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Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 17 November 1992
LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT
Legal Aid
Mr. Byers : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department (1) if he will take the necessary steps to ensure that no individual's civil action is statute barred as a result of their being unable to proceed with their action due to their eligibility for legal aid being wrongly assessed during the period 1 October 1991 to 30 March 1992 ;
(2) if he will make a statement on the circumstances which led to the incorrect assessment of income in relation to applications for civil legal aid between 1 October 1991 and 30 March 1992 ; (3) if he will reimburse to solicitors their costs in checking clients' files in order to identify those cases where an incorrect assessment of income in relation to applications for civil legal aid was made between 1 October 1991 and 30 March 1992 ;
(4) what estimate he has made of the amount that will need to be repaid to those claimants who made a contribution to their civil legal aid costs but whose income was wrongly assessed during the period 1 October 1991 to 30 March 1992 ;
(5) how many claimants have been affected by his Department's incorrect assessment of income in relation to applications for civil legal aid during the period 1 October 1991 to 30 March 1992 ; (6) what assessment he has made of the number of clients' files that will need to be checked by solicitors in order to identify those cases in which an error in the original assessment for civil legal aid was made between 1 October 1991 and 30 March 1992.
Mr. John M. Taylor : Legal aid dependants' allowances are, by regulation, set at 25 per cent. above income support allowances. From 7 October 1991, the income support allowances for dependent children were increased by £0.25 a week. However, as a result of administrative error, legal aid allowances were not adjusted. This meant that the amounts allowed by way of child dependants' allowances in legal aid means assessments were inaccurate to the extent of £0.31 per week.
In civil cases the assessments that may have been affected are those in which the financial application was completed between 1 October 1991 and 31 March 1992 and where the applicant had dependent children. Steps have been taken to ensure that those who may have been affected by this error will have their means reassessed. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the result of the error will have been that the individuals concerned will have been required to pay slightly more by way of contribution--around £4 per dependent child payable over one year--towards the cost of their legal aid than they otherwise would. Any such overpayment will be refunded. In these cases, the question of individuals being unable to pursue
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their cases as a result of the error does not arise. In the unlikely event that this error caused an individual who would otherwise have been within the financial limits to be assessed as financially ineligible, I am prepared to consider, in the light of the particular circumstances, whether it would be appropriate for special help to be given to such individuals.It is not possible to provide accurate figures on the number of applications affected by the error, but the Benefits Agency estimates it to be about 8 per cent. of those cases assessed during the period of the error. I will consider any claims for reasonable and necessary costs incurred by individual solicitors in checking their clients' files.
DUCHY OF LANCASTER
Agencies
Mr. Paice : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what plans he has to review the status of agencies set up as part of the Government's next steps programme ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Robert Jackson : The status of potential agencies is carefully considered before the agency is launched as the then Prime Minister explained to the House on 24 October 1988, at column 14. The same alternative options of abolition, privatisation and contracting out the agency's functions will normally be re-examined during the periodic review of the agency's framework document that is a standard part of each agency's arrangements.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Prison Education
Mr. Rooney : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received on the level of funding next year for prison education.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I have received a number of representations about the competitive tendering exercise which the Prison Service is currently undertaking to determine the arrangements for the provision of education in prisons from 1 April 1993. Some of these have referred to future levels of funding. The level of financial provision for 1993-94 will need to take account of the outcome of the competitive tendering exercise and will be published in the supply estimates in due course. Payments to local education authorities in 1992-93 for the provision of education in prisons are expected to total £29.9 million, an increase of 14 per cent.--over 8 per cent. in real terms--on expenditure in 1991-92.
Shotgun Incidents
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 2 June, Official Report, column 412, on domestic shotgun incidents, how many of the victims were women.
Mr. Jack : The information requested is given in the table.
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Domestic homicide offences involving female victims
where a shotgun was used
Year
Police force area |1985 |1986 |1987 |1988 |1989 |1990
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avon and Somerset |0 |1 |0 |0 |0 |1
Bedfordshire |1 |0 |0 |0 |0 |0
Cambridgeshire |0 |0 |0 |0 |0 |0
Cheshire |0 |1 |0 |0 |0 |1
Cleveland |0 |0 |0 |0 |0 |0
Cumbria |0 |0 |1 |0 |0 |0
Derbyshire |0 |0 |1 |0 |0 |0
Devon and Cornwall |0 |4 |0 |1 |0 |0
Dorset |0 |0 |0 |1 |1 |1
Durham |1 |0 |1 |0 |0 |1
Essex |0 |0 |1 |0 |0 |0
Gloucestershire |0 |1 |0 |0 |0 |0
Greater Manchester |0 |0 |0 |0 |0 |0
Hampshire |2 |0 |0 |0 |0 |0
Humberside |0 |0 |0 |0 |2 |0
Kent |0 |1 |1 |0 |0 |0
Lancashire |0 |0 |0 |0 |0 |0
Leicestershire |0 |0 |0 |1 |0 |0
Lincolnshire |0 |0 |1 |0 |0 |0
London, City of |0 |0 |0 |0 |0 |0
Merseyside |0 |0 |0 |0 |0 |0
Metropolitan |1 |0 |1 |1 |0 |0
Norfolk |2 |1 |0 |0 |0 |0
Northamptonshire |0 |0 |0 |0 |0 |0
Northumbria |1 |0 |0 |0 |0 |0
North Yorkshire |0 |0 |0 |0 |0 |1
Nottinghamshire |1 |0 |0 |0 |0 |0
South Yorkshire |0 |0 |1 |0 |0 |1
Staffordshire |0 |0 |0 |0 |1 |0
Suffolk |1 |1 |0 |1 |0 |1
Surrey |0 |0 |0 |1 |0 |0
Sussex |0 |0 |1 |1 |1 |0
Thames Valley |0 |0 |0 |0 |1 |0
Warwickshire |0 |0 |1 |0 |0 |0
West Mercia |0 |1 |0 |1 |1 |1
West Midlands |0 |1 |0 |0 |0 |1
West Yorkshire |0 |1 |0 |0 |0 |1
Wiltshire |0 |0 |0 |0 |1 |0
Dyfed-Powys |0 |0 |0 |0 |1 |1
Gwent |0 |0 |0 |0 |0 |1
North Wales |0 |0 |0 |1 |0 |0
South Wales |0 |0 |0 |1 |0 |0
England and Wales |10 |13 |10 |10 |9 |11
Notes:
1. Offences currently recorded as homicide as at 1 September 1991.
2. The term "domestic" includes the following relationships of victim to suspect: daughter; parent; spouse; cohabitant or former spouse or
cohabitant; other family; lover or former lover including spouse's lover or lover's spouse or other associate.
Wolds Prison
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many full-time equivalent probation officers are employed at Her Majesty's prison Wolds ; and who is their employer.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Four probation officers work at Her Majesty's prison Wolds. They are employed by the local probation service.
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many full-time equivalent chaplains are employed at Her Majesty's prison Wolds ; and who is their employer ;
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(2) how many full-time equivalent (a) medical and (b) education staff are employed at Her Majesty's prison Wolds ; and who is their employer in each case.Mr. Peter Lloyd : Chaplains and education staff are employees of Group 4 Remand Services Ltd ; medical staff are sub-contracted. The numbers are subject to commercial confidentiality and a matter for Group 4 Remand Services Ltd.
Electoral System
Mr. Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 9 November to the hon. Member for Coventry, North -West (Mr. Robinson), Official Report, column 630, to which parts of the United Kingdom the shortfall figure for electoral registration refers.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The estimate relates to England and Wales. A comparison between parliamentary electorates and the corresponding population estimates in England and Wales, and in Scotland, for each year since 1981 is contained in the OPCS publication "1992 Electoral Statistics", series EL No. 19, a copy of which is in the Library.
Women Prisoners
Ms. Ruddock : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which prisons allow home leave visits for (a) foreign women prisoners and (b) female prisoners convicted of drugs importation ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Governors of female establishments may grant a period of home leave only to those prisoners who are eligible for home leave and who satisfy the conditions for granting such leave, as laid down in circular instruction 43/1992, a copy of which is in the Library.
Ms. Ruddock : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of (a) women prisoners and (b) foreign women prisoners have (i) children and (ii) children aged under five years in this country ; and what proportion of those children are put in care on the imprisonment of the mother.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The answers given to the national prison survey in January and February 1991 indicate that 47 per cent. of women prisoners had children under the age of 18 who were living with them just before they came into prison. At the time the survey was undertaken, 10 per cent. of these children were being looked after by foster parents, and 2 per cent. were in children's homes or in care. A census carried out in December 1989 recorded that 28 per cent. of the sentenced women who responded had children under five years old. There are no separate figures for foreign women from either of these sources.
Prisoners' Correspondence
Ms. Ruddock : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the requirement for letters to foreign prisoners to be sent for translation still stands ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Peter Lloyd : Correspondence written to prisoners in a language other than English requires translation only if it is liable to be read under the terms of circular instruction 10/1991, a copy of which is in the Library.
Ms. Ruddock : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps have been taken to enable prisoners with reading or language difficulties to get their letters read with minimum delay ; and if he will list the prisons running such a scheme.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Prison staff are available, as part of their normal duties, to assist prisoners to get their letters read.
Miscarriages of Justice
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what investigations he has made into the percentage of possible miscarriages of justice referred to him that involve black people.
Mr. Jack : Representations received about alleged miscarriages of justice do not normally reveal the ethnic origin of the person or persons concerned. As a consequence, the statistics sought are not available.
Prisoners (Phone Calls)
Ms. Ruddock : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consideration has been given to supplying £10 phone cards in prison to enable foreign visitors to make calls overseas ; and which prisons currently allow free phone calls by foreign prisoners to their families.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Prisoners may purchase from earnings or private cash a minimum of two £2 or £4 phonecards a week. Consideration will be given to the need for £10 phonecards in the light of demand. Governors have discretion to enable foreign visitors to phone home or allow incoming or reverse calls on official lines.
Information about those prisons that currently allow free phone calls by foreign prisoners to their families is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Homelessness
Mr. Bermingham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will publish his proposals for a Bill on the use of residential property by homeless persons ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Jack : The Government are committed to strengthening and improving the law against the unlawful occupation of premises by squatters. We are considering the best way forward in the light of the responses received to our recent consultation exercise and we will announce our conclusions in due course.
Yugoslavia
Mr. Madden : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what notice he gave to his counterparts throughout the EC of the decision to impose visa requirements on nationals of former Yugoslav states.
Mr. Charles Wardle : There is no requirement to give notice of the imposition of a visa regime and it is not the
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normal practice of member states to do so. Three days' notice was given to the Irish Republic because of the country's inclusion in the common travel area. Other member states were not given advance notice.Mr. Madden : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received following his announcement to impose visa requirements on nationals of former states of Yugoslavia.
Mr. Charles Wardle : By 12 November, seven hon. and right hon. Members, one Member of the European Parliament, 12 independent, charitable and church organisations and a number of members of the public had made written and telephone representations on matters arising out of the decision to implement the visa regime. These representations have mainly concerned requests to waive visa requirements in certain circumstances.
Police Cells
Mr. Bermingham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners were held in police cells for each day since 1 October.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The available information is given in the table. Figures for weekends are not collected centrally.
Daily total of inmates held in police cells since 1
October
Date |Inmates in police
|cells
------------------------------------------------------
1 October 1992 |792
2 October 1992 |723
5 October 1992 |738
6 October 1992 |717
7 October 1992 |702
8 October 1992 |674
9 October 1992 |675
12 October 1992 |640
13 October 1992 |647
14 October 1992 |631
15 October 1992 |620
16 October 1992 |632
19 October 1992 |622
20 October 1992 |629
21 October 1992 |642
22 October 1992 |611
23 October 1992 |584
26 October 1992 |550
27 October 1992 |563
28 October 1992 |567
29 October 1992 |546
30 October 1992 |532
2 November 1992 |525
3 November 1992 |530
4 November 1992 |498
5 November 1992 |478
6 November 1992 |481
9 November 1992 |465
10 November 1992 |466
11 November 1992 |455
12 November 1992 |441
Police Overtime
Mr. Bermingham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the total budget allocation for police overtime in England and Wales for the financial year 1992-93.
Mr. Charles Wardle : Detailed information on current overtime expediture for provincial police forces in England
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and Wales is not held centrally, but their overtime expenditure for 1992-93 has been estimated at £148.9 million. The 1992-93 police overtime budget of the Metropolitan police service is £71.2 million.Mr. Bermingham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what police overtime payments in England and Wales have been routinely made since 1 October ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Charles Wardle : This information is not available centrally.
Mr. Bermingham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recalculations for the police overtime budget in England and Wales there have been for the financial year 1992-93 since 1 April ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Charles Wardle : Information about changes in current overtime budgets for the provincial forces in England and Wales is not available centrally. The Metropolitan police service 1992-93 budget has not been revised since the beginning of the financial year.
Prisons
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was (a) the date of official opening, (b) the date prisoners were first received, (c) the certified normal accommodation and (d) the prison roll at 1 November, for (i) HMP Holme House, (ii) HMP Lancaster Farms, (iii) HMP Wordhill, (iv) HMP High Down and (v) HMP Wolds.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : None of these establishments has yet had a formal opening. These usually take place some time after the prison has become fully operational. Construction of Lancaster Farms has not yet been completed and the establishment is still in the hands of the building contractors. The other information requested is shown in the table.