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Criminal Assets

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he received the report of the Performance and Innovation Unit on the pursuit and seizure of criminal assets, following the recommendations of the Third report of the Home Office Working Group on Confiscation; what action he proposes to take following the report; what discussions (a) he, (b) Ministers in his Department and (c) his officials have had with (i) the Minister for the Cabinet Office, (ii) the Minister of State, Cabinet Office, (iii) the Prime Minister and (iv) officials in the Cabinet Office regarding the report; if he will place a copy of the report in the Library; and if he will make a statement. [123788]

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what responsibilities for policy on the confiscation of criminal assets have been transferred to the Cabinet Office; and if he will make a statement. [123789]

Mr. Charles Clarke: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on 5 June 2000, Official Report, columns 105-07W.

Criminal Justice (Mode of Trial)

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) indictable and (b) either way offences were tried at the Crown court in each of the last five years for which figures are available indicating for each year (i) what proportion of either-way offences reached the Crown court (A) by the defendant electing jury trial and (B) on the direction of the magistrates, (ii) what proportion of trials for each type of offence resulted in a guilty verdict after a plea of not guilty, (iii) what proportion of trials for each type of offence resulted in a guilty plea and (iv) what proportion of trials for each type of offence resulted in an acquittal. [123861]

Mr. Charles Clarke [holding answer 25 May 2000]: Official statistics do not include separate information on plea for those who elect Crown court trial. The available information is contained in the following tables:

Number of cases finalised at the Crown court by type of indictablecase, committal and year, 1994-98--England and Wales

		Triable-either-way (TEW)
		Defendant elected		Direction of magistrate
Year	Indictable only	Number of cases	Percentage of TEW cases	Number of cases	Percentage of TEW cases
1994	19,237	25,178	35	46,258	65
1995	21,779	26,114	33	53,210	67
1996	23,993	22,870	32	48,748	68
1997	26,546	21,783	28	56,021	72
1998	26,918	18,537	28	46,835	72
1999	27,721	18,969	32	40,378	68

Source:

Crown Prosecution Service

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Proportion of defendants tried at the Crown court by type of indictable offence and plea, 1994-98(16)--England and WalesPercentage

		Not guilty plea
Year	Guilty plea	Convicted	Acquitted
	Indictable only offence(17)
1994(16)	--	--	26
1995(16)	53	22	26
1996	55	20	25
1997	54	21	25
1998	53	18	29
Triable-either-way offence(17)
1994(16)	--	--	18
1995(16)	68	14	18
1996	70	13	17
1997	71	12	17
1998	66	13	21
Total
1994(16)	--	--	20
1995(16)	66	15	19
1996	67	15	18
1997	68	13	18
1998	63	14	23

(16) Data by plea are available only from July 1995

(17) Based on the defendant's principle offence

Source:

Home Office Court Proceedings Database

Laptops

Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many laptop computers used by Ministers, officials and special advisers in his Department have been (a) lost and (b) stolen since May 1997. [123738]

Mr. Straw [holding answer 25 May 2000]: Since 1 May 1997, three laptop computers belonging to the Home Office have been lost. Nine have been stolen from the Prison Service and the Prison Service Ombudsman and 10 have been stolen from the Home Office.

Community Service Orders

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) men and (b) women have been given a community service order by courts in the Greater London Area in each of the last three years. [124481]

Mr. Charles Clarke: Available information, taken from the Home Office Court Proceedings Database, is given in the table.

Number of persons given a community service order for all offences at all courts within the Metropolitan police area(18) by sex, 1996-98

	Male	Female
1996	5,353	539
1997	5,695	594
1998	5,370	596

(18) Including City of London

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Mike Tyson

Mrs. Fyfe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has investigated the leaks in the press on 12 May, which stated that Mike Tyson would be granted his visa. [124655]

Mr. Straw: No. Although the press reported that Mike Tyson would be granted an entry clearance, a decision on Mr. Tyson's application had not been made by 12 May (indeed, the application itself was only made in the United States of America on that day). The media reports were, therefore, entirely speculative.

Mrs. Fyfe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he made of the arguments in relation to creating a precedent at the time of his authorisation of Mike Tyson's visit to the UK in January. [124740]

Mr. Straw: It was clearly indicated in January that there were exceptional circumstances in granting Mike Tyson entry on that occasion. In communicating my decision to him, it was made clear that this decision in no way set a precedent for any future applications he might make to enter the United Kingdom as a visitor or in any other capacity. Any such application would be considered under the Immigration Rules taking all relevant circumstances into account.

Mrs. Fyfe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with whom he consulted between 3 and 17 May on Mike Tyson's visa application. [124654]

Mr. Straw: I refer my hon. Friend to the replies I gave the hon. Member for Aylesbury (Mr. Lidington) on 24 May 2000, Official Report, columns 493-96W.

Mrs. Fyfe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he took to inform himself of reasons why Mike Tyson should not be granted a visa. [124656]

Mr. Straw: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Watford (Ms Ward) on 18 May 2000, Official Report, columns 209-10W, where I stated clearly that I weighed up both the factors against granting Mr. Tyson entry clearance and those for.

Ms Jenny Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whom he met regarding Mike Tyson's recent application to enter the United Kingdom; and on what dates. [124461]

Mr. Straw: As stated in the reply I gave the hon. Member for Aylesbury (Mr. Lidington) on 24 May 2000, Official Report, column 495W, I met my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Ballieston (Mr. Wray) and his delegation, which included my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Mrs. Golding), Lord Brooks of Tremorfa and Stephen Davies, on 3 May. In addition, the Minister of State, Home Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Mrs. Roche), also met my hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton, South-West (Ms Jones), together with my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Maryhill (Mrs. Fyfe) on 17 May.

Visa Applications

Mrs. Fyfe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if, in changing the law on visa applications, he is minded to fast-track applications involving

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(a) weddings, (b) funerals and (c) visiting seriously ill people when in any such case there is a proven close family relationship or other reasonable cause for requesting a short visit. [124739]

Mr. Straw: I assume my hon. Friend is referring to the proposals set out in the consultation paper I announced in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton, West (Ms Kelly) on 18 May 2000, Official Report, column 210W. These are concerned solely with Immigration Rule 320(18), which deals with the refusal of entry to those with criminal convictions.

Arrangements for processing entry clearance applications differ from post to post, but every effort is made to deal with applications in urgent or compelling compassionate cases as quickly as possible.

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