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Mr. Kilfoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department who are the members currently appointed to the Misuse of Drugs Advisory Board.
Mr. Maclean : The Misuse of Drugs Act specifies that an advisory body should consist of three members. The chairman, who is currently Miss J. Southworth, must be a QC and is appointed by the Lord Chancellor.
One of the other two members is drawn from a pool of members of the respondent's own profession, nominated by the relevant professional bodies, and the other is a member of the respondent's own profession who is an officer of a department of Government. They are appointed by the Secretary of State for particular cases.
Mr. Kilfoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department who are the members currently appointed to the Police Staff College, board of governors.
Mr. Charles Wardle : Current membership of the board of governors is as follows :
Sir Clive Whitmore, GCB, CVO (Chairman)
Mr. I. M. Burns (Deputy Chairman)
Mr. T. A. Morris--Home Office
Mr. C. Scoble--Home Office
Mrs. P. G. W. Catto--Home Office
Mr. J. P. Ryan--National Director of Police Training
Mr. A. Dyer--Association of Chief Police Officers
Mr. J. C. Hoddinott--Association of Chief Police Officers Mr. B. H. Skitt-- Association of Chief Police Officers
Mr. B. H. Weight--Association of Chief Police Officers
Mr. P. Condon--Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis Mr. B. Mackenzie-- Superintendents' Association
Mr. G. Wilson--Superintendents' Association
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Mr. R. B. Coyles--Police FederationMr. D. Hayward--Police Federation
Mr. B. H. Drake--Association of County Councils
Mr. H. Lowe--Association of County Councils
Mr. C. P. Winterton--Association of County Councils
Mr. G. Gill--Association of Metropolitan Authorities
Mr. W. Smith--Association of Metropolitan Authorities
Professor J. P. Martin--Academic Adviser
Mr. P. Dawson--Staff College Directing Staff Advisers
Mrs. C. Montague--Staff College Directing Staff Advisers Mr. G. A. Widdecombe--Secretary to the Board
Miss E. B. M. Rak--Assistant Secretary to the Board
Apart from the academic adviser, all members serve either in an ex officio capacity or are nominated by the organisations they represent.
Political Asylum Seekers
Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the penal establishments in England and Wales at which people seeking political asylum were being detained as of 20 January.
Mr. Charles Wardle : The available information shows that people seeking asylum were detained at the following Prison Service establishments in England and Wales on 24 January 1994.
Armley
Beford
Birmingham
Blakenhurst
Blunderston
Brinsford
Bristol
Brixton
Bullingdon
Camp Hill
Canterbury
Cardiff
Chelmsford
Dorchester
Dover
Durham
Elmley
Exeter
Feltham
Glen Parva
Gloucester
Haslar
Highdown
Holloway
Hatfield
Leeds
Lewes
Moorland
Norwich
Pentonville
Risley
Rochester
Walton
Wandsworth
Winchester
Winson Green
Wormwood Scrubs
Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) men and (b) women are being held in custody in England and Wales and are seeking political asylum into the United Kingdom as of 20 January.
Mr. Charles Wardle : The available information shows that on 24 January a total of 557 male and 44 female asylum seekers were being held in detention in England and Wales.
Bail Hostels
Mr. Blair : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made on the bail hostel expansion programme which was announced in February 1992 ; and to what extent the programme has been revised as a consequence of the latest public expenditure survey.
Mr. Maclean : When the February 1992 announcement was made there were 2,400 approved hostel places. At the end of this financial year there should be 2,730 places. Our current spending plans provide for 2,680 places in April 1996.
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Mr. Blair : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the projected bail hostel population in England and Wales for each of the next five years.
Mr. Maclean : On the basis of 83 per cent. planned occupancy, as set out in the Home Office annual report 1993, the average number of approved probation-bail hostel residents will be as follows :
|Number
----------------------
1994-95 |2,067
1995-96 |2,150
1996-97 |2,249
1997-98 |2,249
1998-99 |2,249
Mr. Blair : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the projected average bail population for each of the next five years in England and Wales.
Mr. Maclean : No such projections are made.
Remand Prisoners
Mr. Blair : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the projected remand population for England and Wales for each of the next five years.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Projections of long-term trends in the prison population covering the next five years were published in the Home Office statistical bulletin 6/93 on 30 March 1993 on the basis of the legislation then in force. These projections have been revised on an interim basis, reflecting the changes expected to result from the Criminal Justice Act 1993. A revised remand projection was not prepared. The interim projection is subject to a considerable margin of uncertainty. The revised figures for the total population were given in a reply to the hon. Member for Lewisham, Deptford (Ms Ruddock) on 18 October 1993, Official Report, column 118-19.
Right to Silence
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the implications for the provisions of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill relating to the defendant's right to silence of the ruling by the European Commission of Human Rights on 18 January in the case of John Murray ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : This was not a decision on the merits of the case. The Commission has simply concluded, as a preliminary matter, that the application is not "manifestly ill-founded", an abuse of the right of petition, or otherwise incompatible with the European convention on human rights. The Government have made it clear in their observations to the Commission that they believe that the Northern Ireland legislation is fully in conformity with the provisions of the convention. The Government believe that the same is true of the similar legislation for England and Wales which is now included in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill.
Probation Service
Mr. Blair : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what cuts as a result of the public expenditure survey will be made to the probation service budget which
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was originally published in the three-year plan for the probation service 1994 to 1997 ; and what the effect will be on staffing levels and service delivery.Mr. Maclean : The Government's spending plans for the probation service as set out in the three-year planning document for the service 1994 -97 are as shown below. The spending plans set out in the 1993-96 planning document published after the 1992 public expenditure survey are shown in parentheses. It will be for area probation committees and management to decide how best to provide services and what staff to employ from within the total resources available.
|£ million
------------------------------
|374.3
1994-95 |(382.0)
|378.0
1995-96 |(402.0)
1996-97 |389.7
Visas
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the European Commission's proposals to determine the list of countries whose national must be in possession of a visa when crossing the external frontiers of member states will be formally received.
Mr. Charles Wardle : I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Sedgefield (Mr. Blair) on 24 January 1994, Official Report, column 42.
Police Resources
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what changes his Department has made in the last five years in the method of calculating the resource needs of police authorities in England and Wales ;
(2) what changes his Department has made in the last five years in the designation of areas as urban or rural in the assessment of their needs in terms of police resources and in the differential that results in terms of resource allocation.
Mr. Charles Wardle : In response to the recommendations of a joint Home Office and Treasury study, a formula was introduced in 1989 to inform the professional assessment by Her Majesty's inspectorate of constabulary of applications for increases in police free establishments. This formula compared the existing position of forces across a range of relevant indicators. One of these indicators takes account of the concentration of population in particular areas. Work is now in hand on the preparation of a new formula for the allocation of police grant to forces as from 1995-96.
Criminal Injuries Compensation
Mrs. Roche : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the precise value of each of the 25 awards of over £10,000 for fatal injury under the criminal injuries compensation scheme in 1991- 92.
Mr. Maclean [holding answer 24 January 1994] : The case sampling survey undertaken to establish "tariff" rates
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examined 238 of the fatal cases resolved in 1991-92. These 238 cases gave rise to 162 awards, of which 16 exceeded £10,000. The awards made in the 162 cases were then grossed up to produce equivalent figures for the 252 fatal awards which it was estimated had been made in total in the 1991-92 financial year. Applying a similar grossing up factor to the 16 awards exceeding £10,000 produced the estimated figure of 25 such awards in total. The 16 awards actually identified--each of which included an element for funeral expenses--were for sums of £12,000 : £12,671 : £13,665 : £14, 539 : £15,000 : £20,000 : £21,490 : £22,169 : £28,451 : £31,704 : £33,187 : £41,995 : £57,072 : £88,230 : £100,600 : £260,178.Mrs. Roche : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish the survey of criminal injuries compensation board awards used in drawing up his proposed tariff of compensation for victims of violent crime.
Mr. Maclean [holding answer 24 January 1994] : No. The survey data contain information which would make it possible to identify individual recipients of awards. Publication of such data would be contrary to the Data Protection Act 1988 and to the board's policy of confidentiality.
ENVIRONMENT
Local Government Finance
Mr. Straw : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what staff and other resources, expressed in full-time equivalents and in cash value, were devoted to the review of standard spending assessments in 1993 ; and what levels of resources he expects to use to review standard spending assessments in 1994.
Mr. Gummer : In the financial year 1993-94 my Department will have devoted about 10 man years' work to the review of standard spending assessments. This represents a pay cost of about £300,000. It is difficult to assess precisely the value of the other resources devoted to the review, but the non-pay running costs involved are in the region of £45,000 in 1993-94. Officials in other Government Departments were also involved in the review.
In the financial year 1994-95, my Department plans to devote six man years to development work on the standard spending assessments system.
Mr. Straw : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) how many authorities have made (a) written responses to and (b) requests for a meeting with Ministers about his proposals for local government finance for 1994-95 ;
(2) if he will list those authorities which have made oral representations to Ministers as part of the consultation on his proposals for local government finance for 1994-95, showing in each case the Minister seen by the authority, the duration of the meeting and the main topics raised ;
(3) if he will place in the Library his Department's notes of each of the delegations received by Ministers as part of the consultation on his proposals for local government finance for 1994-95.
Mr. Gummer : During the consultation period on my proposals for the local government finance settlement for
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