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Mr. Peter Lloyd : I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to a question from the hon. Member for Bradford, North (Mr. Wall) on 5 December at column 181.
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has received any indication from Mr. Don Doreston, the assistant chief constable of Derbyshire, as to when his report into the allegations that members of the Leicestershire police force were involved in the leaking of information to Mr. Joseph Wambaugh will be completed.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I understand that the investigation into the allegations of improper disclosure of information by officers from the Leicestershire constabulary has now been completed. The report has been submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions and to the Police Complaints Authority, who supervised the investigation, for their consideration.
Mr. Boyes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police constables left their jobs in each police authority from 1978 to the present date (a) to retire or (b) to take other jobs outside the police force.
Mr. Lloyd : The information is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
General information on police officers retiring or resigning from provisional forces is available at appendix 9 in reports of Her Majesty's chief inspector of constabulary, copies of which are available in the Library.
Mr. Boyes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers of all ranks have been injured requiring hospitalisation by police authority for the latest year for which figures are available.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The information is not collected centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Boyes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers of all ranks have been (i) suspended for seven days or more and (ii) dismissed by each police authority for each year from 1980 to the current year.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Information relating to numbers of officers suspended from duty pending investigation of alleged misconduct is not held centrally.
The table shows numbers of officers punished in disciplinary proceedings by dismissal from their force. Figures for the current year are not yet available.
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Force |1980 |1981 |1982 |1983 |1984 |1985 |1986 |1987 |1988 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avon and Somerset |1 |- |- |2 |- |2 |3 |1 |2 Bedfordshire |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |1 Cambridgeshire |- |- |2 |- |- |- |- |- |- Cheshire |2 |- |- |1 |- |- |- |- |- City of London |- |1 |- |- |- |- |- |- |- Cleveland |1 |- |1 |2 |1 |- |- |- |1 Cumbria |- |- |- |1 |- |- |1 |- |- Derbyshire |- |- |- |1 |- |- |- |3 |3 Devon and Cornwall |- |- |- |- |1 |- |- |- |- Dorset |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- Durham |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- Dyffd-Powys |- |- |- |- |- |2 |- |- |- Essex |- |- |- |- |- |- |2 |2 |- Gloucestershire |- |- |- |1 |- |- |- |- |- Greater Manchester |1 |3 |3 |5 |5 |1 |5 |2 |2 Gwent |1 |- |- |- |- |1 |- |- |- Hampshire |- |- |1 |3 |- |- |- |1 |- Hertfordshire |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- Humberside |- |1 |- |1 |1 |- |- |- |- Kent |- |- |- |- |- |- |1 |- |1 Lancashire |- |- |- |5 |1 |- |2 |2 |2 Leicestershire |1 |- |1 |1 |- |- |- |- |- Lincolnshire |- |- |- |1 |- |- |- |- |- Merseyside |- |- |- |1 |3 |- |2 |1 |2 Metropolitan |16 |27 |8 |10 |14 |9 |12 |15 |19 Norfolk |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- Northamptonshire |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |1 |1 Northumbria |3 |4 |2 |- |- |- |- |- |5 North Wales |- |- |- |2 |- |- |- |1 |1 North Yorkshire |- |- |- |- |- |1 |- |- |- Nottinghamshire |- |2 |1 |- |- |- |- |- |- South Wales |1 |- |- |- |- |2 |2 |3 |5 South Yorkshire |- |- |- |- |1 |- |- |- |- Staffordshire |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- Suffolk |- |2 |- |- |- |- |- |- |- Surrey |- |- |- |- |1 |2 |1 |1 Sussex |- |- |- |- |- |- |1 |- |- Thames Valley |- |- |2 |1 |1 |1 |2 |- |- Warwickshire |- |- |1 |- |- |- |- |1 |1 West Mercia |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |1 |- West Midlands |- |- |- |- |1 |- |1 |- |1 West Yorkshire |1 |1 |- |- |2 |2 |3 |1 |1 Wiltshire |- |1 |- |- |- |- |- |- |-
Mr. Boyes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will produce a series of tables showing, as a percentage of the population, for each police authority by (a) police constables, (b) sergeants, (c) inspectors, (d) chief inspectors, (e) superintendents, (f) chief superintendents and (g) higher ranking officers in descending order by the ratio of (i) police constables, (ii) sergeants, (iii) inspectors, including chief inspectors, (iv) superintendents, including chief superintendents and (v) ranks above chief superintendent to population.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I shall write to the hon. Member.
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Mr. Boyes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will produce a table showing for each police authority the numbers of (i) police constables,(ii) sergeants, (iii) inspectors, including chief, (iv) superintendents, including chief and (v) ranks above chief superintendent for each year from 1978 to the present.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Information on numbers and ranks of police officers in each force is available for each year up until 31 December 1988 in the annual reports of Her Majesty's chief inspector of constabulary, copies of which are available in the Library. Force establishments by rank as at December 1989 are shown in the table :
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Mr. Boyes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will produce a table showing the percentage increase/decrease in the number of (a) police constables, (b) sergeants, (c) inspectors, including chief inspectors, (d) superintendents, including chief superintendents, and (e) ranks above chief superintendent, by police authority, in ascending order, by police constables and population for each year from 1978 to the latest available date.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The information is not readily available and could be produced only at disproportionate cost.
Information on police numbers and ranks in each police force together with police/population ratios is given in the annual reports of Her Majesty's chief inspector of constabulary, copies of which are available in the Library.
Ms. Richardson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has any plans to issue guidance for professional purposes relating to formation of an anti-abortion guild of police officers.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : If such a guild were to be formed, it would be for chief officers of police to consider the possible relevance of paragraph 1 of schedule 2 to the Police Regulations 1987. This provides that a member of a police force shall at all times abstain from any activity which is likely to interfere with the impartial discharge of his duties or which is likely to give rise to the impression among members of the public that it may so interfere.
Mr. Haynes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he proposes to meet the Association of Chief Police Officers to discuss the presence of media personnel on police operations.
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Mr. Peter Lloyd : I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to a question from the hon. Member for Mansfield (Mr. Meale) on 5 December 1989 at column 180.
Probation Officers
39. Mr. Hunter : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the average caseload of a probation officer in England and Wales ; and what are the comparable statistics for recent years.
Mr. John Patten : The information requested up to 1987 is published in Probation Statistics England and Wales 1987 (table 11.1). In 1988 the average caseload, excluding community service, of full time maingrade probation officers on general duties was 29.3 compared with 31.6 in 1984 and 32.1 in 1985.
Assaults on Police
43. Mr. David Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has as to the number of assaults made on police officers during 1988 ; and what was the figure for 1987.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Arrangements have been made for information on assaults against police officers to be collected centrally for 1989 and subsequent years. We have no realistic estimate for earlier years, because forces recorded such information in a number of different ways and no central collation was made.
Crime Prevention Panels
44. Mr. Patrick Thompson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crime prevention panels now exist in England and Wales.
Mr. John Patten : At the end of June 1989 there were 398 crime prevention panels and 209 junior panels in
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England and Wales. More than 40 junior panels were formed in the first six months of this year, in addition to a continuing growth in the number of senior panels.50. Mr. Riddick : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he has taken to encourage crime prevention panels to be set up in secondary schools ; and what level of success he has met.
Mr. John Patten : Crime Concern, the national crime prevention organisation established last year, is encouraging the setting up of youth crime prevention panels. In July 1989, Crime Concern organised a successful national youth crime prevention panels conference, opened by Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal and attended by Ministers from the Department of Education and Science and representatives from the Home Office. Crime Concern is now planning a programme of work to stimulate the growth of youth crime prevention panels. At the end of June 1989 there were 209 youth crime prevention panels in England and Wales, mostly based in schools, an increase of almost 40 in six months.
Industrial Security
47. Mr. Bellingham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent representations he has received about promoting industrial security schemes.
Mr. John Patten : No recent representations of this kind have been received although during a visit to Norfolk in October my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr. Hurd) received an inquiry from a member of the Kings Lynn borough council about the possibility of reduced insurance premiums for firms in industrial watch schemes.
Private Security Industry
48. Mr. John P. Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans the Government have to introduce legislation for the statutory control of the private security industry.
Mr. John Patten : While statutory control is an option, we are considering, in the light of the report of a Home Office working group, whether there is scope for further improvements in self-regulation of the private security industry.
Charities
49. Mr. Andrew Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications to register new charities have been received in the latest year for which statistics are available by the Charity Commissioners.
Mr. John Patten : I understand that during the calendar year 1988 the Charity Commissioners received approximately 4,011 applications to register new charities.
74. Mr. Win Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he last met the Charity Commissioner ; and what matters were discussed.
Mr. John Patten : My right hon. and learned Friend has not yet met the Chief Charity Commissioner, but my right hon. and noble Friend the Minister of State with special
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responsibility for charities is frequently in touch with him on a wide range of matters concerning charities and the work of the commission.Racially Motivated Attacks
51. Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give the figures for the number of racially motivated attacks for the last year that figures are available ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John Patten : The only available information relates to the Metropolitan police district and is published in the Commissioner's annual report, a copy of which is available in the Library. The total number of racial incidents reported during 1988 was 2,214, an increase of less than 2 per cent. over 1987.
Victim Support Schemes
52. Mr. Couchman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many victim support schemes now operate in England and Wales.
Mr. John Patten : Three hundred and fifty-four.
Neighbourhood Watch
53. Mr. Ian Bruce : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many neighbourhood watch schemes now exist in England and Wales.
78. Dr. Woodcock : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many neighbourhood watch schemes now exist in England and Wales.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I refer my hon. Friends to the reply that I gave earlier today to my hon. Friend the Member for Romsey and Waterside (Mr. Colvin).
75. Mr. Burt : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will assess the contribution being made to crime prevention in Greater Manchester by the neighbourhood watch scheme : and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John Patten : Although I am not aware of any specific research into the effects of neighbourhood watch in Greater Manchester as a whole, figures for recorded crime for the 12 months ending in June 1989 show a drop of over 5 per cent. in Greater Manchester. This decrease, coupled with a 8 per cent. decline in the number of recorded burglaries, must be encouraging to all those engaged in crime prevention work, especially members of neighbourhood watch schemes.
The Kirkholt burglary prevention project in Rochdale, which included a variant of neighbourhood watch, has resulted in a substantial drop in the level of residential burglary. A full report of the Kirkholt project is in Home Office crime prevention unit paper No. 13, a copy of which is in the Library.
76. Miss Widdecombe : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware of any local authorities whose policy it is to refuse to permit neighbourhood watch signs to be erected in highways within their jurisdiction.
Mr. John Patten : We are aware that some local authorities have refused to grant planning permission for
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the erection of neighbourhood watch signs and I deplore this. The Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations 1987 gave deemed consent for the erection of signs relating to properly approved neighbourhood watch schemes which were not to be placed on highway land. Where signs are required on highway land I hope that all highway authorities will follow the Department of Transport's lead in approving such signs unless they cause a hazard to traffic or pedestrians.Television Licences
55. Mr. Devlin : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will review the provision of reduced fee television licences to old age pensioners.
Mr. Mellor : We have no plans to do so.
Remand Prisoners
56. Mr. Carrington : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the latest figures for numbers of remand prisoners held in police cells ; and what were the comparable figures six months and one year ago.
Mr. Mellor : On Wednesday 6 December, there were no remand prisoners held in police cells in England and Wales. Comparable figures for 6 December 1988 and 5 May 1989 were 945 and 210 prisoners respectively, most of whom were on remand.
Phone Tapping
58. Mr. Malcolm Bruce : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received about phone tapping ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Waddington : Between 1 January and 30 November this year, 102 letters were received covering a variety of matters relating to the interception of communications.
Bill of Rights
65. Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proposals he has for the introduction of a Bill of Rights ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The Government have no plans to introduce a Bill of Rights.
Harmondsworth Detention Centre
68. Mr. Henderson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he last visited Harmondsworth detention centre ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Waddington : When I was Minister of State at the Home Office between 1983 and 1987. I hope to make a further visit in due course.
Safer Cities Initiative
70. Mr. Martyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will consider increasing the amount of money which he provided for local crime prevention work in the safer cities initiative launched in March 1988.
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Mr. John Patten : Subject to detailed scrutiny of estimates and to parliamentary approval, expenditure in excess of £6 million is planned for local crime prevention work under the safer cities programme in 1990- 91. It is too early in the life of this new and innovative programme to seek significant increases above this level.
Channel Tunnel
71. Mr. Teddy Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consideration he has given to the conduct of immigration procedures and passport controls for persons travelling in the proposed Channel tunnel ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : We intend to put in place procedures which, without unnecessarily impeding the flow of bona fide travellers, will serve to maintain effective immigration control. I hope to make an announcement on the detail of the procedures shortly.
Manual Records
73. Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will introduce further legislation allowing individuals access to manual records concerning themselves held by Government agencies ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Mellor : There are no present plans to do so.
Prindus
77. Mr. Butler : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will state (a) the finance and (b) the profit or loss of Prindus in the latest available year.
Mr. Mellor : Prindus was a trading name used by the directorate of industries and farms. The directorate has been superseded by Prison Service Industries and Farms and the trading name has not been used for some years. This House voted finance for prison service industries and farms for the year ending 31 March 1990 in the sum of £20,250,016. Provisional trading results for that year have been published in paragraphs 87 and 88 of the report on the work of the prison service April 1988-March 1989 which has been placed in the Library. The net operating cost of PSIF for 1988-89 was £18.1 million.
Police Complaints Authority
79. Mr. Maclennan : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consideration he is giving to the composition and powers of, and access to, the Police Complaints Authority.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : My right hon. and learned Friend has no plans at present for any changes in the composition of, or access to, the Police Complaints Authority. My right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr. Hurd) announced on 27 June 1987 at column 396 our intention to make a number of changes in the arrangements for dealing with complaints against the police- -including some changes in the powers of the Police Complaints Authority-- in response to recommendations set out in the authority's triennial review 1985-88.
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Young Offenders
80. Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what initiatives he proposes to take to overcome the added problems facing those who seek to rehabilitate young offenders arising from recent changes in social security regulations.
Mr. John Patten : I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to a question from the hon. Member for Barnsley, West and Penistone (Mr. McKay) on 5 December 1989.
Animal Experiments
82. Mr. Steve Norris : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has any proposals to amend the licensing arrangements under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : We have no plans to change the legal framework. My right hon. and learned Friend hopes to make an order bringing into effect the designation of breeding and supplying establishments with effect from January 1990. Other detailed changes are made in the administrative arrangements from time to time.
Animal Welfare
Mrs. Margaret Ewing : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has any plans for introducing further legislation on animal welfare.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : We have no plans at present for such legislation for England and Wales.
Ethnic Minorities
Mr. John Townend : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the main purposes for which grants under section 11 of the Local Government Act 1966 are paid to local authorities.
Mr. John Patten : Under section 11 of the Local Government Act 1966 grant may be paid for the employment of staff to local authorities who make special provision for ethnic minorities whose language or customs differ from those of the rest of the community. The grant is an important way in which barriers preventing people from the ethnic minorities from using fully the opportunities for economic, educational and social development can be broken down and to enable them to play a growing and effective part in the mainstream of British life.
Section 11 grant has been the subject of a scrutiny review. The review is currently being considered with a view to ensuring that the grant meets more effectively the needs of the ethnic minorities and we hope to be in a position to announce the results of that consideration in the not too distant future.
Immigration
Mr. Cartwright : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent investigations have been undertaken by officers of the immigration service into fraudulent marriages of convenience ; and with what results.
Mr. Cartwright : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will investigate the extent
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to which fraudulent marriages are used as a means of evading the immigration rules ; and if he will make a statement.Mr. Peter Lloyd : Inquiries over the last 18 months have revealed evidence of possible wrongdoing in a number of cases involving applications for settlement on the basis of marriage. These inquiries are continuing.
Mr. Cartwright : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has had that the personal data of British citizens held at the general registry office are being misused in connection with fraudulent marriages of convenience ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to a question from the hon. Member for Poole (Mr. Ward) on 31 October 1989 at column 114 .
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many meetings Ministers in his Department have had on immigration cases with hon. and right hon. Members for each month of the current year.
Mr. Waddington : In addition to telephone conversations and other personal exchanges, Ministers have held formal meetings with right hon. and hon. Members as follows :
|Meetings
----------------------------
January |2
February |4
March |4
April |2
May |2
June |6
July |12
August |0
September |0
October |0
November |3
December |1
Mr. Cartwright : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the adequacy of staffing levels of the immigration service at Isis house, SE1 to deal with the volume of immigration offences ; and whether he has any plans to increase staffing levels.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The allocation of staff within the immigration service is kept under regular review to ensure the most effective and efficient use of available resources. As far as staffing for future years is concerned, I invite the hon. Member to await the publication in the new year of the Government's public expenditure White Paper.
Judicial System (Appointments)
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if any progress has been made concerning the research he has commissioned for an appointments system in (a) the magistrates courts and (b) juvenile courts.
Mr. John Patten : Since the publication last year of the results of research on ways of reducing waiting time on the day, the Home Office has held two seminars for justices' clerks and drawn the attention of all clerks to the reductions in waiting time which can be achieved by better
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