To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people convicted of offences relating to involvement in organised crime were in prison when charged with those offences in each of the last three years. (325661)

The data requested are not held.

There is no list of offences that relate to involvement in organised crime. Therefore, to provide these data would require an investigation into each individual conviction where the offender was in prison custody when charged, and in many cases a subjective assessment as to whether the offence related to serious organised crime. This would incur disproportionate cost.

The National Offender Management Service is also fully engaged in action to address serious and organised crime strategically, including the work identified in the Government report “Extending Our Reach: A Comprehensive Approach to Tackling Serious Organised Crime” to develop a strategy to manage serious organised criminals while in prison.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate the Prison Service has made of the incidence of organised crime carried out by serving prisoners over the last three years. (325663)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 30 March 2010, Official Report, column 1086W.

Covert criminal activity is, of its nature, very difficult to quantify. Prisons have a well established security information reporting framework. Where concerns are identified about a prisoner's potential criminal activity, prisons can draw on a range of measures to identify and disrupt that activity.

The National Offender Management Service is also fully engaged in action to address serious and organised crime strategically, including the work identified in the Government report “Extending Our Reach: A Comprehensive Approach to Tackling Serious Organised Crime” to develop a strategy to manage serious organised criminals while in prison.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners were charged with a serious crime carried out while they were in prison in 2008-09. (325664)

While the number of serious offences, as defined by schedule 1 to the Serious Crime Act 2007, are recorded, data as to whether the offender was imprisoned at the time of charge are not held. To provide the data would require an investigation into each such offence, which would incur disproportionate cost.

The National Offender Management Service is also fully engaged in action to address serious and organised crime strategically, including the work identified in the Government report “Extending Our Reach: A Comprehensive Approach to Tackling Serious Organised Crime” to develop a strategy to manage serious organised criminals whilst in prison.