HC Deb 28 November 2001 vol 375 cc955-6W
Mr. Bercow

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on progress towards the public service agreement target for correspondence responded to within agreed targets. [16916]

Mr. Blunkett

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Perth (Annabelle Ewing) on 31 October 2001,Official Report, columns 721–22W.

Mr. Bercow

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on progress towards the public service agreement target for a reduction in the level of re-offending by drug misusing offenders. [16933]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth

We are in the process of reviewing progress against all the drugs strategy targets. Progress on the public service agreement target to reduce levels of repeat offending among drug misusing offenders by 25 per cent. by 2005 and by 50 per cent. by 2008 is currently measured by the New English and Welsh Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (NEW-ADAM) research programme which provides estimates of repeat offending drug misusing offenders (defined as the proportion of arrestees using heroin and/or cocaine/crack at least once a week and who have offended at least twice a month in the last twelve months). The proportion of arrestees falling within this category for the financial year 1999–2000 was 15 per cent. This will provide an interim baseline against which progress can be tracked. A summary of full baseline data will be available in the spring of 2002.

Mr. Bercow

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on progress towards the public service agreement target for increasing completions of nationality applications. [16924]

Angela Eagle

Increasing the number of nationality decisions was a public service agreement (PSA) target in the years 1999–2000 and 2000–01 but is not a PSA target in 2001–02. Outturn in 2000–01 was 94,090 against a target of 91,000.

Mr. Bercow

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on progress towards the public service agreement target for shortening the time taken in dealing with persistent offending. [17055]

Mr. Keith Bradley

This public service agreement target reflects the Government's youth justice pledge to halve the average time taken to deal with a persistent young offender from arrest to sentence, from 142 days in 1996 to 71 days. The target has now been met for three consecutive months; i.e. the latest figure, for August is 66 days. This has been achieved through effective partnership working in the criminal justice system.

Mr. Bercow

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will make a statement on progress towards the public service agreement target for evaluation of probation and court referral schemes; [16960]

(2) if he will make a statement on progress towards the public service agreement target for the expansion of the probation and court referral scheme; [16931]

(3) if he will make a statement on progress towards the public service agreement target for drug treatment and testing orders. [16932]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth

The public service agreement targets for the evaluation and significant expansion of probation and court referral schemes were achieved through the evaluation of the Drug Treatment and Testing Orders (DTTO) pilots and the roll-out of the DTTO to courts in England and Wales on 1 October 2000 respectively. 2,288 DTTOs were made in the first six months of 2001–02, against the full year target of approximately 6,000 orders. Under the comprehensive spending review settlement, the Government provided £20 million for the implementation of DTTOs in 2000–01 (the first six months after roll-out) and £40 million for 2001–02, ring-fenced for the purpose.

Mr. Bercow

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on progress towards the public service agreement target for efficiency of procurement in his Department. [16915]

Mr. Blunkett

There are four key targets for procurement within the public service agreement for the Home Department:

1. The introduction of the procurement card:

This is now in use within the Prison Service, Forensic Science Service, United Kingdom, Passport Service and The Youth Justice Board. It has been piloted within the core Home Office and full roll out is due to commence in January 2002.

2. The comprehensive roll out of consolidated invoicing:

This activity has been completed.

3. The determination of the extent of introduction of the procurement excellence model:

This has been fully scoped and the model has been used within three separate business areas as part of an ongoing roll out programme.

4. Central Home Office procurement staff to have access to the Government secure intranet and internet:

This has been completed.