HC Deb 29 March 2004 vol 419 cc1277-80W
Mr. Hoyle

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the effects of funding of the Lancashire Probation Service on the funding of the weekend custody suite at Kirkham Prison. [161613]

Paul Goggins

There are no financial implications for the Lancashire Probation Service as a consequence of the introduction of intermittent custody pilots at Kirkham Prison. The Lancashire Probation Service does second three staff to Kirkham Prison, but the cost of these is fully reimbursed by the Prison Service.

Mrs. Gillan

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the firms which are being invited to bid to(a) build and (b) run prisons. [162629]

Paul Goggins

[holding answer 22 March 2004]: There are currently no plans for competitions to build or to run prisons. Should such a competition be launched, this would be announced in a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union setting out details of the relevant contract and inviting expressions of interest. Those firms known to be likely to have an interest in the competition would be notified of the announcement. It is for these firms and any other interested firm to decide whether to bid.

Mr. Hoyle

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners have been assaulted in(a) privately and (b) publicly run prisons in each of the last three years. [161604]

Paul Goggins

The assaults data the Prison Service collects is an overall total for all assaults within a prison, it does not breakdown into assaults on prisoners, staff or others. However our current Key Performance Indicator for Serious Assaults, which offers a better indication of prisoner violence, has been given. This data is collected in a manner which does not identify cases of multiple or repeat assault on individual prisoners.

Number of serious assaults on prisoners Average prisoner population Rate of serious assaults as a proportion of prisoner population (percentage)
Contracted prisons ( privately operated)
2001 50 5,511 0.9
2002 54 6,615 0.8
2003 74 6,713 1.1
Public prisons
2001 447 60,790 0.7
2002 521 64,163 0.8
2003 687 66,325 1.0

Mr. Hoyle

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners have escaped from(a) privately and (b) publicly run prisons in each of the last three years. [161605]

Paul Goggins

The information requested is as follows.

Contracted prisons (privately operated) Number of serious escapes from prisons
2001 3
2002 0
2003 1
Public prisons Number of escapes from prisons
2001 5
2002 10
2003 12

Mr. Hoyle

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average ratio of prisoners to wardens was in(a) privately and (b) publicly run prisons in the last year for which figures are available, broken down by category (i) A, (ii) B and (iii) C.[161606]

Paul Goggins

Contracted prisons (privately operated).

Category Average prisoner population–2003 Prison custody officers1 Ratio
A
B 6060 1531 3.96
C 340 95 3.58
1Prison Custody Officers are the equivalent of the public prisons Prison Officer
Public prisons
Category Average prisoner population Unified officers Ratio
A 6272 3967 1.58
B 3406 1184 2.88
C 19001 5092 3.73

Mr. Maude

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many(a) sentenced prisoners and (b) remand prisoners were in employment prior to entering prison in each of the last 10 years. [163285]

Paul Goggins

The available information is from large-scale resettlement surveys of sentenced prisoners nearing release, conducted in November- December 2001 and March-April 2003. In both surveys 33 per cent. of prisoners had been in employment, training or education in the four weeks before entering custody. Comparable information for preceding years is not available.

Mr. Maude

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners serving(a) short-term and (b) long-term sentences had employment upon release in each of the last 10 years. [163286]

Paul Goggins

The available information is from large-scale resettlement surveys of sentenced prisoners nearing release, conducted in November- December 2001 and March-April 2003. In both surveys 30 per cent. of prisoners had employment, training or education arranged on release. Comparable information for preceding years is not available.

Mr. Maude

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many(a) short-term and (b) long-term prisoners were released in England and Wales without overnight accommodation in each of the last 10 years. [163288]

Paul Goggins

The available information, from large-scale resettlement surveys of sentenced prisoners nearing release conducted in November-December 2001 and March-April 2003, is contained in the following table. Comparable information for preceding years is not available.

Percentage
Resettlement survey
2001 2003
Under 12 months 34 32
12 months to less than four years 35 25
Four years or over 24 23
Total 33 29

Mr. Maude

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what percentage of prisoners in England and Wales used prison gymnasium and sports facilities in each of the last 10 years. [163278]

Paul Goggins

The precise information that the right hon. Member seeks is not available. However, information is available on the amount of time that prisoners spend on physical education. This information is available for the last four years only and is set out in the table.

Average weekly number of prisoners undertaking physical education Percentage of prisoners undertaking physical education
2002–03 14,047 20.0
2001–02 13,235 19.9
2000–01 13,541 21.2
1999–2000 11,198 17.4

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