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Data Retention

Mr. Allan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the John Horrocks data retention report commissioned by his Department will be published. [10419]

Mr. Denham [holding answer 26 October 2001]: The report has been completed and is currently being reviewed within Government. It will be submitted to Ministers. The report includes commercially sensitive information. A summary of its findings will be shared with industry contacts in November.

Speed Cameras

Ms Bridget Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many speed cameras there are, broken down by county at the most recent date available; and what percentage in each case are operational. [11123]

Mr. Denham: The Association of Chief Police Officers estimates that there are some 4,500 speed camera sites in England and Wales. Information on the percentage that are operational is not held centrally, nor is information on the number of speed cameras in each county.

Community Against Drugs Initiative

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the extent of consultation on the Community Against Drugs initiative. [11216]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Communities Against Drugs funding is paid to Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships. Partnerships are required to agree their spending plans with Drug Action Teams, and Home Office guidance identifies that other agencies and groups should be consulted in the development of these plans. We could not properly assess the extent of the consultation undertaken, by partnerships, until the end of 2001–02.

Crime and Disorder Act

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions have been made of racially aggravated offences under Part II of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. [11368]

Mr. Denham: Information for 1998 and 1999 was taken from the Home Office Court Proceedings Database showing the number of persons proceeded against for racially aggravated offences under Part II of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.

Data for 2000 will be available later this year.

Persons proceeded against for racially aggravated offences underPart II of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998—England and Wales

	Proceeded against
Offence description	1998(30)	1999
Racially Aggravated Wounding or inflicting Grievous Bodily Harm	2	58
Racially Aggravated Actual Bodily Harm	3	299
Racially Aggravated Common Assault	6	367
Racially Aggravated Criminal Damage	9	261
Racially Aggravated Intentional Harassment, Alarm or Distress	3	430
Racially Aggravated Offence of Harassment	3	113
Racially Aggravated—Harassment; putting people in fear of violence	2	63
Racially Aggravated fear or provocation of violence	5	317
Total	33	1,908

⁽³⁰⁾ Act came into effect in the last quarter of 1998

1 Nov 2001 : Column: 853W

Race Relations Act

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions have been made by the police under section 70 of the Race Relations Act 1976 in respect of material or actions likely to incite racial hatred; how many resulted in convictions; and what penalties were imposed. [11387]

Mr. Denham: Section 70 of the Race Relations Act 1976 was repealed by the Public Order Act 1986, where the provisions on incitement to racial hatred can now be found.

Information provided by the Attorney-General's office showing the majority of the data requested—for the period 1997 to 2001 (to date)—is in the table.

Offences of incitement to racial hatred under Part III of the Public Order Act 1986

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001(31)
Number of consent applications	12	2	4	7	7
Withdrawn	—	1	—	—	—
Not granted	2	—	—	—	—
Prosecuted	10	1	4	7	7
Convicted	9	1	3	(32)4	(33)—

⁽³¹⁾ To date

⁽³²⁾ Two results awaited

⁽³³⁾ Results awaited

Source:

Attorney-General's office

Asylum Seekers

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many unaccompanied minors who are classified as asylum seekers are under the protection of local authorities; and if he will make a statement. [11369]

Angela Eagle: Local authorities state that as of 26 January 2001 they were supporting 6,078 unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC). This consisted of 1,376 under 16-year-olds and 4,702 16 to 17 year-olds.

Holocaust Memorial Day

Mr. Tony Clarke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans have been made by (a) his Department and (b) institutions involved in the preparations for Holocaust Memorial Day 2002; and if he will make a statement. [11272]

Angela Eagle: Holocaust Memorial Day on Sunday 27 January 2002 will be marked by a national event and associated activities in schools and local communities around the country. Planning has involved wide consultation with schools, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), local authorities and other Government Departments. I plan to announce the full arrangements for Holocaust Memorial Day 2002 soon.

Probation Officers

Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many probation officers there were in England and Wales at the latest date for which figures are available. [11751]

1 Nov 2001 : Column: 854W

Beverley Hughes: There were 6,785 probation officers in post at 30 June 2001.

Childhood Abuse

Mr. Dawson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what recent assessment he has made of the physical and mental health of men and women in prison who have suffered childhood abuse; [10303]

(2) what recent assessment he has made of the incidence of abuse in the childhood of men and women in prison. [10302]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 29 October 2001]: We are unaware of any research that has been carried out across the whole of the prison population of England and Wales which would enable us to estimate the proportion that had been abused in childhood. Our general understanding however, from anecdotal and other evidence, is that the number of prisoners who had been abused would be significant.

The Prison Service has information about the mental health of all prisoners and about the physical health of sentenced male prisoners aged 16 years and over, from surveys conducted by the Office for National Statistics and its predecessor, OPCS. However, it is not possible to extract the information for those prisoners who may have been abused in childhood.

Media Briefings

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions since 10 June his Department gave briefings to the national media on announcements before their formal release; and if he will make a statement. [11478]

Mr. Blunkett: None.

Prison Population

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the present level of the prison population; and if it is his policy to increase this further. [11797]

Beverley Hughes: On 26 October 2001, there were 68,127 people in prisons in England and Wales. Within the sentencing framework set by Parliament, it is for the courts to determine who is sent to prison and for how long.

Police Establishment

Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list for each local authority area in London (a) police establishment as of 31 March 1993, (b) police establishment as of 31 March 1997, (c) police establishment as of 31 March 2001, (d) police establishment as of 31 September 2001 and (e) projected target establishment for 31 March 2002. [10176]

Mr. Denham: The information has been provided by the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis. The Metropolitan police is unable to provide budgeted police officer work force totals for 1993 and 1997. Actual strength figures are available for 31 December in each of

1 Nov 2001 : Column: 855W

those years, and with budgeted work force totals for March 2001 and September 2001 are set out in the table.

1 Nov 2001 : Column: 856W

The budgeted work force totals can be subject to change in the light of changes in circumstances.

	Number of police officers		Budgeted work force
Division	December 1993	December 1997	March 2001(34)	September 2001(35)
City of Westminster	1,901	1,697	1,580	1,642
Kensington and Chelsea	655	609	557	577
Hammersmith and Fulham	548	542	517	539
Camden	692	697	671	699
Islington	568	549	554	584
Harrow	277	289	295	311
Brent	620	613	606	637
Barnet	781	706	517	542
Ealing	653	627	611	656
Hillingdon	444	398	376	395
Haringey	562	527	533	562
Hackney	633	677	673	708
Tower Hamlets	690	568	549	578
Waltham Forest	474	464	453	474
Redbridge	536	497	390	414
Havering	375	334	320	334
Newham	578	590	583	616
Barking and Dagenham	287	300	279	294
Enfield	550	550	478	515
Southwark	850	861	801	839
Lewisham	588	610	584	612
Bromley	481	464	440	458
Greenwich	518	612	586	613
Bexley	273	282	310	328
Croydon	580	601	549	595
Sutton	390	405	254	270
Lambeth	947	917	875	923
Richmond upon Thames	321	283	260	274
Hounslow	483	457	411	435
Kingston upon Thames	396	367	256	272
Merton	312	293	290	303
Wandsworth	693	596	555	586
Total	18,656	17,982	16,713	17,585
Heathrow airport(36)	424	362	304	301
Divisional total	19,080	18,344	17,017	17,886

⁽³⁴⁾ Figures are full-time equivalents

⁽³⁵⁾ The budgeted work force total for each London borough division is set at the start of the financial year. Projected figures for 31 March 2002 are therefore the same as those for 30 September 2001

⁽³⁶⁾ These police posts are paid by Heathrow Airport plc

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