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ASBOs

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many ASBOs have been made in Surrey in each of the last 12 months. [68624]

Mr. Denham: Anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) were introduced from 1 April 1999. The data given in the table show the number of ASBOs reported to the Home Office up to the end of December 2001 (latest available).

Number of anti-social behaviour orders issued within Surrey from 1 April 1999 to 31 December 2001.

1 April 1999– 31 December 2000(11)1 January 2001– 31 December 2001Total
224

(11) From 1 April 1999 to 31 May 2000 information collected on the total number of ASBOs issued by police force area only.

We are currently considering whether any further checks are needed to ensure the accuracy of the number reported.


12 Jul 2002 : Column 1249W

Pension Schemes

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the proportion of the rise in Government liabilities resulting from unfunded parts of the police and fire pension scheme in the last five years due to (a) wage inflation, (b) longevity, (c) extension of the rights of part-time workers and (d) other factors; and if he will make a statement. [67025]

Mr. Denham: In relation to the police pension scheme, which is unfunded, I refer the hon. Member to the answer of 1 July 2002 given by myself to the hon. Member for Isle of Wight (Andrew Turner), Official Report, column 186W. There is no baseline at present by which to measure the increase in liabilities, but the main driving factors are price inflation, and real earnings growth for current employees and new pensioners.

Matters relating to firefighters' pensions are for my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister.

ID Cards

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to introduce ID cards; at what estimated cost; and if he will make a statement. [67203]

Beverley Hughes: My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary made a statement to the House on 3 July 2002, announcing the publication of a consultation paper on Entitlement Cards and Identity Fraud. The consultation period will last until 10 January 2003. The Government have made it clear that the introduction of an entitlement card would be a major step and that it would not proceed without consulting widely and considering all the views expressed very carefully.

The paper includes a number of estimates of what a scheme would cost, depending on the sophistication of the card. A reasonable estimate would be that a scheme would cost around £1.5 billion over a 13 year period covering the three years it would take to set up the necessary Information Technology systems and the 10 year period for which the first cards would be valid.

This would include much more stringent identity checks than currently apply for passports and driving licences in response to increased levels of fraudulent applications.

It would also include the costs of using biometric information (fingerprints or iris images) which would uniquely link the card holder with a card.

This estimate does not include any savings to Government through more efficient administration and reductions in fraud. The paper also sets out how the costs might be recovered through increases in fees for driving licences and passports and charging a fee for entitlement cards issued to those who did not qualify for or who did not want to apply for a card in the form of a photocard driving licence or passport card. It would not be the Government's intention to use funds allocated for investment in public services for a card scheme.

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Brixton Cannabis Experiment

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the objectives and criteria for success were of the Brixton experiment on policing cannabis use. [67191]

Mr. Ainsworth: The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis informs me that the key objective for the Lambeth cannabis pilot study was to allow police officers to devote more time to deal with serious crimes by reducing the amount of time they spent at the police station completing the necessary paperwork associated with persons arrested for the possession of cannabis.

During the initial pilot period, a total of 13:50 hours were saved.

Over the period of the pilot there was a 10 per cent. increase in arrests for Class A dealings, and a 44 per cent. increase in arrests for dealing crack.

Police

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people died in police custody in 2001. [68017]

Mr. Denham: Sixty-four people died in police custody or otherwise following contact with the police during 2001. Two of these deaths occurred in police stations.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will estimate the overall crime detection rate for each police force in England in each year from 1990–91 to 2001–02; if he will rank each force in order of highest to lowest detection rate for the latest year for which information is available; and if he will make a statement. [66883]

Mr. Denham: Details for the calendar years 1990 to 1997, and financial years thereafter, were published in table 2.11 of "Criminal Statistics England and Wales 2000", and are given in the table.

There was a change in counting rules for recorded crime on 1 April 1998, which increased the total number of crimes counted in each police force area, and therefore may have affected the detection rate. Detection rates after this date are therefore not directly comparable with previous years.

There was a change in the counting rules for detections on 1 April 1999, the new instructions providing more precise and rigorous criteria for securing a detection, with the underlying emphasis on the successful result of a police investigation. For example, detections obtained by the interview of a convicted prisoner were no longer included. Numbers of detections before and after this date are therefore not directly comparable.

As different police forces have different crime mixes, comparing overall detection rates between forces is of limited value. This is because different types of crime tend to have different detection rates, and so a police force with which has a higher proportion of types of crime with high detection rates will tend to have a higher overall detection rate. Also, police forces may give priority to tackling particular types of crime, with the detection rate of those crimes having some effect on the force's overall detection rate.

England and Wales 1990–2000/01 Percentages

Police force area199019911992199319941995199619971997–8(12)1998–9(13)1999–2000(14)2000–01(14)
Suffolk413739373534333739413635
Devon and Cornwall322918252727303234363534
Cumbria434037383740364041443934
Durham343030303230303130333234
Northamptonshire353130273128343535333333
Gloucestershire333524202427232426313131
Northumbria403517202223242626303131
North Yorkshire403633302523252626333130
Wiltshire444037353632293232383330
Cheshire504129263031343634373130
Hampshire322826262728283030353229
West Midlands363127272524232425302728
Leicestershire362930283029313434343028
Surrey(15)272322203031293335403228
Merseyside444542393327293131312628
Kent252327252926323131343328
Bedfordshire191920212222333535332527
West Mercia463534292928262827342927
London, City of212020222723272628333227
Lancashire444037353334332929342927
Essex(15)293229323633292728293026
Norfolk373734283431323736373026
Derbyshire322822212120212526312826
South Yorkshire443626202424232932322525
Dorset354132333028272930312625
Lincolnshire434639373239424846402825
Cambridgeshire383627252519242728292524
Hertfordshire(15)303326212428303233342724
Sussex262323242428292626252523
Staffordshire393730293132343534322223
West Yorkshire342825182021242727272523
Warwickshire292423212425242729262222
Thames Valley262219212223252425252022
Greater Manchester323635343424172020252322
Avon and Somerset292417172123242626242222
Cleveland253332271925242523232221
Humberside373223161719202021221921
Nottinghamshire352726292823282826252120
Metropolitan Police(15)171716172325232625221615
England312925252626262828282424

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

(13) 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.

(14) Revised detections guidance was implemented on 1 April 1999. The new instructions provide more precise and rigorous criteria for recording a detection, with the underlying emphasis on the successful result of a police investigation.

(15) On 1.4.2000, parts of the Metropolitan police area were transferred to Surrey, Essex and Hertfordshire. This may have had an effect on detection rates in those areas.


12 Jul 2002 : Column 1251W


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