Davies
Newspapers
Times
Daily Telegraph
Guardian
The Sun
Daily Mail
Mirror
Evening Standard
Periodicals
Farmers Weekly.
Newspapers were, and continue to be, only delivered Monday-Thursday, with no papers or magazines being delivered through recess periods. Costs for these publications are grouped within a single departmental invoice, so an indicative weekly cost (based on the cover price of each publication) is £109.70, with zero cost during recess periods.
Entec
The core-Department's financial system records the following expenditure categorisation and values with Entec UK in 2008-09.
Description Value (£) Environmental Protection Research and Monitoring 70,254 England Biodiversity Strategy 15,640 Flood and Coastal Defence Research Programme 222,612 Marine Environment Research Programme 7,504 Water Quality and Water Supply Regulation R and D 5,800 Sustainable Water Use and Technical Support 13,444 Air Quality Evidence Base Management 178,033 Sustainable Development Commission Policy 46,070
Floods
In line with our commitment, the Government will very shortly publish its six-monthly Pitt progress report.
Floods: Bournemouth
[holding answer 18 June 2009]: The plans to improve defences at Hengistbury Head will be based on the current policy review for the local Shoreline Management Plan (SMP). This is being led by Bournemouth borough council and is approaching a public consultation stage. The SMP will be adopted later this year and published in June 2010.
Within the SMP the Environment Agency is reviewing the coastal processes and associated risks at Hengistbury Head. Once the SMP policies are determined and published, the Environment Agency has plans to develop a programme to re-evaluate its approach to improve the coastal defences for Poole Bay, including Hengistbury Head.
Floods: Property Development
(2) what proportion of planning applications have been granted against Environment Agency advice on flood risk in each of the last five years.
[holding answers 12 and 15 June 2009]: The following table shows the proportion of local planning authorities (LPAs) who have given planning permission for a development against an Environment Agency flood risk objection.
Percentage 2003-04 29.9 2004-05 35.8 2005-06 26.1 2006-07 21.4 2007-08 23.5
The following table shows the proportion of planning applications that were approved against Environment Agency advice on flood risk.
Percentage 2003-04 11.5 2004-05 8.1 2005-06 4.7 2006-07 4.0 2007-08 3.4
Food: Prices
The principal market provisions of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)—Market Price Support (MPS) and the use of tariffs—artificially raise the price of food above global agricultural market prices.
We can calculate an estimate of the UK consumer cost of the Common Agricultural Policy by comparing the difference between UK and world prices for agricultural products and applying the difference to the volume of UK consumption. On that basis our latest estimates suggest that the UK consumer cost of the CAP was approximately £3.48 billion in 2006. This works out as an additional cost per head of UK population of £57.
Great Crested Newts
People with suitable experience and skills can apply to Natural England for a licence to handle/disturb great crested newts. For the year April 2007 to March 2008, Natural England issued 1,074 great crested newt licences, permitting activities for the purpose of science and conservation. Figures cannot be broken down further to indicate how many of these licence holders were engaged in surveying land for signs of great crested newt activity.
Horses: Animal Welfare
(2) if he will undertake an assessment of the welfare of racehorses, including levels of death and injury; and if he will bring forward proposals to improve their welfare.
[holding answer given 9 June 2009]: All kept horses are protected by the Animal Welfare Act 2006 (“the Act”) which requires owners and keepers to provide for the welfare needs of their animals.
To make owners and keepers more aware of their responsibilities under the Act, DEFRA is preparing a code of practice for the care of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids. Once this is finalised it will be approved by Parliament before being published.
There are no proposals to undertake a welfare assessment of racehorses. Racehorses are protected by the Act which makes it an offence to cause any unnecessary suffering to an animal. In addition, under the Act, it is an offence to fail to provide for the welfare needs of an animal for which owners are responsible.
Anyone can take forward a prosecution under the Act if they consider they have evidence of cruelty or poor welfare, or they can report it to the appropriate authorities, including the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Horticulture
(2) what funding his Department has allocated to production horticulture research and development in the last five years;
(3) if he will match-fund the Horticultural Development Company levy for horticulture research and development.
DEFRA funds a significant amount of horticultural research through research programmes on Sustainable Farm Management, Agriculture and Climate Change, Resource Efficient and Resilient Food Chain and Sustainable Water Management. DEFRA plans to continue supporting the horticultural sector through these programmes with research in areas including crop protection, nutrient management, water use and crop genetic improvement for horticulture. The Horticulture LINK research programme is jointly funded with industry and so is able to translate Research & Development into a commercial reality.
DEFRA spent over £7 million on horticulture research in 2008-09. We spent £1.35 million in 2007-08 and again in 2008-09 directly on co-funded research with industry. We are likely to spend a similar amount this financial year. This exceeds the Horticulture Development Company's Research & Development expenditure.
Incinerators
[holding answer 9 June 2009]: Hazardous waste legislation requires that the bottom ash arising from municipal waste incinerators is assessed for ecotoxicity (property H14) prior to disposal. The legislation does not require operators to submit the results to the Environment Agency.
Members: Correspondence
I have been asked to reply.
As the letter concerned policy within BIS's remit I answered the right hon. Member’s letter on 20 April 2009 and will send an additional copy to his office.
Pesticides Safety Directorate: Manpower
In the last five financial years from 2004-05 to 2008-09 the Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD) was based in a single office in York.
Permanent staff in post expressed as full time equivalents (FTE) at 31 March in each year were:
2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 (a) Directors1 4 4 4 4 4 (b) Senior Managers2 15 15 15 14 13 (c) Specialist and delivery managers3 135.9 137.3 126.4 123.2 124.8 (d) Executive support and admin staff4 43.9 42.8 36.7 33 20.3 Total 198.8 199.1 182.1 174.2 162.1 1 Defined here as staff at Senior Civil Service or Grade 6 level. 2 Defined here as staff at Grade 7 level (includes managers in policy, science, technical and administrative areas). 3 Defined here as all staff in grades Executive/Scientific Officer to Senior Executive/Scientific Officer. 4 Defined here as all staff in grades Administrative Officer and Administrative Assistant. Note: PSD transferred to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) on 1 April 2008, and merged with other HSE teams to form the Chemicals Regulation Directorate on 1 April 2009.
River Humber
The Environment Agency, which surveys waters in England for their eutrophic status, does not consider the Humber to be eutrophic or likely to become eutrophic in the near future.
Seas and Oceans: Pollution
The role of DEFRA and the Marine and Fisheries Agency in responding to marine pollution emergencies is described in the National Contingency Plan for Marine Pollution from Shipping and Offshore Installations, which is maintained by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. Responses to maritime incidents need to be proportionate. Regional or national responses to maritime incidents involve the establishment of an Environment Group, which advises on environmental impacts and may initiate the collection of real time environmental data. If a marine pollution incident is expected to have a significant impact on the marine environment or the shoreline, arrangements are made to monitor and assess the impact in the longer term.
On 20 January 2007, the MSC Napoli was beached in Lyme Bay. The vessel was loaded with 2,318 containers (159 of which were classified as ‘International Maritime Dangerous Goods’) and approximately 3,500 tonnes of Intermediate Fuel Oil and 152 tonnes of Marine Diesel Oil on board. It is estimated that approximately 302 tonnes of oil leaked out of the vessel and dispersant was used to disperse the oil. The proportion of containers that went overboard and the proportion of oil spilled was relatively small. The Environment Agency augmented their routine water quality monitoring programme both by adding additional stations to improve the data coverage and by implementing a screening procedure for chemicals in the water. In addition, DEFRA funded the Plymouth Marine Laboratory to undertake a survey of the waters across Lyme Bay to assess the levels of hydrocarbon contamination in subsurface waters and the surface microlayer. CEFAS and the Marine and Fisheries Agency also instigated a programme of sampling commercial shellfish (crabs, scallops and mussels). Natural England organised necropsies of a proportion of the oiled seabirds and organised two benthic surveys looking at the effect on the benthos (including the pink sea fans). Apart from the birds that died there has been no measured long term effect on the marine environment. Full details can be found at:
www.mfa.gov.uk/environment/oil/mscnapoli.htm
On 1 February 2006, the MV Ece, laden with 10,000 tonnes of phosphoric acid, sank following a collision with another vessel approximately 30 miles northwest of Guernsey. Phosphoric acid (phosphate) is an essential nutrient for phytoplankton (microscopic marine algae on which the entire marine food chain relies). Release of “additional” phosphate into the sea may intensify blooms of toxic phytoplankton species and/or lead to oxygen loss from the seawater, both of which are lethal to marine organisms. As there was the possibility of a potential spill from the vessel, a research study was carried out to evaluate the “Ferrybox” as an appropriate monitoring system for the marine environment using the wreck of the MV Ece as a test case. One of the samples taken contained a concentration higher than background levels, demonstrating that this system of monitoring was capable of identifying phosphate leakage from the wreck. Full details of the report can be found at:
http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Document.aspx?Document:= ME3208_3714_FRP.pdf
On 3 September 2005, MV Anglian Sovereign (Coastguard ETV) hit rocks close to the entrance to Scalloway Harbour in Shetland. It had 84 tonnes of gas oil on board plus the usual hydraulic and lubricating oils. A good deal of oil was lost to the sea but much of the rest was recovered by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency response. Monitoring was undertaken for a number of months when it was found that farmed salmon and wild shellfish in the area was contaminated.
On 29 June 2003, the Jambo, carrying 3,300 tonnes of sphalerite ore ran aground on rocks off the Summer Isles North West of Ullapool. Sphalerite is mainly composed of zinc sulphide and contains traces of other metals such as lead, cadmium and arsenic. Monitoring included testing water, sediments and shellfish for zinc, toxicity testing and measuring the solubility of metallic elements in the sphalerite ore. It showed that measured levels of zinc in the water were mostly very low. Toxic impacts of zinc to water column animals are therefore considered very unlikely. Measured levels of zinc in sediments are very low except in the immediate vicinity of the wreck (-100 metres) so toxic and smothering impacts to benthic (seabed) animals are therefore expected to be similarly localised. There is no evidence to suggest that the discharged cargo from the Jambo has resulted in persistent elevated levels of zinc, cadmium or arsenic in scallop or crab tissues. It is concluded that eating shellfish from the area around the Jambo incident does not raise any food safety concerns for consumers. The final report of the Jambo Environment Group to the Secretary of State’s representative was published in July 2004 and can be obtained from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency at:
http://www.mcga.gov.uk/c4mca/environment_group_report-5.pdf
On 31 October 2000, the levoli Sun was abandoned and later sunk approximately 11 miles North West of Alderney. The vessel carried a mixed cargo of 4,000 tonnes styrene, 1,000 tonnes methyl ethyl ketone and 1,000 tonnes isopropyl alcohol. More than 1,000 tonnes styrene was lost to sea during the incident. Analysis of edible tissues from crabs recovered one week later from pots laid very close to the wreck prior to the incident demonstrated only low-level styrene contamination that posed no risk to humans. The remainder of the styrene and the ship’s main bunker fuel were recovered from the wreck on the seabed. Full details are provided in R.J. Law, C. Kelly, P. Matthiessen and J. Aldridge (2003) The loss of the chemical tanker levoli Sun in the English Channel, October 2000. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 46: 254-257.
In February 1996 the Sea Empress ran aground in the entrance to Milford Haven releasing more than 72,000 tonnes of oil. Monitoring of affected wildlife began almost immediately and was mostly completed by 19981. Some studies continued in subsequent years and a number of reports and scientific papers have been published in the 10 years following the spill. The long term effects of the spill were evaluated in a report published in 20062. In addition, a review of the ecological effects of the clean up following the spill was published in 20063. The studies found that almost all known impacts to marine wildlife and marine and coastal habitats from the Sea Empress oil spill had disappeared within five years.
On 5 January 1993, MV Braer, an oil tanker, ran aground at the southern tip of Shetland, releasing around 85,000 tonnes of oil. Monitoring began immediately and monitoring for some direct effects continued for around a year. Background monitoring that could be used to assess some effects started in the 1970s and have continued to the present. In general, very few effects other than immediate ones were found, probably due to light and easily dispersible nature of the oil spilled4,5. It took one species of seabird one to five years to recover to pre-spill levels6, and others may have taken longer.
1 SEEEC, 1998. The Environmental Impact of the Sea Empress Oil Spill. Final Report of the Sea Empress Environmental Evaluation Committee. London: The Stationery Office. ISBN: 0 11 702156 3.
http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/seeec/impact/seaemp.htm
2 Moore, J.J. 2006. State of the Marine Environment in South West Wales, 10 years after the Sea Empress Oil Spill. A report to the Countryside Council for Wales from Coastal Assessment, Liaison and Monitoring, Cosheston, Pembrokeshire. CCW Monitoring report No 21. 30pp.
3 Little, A.E., Moore, J.J. and Dyrynda P.E.J. 2006. Ecological Impacts of Shoreline Clean-up during the Sea Empress Oil Spill. A Report to the Countryside Council for Wales by Cordah Ltd. 131pp.
4 Ritchie, W. And O’Sullivan, M (eds.) 1994. The Environmental impact of the wreck of the Braer. Scottish Office, Edinburgh. 207pp.
5 Davies, J.M. and Topping, G. (eds) 1997. The impact of an oil spill in turbulent waters: the Braer. Scottish Office, Edinburgh.
6 Heubeck, M. 2000. Population trends of kittiwake Rissa tridactyla, black guillemot Cepphus grylle and common guillemot Uria aalge. Atlantic Seabirds 1: 43-47.
Waste Disposal: Newcastle upon Tyne
DEFRA Ministers have had no such discussions. The choice of waste management technology for Newcastle is a matter for the city council.
Transport
Air Passenger Duty
A sensitivity test for the proposed new Air Passenger Duty (APD) bands and rates was included in the Department for Transport's “UK Air Passenger Demand and C02 Forecasts” report, published in January 2009. The report is available at:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/aviation/atf/co2forecasts09/
Table 2.12 (page 48) reports the effect of this sensitivity test (rounded to the nearest five million passengers).
The breakdown of the change in 2030 demand from moving to the new APD bands and rates is shown in the following table.
New APD band Passengers (million) Band A -1.4 Band B 0.0 Band C 0.0 Band D 0.0 APD exempt -0.1 Total -1.5 Notes: Results are rounded to nearest 0.1 million passengers. Difference in total impact from that reported in “UK Air Passenger Demand and C02 Forecasts” January 2009, is due to differences in rounding.
As explained in “UK Air Passenger Demand and C02 Forecasts”, January 2009, paragraphs 2.28 to 2.29 (page 21), the Department's central demand forecasts assume that aviation will meet its climate change costs. It is assumed these will be met by APD, plus an additional cost equal to the difference between APD and aviation's climate change costs per passenger journey (if positive). This assumption reduces the impact of changes to APD on the demand forecasts.
No assessment of the impact of the proposed new APD bands and rates without this assumption is available.
Aviation
The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Bus Services
The Department for Transport (DfT) has recently commissioned a number of research projects on buses which are relevant to the supply and demand of local bus services.
A recently commissioned project on the determinants of bus patronage focuses on the importance of softer factors in influencing patronage growth and modal shift. We are expecting this work to be published by autumn 2009.
On concessionary travel, the Department has commissioned research which focuses on the impact of concessionary travel on demand for local bus services and costs, though the work will also cover general bus demand and bus costs. We are expecting this work to be published by the end of 2009.
On bus modelling, the Department has commissioned the development of a bus model which is able to forecast bus patronage changes and bus service levels for different types of interventions. A completed bus model is expected by autumn 2009.
It is intended that DfT's most recent regional and local research strategy is published this summer, which will provide details on local and regional transport research.
Demos
The Department for Transport has no contracts with Demos.
Departmental Carbon Emissions
The Department for Transport reports its carbon dioxide emissions from offices figures through the annual Sustainable Development in Government (SDiG) report. The figures for 2006-07 and 2007-08 are as follows:
Tonnes Total Per FTE1 2006-07 24,326 1.239 2007-08 26,098 1.395 1 FTE stands for ‘full time equivalent’ (member of staff).
Departmental Data Protection
The Department for Transport is comprised of the central Department, a Shared Service Centre and seven Executive agencies. The information available regarding identity cards or passes reported lost or stolen since July 2008 is as follows:
For the central Department the number of staff passes reported as replaced is 431. The records available do not distinguish between passes replaced due to loss or theft and those replaced for other reasons. Lost or stolen passes are estimated to account for approximately 45 per cent. of all replacement passes issued.
For the Department's Shared Service centre the number of staff passes reported as lost or stolen is five.
For the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency the number of staff passes reported as lost or stolen is 70.
For the Highways Agency the number of staff passes reported as lost or stolen is 35.
The Government Car and Despatch Agency have no record of passes reported as lost or stolen.
The Vehicle Certification Agency have reported three staff passes as lost.
The Vehicle Operator Services Agency (VOSA) reported seven warrant cards as lost or stolen. In addition it reported that two headquarters building passes were reported lost and two were replaced but the reason was not recorded. VOSA does not centrally record staff building passes reported lost or stolen as each building manager handles requests for replacements on an individual basis. The number for passes lost or stolen for the whole agency could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.
The Driving Standards Agency has had 13 permanent staff passes reported as lost or stolen. In the same period, two driving examiner warrant cards were reported as lost or stolen.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency do not centrally record the number of staff passes reported as lost or stolen as cases are dealt with individually and not recorded in an aggregated form. This information could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.
Departmental Energy
The Department for Transport gas and electricity consumption figures are as follows:
Area 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Electricity Central Department 8,073,203 9,189,266 8,039,848 7,522,567 Driving Standards Agency 3,397,953 3,967,843 4,337,092 3,555,589 Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency 14,698,167 14,106,404 15,658,681 16,460,063 Government Car and Despatch Agency — 757,036 831,151 821,805 Highways Agency 4,092,816 3,615,533 3,602,937 4,393,721 Maritime and Coastguard Agency 5,708,513 6,901,183 6,831,677 5,813,369 Vehicle Certification Agency 65,069 153,608 136,804 200,423 Vehicle and Operator Services Agency 7,194,512 6,640,513 6,914,649 6,992,162 Total 43,230,233 45,331,386 46,352,839 45,759,699 Gas Area 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Central Department 1,183,339 1,743,451 893,005 970,130 Driving Standards Agency 2,836,153 7,135,920 3,942,059 3,095,886 Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency 14,665,348 28,442,576 26,254,520 31,470,328 Government Car and Despatch Agency — 733,428 638,352 1,909,513 Highways Agency 2,418,204 2,170,079 1,769,332 2,049,947 Maritime and Coastguard Agency 3,283,979 4,308,427 3,508,140 2,796,924 Vehicle Certification Agency 119,626 130,536 109,035 90,245 Vehicle and Operator Services Agency 6,850,996 5,427,891 5,652,612 6,882,232 Total 31,357,645 50,092,308 42,767,055 49,265,205
There are no figures reported for the Government Car and Despatch Agency for 2004-05 as they did not become part of the Department for Transport until 2005-06.
The figures for 2008-09 are not yet available as they are currently being collated for the latest Sustainable Development in Government report.
It is not possible to provide spend data on energy efficiency measures undertaken by the Department for Transport as the majority of these works were part of larger building projects and were not costed separately. The following is a list of some of the energy efficiency measures that have been carried out at various sites across the Department for Transport estate:
Carbon Management Energy Efficiency Report;
Installation of Savawatt controllers;
Improved lighting control systems;
Installation of double glazing;
Reducing the operating temperatures of heating and cooling systems;
“Switch off” campaigns;
Installation of thermal blinds;
Smart metering and sub-metering programmes;
Upgrades to Building management Systems to reduce energy consumption;
Replacement of boilers with improved energy efficiency ratings;
Improvements to air handling units to improve efficiency;
Automatic PC shutdown at designated time.
The Department reports its energy figures annually as part of the Sustainable Development in Government report and monitors its sustainability data quarterly. As part of the Carbon Management Energy Efficiency report mentioned above the Department reports periodically to the Carbon Trust the savings, in terms of emissions and cost that have been achieved as a result of the measures implemented from the report.
Energy efficiency measures for the future include:
Benchmarking of some sites to determine where efficiencies are required and to allow assessment of the effectiveness of energy efficiency installations;
Further installation of Smart meters and sub-metering;
Installation of new more energy efficient lifts;
Implementation of a “thin client” IT solution;
Participation in the Carbon reduction Commitment;
Achievement of the Carbon Trust Standard;
Adoption of BREEAM Excellent or Very Good ratings for all new build and major refurbishments;
Working towards achievement of an accredited EMS in all departmental organisations;
Full utilisation of a second CHP plant at our Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency site at Morrison.
The Department for Transport has, in addition to the central Department, seven executive agencies that report performance under the Sustainable Operation on the Government Estate targets. Those agencies account for in excess of 85 per cent. of the entire departmental estate. The chief executive of each agency is therefore responsible for the energy efficiency of their estate, while Richard Hatfield, Director General of International Networks and Environment, is the Board level champion whose role includes the promotion of sustainability across the entire Department for Transport family.
The Department for Transport reports its energy consumption figures through the annual Sustainable Development in Government (SDiG) report. The figures for 2006-07 and 2007-08 are as follows:
kWh Total Per FTE1 2006-07 100,104,264 5,098 2007-08 99,082,036 5,297 1 FTE stands for ‘full time equivalent’ (member of staff).
Departmental Public Consultation
Details of the Department for Transport's consultations carried out since July 2007 have been placed in the Libraries of the House. Information about the cost of each consultation is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Waste
The Department for Transport reports its waste arisings figures through the annual Sustainable Development in Government (SDiG) report. The figures for 2006-07 and 2007-08 are as follows:
Tonnes Total Per FTE1 2006-07 3,878 0.197 2007-08 3,711 0.198 1 FTE stands for ‘full time equivalent’ (member of staff).
Departmental Water
The Department for Transport reports its water consumption figures through the annual Sustainable Development in Government (SDiG) report. The scope for water consumption changed from offices only in 2005-06 to the entire estate in 2006-07. As a result of this change in scope, the Department reset its baseline for water consumption. Therefore the water consumption figures for 2005-06 and 2006-07 are now as follows:
Total m3 m3 per FTE1 2005-06 174,921 10.1 2006-07 205,091 10.4 1 Full-time equivalent (member of staff).
The above figures represent the whole estate. To break these figures down to office and non-office data would incur disproportionate costs.
M25
The number of jobs which would be created for these two projects has not been assessed because the schemes have yet to be designed in enough detail to determine the resources required.
Motor Vehicles: Foreigners
[holding answer 19 June 2009]: The Department for Transport operates a strategy of education, warning and direct enforcement to help compliance with the requirement to re-register foreign vehicles after six months using UK roads. Education activities have involved presentations to community leaders, articles in the media, the issue of information leaflets and warning notices placed on vehicle windscreens. At the point a warning is delivered the vehicle details will be recorded. This allows the length of time a vehicle is likely to have been circulating in the UK to be calculated. If a foreign registered vehicle is believed to have been in the UK for more than six months, the police or local authorities with devolved authority or NSL Ltd. have the power to wheel clamp and impound unlicensed vehicles.
Motorways: Repairs and Maintenance
The cost of preparatory work for uncompleted conventional widening projects on (a) the M1 is £47 million (b) the M6 is £10 million, and (c) M62 is £1.6 million.
This includes consultant costs for preliminary design, traffic modelling, aerial surveys, hard shoulder surveys, environmental assessment, air quality measurements and production of model, public exhibitions and consultation with key stakeholders.
Information gathered from a number of these activities remains pertinent to the project irrespective of its mode of delivery and will be utilised wherever possible.
In relation to the M1 this covers three schemes of approximately 104 miles length in total, dating back to July 2003.
Parking: Disabled
[holding answer 19 June 2009]: The Department for Transport's "Inclusive Mobility" document provides guidance on established best practice on access for disabled people to the pedestrian and transport environment. Section 5 covers car parking and recommends the following spaces for disabled motorists:
(i)For car parks associated with existing employment premises: 2 per cent. of the total car park capacity, with a minimum of one space.
Spaces for disabled employees must be additional to those recommended above; reservations could be ensured, for example, by marking a space with a registration number.
(ii) For car parks associated with new employment premises: 5 per cent. of the total parking capacity should be designated (to include both employees and visitors).
(iii) For car parks associated with shopping areas, leisure or recreational facilities, and places open to the general public: A minimum of one space for each employee who is a disabled motorist, plus 6 per cent. of the total capacity for visiting disabled motorists.
The numbers of designated spaces may need to be greater at hotels and sports stadiums that specialize in accommodating groups of disabled people.
Railways
The Department for Transport does not set such targets, but it is Government policy to encourage the development of sustainable passenger and freight transport.
The Department is taking full account of the potential for freight modal shift from road to rail in its ongoing work to consider future investment and other priorities for key national network corridors. It is also an important consideration in the development of the Department's Carbon Reduction Strategy.
Railways: Electrification
Rail currently emits about 1.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide directly from diesel consumption and is indirectly responsible for about 1.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide produced by the electricity generating sector. Electrifying the rail network would remove carbon emissions associated with diesel consumption, but increase emissions from power stations. The net effect would be a reduction in rail related emissions of about 0.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Railways: Finance
Government spending on the railway for the year ending 31 March 2009 is currently being audited. Subsidy paid along with premiums received from Train Operating Companies for the year 2007-08 is published in National Rail Trends (NRT) which also sets out the amount of subsidy per passenger kilometre. The next National Rail Trends yearbook will be published by the Office of Rail Regulation later in the year and will include the data requested. Copies of the latest version are available in the Libraries of the House.
Railways: Franchises
All franchise agreements let from 2003 onwards have revenue support/revenue share clauses in Schedule 8 of the National Rail Franchise Terms. The Train Operating Companies with these provisions are:
Cross Country
East Midland Trains
First Capital Connect
First Great Western
London Midland
London Southeastern Railway
National Express East Anglia
National Express East Coast
Northern Rail
Virgin West Coast.
This list will include the new Southern Franchise when it begins on 20 September 2009.
Full details of revenue support/revenue share can be found on the Department for Transport's website's Public Register of Franchise Agreements:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/passenger/publicregister/
Reading Station: Repairs and Maintenance
[holding answer 8 June 2009]: The Reading scheme is a five-year project, with a total value of some £800 million, increasing capacity and improving performance at a key railway junction on the Great Western Main Line.
The whole project is still being finalised by Network Rail and the detailed specification is likely to be agreed with that company in the near future.
Network Rail is aware of the outputs required by Government, in terms of additional capacity and sustained performance, but importantly the need to deliver these within the financial resources determined by the Office of Rail Regulation. The Department for Transport is also working with the railway industry to minimise any adverse impact on the operational railway during the construction phases and the need to make compensation payments to operating companies.
Roads
The Department for Transport published forecasts of traffic and associated congestion, journey times and emissions for the English road network in December 2008. The report is available at:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/economics/ntm/roadtransport forcasts08/
and copies have been placed in the Libraries of the House.
Roads in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are a matter for the devolved Administrations.
Roads: Construction
The Highways Agency, an executive agency of the Department for Transport is currently carrying out research on the acoustic performance of quieter surfaces over time. A section of the trunk road network with whisper concrete is included as part of this research. The results of the research and the conclusions are expected to be finalised by early 2010. There is no plan at present for the reintroduction of whisper concrete on the trunk road network.
Shipping
(2) on how many occasions (a) court actions and (b) fines have resulted from incidents where (i) chemicals and (ii) radioactive material have been lost overboard in (A) UK waters and (B) elsewhere from UK-registered ships since 1985; and what (1) type of conviction and (2) level of fine there was in each case in respect of which legal proceedings have been completed.
Details of incidences of hazardous material (including chemicals) being released from ships in the UK pollution control zone are given in annual reports produced by the Advisory Committee on Protection of the Sea. Recent reports are available on the website of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
There have been no reported incidences of radioactive material being lost overboard since 1985.
Since 1989 the Department for Transport has sponsored reports on events involving the transport of radioactive material in the UK. These reports will include details of any known incidents where radioactive material was lost during transport by sea. Copies have been placed in the House Libraries and more recent ones are available via the DFT website at the following address:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/freiqht/dgt1/road/quidance/guidance/guidance7class/theradiologicalimpactofthetr1178
Southern: Railway Stations
Within the London area, the station deep clean specification was agreed by the Department for Transport and Transport for London before the franchise specification was published in November 2008. Bidders were obliged to meet these minimum standards as part of their bid which will be assessed via a Mystery Shopping Exercise to be conducted by Transport for London. The specification covers all areas of the station that are under the control of the train operator. This specification will be published alongside the other various franchise documents once commercial elements of the agreement have been discussed with the train operator.
Outside London, the bidder offered a station deep clean package, which was not a requirement of our specification. The exact specification of this programme will be agreed between the Department and GoVia, the winning bidder in the next few months.
Southern: Standards
The High Level Output Specification specifies increased levels of demand that must be accommodated on the network. In the case of South Central this relates to London Victoria and London Bridge. The South Central invitation to tender set out a minimum increase in vehicle arrivals at the London terminals (morning peak) and departures (evening peak) that make use of the lengthened platforms that Network Rail will provide.
Overall the invitation to tender required a 10 per cent. increase in morning peak capacity. The winning bidder exceeds this requirement, with a 14 per cent. increase in morning peak capacity by December 2013.
Transport
The Department for Transport (DfT) commissioned a long-term process and impact evaluation of the Local Transport Plan policy following its introduction in the 1998 Transport White Paper. The research project ran from December 2001 to April 2007—the final report is available at:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pqr/reqional/ltp/research/
The research identified that the Government's approach to local transport planning and delivery since the White Paper had been successful and represented value for money in terms of the investment made.
The Department commissions a wide range of other research to help improve transport services and infrastructure at a local and regional level. Examples include research recently commissioned on programme and risk management for local authorities; research on the importance of “soft factors” in delivering bus passenger growth and modal shift from cars, and a study on how local authorities access information on best practice. It is intended that DfT's most recent regional and local research strategy is published this summer, which will provide details on local and regional transport research.
Transport: Devon
The requested information is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Justice
Probation : Manpower
This will be undertaken using existing resources both within London probation and the London director of offender management's team.
Crimes of Violence: Reoffenders
Further to my answer of 11 June 2009, the Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2007, published on 30 October 2008 record that, for 2006-7, 74 offenders who were under the supervision of the Probation Service were convicted of murder, and for 2007-8, 47. These figures, together with those provided in my earlier answer, show that, at the time OMCS 2007 was published, murder convictions as a proportion of serious further offence notifications for murder were 57 per cent. for 2006-7 and 4 per cent. for 2007-8. However, at the time of publication, not all cases had gone to trial.
The Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2008, which are scheduled for publication on 31 July 2009, will contain serious further offence convictions and other outcomes for 2008-9 and updated figures for 2007-8.
Crimes of Violence: Sentencing
The data provided in the following table show the average custodial sentence length (ACSL) for offenders in the Essex police area force, for grievous bodily harm and violent disorder. Data are not available for Castle Point. The data are for the offences of grievous bodily harm or violent disorder where such an offence was the principal offence for which the offender was sentenced. Where an offender has been sentenced for more than one offence the principal offence is the one for which the heaviest sentence was imposed, where the same sentence has been imposed for two or more offences the principal offence is the one for which the statutory maximum is most severe.
Number/months Number of immediate custodial sentences—grievous bodily harm2 73 Average custodial sentence length 27.0 Number of immediate custodial sentences—violent disorder3 0 Average custodial sentence length 4— 1 Excludes indeterminate and life sentences. 2 Offences of: wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm; causing explosion or casting corrosive fluids with intent to do grievous bodily harm; malicious wounding; racially aggravated malicious wounding or GBH; religiously aggravated wounding or GBH, racially or religiously aggravated wounding or GBH. 3 Public Order Act 1986. 4 Not applicable. Note: These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Source: OMS Analytical Services, Ministry of Justice.
Debt Collection: Fees and Charges
The current fee system for enforcement agents is complex, each enforcement power bringing with it a different fee structure. The Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act (the Act) 2007 will introduce a unified fee regime, which will ensure that bailiffs are adequately and fairly remunerated for the work they actually do. We are assessing the current level of costs for all the different debt types to inform the new fee structure which includes the courts and local authorities.
Departmental Buildings
The amount spent by the Ministry of Justice in the last 12 months on works and refurbishment to offices allocated to Ministers is £279,235.00.
Of this amount £104,656.00 related to interior works (including partition work, ceilings, doors, ironmongery, redecorations, floor finishes and mechanical); £128,868.00 related to associated electrical work; £1,445.00 for other minor adjustments and £44,266.00 related to fees.
The incremental costs include works directly attributable to the formation of the Ministry of Justice. Specifically, the appointment of a fifth junior Minister and the creation of an appropriate secure environment for the Secretary of State and his security advisers.
The timing of these decisions required the works to be undertaken subsequent to the initial planned building refurbishment.
Departmental Electricity
The Ministry of Justice was created in May 2007, this answer gives the figure for 2007-08. The Ministry of Justice is unable to provide the percentage of electricity derived from renewable sources for 2006-07 without incurring disproportionate costs.
The estimate made of the percentage of electricity derived from renewable sources used by the Ministry of Justice in 2007-08 was 8 per cent.
Departmental Energy
The Ministry of Justice was created in May 2007, this answer gives the figure for 2007-08. The Ministry of Justice is unable to provide the energy consumed for 2006-07 without incurring disproportionate costs.
The energy consumed per full-time equivalent member of staff in 2007-08 was 17,996 kWh based upon total energy consumption of 1,680,602,541 kWh and 93,385 FTEs (includes MoJ core estate plus executive agencies). Please note that the total energy consumption figure includes energy consumed by prisoners within HM Prison Service and visitors within HM Courts Service.
Departmental ICT
Details of significant expenditure incurred on upgrading IT in the 2008-09 financial year are as follows:
The Criminal Justice System Exchange infrastructure—expenditure for 2008-09 was £6.7 million.
The NOMIS Programme to upgrade IT across the National Offender Management Service is providing Her Majesty's Prison Service and national probation service staff with improved access to information to support end-to-end offender management processes. Expenditure for 2008-09 was £91 million, which included the main costs of developing and implementing new applications, infrastructure costs and supporting the live services.
In addition, the Ministry of Justice's other main IT services are provided through contracts with external suppliers. These contracts include provision for regular maintenance and upgrade of the infrastructures and applications to keep systems up to date and to improve business efficiency. The costs of upgrades are included in the overall contract expenditure and could not be identified separately without incurring disproportionate cost.
Departmental Pay
The information requested is as follows.
Staff on core Ministry of Justice terms and conditions (including HMCS, Tribunals Service and MoJ HQ)
Payments of non-consolidated performance pay are paid to high performing staff to reflect their individual contribution during the previous performance year. In the Ministry of Justice, the performance year runs from 1 April to 31 March. Therefore, 2007-08 was the relevant performance year for the payments made during the financial year 2008-09
For grades below the SCS, non-consolidated performance pay is paid to those staff who have been judged to have consistently exceeded their objectives throughout the performance year under the Ministry's performance management system.
During 2008-09 1,676 staff were paid £2,011,200 in non-consolidated performance pay.
Staff employed in the NOMS Agency (including Public Sector Prisons)
In the HMPS, the performance year runs from 1 April to 31 March. Therefore, 2007-08 was the relevant performance year for the payments made during the financial year 2008-09
For grades below the SCS end of year end performance bonuses are paid to staff who have consistently exceeded their objectives throughout the performance year.
During 2008-09 5,332 staff were paid £1,325,952 in non-consolidated performance pay.
We are unable to ascertain performance payments made for Probation HQ staff who now fall within NOMS (but were within the Home Office during the reporting period) as figures for this group were not separated from the Home Office total.
Senior Civil Service
For Senior Civil Servants in the Ministry of Justice and agencies (whose pay terms are set by the Ministry of Justice) end of year payments of non consolidated performance pay are allocated by the Departmental Pay Committee in accordance with guidelines issued by Cabinet Office each year following the Senior Salaries Review Body recommendations.
During 2008-09, 159 members of the Senior Civil Service were awarded end of year performance pay. The amount paid was £1,648,000.
(2) how many non-pensionable bonuses were awarded to members of staff in his Department in 2008-09; and what the cost was of such bonuses.
In year payments of non-consolidated performance pay may be made to recognise one off contributions made by individuals or teams. Information regarding the number and cost of bonus payments is set out as follows.
Staff on core Ministry of Justice terms and conditions (Including HMCS, Tribunals Service, and MoJ HQ)
Payment of non-consolidated performance pay to staff below the SCS may be either ‘end of year’ payments or ‘in year’.
‘End of year’ payments of non-consolidated performance pay are made as part of the annual pay award to staff to staff who have performed at a level beyond that which would normally be expected throughout the performance year.
1,676 staff received non-consolidated performance pay during 2008-09 and the amount paid was £2,011,200 (excluding employer’s national insurance contributions). This represented approximately 0.4 per cent. of the overall paybill.
‘In year’ payments of non-consolidated performance pay are ‘one off’ payments made to recognise outstanding individual performance on specific occasions during the year.
4,094 staff were awarded ‘in year’ non-consolidated performance pay for the 2008-09 financial year and the amount paid was £2,105,719 representing 0.4 per cent. of the paybill.
The NOMS Agency
Payment of non-consolidated performance pay to staff below the SCS may be either ‘end of year’ payments or ‘in year’. End of year performance pay is paid to staff who have consistently exceeded their objectives throughout the performance year.
In HMPS, the performance year runs from 1 April to 31 March. Therefore, 2007-08 was the relevant performance year for end of year payments made during the financial year 2008-09.
During 2008-09, 5,332 HMPS staff below SCS were paid £1,325,952 in ‘end of year’ non-consolidated performance pay (excluding employer’s national insurance contributions). This represented 0.3 per cent. of the relevant paybill.
We are unable to ascertain performance payments made for Probation HQ staff who now fall within NOMS (but were within the Home Office during the reporting period).
6,198 HMPS staff received ‘in-year’ non-consolidated performance pay, amounting to £2,855,812. (Excluding employer’s national insurance contributions). This represented approximately 0.22 per cent. of the paybill.
Six payments of ‘in-year’ non-consolidated performance pay were made to chief executives of the Probation Trusts. The amount paid was £26,477. (excluding employer’s national insurance contributions).
The Senior Civil Service
For senior civil servants in the Ministry of Justice and agencies including the NOMS Agency whose pay terms are set by the Ministry of Justice end of year payments of non-consolidated performance pay are allocated by the Departmental Pay Committee in accordance with guidelines issued by Cabinet Office each year following the Senior Salaries Review Body recommendations.
During 2008-09, 159 members of the senior civil service were awarded ‘end of year’ performance pay. The amount paid was £1,648,000. (excluding employer’s national insurance contributions). This represents 8.4 per cent. of the overall paybill for these staff.
As described above, we will have comprehensive details of ‘in year’ payments of non-consolidated performance pay for the 2008-09 financial year in early June and will write to you with these details.
Departmental Recycling
The Ministry of Justice was created in May 2007, this answer gives the amount of waste recycled for the year 2007-08. The Ministry of Justice is unable to provide the volume and percentage of waste recycled for 2006-07 without incurring disproportionate costs.
The volume of waste the Ministry of Justice recycled in 2007-08 was 15,635.6 tonnes and the percentage recycled was 22 per cent. This information was published in the seventh annual “Sustainable Development in Government Report (SDiG)”:
http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/sdig2008/
Departmental Training
The expenditure on Health and Safety Training by the Ministry is stated as follows:
£ 2008-09 Ministry of Justice HQ 47,366 HM Courts Service 286,805 Tribunals Service 21,523 Office of the Public Guardian 500 Total 356,194 2007-08 Ministry of Justice HQ 60,441 HM Courts Service 293,552 Tribunals Service 19,810 Office of the Public Guardian 500 Total 374,303
The expenditure incurred is for external training courses, conducted by approved Health and Safety training consultants.
To supplement these external courses, internal Health and Safety training is provided across the Ministry by in-house staff. To obtain an accurate figure for this would incur disproportionate cost.
The National Offender Management Service employs over 50,000 staff in more than 140 locations. At present, there is no single central point for management information relating to health and safety training for staff. To obtain the information requested would involve identifying and contacting sources of information in many different locations and would thus incur disproportionate costs.
Departmental Waste
The Ministry of Justice was created in May 2007, this answer gives the figure for 2007-08. The Ministry of Justice is unable to provide the estimate of waste arising in 2006-07 without incurring disproportionate costs.
The estimate made of total waste arising from the Ministry of Justice in 2007-08 was 71,060 tonnes. The amount per full-time equivalent member of staff in 2007-08 was 0.76 tonnes based upon 93,385 full-time equivalent members of staff (Ministry of Justice core estate plus executive agencies). This includes waste generated by prisoners within HM Prison Service and visitors within HM Courts Service.
Departmental Water
The Ministry of Justice was created in May 2007. The Ministry of Justice is unable to provide the information on water consumption for 2005-06 and 2006-07 without incurring disproportionate costs.
Drugs: Misuse
Of 157 staff currently in post in the National Offender Management Service's Interventions and Substance Misuse Group 10 are probation staff.
Prior to the NOMS Agency being formed in 2008, the Prison Service tended to manage interventions centrally whereas the probation service managed interventions regionally. Hence ISMG, being a central headquarters function, has largely been formed from existing groups that were previously part of HM Prison Service.
Homicide: Sentencing
The requested information is shown in the following table. The data show the number of persons sentenced in the last five years, for attempted murder or soliciting or conspiracy to murder and the average custodial sentence length (ACSL). ACSL excludes the growing number of indeterminate sentences.
These are given to the most serious offenders and may cause ACSL to appear lower in recent years.
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Attempted murder Total number sentenced 94 96 66 79 87 Total indeterminate sentences 14 14 9 37 44 ACSL (years) 11.3 11.3 11.8 11.8 13.4 Soliciting or conspiracy to murder Total number sentenced 29 10 13 13 21 Total indeterminate sentences 9 0 0 5 10 ACSL (years) 10.4 10.8 8.6 12.0 6.6 1 Excludes life/indeterminate sentences 2 Common law 3 Offences Against the Person Act 1861 S.4 Note: These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system Source: OMS Analytical Services, Ministry of Justice
These data are based on the principal offence. Where an offender has been sentenced for more than one offence, the principal offence is the one for which the heaviest sentence was imposed. Where the same sentence has been imposed for two or more offences, the principal offence is the one for which the statutory maximum is most severe.
Information showing the number of persons cautioned, proceeded against, found guilty, and sentenced (broken down by outcome) for attempted murder and conspiracy to murder for 2007 (latest available) is shown in the table. 2008 data will be available in the autumn of 2009.
Outcome of sentence Offence Cautioned Proceeded against Found guilty Sentenced Fine Community sentence Suspended sentence Immediate custody Other disposals Attempted murder — 333 87 87 — 1 2 74 10 Conspiracy to commit murder 3 33 21 21 — — — 21 — 1 From 1 June 2000 the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 came into force nationally and removed the use of cautions for persons under 18 and replaced them with reprimands and warnings. These figures have been included in the totals. 2 Includes Attempted Murder, under Common Law. 3 Includes Conspiracy or soliciting etc; to commit murder under Common Law. 4 The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 5 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 those data are used. Source: Evidence and Analysis Unit - Office for Criminal Justice Reform.
Legal Aid
The Legal Services Commission is unable to identify the amount of legal aid granted solely to parents for contact applications from its case management system, as these applications can also be made by wider family members, such as grandparents or older siblings. These proceedings can also include other issues as well as contact, such as residence, parental responsibility and specific issue orders, and these costs will be included in the certificate costs.
In the past five financial years the following amounts have been paid in closed certificates that involve contact issues.
Financial year £ million 2004-05 78 2005-06 86 2006-07 92 2007-08 103 2008-09 124
A small proportion of the increase in 2008-09 is due to the Legal Services Commission undertaking an exercise to close dormant certificates.
The figures do not include the costs of initial legal advice on contact provided under the controlled Family Help Scheme, as this information is not recorded.
The question cannot be answered in the format requested since amounts spent on actual attendance cannot be separately identified. Information is available for 2004-05 to 2007-08 only.
The following table gives the proportions of total legal aid expenditure for police stations, magistrates courts and the Crown court for attendance related work and includes work done in preparation for attendance. Work which is clearly not related to attendance such as police station telephone advice has been excluded. Expenditure not related to police stations, magistrates courts and the Crown court, such as representation for prisoners at prison disciplinary hearings has also been excluded.
Overall legal aid expenditure is made up of criminal and civil legal aid. The Legal Services Commission's annual reports show the spend each year between the two schemes.
Percentage 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Police stations 8.1 8.7 9.7 8.2 Magistrates courts 14.4 14.7 15.4 12.1 Crown court 33.5 34.2 32.5 34.2
Prisons: Mental Health Services
The Ministry of Justice and Department of Health have worked together to establish a range of pilot services for dangerous offenders with severe personality disorder in prisons, high and medium secure national health service (NHS) facilities and the community. The programme was announced in 2001 as a commitment to provide at least an extra 300 places for offenders who fell into the dangerous and severe personality disorder category.
The total capital investment for the programme has been £128 million. This expenditure resulted in three high secure units (two in hospitals and one in a prison), three medium secure units and two NHS hostels. It is estimated that across the NHS and the National Offender Management Service in each year between 2003-04 and 2005-06 the revenue expenditure incurred was £40 million and since 2006-07, £60 million, reflecting the increase in the available places over that period. The costs include the provision of assessment and treatment, a research and evaluation programme, and for the central team responsible for the development and management of the programme.
Probation: Finance
London Probation is already required to complete and submit recall breach reports within the national target of 24 hours. The intention is that existing processes will be improved to ensure compliance with the target and that this work will be undertaken within existing resources. London Probation is committed to working closely with its partner agencies, the Metropolitan police and the National Offender Management Service Public Protection Casework Section, to improve the efficiency of the recall process from the initiating of recall by London Probation through to the arrest by the police. This work is being monitored by the London Criminal Justice Board and the London Director of Offender Management.
The resource budget allocations to individual probation areas from 2001-02 are given in the table. Prior to 2001-02 probation services were delivered through local probation committees which were partly funded by local authorities and were organised on a slightly different basis.
The budget figures shown for 2009-10 may be subject to further change.
Since 2001-02 there have been changes to the budget allocation methodology, plus machinery of government changes and accounting methodology changes that make it difficult to compare figures over a long period.
£000 Revenue Areas 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07 2005-06 2004-05 2003-04 2002-03 2001-02 Avon and Somerset 20,300 20,727 20,661 19,771 18,273 16,851 15,612 14,891 15,856 Bedfordshire 9,556 9,571 8,863 8,499 8,180 7,182 6,517 6,196 5,526 Cambridgeshire 10,092 10,341 9,727 9,273 8,895 7,375 6,835 6,168 6,365 Cheshire 15,133 15,571 14,715 15,688 15,393 13,427 11,692 10,012 8,984 Cumbria 8,626 8,376 8,217 7,897 7,466 6,241 6,279 5,710 5,288 Derbyshire 14,042 15,168 13,490 12,891 12,166 11,088 10,335 9,516 8,534 Devon and Cornwall 20,306 21,037 20,225 19,638 18,184 15,646 15,667 13,967 12,740 Dorset 9,067 9,408 8,522 8,277 7,989 7,338 7,307 6,876 5,761 Durham 10,615 11,148 10,720 10,245 9,513 8,697 7,820 7,431 5,975 Essex 19,325 20,319 19,977 18,922 17,839 16,220 14,849 14,502 13,700 Gloucestershire 7,677 7,858 7,379 6,959 6,524 5,975 5,874 5,102 4,943 Hampshire 24,868 25,614 24,338 23,057 21,872 20,026 18,427 18,079 13,841 Hertfordshire 11,468 11,750 11,265 10,569 9,618 8,691 8,409 8,654 7,034 Humberside 17,377 18,380 17,187 16,130 14,964 13,010 12,422 11,090 9,414 Kent 21,449 21,798 20,993 20,340 19,052 16,760 16,322 15,116 13,673 Lancashire 24,516 24,406 22,979 21,394 20,251 18,837 18,600 16,859 14,307 Leicestershire 15,237 15,668 14,402 13,805 13,071 11,778 11,086 9,911 8,774 Lincolnshire 9,436 9,794 9,292 9,038 8,446 7,469 7,134 6,127 5,606 Norfolk 11,582 11,980 11,168 10,608 10,205 8,477 7,927 7,171 6,543 Northamptonshire 9,389 9,673 9,116 8,816 8,149 7,158 6,920 6,018 5,131 North Yorkshire 9,827 10,350 10,236 9,478 8,998 7,937 7,486 6,877 5,701 Nottinghamshire 19,303 19,686 19,057 18,117 17,190 14,861 14,232 13,220 11,658 Staffordshire 16,885 17,260 16,393 15,913 14,361 12,319 11,769 10,930 9,586 Suffolk 10,018 10,243 9,643 9,445 8,771 7,583 7,361 6,889 6,268 Surrey 10,249 10,953 10,396 10,081 9,421 7,779 7,784 7,523 6,881 Sussex 18,074 18,388 17,373 16,991 15,677 14,033 12,789 11,367 10,396 Teesside 13,408 13,715 13,606 13,052 12,178 10,954 10,613 9,523 9,805 Thames Valley 25,776 26,614 25,405 24,373 23,421 20,795 19,787 18,463 20,831 Warwickshire 7,177 7,538 6,937 6,743 6,492 5,698 5,452 4,749 4,368 West Mercia 15,217 15,692 15,445 13,642 13,197 11,774 11,188 10,057 9,251 Wiltshire 8,064 8,214 7,874 7,720 7,224 5,964 5,510 4,874 4,606 Greater Manchester 51,577 52,798 48,309 47,532 45,645 40,985 38,521 34,479 31,731 Merseyside 31,729 32,756 29,263 28,820 28,643 25,798 24,621 22,410 23,062 Northumbria 29,109 29,801 27,646 26,964 26,005 22,999 22,113 18,459 16,641 South Yorkshire 24,977 25,511 24,282 24,058 23,041 20,858 20,381 18,191 16,153 West Midlands 56,913 59,331 55,055 53,377 50,140 44,076 41,932 38,581 37,865 West Yorkshire 41,080 42,982 40,036 38,193 36,226 33,366 30,986 28,062 26,931 London 150,384 153,617 143,404 137,416 132,637 107,888 110,390 106,612 94,328 Dyfed Powys 8,417 8,960 8,295 8,058 7,541 6,478 5,784 5,162 4,579 Gwent 11,172 11,404 11,252 10,930 10,018 8,938 8,029 7,197 5,215 North Wales 12,244 12,530 11,786 11,696 11,027 10,067 9,044 8,223 6,774 South Wales 24,624 25,566 25,226 24,402 23,098 20,917 19,328 18,104 17,062 Total 886,285 912,496 860,172 828,817 786,995 690,312 661,130 609,348 557,686
Probation: Sick Leave
London Probation has put in place a number of measures to tackle the levels of sickness in the whole area as well as in Lewisham and Greenwich. These include pro-active measures such as close monitoring by managers and return to work interviews, as well as a range of preventative measures such as health screens and stress management.
Probation: Training
There will be no additional funding provided for London Probation by National Offender Management Service. London Probation will fund this work from within their existing budget.
Rape: Convictions
The number of defendants found guilty for rape (of a female and male) at all courts, by age group, England and Wales 2006 to 2007 can be viewed in the table.
The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offence for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences, the offence selected is the one for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
Data for 2008 will be available in the autumn of 2009.
2006 2007 Age group Found guilty Percentage of total convictions Found guilty Percentage of total convictions 10 to 15 years 31 4 34 4 16 to 18 years 63 8 57 7 19 to 25 years 142 19 148 19 26 to 30 years 72 10 82 11 Over 30 years 446 59 456 59 Total 754 100 777 100 1 Includes rape of a female and rape of a male offences, but not attempted rape of a male or female. 2 The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 3 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 those data are used. Source: OCJR - Evidence and Analysis Unit
Sentencing
Sentencing guidelines are issued to the courts by the independent Sentencing Guidelines Council, not by the Government. In April 2007, the Sentencing Guidelines Council published a definitive guideline on the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and in February 2008, they published a definitive guideline on the Overarching Principles: Assaults on Children and Cruelty to a Child.
These and all other published guidelines can be viewed at:
www.sentencing-guidelines.gov.uk
Sexual Offences: Reoffenders
(2) what the re-offending rate was for offenders convicted of violent crimes who received (a) a community sentence, (b) a prison sentence of less than 12 months, (c) a prison sentence of between 12 months and two years, (d) a prison sentence of between two and four years and (e) a prison sentence of over four years in the latest period for which figures are available;
(3) what the re-offending rate was for offenders convicted of burglary who received (a) a community sentence, (b) a prison sentence of less than 12 months, (c) a prison sentence of between 12 months and two years, (d) a prison sentence of between two and four years and (e) a prison sentence of over four years in the latest period for which figures are available;
(4) what the re-offending rate was for offenders convicted of robbery who received (a) a community sentence, (b) a prison sentence of less than 12 months, (c) a prison sentence of between 12 months and two years, (d) a prison sentence of between two and four years and (e) a prison sentence of over four years in the latest period for which figures are available;
(5) what the re-offending rate was for offenders convicted of theft who received (a) a community sentence, (b) a prison sentence of less than 12 months, (c) a prison sentence of between 12 months and two years, (d) a prison sentence of between two and four years and (e) a prison sentence of over four years in the latest period for which figures are available.
Tables 1 and 2 show the one-year adult reoffending rates for offenders in England and Wales released from custody or commencing a court order in the first quarter (1 January to 31 March) of 2007, for offenders convicted of sex offences (with sexual offences against children as a separate group), violent crimes, burglary (with domestic and non-domestic as separate groups), robbery and theft. The tables also show the proportion of offenders who committed at least one further offence and the frequency of offences per 100 offenders. It is important to note that a reoffence does not mean the offence is in the same category as the index offence. So an offender whose index offence was sexual who committed a number of reoffences, may have committed no more sexual offences.
Offence group/disposal Number of offenders Actual reoffending rate Number of offences per 100 offenders Court orders1 Violence 10,301 28.8 75.4 Sexual 294 22.1 51.7 Sexual (child) 209 12.0 32.1 Domestic burglary 842 50.8 162.2 Other burglary 1,082 57.6 207.1 Robbery 144 36.1 94.4 Theft 5,627 59.1 251.6 Custody Violence 2,922 40.8 155.4 Sexual 213 28.2 128.6 Sexual (child) 377 6.9 16.2 Domestic burglary 778 49.6 198.5 Other burglary 504 67.9 318.7 Robbery 672 35.6 123.7 Theft 2,001 75.6 468.2 1 Court orders include pre-CJA 2003 community sentences, new community orders and suspended sentence orders.
Offence group/disposal Number of offenders Actual reoffending rate Number of offences per 100 offenders Less than 12months Violence 1,772 52.8 212.0 Sexual 90 45.6 225.6 Sexual (child) 53 3.8 1— Domestic burglary 180 62.2 300.6 Other burglary 367 75.7 372.2 Robbery 236 266.7 2236.1 Theft 1,868 79.5 495.2 12 months to less than 2 years Violence 482 25.3 76.1 Sexual 237 232.4 2151.4 Sexual (child) 78 11.5 235.9 Domestic burglary 227 50.2 181.1 Other burglary 89 56.2 188.8 Robbery 120 45.0 164.2 Theft 86 26.7 112.8 2 years to less than 4 years Violence 383 23.5 62.9 Sexual 241 27.3 1— Sexual (child) 113 5.3 29.7 Domestic burglary 301 44.5 165.8 Other burglary 243 230.2 2155.8 Robbery 299 32.8 112.7 Theft 238 210.5 234.2 4 years and over Violence 285 16.1 61.8 Sexual 245 28.9 226.7 Sexual (child) 133 6.8 214.3 Domestic burglary 70 37.1 132.9 Other burglary 1— 1— 1— Robbery 217 29.0 97.7 Theft 1— 1— 1— 1 Data removed as extremely low numbers (less than or equal to 10 offenders or 10 offences) make the data unreliable for interpretation. 2 Greater than 10 and less than 50 offenders or offences—treat the data with caution.
Further information on the one-year rates of reoffending can be found at:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/reoffendingofadults.htm
Young Offenders: Education
Funding was not allocated in 1999-2000, as 2000-01 was the first year in which the Government provided funding to the Youth Justice Board for expenditure on education.
The following table therefore shows for each year from 2000-01 to 2008-09, (A) the total funding which the YJB has allocated for expenditure on education from its Ministry of Justice (and previously Home Office) grant; and, (B) the amount of DCSF (previously DFES and DFEE) funding allocated to the YJB for education expenditure.
Financial year MoJ/HO funding allocated for expenditure on education by the YJB DCSF/DFES/DFEE funding allocated to the YJB for expenditure on education 2000-01 12 5 2001-02 14 10 2002-03 16 10 2003-04 18 12 2004-05 18 15 2005-06 21 19 2006-07 22 22 2007-08 24 22 2008-09 26 23
Home Department
Antisocial Behaviour Orders
The publication date for the antisocial behaviour order (ASBO) 2007 data has yet to be confirmed.
Bail
The information requested is not held centrally.
Departmental Contracts
The tables, based on centrally held management information, provide the (a) purpose and (b) cost of research contracts let by the Research, Development and Statistics group within the Home Office, awarded to organisations and bodies not funded by the higher education funding councils in 2007-08 and 2008-09. This includes contracts awarded to individuals who, whilst employed by an institute supported by the higher education funding councils, undertake work in a private capacity. The purpose is taken from the project title held centrally. The values of contracts are classified in the year the contracts were let; some of the costs for the contract would be for future years, as in the case of the largest contract listed—the £15 million for the British Crime Survey of which the majority of costs will be spread over three years. The costs of each contract represent the estimated cost at the time the contract was let and not on the actual costs incurred.
Organisation Title of project Cost (£) Analytica Analysis of IPCC and Biometrics Registration Code of Practice Consultations 59,000 BMRB British Crime Survey 15 million Dr. F. MacDonald Fish Welfare (Animal Procedures Committee) <10,000 Dr. Ronald Clarke I-phones—research on he impact that the launch of the i-phone on crime levels and patterns in the USA <10,000 Eurasylum The use and effectiveness of automated passenger border entry and exit systems: learning from experiences in other countries to inform BIA’s automated clearance strategy 90,000 Evidence Led Solutions Neighbourhood Policing—BCU Process Evaluation; and, A worked anonymised example of a strategic assessment <10,000 Garry Robbins Quality Assurance of the Missing Data <10,000 Geoff Berry Associates Neighbourhood Policing—BCU Process Evaluation <10,000 HVR Consulting Quality Assure the Crime Reduction Modelling Methodology 15,000 ICPR, Kings College Evaluation of the Licensing Act 2003 <10,000 Independent Social Research Evaluation of neighbourhood policing: the experience of black and minority ethnic residents in the first year of implementation 11,000 Institute for Employment Studies Understanding the perspective of potential sponsors on Points Based System (PBS) sponsorship arrangement 21,000 Ipsos MORI Exploration of Regional Variation in Uptake of Powers used to Tackle Anti-Social Behaviour 40,000 Mark Underhill Consultancy Services to Home Office Forensic Science Regulation Unit 80,000 Matrix Protective Service Evaluation (2 projects); and, Routes of Trafficking 489,000 Morgan Harris Burrows Neighbourhood Policing—BCU Process Evaluation <10,000 MVA Consultancy Analysis of IPCC and Biometrics Registration Code of Practice Consultations 90,000 NatCen Extension of Use of FIP System; and, Evaluation of Intensive Family Intervention Projects 47,000 ORC International Home Office Staff Survey 67,000 Perpetuity Research and Consultancy TGAP—research on a variety of projects and interventions to tackle gangs and gang related crime. 50,000 Professor Anthony Culyer Economic Strategy Panel <10,000 Professor C. Dustmann Economic Strategy Panel <10,000 Professor C. Godfrey Economic Strategy Panel <10,000 Professor C. Hale Economic Strategy Panel <10,000 Professor Clive Smee Economic Strategy Panel <10,000 Professor M. Waterson Economic Strategy Panel <10,000 Professor R. Vickerman Economic Strategy Panel <10,000 Professor S. Machin Economic Strategy Panel <10,000 Professor S. Pudney Economic Strategy Panel <10,000 RED Scientific Big Picture Plant—Whole System Modelling 20,000 Risk Solutions An Evaluation of Alcohol Arrest Referral Schemes 150,000 Robert Bramley Expert advisor to the Forensic Science Regulator Unit 13,000 Transparency Research Ltd. Voluntary Assisted Return and Reintegration Programme (VARRP): a process and impact assessment 70,000 York Consulting A review of theoretical and practical issues in the conceptualisation and measurement of labour shortages, skill shortages and skills gaps 15,000
Organisation Purpose (title of project) Cost (£) Alex Hirschfield Regional Team Advisors to the Regional Research and Analysis Team <10,000 Evidence Led Solutions Regional Team Advisors to the Regional Research and Analysis Team (RRAP) and Senior Advisor Extension <10,000 Geoff Berry Regional Team Advisors to the Regional Research and Analysis Team <10,000 Ipsos MORI Neighbourhood Policing—Phase 2 (2 projects); The migrant survey: a feasibility study; and, Business Crime Survey scoping exercise: Methodological work to consider the scope and feasibility of developing a new survey to measure commercial victimisation. 229,000 Julia Wickson Regional Team Advisors to the Regional Research and Analysis Team <10,000 Mike Maguire Regional Team Advisors to the Regional Research and Analysis Team <10,000 Morgan Harris Burrows Regional Team Advisors to the Regional Research and Analysis Team <10,000 ORC International 2007 Staff Survey (Amendment 2) 64,000 UCL Consultants Senior Advisor Extension <10,000
Energy Supply: Security
The Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) is the Government authority that provides protective security advice to owners and operators across the national infrastructure.
CPNI works closely with the national infrastructure organisations within the energy sector, in conjunction with the sector sponsor department, in order to identify vulnerabilities and help improve protection against national security threats. This includes delivery of an extensive programme of security enhancements at critical energy sites working with operators such as National Grid.
For reasons of national security it would not be appropriate to disclose details of work carried out on such programmes.
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
We are aware that allegations have been made against a British resident of involvement with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The investigation and prosecution of such allegations are operational matters for, respectively, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service.
Offenders: Deportation
We are targeting the most harmful first. We have met the Prime Minister’s commitment to remove those that come to the UK and use guns or sell drugs. All Foreign Nationals who are sentenced to 12 months or more for offences relating to violence, sex or drugs are considered for deportation by UKBA. Foreign criminals from outside the EEA found guilty of serious drug and gun offences who receive a custodial sentence will also now be considered for deportation, regardless of length of sentence. Non-EEA nationals sentenced to 12 months or more will now be automatically considered for deportation.
Police: Greater Manchester
It is for individual police forces and authorities to drive implementation of the Policing Pledge and assess its benefits for the public in their area. The Government will hold forces to account for progress through the single top-down targets we have set them to improve public confidence that crime and antisocial behaviour issues are being tackled locally, and in the light of inspection work by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC).
HMIC are currently assessing the progress that each police force in England and Wales is making on delivering the Policing Pledge. They published a report on their early findings from an initial scoping of seven forces on 9 June. The more detailed inspections of the Pledge commenced on 14 April and will conclude by 31 October 2009.
Terrorism
The police National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) advise that over 900 Project Argus events have been held since January 2007 with attendance at each event falling in the range 20 to 120. NaCTSO estimate that the cost of developing the various versions of Project Argus to date is about £380,000. Project Argus events are generally hosted by the business which requested it, and are delivered by police Counter Terrorism Security Advisers (CTSAs) who also perform other protective security functions.
United Kingdom Human Trafficking Centre
As at the end of April there have been a total of 35 referrals to the competent authorities based in UKHTC and UKBA. Of these 27 were female with nine referrals being of people under the age of 18.
Vetting
(2) what criteria are used by police forces in deciding whether to (a) include and (b) exclude information in relation to a Criminal Records Bureau disclosure.
Section 114 B (4) of Part V of the Police Act 1997 requires that in addition to criminal record information from the Police National Computer (PNC), Enhanced Disclosures should include any other information which a chief police officer considers might be relevant to the job application in question.
This is usually non-conviction information deriving from local force records and is referred to as ‘approved information'; chief officers are obliged to provide such information for Enhanced Disclosures under the Act. Where disclosed, information of this nature is considered by the police to represent a factual record of previous events that an employer in the most sensitive type of occupation should be aware of in making an employment decision affecting the most vulnerable groups of people.
Factors that would be taken into consideration when making decisions to disclose would include, but not be restricted to, the position the individual is currently applying for, the age of the information, whether the information might be directly relevant to the assessment of the person's suitability to work with children and whether it is reasonable to disclose the information, bearing in mind the human rights of the individuals concerned.
In making such assessments, the chief officers follow guidelines including, Home Office circular 5 / 2005— “Criminal Records Bureau: Local Checks by Police Forces for the Purpose of Enhanced Disclosure” and this has been augmented by a process known as the Quality Assurance Framework. The circular makes clear that consideration has been given to a person's right to privacy under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In this regard there is a section in the circular which details what factors should be considered in determining relevancy.
The Quality Assurance Framework (QAF) is a standardised approach to processing local intelligence information relating to a Disclosure application held by Police Force Disclosure Units. QAF provides a step-by-step process framework that ensures that information is considered consistently and in the same way every time. searches performed on local systems using the QAF Framework and document set produce an audit trail that can be used for quality assurance and to assure QAF compliance.
(2) how many Criminal Records Bureau disclosures were issued in each police force area in each of the last 10 years.