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29 Oct 2009 : Column 554W—continued
Vocational Training: Birmingham
Richard Burden: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what funding his Department has made available to (a) all unemployed persons and (b) unemployed persons under the age of 21 years in (i) Birmingham, Northfield constituency and (ii) Birmingham to learn new skills to retrain in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [296271]
Kevin Brennan: The information is not available at constituency or Jobcentre Plus district level. I have asked the acting chief executive of the Learning and Skills Council to write to my hon. Friend with information about funding for training for unemployed people available in his region.
A copy of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Justice
European Court of Human Rights
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the number of cases resolved in the UK courts under the provisions of the Human Rights Act 1998 in respect of which leave to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights might otherwise have been sought; and if he will make a statement. [296042]
Mr. Straw: It is not possible to appeal directly from proceedings in UK courts to the European Court of Human Rights. Proceedings at the European Court of Human Rights take the form of a new application against the United Kingdom under the European convention on human rights, which may or may not relate to proceedings before the domestic courts. It is not therefore possible to make a direct numerical estimate of the effect of the Human Rights Act in resolving cases that may otherwise have been considered by the European Court of Human Rights.
Advisory Panel on Judicial Diversity
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many staff working for the Advisory Panel on Judicial Diversity have been seconded from (a) his Department and (b) other Government departments; [296099]
(2) how many staff are working for the Advisory Panel on Judicial Diversity. [296100]
Mr. Straw: The Advisory Panel on Judicial Diversity has no separate support. It is being supported by officials from within the Constitution & Judiciary Division of the Ministry of Justice, within existing budgets.
None of the officials work full-time for or on the advisory panel, but, seven spend significant time on it.
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what criteria were used to appoint members of the Advisory Panel on Judicial Diversity. [296102]
Mr. Straw: The Advisory Panel on Judicial Diversity was set up by me to give advice on possible changes to improve judicial diversity. The members were selected because of their experience. of the justice system, equality and diversity issues, and their capacity to identify and develop practical proposals for change.
The chair of the panel is Baroness Julia Neuberger DBE, while the other members of the panel are:
Dr. Nicola Brewer CMG
Dame Professor Hazel Genn DBE QC
Lord Justice Goldring
Andrew Holroyd CBE
Winston Hunter QC
Details of their biographies can be obtained from the following link
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the estimated annual cost is of running the Advisory Panel on Judicial Diversity. [296103]
Mr. Straw: The Advisory Panel on Judicial Diversity has been asked to report within 12 months of starting and so will not have ongoing annual running costs.
The costs of the panel, from April 2009 to the end of September, were £13,447.
Departmental Telephone Services
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will consider the merits of securing accreditation of his Department’s helplines to The Helplines Association’s quality standard; and if he will make a statement. [295721]
Bridget Prentice: The Ministry of Justice is considering whether all of its helplines should be required to attain a relevant recognised accreditation. If the Department proceeds with this requirement, it will discuss with each helpline which of the available accreditations (including the Helplines Association standard) is best suited to its business needs.
Driving Offences
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people have been prosecuted for driving cars while uninsured in each police authority area in the East of England in each year since 1999. [296036]
Claire Ward: The number of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts in the East of England Government office region for using a motor vehicle uninsured against third party risks, by police force area, from 1999 to 2007 (latest available) is given in the following table.
Data for 2008 are planned for publication at the end of January 2010.
| The number of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts for using a motor vehicle uninsured against third party risks( 1) in the East of England Government office region, 1999 to 2007( 2,3,4) | |||||||||
| Area | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003( 5) | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
| (1) Offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988, section 143(2). (2) Data given are on a principal offence basis. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (3) It is known that for some police force areas the reporting of court proceedings, in particular those relating to summary motoring offences, may be less than complete. (4) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (5) As from 1 June 2003, “driving a motor vehicle while uninsured against third party risks” became a fixed penalty offence. Source: Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Evidence and Analysis Unit. | |||||||||
Judges: Retirement
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many judges have retired in each of the last three years. [296111]
Mr. Straw: The following table sets out the numbers of retirements and deaths in service of those who previously held judicial office in England and Wales over the last three financial years.
| Number of retirements | Number of deaths in service | |
Members: Correspondence
Sir John Stanley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will issue a direction to the Coroner for North West Kent to reply to the letters of 29 June and 26 August 2009 from the right hon. Member for Tonbridge and Malling sent on behalf of his constituent Mr Simon Higgins. [295474]
Bridget Prentice: Although Ministers in this Department do not have any authority to intervene in operational matters of this nature, I understand that the coroner had not in fact received the right hon. Member's correspondence as it had been sent to a previous address. However, he has now been sent copies and I understand that he has replied.
Prison Accommodation
Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many offenders convicted of terrorism offences have been housed in approved premises following their release from custody since January 2007; and what additional resources were provided to assist with their supervision in each case. [295840]
Maria Eagle: Since September 2008, information on the release details of individuals convicted of terrorism or terrorism-related offences has been held centrally. Since then, 11 terrorist offenders have been released to approved premises. Data about offenders released into approved premises (formerly known as bail/probation hostels) is collected centrally, from information supplied by individual approved premises. The data collected does not include offence details more generally. Obtaining this information dating back to 2007 would have to be done on a case by case basis, and as such could be collected only at disproportionate cost.
Probation areas may apply to register with the National Offender Management Service as Critical Public Protection Cases (CPPCs) those offenders, including offenders convicted of terrorism or terrorism-related offences, who present the highest levels of risk of harm. Where offenders are registered as CPPCs, areas may apply for additional funding to strengthen local risk management plans: Such funding can cover temporary additional staffing in approved premises, a member of staff to escort offenders outside the approved premises, improvements to security equipment at approved premises or other specific interventions which contribute to public protection.
Prisoners Release
Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many under the End of Custody Licence scheme since June 2007 had previously been refused release on Home Detention Curfew. [295842]
Maria Eagle: Between 29 June 2007 and 31 August 2009, around 67,400 prisoners were released under End of Custody Licence, the latest date for which this figure is available. Of these, around 11,200, about 17 per cent. had previously been refused release on home detention curfew.
These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
There is a significant difference between the operation of the HDC scheme and release on ECL. Release on HDC can lead to the release on licence for up to four and a half months before the automatic release date. The average period spent on HDC is about two and a half months. In contrast, the maximum period spent on ECL is two and a half weeks, 18 days.
The qualifying criteria and selection processes for the schemes reflect these differences.
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many persons convicted of terrorist offences have been released into post-custody supervision in the community since 2001. [296546]
Mr. Straw: Since 2007, the National Offender Management Service has held information centrally on the number of offenders convicted of terrorist or terrorism-related offences who have been released into post-custody supervision. To provide the information requested, going back to 2001, would require manual checking of records, which could be undertaken only at disproportionate cost.
Since 2007, 36 offenders convicted of terrorist or terrorism-related offences have been released to licensed supervision in the community. None of these offenders has been arrested or convicted of a terrorist or terrorism-related offence following release.
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