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Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 5 February 1997
HOME DEPARTMENT
Coroner Procedures (Muslim Communities)
Mr. Madden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what advice or guidance has been issued to coroners by the Home Office coroners study committee concerning suitable arrangements to enable coroners serving large Muslim communities to issue the necessary documentation to permit the transport of bodies overseas, with particular reference to weekends and public holidays. [14106]
Mr. Sackville [holding answer 4 February 1997]: The attention of coroners has been drawn to the need, when considering requests to expedite applications, for the religious feelings of the bereaved to be taken into account and for their concerns to be dealt with sensitively.
Gilbert McNamee
Mr. Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will allow Gilbert McNamee open visits with his family and friends. [13281]
Miss Widdecombe: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Richard Tilt to Mr. Jeremy Corbyn, dated 5 February 1997:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about open visits for Gilbert 'Danny' McNamee with his family and friends.
Mr. McNamee has been categorised as an exceptional risk category A prisoner. Exceptional risk category A prisoners are held in special secure units and are subject to closed visits. This policy was introduced last year in the light of escapes by prisoners from Whitemoor and Parkhurst.
The humanitarian aspects of closed visits were recognised and taken into account. It was decided that, notwithstanding these humanitarian considerations, the interests of security had to be paramount. In exceptional circumstances, an open visit may be allowed, following an application to the Director of Dispersal prisons.
Probation Service (Mid Glamorgan)
Mr. Rowlands: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the reduction in the budget in 1997-98 for the probation service in Mid Glamorgan; and what estimate he has received from the service of reductions in the number of probation officers directly serving clients. [13933]
Mr. Sackville: The specific grant cash limit for the Mid Glamorgan probation service in 1997-98 is £2.8 million, 2.1 per cent. lower than for 1996-97. Part
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of this reduction is due to a transfer of responsibilities and resources from Mid Glamorgan to Gwent as a consequence of local authority boundary changes.
It is for the Mid Glamorgan probation committee to decide how these resources will be best used and to determine what specific changes within the service, including staff numbers and deployment, should be undertaken within the total level of expenditure implied by this level of grant support. The committee has not yet provided information about its staffing plans for 1997-98.
Mr. Rowlands :
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the effect on the Mid Glamorgan probation service of the alteration of that service's boundaries; and what transitional budget provision has been made for the service. [13952]
Mr. Sackville:
Responsibility for the Rhymney Valley, which was transferred from the Mid Glamorgan probation area to the Gwent probation area on 1 April 1996, accounted for an estimated 19.1 per cent. of the Mid Glamorgan probation service's expenditure. As a transitional arrangement, 16.6 per cent. of the Mid Glamorgan allocation--as it would have been before the boundary changes--was transferred through the cash limits formula to Gwent in 1996-97 and 17.9 per cent. will be transferred in 1997-98. The full 19.1 per cent. will be transferred from 1998-99.
Mr. Rowlands:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what estimate he has made of the number of prison visits by Mid Glamorgan probation officers made to advise prisoners before their release in 1996-97; and what assessment he has made of the impact of the proposed reduction in the budget for 1997-98 upon prison visiting by Mid Glamorgan probation officers; [13931]
Mr. Sackville:
The Home Office does not estimate at this level of detail. It is for the Mid Glamorgan probation committee to use the resources available to it to meet its responsibilities, including the need for compliance with national standards for the preparation of pre-sentence reports and the pre-release and post-release supervision of offenders.
Mr. Cohen:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what Government funding was provided to develop the oncomouse. [13407]
Mr. Cohen:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his estimate of the number of oncomice produced to date; how many have been experimented on; to whom royalties are paid for the use of oncomice; and if he will make a statement on the value of experiments on oncomice. [13406]
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Mr. Sackville:
Central records are insufficiently detailed to indicate the number of such procedures. Patents have been applied for, but not yet granted, in the European Union. I have no knowledge about royalties due or paid in the United Kingdom. I understand that research using oncomice has the aim of increasing scientific knowledge about the mechanisms of tumour production.
Mr. Gale:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many dogs, against whose owners no charges are pending or against whose owners charges have been dropped, are currently being held by the Metropolitan police under the terms of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991; [13768]
(3) what is the total cost, to date, of the kennelling of dogs held by the Metropolitan police under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. [13767]
Mr. Sackville:
I understand from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis that seven dogs are currently being held under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 against whose owners no charges are pending or against whose owners charges have been dropped. The cost to date of kennelling dogs where charges against the owners have been dropped or are pending is £77,484. The total cost of kennelling dogs since the introduction of the Act in November 1991 is £3,175,542.
Mr. Llwyd:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what current research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated into the causes and consequences of illicit drug taking; and if he will make a statement. [13854]
Mr. Sackville:
Research commissioned by the Home Office supports the role of the Department in delivering the strategy set out in the White Paper, "Tackling Drugs Together".
It includes projects to improve the information available on the nature and incidence of drug-related crime and public attitudes to it, as well as assessments of the general prevalence of drug misuse. Four projects are also in progress aimed at developing police strategies for tackling drug-related crime problems.
Independent evaluation projects have been commissioned in support of the Home Office drug prevention initiative's programme of work on effective drugs prevention action at community level.
Research has also been commissioned on the effects of the Prison Service mandatory drug testing programme on patterns of drug misuse in prisons.
Recently evaluated projects include drug prevalence findings from the 1994 British crime survey, lifestyles of crack and heroin addicts in Manchester, public attitudes to drug-related crime and the impact of methadone programmes on crime rates on Merseyside.
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Mr. Matthew Taylor:
To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if she will provide (a) her Department's budgeted expenditure on (i) advertising, (ii) publicity and (iii) public information campaigns for the period January to March 1997 and (b) the actual expenditure on (1) advertising, (2) publicity and (3) public information campaigns in the period January to March in each of the past five years. [13467]
Mr. Sproat:
My Department has not incurred expenditure on promotional or public information advertising or public information campaigns in any of the past five years.
(2) what estimate he has made of the number of pre-sentence reports prepared by the Mid Glamorgan probation service in 1996-97 and what assessment he has made of the impact of the proposed reduction in staff in that service on providing pre-sentence reports in 1997-98. [13932]
(2) what is the cost, to date, of kennelling dogs held by the Metropolitan police, under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 against whose owners no charges are pending or charges have been dropped; [13769]
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