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Schengen Agreement

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what changes will be required to domestic legislation to permit partial UK participation in the Schengen Agreement. [128138]

Mrs. Roche: We are currently examining what changes will be needed to United Kingdom primary legislation in order to implement the United Kingdom's partial participation in the Schengen acquis. We anticipate a need for primary legislation relating to police co-operation in connection with cross-border surveillance and to areas of judicial co-operation. The latter aspect is linked to the legislative requirements for ratification of the European Union's Conventions on Mutual Legal Assistance and Extradition. Further discussion is taking place with our Schengen partners to clarify whether the application of certain provisions on data protection will require amendment to current data protection legislation.

Metropolitan Police Authority

Mr. Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department who is the representative on the Metropolitan Police Authority whose responsibilities cover the area of Leyton and Wanstead. [128103]

Mr. Charles Clarke: I understand that the Metropolitan Police Authority is currently considering whether each of their members should be given responsibility for particular areas within the Metropolitan Police District and, if so, how.

Immigration

Mr. Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what account the Immigration Service takes of ticketless airline travel in reaching immigration decisions; and if he will make a statement. [128106]

Mrs. Roche: The lack of a ticket is not in itself conclusive when an Immigration Officer reaches a decision about the admissibility of a passenger under the Immigration Rules. Immigration Officers often ask passengers to show their onward or return tickets as evidence of their intention to leave the United Kingdom, but where a passenger has booked a ticket using modern Information Technology methods--so called "ticketless travel"--he/she will normally be in possession of a printed itinerary giving full details of his/her travel plans. In the absence of such evidence Immigration Officers have the option of contacting the airline concerned to

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verify that a booking exists. A passenger will not be unduly delayed for this purpose unless it is considered essential to the resolution of the case to verify that he/she has an onward or return booking, and this cannot be done easily.

Public Entertainment Licences

Mr. Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many public entertainment licences have been (a) revoked and (b) not renewed by local authorities under the terms of the Public Entertainments Licences (Drug Misuse) Act 1997 since 1 May 1998. [128272]

Mr. Charles Clarke: This information is not collected centrally. Contacts with the police and the club trade suggest, however, that the powers of the Act have not yet been used by a local authority to revoke or refuse the renewal of a public entertainments licence.

The provisions of the Act are to be used as a last resort and the Home Office guidance on the implementation of the Act encourages close liaison between the police, club owners and local authorities.

Mr. Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department upon how many public entertainment licences new conditions have been imposed by local authorities under the terms of the Public Entertainment Licences (Drug Misuse) Act 1997 since 1 May 1998. [128273]

Mr. Charles Clarke: This information is not collected centrally. Contacts with the police and the club trade suggest, however, that the powers in the Act have not yet been used by a local authority to impose new conditions on a public entertainments licence.

Metropolitan Police

Mr. Galloway: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crimes were reported to the Metropolitan police on Monday 26 June; and if he will make a statement. [128274]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The information is not yet available for Monday 26 June, but on the latest Monday for which the information is currently available, which was Monday 22 May 2000, 3,542 crimes were reported to the Metropolitan police.

Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list by division of the Metropolitan Police Service the ratio of (a) reported crimes, (b) burglaries and (c) calls from computer-aided despatch per officer in each of the last five years. [128312]

Mr. Charles Clarke: I understand from the Metropolitan police that the information could not be made available in the form requested for each of the last five years except at disproportionate cost. It should, however, be possible to provide the information for the last two years shortly, and I will write to the hon. Member when it is available.

Modes of Trial

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the defendants included in the pre-Narey pilot data who elected to be tried at

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Crown court, (a) pleaded guilty to the same or to more serious offences than those they were charged with at the time of their election, (b) pleaded guilty to fewer or to less serious offences than those with which they were charged at the time of their election and (c) pleaded not guilty and went to trial at Crown court. [128549]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The Home Office Research Development and Statistical Directorate is currently conducting an analysis of the alteration to charges in the sample and the results will be available later this year.

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many defendants in the pre-Narey pilot data were charged with either-way offences; and of these how many (a) were directed by magistrates to be tried at Crown court, (b) elected to be tried at Crown court and (c) consented to be tried, or otherwise had their cases disposed of, by the magistrates courts. [128548]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The sample covered a total of 2,948 defendants charged with triable-either-way offences. This included 1,969 cases dealt with in the magistrates courts or in the Youth Court and 979 cases committed to the Crown court. Of the 979 defendants, 155 elected Crown court trial and 747 were directed to the Crown court. However, the number of Crown court cases in the sample was boosted in order to provide adequate numbers for analysis. This means that the committal rate is higher than the national rate. We took account of this difference when analysing the data.

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the defendants included in the pre-Narey pilot data charged with either-way offences were from ethnic minority backgrounds; and how many such defendants (a) elected to be tried at Crown court and pleaded guilty to the same, or more serious offences, than those they were charged with at the time of their election, (b) elected to be tried at Crown court and pleaded guilty to fewer, or to less serious offences than those with which they were charged at the time of their election and (c) pleaded not guilty and went to trial at Crown court. [128550]

Mr. Charles Clarke: Information is not available on the ethnic origin of defendants in the sample.

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the guilty plea rate among defendants included in the pre-Narey pilot data was representative of the guilty plea rate nationally. [128551]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The guilty plea rates in the sample were broadly in line with national rates.

Fire and Rescue Service

Gillian Merron: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) women and (b) men are in each Fire and Rescue Service, broken down by (i) rank and (ii) retained and other status. [128337]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: All fire brigades in England and Wales are required to provide annually to Her Majesty's Fire Service Inspectorate statistical information about

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personnel employed, analysed by gender and ethnic origin. The tables--which provide a breakdown by gender for uniformed and non-uniformed personnel and by rank (for the whole-time and retained services), based on statistical returns from the fire services for England and Wales at 31 March 1999--have been placed in the Library.

Fines

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he has taken to improve the enforcement of fines. [128393]

Mr. Straw [holding answer 3 July 2000]: I am working closely with my noble and learned Friend the Lord Chancellor to improve the enforcement of fines.

Research is being carried out under the Government's Crime Reduction Programme to identify best practice in fine enforcement, to introduce a range of enforcement strategies in a number of pilot courts, and to evaluate the relative cost and effectiveness of those strategies. The project is due to be completed in autumn 2001.

In April 2001, responsibility for the execution of fines warrants will be transferred from the police to Magistrates Courts Committees. The fact that responsibility will rest with the courts will provide a sharper and clearer focus than the present arrangements, while the application and monitoring of administrative targets will ensure that the work receives a high priority within individual courts. As a result, more money--including compensation for the victims of crime--should be collected.

Measures in the Access to Justice Act 1999, which are also due to be implemented in April 2001, will allow the courts to check whether other Government agencies hold an up-to-date address for a 'missing' fine defaulter. This should prove helpful in reducing the currently high levels of financial penalties that have to be 'written off' because the offender cannot be traced.

A report on the pilot studies conducted on alternative means of dealing with fine defaulters introduced in the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997 was published in February this year. A decision on the future of these measures will be made in due course.

Finally, following a relaxation in Treasury rules governing receipts, we are exploring the feasibility of developing a scheme which will allow a proportion of the income from fines to be retained ('netted-off') by the courts and used to make further improvements in enforcement rates.

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