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Metropolitan Police (Sick Leave)
Mr. Mullin:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Metropolitan police officers have been on paid sick leave for (a) three months, (b) six months, (c) one year, (d) two years, (e) three years, (f) four years and (g) five years. [12015]
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Mr. Michael:
The management of sick leave has been devolved within the Metropolitan police service and the detailed breakdown of the information requested is not immediately available. I shall write to my hon. Friend as soon as possible with a full response to his question.
Mr. Todd:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the value of fines collected as a result of the evidence of highway speed cameras (a) over the most recent months for which information is available and (b) over the 12 months preceding that. [11630]
Mr. Michael:
The information requested is not available centrally.
Some estimate of the revenue received can be made from the fact that there were 36,916 prosecutions for speeding offences detected by automatic cameras in England and Wales in 1995, the latest year for which figures are available, and 20,630 in 1994. The average amount of fine imposed for all speeding offences in 1995 was £107--£113 in 1994. Not all fines will have been paid.
The majority of speeding offences detected by automatic cameras are dealt with by fixed penalty, 170,014 in 1995 and 95,510 in 1994, the current charge being £40.
Mr. Coaker:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to implement the recommendations of Law Commission report No. 218 "Offences Against the Person and General Principles".[12215]
Mr. Straw:
The Law Commission's report No. 218, published in November 1993, is a major contribution to the development of the criminal law. It was warmly welcomed by many involved with the criminal justice system as creating a clearer and more coherent statement of the law of violence against the person. The Government have considered the Law Commission's recommendations with great care, and accept the principle of its proposals for reform of those offences contained mainly in the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.
This is a complex and difficult area of the law, and case law has evolved since the Law Commission's report was first published. It is important that any proposals to reform offences that come before the courts so frequently, and have been in existence for 136 years, are robust, well thought through and well supported. Following a detailed consideration of their report, done in close collaboration with the Law Commission, we have decided to publish a draft Bill in a consultation paper later this year. This will set out our initial proposals for reforming the law in this area, based on the Law Commission's report, and seek views on some of the difficult issues around the technical legal changes proposed by the Law Commission, such as definitions of intent, recklessness and intoxication or whether the intentional transmission of disease should be included in the Bill. The proposals will apply to England and Wales.
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In accepting the principle of reforming the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, the Government do not plan to take forward all the Law Commission's proposals at this juncture. In particular, the Law Commission made recommendations for setting out general defences of duress and the justifiable use of force in statute. We recognise the importance of these proposals, which are not directly related to the reform of the 1861 Act, but they raise some very difficult questions which should be considered separately and over a longer time scale.
Mr. Jim Cunningham:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what provision for electoral registration will be made for voters permanently resident in hospitals who are unable to register under the hospital's address. [12082]
Mr. George Howarth:
The electoral registration officer is required by law to register all those who are resident in his or her area who appear to him or her to be eligible to vote. Only those who are patients in mental hospitals, whether voluntary or detained, are prevented by law from using, for the purposes of electoral registration, the address of the hospital in which they are resident.
Mr. Cunningham:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what provisions he will make for the registration of homeless voters for forthcoming by-elections and referendums. [12083]
Mr. Mike O'Brien:
Guidance issued to electoral registration officers makes it clear that no one should be denied the right to register simply because he or she is homeless. Although an elector must be registered at an address at which he or she is resident, that address need not be a conventional one. Any person who may have been missed off the register can make a claim to be added to it after publication, and it is for EROs to determine on the facts of each case whether an individual is eligible to register.
Mr. Cunningham:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he plans to take to ensure that disabled voters have equal opportunities to register and vote in forthcoming by-elections and referendums. [12081]
Mr. O'Brien:
It is the statutory duty of each electoral registration officer to include on the register for the area in which he acts the names of all those who appear to him to be eligible. Any eligible elector who may have been missed off the register can make a claim to be added to it after publication. District and London borough councils are statutorily required to designate as polling places, so far as is reasonable and practicable, only places which are accessible to the disabled. Acting returning officers may also apply to the Home Office or the Scottish Office for grants towards the cost of providing temporary ramps and polling screens adapted for use by the disabled which may be used at elections and referendums. There is no cap on the number of applications which the acting returning officer may make for grant assistance.
Mr. Coaker:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will confirm the arrangements for
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the public consultation exercise on the intrusive surveillance code of practice required under part III of the Police Act 1997. [12320]
Mr. Michael:
Further to the answer I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Newark (Ms Jones) on 16 July, Official Report, column 176. I have now decided that the public consultation exercise should begin on 12 August.
Mr. Efford:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will establish an inquiry into the death of Stephen Lawrence on 22 April 1993. [12275]
Mr. Austin:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to make an announcement on the actions to be taken by his Department towards the murder of Stephen Lawrence; and if he will make a statement. [12277]
Mr. Straw:
I have decided to establish an inquiry under section 49 of the Police Act 1996. The terms of reference of that inquiry will be:
The handling of this case by the Metropolitan police is the subject of complaints made by the Lawrence family which are currently under investigation in accordance with police complaints procedures. That investigation is being supervised by the Police Complaints Authority. The authority expects the investigation to be completed in September and to report the outcome in October. Under section 97(2) of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, the authority may make a report to the Secretary of State on any matters coming to its notice to which it considers that his attention should be drawn by reason of their gravity or of other exceptional circumstances. The authority intends to produce a report on this case under that special provision. Under section 97(5) of the 1984 Act, that report must be laid before Parliament and published.
The inquiry under the Police Act will begin when the Police Complaints Authority report has been completed. That will allow the inquiry to consider any issues emerging from the investigation supervised by the Police Complaints Authority. The inquiry's statutory powers will also allow it to require the production of any evidence gathered during the course of the Police Complaints Authority investigation. My right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney-General has also confirmed that the full co-operation of the Crown Prosecution Service will be given to the inquiry.
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to inquire into the matters arising from the death of Stephen Lawrence on 22 April 1993 to date, in order particularly to identify the lessons to be learned for the investigation and prosecution of racially motivated crimes.
I have appointed Sir William MacPherson of Cluny, formerly High Court judge of the Queen's Bench, to conduct this inquiry. He will be supported in carrying out this inquiry by Mr. Thomas Cook, former deputy chief constable of West Yorkshire, the Right Reverend John Sentamu, Bishop of Stepney, and Dr. Richard Stone, chairman of the Jewish Council for Racial Equality. Under section 49, the inquiry will have the powers to summon any person to give evidence, to require the production of documents and to take evidence on oath.
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