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Anti-Semitism
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the recent anti-Semitic attacks on Jews and Jewish property in London. [54221]
Angela Eagle [holding answer 7 May 2002]: The Government condemn all acts of racism, anti-Semitism and religious intolerance. We are fully committed to tackling these manifestations of a vile hatred. That is why we extended the scope of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 to cover religiously as well as racially aggravated offences and why we increased the maximum penalty for inciting racial hatred from two to seven years imprisonment. The investigation of race hate crime is also
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a priority for the police, who work closely with the community and who are treating these recent incidents with the seriousness which they clearly deserve.
Europol
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what steps he plans to take to improve the democratic accountability of Europol; [54667]
- (2) if he will make a statement on the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the democratic control over Europol. [54668]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The Commission's Communication is a welcome contribution to the continuing debate on the democratic accountability of Europol. Under the terms of the Europol convention the Director is accountable to the Europol management board on which the individual member states are represented. The Commission's Communication concludes that the existing controls are not legally insufficient given the limited nature of Europol's powers.
The Government are consulting interested parties and will respond when the matter is next debated within the Council structure.
National Criminal Intelligence Service
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what additional resources are planned to be made available to NCIS for the anticipated increase in money laundering reporting by professionals following the Proceeds of Crime Bill. [53611]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The Home Office made an extra £250,000 available to the National Criminal Intelligence Service in 2000–01 to fund additional staff for the Economic Crime Branch, which handles suspicious transaction reports. The extra funding was increased to £1.8 million last year and will continue this year. The National Criminal Intelligence Service increased the staffing of the branch from 24 in August 2000 to 66 in December 2001, and a further increase of up to 20 staff is planned for 2002–03.
The Home Office and National Criminal Intelligence Service will keep the Service's capacity to deal with suspicious transaction reports under review following commencement of the new money laundering offences in the Proceeds of Crime Bill with a view to ensuring that an effective service is maintained.
The funding referred to above is separate from an additional £1 million which has been provisionally earmarked for 2002–03 for tracking terrorist finances. This will provide funding for a multi-agency unit at the National Criminal Intelligence Service, supported by additional investigative capacity at the Metropolitan Police Service.
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the length of time is before solicitors, accountants and financial advisers who report suspected money laundering to NCIS receiving guidance on how to proceed (a) on average and (b) in the 20 per cent. of cases where NCIS is slowest to give guidance. [53612]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Information is not available in this form. I am informed by the National Criminal Intelligence Service that in all cases where guidance is
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sought about the making of a suspicious transaction report, advice is immediately available by telephone through the help desk within the Economic Crime Branch. When a report is made and identified by the Economic Crime Branch as requiring a prompt law enforcement response, it is processed under a fast track system within 24 hours and forwarded to the relevant law enforcement agency for any necessary action.
We are considering tabling amendments to the Proceeds of Crime Bill in order to introduce time limits within which law enforcement should either give or withhold consent for a financial transaction that has not yet taken place, where it has been reported as suspicious.
Sex Offenders
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) men and (b) women are on the sex offenders register. [53867]
Beverley Hughes: The Sex Offenders Act 1997 requires offenders cautioned for, convicted of, or found not guilty by reason of insanity of an offence specified in schedule 1 to the Act to provide certain details to the police. There is, however, no "register" of sex offenders, as such; nor are sex offenders subject to the requirements of the Act separately identified as such in criminal statistics.
Until recently, data on the number of sex offenders subject to the requirements of the Act were collated biannually on a national basis from the police national computer. However, this arrangement has been overtaken following guidance issued by the Home Office in respect of the provisions in section 67 of the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000. The guidance requires information about the number of sex offenders subject to the Act's requirements in each police area to be published on an annual basis starting in 2002 and local systems are being put in place to deliver this. Until these systems are in place information on the number of sex offenders subject to the Act's requirements could be obtained only by a specific exercise by the particular police force concerned. We have no plans to break down published figures further.
Mr. Wilshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) men and (b) women who are on the Sex Offenders Register reside in (i) Spelthorne and (ii) Surrey. [54326]
Beverley Hughes [holding answer 7 May 2002]: The Sex Offenders Act 1997 requires offenders cautioned for, convicted of, or found not guilty by reason of insanity of an offence specified in schedule 1 to the Act to provide certain details to the police. There is, however, no "register" of sex offenders, as such; nor are sex offenders subject to the requirements of the Act separately identified as such in criminal statistics.
Until recently, data on the number of sex offenders subject to the requirements of the Act were collated biannually on a national basis from the police national computer. However, this arrangement has been overtaken following guidance issued by the Home Office in respect of the provisions in section 67 of the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000. The guidance requires information about the number of sex offenders subject to the Act's requirements in each police area to be published
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on an annual basis starting in 2002 and local systems are being put in place to deliver this. We have no plans to require publication by constituency or to break down published figures further. Until these systems are in place information on the number of sex offenders subject to the Act's requirements could be obtained only by a specific exercise by a particular police force concerned.
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many sex offender orders have been made to date in each police force area in England and Wales; how many have been (a) discharged and (b) breached; and if he will make a statement. [51828]
Beverley Hughes: We have been informed of 96 sex offender orders made by the courts between 1 December 1998, when the provisions were implemented, and 31 December 2001. Figures by police force area are not available for the entire period.
We have been informed of three successful breach prosecutions during 1999 and 21 during 2000, the most recent period for which published data are available. We have a provisional figure of 28 further prosecutions for the first three quarters of 2001. These data are not available broken down by area. Information on discharges of sex offender orders is not routinely collected.
Child Pornography
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the national arrangements are in the gathering of information on children involved in cases of child pornography. [51648]
Beverley Hughes: It is the Government view that every image of child pornography depicts an instance of child abuse. As such, when a child is successfully identified from an image by law enforcement, the relevant local authority will be contacted.
The core interagency child protection guidance: "Working Together to Safeguard Children", sets out the role and responsibilities of agencies and practitioners and how these agencies should work together to promote children's welfare and protect them from abuse. The guidance lays down the procedure to be followed in a case of child abuse form the initial referral of the victim to the local authority right through, where necessary, to registration on the Child Protection Register.
Additionally, the United Kingdom, through National Criminal Intelligent Service, is currently leading the development of an international database of child abuse images, to the held at Interpol. The image database will greatly assist in the identification of victims world wide and will hold all United Kingdom images. The feasibility study supporting the development process will be completed this year.
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