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HOME DEPARTMENT
Justice and Home Affairs Council
Mr. Rammell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the outcome of the Justice and Home Affairs Council held in Luxembourg on 29 October; and if he will make a statement. [97106]
Mr. Straw: The Minister of State, Home Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Mrs. Roche) and I represented the United Kingdom at the Council. The main matters dealt with were as follows:
- 'A' points
- The Council agreed as an 'A' point, among other things, the annual report for 1997-98 on football hooliganism in European Union member states.
- Open debate on the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice
- The Council discussed the outcome of the Tampere European Council. The Commission undertook to present to the December Justice and Home Affairs Council a first draft of the 'scoreboard' (ie progress report) on implementing specific Tampere measures.
- Follow-up to the Tampere European Council
- The Presidency presented a paper they had prepared jointly with the Commission and Council Secretariat on implementation of the results of the Tampere European Council. There was no significant discussion.
- Draft Eurodac Regulation
- The Council noted the Presidency's progress report and encouraged the intensification of efforts to resolve outstanding issues in order to reach agreement at the December Council.
- Draft Mandate for a parallel Dublin Agreement with Iceland and Norway
- At the previous Council meeting on 4 October, the Commission had presented its proposal for a Community agreement to bring Norway and Iceland into the Dublin Convention arrangements. On 29 October, the Council noted that the agreement needed to be concluded quickly and remitted the draft mandate to Coreper to resolve outstanding difficulties.
- Council decision on opening negotiations between Europol and third countries and international organisations
- After discussions, further consideration of the draft instrument was remitted to Coreper.
- Mutual Legal Assistance Convention: Interception Provisions
- The Presidency noted that, while good progress had been made and agreement appeared to be closer, the provisions relating to interception of telecommunications in the draft Convention on
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- Mutual Assistance in criminal matters were still subject to some debate. It circulated for consideration a further compromise text. After discussion, the Presidency concluded that the issue should be remitted to Coreper, with a view to ultimate agreement at the December Council.
- Justice and Home Affairs information for National Parliaments
- This item was remitted to the December Council.
Police Complaints
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was (a) the total cost and (b) the cost by force of running police complaints and discipline departments for the last year in which figures are available in each of the 43 police authorities in England and Wales. [97119]
Mr. Charles Clarke: This information is not available centrally.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will state (a) what categories of complaints and (b) how many complaints were received in each category, by the police complaints and discipline departments for the last year in which figures are available, in each of the 43 police authorities in England and Wales. [97120]
Mr. Charles Clarke:
The categories of complaint used by police complaints and discipline departments are as follows:
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Information showing the number of complaints received in each category for financial year 1998-99 is given in the table:
1. Oppressive Behaviour
Category A: Serious non-sexual assault
Category B: Sexual assault
Category C: Other assault
Category D: Oppressive conduct/harassment
Category E: Unlawful arrest etc.
2. Racial Discrimination
Category F
3. Malpractice
Category G: Perjury/irregularity in evidence
Category H: Corrupt practice
Category J: Mishandling of Property
4. Failures in Duty
Category K: Breach, Code A
Category L: Breach, Code B
Category M: Breach, Code C
Category N: Breach, Code D
Category P: Breach, Code E
Category R: Breach, unspecified or multiple
Category S: Other neglect of duty
Category T: Other irregularity in procedure
5. Incivility
Category U
6. Traffic
Category V
7. Other
Category W.
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Dr. Cable:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the average number of days taken in investigating complaints for each of the police
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complaints and discipline departments in each authority in England and Wales for the last year in which figures are available. [97121]
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Mr. Charles Clarke:
The available information is in terms of the average completion times for complaints cases, and is given in the table.
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Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many police officers, broken down by rank, were employed in each of the 43 police complaints and discipline departments for the last year in which figures are available; [97122]
- (2) how many whole-time equivalent police officers, broken down by rank, were seconded to each of the 43 police complaints and discipline departments for the last year in which figures are available; [97123]
(3) how many whole-time equivalent non-police support staff were employed to work in each of the 43 police complaints and discipline departments for the last year in which figures are available. [97124]
Mr. Charles Clarke:
Figures on police staffing of complaints and discipline departments for 1995-96, the latest year for which information was collected, are given in the table. Information on secondments to complaints and discipline departments and on employment of non-police staff is not available.
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Dr. Cable:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the average number of hours spent on investigations, broken down by category, by the police complaints and discipline departments in each of the 43 police complaints authorities in England and Wales for the last year for which figures are available. [97125]
Mr. Charles Clarke:
This information is not available centrally.
Dr. Cable:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (a) how many complaints and (b) in what categories, were supervised by the police complaints authority in each of the 43 police authorities in England and Wales for the last year in which figures are available. [97126]
Mr. Charles Clarke:
Information is readily available only on the number of investigations, by individual force, supervised by the Police Complaints Authority (PCA). This is shown for 1998-99 in the table.
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