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Child Curfew Orders

Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many child curfew orders have been imposed since the start of the scheme; and if he will make a statement. [9486]

Mr. Denham: No applications have been received to impose child curfew schemes under section 14 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. Sections 48 and 49 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001, which took effect on 1 August 2001, have recently extended the upper age limit to 15 and allowed the police, as well as local authorities, to initiate schemes. Local areas are assessing the implications of these changes.

Police Resources (Lancashire)

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions he has had with the Chief Constable of Lancashire on the deployment of her resources in the Southern Division. [6806]

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Mr. Denham: I have had no such discussions. The deployment of available resources to the territorial Divisions and other Headquarters based specialist units are operational matters for the professional judgment of the Chief Constable.

Asylum Seekers

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to ensure that asylum seekers will be removed from unconverted Prison Service accommodation by 25 December 2001, and if he will make a statement. [9451]

Angela Eagle: We are currently using 500 surplus remand spaces for immigration detainees in seven local prisons in England and Wales on a temporary basis until new dedicated immigration detention centres come on stream later this year. We are committed to cease using one of those prisons, Cardiff, by Christmas and to cease using the other six local prisons by the end of January 2002.

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if an asylum seeker detained in a prison is considered a prisoner; and if he will make a statement. [9118]

Angela Eagle: Persons detained in prison solely while their application for asylum is being considered, or where awaiting removal following a failed asylum application, or deportation by order of a court following the completion of a prison sentence of more than 12 months are immigration detainees. They are held under the same conditions as unconvicted prisoners with the same rights and privileges.

Asylum seekers who are serving a prison sentence following conviction by a court are treated accordingly.

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to (a) prioritise and (b) speed up decisions on asylum seekers' applications where delay would have serious detrimental social or medical consequences for the asylum seekers themselves or members of their families; and if he will make a statement. [9125]

Angela Eagle: We are investing substantial resources to speed up the asylum process for all applicants. Where there are genuine and compelling medical or other reasons for prioritising individual applications, we endeavour to do so.

Metropolitan Police

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what support he has provided to help Metropolitan police officers and civil staff purchase homes; and if he will make a statement. [9112]

Mr. Denham: The Home Office has worked closely with the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTLR) on the starter homes initiative (SHI), which will assist key public sector workers to buy their first homes. On 6 September my right hon. Friend

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the Secretary of State announced the first allocations from the SHI. We expect around 550 police officers and civil staff in London to be helped over the next three years.

Immigration Status

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will review the immigration status of (a) Abu Qatada and (b) Yasser-al-Siri; and if he will make a statement. [8658]

Angela Eagle: It is not Home Office policy to disclose details of a person's immigration status to a third party. Both these men are known to the authorities and statements made by them are being monitored to establish whether any offences are being committed.

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Dangerous Dogs Act

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions were (a) brought and (b) successful under (i) section 1 and (ii) section 3 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [8663]

Mr. Keith Bradley: The available information, taken from the Home Office court proceedings database, is shown in the table.

It shows, for 1997, 1998 and 1999, the number of defendants proceeded against and those found guilty of offences under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 in England and Wales.

Information for 2000 has not yet been published.

Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and convicted at all courts for the given offence and by year, England and Wales

		1997		1998		1999
Principal statute	Offence description	Proceeded against	Convicted	Proceeded against	Convicted	Proceeded against	Convicted
	Dangerous Dogs Act 1991—Indictable offences
Sec. 3(1)	Owner or person in charge allowing dog to be dangerously out of control in a public place injuring any person	259	121	434	239	449	262
Sec. 3(3)	Owner or person in charge allowing dog to enter a non-public place and injure any person	22	5	28	13	34	19
	Dangerous Dogs Act 1991—Summary offences
Sec. 1(2)a	Breeding or breeding from a fighting dog	1	—	6	5	1	—
Sec. 1(2)b	Selling, exchanging, offering advertising or exposing for sale a fighting dog	—	—	—	—	—	—
Sec. 1(2)c	Giving or offering to give a fighting dog	—	—	—	—	—	—
Sec. 1(2)d	Allowing a fighting dog to be in a public place without muzzle or lead	12	8	7	2	11	6
Sec. 1(2)e	Abandoning, or allowing to stray, a fighting dog	3	2	—	—	2	1
Sec. 1(3)	Possession without exemption of a Pit Bull Terrier, Japanese Tosa or other designated fighting dog	15	9	23	8	12	5
Sec. 3(1)	Owner or person in charge allowing dog to be dangerously out of control in a public place, no injury being caused	175	88	248	125	254	126
Sec. 3(3)	Owner or person in charge allowing dog to enter a non-public place causing reasonable apprehension of injury to a person	10	4	12	8	9	5
	Total of above	497	237	758	400	772	424

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to review the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991; and if he will make a statement. [8660]

Mr. Morley: I have been asked to reply.

Responsibility for dangerous dog legislation has now passed to me at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. We have no plans to review the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.

Police Pension Rights

Jane Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will ensure that his Department's changes to terms and conditions of service for police officers include the granting of pension rights to cohabiting partners. [8674]

Mr. Denham: Police pension arrangements are being reviewed in the coming months in the context of the police reform programme.

Drugs

Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reason the statutory provisions which allow him to give a direction prohibiting a doctor from prescribing controlled drugs have not been used since November 1997. [8636]

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Mr. Bob Ainsworth [holding answer 18 October 2001]: The statutory provisions which give rise to such directions (known as the Misuse of Drugs Tribunal) have been seldom used since the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 was introduced. They are cumbersome, time consuming and inflexible.

In its response to the report of the independent inquiry into the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, set up by the Police Foundation, the Government accepted the recommendation that the tribunal system should be abolished with reliance henceforth placed on the revised procedures of the General Medical Council to provide an effective remedy.

Mr. Jon Owen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of users of (a) all illegal drugs, (b) cannabis, (c) class A drugs and (d) class A drugs excluding heroin are graduates; and if this affects drug education programmes. [8648]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The statistics available at present do not provide information on the percentage of graduates using illegal drugs.

One of the aims of the Government's anti-drug strategy is to reduce the number of young people reporting the use of Class A drugs. All decisions concerning drug education programmes are taken at a local level, based on guidance provided by the Department for Education and Skills.

Mr. Jon Owen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the reasons for the increase in drug use among those of Indian heritage. [8649]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The Government have been concerned about not only the increase in drug use among ethnic minority groups but also the quality of the delivery of drugs prevention and drug treatment services to them. We have commissioned a study to look at the whole area of drugs and ethnicity which was undertaken by Kamlesh Patel from the University of Central Lancashire and Michael Shinner from Goldsmith's College. A report has been submitted to the Home Office which will be published in January and will help to inform a wider diversity strategy on drugs.

Mr. Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the steps his Department is taking to reduce drug dependency in Worcestershire. [8626]

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Mr. Denham: My Department continues to support and fund the local drug action team in Worcestershire. The drug action team has taken numerous steps in support of the Government's four aims under the drugs strategy relating to young people, treatment, communities and availability. In 2000–01 these have included implementing arrest referral and Drug Treatment and Testing Order schemes in the county, developing 'parenting communication programmes', and developing drug enforcement activity within the West Mercia Policing Plan.

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