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Prison Officer Housing Units
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prison officer housing units are available for allocation to prison officers in England and Wales. [20433]
Beverley Hughes: Entitlement to occupy quarters was ended for Prison Officers in 1987. Since that time quarters have been sold either to occupying officers under discount sales schemes or, where vacant on the open market. Fifty quarters are retained for occupation by Chaplains who continue to have a quarter entitlement. Also, approximately 400 quarters retained on security or operational grounds are available for occupation by prison staff, and these are reallocated by Governors upon becoming vacant.
Sri Lankan Tamils
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Sri Lankan Tamils are being held in (a) detention centres and (b) prisons in the United Kingdom awaiting removal from the UK for immigration offences; and if he will make a statement. [20439]
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Angela Eagle: The latest available information on persons detained under Immigration Act powers relates to 30 September 2001. The number of Sri Lankans being held in detention centres and prisons as at that date is given in the table.
| Place of detention | Sri Lankan Immigration Act detainees as at 30 September 2001(46) |
|---|---|
| Immigration detention centres | 10 |
| Dedicated Immigration Service wings(47) | 20 |
| Prison establishments(48) | 20 |
| Total persons detained in detention centres and prisons(48) | 55 |
(46) Figures rounded to the nearest five, and may not sum due to rounding. Excludes persons detained at Oakington Reception Centre.
(47) Persons detained at the dedicated Immigration Service wings at Haslar, Lindholme and Rochester.
(48) Includes 10 persons detained under dual immigration and other powers.
It is not possible to separately identify how many of these persons are Sri Lankan Tamils. Information on how many of these persons were awaiting removal from the United Kingdom for immigration offences on 30 September 2001 is not available and could be obtained only by examining individual case files at disproportionate cost.
Information on Immigration Act detainees as at 31 December 2001 will be published on 28 February 2002 on the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate website at http: www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/ immigration1.html.
Rape
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases of rape were reported in England and Wales in 2000 that resulted in charges being made against the alleged perpetrators. [20435]
Mr. Keith Bradley: The requested details are not collected centrally. Of the 8,593 offences of rape recorded in England and Wales in the year ending March 2001, 3,992 were detected. During the 2000 calendar year a total of 2,046 individuals were proceeded against at magistrates courts for rape. As the recorded crime figure relates to offences, and the proceedings figure relates to individuals, who may be prosecuted for more than one rape offence, these figures are not directly comparable.
Home Office Research Study 196 'A question of evidence? Investigating and prosecuting rape in the 1990s' found that 42 per cent. of a sample of recorded cases of rape of a female in 1996 resulted in a charge.
Police Corruption
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers were cautioned in the course of an investigation for corruption in (a) 1996, (b) 1997, (c) 1998, (d) 1999 and (e) 2000. [20499]
Mr. Denham: The information required to answer this question is not held centrally and to seek this information from all police forces would involve a disproportionate cost.
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Hoax Emergency Calls
Linda Perham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of hoax calls to the emergency services he estimates to be made from mobile telephones; and if he will require mobile telephone operators to co-operate with the investigation and prosecution of hoax callers. [20487]
Mr. Denham: Making a hoax call to the emergency services constitutes improper use of a public telecommunication system and is an offence under section 43 of the Telecommunications Act 1984. Data on the number of prosecutions for malicious abuse of the public telephone system are not collected centrally.
Accidental calls, characterised by silence on being answered, account for some 20 per cent. of 999 calls. Silent calls are now routed to a recorded message requiring confirmation that emergency services are required. Oftel is working with manufacturers to improve mobile phone design to reduce the risk of accidental engagement of 999.
Public Service Agreements
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on progress towards the public service agreement target for reducing the fear of crime. [17314]
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Mr. Denham: The target is to ensure that by 2004 levels of fear of crime in the key categories of violent crime, burglary and car crime are lower than in 2001. The measure is the British Crime Survey, and the 2001 survey provides us with a baseline against which to measure progress against this target. The 2001 baseline is: 22.3 per cent. of the population fear violent crime; 16.5 per cent. fear burglary and 18.5 per cent. fear car crime.
Tackling the fear of crime is critical to improving the quality of life for many. The British Crime Survey shows that fear of crime has been falling in the key crime categories over a number of years, although we know that some individuals, communities or groups may be more susceptible to fear than others. Our crime reduction programme aims to secure substantial reductions in the level of fear of crime by 2004, as we achieve real reductions in actual crime levels.
Police Complaints
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many complaints were (a) registered and (b) upheld and what the level of complaints was as a percentage of the effective strength of each police constabulary in the United Kingdom in each of the last five years. [20370]
Mr. Denham: Available information is for England and Wales only. Complaints and discipline statistics are published annually in a Home Office Statistical Bulletin. The latest statistics relating to 2000–01 were published on 14 November 2001 in issue number 21/01. Details are given in the tables.
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| 1996–97 | 1997–98 | 1998–99 | 1999–2000 | 2000–01 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avon and Somerset | 15 | 26 | 28 | 16 | 27 |
| Bedfordshire | 14 | 3 | 11 | 9 | 6 |
| Cambridgeshire | 23 | 42 | 15 | 28 | 18 |
| Cheshire | 16 | 11 | 17 | 11 | 10 |
| Cleveland | 13 | 2 | 12 | 0 | 5 |
| Cumbria | 2 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| Derbyshire | 26 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 7 |
| Devon and Cornwall | 14 | 38 | 26 | 24 | 22 |
| Dorset | 3 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 5 |
| Durham | 7 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 4 |
| Essex | 14 | 22 | 25 | 6 | 12 |
| Gloucestershire | 12 | 12 | 3 | 11 | 5 |
| Greater Manchester | 22 | 20 | 20 | 30 | 40 |
| Hampshire | 30 | 22 | 24 | 22 | 20 |
| Hertfordshire | 15 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 20 |
| Humberside | 8 | 18 | 9 | 14 | 14 |
| Kent | 27 | 26 | 24 | 26 | 63 |
| Lancashire | 30 | 12 | 15 | 13 | 26 |
| Leicestershire | 10 | 15 | 10 | 5 | 13 |
| Lincolnshire | 12 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 7 |
| London City of | 7 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 3 |
| Merseyside | 11 | 7 | 12 | 6 | 36 |
| Metropolitan Police | 203 | 236 | 146 | 168 | 138 |
| Norfolk | 26 | 11 | 28 | 11 | 17 |
| Northamptonshire | 9 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 7 |
| Northumbria | 8 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 12 |
| North Yorkshire | 13 | 10 | 27 | 20 | 16 |
| Nottinghamshire | 15 | 13 | 1 | 12 | 26 |
| South Yorkshire | 3 | 13 | 11 | 18 | 14 |
| Staffordshire | 7 | 9 | 6 | 20 | 34 |
| Suffolk | 12 | 11 | 24 | 11 | 5 |
| Surrey | 7 | 5 | 17 | 7 | 17 |
| Sussex | 33 | 23 | 31 | 54 | 79 |
| Thames Valley | 27 | 32 | 23 | 37 | 45 |
| Warwickshire | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 9 |
| West Mercia | 14 | 6 | 23 | 13 | 11 |
| West Midlands | 23 | 61 | 47 | 26 | 38 |
| West Yorkshire | 54 | 26 | 13 | 13 | 19 |
| Wiltshire | 2 | 27 | 5 | 3 | 11 |
| Dyfed-Powys | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 4 |
| Gwent | 7 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 8 |
| North Wales | 5 | 9 | 14 | 7 | 13 |
| South Wales | 28 | 17 | 11 | 13 | 17 |
| England and Wales | 834 | 850 | 745 | 714 | 903 |
10 Dec 2001 : Column: 705W
Note:
Police strength as of 31 March before the beginning of each financial year
10 Dec 2001 : Column: 707W
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