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United States National Missile Defense Strategy
Mr. Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proposals have been made by the United States Department of Defense to use the communications bases at Menwith Hill and Fylingdales as part of the planned United States National Missile Defense Strategy. [116271]
Mr. Spellar: We have received no formal request to this effect, nor would we expect any until after a US decision on whether or not to proceed towards deployment of such a system.
WALES
Workplace Parking
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many workplace car parking spaces are available at the buildings used and controlled by his Department. [116771]
Mr. Paul Murphy: My Department uses and controls only one building, which has six workplace car parking spaces available.
Additionally, my Department has offices in the National Assembly building in Cardiff, where we share the car parking facilities, although no specific car parking spaces are reserved for my Department's use.
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Mr. Maclennan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the expenditure incurred by his Department, agencies and non-departmental public bodies on (a) the setting up and (b) the operation of websites, indicating the cases in which the expenditure has been above that budgeted; and if he will list for each website (i) the topics which have been covered, (ii) the current average number of hits per month and (iii) the estimated expenditure on each website for each of the next three years. [115843]
Mr. Paul Murphy:
My Department has one website which contains information about the purpose and structure of my office, together with all our press notices. It was built "in house" at no extra cost to the Welsh Office, our predecessor Department. It is operated on our behalf by NISS (National Information Systems and Services) based at Bath University. Their charges--now and in the future--are a matter of commercial confidentiality but are well within the expenditure budgeted for them. At the present time we are averaging 4,000 (mainly document) hits per month.
Mr. Rowlands:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what estimate he has made of the expenditure on the New Deal for those aged over 50 years in 1999-2000; and what is his estimate for 2000-01. [115077]
Ms Jowell:
I have been asked to reply.
New Deal 50 plus was introduced in nine selected areas in October 1999. Forecast expenditure for 1999-2000 is £1.7 million. The New Deal for 50 plus will be available nationally from 3 April 2000 with estimated expenditure for 2000-01 set at £16.1 million from the Windfall Tax and a further £102 million set aside within this Department's Annually Managed Expenditure to cover Employment Credits.
Mr. Rowlands:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what estimate he has made for the New Deal expenditure for over 25-year-olds in 1998-99 and 1999-2000; and if he will estimate the expenditure for 2000-01. [115076]
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 1998-99(1) | 26 |
| 1999-2000(2) | 90 |
| 2000-01(3) | 130 |
(1) Outturn
(2) Estimated outturn
(3) Provisional allocation
In addition New Deal for 25 plus clients have access to the Work Based Learning for Adults programme which has an annual budget of £328 million.
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Mr. Rowlands:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what estimate he has made of the spending on the New Deal for 18 to 24-year-olds in each year since 1997-98; and what estimate he has made of expenditure in 2000-01. [115075]
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 1997-98(4) | 36 |
| 1998-99(4) | 254 |
| 1999-2000(5) | 345 |
| 2000-01(6) | 470 |
(4) Outturn figures
(5) Estimated outturn
(6) Provisional allocation
HOME DEPARTMENT
Metropolitan Police
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the progress towards implementing the change to the boundaries of the Metropolitan Police District to make them coterminous with the boundaries of the London boroughs. [117309]
Mr. Straw: The change to the boundaries takes effect on 1 April, as planned. The responsibility for policing those parts of Essex, Hertfordshire and Surrey which are currently within the Metropolitan Police District will pass from the Metropolitan Police to the respective county forces.
Essex Police, Hertfordshire Constabulary, Surrey Police, their Police Authorities, and the Metropolitan Police have prepared for the changeover in a thorough and professional manner. A great deal of detailed work has been put in since I announced the change in June 1998. I commend them for their close co-operation, and I am confident that there will be a smooth transfer of responsibilities. People in the transferring areas need have no concerns about disruption to their local policing service.
The funding for the three county Police Authorities will be increased from April to reflect their enlarged areas. In addition, we are making special payments out of the police grant totalling £10 million to go towards costs arising out of the transfer.
I am confident that the benefits of the boundaries change will soon show through. I decided to change the boundaries for three main reasons.
First, it makes it easier for the criminal justice agencies in the area to work together in the fight to reduce crime. Local councils and other agencies will no longer have to work with two different police forces when discharging their responsibilities under the Crime and Disorder Act
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1998. This is an important step towards aligning boundaries in the criminal justice system, thereby improving efficiency and effectiveness.
Secondly, the change supports democratic accountability. It gives local people a say, through their county Police Authority, in the way their area is policed. People in the transferring areas will not have a vote in the forthcoming election for London's Assembly members, who will be in the majority on the new Metropolitan Police Authority. It is right that these areas be policed by county forces whose Police Authorities, with councillor members in the majority, already provide local democratic accountability.
Thirdly, the change allows the Metropolitan Police to focus its efforts on the huge task of policing the nation's capital.
The Metropolitan Police have policed the transferring areas since the time of Sir Robert Peel. I would like to pay tribute to the efforts of all the officers and civil staff of the Metropolitan Police who have worked in these areas over the years. They deserve the Government's thanks, and the thanks of the local communities.
Mr. Dismore:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Metropolitan Police Commissioner's Policing and Performance Plan for 2000-01 will be published. [117310]
Mr. Straw:
The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis tells me that he will be publishing details of his Policing and Performance Plan for 2000-01 on the Metropolitan police website http://www.met.police.uk on Friday 31 March.
Advertisements have also been placed in the London press summarising key performance data and targets set out in the Plan.
Some of the performance data for 1999-2000 are provisional. Audited data will be included in a hard copy version of the Plan to be published in June.
The Policing and Performance Plan combines the requirements of an annual Policing Plan, an annual Efficiency Plan and, for the first time, an annual Best Value Performance Plan.
The Plan sets out the Metropolitan police's two key priorities for 2000-01: reducing crime and disorder and diversity. The Plan sets out the Metropolitan police's crime reduction targets--a two per cent. reduction in burglary, stopping the increasing level of street crime and an eight per cent. reduction in vehicle crime--together with key activities for delivery. It also contains a suite of Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPIs) with a summary of the Metropolitan police's performance against those BVPIs for which historical data is available and targets for future performance. The Plan also sets out a five year plan of Best Value reviews. The areas selected for review in the coming year are; investigating and detecting crime; combating bureaucracy and managing information; and consultation.
The Plan also sets out the means by which the Metropolitan police aims to exceed the two per cent. efficiency gains required by the Government from all police forces.
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