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87W
Written Answers
26 OCTOBER 2009
Written Answers
88W
My right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Justice
(Mr. Wills) will be writing to the hon. Member for
Runnymede and Weybridge to correct these errors and
will issue a corrected answer to be printed in the correction
section of the Official Report.
I apologise for these errors and for the unacceptable
delay in providing an answer to this question.
Gambling: Crime
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice
how many people have been convicted of offences
under (a) section 328, (b) section 330 and (c) section
331 of the Gambling Act 2005 since its entry into force.
[295318]
Claire Ward: Sections 328, 330 and 331 of the 2005
Gambling Act came into force on 1 September 2007.
No convictions under theses offences from 1 September
to 31 December 2007 (latest published) have been reported
to the Ministry of Justice.
Data for 2008 are planned for publication at the end
of January 2010.
Legal Aid
Frank Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for
Justice for what reasons the Legal Services
Commission permits consortium bids for funding on
social welfare cases. [294863]
Bridget Prentice: The “Community Legal Services
Strategy” published in 2006 advocates a new approach
of moving towards more integrated advice services that
better reflect the way in which clients experience legal
problems.
In order for providers to move towards the objective
of delivering integrated services, providers will be able
to bid in consortia for the delivery of core Social
Welfare Law (SWL) categories: debt, housing and welfare
benefits. These core SWL categories were identified as
being those that tend to be most interlinked when
addressing clients’ SWL problems. For example, a client
facing eviction from a private landlord may also be
experiencing debt and welfare benefits problems. In
order to provide an efficient and effective service for this
client, it is important that the provider from whom the
client seeks advice is able to offer assistance across the
range of problems that the client is experiencing.
Offences Against Children: Convictions
Mr. Dunne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice
how many people convicted of offences against
children committed in (a) schools, (b) sports clubs
and (c) dental surgeries have received a custodial
sentence of (i) between six months and two years and
(ii) two years or more since 1979; and how many had
previous convictions. [295322]
Claire Ward: Information held centrally by my
Department does not hold specific information on offences
beyond descriptions provided by the statutes under
which prosecutions are brought; therefore the Ministry
of Justice cannot identify all offences against children
or if the offence was committed in a school, sports club
or dental surgery.
Prison Accommodation
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice
(1) how many additional prison places his Department
plans to provide in each year between 2008 and 2015;
and what the total prison capacity will be in each such
year; [295383]
(2) when he expects work to start on each of the five
1,500 capacity prisons his Department has proposed as
an alternative to Titan prisons; and what the annual
capital cost of constructing them will be in each year to
2014-15. [295386]
Maria Eagle: The Ministry of Justice aims to increase
capacity to 96,000 prison places by 2014 which includes
delivering an additional 20,000 prison places through
the Capacity Programme. The precise numbers and
delivery timings will depend on construction schedules
and prioritisation within the prisons estate.
The procurement process for the five 1,500 capacity
prisons, known as the New Prisons Programme, is already
under way. An OJEU notice to establish a private
finance initiative (PFI) framework for firms who could
design, build and operate these prisons was published
on 3 August 2009. We anticipate appointing up to seven
firms onto the framework in spring next year with the
first prison being operational in 2013. Under the design,
build and operate contracts NOMS will not pay a
capital cost for construction and operation, and will
instead be charged a single revenue stream covering
these elements for the full period of the PFI contracts.
It is therefore not possible to identify the capital cost of
construction. However, we estimate the total cost of the
five new prisons to be in the region of £1.2 billion (at
2008-09 prices and excluding VAT and site purchase
costs).
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice
what the estimated annual capital cost of his
Department’s plan for additional prison capacity is for
each year to 2014-15. [295385]
Maria Eagle: The estimated annual capital costs for
additional prison capacity for the current prison building
programme (excluding the 1,500 place new prisons) for
each year up to 2013-14 are set out in the following
table:
Current forecast
Capital (£ million)
2009-10 410
2010-11 280
2011-12 307
2012-13 0
2013-14 0
The 8,500 programme and expansion measure
programme is expected to finish in 2011-12. Further
capacity will be provided by the New Prisons programme.
Prisoner Escapes
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice
how many prisoners serving sentences for (a) murder,
(b) attempted murder, (c) rape and (d) attempted
rape are currently unlawfully at large having escaped or
absconded from prison. [295849]