5 May 1999 : Column: 367
Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 5 May 1999
HOME DEPARTMENT
Special Advisers
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 17 March 1999, Official Report, column 665, on special advisers, if he will give the total travel cost of each occasion when (a) departmental and (b) non-departmental advisers have travelled abroad in an official capacity since 2 May 1997 and the place visited. [82411]
Mr. Straw: For the period 2 May 1997 to 27 April 1999, Special Advisers in my Department have travelled overseas in an official capacity on two occasions to Brussels and once to Washington. The total cost of travel and any hotel accommodation for the visits to Brussels was £433.00. The cost of the visit to Washington was accounted for in the answer given by the Prime Minister to the hon. Member for Lichfield (Mr. Fabricant) on 13 March 1998, Official Report, columns 366-67. Because of the block booking arrangements, the cost per person for travel was £3,500. All travel complied with the requirements of the Ministerial Code and the Civil Service Management Code.
Deaths (Police Custody)
Mr. Mullin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what date he received the report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture relating to the handling of deaths in police custody; and when he has to respond. [82650]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: My hon. Friend may be referring to the report by the European Committee on the Prevention of Torture on its visit to the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man in September 1997.
We received the Committee's report in April 1998. The Government forwarded a response in October 1998.
Fire Brigades (Millennium Compliance)
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the fire brigades to whose millennium computer preparedness the recent study by Action 2000 drew attention. [82819]
Mr. George Howarth:
The results of independent assessments conducted by Her Majesty's Fire Service Inspectorate up to 12 April were reported to the Action 2000 National Infrastructure Forum on 21 April. The latest position is that 45 out of 49 brigades in England and Wales have so far been assessed. Of these, 22 are classified as prepared, and 23 have been given an Action Plan. All are expected to be prepared by September. It is not my intention to name individual brigades at this stage.
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Dr. Lynne Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish the syllabus of the programme of training courses organised by his Department for coroners and details of the attendees in each of the past five years. [82699]
Mr. George Howarth:
The Home Office courses have contained lectures on the following subjects:
Since 1995, some 220 coroners and their deputies have attended Home Office-organised courses. The figures for 1994 are no longer available.
Mr. Gordon Prentice:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to complete his review of proxy voting. [82848]
Mr. George Howarth:
The Working Party on Electoral Procedures which I am chairing has been examining both proxy and postal voting along with other electoral issues. I expect to present the Working Party's final report to the Home Secretary in the late summer.
Mr. Steinberg:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will assess the (a) benefits and (b) disadvantages of granting anonymity to defendants in actions for (i) rape and (ii) other sexual offences. [82856]
Mr. Boateng:
The Government have no plans to review this area of the law, which reflects the position that, in accordance with the principles of open justice, the press should be able to report the identity of all defendants. By virtue of their right to control proceedings
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in court, judges have an inherent power to impose reporting restrictions in exceptional circumstances where there is good reason and it is in the interests of justice.
Mr. Fearn:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what is his Department's estimate of the number of animals used in experiments in (a) 1996, (b) 1997 and (c) 1998; [82910]
(3) how many project licences were issued in (a) 1996, (b) 1997 and (c) 1998 for animal experiments. [82909]
Mr. George Howarth:
Information on the use of animals in scientific procedures is published each year in the Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals. Table 1a gives details of the number of animals used. In 1996, the total was 2,646,026 and, in 1997, it was 2,573,088.
Figures for animal use during 1998 are being collated and will be published in July.
Scientific procedures must normally be carried out at designated establishments. The Annual Reports of the Animal Procedures Committee 1996 and 1997 list the numbers of such establishments and also give the number of project licences issued. They show that:
In specific circumstances (such as field trials), experiments can also take place at places other than designated establishments. Details of the number of such places are not held centrally.
Of the 286 certificates of designation in force on 31 December 1998, 107 were registered as commercial concerns. The number of companies may differ slightly from this: some companies, for example, may hold more than one certificate of designation each covering a different facility.
Mr. Paul Marsden:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many illegal handguns are estimated to be in circulation in the UK, separately identifying the figure for 9mm Browning automatics; and if he will make a statement. [83060]
Mr. Boateng:
There is no reliable estimate of the number of illegal firearms in circulation in this country.
The existence of illegal firearms is of great concern to the Government. We will do all we can to ensure that the police service and Her Majesty's Customs are equipped to target this particular crime. Work is also continuing at international level to address the problems of the illicit
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manufacture and trafficking of firearms, notably through a Protocol to the proposed United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime.
Mr. Stunell:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he plans to reduce waiting times for passport applications; and if he will make a statement. [83138]
Mr. Mike O'Brien:
To meet its customers' needs the Passport Agency is now prioritising applications by customers' declared travel dates. Its secondary standard of service target is to give priority to customers' travel needs aiming to meet their declared travel dates for at least 99.99 per cent. of passports issued. The Agency is meeting this target and will continue to do so.
The Agency's aim is to reduce turnround times in all the six regional passport offices to its target of ten days by September and in the meantime to meet customers' declared travel needs. It will do this by injecting additional resources, through system improvements and clear messages to passport applicants on how they can best assist the Agency to meet their needs.
Mr. Stunell:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) new applications and (b) applications for renewal of United Kingdom passports were received in each month since January 1998; how many unprocessed applications there were at the end of each month; and if he will make a statement. [83137]
Mr. Mike O'Brien:
Information on new and renewal applications and on unprocessed applications is shown in the table.
judicial reviews
pre-inquest hearings
dealing with juries
summing up and verdicts
coroners and criminal law
the Attorney-General and the coroner
the role of the pathologist
post mortems
histopathology
forensic pathology
paediatric pathology
toxicology
hospital deaths
mesothelioma and associated respiratory diseases
industrial diseases
disaster management
accident reconstruction
coroners: the Home Office role
computerising coroner records
Home Office statistics
the role of the coroner's officer
the coroner and the media
the Mental Health Act 1983
the Treasure Act 1996
death registration.
(2) in how many facilities in the United Kingdom animal experiments are permitted to take place; [83006]
300 certificates of designation were in force on 31 December 1996 and 292 on 31 December 1997; and
667 new project licences were granted during 1996 and 919 during 1997.
Figures for 1998 will be published shortly. They will show that there were 286 certificates of designation in force on 31 December 1998 and that 1,104 project licences were granted during 1998.
| Month | New | Renewal | Work in Progress |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 1998 | 179,812 | 210,465 | 118,983 |
| February 1998 | 205,613 | 221,535 | 139,879 |
| March 1998 | 233,839 | 223,772 | 168,064 |
| April 1998 | 192,314 | 167,118 | 136,174 |
| May 1998 | 268,357 | 202,910 | 184,505 |
| June 1998 | 245,467 | 176,988 | 204,589 |
| July 1998 | 233,388 | 168,073 | 190,857 |
| August 1998 | 230,835 | 179,665 | 101,300 |
| September 1998 | 138,630 | 109,215 | 86,848 |
| October 1998 | 125,315 | 99,087 | 53,652 |
| November 1998 | 145,815 | 117,807 | 77,423 |
| December 1998 | 90,208 | 74,731 | 61,396 |
| January 1999 | 166,995 | 172,346 | 129,778 |
| February 1999 | 208,906 | 188,515 | 210,292 |
| March 1999 | 294,787 | 239,533 | 222,631 |
The Passport Agency has encountered a number of operational problems arising from the introduction of new high technology driven passport issuing arrangements into its Liverpool and Newport passport offices. This has caused delays in the processing of non-urgent applications and has increased the backlog of unprocessed work.
To meet its customers' needs the Passport Agency is now prioritising applications by customers' declared travel dates. Its secondary standard of service target is to give priority to customers' travel needs aiming to meet
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their declared travel dates for at least 99.99 per cent. of passports issued. The Agency is meeting this target and will continue to do so.
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