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Remembrance Sunday
Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to rename Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday. [96028]
Mr. Straw: We have no plans to rename Armistice Day (11 November) or Remembrance Sunday (the second Sunday in November).
Chinese President (State Visit)
Miss Widdecombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what discussions (a) he, (b) Ministers in his Department and (c) officials in his Department hold each year with (i) the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis and (ii) other senior Metropolitan Police personnel on the policing of state visits to the capital; [96218]
- (2) what discussions (a) he, (b) Ministers in his Department and (c) officials in his Department hold each year with (i) the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis and (ii) other senior Metropolitan Police personnel on the maintenance of public order within (1) the royal parks and (2) the vicinity of the Palace of Westminster; [96214]
(3) what discussions (a) he, (b) Ministers in his Department and (c) officials in his Department had with (i) the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis and (ii) other senior Metropolitan Police personnel on the plans for policing the recent visit of the President of the People's Republic of China. [96215]
Mr. Charles Clarke [holding answer 28 October 1999]: My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary meets regularly with the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis to discuss policing issues in London, and there are regular contacts with the Metropolitan Police at both Ministerial and official level. There were no specific discussions of the issues specified at my right hon. Friend, the Home Secretary's meetings, prior to the Chinese State Visit nor, as far as can be ascertained, at other meetings between Ministers and officials and the Metropolitan Police. At a regular meeting between my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary and the Commissioner on 27 October, the Commissioner told my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary that the Metropolitan Police were conducting an internal review into the policing of the visit of the President of China.
Mr. Bercow:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance representatives from his
29 Oct 1999 : Column: 1024
Department issued to the police responsible for the policing of the visit by the Chinese President pertaining to the treatment of demonstrators. [96581]
Mr. Lidington:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations were made by his Department to the Royal Parks Police about the policing of the state visit of the President of China. [96490]
Mr. Lidington:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what meetings were held between his Department and the Royal Parks Police about the policing of the state visit of the President of China. [96489]
Mr. Brady:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how may anti-social behaviour orders have been implemented in each police authority area. [96450]
Mr. Charles Clarke:
Information on the number of Orders made is not held centrally, but we are aware of six Orders made since 1 April 1999, as follows:
Mr. Wilkinson:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of police officers who will leave the police service over the next three years. [95577]
Mr. Straw:
Given the uncertainty surrounding the number of officers who take early retirement on medical grounds or who leave the service before normal retirement age for other reasons, it is not possible to project actual wastage in the future. However, the actual wastage over the last three years has been running at around five and a half thousand per year. The hon. Member will wish to be aware of papers and calculations which I presented to the Home Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday 26 October which had been prepared by the Research, Development and Statistics Directorate of my Department and by Professor Buck of Essex University. I am sending the hon. Member a copy, and copies are also available in the Library.
Mrs. Brinton:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the issue of deaths caused by negligent or dangerous driving. [95110]
Mr. Hill
[holding answer 25 October 1999]: I have been asked to reply.
Research is currently in progress to study the effect of the Road Traffic Act 1991 on prosecutions for dangerous driving. The project, which is being undertaken for the
29 Oct 1999 : Column: 1025
Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions by the Transport Research Laboratory, began in May 1998 and is due to be completed in October 2000.
Issues covered by the study include: whether there is sufficiently clear guidance on the law and its purpose, and how this affects the choice of penalty; comparison of sentencing trends before and since the 1991 Act; and how the changes in the definition of "bad driving" offences have been implemented by police and courts.
The aim is to obtain an understanding of what leads prosecutors and courts to select one offence or one penalty rather than another. By examining the whole procedure from charging to sentencing, it may be possible to identify ways of improving practice, so as to deter poor driving more effectively.
Mr. O'Hara:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many pensioners receive (a) Income Support, (b) Housing Benefit and (c) Council Tax Benefit in each region of the UK. [95659]
Mr. Rooker:
The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the tables.
Avon and Somerset--1
Derbyshire--2
Merseyside--2
West Mercia--1.
| Thousand | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Income Support | Housing Benefit | Council Tax Benefit | |
| North East | 92 | 115 | 151 |
| North West | 234 | 228 | 349 |
| Yorks and Humberside | 160 | 186 | 261 |
| East Midlands | 111 | 120 | 180 |
| West Midlands | 172 | 175 | 270 |
| Eastern | 126 | 146 | 210 |
| London | 204 | 231 | 288 |
| South East | 168 | 188 | 257 |
| South West | 128 | 124 | 191 |
| Wales | 94 | 88 | 134 |
| Scotland | 169 | 225 | 303 |
| Great Britain | 1,659 | 1,826 | 2,593 |
Notes:
1. Pensioners are defined as benefit units where either the claimant and/or the partner is aged 60 or over.
2. Figures are for benefit units which may be a single person or a couple.
3. The Income Support figures are based on a 5 per cent. sample of Income Support claimants, the Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit figures are based on a 1 per cent. sample and as such figures are subject to a degree of sampling error.
4. Numbers are rounded to the nearest thousand.
5. The data for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit are provisional and may be subject to change.
Sources:
1. Income Support Statistics Quarterly Enquiry, May 1998. Later Income Support data are held, the Income Support Statistics Quarterly Enquiry May 1999 refers.
2. Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Management Information System Annual 1 per cent. Sample for Great Britain as at 14 May 1998.
29 Oct 1999 : Column: 1026
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Income support August 1999 | 71,308 |
| Housing benefit May 1999 | 46,012 |
Notes:
1. Pensioners are defined as benefit units where either the claimant and/or the partner is aged 60.
2. Figures are for benefit units which may be a single person or a couple.
3. Figures are based on a 100 per cent. scan of Income Support claimants as at August 1999 and Housing Benefit Claimants as at May 1999, for Norther Ireland.
Sources:
1. Income Support--General Matching Service 100 per cent. scan, August 1999.
2. Housing Benefit--Northern Ireland Housing Executive 100 per cent. scan, May 1999.
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many pensioners are not yet receiving their full benefit entitlement because of NIRSII computer problems. [96278]
Mr. Rooker: I refer the hon. Member to the Written Answer the then Minister of State, my hon. Friend the Member for East Ham (Mr. Timms), gave the hon. Member for Northavon (Mr. Webb) on 22 July 1999, Official Report, columns 575-76.
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