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Young Offenders' Diet

Mr. Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent research he has carried out into potential links between the behaviour of people detained in young offenders' institutions and food supplements, food colouring and mineral deficiencies. [55048]

Beverley Hughes: Natural Justice, a registered charity, undertook a research project at Aylesbury young offender institution in 1996–97 to monitor the effects of nutritional supplements on the behaviour of young offenders. The behaviour of the young offenders was measured before and after by looking at the number of minor and Governor reports. The results were independently reviewed by the Home Office's Research, Development and Statistics Directorate (RDSD) who concluded that the results demonstrated a positive effect of nutritional supplements on behaviour. However, the numbers involved were small which made drawing wider conclusions difficult.

Law Enforcement Agencies

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what statutory law enforcement agencies and prosecuting authorities there were within the responsibility of his Department; and what complaints procedure is available for each. [57106]

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Mr. Denham: The Home Office is responsible in England and Wales for the police, the prison service and the national probation directorate. Complaints against the police are dealt with by the Police Complaints Authority; those against the prison service and the national probation directorate by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.

Dangerous Driving

Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures have been introduced by the Government against (a) dangerous drivers and (b) those who consistently offend. [56269]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: We are currently considering the report of a major research study into dangerous driving offences and will decide in due course whether to bring forward proposals for change in the law or its administration.

The Government also produced a consultation paper on road traffic penalties in December 2000 with the purpose of assessing whether the current maximum penalties for road traffic offences remain appropriate. The consultation paper made a number of proposals in respect of dangerous driving including an increase in the maximum penalty from two to five years' imprisonment. We are currently in the final stages of preparing the Government's response to the consultation exercise setting out a final set of recommendations. We expect this to be published in the very near future.

Animal Rights Protests

Martin Linton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made by the (a) Ministerial Committee on Animal Rights Extremism and (b) police unit within the National Crime Squad on violent animal rights protests. [57015]

Mr. Denham: The Ministerial Committee on animal rights extremism has taken a range of measures, including agreeing upon and implementing legislation to allow police to remove intimidatory protesters from outside homes, introducing procedures to prevent disclosure of the home addresses of directors of vulnerable companies, and carrying out a thorough review of the criminal justice system in relation to animal rights cases and identifying improvements where necessary.

The National Crime Squad has undertaken a number of operations which have resulted in the arrest of 70 individuals for a variety of offences relating to animal extremism, and has supported colleagues nationally in the co-ordination of both intelligence and operational activity.

Retail Crime

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much of the money allocated to his Department in the Budget will be used to tackle retail crime. [54569]

Mr. Denham: The additional funding will be used to tackle street crime, as well as for counter terrorism measures, prisons provision and juvenile offenders, related issues. Many of these measures are likely to have a beneficial impact on reducing retail crime.

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Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures his Department is taking to tackle retail crime. [54562]

Mr. Denham: My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary announced on 27 June last year the provision of £15 million over three years from the Capital Modernisation Fund to assist small retailers in deprived areas to improve the security of their businesses. £3 million was available in the 2001–02 financial year, with a further £6 million in both 2002–03 and 2003–04.

This money, which is being spent on schemes identified by Regional Crime Reduction Directors, in conjunction with Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships, is being used to help small retailers to improve security. This is being achieved by employing a variety of interventions, including enhancing the security of individual premises and improving the environment of shopping centres. Nearly 3,000 shops in 114 retail schemes in some of the most deprived areas in England and Wales benefited from first year funds. More shops will be assisted in the next two years.

The Home Office has also supported work undertaken to establish retail crime partnerships by funding a consultant post for the past two years. The consultant has worked closely with the British Retail Consortium to produce a definitive guide on how to establish and run a retail crime partnership and encouraged retailers and other stakeholders in main shopping centre areas to establish partnerships to tackle retail and related crime.

Funding totalling £223,000 was also given to aid retail crime reduction initiatives under various programmes administered by regional crime reduction directors in the financial year ending 31 March 2002 and a further £86,500 is expected to be disbursed through regional crime reduction directors specifically for retail crime reduction initiatives in the current financial year.

Other funding under the Crime Reduction Programme, such as the £170 million for schemes for the installation of closed circuit television, particularly in town centres, will help to reduce shop theft as well as other types of crime. Other initiatives such as the street wardens schemes will also be of benefit to retailers in the areas where they operate.

The Home Office also makes advice available to retailers and crime reduction practitioners on the crime reduction website, including best practice guidance in the "Toolkit" on Business and Retail Crime give website address. Booklets which give crime reduction guidance to retailers have also recently been updated and give advice in a user-friendly postcard format leaflet entitled "Don't Discount Crime".

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to offer funding to local retail crime prevention initiatives in town shopping centres and secondary shopping areas. [54726]

Mr. Denham: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Mr. Lepper) on 14 May 2002, Official Report, column 605W.

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EU Arrest Warrant

Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the proposed EU arrest warrant will apply to extradition requests by military tribunals. [54210]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Our extradition law currently provides that we cannot extradite for offences which are purely military offences and have no equivalent under general criminal law. We intend to replicate that provision in the new law. However, we have always been prepared to extradite in cases where an individual has committed a military offence which has a counterpart under criminal law. It is therefore legally possible under present arrangements, although exceptionally rare, for an extradition partner to seek the return of an individual to appear before a military court.

Under the terms of Article 6 of the Framework Decision on the European Arrest Warrant, it is the responsibility of each member state to designate its issuing judicial authorities. In principle, it would therefore be possible for a European Arrest Warrant to be issued by a military tribunal, although such instances are likely to be rare.

National Criminal Intelligence Service

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if, pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Beaconsfield (Mr. Grieve) of 9 May 2002, Official Report, column 322W, how many and what percentage of financial disclosures were received by the National Criminal Intelligence Service in 2000, broken down by category of source; and what was the average number of financial disclosures for each relevant member of staff at NCIS in that year. [56626]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth [holding answer 15 April 2002]: In 2000, the Economic Crime Branch of the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) received 18,408 suspicious transaction reports from the following sources:

	Number	Percentage
Banks	11,532	62.65
Bureaux/money transfer	2,801	15.21
Building societies	1,756	9.54
Insurance	606	3.29
Solicitors	248	1.35
Gaming/betting	316	1.72
Securities firms	128	0.70
Mortgage	123	0.67
Motor organisation	120	0.65
Independent financial adviser	108	0.59
Accountants	77	0.42
Regulators	64	0.35
Credit cards	44	0.24
Asset management	39	0.21
Auction houses	24	0.13
Cheque cashiers	12	0.07
Estate agent	3	0.02
Company formation	2	0.01
Market and exchange	1	0.01
Others	404	2.19

Due to the varying roles and responsibilities of staff within the Economic Crime Branch, information relating to the average number of financial disclosures for each relevant member of staff for NCIS is not readily available.

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30 members of staff were employed in the Economic Crime Branch in April 2000, but not all would have been dealing with financial disclosures.

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