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HOME DEPARTMENT
Housing Benefit Fraud
Ms Lynne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals have been successfully prosecuted for fraudulent claims relating to housing benefit in each year since 1991; what assessment he has made of the correlation between the number of criminal prosecutions for fraudulent claims of housing benefit and the total amount of housing benefit fraud; and what joint initiatives he has undertaken with the Department of Social Security on the matter. [29970]
Mr. Maclean: It is not possible from the information held centrally by my Department to identify offences relating to fraudulent claims of housing benefit from other summary offences.
There are no joint initiatives between the Home Office and the Department of Social Security on this matter.
Mr. Sheerman:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what evidence he has evaluated of links between organised crime and systematic abuse of the housing benefit system. [30450]
Mr. Maclean:
Organised criminals have been involved in serious fraud against the benefit system, including housing benefit. The National Criminal Intelligence Service and the police are working closely with other agencies to identify and tackle this type of crime.
Mr. Sheerman:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to improve the morale of Britain's police officers. [30451]
Mr. Maclean:
Morale is high, and will continue to improve as a consequence of the Government's effective policies to combat crime and deter criminals, and the continued significant investment in the police service.
Mr. Jim Cunningham:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the clear-up rate of recorded domestic burglaries in (a) Coventry and (b) the west midlands for each year since 1990; and for each year what was the percentage change on (i) the previous year and (ii) 1990. [30647]
Mr. Maclean:
Information for Coventry is not collected centrally. Figures for the west midlands are given in the table.
| Year | Clear-up rate (percentage) | Percentage point change on previous year | Percentage point change over 1990 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 39 | (2)-- | (2)-- |
| 1991 | 31 | -8 | -8 |
| 1992 | 24 | -7 | -15 |
| 1993 | 31 | +7 | -8 |
| 1994 | 32 | +1 | -7 |
| 1995 | 38 | +6 | -1 |
(2) Not applicable.
5 Jun 1996 : Column: 465
Mr. Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the average value of items stolen in recorded domestic house break-ins in 1995 in (a) Coventry and (b) the west midlands. [30648]
Mr. Maclean: Information for Coventry is not collected centrally. The available information for the west midlands is for 1994. For offences of burglary in a dwelling where property was stolen, the average value was £1,054.
Mr. Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many recorded domestic burglaries there were in (a) Coventry and (b) the west midlands in each year since 1990; and for each year, what was the percentage change on (i) the previous year and (ii) 1990. [30659]
Mr. Maclean: Information for Coventry is not collected centrally. The available information for the west midlands is given in the table.
| Year | Number of offences | Percentage change on previous year | Percentage change over 1990 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 35,613 | (3)-- | (3)-- |
| 1991 | 41,624 | +17 | +17 |
| 1992 | 52,202 | +25 | +47 |
| 1993 | 51,815 | -1 | +45 |
| 1994 | 48,241 | -7 | +35 |
| 1995 | 46,368 | -4 | +30 |
(3) Not applicable.
Private Investigators
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what use his Department has made of private detective agencies or investigators during 1995-96 and 1994-95; what agencies have been employed; for what purposes; and at what cost to his Department. [30561]
Mr. Howard: The Home Office and its agencies did not employ private detective agencies or investigators for detective or investigative work during 1995-96 and 1994-95. However, during 1995-96, three companies were employed by the Prison Service to carry out pre-occupation searches of establishments following construction work etc. It is understood that these companies carry out private investigative work for other organisations.
The companies in question are:
Payments made to these companies by the Prison Service for search activities during 1995-96 total £188,000.
Network Security Management
Pinkerton Consultancy and Investigation
Sigma Projects
Car Theft
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the clear-up rate for recorded car theft in (a) Coventry and (b) the west midlands in each year since 1990; and for each year, what was the percentage change on (i) the previous year and (ii) 1990. [30655]
5 Jun 1996 : Column: 466
Mr. Maclean: Information for Coventry is not collected centrally. The available information for West Midlands is given in the table.
| Year | Clear up rate (percentage) | Percentage point change on previous year | Percentage point change over 1990 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 35 | (4)-- | (4)-- |
| 1991 | 30 | -5 | -5 |
| 1992 | 25 | -5 | -10 |
| 1993 | 25 | -- | -10 |
| 1994 | 21 | -4 | -14 |
| 1995 | 20 | -1 | -15 |
(4) Not applicable.
Mr. Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cars were recorded as stolen in (a) Coventry and (b) the west midlands in each year since 1990; and for each year, what was the percentage change on (i) the previous year and (ii) 1990. [30654]
Mr. Maclean: Information for Coventry is not collected centrally. The available information for the west midlands is given in the table.
| Year | Number of offences | Percentage change on previous year | Percentage change over 1990 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 34,236 | (5)-- | (5)-- |
| 1991 | 41,415 | +21 | +21 |
| 1992 | 39,632 | -4 | +16 |
| 1993 | 40,184 | +1 | +17 |
| 1994 | 40,347 | -- | +18 |
| 1995 | 45,102 | +12 | +32 |
Mr. Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many car break-ins were recorded in (a) Coventry and (b) the west midlands in each year since 1990; and for each year, what was the percentage change on (i) the previous year and (ii) 1990. [30656]
Mr. Maclean: Information for Coventry is not collected centrally. The available information relates to offences of theft of and from a motor vehicle and figures for the west midlands are given in the table.
| Year | Number of offences | Percentage change on previous year | Percentage change over 1990 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 84,321 | (5)-- | -- |
| 1991 | 95,775 | +14 | +14 |
| 1992 | 95,881 | -- | +14 |
| 1993 | 94,925 | -1 | +13 |
| 1994 | 90,061 | -5 | +7 |
| 1995 | 95,596 | +6 | +13 |
(5) Not applicable.
5 Jun 1996 : Column: 467
Mr. Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the average value of items recorded as stolen from cars in (a) Coventry and (b) the west midlands for the latest available year. [30658]
Mr. Maclean: Information for Coventry is not collected centrally. The available information for the west midlands is for 1994. For offences of theft from a motor vehicle where property was stolen, the average value was £279.
Mr. Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the average age of people convicted of (a) car theft and (b) burglary in the west midlands in the latest year for which statistics are available. [30649]
Mr. Maclean: Information for 1994 on the number of offenders convicted at all courts in the West Midlands police force area by age is given in the table.
Data for 1995 will not be available until the autumn.
| Burglary | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | Car theft(6) | Domestic burglary | Non-domestic burglary | Total burglary |
| 10 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 11 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 7 |
| 12 | 9 | 4 | 10 | 14 |
| 13 | 25 | 18 | 19 | 37 |
| 14 | 73 | 32 | 29 | 61 |
| 15 | 99 | 70 | 61 | 131 |
| 16 | 127 | 79 | 73 | 152 |
| 17 | 157 | 129 | 99 | 228 |
| 18 | 172 | 93 | 104 | 197 |
| 19 | 101 | 91 | 117 | 208 |
| 20 | 105 | 68 | 90 | 158 |
| 21 and under 25 | 235 | 194 | 258 | 452 |
| 25 and under 30 | (7)94 | 125 | 175 | 300 |
| 30 and under 40 | 62 | 81 | 127 | 208 |
| 40 and under 50 | 21 | 18 | 24 | 42 |
| 50 and under 60 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 11 |
| 60 and over | 1 | -- | -- | -- |
| All ages | 1,280 | 1,009 | 1,197 | 2,206 |
(6) Car theft includes the indictable offences of aggravated vehicle taking--injury to person, damage to property of car; theft from vehicles; theft or unauthorised taking of motor vehicle car and the summary offences of stealing and unauthorised taking of a conveyance and aggravated vehicle taking where criminal damage of £2,000 or under.
(7) Includes persons, convicted of summary offences, given the default age of 25 where the exact age was not known.
Mr. Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the clear-up rate of recorded car break-ins in (a) Coventry and (b) the west midlands in each year since 1990; and for each year, what was the percentage change on (i) the previous year and (ii) 1990. [30657]
Mr. Maclean: Information for Coventry is not collected centrally. The available information relates to offences of theft of and from a motor vehicle and figures for the west midlands are given in the table.
5 Jun 1996 : Column: 468
| Year | Clear-up rate (percentage) | Percentage point change on previous year | Percentage point change over 1990 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 34 | -- | -- |
| 1991 | 26 | -8 | -8 |
| 1992 | 22 | -4 | -12 |
| 1993 | 21 | -1 | -13 |
| 1994 | 19 | -2 | -15 |
| 1995 | 18 | -1 | -16 |
(8) Not applicable.
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