House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 11 Feb 1999 (pt 6)

Greater London Authority

Mr. Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will announce the date when the Greater London Authority will assume its responsibilities. [71248]

Mr. Raynsford: Subject to the passage of the Greater London Authority Bill, the Greater London Authority will assume its responsibilities on Monday 3 July 2000. This will maintain momentum while allowing some eight weeks after the elections on 4 May for necessary preparations.

Rural England

Mr. Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has to consult on the future of rural England; and if he will make a statement. [71423]

Mr. Meacher: Together with my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, I shall be publishing "Rural England--A Discussion Document", on Wednesday 17 February. This will invite responses to help in the preparation of the White Paper for rural England announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions on 27 November 1998, Official Report, columns 38-40. Copies will be placed in the Library and the Vote Office.

11 Feb 1999 : Column: 315

HOME DEPARTMENT

Young Offenders

Mr. Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will provide a regional breakdown of courts' progress in meeting the target of halving the number of days between arrest and sentencing of persistent young offenders. [67727]

Mr. Boateng: In the past, information on the length of time from arrest to sentence for persistent young offender cases has not been routinely collected. We have undertaken two special exercises to monitor performance nationally against the pledge on persistent young offenders and we have also put in place new arrangements to enable this information to be collected on a regular basis through the existing Time Interval Survey. The first special exercise showed the time from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders was 142 days in 1996. The second showed an improvement to 138 days between May and December 1997. It is not possible from these data to provide a statistically reliable measure of progress towards the pledge at regional level. A third special exercise, which should produce the 1998 figures in the spring, will, however, allow an estimate to be made on the progress of individual regions in 1997-98.

The new arrangements for the regular collection of data on the time taken from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders and all other young offenders were implemented in October 1998 after piloting. The first complete data from the new Time Interval Survey should be available by late 1999. These will allow for a breakdown of performance by area.

Under guidance issued by the Home Secretary in October 1998, a half of all cases involving persistent young offenders should be dealt with in under 71 days by April this year. The Government fully expect to fulfil its pledge during this parliament.

Mr. Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the latest available figure for the number of days between arrest and sentencing for (a) persistent young offenders and (b) all offenders dealt with in the youth courts. [67726]

Mr. Boateng: The Government are committed to halving the average time taken to deal with persistent young offenders from the 142 days it took in 1996. Figures for 1997 show that between May and December 1997 the average dropped to 138. These figures cover a considerable period when there were very few fast tracking schemes; at the time of the election there were only 8 in the whole of England and Wales. There are now around 150 covering almost half of all court areas.

Under guidance published by the Home Secretary in October 1998, a half of all cases involving persistent young offenders should be dealt with in under 71 days by April this year.

The Government fully expect to fulfil their pledge during this Parliament.

Information about the average time for arrest to sentence for all young offenders in the youth court has not been collected nationally in the past. New arrangements to do so were introduced in October last year but are unlikely to produce reliable data until the end of this year at the

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earliest. The magistrates' courts Time Interval Survey collects information on cases completed in one week samples each February, June and October, covering the date of charge or summons until the date of completion. The latest available results for the Youth Court come from the June 1998 survey, and reports an average of 81 days, compared with 92 days in June 1997.

Prisoners (Segregation)

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the longest period of time an (a) male and (b) female prison inmate has been held in a segregation unit (i) at the inmate's own request and (ii) at the decision of the prison authorities in a prison in England and Wales in the last 10 years. [69066]

Mr. George Howarth: The information requested cannot be obtained from the centrally available data.

Drugs (Northumbria)

Mr. Kemp: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the total number of drug seizures within the Northumbrian Police Force area was in 1998; and what percentage of these were (a) hard and (b) soft drugs. [70357]

Mr. George Howarth: Figures for 1998 are not yet available. It is hoped to publish 1997 statistics in the next few months; I will write to my hon. Friend when they are published. The table shows the number of seizures by Northumbria Police for 1996.

Number of seizures of controlled drugs by Northumbria Police by drug type in 1996

Drug type Number of seizures

All drugs 3,134

Class A

Cocaine 30

of which "Crack" 2

Heroin 128

LSD 22

Ecstasy-type 132

Methadone 13

Other class A 7

Class A total 322

Class B

Cannabis 2,424

Amphetamines 569

Other Class B 9

Class B total 2,857

Class C

Benzodiazepines 63

Temazepam 40

Anabolic steroids 12

Other class C 6

Class C total 114

Class unknown 2

Drug type	Number of seizures
All drugs	3,134

Class A
Cocaine	30
of which "Crack"	2
Heroin	128
LSD	22
Ecstasy-type	132
Methadone	13
Other class A	7

Class A total	322

Class B
Cannabis	2,424
Amphetamines	569
Other Class B	9

Class B total	2,857

Class C
Benzodiazepines	63
Temazepam	40
Anabolic steroids	12
Other class C	6

Class C total	114

Class unknown	2

Note:

As a seizure can involve more than one drug, figures for individual drugs cannot be added together to produce totals.

Source:

Table A1.3 of Statistics of drug seizures and offenders dealt with, United Kingdom, 1996--Area tables, published by Home Office Research and Statistics Directorate, April 1998.

11 Feb 1999 : Column: 317

Police (Training)

Mr. Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list for each police force in England and Wales the training which has been given on operation of the new police personnel procedures which come into effect on 1 April. [70579]

Mr. Boateng: The Training Support section of the National Police Training organisation has delivered half day seminars to appropriate members of all police forces (including "non-Home Office" forces) in England and Wales to inform them of the new procedures, and additionally have run two-day workshops which were attended by delegates from 41 police forces. The workshops were aimed particularly at force trainers to equip them to train members of their forces. The individual forces concerned are identified in the table. The national training was completed in January 1999 and forces are now engaged in training their personnel. Each force is responsible for its own training in terms of its nature and scope and, while all officers are understood to be receiving some information, police managers will naturally require more than police constables.

Forces/organisations represented at a seminar on the new police personnel procedures

Avon and Somerset Constabulary

Bedfordshire Police

Cambridgeshire Police

Cheshire Constabulary

City of London Police

Cleveland Constabulary

Cumbria Constabulary

Derbyshire Constabulary

Devon & Cornwall Constabulary

Dorset Police

Durham Constabulary