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Official Visits

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the official visits within the UK outside London made by each Minister in his Department in 2001, giving for each (a) the origin and destination and (b) the mode of travel used; and what guidance is provided to Ministers in his Department on choice of mode of travel for official visits. [38191]

Angela Eagle: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State on 6 March 2002, Official Report, column 421W.

Criminal Records Bureau

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many umbrella bodies have registered with the Criminal Records Bureau; how many of them are open to take registrations from outside their own membership; and if he will make a statement on the effectiveness of arrangements in covering the registration need of the voluntary sector. [45810]

Mr. Denham [holding answer 26 March 2002]: We have been determined that employers and voluntary organisations wishing to use the service to be provided by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) will have a ready means of access. To meet the needs of those employers and organisations which do not wish to register with the Bureau in their own right, we have encouraged others to consider acting on their behalf, as umbrella bodies, and we shall continue to do so. Up to 21 March 2002, a total of 704 umbrella bodies had registered with the CRB. Of these, 419 organisations had indicated that they are prepared to countersign applications from employers or organisations outside their own circle or sector. A list is available from the CRB on request, and information is also available on the CRB website, www.disclosure.gov.uk.

Prison Population

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reason the data for women are not disaggregated in Table 6 of the Prison Population Brief for England and Wales, January 2002; and if he will make a statement. [46500]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 26 March 2002]: Table six of the Prison Population Brief deals with receptions into prison establishments. Female prisoners currently account for 7.8 per cent. of all receptions into prisons and 5.9 per cent. of the total prison population. For this reason we have up to now stated the total number of female receptions while providing a more detailed analysis of the male population.

However, the data are readily available and I have arranged for future briefs to include more analysis of the data on women.

10 Apr 2002 : Column 346W

Drug Treatment and Testing Orders

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drug treatment and testing orders have so far been issued. [47232]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Between 1 October 2000, when the Drug Treatment and Testing Orders (DTTO) was rolled-out to courts in England and Wales, and 31 January 2002, which is the latest month for which complete figures are available, 5,188 Orders were made.

Performance Targets

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the PSA target to increase by 10 per cent. the number of offenders dealt with for supply offences in respect of Class A drugs was met. [47403]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth [holding answer 9 April 2002]: Data on seizures and offenders is published annually in the Home Office statistical bulletin: "Drug Seizure and Offender Statistics, United Kingdom". Figures are by calendar year. Data for the year 1999 by comparison to 1998 were published in 2001.

This data show that the number of persons dealt with for supply offences (possession with intent to supply unlawfully, unlawful supply and import/export) involving class A drugs rose by 17.5 per cent. between 1998 and 1999, well above the target of 10 per cent. In fact subsequent data received by the Home Office after publication of the statistics, indicates that the increase was greater still—around 19.8 per cent. These revised figures will be published in the next edition of the bulletin for the year 2000 which will be published shortly.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target for the rate of positive results from mandatory random drugs tests will be met by March. [47223]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The Service Delivery Agreement (SDA) target set following Spending Review 2000 was to reduce the rate of positive results from random mandatory drug tests (MDT) from 20 per cent. in 1998–99 to 10 per cent. by 31 March 2004.

MDT data are collected and reported monthly. The interim target set for achievement by 31 March 2002 was a rate of positive results of 12 per cent. The latest available year to date figures run to the end of February 2002 and show a positive rate of 11.5 per cent. Data for the last three months are provisional.

The target that the Prison Service has been set for achievement by 31 March 2003 is a rate of positive results of 10 per cent. or lower, which brings forward the SDA target by one year.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target of a reduction of three percentage points in the proportion of arrestees testing positive for heroin and/or cocaine/crack will be met by December. [47402]

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Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The commitment "to achieve a reduction of three percentage points in the proportion of arrestees testing positive for heroin and/or cocaine/crack from the 1999–2000 half-baseline" is a drugs strategy target for 2002 under the Communities objective, as set out in the United Kingdom Anti-drugs Co-ordinator's Second National Plan.

Information on progress against this target, derived from data from the New English and Welsh Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (NEW-ADAM) research programme, will not be available until the autumn of 2002.

The target contributes, with other measures, towards delivery of the current Public Service Agreement (PSA) target "to reduce levels of repeat offending among drug misusing offenders by 25 per cent. by 2005 (and by 50 per cent. by 2008)".

We are currently reviewing the drugs strategy targets and progress on them, to ensure we still have the right balance and focus.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the PSA target to increase class A drugs prevented and seized by 10 per cent. has been met. [47235]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Data on seizures and offenders is published annually in the Home Office statistical bulletin: "Drug Seizure and Offender Statistics, United Kingdom". Figures are by calendar year. Data for the year 1999 by comparison to 1998 were published in 2001.

The data published in 2001 showed that the number of seizures within the United Kingdom involving class A drugs increased by 4.3 per cent. in 1999, against the target set of 10 per cent. However, subsequent data received by the Home Office after publication indicated that the number of seizures within the United Kingdom involving class A drugs had in fact increased by 7.3 per cent. This revised figure will be published in the next edition of the bulletin for the year 2000, which will be published shortly.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target that all police services should operate face-to-face referral schemes covering all custody suites will be met by March. [47401]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Face-to-face arrest referral schemes were operating in 41 out of 43 police forces as at end February with an estimated 95 per cent. coverage of custody suites by arrest referral workers. These were funded by the Crime Reduction Programme, under the Joint Funding Initiative. All forces will be operating face-to-face arrest referral schemes by the end of April 2002.

Young Offenders (Sentencing)

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of whether the time from arrest of persistent young offenders to their sentencing will be down to 71 days by March. [47408]

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Beverley Hughes: In 1996, dealing with a persistent young offender took an average of 142 days. We have reached our target of halving this to 71 days. In the last two quarters the number of days was 70 and 68 respectively. This shows what can be achieved with good local and national co-ordination and a determined focus on achieving the objective. We will continue our work to ensure that this progress is maintained.

Entertainment Costs

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was spent by Ministers in his Department on food, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks for entertainment purposes in each of the last five years. [47056]

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

Catering Services

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost was of (a) in-house canteen and (b) other catering services provided by his Department in each of the last four years. [38915]

Angela Eagle: The following subsidy costs were paid for the Home Office's main central London buildings for the last four financial years.

Costs for catering subsidy

	£000
2001–02	218
2000–01	229
1999–2000	219
1998–99	161

The costs are expected to reduce to £180,000 in 2002–03.

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