§ Mr. BeithTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the elements of the Crime and Disorder Bill [Lords] which will be piloted before wider implementation stating how long each pilot scheme is expected to last and the expected date of wider implementation; and if he will make a statement. [25052]
138W
§ Mr. MichaelDetails of the measures which the Government intend to pilot, including the expected implementation date (assuming the Bill receives Royal Assent in the summer) and the likely duration of each scheme, are given in the table. On completion, the pilot studies will be evaluated and, subject to the outcome of the evaluation and to resource constraints, full implementation will take place as soon as possible thereafter.
Measure Clause(s) Start Duration Parenting order 8–10 Autumn 1998 18 months Child safety order 11–13 Autumn 1998 18 months Local child curfew schemes 14, 15 Autumn 1998 18 months Local provision of youth justice services/formulation of youth justice plans 29, 31, 33 Autumn 1998 6 months Youth offending teams 30, 33 Autumn 1998 6 months Statutory time limits 34–37 Autumn 1999 12 months Case management: Powers of magistrates' courts exercisable by a single justice 40, 41 Autumn 1998 6 months Indictable only cases to start in the Crown Court 42, 43 Autumn 1998 12 months Prison/court television links 45 Spring 1999 6 months minimum Drug treatment and testing order 48–51 Autumn 1998 12 months minimum (Scotland) Drug treatment and testing order 72–78 Autumn 1998 12 months minimum Reprimands and warnings 52, 53 Autumn 1998 18 months Reparation order 54, 55 Autumn 1998 18 months Action plan order 56, 57 Autumn 1998 18 months
§ Mr. BeithTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish the calculations on which the financial effects of the Crime and Disorder Bill [Lords] are based; and if he will make statement. [25053]
§ Mr. StrawThe calculations used to estimate the financial effects of the Crime and Disorder Bill published in the Financial Memorandum are as set out. Taken as a whole, the Bill is intended to address offending behaviour more effectively and to reduce crime and it is therefore expected that this will produce significant savings to the criminal justice system.
Measures aimed at dealing with youth crime and disorder (child safety orders and parenting orders) will be piloted to enable a detailed assessment of costs. Full year costs are estimated to be £3 million, based on a cost of £180 per order per month and a planning assumption of 5,000 parenting orders per annum typically lasting around three months, and 1,000 child safety orders per annum typically lasting one and a half months.
The introduction of anti-social behaviour orders is expected to lead to additional costs of £3 million to the courts, the Crown Prosecution Service and in legal aid. This is based on an assumption of 5,000 orders annually with the majority of costs falling to magistrates' courts. Additional costs for the police and local authorities are expected to be fully offset by savings arising from the introduction of the new orders.
The proposals relating to new racially aggravated offences and those concerning increased sentences for those offences are expected to result in some additional costs, but the innovative nature of the offences makes it difficult at this stage to estimate their likely financial impact.
139WProposals relating to the local provision of youth justice services and youth offending teams will be piloted before full implementation to enable a detailed assessment of costs. The establishment of a Youth Justice Board assumes a Board consisting of 10 members working part-time for standard daily rates of remuneration and travel and subsistence; and a small secretariat of 10 staff with a small budget for commissioning research and for developing good practice in work with young offenders. On this basis, full year costs are estimated to be in the region of £1 million.
Proposals intended to reduce delay in the criminal justice system include the introduction of statutory time limits and increased efficiency, especially in the Youth Court. These are intended to be cost-neutral, since it is expected that any additional costs will be more than outweighed by the benefits of speeding up the progress of cases through the system. The introduction of statutory time limits may have limited resource implications which will be assessed once piloting has determined the level at which limits should be set.
The final warning scheme, action plan orders and reparation orders will all be piloted to enable detailed costs and savings to be assessed before full implementation. Action plan orders are expected to lead to savings of around £2 million based on 6,000 juveniles per year receiving an order in place of current community penalties. The reparation order is estimated to cost around £1 million if applied to 11,500 juveniles per year.
Initial estimates of the cost of introducing reprimands and warnings, including the costs of rehabilitation programmes, are in the region of £14 million. Around half of this sum is attributable to Youth Offending Teams running appropriate intervention programmes; these costs will not be incurred in every area as some areas already operate analogous "caution-plus" schemes. The other half reflects the impact of the scheme on the number of court cases and the change in sentencing patterns likely to arise from restricting the use of conditional discharge following final warnings.
Proposals relating to improvements to supervision orders are expected to result in additional local authority accommodation costs of around £2 million per year. This assumes that, at most, around 160 juveniles a year might be given a residency requirement. The proposals for detention and training orders for young offenders are not expected to have any significant impact on the numbers held in secure facilities. The associated increased levels of supervision are estimated to result in additional costs
140W
Table A: Number of children aged 10 to under 16 prosecuted for offences1.2 relating to prostitution by age and sex, 1992–96 England and Wales Ages 10 11 12 13 14 15 Offence description Year m f m f m f m f m f m f Soliciting by a man 1992 — — — — — — — — — — — — [Sexual Offences Act 1956 S32] 1993 1993 — — — — — — — — — — 1 — 1994 — — — — — — — — — — — — 1995 — — — — — — — — — — — — 1996 — — — — — — — — — — — — of around £2 million per year based on an estimated 2,200 young people held under a detention and training order at any one time.
The extended supervision for sex, violent, recalled and returned prisoners will eventually generate net additional probation service and electronic monitoring costs estimated to be about £20 million per year, assuming that this will require around 600 additional probation service staff to supervise 1,100 offenders on extended supervision with 110 recalls to custody (a breach rate of 10 per cent.).
Proposals for drug treatment and testing orders will be the subject of local pilot projects, the cost of which are expected to be in the region of £1 million. The findings of the pilot evaluation will inform consideration of the need for resourcing to extend the Treatment and Testing Orders nationwide. Full implementation based on 6,250 orders per year at a cost of £6,400 per order are estimated to be £40 million.
The cost of introducing powers to release short-term prisoners on licence (home detention curfew) depends upon the extent of take-up and the outcome of a commercial competition but, on the take-up rate assumed for planning purposes, is not expected to exceed £26 million per year. Against this, home detention curfew will avoid the need for expenditure on around 3,000 new prison places at an estimated cost of £90 million per year which would otherwise be necessary to accommodate the rising prison population.