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Racially Motivated Crime

Mr. Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish a breakdown of the numbers of racially motivated crimes reported over the last 15 years for each police authority in the United Kingdom. [1530]

Mr. Maclean [holding answer 24 November 1995]: The available information relates to reported racial incidents in England and Wales since 1989 and has been provided by Her Majesty's inspectorate of constabulary. The figures for 1994-95 will be published shortly. Figures for Scotland and Northern Ireland are matters for the Secretary of State in each Department.

Reported racial incidents by police force area: 1989 to 1993-94

Police force area	1989	1990	1991	1992	(9)1993-94
Avon and Somerset	71	83	148	98	159
Bedfordshire	25	33	0	57	60
Cambridgeshire	60	71	107	110	100
Cheshire	0	0	3	29	98
Cleveland	55	57	68	73	50
Cumbria	4	1	9	13	17
Derbyshire	20	53	143	60	221
Devon and Cornwall	3	6	9	7	14
Dorset	12	3	9	10	25
Durham	23	41	70	40	32
Essex	26	43	59	80	133
Gloucestershire	20	51	25	33	28
Greater Manchester	40	123	204	401	658
Hampshire	50	42	141	139	212
Hertfordshire	49	51	0	106	117
Humberside	52	67	81	68	79
Kent	81	88	120	56	160
Lancashire	93	201	119	231	262
Leicestershire	190	287	369	338	315
Lincolnshire	2	2	4	5	4
City of London	0	0	0	0	1
Merseyside	123	144	162	134	155
Metropolitan Police	--	2,908	3,373	3,227	(10)5,124
Norfolk	22	23	45	30	33
Northamptonshire	72	66	60	120	102
Northumbria	217	289	376	349	405
North Yorkshire	6	12	20	22	22
Nottinghamshire	27	135	221	222	264
South Yorkshire	52	117	124	151	106
Staffordshire	44	101	158	95	117
Suffolk	62	74	75	55	73
Surrey	7	7	50	61	79
Sussex	141	92	98	98	214
Thames Valley	128	171	201	195	166
Warwickshire	21	44	32	35	87
West Mercia	6	13	3	19	100
West Midlands	169	268	445	379	487
West Yorkshire	306	254	322	218	244
Wiltshire	19	25	29	24	51
Dyfed Powys	0	0	0	0	0
Gwent	4	5	12	31	21
North Wales	1	0	3	4	2
South Wales	94	308	385	311	400
England and Wales	(11)2,397	6,359	7,882	7,734	10,997

(9) Financial year data. Some of the increase in total reported incidents in 1993-94 may be attributable to the implementation of a precise definition of a racial incident when included in the Police Service Performance Indicator Suite.

(10) Adjusted figure (due to a change in classification criteria) from that given in the Official Report (24 June 1994, Column 330).

(11) Excluding Metropolitan Police.

27 Nov 1995 : Column: 471

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Executive Agencies

Mr. Redmond: To ask the Attorney-General if he will list for his executive agencies for the last financial year in respect of overseas travel by agency staff (a) the costs of the travel, (b) the countries visited and (c) the posts held by the staff concerned. [2286]

The Attorney-General: The one executive agency for which I am responsible is Government Property Lawyers. No member of staff of the agency travelled overseas in an official capacity in the financial year 1994-95.

Small and Medium Enterprises

Mrs. Roche: To ask the Attorney-General what percentage of his Department's expenditure in 1994-95 was spent on procuring goods or services from small and medium enterprises. [1942]

The Attorney-General: The information requested is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Local Government

Mr. Vaz: To ask the Attorney-General if he will list the Acts of Parliament and Consolidation Acts that affect local government that have been introduced by his Department since January 1994. [2831]

The Attorney-General: The Solicitor-General took through the House of Commons the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1995 which effected the repeal of certain obsolete and unnecessary local enactments. Subject to this, no Acts of Parliament affecting local government have been introduced by my Department since January 1994.

Public Interest Immunity Certificates

Mr. Cohen: To ask the Attorney-General if he will list all those in his Department who have authority to issue public interest immunity certificates; how many such certificates have been issued in each of the last five years; and what were the main reasons for them. [1428]

The Attorney-General: A claim to public interest immunity relating to departmental documents or information is normally made by the appropriate Minister. Any claim relating to my own department would be made by me or, in my absence, the Solicitor-General. I am also responsible for three departments headed by a statutory officer holder: the Director of Public Prosecutions, the director of the Serious Fraud Office and the Treasury Solicitor. They may make a public interest immunity claim relating to their departments, after consultation with me. The following claims have been made inter partes. The director of the Serious Fraud Office made a claim in 1994, by affidavit, to preserve the confidentiality attaching to documents and information relating to the internal decision making process of the SFO.

In addition, I am aware of two certificates used in 1991 and 1992 in proceedings in Northern Ireland. Both were signed by my predecessor and were intended to preserve the confidentiality attaching to exchanges between the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland and the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

27 Nov 1995 : Column: 472

LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL

Lockerbie

35. Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Lord President of the Council if he will set up a Select Committee to examine the circumstances of the destruction of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie. [682]

Mr. Newton: As I told the hon. Gentleman in my answer to his similar question on 23 October 1995, Official Report, column 458, there are no plans to do so.

Members' Pay

38. Mr. Steen: To ask the Lord President of the Council when he plans to review hon. Members' pay. [685]

Mr. Newton: As I indicated in the debate on ministerial salaries on 26 October, Official Report, column 1191, my aim is to maintain arrangements under which hon. Members' pay can be increased annually in a fair and sensible way, without the need for annual debate.

Trade Union Sponsorship

39. Mr. David Shaw: To ask the Lord President of the Council when the Privileges Committee last examined the relationship between an hon. Member and any trade union sponsorship applicable to that Member. [688]

Mr. Newton: The function of the Committee of Privileges, which is to be replaced by the Select Committee on Standards and Privileges, is to consider matters of complaint of breach of privilege referred to them by the House.

Complaints relating to trade union sponsorship have been referred to the Committee on a number of occasions. The most recent report of the Committee relating to such a complaint is the first report from the Committee of Session 1990-91--House of Commons Paper No. 420-- which contains details of earlier cases.

Legislation (Scrutiny)

Mr. Barry Field: To ask the Lord President of the Council what consideration he has given to including departmental Select Committees in the procedures for the scrutiny of legislation. [687]

Mr. Newton: None, but my hon. Friend may wish to draw the matter to the attention of the Procedure Committee.

Energy Efficiency

Mr. Battle: To ask the Lord President of the Council what progress has been made towards cutting energy consumption in Government buildings for which he has responsibility in each year since 1990. [1434]

Mr. Newton: The Privy Council Office is housed within the Cabinet Office estate. I accordingly refer the hon. Member to the reply given on behalf of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment to my hon. Friend the Member for East Surrey, (Mr. Ainsworth) on 17 May 1995, Official Report, column 2600.

27 Nov 1995 : Column: 473

Drugs Information

Mr. Rathbone: To ask the Lord President of the Council what plans he has to distribute the leaflet, "Tackling Drugs Together: Information for Parents, Businesses and Communities"; and when the distribution will take place. [1500]

Mr. Newton: Over 5,000 copies of the leaflet, which is intended to involve local communities in the Government's strategy to tackle the misuse of drugs, have already been sent to the 105 drug action teams which have recently been set up across England, in accordance with the White Paper "Tackling Drugs Together". Copies have also been placed in the Library of the House.

The drug action teams are determining the distribution arrangements for the leaflet in the light of their local knowledge and developing plans to engage their communities--including parents and businesses--in tackling local drugs problems. Some drug action teams are, for example, planning to distribute the leaflet to all GP surgeries.

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