§ Dr. Lynne JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list treatment programmes for sex offenders funded by his Department; what assessment he has made of their effectiveness; what proportion of(a) convicted child sex abusers, (b) convicted rapists and (c) those convicted of other sexual abuses of adult women receive treatment; and what plans he has to extend the provision of sex offender treatment programmes. [31085]
§ Ms QuinSex offender treatment programmes are run, and funded, by both the Prison Service and the Probation Service. The Prison Service sex offender treatment programme (SOTP) consists of four elements: the core programme for all sex offenders; the booster programme, a follow-up to the core programme; the adapted programme for sex offenders with learning difficulties; and the extended programme for offenders who are at highest risk. The latter two programmes are an extension to the original SOTP which are being introduced in 1998–99. The recently appointed Director of Regimes is examining future work in this area.
Records are not available centrally as yet which list by offence the numbers of sex offenders who have completed the SOTP.
The Home Office probation unit provides funding for the Wolvercote sex offenders clinic. This centre provides a national residential treatment service. It has 21 places, 16 of which are reserved for referrals from the Probation Service. The Home Office pays the full weekly charge of £595 for parole board referrals, and £405 per week for Probation Service referrals. The local probation service pays the balance of the fee.
Most treatment for sex offenders is arranged locally by individual probation services. Probation services run these sex offender treatment programmes in co-operation with adjacent services or in partnership with specialist organisations. Treatment programmes arranged by probation services are available to sex offenders on release from imprisonment and to those on community supervision. Programme content and delivery are evolving in the light of inspection and research into both prison-based and community provision and an accreditation process for community based programmes is being considered.
The Home Office is committed to a long-term evaluation of the effectiveness of sex offender treatment programmes. To this end, it funds the sex offender treatment evaluation project (STEP) team, based at the Wolvercote Clinic. Results are not expected for some time, but similar programmes in the United States and Canada have reduced the rate of offending by about 25 per cent.