HC Deb 23 July 2004 vol 424 cc859-61W
Mrs. Gillan

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department who will have statutory responsibility for prisoners' families under the National Offender Management Service arrangements. [176677]

Paul Goggins

The Prison Service will continue to have responsibility for making arrangements for offenders to maintain meaningful links with their families and vice versa. Maintaining family support will be a specific objective build into the induction phase of the offender management process for offenders received into custody. The Reducing Re-offending National Action Plan published on 19 July recognises that the families and children of offenders are a vulnerable group and sets out a specific workstream to take forward work to further develop support arrangements.

Hywel Williams

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements have been made to ensure that the National Offender Management Service will have an approved Welsh language scheme from its first day of operation. [180945]

Paul Goggins

The National Offender Management Service will build on the existing Welsh language schemes within the Prison and Probation Service in accordance with the requirements of the Welsh Language Act 1993.

John McDonnell

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how the relevant trade unions will register disputes under the National Offender Management Service arrangements. [181583]

Paul Goggins

[holding answer 7 July 2004]: Trade unions will continue to register disputes with the employing body. In the case of Prison Officers represented by the POA this will be the Prison Service, with existing procedures remaining in place. The unions recognised by the National Probation Service (Napo, UNISON and GMB-Scoop) will continue, as under existing procedures, to register a dispute with an individual Probation Board.

Mrs. Gillan

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when details of governance arrangements for the National Offender Management Service will be published. [181826]

Paul Goggins

On 20 July 2004 I made a statement on the National Offender Management Service which outlines the way I intend to introduce the new single service. The statement includes some additional details of governance arrangements. I will make available further clarification of governance arrangements as the service develops.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment has been made of the impact of the introduction of the National Offender Management Service on the input of the voluntary sector to the criminal justice system. [182319]

Paul Goggins

It is expected that the development of National Offender Management Service (NOMS) will open up new opportunities for the involvement of voluntary organisations as a provider of services. The National Offender Management Service is preparing a strategic review of existing and future relationships with the voluntary and community sector. A draft strategy will be circulated for consultation in the autumn.

Mr. Llwyd

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many consultees responded to the recent consultation document on the National Offender Management Scheme. [182381]

Paul Goggins

The Home Office has received 177 responses to the consultation paper on the National Offender Management Service's organisational design.

Denzil Davies

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his estimate is of the efficiency savings that will be achieved by establishing the proposed National Offender Management Service. [184406]

Paul Goggins

The establishment of the National Offender Management Service will lead to efficiency savings through the better targeting of interventions and an increase in the number of completed orders. Substantial savings will also be made by combining HQ functions which in turn will contribute to the 20 per cent. overall reduction in Home Office HQ costs. In addition, over the spending review 2004 period we will continue a target of three per cent. efficiency savings across the services.

Mrs. Helen Clark

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Home Office's equal opportunities policy was followed in respect of the appointment of the national offender manager for the National Offender Management Service. [185263]

Mr. Browne

Yes. The Home Office's equal opportunities policy is applied to all recruitment and appointment processes.

Miss McIntosh

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what structure will be put in place for joint working on public protection between the Probation Service and the police under the new National Offender Management Service structure. [163027]

Paul Goggins

The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) will build upon the range of work probation boards undertaken at a local level. The significant contribution the multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA) have made to public protection will form a key part of the core offender management function within the NOMS. Operationally MAPPA usually function at a local rather than area level and will continue to do so under the arrangements for NOMS. The multi-agency public protection panels, which oversee the management of the highest risk offenders, will continue to operate at whatever level is most appropriate—usually local, sometimes area but occasionally wider—to manage the risks posed by the individual offenders in question.

Mr. Oaten

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff are employed in the National Offender Management Service Team, broken down by(a) grade and (b) function. [172411]

Paul Goggins

Currently the Prison Service has around 47,500 members of staff and the National Probation Service has around 19,000 full-time equivalent employees. The correctional services headquarters has around 400 staff.

All of these employees now come under the ambit of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). However, as the NOMS senior management are currently developing proposals for the shape, size and structure of the new service it is not yet possible to provide details on the grade and function split of NOMS staff.