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Terrorist Organisations
Dr. Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 28 February 2001, Official Report, columns 708-09W, on terrorist organisations, which of the organisations listed is primarily active (a) against a democratically elected Government, (b) to achieve secession from a UN member state and (c) in resisting illegal occupation by a foreign power; if he will list his criteria for selecting the organisations listed; and if he will indicate for each organisation which of these criteria are met. [152630]
Mr. Straw: I refer my hon. Friend to the letter and accompanying paper which I sent to all Parliamentary colleagues on 28 February at the same time as I announced that a draft Order had been laid listing organisations intended for addition to Schedule 2 of the Terrorism Act 2000. Copies of this letter and paper were also placed in the Vote office and in the Library.
Sex Offenders
Mr. Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to introduce public notification of sex offenders being released into the community. [151871]
Mr. Charles Clarke: We have no plans to introduce measures which would require the police automatically to inform the public of the identities and addresses of sex offenders. We do not believe that this would enhance our ability to protect children. The police already have powers to inform any individual or organisation about the presence of a dangerous person in the vicinity, if they believe it would be in the interests of the public to do so.
We have, however, introduced a package of measures to improve public protection in the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2001. Those measures build upon arrangements which were already in place and include, among other matters, a specific duty on the police and the probation service to establish local arrangements for assessing and managing the risks posed by sexual and violent offenders and powers to issue guidance to those agencies about the information which they should publish about the arrangements.
Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to ensure the availability and use of sex offender treatment programmes for offenders convicted of offences relating to the viewing and distributing of child pornography including via the internet; and if he will make a statement. [151622]
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Mr. Charles Clarke: Under the Crime Reduction Programme, the Probation Service in England and Wales has been developing three programmes for sex offenders based on evidence of what is known to be effective (the What Works Initiative). The three sex offender programmes will be developed to the standard set by the Joint Prison and Probation Accreditation Panel. Once accredited, they will be rolled out across the Probation Service nationally. The quality of delivery will be audited by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Probation on behalf of the Accreditation Panel. Implementation of the first programmes to be accredited will begin this summer.
The three sex offender programmes aim to reduce the risk of re-offending by men who have committed any type of sexual offence such as rape, child abuse, viewing and distributing child pornography including via the internet. The programmes take between nine months and two years to complete and accept men on Probation Orders and post-custodial licences, providing the licence is sufficiently long to enable the programme to be completed.
In addition, the Prison Service Sex Offender Treatment Programme is available to men serving a prison sentence for a sexual offence or any offence with a sexual element. Similar treatment methods are used in both the prison and community programmes.
Police Manpower
Paddy Ashdown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) police officers, (b) civilians and (c) special constables were available to each police force in England and Wales for each quarter from 1992 to 2001; and if he will make a statement. [150417]
Mr. Charles Clarke [holding answer 15 February 2001]: Information on police strength is collected twice a year (March and September). Copies of tables showing police officer and civilian strength on a force by force basis for six monthly intervals from March 1992 to September 2000 will be placed in the Library.
Officer numbers are for those available to each force for normal duty. Secondments to central and other duties are excluded.
Statistics of the strength of the Special Constabulary have only been collected twice yearly since 1995. Before 1995, figures were collected annually. The figures for 1992 and 1993 were compiled at the end of the calendar year, the next collection was at the end of the 1994-95 financial year in March 1995. Copies of tables showing Special Constable strength from December 1992 to September 2000 will be placed in the Library.
Departmental IT Projects
Mr. Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the IT projects currently undertaken in his Department; and if he will state the (a) expected completion date and (b) cost of each project. [151515]
Mr. Straw [holding answer 26 February 2001]: I refer my right hon. Friend to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Southwark, North and Bermondsey (Mr. Hughes) on 30 January 2001, Official Report,
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column 165W. The reply contained a list, in table format, of the current major Information Technology (IT) projects within my Department and its Agencies (excluding non-departmental public bodies). This has been placed in the Library.
Further information on the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) casework programme was given in a parliamentary reply to my hon. Friend the Member for West Lancashire (Mr. Pickthall) on 6 February 2001, Official Report, column 497W.
The following provides an update on the details contained in the list on the Asylum Support project. The National Asylum Support Service (NASS) is developing the Asylum Support IT by taking a step by step approach, building on the minimal "day one" system implemented in time for the start of the National Asylum Support Service on 4 April 2000. One possible area for
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enhancement is in the use of software to develop document scanning and workflow techniques allowing case data to be passed electronically.
Police Houses
Mr. Salter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police houses were sold in the periods (a) 1 May 1994 to 30 April 1995, (b) 1 May 1995 to 30 April 1996, (c) 1 May 1996 to 30 April 1997, (d) 1 May 1997 to 30 April 1998, (e) 1 May 1998 to 30 April 1999, (f) 1 May 1999 to 30 April 2000 and (g) since 1 May 2000, (i) in England and Wales, (ii) by Surrey police force, (iii) by Kent county constabulary, (iv) by Thames Valley police force, (v) by Hertfordshire constabulary, (vi) by Essex police force, (vii) by Hampshire constabulary and (viii) by Sussex police force. [151116]
Mr. Charles Clarke: The information requested in respect of the individual police forces has been supplied by those forces. It is as follows:
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| Police force | 1 May 1994 to 30 April 1995 | 1 May 1995 to 30 April 1996 | 1 May 1996 to 30 April 1997 | 1 May 1997 to 30 April 1998 | 1 May 1998 to 30 April 1999 | 1 May 1999 to 30 April 2000 | Since 1 May 2000(4) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essex | 1 | 2 | 4 | 41 | 19 | 34 | 31 |
| Hampshire | 55 | 17 | 28 | 36 | 14 | 33 | 8 |
| Hertfordshire | 15 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 106 | 141 | 34 |
| Kent | 35 | 61 | 64 | 44 | 25 | 32 | 13 |
| Surrey | 0 | 0 | 42 | 34 | 30 | 16 | 12 |
| Sussex | 0 | 93 | 151 | 97 | 35 | 56 | 15 |
| Thames Valley | 0 | 94 | 127 | 19 | 46 | 33 | 21 |
(4) As at 16 February 2001
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Information relating to the other forces in England and Wales is currently being obtained from them. I shall write to my hon. Friend when the information is available.
Mr. Salter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to review his policy on the sale of police housing. [151121]
Mr. Charles Clarke: The disposal or redevelopment of police dwellings is a matter for Police Authorities. Individual Authorities take various factors into account when developing policies in this area. These include the age and suitability of the buildings forming part of the police estate. And, following its recent launch, the Government's Starter Homes Initiative which aims to help 10,000 key workers including police officers buy their own homes in urban and rural areas where high prices would otherwise prevent them from living in or near the community they serve.
Prison Education
Mr. Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give the (a) education service
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budget and (b) the budget for education materials for (1) Ford, (2) Altcourse, (3) Brixton, (4) Wormwood Scrubs and (5) Walton prisons expressed as (i) total figures and (ii) expenditure per head for each year from 1997 to 2001. [151928]
Mr. Boateng [holding answer 5 March 2001]: The information available is set out in the table and how the spend on (a) education and library service providers and (b) the purchase of education materials for the years 1997-98 to 1999-2000 and forecast spend for 2000-01. The figures for 1999-2000 and 2000-01 are on a different accounting basis to earlier years in that they do not include Value Added Tax refunds. The information for Altcourse is only available for the 2000 calendar year.
The expenditure per head has been calculated by dividing the costs by the average annual population but because not all prisoners are engaged in education, particularly in the four local prisons which hold large numbers of prisoners on remand, this will not give a realistic indication of the average education spend per prisoner.
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(5) Spend
(6) Forecast
Note:
1999-2000 and 2000-01 services spend includes VAT payments but not refunds.
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6 Mar 2001 : Column: 133W
| £ | |
|---|---|
| Main education contract | 453,000 |
| Materials budget | 28,000 |
| Librarians | 46,000 |
| Books and other publications | 20,000 |
| Security supervision | 48,700 |
| Total | (7)595,700 |
(7) For the period 1 January to 31 December 2000. There were no VAT payments and no refunds.
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