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Written Answers to Questions

Monday 6 December 1993

NATIONAL HERITAGE

Public Libraries (Hansard)

Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what information he has received on the cancellation by public libraries of subscriptions to Hansard due to shortage of funds ; and what steps he is taking to ensure the public access to the Official Report via public libraries is maintained with sufficient resources.

Mr. Sproat : I have received no information from library authorities, or from any other source, that public libraries have cancelled Hansard subscriptions. The responsibility for providing public library services, and for choosing their stock, rests with local library authorities, most of which provide an extensive range of official publications--among them, Hansard .

Information Security

Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage whether he has incorporated the code of practice for information security management, published by the British Standards Institution, into relevant contracts with information technology suppliers.

Mr. Sproat : The security requirements for IT systems and services used by central Government Departments are stated in the HMG IT security policy document. This document is supported by use of the CCTA risk analysis and management method--CRAMM--and baseline security for IT systems --BSITS--risk analysis methods and by supporting advice and guidance published by the HMG IT security authorities. These are regularly reviewed to ensure best practice, have been developed specifically for use within government and have been in operation for some time. The code of practice for information security management was developed by and established for use by commercial organisations and does not specifically address the requirements for the protection of official information.

NAO and PAC

Mr. Alan Williams : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage how many files marked "Not for National Audit Office eyes" are held by the Department ; and how many are marked "Not for Public Accounts Committee eyes".

Mr. Sproat : My Department, which was established in April 1992, has not yet reviewed the full range of files inherited from former parent Departments and it is not possible to give a figure for those bearing a marking "Not for NAO eyes". Since April 1992 DNH has opened a very small number of new files with this marking.

The marking "Not for NAO eyes" is used in accordance with an agreement between the Treasury and the National Audit Office, under which documents relating to the


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handling of relations between Departments and the NAO and PAC are not automatically available to the NAO while they are current. There is no marking "Not for PAC eyes".

Film Industry

Mr. Nicholas Winterton : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if he will list those London boroughs of which he is aware which (a) have fully dedicated personnel working to attract film production companies to locations and facilities in their area and (b) which do not have such facilities.

Mr. Brooke : I am informed that no London borough has personnel dedicated solely to this work, but all have staff who combine it with other tasks such as press, marketing or sponsorship work.

Mr. Nicholas Winterton : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what steps he is taking to ensure that overseas film producers have access to a single co-ordinating body which is specifically intended to give advice on film locations and facilities in London ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Brooke : The British Film Commission, which is funded by my Department, is helping to finance a series of studies on the establishment of film commissioners in those areas of the United Kingdom, such as London, where no such bodies yet exist. As part of the research, business plans will be drawn up for use in raising funds for the establishment of commissions for London and elsewhere.

Mr. Nicholas Winterton : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage (1) if he will make a statement setting out the background of representations he has received and made about the future of the Elstree film studios ;

(2) when he last met the owners of the Elstree film studios to discuss with them the current plans for the redevelopment of the site as a major retail outlet ;

(3) what plans he has to make it his policy to seek to intervene to initiate discussions between relevant parties in an attempt to preserve the Elstree film studios as an ongoing commercial venture ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Brooke : The future use of Elstree studios is a matter for the commercial judgment of the owners, subject to any planning consent which may have to be obtained. Although I have received a number of representations about the matter, I have not met the owners of the studios and have no plans to intervene.

Mr. Nicholas Winterton : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what information he has concerning the financial and other incentives which are made available by the Republic of Ireland to attract investment by film production companies.

Mr. Brooke : This is not a matter for the United Kingdom Government, but the Irish authorities are happy to provide Members with the information sought and I will place it in the Library when it is received.


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National Lottery

Mr. Maclennan : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage which consultants have been retained by the Director General of the National Lottery to evaluate the lottery franchise bids.

Mr. Sproat : This is an operational issue and therefore a matter for the director general. I shall ask him to write to the hon. Member and place copies of his letter in the Libraries of the House.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Computerised Criminal Records

Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has held with the Police Complaints Authority or the Data Protection Registrar concerning computerised criminal records and their use by police officers.

Mr. Charles Wardle : Officials are in regular contact with the office of the Data Protection Registrar on these matters, but I am not aware of any similar discussions with the Police Complaints Authority.

Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions or dismissals of police officers for the persistent misuse of computerised criminal records have taken place in each of the last five years.

Mr. Charles Wardle : This information is not collected centrally.

Sunday Trading--A Guide tothe Options for Reform"

Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which bus company is portrayed in the photograph on page 18 of the White Paper "Sunday Trading--A Guide to the Options for Reform", Cm 2300.

Mr. Peter Lloyd : The Leaside bus company.

Prison Ships

Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what lessons his Department learned from the incident involving the MV Earl William in 1987 ; what account has been taken of such incidents in his consideration of the proposal for prison ships ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Peter Lloyd : The incident involving the MV Earl William highlighted the importance of safety issues in using ships for purposes of detention.

Health and safety issues are being fully taken into account in considering the option of using marine detention facilities to accommodate the rising prison population.

This is only one option being considered ; no final decision has been taken on its feasibility.

Electoral Register

Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has of the number of electoral registration officers who have implemented the


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voluntary scheme described in Home Office circular RPA 356, which requires records to be retained by electoral registration officers detailing who has been sold copies of the electoral register ; and what plans he has to make the scheme compulsory.

Mr. Peter Lloyd : Information on the number of electoral registration officers participating in the scheme set out in circular RPA 356 is not collected centrally. There are no plans to make the scheme compulsory.

Advertising

Mr. Grocott : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much his Department spends annually on (a) television advertising, (b) radio advertising and (c) press advertising ; and what were the corresponding figures for 1985 and 1979.

Mr. Howard : Figures for expenditure on television and press advertising for 1979-80 were given in answer to a question from the hon. Member for Newham, North-West (Mr. Banks) on 25 May 1984, column 587 and those for 1984-85 were given in answer to another question from the hon. Member for Newham, North-West on 19 December 1985, column 275.

Figures for radio advertising for 1979-80 and 1984-85 were given in answer to a question from the hon. Member for Holborn and St. Pancras (Mr. Dobson) on 19 November 1986, column 203.

During the current financial year--1993-94--advertising expenditure has been as follows :


                       |£                  

-------------------------------------------

Television advertising |3,722,469          

Radio advertising      |120,450            

Press advertising      |478,129            

Estimate projected spent on advertising for the remainder of this financial year--1993-94--subject to confirmation is :


                       |£              

---------------------------------------

Television advertising |-              

Radio advertising      |-              

Press advertising      |212,000        

Police Vests

Mr. Shersby : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what consideration is being given by the police security scientific development branch to the production of a standard for (a) a knife-proof vest and (b) a bullet-resistant vest ; when he expects a standard to be adopted ; and if he will make a statement ; (2) what offers his Department has received from manufacturers of knife-proof and bullet-resistant vests to pay for the testing and approval of such equipment ; if he will make it his policy to take advantage of such offers to enable a testing programme to be carried out quickly ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Charles Wardle : The police scientific development branch--PSDB- -has published standard procedures and criteria which it uses in assessing both types of vest.


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No offers have been received from manufacturers to fund the testing of such equipment. It is primarily for chief officers of police and their police authorities to decide on the equipment to be used in an individual force. PSDB carries out tests on such equipment as part of its function as a research and development organisation and gives advice to police forces on the equipment's performance and characteristics. Charging manufacturers for testing products would compromise the PSDB's independence and reduce its capability to respond to the requirements of the police and the Home Office.

Jack the Ripper Diaries

Mr. Parry : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what inquiries have been conducted by the Metropolitan police into the alleged diaries of Jack the Ripper ; and if he will make a statement ;

(2) if the report of the Metropolitan police on the Jack the Ripper diaries has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Charles Wardle : I understand from the Commissioner that the Metropolitan police have conducted inquiries into the origin and authenticity of the manuscript diary purporting to have been written by Jack the Ripper, and into the circumstances surrounding the publication of the manuscript. A report has been prepared and will be submitted shortly to the Crown Prosecution Service.

North Wales Police

Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many additional police officers were (a) sought by and (b) authorised for the North Wales police in each year since 1989-90 ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Charles Wardle : The information requested is set out in the table :


North Wales Police |Number of posts   |Number of posts                      

                   |applied for       |approved                             

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

1989-90            |31                |4                                    

1990-91            |21                |21                                   

1991-92            |0                 |0                                    

1992-93            |30                |17                                   

1993-94            |58                |0                                    

1994-95            |58                |0                                    

My right hon. and noble Friend wrote to the hon. Member of 1 December, letting him know that there will be no establishment increases next year, and explaining a number of initiatives which will allow forces to increase their available operational resources during 1994-95. A copy of that letter has been placed in the Library.

Forced Subject Access

Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to make forced subject access a criminal offence ; and what estimate he has of the scale of the use of forced subject access.

Mr. Peter Lloyd : The issue of enforced subject access is dealt with in the draft EU directive on data protection which is currently under negotiation in Brussels. The


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Government will review the position in the light of the outcome of that directive. No firm figures for the use of enforced subject access are available, but the Data Protection Registrar estimates that a substantial proportion of subject access requests in certain sectors may be instigated by third parties.

Visa Application Interviews

Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the number of (a) men and (b) women who were waiting for interview for (i) settlement, (ii) education and (iii) visitors' visas at Bombay, New Delhi, Karachi and Islamabad on 22 November.

Mr. Charles Wardle : The latest available information on settlement queues and non-settlement applications awaiting first interview for posts in Pakistan and India relates to 31 October 1993 and is given in the table. No information is available centrally on the gender of applicants.


Number of applicants for Entry Clearance Visas     

waiting for first interview at 31 October 1993     

           |Bombay   |New Delhi|Islamabad          

---------------------------------------------------

Settlement queues awaiting first interview         

Queue 1<1> |0        |0        |92                 

Queue 2<2> |56       |337      |1,172              

Queue 3<3> |314      |218      |233                

Queue 4<4> |262      |137      |769                

                                                   

Non-settlement applications awaiting first intervie

Visitors   |1,124    |39       |231                

Students   |4        |0        |0                  

<1>Persons with a claim to the right of abode,     

dependent relatives over 70-years-old, special     

compassionate cases.                               

<2>Spouses, and children under 18-years-old.       

<3>Fiance(e)s and others applying for the first    

time for resettlement.                             

<4>Re-applicants.                                  

Information on the number of applicants in Karachi is not available centrally but all applicants are expected to receive a first interview within three weeks.

Remand Prisoners

Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the number of (a) men and (b) women remand prisoners being held in police cells in England and Wales as of 22 November.

Mr. Peter Lloyd : Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the director general of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from D. Lewis to Mr. Tom Cox, dated 6 December 1993 : The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the number of remand prisoners held in police cells as at 22 November.

A total of 17 prisoners, all male, were held in police cells on 22 November. All 17 were received into prison custody the following day.

Home Leave

Mr. Dunn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many convicted criminals have failed to return from home leave in each of the last five years ; and for what crimes they had been convicted ;


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(2) on what criteria convicted criminals are allowed home leave ; and upon whose judgment home leave is granted ;

(3) in which year the system of home leave was instituted ; and how many convicted criminals have committed further offences while on home leave since the system was introduced ;

(4) if he will indicate what representations he has received regarding the abuse by convicted criminals of home leave.

Mr. Peter Lloyd : Responsibility for these matters has been delegated to the director general of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from D. Lewis to Mr. Bob Dunn, dated 6 December 1993 The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Questions about the grant of home leave to offenders and the availability of statistics concerning prisoners who have committed offences or absconded whilst on home leave.

It is understood that the home leave scheme was introduced in the 1950s as a means of enabling suitable prisoners to have an opportunity to prepare for release as part of their throughcare and reintegration into society. Since then, there has been little change to existing policy and practice, which is set out in Circular Instruction 43/92, a copy of which is in the House of Commons Library. This offers guidance on the operation of the scheme to governors who are responsible for deciding, in the light of all known available information about a particular offender and the risk which he or she may present to public safety, whether it would be right to sanction the privilege of home leave. The operation of the current scheme is currently being reviewed by a working party which is expected to report shortly.

We are currently considering how statistics on offences which are committed by prisoners and other home leave failures can be best collated centrally. I regret to say that at present the information you request is not available.

Security Cameras

Mr. Dunn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will publish crime figures for those local authorities which have taken steps to install security cameras for the 12 months prior to and after installation ;

(2) which local authorities have, or are considering the installation of, security cameras in their town centres, in association with the police.

Mr. Charles Wardle : This information is not available.

Illegal Weapons

Mr. Parry : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons have been arrested in Liverpool in connection with stockpiling of illegal weapons in each of the past three years ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Charles Wardle : The information is not available in the form requested.

National Audit Office andPublic Accounts Committee

Mr. Alan Williams : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many files marked "Not for National Audit Office eyes" are held by the Department ; and how many are marked "Not for Public Accounts Committee eyes".


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Mr. Howard : There is no marking "Not for PAC eyes".

No central record of files marked "Not for NAO eyes" is maintained. The information could be obtained only by examining individually each of the 1.5 million extant files in my Department, and could therefore only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The marking "Not for NAO eyes" is used rarely and in accordance with an agreement between the Treasury and the National Audit Office, under which documents relating to the handling of relations between Departments and the NAO and PAC are not automatically available to the NAO while they are current.

Background Radiation

Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the locations of the nuclear (a) out-stations and (b) central control units funded by his Department that monitor background radiation ; and what other types of monitoring they are responsible for.

Mr. Yeo : I have been asked to reply. Background radiation in terms of gamma radiation dose rates is monitored by the radioactive incident monitoring network--RIMNET--operated by the Department of the Environment. The system currently has monitoring stations at : Aberporth

Aldergrove

Aviemore

Benbecula

Boulmer

Brize Norton

Carlisle

Coltishall

Coningsby

Clunie

Dalcross

Dyce

Elmdon

Eskdalemuir

Exeter

Finningley

Gatwick

Heathrow

Hurn

Herstmonceux

Jersey

Kirkwall

Leeming

Lerwick

Leuchars

Lossiemouth

Lyneham

Macrihanish

Manchester

Manston

Marham

Mumbles Head

Newcastle

Oban

Ronaldsway

Shawbury

Stansted

Stornoway

St. Mawgan

Tiree

Valley

Watnall

Wick

Wyton

System upgrade work, nearing completion, will increase the total number of RIMNET monitoring stations to 92. Its control centre is located at the Department's headquarters in Marsham street, London.


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