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Racially Aggravated Offences
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what percentage of racially aggravated offences have resulted in acquittals since the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 came into force; and how many defendants this involved, broken down by ethnic group; [113367]
- (2) how many charges relating to racially aggravated offences as defined by section 28 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 have been made since the Act came into force; and how many victims were alleged to be affected by the offences broken down by ethnic group. [113332]
Mr. Charles Clarke: Information collected centrally indicates that 10,982 racially aggravated offences were recorded by the police in the period 1 April 1999 to 30 September 1999. No information is collected on the number of charges made for these offences, the number of victims involved or their ethnic group. 745 defendants were prosecuted in magistrates courts for racially aggravated offences in the period October 1998 to 30 June 1999 of which 261 (35 per cent.) had their prosecution terminated early and 31 (4 per cent.) had their charge dismissed. No information is available on the ethnicity of the defendants.
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many complaints of racially aggravated offences have been made against police officers since the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 came into force. [113335]
Mr. Charles Clarke: Information is not routinely collected centrally on the occupations of people accused of crime. But there were 709 complaints of racial discrimination recorded against the police in 1998-99.
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many racially aggravated offences (1) charged by the police have been discontinued by the Crown Prosecution Service (a) before and (b) after the case reached a magistrates court; and how many victims, broken down by ethnic group, were alleged to be affected by the offences charged; [113333]
- (2) have been added as further offences to other charges preferred against defendants by the Crown Prosecution Service since the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 came into effect; and how many victims were alleged to be affected by the offences charged, broken down by ethnic group. [113334]
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The Solicitor-General: I have been asked to reply.
The information sought is not currently available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, the Crown Prosecution Service has been monitoring the prosecution of racist crime since 1995. The monitoring has been substantially revised in order to capture a wider range of information as a result of the new offences of racially aggravated crimes created by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. The first full year of the revised scheme ends on 31 March 2000 and the Crown Prosecution Service aims to publish a report in the autumn. At that time the figures sought regarding charges for racially aggravated offences will, it is anticipated, be available. The monitoring scheme is solely offence based and does not record information about victims of racially aggravated crime either by number or ethnic group.
Prostitutes' Cards
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what responses he has received to the consultation paper, New Measures to Control Prostitutes' Cards in Phone Boxes; and if he will make a statement. [113331]
Mr. Charles Clarke: We have received 60 responses to the consultation paper from local authorities, police staff associations, local residents' groups, telephone operators, organisations representing sex workers and members of the public.
We hope to make an announcement shortly on the outcome of the consultation exercise and our proposals for action.
Dorset and Hampshire Police
Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many officers were serving in (a) the Dorset Constabulary and (b) the Hampshire Constabulary on 31 March 1997; and how many were serving on the latest date for which figures are available. [113037]
Mr. Charles Clarke: The information is set out in the table.
| Total police officer numbers | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Dorset | Hampshire |
| 31 March 1997 | 1,284 | 3,452 |
| 30 September 1999(2) | 1,276 | 3,411 |
(2) Latest available
EU Justice and Home Affairs
Mr. Denzil Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the domestic legislative implications of the individual reasons identified in the Portuguese Presidency's Programme of Work in the Field of Justice and Home Affairs. [113070]
Mr. Charles Clarke: None of the measures specified in the Portuguese Presidency Work Programme in the field of Justice and Home Affairs has been finalised, and most are
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in the early stages of discussion. It is not possible, until an individual proposal has been finally adopted, to identify the extent of any legislative implications in the United Kingdom.
However, in accordance with the terms of reference of the Scrutiny Committees of both Houses of Parliament, the Government deposit Explanatory Memoranda on all draft European Union proposals. Part of the Explanatory Memorandum covers the possible implications to United Kingdom Law should the proposal be adopted in its draft form.
Balloting Services
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in what ways organisations offering balloting services are regulated; and if he will make a statement. [113032]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary is responsible only for legislation affecting the conduct of elections for Westminster parliamentary, European parliamentary and local elections. He has no remit to legislate the way that balloting is conducted by outside organisations, such as trade unions and political parties. This is a matter for them to agree within their own organisation and subject to any existing legislation.
Leicestershire Police
Mr. Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers Leicestershire Police Authority area has had in post in each year between 1992-93 and the last year for which figures are available. [113168]
Mr. Charles Clarke: The information requested is set out in the table.
| Year as at 31 March | Total |
|---|---|
| 1992-93 | 1,805 |
| 1993-94 | 1,825 |
| 1994-95 | 1,839 |
| 1995-96 | 1,908 |
| 1996-97 | 1,949 |
| 1997-98 | 1,983 |
| 1998-99 | 1,993 |
| 1999-2000(3) | 1,998 |
(3) As at 30 September
Asylum
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many appeals against refusal to grant political asylum were waiting to be heard on 1 February. [113084]
Jane Kennedy: I have been asked to reply.
There were a total of 3,825 asylum appeals outstanding before adjudicators as at 31 January 2000.
There were in addition 2,258 asylum appeals outstanding before the Tribunal as at 31 January 2000.
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ENVIRONMENT, TRANSPORT AND THE REGIONS
Genetically Modified Organisms
Mr. Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions for what reasons genetically-modified winter oilseed rape planted, pursuant to his decision to vary consent reference 98/R19/18 was permitted to remain in the ground after the order of the High Court. [108005]
Mr. Meacher: The Consent Order issued by the High Court, which was agreed and signed by all parties, did not order the destruction of the crop. The Government and the consent holder (AgrEvo UK Ltd.) indicated to the Court that the crops, which had been sown in good faith, will be treated as if a valid consent was in place in respect of them. In accordance with the terms of the Consent Order, the Government will continue to regulate the crops on the same terms and subject to the same conditions as if a new consent had been lawfully granted.
Rural Transport
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how he plans to evaluate the effectiveness of the current three year spending programme on rural transport services. [112513]
Mr. Hill: The current three year spending programme on rural transport includes the Rural Bus Subsidy Grant, the Rural Bus Challenge Fund, the Rural Transport Partnership Scheme and the Rural Transport Development Fund.
We are monitoring on an annual basis the impact of the Rural Bus Subsidy Grant. This analysis has shown that in the first year over 1,800 new or improved services were introduced in England. Monitoring of Rural Bus Challenge projects is based on an analysis of annual progress and end of project reports.
The Rural Transport Partnership scheme and the Rural Transport Development Fund are administered by the Countryside Agency on the Department's behalf. The Countryside Agency will be evaluating these schemes during 2000-2001.
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