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Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 22 January 1997
HOME DEPARTMENT
Animal Experiments (Greyhounds)
Mr. Meale: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the suppliers of the six greyhounds used in scientific procedures during 1995. [11298]
Mr. Sackville [holding answer 17 January 1997]: The establishment concerned purchased the greyhounds from racing kennels and from show breeding kennels.
Mr. Meale: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many project licences issued since 1 June 1994 under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 are still valid for the use of non-purpose-bred greyhounds in research. [11299]
Mr. Sackville [holding answer 17 January 1997]: One--for the study of osteoarthritis in greyhounds. The six dogs were purchased by the establishment concerned to form a control group and were used solely for blood sampling purposes.
Mr. Meale: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many exemptions have been granted under article 10(3) of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 to allow the use of non-purpose-bred greyhounds in research since 1 June 1994. [11300]
Mr. Sackville [holding answer 17 January 1997]: One.
Mr. Meale: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the greyhounds used in scientific procedures in 1995 were former National Greyhound Racing Club registered greyhounds. [11301]
Mr. Sackville [holding answer 17 January 1997]: I will write to the hon. Member.
Child Abuse
Mr. Thurnham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the average number of convicted paedophiles released in each of the last three years, by category of conviction; and what proportion of each category have received treatment (a) prior to and (b) after release. [11711]
Mr. Maclean: From information available centrally on the release and treatment of sex offenders, separate estimates of paedophiles cannot be made with any accuracy.
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convictions have been obtained in each of the last 10 years for (a) enticing children into prostitution and (b) living off the earnings of child prostitution. [11779]
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Mr. Maclean: Court proceedings data collected centrally on the number of offenders convicted of living on immoral earnings do not identify the age of the prostitute.
| Convictions | |
|---|---|
| 1985 | -- |
| 1986 | 3 |
| 1987 | 3 |
| 1988 | 1 |
| 1989 | 1 |
| 1990 | 2 |
| 1991 | 2 |
| 1992 | -- |
| 1993 | 1 |
| 1994 | -- |
| 1995 | 3 |
Mr. Thurnham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of convictions for paedophile offenders have related to offenders with previous convictions in the last three years. [11712]
Mr. Maclean: Estimates are available centrally from samples of offenders 1 2 convicted in 1994 and 1996. These are given in the table. However, estimates for these two years are not directly comparable 1 3 . In particular, improvements in offence recording since 1994 have made it possible to include offenders convicted of rape or buggery with a child victim in the 1996 estimates, whereas these are excluded from the 1994 figures.
| Type of previous conviction | Percentage of offenders(1)(2) convicted of a sexual offence with a child victim in: | |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 1996 | |
| All offences(2) | 54 | 52 |
| Any sexual offence | 15 | 18 |
| Sexual offence with a child victim(3) | 10 | 12 |
Notes:
(1) Figures are based on a sample, from the Home Office offenders index, of those sentenced in each year. For 1994, the sample comprised the court disposals in three weeks. In 1996, two weeks were selected.
(2) Convictions prior to the setting up of the offenders index in 1963 are not included, but only a small number of offenders with convictions in 1994 or later are likely to have a last previous relevant conviction in 1962 or earlier. The offences covered by the offenders index are those on the "standard list". This includes all indictable offences, including those triable either way, and some more serious summary offences.
(3) Prior to 1995, statistics supplied to the Home Office for the offences of rape and buggery did not generally indicate the age of the victim. Since 1995, this has been the case for a more limited range of offences.
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police authorities in England and Wales have specific units dealing with (a) child pornography and (b) child prostitution. [11778]
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Mr. Maclean: This specific information is not held centrally. Forty two police forces in England and Wales have units dedicated to work on child/family protection. Many forces also have specialised units to deal with all forms of pornography and prostitution. All forces have officers specifically trained to deal with all these issues. The allocation of staff and resources for tackling child pornography and child prostitution is an operational matter for each chief officer.
Mr. Thurnham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his Department's latest evaluation of the success of treatment programmes for convicted paedophiles (a) in prison, (b) in residential treatment centres and (c) in day centre treatment centres. [11702]
Mr. Maclean: The Prison Service has commissioned an evaluation of sex offender treatment programmes delivered in prison. The findings are due to be reported in June this year.
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The findings of a Home Office evaluation of community-based sex offender treatment were published in October 1996.
These two evaluations are not concerned exclusively with the treatment of paedophiles, but a large proportion of the offenders receiving treatment fall within this category. Copies of the reports will be placed in the Library.
Mr. Sheerman:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many convictions there have been for living on immoral earnings in each of the last 10 years; [11780]
Mr. Maclean:
Available information is given in the table.
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(2) how many successful prosecutions were made against those accused of living of immoral earnings in each of the last 10 years. [11781]
| 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Living on earnings of prostitution or exercising control over prostitute (Sexual Offences Act 1956 Sections 30 and 31) | |||||||||||
| Prosecutions | 124 | 99 | 84 | 110 | 117 | 93 | 106 | 110 | 72 | 98 | 67 |
| Convictions(4) | 122 | 105 | 83 | 83 | 118 | 76 | 79 | 70 | 49 | 70 | 51 |
| Man or woman living wholly or in part on the earnings of male prostitution (Sexual Offences Act 1967 Section 5(1)) | |||||||||||
| Prosecutions | 9 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | -- | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Convictions | 6 | 9 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 2 | -- | -- | 1 | -- | 1 |
(4) Will include persons proceeded against in earlier years or for a different principal offence when committed for trial by a magistrates court.
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Police Bill
Mr. Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received from the Data Protection Registrar concerning the protection for individuals in the provisions of the Police Bill; and if he will make a statement. [11346]
Mr. Maclean: The Data Protection Registrar commented on the Government's proposals for access to criminal records for employment and other purposes which were set out in the White Paper, "On the Record", and which are now being taken forward in part V of the Police Bill. She welcomed the Government's intention to put arrangements for access to criminal records for employment related purposes on a statutory footing, commented that the proposed arrangements go a long way towards setting up a framework acceptable from a data protection perspective and noted that appropriate action should be taken to discourage or prevent enforced subject access to criminal records. As indicated during Report state of the Police Bill, the Government intend to consider whether it might be possible to amend the Police Bill to prevent this practice. The Registrar has also written to the Home Office about the future role of the National Criminal Intelligence Service as our national unit for liaising with Europol.
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