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Departmental Staff

Mr. Stephen Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of his Department's staff were (a) registered disabled, (b) women, (c) from ethnic minorities and (d) from (i) independent, (ii) grammar and (iii) other schools in (1) 1970, (2) 1979, (3) 1989 and (4) 1999. [106763]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The percentage of permanent staff recorded centrally as having a disability in the Home Office, including the Prison Service, was 0.6 per cent. on 1 April 1999. Detailed figures were given in the reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton, North-East (Mr. Crausby) by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary on 21 December 1999, Official Report, columns 473-74W.

The recorded percentage of female permanent staff in the Home Office, excluding the Prison Service, was 51.8 per cent. on 1 April 1999. The recorded percentage

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of female staff in the Prison Service was 26.5 per cent. on 21 December 1999. Detailed figures were given in the reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Keighley (Mrs. Cryer) by my right hon. Friend, the Home Secretary on 12 January 2000, Official Report, columns 176-77W.

The percentage of permanent staff of ethnic minority origin recorded centrally as being in the Home Office, including the Prison Service, was 5.0 per cent. on 1 April 1999. Detailed figures were also given in the reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton, North-East (Mr. Crausby) by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary on 20 December 1999, Official Report, columns 367W-68W.

Detailed disability, ethnicity, and gender breakdowns for 1970, 1979, and 1989 are not available except at disproportionate cost. The available published staffing figures may be found in Civil Service Statistics, a copy of which is in the Library.

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Information on the schools attended by civil servants is not recorded centrally and therefore is not available for the periods requested except at disproportionate cost.

Mike Tyson

Mr. Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he discussed with the Prime Minister or his Office the matter of whether to allow Mr. Mike Tyson into the UK before announcing his decision. [106650]

Mr. Straw [holding answer 25 January 2000]: It is the normal convention under this and previous Governments that discussions that take place between Ministers are not disclosed.

Data Protection

Mr. Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received from the Data Protection Registrar on the Data Protection (conditions under paragraph 3 of Part II of Schedule 1) Order 1999; and if he will make a statement. [107067]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: In the course of consultations during the preparation of the Order, the Data Protection Registrar indicated her preference for it to include a requirement for data controllers to record the third party source of information processed subject to its terms, but that she was otherwise content with its provisions requiring them to provide data subjects with information and to record the decision-making process in cases where disclosure of information where a notice has been received from an individual would involve disproportionate effort. In considering the provisions of the Order, we concluded that a third party recording requirement would impose a burden on business disproportionate to any data protection benefits which it might yield.

State Visits

Ms Oona King: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to meet the Metropolitan police in advance of events with security requirements similar to those of a State Visit. [107116]

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Mr. Charles Clarke: Liaison between the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Metropolitan police normally takes place prior to State Visits or similar events involving overseas visitors. My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary will be considering whether the Home Office should also contribute to such discussions.

Firearms

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what was the total number of criminal incidents in which shotguns were used in the United Kingdom, excluding Northern Ireland, which resulted in (a) unlawful death, (b) unlawful wounding and (c) no physical injury, and in each category showing the total number of incidents in which a licensed weapon was used by a person with legal access to that weapon, for 1994 to 1999; [107054]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The table relates to Great Britain and provides the readily available information. 'Handguns' include pistols/revolvers, no further breakdown being available in the statistics collected centrally. 'Other firearms' includes all other firearms except shotguns (ie rifles, air weapons, imitations, 'supposed' and 'other' firearms). Fatal and other injuries involve weapons being fired and, for England and Wales only, being used as a blunt instrument. Only in cases of fatal injury (ie homicide) is the legal status of the firearms collected centrally and this is shown in cases where the weapon was known to be legally held.

Figures for 1999 are not yet available.

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Notifiable offences (3) recorded by the police in which firearms were reported to have been used, by type of weapon and degree of injury, Great Britain, 1994 to 1998

Fatal injury
Total numberOf which firearm legally held or certificate not requiredOther injuryNo injuryTotal
Handguns
199428--2982,8333,159
19954012713,0833,394
199649202693,2153,533
19974412842,4682,796
199829--2302,4182,677
Other firearms (4)
1994932,0928,31010,411
19951121,9948,63310,638
19964--1,9569,00910,969
1997421,8318,32210,157
19989--2,2459,04211,296
Sawn off shotguns
199414153529596
199510--50419479
19967--30368405
19975--12266283
19987128290325
Long barrelled shotguns
1994247106659789
199520681543644
199614471534619
199712147302361
19986138314358

(3) Crimes and offences in Scotland

(4) Rifles, air weapons, imitations, 'supposed' and 'other' firearms

Source:

Home Office, Crime and Criminal Justice Unit and Scottish Executive, Justice Statistics Unit


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Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) revolvers, (b) automatic pistols, (c) other firearms and (d) shotguns have been obtained from (i) civilian registered owners, (ii) public bodies and (iii) owners who are unregistered or illegally in possession of such a weapon since 1997. [107113]

Mr. Charles Clarke: Information on the source of firearms is not collected centrally.

Radio Communications Project

Mr. Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the proposals made by John Jarvis in a letter to him of 19 November 1999 for provision of the requirements of the Public Sector Radio Communications Project; and if he will make a statement. [107409]

Mr. Charles Clarke: Mr. Jarvis wrote jointly to me and to my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister on 19 November with a proposal for an alternative to the Public Safety Radio Communications Project (PSRCP). Officials at the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions will shortly be advising Mr. Jarvis that his proposed approach would not meet the user specification for the PSRCP.

The PSRCP will provide the police with new, state-of-the-art radio communications using the most suitable available standard, Trans European Trunked Radio (TETRA). This standard will, unlike Mr. Jarvis's proposed solution, provide a common platform for voice and data communication services.

As I announced in the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Corby (Mr. Hope) on 13 January 2000, Official Report, column 214W, we have invited the

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chosen service provider, British Telecom plc, to proceed with the necessary preparatory work in the expectation that a contract will be signed shortly.


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