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Police Pay
Mr. Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the proposed introduction of (a) threshold payments, (b) special priority payments and (c) bonus payments to police officers; and what representations he has received from the Police Federation about the additional payments element of the Police Reform Programme. [30112]
Mr. Denham: The Police Negotiating Board (PNB), on which both the Secretary of State and the Police Federation are represented, reached agreement in principle on 27 December 2001 on a package of changes to police pay and conditions of service. The changes are set out in the Heads of Agreement.
The changes include a new competence-related payment of £1,002 at the top of each of the federated ranks' pay scales. It is expected that at least 75 per cent. of those eligible—that is, those who have spent at least a year at the top of the scale—will receive the payment.
Under the new special priority payments scheme, officers could qualify for one-off payments of between £500 and £5,000 a year. Chief officers and police authorities will draw up a local scheme of payments, in consultation with local staff associations, having regard to national criteria and to guidance from the Secretary of State. The national criteria are that posts carry a significantly higher responsibility than the norm for the rank; or are particularly difficult to fill; or have specially arduous working conditions. All parties in PNB recognise that there are a number of specialist posts where long hours are a necessary and integral part of the officers' role rather than due to management failure.
In addition, chief constables will be able to award bonuses of between £50 and £500 for occasional work of an outstandingly demanding, unpleasant or important nature, such as hostage negotiation, or fingerprinting and searching badly decomposed bodies.
The Police Federation was party to the negotiations in PNB when it had the opportunity to make representations on all the proposed new payments.
The Heads of Agreement have to be ratified by the end of February.
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Speeding Fines
Sir Teddy Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the total sum obtained from speeding fines in the last year for which figures are available was; and what the figures were in each of the previous 10 years. [27010]
Mr. Denham [holding answer 14 January 2002]: Information on the revenue raised from speeding fines is not available.
However, the table shows the total number and amount (£) of fines ordered to be paid following conviction for speeding offences within England and Wales from 1991
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to 2000. As the majority of such offences are dealt with by the issue of a fixed penalty, the table also shows the total amount of fixed penalties ordered to be paid.
Not all fines and fixed penalties will have been paid.
All fixed penalty fine revenue is passed to Her Majesty's Treasury. However, in April 2000, eight partnership areas, comprising local police forces, local authorities, highways authorities and magistrates courts, piloted a new 'netting-off' scheme. This allows a proportion of the fixed penalty fine revenue from speed and red-light cameras to be re-invested to fund camera enforcement. Fine revenue is used to meet each of the partners' costs in relation to the administration, purchase, installation, operation and maintenance of the cameras.
| Court proceedings | Fixed penalties | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of fines | Total amount of fine (£) | Average fine (£) | Number of tickets | Estimated revenue (£)(3) | |
| 1991 | 155,300 | 13,198,000 | 85 | 449,200 | 14,374,000 |
| 1992 | 146,800 | 12,697,000 | 87 | 460,100 | 17,485,000 |
| 1993 | 98,200 | 12,475,000 | 127 | 394,800 | 15,790,000 |
| 1994 | 103,100 | 11,676,000 | 113 | 472,500 | 18,899,000 |
| 1995 | 117,000 | 12,512,000 | 107 | 530,200 | 21,207,000 |
| 1996 | 127,900 | 12,904,000 | 101 | 595,100 | 23,802,000 |
| 1997 | 130,600 | 15,523,000 | 119 | 712,800 | 28,510,000 |
| 1998 | 151,400 | 20,369,000 | 135 | 781,000 | 31,240,000 |
| 1999 | 151,200 | 19,978,000 | 132 | 825,300 | 33,011,000 |
| 2000 | 139,200 | 18,098,000 | 130 | 1,023,500 | 44,351,000 |
(3) 'Estimate' based on the following fixed penalty charges—£32 up to 31 March 1992, £40 up to 31 October 2000 and £60 as from 1 November 2000
Gerald Mutketiwa
Mr. Mullin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information he has received on the treatment of Zimbabwean citizen, Mr. Gerald Mutketiwa, subsequent to his deportation of 16 December; and if he will make a statement. [26120]
Angela Eagle: I have written to my hon. Friend today.
CCTV (Uxbridge)
Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many CCTV schemes are operating in the Uxbridge constituency. [28489]
Mr. Denham: The Home Office only holds information about schemes we fund. To date the Home Office has not funded any closed circuit television (CCTV) schemes in the Uxbridge area.
However, the Hillingdon Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership have been allocated funding under the Communities Against Drugs (CAD) Initiative, in order to tackle drugs markets and drugs related crime and disorder. CAD money can be used to fund a variety of interventions including CCTV where appropriate.
CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT
Parliamentary Questions
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many answers to parliamentary questions have not been answered by her Department under exemption 13 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information in each year since 1994. [29415]
Dr. Howells [holding answer 22 January 2002]: Questions that have not been answered under exemption 13 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information are detailed in the Reports on Ministerial Accountability and Parliamentary Questions published by the Select Committee on Public Administration (formerly the Public Service Select Committee). The most recent report covers the parliamentary Session 2000–01.
I understand that copies of these reports are available in the Library of the House and on the House of Commons website at www.publication.parliament.uk/pa.
Departmental Secondments
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many staff in her Department have been seconded to jobs in the (a) private and (b) public sector in each of the last four years. [31781]
Dr. Howells: The information is shown in the table.
| Private sector | Public sector | |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 4 | 14 |
| 1999 | 3 | 16 |
| 2000 | 3 | 14 |
| 2001 | 2 | 22 |
In answering this we have quoted the number of secondments which commenced, were continuing or completed in the given year.
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Departmental Salary Costs
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of the departmental expenditure limit in 2001–02 will be accounted for by salary costs and pension contributions. [32011]
Dr. Howells: On the basis of the Department's current expenditure limit for 2001–02, salary costs and pension contributions are forecast to account for 1.26 per cent. of the Department's departmental expenditure limit in 2001–02.
WORK AND PENSIONS
Autism
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to review (a) disability living allowance and (b) carer's allowance for sufferers of autism and their families. [31883]
Maria Eagle: We keep the operation of disability living allowance (DLA) and invalid care allowance (ICA), like other social security benefits, under review. Last autumn we announced a package, worth £500 million over three years, to enhance the current social security provision for carers and improve their financial security. For DLA, we have recently made significant improvements to the claim form, we are currently revising all the forms used to obtain relevant information from doctors, health care professionals and others involved in the care of claimants, and in consultation with organisations representing disabled people, are testing an alternative system for extra-costs disability benefits based on activities for managing life. There are no plans to carry out a review of these benefits specifically directed towards people with autism and their families.
Post Office Card Accounts
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will allow all pensioners and benefit recipients automatic entitlement to a post office card account on conversion to automated credit transfer, with an opt-out for those who choose a bank account. [32730]
Malcolm Wicks: No. As my hon. Friend the Minister for E-Commerce and Competitiveness explained in his reply on 17 December 2001, Official Report, columns 119–20W, the emphasis of the automated credit transfer migration and marketing strategy will be to ensure that each customer has the best account for his or her circumstances.
If customers do not have a bank account, we will provide them with information on the types of accounts available, including standard and basic bank accounts and post office card accounts, and help them make the best choice for their circumstances.
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