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Child Abuse Cases

Mr. Alex Carlile: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the treatment of victims and witnesses in child abuse cases. [20024]

Mr. Maclean: The Government have introduced a range of measures in recent years to make it easier for children in these cases to give their evidence. The Criminal Justice Act 1988 made provision for children, with the leave of the court, to give their evidence by live television link so that they need never appear in court. The Criminal Justice Act 1991 prohibited the defendant from cross-examining the child and provided for a video-recorded interview to serve as the child's evidence-in-chief at the trial, again with the leave of the court.

These changes have helped to reduce stress for children who have to give evidence, but we are determined to implement further improvements. The Criminal Procedure

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and Investigations Bill provides for binding rulings to be made so that children will have greater certainty about whether a video-recorded interview will be admitted as evidence-in-chief and whether they can give their evidence by live television link. We are pursuing a range of other measures, including further consideration of ways to reduce delays, improved arrangements for preparing the child for what to expect and promoting best practice in dealing with child witnesses, which will secure practical benefits for children.

Mr. Carlile: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what training is undertaken by those responsible for the video taping of victims' evidence in child abuse cases; and if he will make a statement. [20025]

Mr. Maclean: The Government issued a memorandum of good practice following the introduction of the measures in the Criminal Justice Act 1991 which allow a video-recorded interview with the child to serve as their evidence-in-chief. The memorandum was drawn up with the assistance of professionals and organisations with the experience of working with abused children and provides practical guidance to police officers and social workers who conduct video-taped interviews.

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In addition to the memorandum, training for interviewing was provided by courses under the auspices of the Metropolitan police training centre and supplemented by an Open university training pack. Police officers and social workers now receive joint training known as the CAMAT--child abuse management and training course. Advice on interviewing child witnesses and victims is also included in the national investigative interviewing course which is available to all police officers and is now incorporated in mainstream police training.

We have commissioned further research to identify and promote best local practices for training child abuse investigators.

Crime Statistics

Mr. Alex Carlile: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the total number of convictions for (a) violent crime, (b) car crime and (c) serious crime in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.[20049]

Mr. Maclean: The information is given in the table.

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Number of offenders convicted, at all courts, for certain crimes 1984-94England and Wales

Offence description	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994
Violent crime(17)	58,496	58,564	53,201	58,925	65,450	70,890	69,215	63,599	61,596	57,335	58,408
Car crime(18)	37,651	37,821	35,048	35,214	32,735	29,836	30,252	30,472	24,914	22,091	21,612
Serious crime(19)	449,449	443,936	384,209	386,419	386,236	339,547	342,759	337,608	324,910	307,584	314,148

(17) Includes the indictable offence groups of violence against the person, sexual offences and robbery and the summary offences of common assault.

(18) Includes the indictable offences of theft from a vehicle, theft or unauthorised taking of a motor vehicle, aggravated vehicle taking and the summary offences of stealing and unauthorised taking of a conveyance and aggravated vehicle taking.

(19) Taken as all indicatable, including triable either way, offences (including those in (1) and (2) above).

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Stalking

Mr. Alex Carlile: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on (a) the effectiveness of current legislation and injunctions to combat stalking and (b) his plans for legislation to combat stalking. [20026]

Mr. Maclean: The existing criminal law can be used to deal with a number of aspects of stalking behaviour. It is an offence to use threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour under the Public Order Act 1986; to make an indecent, obscene or menacing telephone call under the Telecommunications Act 1984; and to send an indecent, offensive and threatening letter under the Malicious Communications Act 1988. As a recent successful prosecution has shown, more serious acts by stalkers, such as causing grievous bodily harm, are caught by the criminal law.

Under civil law, a plaintiff may claim an injunction where he or she can demonstrate an actionable tort and once this is established the courts have a wide discretion to grant injunctions to meet the circumstances of a case.

Notwithstanding these powers, the Government are considering whether there is a need for wider measures specifically to combat the conduct of stalkers.

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Director of Health Care for Prisoners

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to publish the fourth report of the Director of Health Care for Prisoners and the Health Advisory Committee's commentary on the report. [20823]

Miss Widdecombe: The report and commentary are published today. Copies are available from the Library.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Drink Driving

Mr. John D. Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was the total expenditure incurred in the production and advertising of the "Never Ever Drink and Drive" campaign on (a) television, (b) radio and (c) printed media. [19868]

Mr. Moss: The information is as follows:

Television: £328,600 ¹
Radio: Nil
Printed media: £17,400
¹ Includes contribution from private sector.

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Mr. Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when the production and advertising of the "Never Ever Drink and Drive" campaign went to (a) public tender and (b) quotation. [19870]

Mr. Moss: The Northern Ireland Department of the Environment advertising agency briefed film production companies on 14 August 1995. Their quotations were submitted on 24 August 1995.

Public tendering rules do not apply to the purchase of advertising time and space. Production costs for the "Never Ever Drink and Drive" campaign were subject to quotation and extensive negotiation with all candidates during the months of September and October 1995.

Mr. Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what rules and regulations covered the tendering and awarding of the "Never Ever Drink and Drive" campaign; and how many tenders were requested. [19869]

Mr. Moss: The Northern Ireland Department of the Environment appointed the advertising agency, McCann-Erickson Belfast, by public tender, to carry out its road safety advertising campaigns. The "Never Ever Drink and Drive" campaign is part of that contract and the successful production company appointed to produce the television and cinema commercial was selected from bids from eight competing firms.

There are no published guidelines or regulations for advertising agencies when selecting production companies to produce a film.

Schools and Colleges (Expenditure)

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will publish the capital building programme for schools and colleges in Northern Ireland for the next five years. [19682]

Mr. Ancram: No. My Department's capital programme is published on an annual basis. The capital programme for 1996-97, totalling £48 million, was published on 5 February 1996.

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was the capital expenditure on schools and colleges in Northern Ireland in (a) real and (b) constant price terms in each of the past 10 years. [19681]

Mr. Ancram: Capital expenditure on schools and colleges by education and library boards and grants paid by the Department of Education on approved capital expenditure incurred by voluntary and grant-maintained integrated schools for each of the financial years 1984-85 to 1993-94 is set out in the table. Capital expenditure by boards is set out in the statements and the summary of the education and library boards' accounts, copies of which are available in the Library. The boards' figures for 1994-95 will be published in July 1996.

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£ million

Year	Real price terms	Constant price terms (1993-94)
1984-85	15.763	25.311
1985-86	16.621	25.420
1986-87	26.108	38.754
1987-88	27.308	38.313
1988-89	35.485	46.662
1989-90	48.720	59.884
1990-91	63.916	72.731
1991-92	66.560	71.289
1992-93	76.603	78.838
1993-94	72.355	72.355

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