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Police Response Vehicles

Jackie Ballard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many police response vehicles have been involved in accidents in each London borough while attending to immediate response calls in the past year; [134312]

Mr. Charles Clarke: Details are set out in the table. The information has been provided by the Metropolitan police service, and relates to the period between September 1999 and August 2000.

London borough Police response vehicles involved in accidents while attending to immediate response calls (actual numbers)Immediate response calls met within the target time (%)
City of Westminster5586
Kensington and Chelsea2885
Camden4274
Hammersmith and Fulham3589
Hackney6982
Tower Hamlets4478
Heathrow090
Waltham Forest3576
Redbridge4477
Havering2675
Newham5870
Barking and Dagenham2983
Lambeth4980
Southwark5484
Islington4775
Lewisham4083
Bromley2978
Harrow2277
Brent3674
Greenwich3076
Bexley1886
Barnet3675
Richmond-upon-Thames1886
Hounslow4882
Kingston-upon-Thames1485
Merton1983
Wandsworth4684
Ealing3379
Hillingdon3277
Enfield5778
Haringey2772
Croydon3281
Sutton1986
Metropolitan police service1,41179

Schengen Agreement

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in which diplomatic missions of Her Majesty's Government are responsible for the issue of visas to nationals of Schengen countries. [134808]

Mr. Vaz: I have been asked to reply.

None. Nationals of Schengen countries, as EU citizens, do not require visas to visit the UK.

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CABINET OFFICE

Drug Abuse

7. Mr. Chope: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office when she last met the drugs co-ordinator to discuss drug abuse. [133643]

Marjorie Mowlam: I met Keith Hellawell, the UK Anti-Drugs Co-ordinator, on 17 October to discuss a wide range of drug issues in pursuance of the Government's anti-drugs strategy.

8. Mr. Clappison: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what plans she has to tackle the use of illegal drugs in rural areas. [133644]

Mr. Ian McCartney: Drug Action Teams are the main mechanism for delivery of the anti-drugs strategy on the ground, whether in rural areas or in inner cities. All Drug Action Teams are required to plan and deliver an effective programme of activities for drugs in line with the National Strategy. Drug Action Teams identify gaps in their provision and seek to address this. Hertfordshire DAT has been highlighted as high-performing: with programmes in all LEA schools; on drug awareness in the workplace; and to reduce the availability of drugs in prisons.

10. Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if she will make a statement on the progress of the drug action teams. [133646]

Marjorie Mowlam: The effectiveness of drug action teams (DATs) is measured by an annual planning and reporting process based on plans and reports submitted by each DAT. The analysis of this year's plans and their reports for the financial year 1999-2000 has recently been completed. A summary is due for publication later this month in the co-ordinator's annual report.

20. Mr. Blizzard: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what priority she will give to treatment as part of the anti-drugs strategy. [133656]

Marjorie Mowlam: It is a key aim of the Government's anti-drugs strategy to enable people with drug problems to overcome them and live healthy and crime-free lives. It is for this reason that the recent spending review will see an increase in the annual spend on treatment services, including within prisons, to over £400 million by 2003-04.

GM Foods

9. Mr. McGrady: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if she will make a statement on the current Government policy on genetically modified foods. [133645]

Marjorie Mowlam: Our policy is to ensure that the regulation of GM technology protects human health, the environment and consumer choice. We established the Food Standards Agency to provide independent assessment of the safety of all foods, including GM. We support safe assessment of the potential benefits of the technology.

Public Bodies

12. Tony Wright: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what proposals she has to amend the system of appointment to public bodies. [133648]

1 Nov 2000 : Column: 523W

Mr. Stringer: My right hon. Friend has no immediate plans to change the system of public appointments.

EU (Departmental Policy)

13. Mr. Wilkinson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office when she last met her Cabinet counterparts to agree the co-ordination of departmental policy towards the EU. [133649]

Marjorie Mowlam: Ministers regularly discuss the co-ordination of EU business.

Electronic Government

14. Dr. Cable: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if she will make a statement on Britain's progress in developing electronic Government. [133650]

Mr. Ian McCartney: The Government continue to make strong progress towards the Prime Minister's target that by 2005 all Government services should be available online.

We have a good story to tell: for central Government we have identified 451 services to the citizen and to business, and already one third of them are available online.

Things you can do online now include:


Compared to other countries the figure is high, as is the volume and quality of the material available on the web.

Much more detail about Government service than I can give here may be found in the reports monitoring progress towards the targets for electronic service. These include details of the innovative approaches that Departments have planned for future services.

The spring 2000 report has been placed in the Libraries of the House. My Department is preparing the autumn 2000 monitoring report which I will also be placing in the Libraries of the House.

21. Mr. Miller: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what progress has been made in the development of the Government secure intranet. [133657]

Mr. Ian McCartney: The Government Secure Intranet (GSI) continues to make steady progress.

Seventy-one organisations are now connected and some 90,000 staff have e-mail access.

The GSI has met its original objectives of providing a secure e-mail service for Government and of achieving a step change in the number of civil servants with internet access.

For example, a secure e-mail gateway has been developed between the GSI and the new Police National Network Extranet and is already being used for

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collaborative policy drafting work between the DTI and DCMS sharing an intranet site for developing the Communications White Paper.

27. Mr. Ian Bruce: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if she will make a statement on progress in introducing the electronic delivery of Government services. [133666]

Mr. Ian McCartney: The Government continue to make strong progress towards the Prime Minister's target that by 2005 all government services should be available on-line.

We have a good story to tell; for central Government we have identified 451 services to the citizen and to business and already one third of them are available on-line.

Things that can be done on-line now include:


A comparison with other countries also shows that we are doing well, as the recent international benchmarking study showed. For example, although currently the number of two-way dealings that can be done on-line is low, at about 20 (but rising) compared to other countries the figure is high, as is the volume and quality of the material available on the web.

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