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Travellers
Mr. David Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what figures he has collated on the number of court orders obtained by local authorities to evict travellers from public parks and open spaces in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [32465]
Mr. Denham: Figures for the number of court orders obtained by local authorities to evict travellers from public parks and open spaces are not collated centrally.
Criminal Cases Review Commission
Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of applicants to the Criminal Cases Review Commission have the assistance of a solicitor. [32480]
Mr. Keith Bradley: The results of the Commission's latest six-monthly survey to 30 September 2001, showed that 51 per cent. of applicants, whose cases were under review, had some form of legal representation.
Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will advise the Criminal Cases Review Commission to give priority to cases of women crown court conviction applicants who are in custody and have young children. [32497]
Beverley Hughes: The Commission's priority-ranking group already receives and considers requests from such applicants.
Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many women convicted of murder are the subject of applications to the Criminal Cases Review Commission. [32501]
Mr. Keith Bradley: The Criminal Cases Review Commission does not collect routinely the statistics requested, and they could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However following the introduction of an electronic case database from 1 April 2001 recent data is available. During 1 April 2001 to 31 December 2001, the Criminal Cases Review Commission received five applications concerned with women convicted of murder.
Domestic Violence
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convictions of (a) men and (b) women there have been for offences involving domestic violence in the last 12 months. [32122]
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Beverley Hughes: Offences involving domestic violence are not identifiable on the Home Office Court Proceedings database as no specific statute covers such offences.
Prosecutions brought might range from common assault to homicide depending on the level of violence, and as the circumstances of the offences for which prosecutions are brought are not collected centrally, offences involving domestic violence cannot be distinguished from other offences within these categories.
Despite the lack of centrally collated statistics, there are justified concerns that incidents of domestic violence too often fail to result in prosecutions. We have introduced a number of measures to reduce the attrition rate for domestic violence offences and to bring more offenders to justice.
These include: Guidance for prosecutors issued by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in November and to police in 2000 encouraging them to work closely together to enhance evidence gathering, reducing the reliance on the victim's evidence. A number of the Crime Reduction Programme Violence Against Women projects are supporting women through the Criminal Justice System and aiming to empower women to use both civil and criminal remedies. The Metropolitan police service and Crown Prosecution Service are examining a number of domestic violence homicides that have taken place, in an attempt to establish where agency responses might be improved to prevent similar tragedies, and any lessons to be learned by the Criminal Justice System. Our attrition target is to bring 100,000 more offenders to justice. Given that domestic violence accounts for almost a quarter of all violent crime, a significant number of those offenders will be domestic violence perpetrators.
Sex Offenders
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will introduce legislation to force sex offenders to notify the authorities if they are travelling abroad for eight days or less; and if he will make a statement. [32137]
Beverley Hughes: The Sex Offenders (Notice Requirement) (Foreign Travel) Regulations 2001 made under the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000, require sex offenders subject to the requirements of the
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Sex Offenders Act 1997 (the register) to notify the police if they intend to travel abroad for a period of eight days or longer. These came into force on 1 June 2001.
The qualifying period for notification of travel abroad was the subject of discussion during the review of the Sex Offenders Act 1997. The review included representatives of the police, probation and social services, and children's charities. The conclusion reached was that a qualifying period shorter than eight days would result in an unwieldy, unresponsive and consequently less effective, system for the police to administer.
We will be keeping the effectiveness of the Sex Offenders Act under review over the years to come but we have no plans to change this aspect of the system at this stage.
The United Kingdom remains one of only four countries which has a register of sex offenders and one of only two which requires registered sex offenders to notify travel abroad.
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Child Pornography
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convictions by courts in the United Kingdom there have been for the (a) production and (b) distribution of child pornography material in the last 12 months. [32121]
Mr. Keith Bradley: Offences of producing or distributing pornography are not directly identifiable on the Home Office Court Proceedings database. The available information, relating to possessing, taking or making indecent photographs, or pseudo-photographs, of children under the Protection of Children Act 1978 and the Criminal Justice Act 1988 or for possessing obscene material for gain under the Obscene Publications Act 1959, is shown in the table. These statistics relate to England and Wales in 2000. Statistics for 2001 will be available in the autumn.
Information relating to Scotland and Northern Ireland are matters for my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland and Northern Ireland.
| Offence | Statute | Total convicted |
|---|---|---|
| Possessing obscene material for gain | Obscene Publications Act 1959 s.2 as amended by the Obscene Publications Act, 1964 sec.1 | 81 |
| Take or to make indecent photographs, or pseudo-photographs, of children | Protection of Children Act 1978 sections 1, 6 as amended by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 sec. 84 | 218 |
| Possession of an indecent photograph, or pseudo-photograph, of a child | Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1988 sec. 160 as amended by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 secs. 84(4) and 86(1) | 77 |
(44) Staffordshire police force were only able to supply a sample of data for magistrates' courts proceedings covering one full week in each quarter for 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robust at a detailed level and so are excluded from this table.
Policies and Actions
Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set out, including statistical information relating as directly as possible to the Cynon Valley constituency, the effects on the Cynon Valley of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [27856]
Mr. Denham: The Home Office is working with individuals and communities to build a safe, just and tolerant society enhancing opportunities for all and in which rights and responsibilities go hand in hand and the protection and security of the public are maintained and enhanced. Detailed information on the impact of Home Office policies across the full range of responsibilities is set out in Home Office annual reports. A copy of the most recent report, Home Office annual report 2000–2001, is available in the Library. Information on recorded crime is contained in the publication: "Recorded Crime, England and Wales, 12 months to 31 March 2001", can also be found in the Library.
These statistics provide information for six common offences down to CDRP (Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships) and BCU (Basic Command Units) level. The figure for total recorded crime is only provided at police force level and so covers South Wales police as a whole. Figures for March 1997 compared to March 2001 show that South Wales police had seen the two biggest falls in overall recorded crime, of 26 per cent., of any police force in England and Wales.
A number of Home Office initiatives funded under the Crime Reduction Programme will have a specific impact on crime levels in the Cynon Valley. Many of the Crime Reduction Programme projects and other funding streams listed benefit the Rhondda Cynon Taff unitary authority and Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership that cover Cynon Valley and the other two valleys that make up the Rhondda Cynon Taff area:
- Crime Reduction Programme
- Targeted Policing Initiative: A multi-agency project, liaising with five children's homes in the Rhondda Cynon Taff area, to tackle absenteeism, the development of criminal behaviour and vulnerability of youngsters—£500,000.
- Violence Against Women: a £11,706 domestic violence project in Rhondda Cynon Taff.
- Closed Circuit Television (CCTV): A total of £725,405 has been awarded to six CCTV projects in Rhondda Cynon Taff. Three of these are specific to the Cynon Valley area; Aberdare Town Centre project—£175,000; a Hirwaun project covering a residential area, car parks and community facilities—£79,105 and £31,500 for a residential area and shops project in Penywaun.
- Other Funding Streams
- Under the "Small Retailers in Deprived Areas" initiative, £30,000 has been awarded to a Rhondda Cynon Taff scheme of which seven shops in the Cynon Valley area will receive a share. In addition, the Rhondda Cynon Taff Crime and Disorder Reduction
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- Partnership have had £201,200 made available to them under the Communities Against Drugs Initiative, and £30,036 under the Partnership Development Fund.
- Police Numbers in South Wales
- Police numbers in the South Wales police are have also increased since 1997. On 30 September 2001 the force had 3,241 police officers. This is a record number of officers and 265 more than the force had in March 1997. The deployment of resources to Cynon Valley and other parts of the South Wales police area is an operational matter for the Chief Constable. Civilian support staff in South Wales on 30 September was 1,268–63 more than in March 1997.
Further information on the Home Office and its policies is published on its website. (www.homeoffice.gov.uk).
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