| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Sexual Offences
Mr. Nicholls: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases of (a) buggery,
25 Jan 2001 : Column: 722W
(b) indecent assault and (c) gross indecency, relating to males under the age of 16 years, have (i) been recorded (ii) led to charges being preferred and (iii) led to convictions in each police force area since 1997. [146441]
25 Jan 2001 : Column: 723W
Mr. Charles Clarke: Centrally collected recorded crime statistics do not include details of either the age of victim or perpetrator for these offences in the detail required. Information on the number of persons charged is not available centrally.
However, available information taken from the Home Office Court Proceedings Database on the number of persons prosecuted or convicted are given in the tables which have been placed in the Library. Detail is given on (1) the number of defendants prosecuted and convicted for offences where the male victim's age is known, and (2) the number of male defendants aged 10 to under 16 prosecuted and convicted by offence type.
Data Protection Act
Mr. Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what categories of data not-for-profit organisations are exempt from having to notify under the Data Protection Act 1998; [146757]
- (2) if voluntary sports clubs are classified as not-for-profit organisations under the Data Protection Act 1998; [146756]
(3) if voluntary sports clubs are exempt from having to notify personal data relating to membership lists under the Data Protection Act 1998. [146758]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Paragraph 5 of the Schedule to the Data Protection (Notification and Notification Fees) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000 No.188) provides an exemption from notification under the Data Protection Act 1998 for the processing of personal data by non profit-making organisations. The conditions governing the exemption, including restrictions on the purposes of the processing and the categories of data that may be processed, are set out in paragraph 5. Whether or not a particular body is a non profit-making organisation for the purposes of paragraph 5 will depend upon its specific circumstances.
Mr. Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department is (a) national governing bodies of sport and (b) voluntary sports clubs will be able to store criminal records information on volunteers and coaches under the Data Protection Act 1998. [146760]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Information about individuals' criminal records is likely to comprise sensitive personal data for the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998. Such data may be stored or otherwise processed if at least one of the grounds set out in Schedule 3 to the 1998 Act or in the Data Protection (Processing of Sensitive Personal Data) Order 2000 (SI 2000 No. 417) is met, and the other requirements of the 1998 Act are satisfied.
Mr. Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to introduce regulations regarding the notification of accounts and records data under the Data Protection Act 1998. [146759]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Paragraph 4 of the Schedule to the Data Protection (Notification and Notification Fees) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000 No. 188) provides an exemption from notification under the Data Protection Act 1998 for the processing of personal data for the purposes of keeping accounts and certain other records.
25 Jan 2001 : Column: 724W
Mr. Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will introduce regulations to define a relevant filing system for manual records under the Data Protection Act 1998. [146762]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: "Relevant filing system" is defined in section 1(1) of the Data Protection Act 1998. The Data Protection Commissioner has given guidance on this definition in her publication: "The Data Protection Act 1998: An Introduction". It is available on her website: www.dataprotection.gov.uk.
Mr. Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will introduce regulations to enable national governing bodies of sport to store data relating to athletes, disciplinary procedures under the Data Protection Act 1998. [146761]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: National governing bodies of sport may store and otherwise process personal data comprising information about athletes' involvement in disciplinary proceedings provided that they comply with the data protection principles and the other requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998.
Forecourt Drive-offs
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his policy is concerning drivers who leave retail petrol sites without paying for fuel; how many reported incidents of drive-offs there were in 2000, broken down by constabulary in England and Wales; and how many successful prosecutions in respect of these there have been. [146970]
Mr. Charles Clarke: The offence of 'making off without payment' from petrol stations (commonly known as bilking) is one that industry/retailers and the police have already joined forces to tackle.
The Home Office supports the British Oil Security Syndicate (BOSS), formed in 1991 by the oil industry, together with the Petrol Retailers Association (PRA), the Home Office and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO). Its aims are to reduce the amount of crime taking place on Britain's petrol forecourts.
Their scheme 'Forecourt Watch' provides an early warning system to keep retailers informed about crimes being committed on forecourts and provides details of suspects and their vehicles. When a crime is committed local petrol retailers immediately report the incident to the local police who transmit warnings about any suspects and their vehicles to all retailers via a communications system such as 'Ringmaster'. Messages can be transmitted to all scheme members extremely quickly.
Retailers are also encouraged to inform their neighbouring petrol forecourts of the offence so that action can be taken before the crime is committed elsewhere.
A pilot scheme in Lewisham, South London reduced forecourt crimes including drive-offs by 42 per cent. between December 1999 and December 2000.
It is not possible in the statistics collected centrally on recorded crime to identify offences of making off without payment from other similar offences of fraud. Information held on the Home Office Court Proceedings database shows that there were 2,000 persons proceeded against in
25 Jan 2001 : Column: 725W
England and Wales in 1999 for offences of making off without payment (section 3 of the Theft Act 1978) but this will also include other similar offences such as making off without payment from restaurants, hotels etc. 1,400 of these persons were convicted.
Recidivism
Mr. Steinberg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of offenders have committed further offences in the two years following the completion of their community service orders in each of the last five years. [146824]
Mr. Boateng: Information on reoffending rates is not available. In addition, standard methodology for measuring reconviction rates for all types of community penalty measures the rates from date of commencement of the penalty as opposed to the date of completion.
25 Jan 2001 : Column: 726W
Two year reconviction rates following commencement of community service orders in the last five years for which data are available are shown in the table. Data for 1997 commencements are provisional.
Since 1995, community penalty reconviction rates have been based on a sample of commencements during the first quarter of the year.
| Year of commencement | Percentage reconvicted |
|---|---|
| 1993 | 52 |
| 1994 | 48 |
| 1995(34) | 52 |
| 1996(34) | 50 |
| 1997(34) | 48 |
(34) First quarter