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Integrated Emergency Management
Mr. Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions have taken place between the Home Office and the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions on national standards of integrated emergency management. [59590]
Mr. George Howarth: Officials at the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) are aware that National Standards for civil protection in England and Wales are being developed. No formal discussions have taken place between the Home Office and DETR to date.
Dr. Robert Gross
Mr. Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which Minister in his Department is responsible for the handling of the request from the United States of America for the extradition of Dr. Robert Gross; what discretion is available to him in extradition cases; and what are the factors which will influence the exercise of that discretion. [59525]
Kate Hoey: A request by the United States for the extradition of Dr. Gross is currently before the courts awaiting the hearing of a habeas corpus application. It will be my responsibility, if he is not discharged by the courts, to decide in due course whether his surrender should be ordered.
At that stage, Dr. Gross would have an opportunity to make representations against surrender. In reaching a final decision under the Extradition Act 1989, I would have
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regard to all of the circumstances in the case, including any grounds for concluding that it would be wrong, unjust or oppressive to order surrender.
Mr. Truswell:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to improve the provision of services for offenders diagnosed as having both mental health and substance misuse problems. [59699]
Mr. George Howarth:
The Prison Service is committed to improving services for prisoners with mental health problems who do not meet the criteria for transfer to hospital under the Mental Health Act 1983. A joint Prison Service/National Health Service Executive working group has considered ways of increasing the NHS input to services for prisoners with mental health problems. The Government will consider the working group's report and recommendations very carefully.
Prison Medical Officers are encouraged to establish links with their catchment area psychiatric units to enable the assessment of mentally disordered prisoners and, if appropriate, their transfer to psychiatric hospital. The number of prisoners transferred under the 1983 Act has risen from 325 in 1990 to 745 in 1997.
The Prison Service is to be allocated an extra £76 million over the next three financial years to help implement its drugs strategy. This will allow a major expansion of drug treatment services. It will also deliver the Government's manifesto commitment on voluntary testing and improve throughcare arrangements for drug misusers.
Drug Treatment and Testing Orders were introduced by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. The aim of the orders is to provide effective treatment in the community, with rigorous testing to evaluate an offender's progress. Pilots have started in three probation service areas and funding of £1.75m has been provided for these pilots, which will run until March 2000. In addition, probation services are being encouraged to contribute from existing resources to partnership work with other agencies to address the problems of other drug misusing offenders under their supervision.
Mr. Truswell:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to provide additional funding for probation services which have significantly greater than average workloads as a result of the supervision of paedophiles. [59702]
Mr. George Howarth:
Over the next three financial years, we are providing an additional £127 million in probation grant, which takes account of the work which area services have to undertake in supervising sexual offenders; but we have no present plans to adjust the formula used to allocate grant to probation areas to reflect the number or proportion of paedophile offenders under supervision in each area.
Mr. Lansley:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what is the average time currently taken to process claims under categories A and B of the Firearms Compensation Scheme; [59853]
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(3) what is the current delay in processing applications for compensation under Category C of the Firearms Compensation Scheme; and what was the delay (a) one month ago and (b) two months ago. [59852]
Mr. Boateng:
Payments under Options A and B of the compensation scheme for large calibre handguns and the ex gratia scheme for small calibre pistols were completed at the end of May, apart from a small number of cases still under inquiry, in an average processing time of 19 weeks. Processing of the Option A and B claims under the statutory compensation scheme for small calibre pistols surrendered during February 1998 began in August, and around three quarters of these claims have now been paid in an average processing time of 30 weeks.
The average processing time for claims processed so far under Option C of the compensation scheme for large calibre handguns and small calibre pistols is 53 weeks. In the great majority of these cases, payments have already been made under Options A and B. I regret that information is not available on the comparable processing times for earlier periods.
Around 42,000 claimants under the large calibre and ex gratia schemes and around 7,000 claimants under the statutory small calibre scheme have received payment under Options A and B. Around 6,500 claimants under the large calibre and ex gratia schemes have received payment under Option C. Option C payments under the statutory small calibre scheme will begin when the overall work position permits.
I outlined the measures we are taking to speed the processing of the compensation claims in my reply to a written question from the hon. Member for Tewkesbury (Mr. Robertson) on 28 October 1998, Official Report, columns 179-80.
Mr. Kidney:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) if he will make it a requirement for junior football clubs that they provide adequate insurance against injury for their members; [59710]
(3) what requirements there are for junior football clubs to provide adequate insurance against injury for their members. [59708]
Mr. Banks:
I have received no representations to date concerning the adequacy of insurance against injury for the members of junior football clubs. Responsibility for personal injury insurance for junior football club members rests with the clubs themselves. I understand that although there is no requirement for junior football clubs to take out personal injury insurance policies the Football Association is encouraging its County Associations to stress the importance of best practice in
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this area to their affiliated clubs. A number of County FAs are working closely with insurance companies to develop personal injury insurance schemes on a corporate basis for all their affiliated clubs. These pilot schemes are an encouraging development.
Caroline Flint:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of lottery funds excluding Millennium Landmark projects has been received by coalfield communities in (a) South Yorkshire and (b) nationally. [59820]
Mr. Banks
[holding answer 16 November 1998]: In the coalfield communities of South Yorkshire, which comprise the local authorities of Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield, there have been 608 non- Landmark awards worth £112,812,862. This represents 2.78 per cent. of the National total of over £4.25 billion awarded to 31,788 non-landmark awards.
Information on lottery awards is available on the Department's website www.lottery.culture.gov.uk.
Caroline Flint:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what has been the (a) average value and (b) number of lottery grants of less than £1 million received by coalfield communities (i) in South Yorkshire and (ii) nationally. [59822]
Mr. Banks
[holding answer 16 November 1998]: To date the National Lottery distributors have awarded over £5.07 billion to 31,788 awards. In the coalfield communities of South Yorkshire there have been 609 awards worth £162,812,862.
(2) how many people under categories A, B and C of the Firearms Compensation Scheme have received full compensation for their claims; [59854]
(2) what representations he has received concerning the adequacy of insurance against injury for the members of junior football clubs; [59709]
| Average value of all awards (£) | Total number of awards under £1 million | |
|---|---|---|
| Coalfield communities in South Yorkshire | 267,344 | 577 |
| Nationally | 159,684 | 31,111 |
Information on lottery awards is available on the Department's website www.lottery.culture.gov.uk.
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