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HOME DEPARTMENT

Stasi Agents

15. Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on recent discoveries in the Berlin Stasi archive about paid Stasi agents in the United Kingdom. [137460]

Mr. Straw: As I said to the House on 21 October 1999, Official Report, columns 590-91, it would be wholly improper to denounce anyone without their having been convicted of an offence. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, my hon. Friend the Member for North Warwickshire (Mr. O'Brien), also explained to the House in a debate on British Stasi agents on 21 December 1999, Official Report, column 188WH, that the fact of a name appearing in the East German intelligence records is not, of itself, proof of any wrongdoing. The records need to be treated with caution.

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The Security Service continues to investigate cases arising from the Stasi records. Where the criteria agreed with the prosecuting authorities are met, cases are referred to the prosecuting authorities to decide whether a prosecution should be mounted.

Safer Communities

17. Mr. Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the relationship between Neighbourhood Wardens and the police in promoting safer communities. [137463]

Mrs. Roche: Neighbourhood Wardens provide a reassuring presence in high crime neighbourhoods. They have no additional powers. They will promote community safety and respond to anti-social behaviour, enabling police to deal with crime. Neighbourhood Wardens will work in and with communities to reduce the fear of crime, strengthen community spirit, and report incidents to the police.

Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Bill

18. Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his plans for implementing the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Bill. [137464]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: Subject to the timing of Royal Assent, we intend to commence a substantial part of the Bill, including the controls on donations and campaign expenditure, on or around 16 February 2001. The implementation of these provisions will give effect to the Government's manifesto commitments to require the disclosure of the source and value of donations of £5,000 or more and to ban the foreign funding of political parties.

Police (Investment)

19. Mrs. Fiona Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what real increase in investment in the police service has been earmarked for the financial years 2001-02 and 2003-04. [137466]

Mr. Charles Clarke: Total provision for the police will be £8.5 billion in 2001-02, £9.0 billion in 2002-03 and £9.3 billion in 2003-2003-04. In real terms, these are annual increases of 7.4 per cent, 3.5 per cent. and 0.6 per cent. respectively. Spending will rise by almost £1.6 billion by 2003-04 against provision for this year. That is a rise of 11.8 per cent. in real terms.

Licensing Laws

20. Mr. Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to publish the outcome of his Department's consultation on the proposed changes to the licensing laws in England and Wales. [137467]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: We are considering the responses to the White Paper. We hope to announce decisions on the way forward very soon. I am pleased by the level of support for the proposed modernisation of the system.

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Police Numbers

21. Mr. Ian Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he is taking to increase police numbers; and if he will make a statement. [137469]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The Crime Fighting Fund will enable police forces to recruit 9,000 officers over and above the number previously planned in the three years 2000-01 to 2002-03.

To help forces meet their recruitment targets the first-ever National Recruitment Campaign was launched on 30 August.

The Metropolitan Police Service and the City of London Police have been experiencing particular problems in attracting new recruits. To address their problems in this area, I have agreed to an increase of £3,327 per annum in the London Allowance paid to those officers in each force who were recruited on or after 1 September 1994 and who are not in receipt of housing allowance.

The Government want to see police numbers rising. The spending plans I announced on 19 July 2000, Official Report, columns 376-91, are intended to achieve that. These plans make generous provision intended to meet the major pay, pensions and other pressures on forces as well as providing ring-fenced funding to increase recruitment through The Crime Fighting Fund. We anticipate that these measures will enable forces to increase police officer numbers to record levels by March 2003.

30. Mr. Chidgey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department by what date he expects the police forces in England and Wales to have replaced the number of police officers they have lost since March 1997; and if he will make a statement. [137479]

Mr. Charles Clarke: We anticipate that with the crime fighting fund, the additional allocation of resources for the police service in the Budget last March and the additional funds to be provided as a result of the Spending Review 2000, police numbers should surpass their March 1997 level by the end of March 2002.

Home Detention Curfew Scheme

22. Mr. Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offenders convicted of offences of violence were released from prison early on the home detention curfew scheme; and if he will make a statement. [137470]

Mr. Boateng: Of the 26,607 prisoners released up to 30 September 2000 under the Home Detention Curfew scheme, 6,141 were convicted of offences of violence.

Army Training (Police Facilities)

23. Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what training facilities are offered by the police to the Army. [137471]

Mr. Charles Clarke: National Police Training liaises with the military on a regular basis and there is some overlap in training provision, especially in relation to exercises with specialist areas of military activity. A

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senior officer from the Armed Services generally attends the Strategic Command Course at Bramshill and senior military personnel attend other seminars and events from time to time.

Apart from this there are few other arrangements for shared training. We are aware of some instances where army dog-handlers have been trained alongside police dog-handlers and we understand that some army staff have attended courses at the National Training Centre for Scientific Support to Crime Investigation in County Durham.

Crime Trends

24. Mr. Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on trends in the levels of crime since 1997. [137473]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The most recently published information comes from the British Crime Survey published on 17 October. It shows that there was an overall fall of 10 per cent. between 1997 and 1999 in the crimes which the British Crime Survey measures.

28. Mr. Savidge: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on trends in (a) recorded crime and (b) victimisation rates recorded in the British Crime Survey, between 1993 and 1995. [137477]

Mr. Charles Clarke: On the basis of offences that can be compared across both sets of figures, crime recorded by the police fell by 8 per cent. between 1993 and 1995. The number of comparable crimes measured by the British Crime Survey (BCS) rose by 4 per cent. The divergent trend is consistent with two results from the BCS. The first is that the proportion of offences reported to the police victims fell between 1993 and 1995. The second is that the proportion of the reported crime that was recorded by the police also fell, according to BCS evidence.

Private Security Industry

25. Mr. David Heath: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to regulate the private security industry. [137474]

Mr. Charles Clarke: We outlined our proposals to regulate the private security industry in the White Paper "The Government's Proposals for Regulation of the Private Security Industry in England and Wales", which was published last year. The proposals allow for the establishment of a new Authority which will be responsible for licensing people employed in specified sectors of the industry, and maintaining and improving standards within the industry. We intend to introduce legislation to give effect to these proposals as soon as Parliamentary time allows.

Travellers

26. Mr. David Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proposals he has to enable the swift eviction of travellers illegally occupying local authority land. [137475]

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Mr. Charles Clarke: The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 provides powers for the police and local authorities to remove travellers who are camping on unauthorised sites. Section 61 allows the police to direct them to leave, and failure to comply with a direction is an arrestable offence. Section 77 allows the local authority to direct unauthorised campers to leave; failure to comply is a criminal offence, and the local authority may apply to the magistrates court for an order allowing them to take reasonable steps to achieve compliance. The Home Office/DETR guidance document "Managing Unauthorised Camping" has recently been revised to reinforce the message that unauthorised camping which involves criminal or antisocial behaviour should not be tolerated.

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