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Appointments

Mr. Collins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many appointments he has made to public bodies since 7 June; and how many are in his gift. [15482]

Mr. Blunkett: Information about numbers of ministerial appointments to public bodies is included in the Cabinet Office's annual report, "Public Bodies". Copies of this are placed in the Library and the report is published on the Cabinet Office's internet website. The next edition of "Public Bodies", which will include number of appointments at 31 March 2001, will be published around the end of the year.

Between 7 June and 31 October 2001 my Department made 179 appointments to public bodies. The total number of appointments that are the responsibility of my Department is 2,516.

GHB

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the recommendation of the Drug Advisory Council with regard to the classification of GHB. [16272]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: At its meeting on 8 November, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) recommended that gammahydroxybutyrate (GHB) should be controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 as a Class C drug. I have accepted their recommendation in principle, subject to the normal consultation with interested professional bodies.

Deportation (National Security)

Mr. Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people his Department has sought to have deported from the United Kingdom on national security grounds, broken down by the country to which they are being deported; and if he will indicate the proportion of those successfully deported in the last 12 months. [15872]

Angela Eagle: There have been no deportations from the United Kingdom on the ground of national security in the past 12 months. However, 25 individuals have been excluded from entering the United Kingdom on the ground that their presence here would not be conductive to the public good on national security grounds. The Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Bill contains provision for suspected terrorists to be arrested and detained indefinitely if they cannot be sent back to their own country or to a safe third country.

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Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Bill

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if it is his intention that belief in (a) the teachings of Osama bin Laden, (b) Muslim fundamentalism and (c) the Reverend Moon are religious beliefs for the purposes of Part 5 of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Bill. [16664]

Angela Eagle: It is not necessary in the context of this legislation to define religion or religious beliefs. This is a matter which can be left to the courts to interpret in the wider context of the criminal behaviour being considered. We have therefore not sought to compile a list of 'acceptable' religious beliefs to the exclusion of others. It is a matter of deciding, where a criminal offence has been committed against a person or group, whether the perpetrator's hatred of that person or group was a principal or aggravating factor.

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the scope of the expression "particular circumstances" in clause 109 7(b) of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Bill. [16418]

Mr. Blunkett: Sub-clause (7) of clause 109 of the Anti-terrorism, Security and Crime Bill sets out the circumstances in which the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) enabling power conferred by clause 109 can be used to create a criminal offence with a penalty of more than two years' imprisonment. The expression "particular circumstances" in sub-clause (7)(b) covers the situation where the European Union Justice and Home Affairs obligation makes a distinction between 'aggravated' and 'non-aggravated' versions of an offence and, for example, provides for a minimum/maximum sentence for the 'aggravated' version of the offence but does not specify a penalty level for the basic offence. Sub-clause (7)(b) will enable implementing regulations in this situation to apply the minimum/maximum sentence provided for the 'aggravated' offence to all versions of the offence. The courts will then be able to take the particular circumstances of each case into account when sentencing. This mechanism ensures we can transpose European Union obligations in a way which takes full account of sentencing structures in the United Kingdom.

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will prepare a register of the religious beliefs to which part 5 of the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Bill applies. [16417]

Angela Eagle: The Government will not be preparing such a register, as the Bill does not seek to define religion or religious belief. In this part of the Bill "religious hatred" means "hatred against a group of persons defined by reference to religious belief or lack of religious belief". This is an inclusive definition, and therefore does not require a list of "acceptable" religious beliefs to be drawn up. The Government do not want to make value judgments about the nature of a particular religion. The Bill reflects the fact that what is to be considered is whether a criminal offence has been committed against a person because of, or aggravated by, the perpetrator's hatred for their religion or belief.

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance has been issued to transport

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companies concerning proposals in the new anti-terrorism legislation on the collection and retention of passenger and freight information. [16884]

Beverley Hughes: No formal guidance has been issued. However, the Home Office will shortly be issuing to carriers and other interested bodies a consultation paper about the types of information about passengers and goods to be collected.

Criminal Offences

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many criminal offences punishable with imprisonment in excess of two years have been created by statutory instrument in each of the last 10 years. [16223]

Mr. Keith Bradley [holding answer 19 November 2001]: Records indicate that of all the existing offences punishable with imprisonment of more than two years, none were created by statutory instrument.

Special Hospitals

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners have been transferred to NHS mental health facilities on temporary licence since 13 July 2000; and if he will make a statement about his policy. [16610]

Beverley Hughes: Information about the number of prisoners transferred to national health service mental health facilities on temporary licence is not collected centrally but we would expect there to be few, if any, such cases. Our objective is to ensure that prisoners who are so severely mentally disordered that they require in-patient treatment in hospital are diagnosed, assessed and transferred as quickly as possible. Some 750 prisoners a year are transferred from prison to hospital by direction of the Home Secretary under sections 47 and 48 of the Mental Health Act 1983. It is the usual practice for such transfers to take place with an escort of either prison or hospital staff.

Correspondence

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he intends to reply to the letter of 14 May from the hon. Member for Aylesbury to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate about his constituent Mr. D. M., reference M1002217. [16817]

Angela Eagle: My officials wrote to the hon. Member on 20 November. I am sorry he did not receive an earlier response.

Drug Misuse

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will make a statement on the Government's 10-year strategy for tackling the misuse of drugs. [17084]

(2) what progress is being made towards the targets for reducing the use of class A drugs set out in the 10-year plan for tackling the misuse of drugs; and if he will make a statement. [17086]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: We are currently reviewing progress against all the Drugs Strategy targets as part of the work for the 2002 Spending Review, to ensure that

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we still have the right balance and focus. We know we need to focus even more on Class A drugs. That is why the Home Secretary announced to the Home Affairs Select Committee on 23 October 2001 that he would be seeking advice from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs on their assessment reclassifying cannabis from Class B to Class C.

Addressing substance misuse among young people is a key priority in delivering the Strategy. We are developing our policy and approach in a number of areas such as in improving the planning and co-ordination of the delivery of services for young people through "Young People's Substance Misuse Plans". We will also be introducing an innovative public awareness campaign on drugs aimed at young people. We have also introduced a range of measures across the whole Strategy. For example, we have provided £1 million as a starter fund for a pilot project to help police target regional drug traffickers with a view to a national roll-out of the scheme; we have agreed a further roll-out of drug testing programmes; and a series of measures, in partnership with the Department of Health, to minimise the harm drug cause.

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