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Alcohol Abuse

Mr. Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much funding his Department allocated to measures for informing people of the dangers of alcohol abuse in the last three years. [123433]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The Home Office has had no specific funding allocated to informing people of the dangers of alcohol abuse.

However, the Home Office is active in tackling alcohol-related crime and has in place several measures to do so. A series of seminars on Alcohol and Crime have been established by the Home Office which draw together representatives from other Government Departments, the

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licensed industry, the voluntary sector and the academic community with the aim of establishing the nature of the problem and developing good practice.

There is also a programme of research under way examining the policing of alcohol-related crime in city centres, the potential of alcohol interventions in the criminal justice system and the alcohol consumption of young people.

The Targeted Policing Initiative within the Crime Reduction Programme has funded one project to tackle alcohol-related crime in Cardiff and is expected to fund a further three in its current funding round.

Kenneth Noye

Mr. Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reason he has not replied to the letter of 30 April from the parents of the late Stephen Cameron about the award of legal aid to Kenneth Noye; and when he plans to do so. [124034]

Mr. Straw: The reason for not having replied to Mr. and Mrs. Cameron's letter of 30 April was because either the letter was not received in the Home Office or it was received and mislaid. I was grateful to the hon. Member for sending me a copy of Mr. and Mrs. Cameron's letter under cover of his own of 23 May.

My reply to Mr. and Mrs. Cameron will be despatched on 5 June, and will be copied to the hon. Member.

Asylum Seekers (Voucher Scheme)

Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list those retail firms which have agreed to accept asylum seekers' vouchers as payment. [123901]

Mrs. Roche: As of 25 May 2000, in excess of 19,000 retail firms have agreed to take part in the asylum seeker support voucher scheme. This number includes both large retail chains and smaller retailers.

Forms

Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the net change in each year since May 1997 in the number of forms issued by his Department which (a) charities and (b) other voluntary organisations are required to complete. [123945]

Mr. Straw: Charities and other voluntary organisations make an important contribution to many aspects of Home Office work. No central record is kept of all the Home Office's contacts with those bodies and the information sought could be collected only at disproportionate cost. The Home Office remains committed to modernising administration, including making greater use of electronic transfers and seeking to minimise the burdens on charities and voluntary organisations.

Metropolitan Police

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many officers currently serving in the Special Branch of the Metropolitan police have served on the force for (a) less than five years, (b) more than

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five and less than 10 years, (c) more than 10 and less than 15 years, (d) more than 15 and less than 20 years and (e) more than 20 years. [123959]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The information requested is given in the table provided by the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis.

Length of service profile--Special Branch

	Number
(a) Less than five years	19
(b) More than five years and less than 10 years	71
(c) More than 10 years and less than 15 years	159
(d) More than 15 years and less than 20 years	126
(e) More than 20 years	180

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many officers currently serving in the Criminal Investigation Department of the Metropolitan police have served on the force for (a) less than five years, (b) more than five and less than 10 years, (c) more than 10 and less than 15 years, (d) more than 15 and less than 20 years and (e) more than 20 years. [123958]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The information requested is given in the table, provided by the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis.

Length of service profile--serving criminal investigation department officers

	Number
(a) Less than 5 years	17
(b) More than 5 years and less than 10 years	410
(c) More than 10 years and less than 15 years	960
(d) More than 15 years and less than 20 years	1,067
(e) More than 20 years	1,441

Europol

Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the functions of the (a) board of management and (b) joint supervisory body of Europol; what representation the United Kingdom has on both bodies; and how many of its staff are seconded from United Kingdom police forces. [123893]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The functions of the Europol Management Board and the Joint Supervisory Body are set out in Articles 28 and 24 of the Europol Convention, a copy of which has been placed in the Library. The United Kingdom is represented on the Management Board by the Director General of the National Criminal Intelligence Service, and on the Joint Supervisory Body by the Director and Deputy Director of the Office of the Data Protection Registrar.

Four members of the National Criminal Intelligence Service are at present on secondment to Europol as Liaison Officers under Article 5 of the Convention. 17 other United Kingdom nationals are employed by Europol on contract terms under Article 1 of the Staff Regulations applicable to Europol Employees.

Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the proposed contributions of each member state of the European Union

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to Europol for (a) 2000 and (b) 2001, indicating the basis for such payments, and the main items of planned expenditure in each year. [123894]

Mr. Charles Clarke: Europol's draft budgets for the years 2000 and 2001 are in European Union Council documents EUROPOL 41, 11030/99 and EUROPOL 8, 7695/00, copies of which are in the Library. These show that member states' contributions are as follows.

Euro

	2000	2001
Austria	620,254	754,533
Belgium	759,021	896,461
Denmark	496,349	594,996
Finland	352,936	431,912
France	4,394,707	5,090,100
Germany	6,552,284	7,571,678
Greece	373,967	426,457
Ireland	190,975	242,432
Italy	3,565,922	4,179,684
Luxembourg	54,271	63,792
Netherlands	1,135,079	1,357,330
Portugal	316,943	377,098
Spain	1,668,231	1,992,532
Sweden	681,903	823,762
United Kingdom	4,130,107	5,134,443
Total(22)	25,292,950	29,937,207

(22) The differences in the totals in the two tables reflect other revenues and adjustments made to the contributions to finance the proposed expenditures.

The contributions are based on member states' gross national products.

The items of proposed expenditure as set out in the budget are as follows.

Euro

	2000	2001
Personnel	15,254,000	18,737,800
Bodies and organs(23)	2,007,000	2,155,000
Europol Computer System	7,000,000	10,724,000
Other expenditure(24)	4,185,000	4,995,000
Total(25)	28,446,000	36,611,800

(23) Including the Joint Supervisory Board

(24) The building; information and communications technology; vehicles; communications; other acquisitions and other running costs.

(25) The differences in the totals in the two tables reflect other revenues and adjustments made to the contributions to finance the proposed expenditures.

Children and Young Persons Act 1933

Ms Julie Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons were sentenced under section 53(2) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 in each year since 1997; and what were their (a) ages and (b) gender. [123936]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The information is given in the table.

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Number of persons sentenced, at the Crown court, under section 53(2) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 by sex and age, England and Wales, 1997-99(26)

	1997		1998		1999(26)
Age	Males	Females	Males	Females	Males	Females
10	1	--	--	--	--	--
11	1	--	1	--	3	--
12	10	--	6	--	3	3
13	21	3	19	--	27	1
14	89	3	61	2	77	5
15	121	6	84	6	70	7
16	166	7	157	8	133	5
17	283	11	245	4	262	5
Total	692	30	573	20	575	26

(26) Provisional

Ms Julie Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to reduce the number of offences which may attract a sentence under section 53(2) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933. [123938]

Mr. Charles Clarke: It is essential the courts have the powers they need to deal with children and young persons convicted of serious offences. The Government have no current plans to reduce the number of offences contained in section 53(2) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933.

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