---

3 July 2006 : Column 880W—continued

National Insurance Numbers

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals applying for a national insurance number and referred to the immigration and nationality directorate due to (a) suspicion about their eligibility to work in the UK, (b) the use of false documents and (c) other reasons were (i) prosecuted and (ii) convicted in each of the last five years. [75857]

Mr. Byrne: Information on the number of investigations and prosecutions from specific referrals to the immigration and nationality directorate (IND) from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) could be obtained only by individually searching IND databases for the outcome of each referral received.

	October 2004 to March 2005	April 2005 to March 2006
Investigations initiated	412	703
Prosecutions	150	359
Convictions	149	354
Note: Invalidated management information which excludes IND's border control directorate crime team investigations as they fall outside the referrals process.

Non-custodial Sentences

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer to question 78652, what the differences are between the non-custodial sentences referred to. [80501]

Mr. Sutcliffe: This table describes the community sentences and other relevant community disposals available for young offenders. Further information on these sentences is available on the Youth Justice Board Website.

3 July 2006 : Column 881W

3 July 2006 : Column 882W

Community sentences available for juveniles
Order	Who it applies to	Description	Length
Action plan order	10-17s	A short intensive community based programme which may include reparation, attendance centre and offence conformation sessions.	Three months
Attendance centre order	10-17s	The centres are run on Saturdays. Sessions (usually two hours long) involve physical exercise and group work.	Between four and 24 hours
Curfew orders with electronic monitoring	10-17s	Courts have the power to make curfew orders backed with electronic monitoring for juvenile offenders. The tagged curfews can help to break patterns of offending by keeping juvenile offenders off the streets and out of trouble at the times they are most likely to offend.	Up to six months
Supervision order	10-17s	The young person is supervised by a member of the YOT. A range of conditions may be attached for more serious offences. These include drug treatment (for 16+s since the Crime and Disorder Act) residence requirements, curfews, activities specified by the YOT (normally reparation, offending behaviour, group work, anger management etc.).	From six months to three years (usually one year)
Referral order	10-17s	Youth courts refer young people, who plead guilty and are convicted for the first time, to youth offender panels. The youth offender panels design an intervention programme with the young person to tackle his/her offending behaviour.	From 3-12 months
Community punishment and rehabilitation order	16+	Requires the offender to be under supervision and to perform unpaid work for not less than 40 and not more than 100 hours.	Between 12 months and three years
Community punishment order	16+	Involves undertaking unpaid work in the community—e.g. carpentry workshops, conservation, decorating or caring tasks for the elderly/vulnerable.	Between 40 to 240 hours
Community rehabilitation order	16+	The equivalent of supervision, overseen by the probation service and only available for “mature” 16 and 17-year-olds. It can have conditions attached (e.g. residence at probation hostel).	From six months to three years (usually one year)
Intensive supervision and surveillance programme (ISSP)	10-17s	Not a court order. Route onto ISSP is either via bail, as part of a community order or community part of the DTO. Young offender is subject to intensive supervision consisting of highly structured, individual programmes to tackle the causes of offending behaviour and intensive surveillance consisting of either tracking, electronic tagging, voice verification, or intelligence-led policing.	6-12 months intensive supervision of at least 25 hours per week for first 3-6 months, reassessed thereafter
Reparation order	10-17s	Not within the stable of community sentences as such. The young person is required to make reparation to the victim of the offence or to the community in general. This engages the individual in some practical reparative activity which brings home the consequences of their offence.	No more than 24 hours in aggregate

Parliamentary Questions

Mr. Galloway: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to provide a substantive answer to Question 63882, on Khalid Rashid; and if he will make a statement. [78509]

Mr. McNulty [holding answer 19 June 2006]: I replied to the hon. Member on 21 June 2006, Official Report, column 2016W.

Police

Mr. Michael Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the proposals for the merger of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire police forces. [25363]

Mr. McNulty: My right hon. Friend, the then Home Secretary, announced on 11 April that he was initiating the statutory consultation process on this merger. However, the Home Secretary announced on 19 June that he would not be laying any orders for Home Secretary initiated mergers before the summer recess. This will provide the opportunity for further discussion and dialogue.

Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department where Cumbria and Lancashire's new merged police force headquarters will be based. [61322]

Mr. McNulty: The location of the new Headquarters will be a decision for the chief constable and police authority of the newly merged force.

Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many meetings his civil servants have had with chief constables to discuss police restructuring in England and Wales. [68620]

Mr. McNulty: Senior officials and other members of the Home Office police restructuring team have met chief constables and other colleagues on numerous occasions from police forces and authorities throughout England and Wales to discuss police restructuring.

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress is being made with the proposed mergers of police forces in the North East region. [76812]

Mr. McNulty: On 3 March my right hon. Friend, the then Home Secretary, announced his intention to initiate a merger of the police forces in the North East.

3 July 2006 : Column 883W

My right hon. Friend, the Home Secretary, announced on 19 June he would not be laying any Home Secretary initiated amalgamation Orders before Parliament before the summer recess. This will allow further discussions to take place and outstanding matters to be resolved.

Mr. Borrow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which members of the (a) Cumbria and (b) Lancashire police authority (i) supported and (ii) opposed the merger of Lancashire and Cumbria police. [81704]

Mr. McNulty: That information is a matter for the police authorities concerned and is not held centrally.

Mr. Borrow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which sites are being considered as a possible headquarters for the merged Lancashire and Cumbria police force; and when a decision on the site will be made. [81705]

Mr. McNulty: The location of the headquarters for a merged Cumbria and Lancashire police force will be a matter for the Chief Constable and police authority of the newly merged force.

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many representations he has received from people in Yorkshire supporting the police mergers. [61675]

Mr. McNulty: We have received a number of representations from people across the country, both in favour of, and opposed to police force mergers.

It is not possible to identify those relating to Yorkshire separately.

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he will take in relation to police authorities who do not submit business cases on the proposed police structure reforms by the 23 December deadline. [39464]

Mr. McNulty: I apologise to my hon. Friend for the delay in answering his question and will write to him in full.

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to ensure that the Cumbria Police Authority remains a separate organisation. [50812]

Mr. McNulty: No. My right hon. Friend has made it clear that the new merged force will have a single police authority.

Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate of the cost of the police restructuring proposals has been carried out by his Department; and when they will be published. [48617]

Mr. McNulty: For areas where options have been identified as viable and effective a case for amalgamation has been provided. The cases for amalgamation contain
3 July 2006 : Column 884W
indicative projected costs for amalgamation of the relevant forces. These documents have been sent to the police forces and police authorities concerned.

They are also available on the Home Office website—http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/police-reform/Force-restructuring.

Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with (a) the Minister of State in the Department for Constitutional Affairs and (b) other ministerial colleagues on the possible impact of proposed police force mergers on court services; and if he will make a statement. [64734]

Mr. McNulty: Discussions are ongoing with colleagues on the possible impact of proposed police force mergers.

Colin Challen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many responses (a) favourable to and (b) opposed to a full merger of the Yorkshire and Humberside police forces his Department has received. [64984]

Mr. McNulty: To date, the Home Office has received submissions on merger options for Yorkshire and the Humber police forces from North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and Humberside police forces and authorities. All of these considered a full region merger as a viable option among a range of proposed possibilities.

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the proposed timetable is for the establishment of the new Yorkshire and Humber Regional Police Force; and if he will make a statement. [67510]

Mr. McNulty [holding answer 2 May 2006]: I refer the hon. Member to my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary's announcement on 19 June 2006, Official Report, columns 1057-62W and the letter which he sent to all hon. Members on that date. He said that the formal objection period for the Yorkshire and Humber merger, which would have expired on 11 August, will be extended. The replacement timetable will be subject to further discussion.

Deportation

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the nationality is of those foreign nationals who following a prison sentence should have been considered for deportation; whether the UK has active deportation arrangements with each country concerned; and whether deportation may not be possible because of the political situation in each country. [68656]

Mr. Byrne [holding answer 8 May 2006]: My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has updated the House on this matter in a written ministerial statement on 29 June 2006, Official Report, column 18WS and the Director General of the Immigration and Nationality Department (IND) wrote to the Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee on the 29 June on the number of cases where foreign national prisoners were released without proper deportation consideration. A copy of the letter has been placed in both Libraries.

3 July 2006 : Column 885W

Prisoners (Licensed Releases)

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners were charged with offences committed whilst they were released on (a) special purpose licence, (b) resettlement day release licence, (c) resettlement overnight release licence and (d) child care resettlement licence in each year between 1997 and 2006. [79024]

Mr. Sutcliffe: To provide the information required would involve a manual interrogation of the individual records for each prisoner. This could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

However, temporary release failures represent 0.1 per cent. of the number of licences issued each year. These failures include other breaches of licence conditions such as prisoners returning late from temporary release and prisoners returning under the influence of alcohol as well as commission of offences.

Prisons

Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the possible correlation between overcrowding and self-harm in the (a) male, (b) female and (c) juvenile prison estate; and if he will make a statement. [78134]

Mr. Sutcliffe: Overcrowding, and its subsequent effects in terms of prisoners’ distance from home, prisoner transfers and the time prisoners spend out of their cells, may be one factor in heightening the distress linked to suicide. However, the most important explanation of why prisoners harm and kill themselves is that a high proportion of prisoners arrive in prison with risk factors such as a history of abuse or drugs/alcohol problems. This is true for all parts of the prison estate.

Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people sit on the Prison Service committee with responsibility for dealing with suspected staff wrongdoing; how often the committee meets; who chairs it; to whom it reports; and if he will make a statement. [80528]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The Professional Standards Steering Group, which reports to the director general, meets quarterly to ensure the effective implementation of the Prison Service professional standards strategy. Its membership consists of the deputy director general who chairs the meeting, the director of personnel, the director of operations, the head of security group and the head of the professional standards unit.

Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) which prisons he has visited since his appointment; [80610]

(2) which prisons the Minister for prisons has visited in each of the last eight years. [80611]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The Secretary of State for the Home Department visited Wandsworth prison on 28 June 2006.

---