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Local Elections

Miss Widdecombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the turnout in (a) the May 2000 local elections and (b) each of the previous five local elections for each local authority area which conducted pilot projects of alternative voting procedures under the Representation of the People Act 2000; what alternative procedures were used in each case; what plans he has to extend such alternative procedures to all local elections in England and Wales; and if he will make a statement. [121987]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: Information about turnout in local authority elections for the previous five local elections for each local authority is not held centrally and we would need to obtain this from local authorities and this would be at disproportionate cost.

A list of the local authorities running pilot schemes at the recent local elections was provided in a reply I gave to my hon. Friend, the Member for Stockport (Ms Coffey) on 21 March 2000, Official Report, columns 486-87W.

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Section 10 of the Representation of the People Act 2000, requires local authorities which ran pilot schemes to produce an evaluation report within three months of the election. No decisions on roll-out can be made until this process has been completed.

Young Offenders

Miss Widdecombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made to date in halving the time taken from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders; when he expects it to be achieved; and if he will make a statement. [122036]

Mr. Boateng: In 1996, the average time from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders was 142 days. The Government are committed to halving this by March 2002. We are making continuing good progress--the national average had fallen to 108 days in 1999.

A copy of the latest figures has been placed in the Library.

Overseas Visitors

Mr. Mudie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether 1 October will be the commencement date for appeal rights for visitor visa refusals. [121713]

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Mrs. Roche: We plan that family visitors who have been refused entry clearance will be able to appeal against the refusal from 2 October 2000.

Prohibited Weapons

Mr. Welsh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prohibited weapons are held by private individuals in England by permission of the Secretary of State. [119870]

Mr. Charles Clarke [pursuant to the reply, 20 April 2000, c. 595W]: The final paragraph of that reply should have read as follows:

There are only eight private individuals in England authorised by the Secretary of State to possess a total of 1,337 prohibited weapons. The vast majority of these are held by one person in one of the most comprehensive private collections of historic firearms in the world. The remaining firearms are held by two people who provide highly specialised firearms training to units of the United Kingdom armed forces; a forensic firearms expert; a lecturer and technical consultant; the owner of a private museum; a professional trapper of dangerous animals who is called in by the police to deal with such animals as escaped big cats; and a researcher into ballistics.

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