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Part-time Employees

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of the staff of his Department are part-time employees. [47155]

Mr. McCartney: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office, on 11 April 2002, Official Report, column 553W.

Hospitalisation (Benefit Downrating)

Mr. Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners have their attendance allowance withdrawn because they have been in hospital for four weeks or longer. [51574]

Maria Eagle: When attendance allowance recipients have been in hospital for 28 days, payments are suspended pending their discharge because the needs arising from their disability are being met free of charge. Information is not available on the annual number of suspensions resulting from these circumstances. The latest available information is that, at 30 November 2001, about 15,600 claims were at that time recorded as suspended as a result of a stay in hospital.

This figure is based on 5 per cent. data and rounded to the nearest hundred.

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HOME DEPARTMENT

European Committee for the Prevention of

Torture

Dr. Vis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will publish the most recent report on the UK by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture. [52141]

Mr. Wills: I have been asked to reply.

Under Article 11 of the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, it is for the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture to publish reports of its visits together with any comments of the state party concerned. Formally, publication is at the request of the state party.

We have made that request and I understand that the report on the Committee's visit to the United Kingdom in February 2001 is now available on the Committee's website www.cpt.coe.int with the UK's observations.

I am placing a copy of the report in the Library.

Emergency Services

Mr. Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much revenue was generated through the sale of radio frequencies used by emergency services. [50508]

Mr. Denham: There has been no sale of radio frequencies used by the emergency services, and therefore no revenue generated by this means.

Mr. Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of the revenue generated by the sale of radio frequencies used by emergency services in the UK has been allocated for reinvestment into the refitting of vehicles and control rooms in the (a) police forces and (b) fire services. [50511]

Mr. Denham: There has been no sale of radio frequencies used by the emergency services in the United Kingdom.

Sex Abuse

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) complaints and (b) items of correspondence have been received by (a) the Home Office, (b) Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, (c) the Police Complaints Authority and (d) the Criminal Cases Review Commission in relation to historical sex abuse investigations in the UK in (i) 1999, (ii) 2000 and (iii) 2001. [49834]

Mr. Denham: The Home Office does not officially record complaints received in writing or over the telephone—these are incorporated in overall correspondence figures. Complaints and correspondence can be individually addressed to policy units. There is no current way of tracking these accurately. Records for 1999 in relation to this question do not exist. The figures compiled for 2000 and 2001 combine both public and ministerial correspondence on the subject of violent crime/sexual offences.

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Figures for the individual areas in each year are shown in the table.

199920002001
Home Office(21)n/a83134
Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC)(22)
Police Complaints Authority(23)616470
Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC)(24)126

(21) Figures are based on correspondence relating to violent crime/sexual offences

(22) The subject nature of HMIC correspondence is not officially recorded, hence no figures exist

(23) Figures are based on correspondence relating to allegations of sexual assault

(24) Figures are based on applications for case review that involved sex abuse in care homes


Criminal Records Bureau

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish the names of organisations which have registered as umbrella bodies with the Criminal Records Bureau. [48758]

Mr. Denham: A list of those registered bodies that have consented to having their details made available for the purpose of countersigning applications on behalf of non-registered organisations is available from the Criminal Records Bureau on request and information is also available on the website www.disclosure.gov.uk.

Mrs. Helen Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he is taking to ensure that smaller voluntary and community organisations can access criminal record checks. [50624]

Mr. Denham: We have been determined that employers and organisations wishing to use the new service provided by the new 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 16 April 2002, 707 bodies had registered with the CRB as umbrella bodies, including 419 which have indicated that they are prepared to act on behalf of others outside their own circle or sector.

Mrs. Helen Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average charge made by umbrella bodies registered with the Criminal Records Bureau for processing applications for disclosure is. [50625]

Mr. Denham: This information is not requested by the Criminal Records Bureau. In guidance for umbrella bodies, the bureau urges that any such charges should be kept to a minimum. Those wishing to use the services of an umbrella body would be well advised to ask whether charges are made and, if so, compare charges.

Offence Statistics

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish the number of recorded offences for (a) begging, (b) breaching an antisocial behaviour order, (c) vagrancy, (d) noise, (e) drunkenness, (f) drunkenness with aggravation, (g) aggravated vehicle

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taking, (h) rowdy and disorderly group behaviour in public and (i) driving while having a breath/urine/blood alcohol concentration in excess of the prescribed limit, broken down by police force area, in each year since 1997. [49787]

Mr. Denham [holding answer 15 April 2002]: With the exception of aggravated vehicle taking, the categories mentioned are not collected centrally, or not collected separately, for recorded crime figures. The details for aggravated vehicle taking are given in the table.

Recorded crime—offences of aggravated vehicle taking by police force area since 1997(25)

Police force1997(26)1998–99(27)1999–2000(27)2000–01(27)
Avon and Somerset61304019
Bedfordshire31536759
Cambridgeshire32100170158
Cheshire126149170141
Cleveland205197165163
Cumbria63128139124
Derbyshire215226225189
Devon and Cornwall138174262269
Dorset124148184206
Durham11811411694
Essex(28)1671112154
Gloucestershire133777164
Greater Manchester6261,1221,1901,312
Hampshire120188229244
Hertfordshire(28)852104142
Humberside270338276276
Kent157191187158
Lancashire220265301318
Leicestershire871198571
Lincolnshire71777344
City of London281010
Merseyside136184251352
Metropolitan police district(28)1,0169831,1001,130
Norfolk38534980
Northamptonshire120161154137
Northumbria158270280316
North Yorkshire761096993
Nottinghamshire761188191
South Yorkshire412394357448
Staffordshire171241174159
Suffolk656782104
Surrey(28)2760131149
Sussex170288318343
Thames Valley203148175171
Warwickshire76505870
West Mercia121242250264
West Midlands299674770850
West Yorkshire8921,029913798
Wiltshire7389128114
Dyfed-Powys90129109110
Gwent140144143140
North Wales109182135151
South Wales589616604574
England and Wales8,03110,09810,41610,759

(25) 1997 is the calendar year, with the other years ending in March.

(26) The number of crimes recorded in that financial year using the coverage and rules in use until 31 March 1998.

(27) The number of crimes recorded in that financial year using the expanded offence coverage and revised counting rules which came into effect on 1 April 1998.

(28) There was a boundary change on 1 April 2000 in which parts of the Metropolitan police area were transferred to Essex, Hertfordshire and Surrey, so that these police force areas followed county boundaries thereafter.


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