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Police Houses

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what right to buy would be enjoyed by a serving Metropolitan police officer with a secure tenancy of a police house since July 2000, with non-secure tenancies from 1995 to 2000 and with a wife who was previously a long-term local authority secure tenant. [26952]

Mr. Denham: Those Metropolitan police service tenants who became secure tenants as a result of the changes to the Housing Act 1985 made in the Greater London Authority Act 1999, would not normally be eligible for a right to buy until July 2002.

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From the details provided, it is not possible to establish precisely the impact of a spouse who was previously a long-term local authority secure tenant.

Police Numbers (Thames Valley)

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers were serving in the Thames Valley police force on 1 January (a) 1997, (b) 1998, (c) 1999, (d) 2000, (e) 2001 and (f) 2002. [27151]

Mr. Denham: Figures are not collected for police strength at 1 January. Figures for police strength at 31 December in the years 1999 to 2001 have been provided by the Chief Constable of Thames Valley police. The force is unable to provide information for the position on 31 December in the years 1996 to 1998. For these years the table shows strength figures at 30 September provided in statistical returns to the Home Office.

Year and month	Number of officers
30 September 1996	3,682
30 September 1997	3,705
30 September 1998	3,790
31 December 1999	3,732
31 December 2000	3,750
31 December 2001	3,763

Departmental Sickness Absence

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will commission and publish an independent report on the reasons for the level of sickness absence in his Department. [26969]

Angela Eagle: The Cabinet Office already commissions and publishes an independent annual report "Analysis of Sickness Absence in the Civil Service". This report includes details of the causes of absenteeism. The report for the year 2000 will be published shortly.

The Home Office and its agencies have introduced new guidelines, policies and procedures with a view to meeting its target to reducing sickness absence, published in its Service Delivery Agreements for April 2001 to March 2004.

Newspaper Advertising

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the expenditure of his (a) Department, (b) agencies and (c) non-departmental public bodies on newspaper advertising by title in each year since 1997. [26984]

Mr. Blunkett: Each campaign may use national and regional media. The target audience and information to be conveyed influences the choice of media used. For national campaigns a mix of broadsheets and tabloids is frequently used. For regional advertising, space has been taken in many prominent regional newspapers as well as local papers.

A breakdown of expenditure on newspaper advertising by title could be supplied only at disproportionate costs. Figures for Home Office expenditure on advertising were

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given in response to a question from the hon. Member for Perth (Annabelle Ewing) on 19 December 2001, Official Report, column 478W.

Police Paperwork

Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to reduce paperwork for police officers. [28476]

Mr. Denham: On 1 November 2001, my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary published PA Consulting's study "Diary of a Police Officer" which had considered what more could be done to free police officers from the unnecessary paperwork and other obstacles which prevent them from spending more time in public.

In the White Paper "Policing a new century" (CM 5326), published on 5 December 2001, my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary announced that he was setting up a taskforce, chaired by Sir David O'Dowd, to consider how to take forward the recommendations in this, and other, relevant reports, in order to reduce unnecessary administrative burdens on the police.

Drug Offences (Uxbridge)

Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drug-related offences were committed in the Uxbridge constituency in each of the last five years. [28535]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Recorded crime figures include statistics on drugs offences, such as possession, but do not record whether other offences are related to offenders' drug habits. Furthermore, the information that is collected on the number of drug offences is only available for the Metropolitan police force area as a whole and would therefore not be a useful guide to the number of drug offences in Uxbridge.

The NEW-ADAM research programme of interviewing and drug testing those arrested by the police sheds some light on the links between drugs and crime, although again the conclusions do not relate specifically to Uxbridge. Research so far, based on eight locations in 1999–2000, indicates that more than three-fifths (by value) of acquisitive crime is committed by users of both heroin and cocaine/crack.

Drug Trafficking

Mr. Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what recent discussions his Department has had with other EU Governments about the list of aggravating circumstances relating to drug trafficking; [28377]

(2) what recent discussions his Department has had with EU Governments regarding the minimum and maximum sentence tariffs for drug trafficking offences. [28376]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: On 23 May 2001 the European Commission published a draft European Council Framework Decision laying down minimum provisions on the constituent elements of criminal acts and penalties in the field of illicit drug trafficking. It sets out proposals for common minimum, maximum sentence tariffs as well as common aggravating circumstances for drug trafficking offences. The proposal is currently being discussed at

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official level in the European Union Council working groups responsible for drugs and criminal law. Home Office officials are represented on these working groups.

Mr. Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions his Department has had with Turkey regarding drug control measures. [28378]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The Government have developed close co-operation with Turkey at an operational level because it is a key country on the supply route of heroin to the United Kingdom. In addition between 1994 and 1999 we provided over £1 million for anti-drugs assistance, mainly in the form of training, and we expect to provide up to £300,000 for training and equipment in 2001–02.

Police Numbers (Portsmouth)

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers there are in Portsmouth, South; how many are from ethnic minorities; and if he will make a statement. [24943]

Mr. Denham: The deployment of officers within the Hampshire Constabulary is an operational a matter for the chief constable.

I am told by the chief constable that the Portsmouth division had 399 police officers on 31 December 2001, of whom eight (2 per cent.) were from minority ethnic communities.

It is not possible to provide figures for the Portsmouth, South constituency as it is an integral part of the Portsmouth division and officers will be deployed around the division in response to need.

Graffiti

Richard Ottaway: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) reported incidents of, (b) arrests for and (c) charges brought for graffiti there were in the Metropolitan police area in (i) 1995–96 and (ii) 2000–01. [27278]

Mr. Denham: It is not possible to distinguish offences of graffiti from other types of criminal damage in the Home Office figures for recorded crime, arrests or court proceedings as the details of individual offences are not collected centrally.

Football Matches

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost of policing football matches (a) in the Metropolitan police area and (b) other police areas has been in each of the last five years; and what proportion of these costs was paid for by the football industry. [27592]

Mr. Denham: The information is not centrally held and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Prisoners (Drug Deaths)

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prison inmates died while in custody as a result of illegal drug misuse during 2001. [28077]

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Beverley Hughes: No prisoners died as a result of illegal drug misuse in prisons in England and Wales during 2001.

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