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Home Detention Curfew Scheme

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer to the right hon. Member for Maidstone and The Weald (Miss Widdecombe) of 2 February 2000, Official Report, column 596W, how many curfewees charged with an offence while on home detention curfew were charged with an offence similar in character to that for which they were serving a sentence of imprisonment prior to being released on the curfew. [109509]

Mr. Boateng: According to Prison Service records, of the 174 curfewees referred to in the answer I gave to the right hon. Member for Maidstone and The Weald (Miss Widdecombe) on 2 February, who have been charged with a further offence while subject to Home Detention Curfew, 69 have been charged with an offence similar to that for which they were serving a sentence of imprisonment prior to being released on curfew. In one case it has not been possible, in the time available, to confirm whether the further offence is similar in nature to the original offence. I will write to the hon. Member when this information is available.

Human Rights Act 1998

Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the advantages and disadvantages of extending the requirement for a certificate of compatibility with the Human Rights Act 1998 to private legislation. [107914]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Human Rights Act 1998 applies equally to Public and Private Bills, once they are enacted. Under the Human Rights Act 1998, Acts of Parliament will have to be interpreted compatibly with the Convention rights if possible. Where this is not possible, a higher court will be able to issue a declaration of incompatibility. This applies to all primary legislation as defined by the Human Rights Act, which includes private Acts, 1998.

Parliamentary Questions

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 21 December 1999, Official Report, column 493W, when the hon. Member for Torbay will receive a reply. [109448]

Mrs. Roche: I wrote to the hon. Member on 9 February. I am sorry for the delay.

Drugs

Miss Widdecombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to amend his policy on (a) cannabis and (b) class B controlled drugs; and if he will make a statement. [109507]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The Government have no plans to amend their existing policy in relation to cannabis and other Class B controlled drugs.

Racially Aggravated Offences

Mr. Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will publish figures for race hate crimes committed in each year between 1990 and 1999 as a proportion of all reported crime; [109464]

10 Feb 2000 : Column: 256W

Mr. Charles Clarke: Information is available on the new racially aggravated offences which were introduced under the Crime and Disorder Act in October 1998. The latest information indicates that 10,982 offences were recorded by all police forces in England and Wales for the period 1 April 1999-30 September 1999, 218 in Thames Valley and 7,473 in the Metropolitan police.

Additional information is also available on the number of racist incidents that were recorded by the police which is wider in definition than crimes. Information covering 1993-94 to 1998-99 was published in December 1999 in Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System, a copy of which is in the Library. Owing to the broader definition of such offences than those covered by the recorded crime statistics it would be misleading to compare the two figures. It is currently not possible to say what proportion of such offences resulted in successful prosecutions.

Animal Experiments

Mr. Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many licence applications involving the administration of tobacco smoke to conscious animals were granted in (a) 1996, (b) 1997 and (c) 1998; how many animals, broken down by species, were involved in the research in each year; into which severity banding the research fell; and how many animals died as a result of the research in each year; [109078]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Government stand firmly by their ban on the testing of tobacco products which was announced in November 1997. There will be no approval for any such tests. Two recently approved applications are for programmes that do not test the effects of tobacco smoke, but enable the development of treatments for chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases such as bronchitis and emphysema, which seriously debilitate many people. These health problems derive mainly from smoking,

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including passive smoking, as well as occupationally related lung diseases, such as those caused by the inhalation of coal dust. Tobacco smoke is the only test material to model reliably the effects that will enable a better understanding of the disease processes and improved medical treatments. The licensed research programmes are to investigate medical treatments, not the safety approval of tobacco products.

The Inspectorate and the Animal Procedures Committee have advised that the licences are justifiable and that the benefits to man and animals would outweigh the costs to the animals involved. As with all project licence applications, these two licences were issued only after a full and careful assessment, including whether there were alternatives which replace animal use, reduce the number of animals needed or refine the experimental design to minimise suffering.

Strict conditions were made in authorising these two programmes of research. The maximum number and species of animal that may be used per year are 1,100 mice and 1,100 guinea-pigs in one; and 2,000 mice, 1,000 rats and 1,000 guinea-pigs, in the other. Tobacco smoke is to be administered by placing the animals in inhalation chambers for set periods. They are not expected to suffer convulsive spasms. the severity bands for both project licenses are classed as moderate. To date, no animals have died as a result of the research.

Table 5a of the Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals shows the number of animals used in non-toxicology procedures each year. Figures for the use of tobacco as a pharmacological tool or standard are not separated out, but there were no instances where tobacco smoke was administered to conscious animals in 1996, 1997 and 1998. No licenses were issued for the administration of tobacco smoke to conscious animals and no animals were used for tobacco research in any of these three years.

Table 10a of the annual statistics gives details of the number of animals used in toxicology (safety) testing. In submitting the data for this table, licensees are instructed to include tests on tobacco alternatives with data for protocols that have used tobacco in any form. Again, the tables show that no animals were used for the safety testing of tobacco of tobacco substitutes during 1996, 1997 and 1998.

Evaluating research proposals involving the use of animals is difficult and requires a delicate moral balance to be struck. Scientific developments have saved many human lives and cured many illnesses and have contributed to the health of animals and the protection of the environment. Much knowledge has come from experiments on animals. To have failed to allow that work may have resulted in many humans dying and suffering where instead they have been cured or helped. The Government want to prevent unnecessary experiments involving animals but it would be immoral, in our view, to deny victims of diseases like bronchitis and emphysema the assistance that new scientific knowledge could bring from work such as projects PPL 70/04972 and PPL 70/04956.

Hillsborough Inquiry

Mr. Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when copies of the information which formed

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the background to the Hillsborough inquiry will be moved to Liverpool; and where in the city they will be made available for public access. [109342]

Mr. Charles Clarke: Copies of the evidence considered by Lord Justice Stuart-Smith were placed in the Library following the scrutiny of the Hillsborough disaster. In response to earlier representations by my hon. Friend the Member for Crosby (Mrs. Curtis-Thomas), it was confirmed the House is willing to loan the material to a nominated library in Liverpool.

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