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Europol
6. Mr. Rathbone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to support the functioning of Europol; and if he will make a statement. [1357]
Mr. Howard: We already provide substantial support to the existing Europol drugs unit. We shall build on that commitment when Europol comes into operation. We expect Europol to make a very valuable contribution to the fight against international organised crime, particularly drug trafficking, in the European Union and more widely.
Mr. Rathbone: Although the House will welcome the Home Secretary's commitment to Europol, on which the British Government have given the lead right from its inception, I believe that there is general disappointment at the Government's inability to sign the convention supporting Europol. Can the Home Secretary inform the House that that difficulty will be overcome speedily?
Mr. Howard: I am happy to tell my hon. Friend that the convention was in fact signed in July following the agreement on it reached at the Cannes summit. We intend to ratify it shortly, and I hope that other countries will as well.
Mr. Henderson: As such matters must be dealt with at an intergovernmental level, does the Secretary of State accept that the House should be consulted more systematically on proposals, tentative agreements and agreements? Does he agree that there is a need for inter-country police co-operation to fight racist extremists in Europe? If he does agree, does he intend to conclude an agreement on these matters, and, if so, when?
Mr. Howard: On the hon. Gentleman's first point, the Europol convention was the subject of an explanatory note sent to Committees on 22 February 1994; supplementary notes were submitted on 17 November 1994 and 31 May this year; and the final text was deposited on 28 July.
On the hon. Gentleman's second point, I agree that there ought to be intergovernmental co-operation on racism and xenophobia. That is a very different matter, however, from a legally binding document that would require us to consider changing the laws of the United Kingdom in a way which does not meet our circumstances. That was something that I was not prepared to go along with in Brussels last week. If the hon Gentleman thinks that he would go along with that and that the United Kingdom should have signed up, perhaps he would be clear and say so.
Mr. Fabricant:
Does my right hon. and learned Friend agree with me that racism must be fought wherever it happens, whether on mainland Europe, in the United Kingdom or, indeed, in Leicester? Will he join me in condemning the Opposition spokesman, who was reported on "Dispatches" last night, for his outrageous, disgraceful racist comments?
Mr. Howard:
We look forward to an explanation from the hon. Gentleman at the earliest possible moment.
9. Mr. Pike:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many closed circuit television schemes are financially supported fully or in part by the safer cities initiative. [1361]
Mr. Maclean:
Forty-two CCTV schemes received funding under phase 1 of the safer cities programme, seven are being financially supported under phase 2, and of course 106 schemes were supported by my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary's challenge funding scheme.
Mr. Pike:
Will the Minister ensure that schemes such as that in Burnley, which are doing an excellent job, continue to have the necessary finances made available to them? Will he also give an assurance that steps will be taken to stop any illegal use of the tapes made in any of these schemes anywhere in the country?
Mr. Maclean:
I can assure the hon. Gentleman that we shall have another round of challenge funding. We have in fact announced another round of funding, and this time we are putting up not just £5 million but £15 million. We are inviting bids from all around the country, from communities large and small. A key condition of the funding is that there will have to be a code of practice on the proper use of video tapes. We shall also insist that if any scheme that is up and running wants any top-up funding, it should have a proper code of practice as well. I condemn totally the irresponsible use of any CCTV images for commercial gain.
Mr. Bellingham:
Does the Minister agree that it is not just CCTV tapes which need to be looked at carefully, but police interview tapes? Will he look specifically at the bizarre and worrying case involving one of my constituents who bought, at a car boot sale, 20 police interview tapes marked "Essex and Cambridgeshire Constabulary", which contained highly confidential information, including an interview with a schoolmaster who was alleged to have interfered with a choirboy? That could have been highly damaging to individuals--
[Interruption.] I do not know why Opposition Members
Mr. Maclean:
Inquiries are being made by the police. We must be careful about apportioning blame before the inquiries are completed. I understand from the reports that the police say that they have all their master tapes intact and it is likely, or certainly possible, that the tapes came from a solicitor--from the defence copy of the tapes, possibly from a practice from which a solicitor was eventually disbarred. I understand that to be the case and I would not wish to go further without having more information. I hope that when the facts are fully revealed we will not be blaming the police service.
Mr. Michael:
As the Minister knows, the Labour party has encouraged the effective use of CCTV in cutting crime. He will share, as he has suggested, my concern about the sale of films. Does he agree that it would be tragic if public confidence was undermined by people selling surveillance films, whether from the police, the public sector or the private sector? We are willing to help the Home Secretary to pass legislation through the House quickly in this Session to outlaw such activity by anyone in the public or private sector. Will he accept our offer?
Mr. Maclean:
I am grateful for what the hon. Gentleman has said. We must be careful and I warn the House that we should not hype up the episode, which is probably just what the promoter of the film wants. We must not get the matter out of proportion. I condemn irresponsible use, but at times it is helpful for the police and others to release certain video tapes or for programmes such as "Crimewatch UK" to show them as it helps detection and prevention.
We do not want to prevent, through hasty regulation, the sensible use of pictures because of a shoddy, poor-quality, over-hyped film. There is hardly any material on the film from public CCTV and the little that was released by the police for promotional purposes was mostly from private videos inside buildings. The quality of the film was worse than Logie Baird's first pictures in 1925--the public should rightly condemn such rubbish by not buying it.
Mr. John Marshall:
Does my right hon. Friend think that the safer cities initiative is helped by racist comments such as those uttered on the "Dispatches" programme last night?
Mr. Maclean:
I hope that the Opposition will respond quickly with a total denunciation of the comments and the colleague who made them. Racist comments of that nature are unacceptable from any quarter, particularly from Front-Bench spokesmen from a party which hopes one day to be in government.
10. Mr. Hutton:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proposals he has for deregulating the bingo industry. [1362]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Timothy Kirkhope):
We are at present reviewing the controls on bingo clubs as part of the Government's deregulation initiative.
Mr. Hutton:
Does the Minister accept the need to establish a level playing field on which all sections of the gambling industry are able to compete against each other fairly? How much longer will bingo clubs in my constituency and elsewhere, which perform a valuable social role in the community, continue to face petty and bureaucratic restrictions on advertising and on the number of coin-operated machines that they contain?
Mr. Kirkhope:
I am very pleased that the hon. Gentleman shares my concern and interest in the bingo industry; I have recently seen a number of groups representing the industry. I hope to be able very shortly to address the points that he has mentioned and help the bingo industry to achieve greater success in the future.
Mr. Whittingdale:
Does my hon. Friend accept that it is impossible to lose more than a handful of pounds in the course of an evening's visit to a bingo hall, unlike a casino, where literally thousands of pounds can be lost in a short time? Does he agree that there is no reason for bingo to be subjected to the same degree of regulation as the casino industry? Will he consider subjecting the industry to the deregulation process?
Mr. Kirkhope:
I shall certainly do so. My hon. Friend is right to refer to the difference between bingo and casinos and other forms of gambling. I am sure that the deregulation process can be selective in that way, but it is important to ensure that those who want to go about perfectly legitimate entertainment such as bingo should be able to do so with the minimum of regulation.
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