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Witnesses

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research since 1992 has been conducted into interviews with (a) witnesses and (b) vulnerable witnesses; who conducted the research; and when it was published. [67654]

Hilary Benn: In 1995 the Home Office published a report entitled "Videotaping Children's Evidence: An Evaluation" by Graham Davies, Clare Wilson, Rebecca Mitchell and John Milsom.

It published a further report in 2001 entitled "National Evaluation of the PEACE Investigative Interviewing Course" by Colin Clarke and Rebecca Milne. This covers the interviewing of suspects as well as witnesses and victims of crime. It includes a literature review.

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The Home Office commissioned BMRB, an independent research company, to produce the "Witness Satisfaction Survey 2000" and the "Vulnerable Witness Survey". Both were published in 2001.

Air Weapons

Ms Drown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of armed response team call outs were to (a) air weapons and (b) replica weapons incidents in the last 12 months. [67832]

Mr. Denham: I am advised by the Association of Chief Police Officers that this information could be collected only at disproportionate cost.

Pensions

Mr. Maples: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list, for each police authority in England, the amount spent on pensions in (a) each of the last three years and (b) the current year, and the percentage each figure represents of that authority's total revenue spending in each of those years. [67659]

Mr. Denham: The information is set out in the table. Figures for 2002–03 are not yet available.

Police net pensions costs in England 1999–2000 to 2001–02

	1999–2000 Net pensions		2000–01 Net pensions		2001–02 Net pensions
Police	Costs £000	As a proportion of net expenditure Percentage	Costs £000	As a proportion of net expenditure Percentage	Costs £000	As a proportion of net expenditure Percentage
Avon and Somerset	25,869	14.84	29,290	16.16	31,585	16.65
Bedfordshire	7,595	11.94	8,292	12.48	9,078	12.84
Cambridgeshire	9,255	12.33	10,285	12.98	10,674	12.69
Cheshire	12,539	11.07	12,895	11.25	16,599	13.63
City of London	8,211	14.19	9,052	15.36	9,578	16.05
Cleveland	12,339	14.47	12,993	15.18	13,478	14.85
Cumbria	9,577	14.78	10,361	15.37	10,765	15.25
Derbyshire	11,969	11.34	14,862	13.41	14,473	12.37
Devon and Cornwall	25,008	14.29	25,535	13.96	28,313	14.81
Dorset	11,183	14.53	11,343	14.00	12,728	15.05
Durham	10,070	12.64	10,327	12.04	10,991	12.54
Essex	20,162	12.00	20,853	11.30	25,211	12.94
Gloucestershire	8,808	13.40	9,755	14.20	10,301	14.26
Greater Manchester	59,681	15.92	60,833	15.21	66,792	16.25
Hampshire	22,675	11.48	21,960	10.84	24,537	11.35
Hertfordshire	11,721	11.22	11,854	9.80	12,308	9.51
Humberside	15,189	13.33	16,963	14.15	18,572	14.49
Kent	21,132	11.35	24,134	12.50	26,759	12.94
Lancashire	23,004	12.64	25,753	13.54	28,568	14.35
Leicestershire	12,376	11.54	13,342	12.11	14,706	12.63
Lincolnshire	10,634	15.33	11,821	16.25	12,820	16.86
Merseyside	38,079	15.33	40,246	15.65	43,542	16.43
Metropolitan	215,071	11.70	243,511	13.25	254,767	12.87
Norfolk	10,141	11.63	11,570	12.64	12,354	12.55
North Yorkshire	12,901	16.50	13,657	16.31	14,757	17.19
Northamptonshire	7,425	10.74	8,706	11.91	8,484	10.83
Northumbria	29,508	13.87	31,170	14.27	32,794	14.41
Nottinghamshire	17,847	13.79	18,346	13.66	21,457	15.30
South Yorkshire	18,791	10.68	19,165	10.59	22,805	12.18
Staffordshire	19,796	15.59	18,843	14.84	22,866	17.03
Suffolk	10,479	14.86	10,029	13.54	11,130	14.34
Surrey	10,331	10.32	11,191	9.32	11,605	9.48
Sussex	24,538	14.82	27,578	15.99	29,312	15.94
Thames Valley	20,961	9.23	23,169	9.78	24,971	9.90
Warwickshire	7,983	14.47	9,000	15.25	10,300	16.51
West Mercia	13,603	12.21	16,665	13.26	18,183	13.65
West Midlands	43,192	11.32	46,959	11.89	51,133	12.45
West Yorkshire	40,259	14.07	43,114	14.18	47,066	14.98
Wiltshire	7,776	11.14	8,000	11.11	9,272	12.26
Total	897,678	12.69	973,422	13.26	1,055,634	13.63

Note:

Actual expenditure for 1999–2000, estimates for 2000–01 and 2001–02.

Source:

The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (police statistics)

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Street Crime

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his policy is on requiring the prioritisation of street crime by chief constables; and what statutory power he has to require them to prioritise specified categories of crime. [68022]

Mr. Denham: Finding effective means of tackling street crime is a Government priority following a rapid rise in such offences in recent years (including a 13 per cent. rise in robbery offences in the year up to March 2001). To achieve this, the Government are working jointly with the 10 forces which account for over 80 per cent. of such offences, and who have agreed collectively to make street crime a priority as part of this multi-agency initiative.

Chief Constables

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what statutory power he has to require chief constables to attend meetings with him on crime. [68023]

Mr. Denham: The Secretary of State does not have, nor does he need, a statutory power to have a meeting with a chief constable to discuss any topic. The Secretary of State may, however, require a chief constable to submit a report to him on any matter concerned with the policing of the chief constable's police area under s.44 of the Police Act 1996.

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what statutory power the Government have to require the dismissal of chief constables; and what powers he exercised in respect of the dismissal of the chief constable of Sussex. [68020]

Mr. Denham: Under current provision, a police authority has the powers to call upon its chief constable to retire in the interests of the effectiveness and efficiency of the force. Exercise of that power is subject to the safeguard of requiring the approval of the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State has a reserve power to direct the police authority to take action; where he does so, he is required by statute to appoint an inquiry to consider the circumstances. These powers are contained in sections 11 and 42 respectively of the Police Act 1996, which carried forward powers established under the Police Act 1964.

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The Police Reform Bill, currently before Parliament, contains clauses designed to improve these existing powers, and to make them operate more effectively for all concerned.

The Secretary of State did not exercise his formal powers under the 1996 Act in relation to the chief constable of Sussex.

Crime Reports

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what statutory power the Government have to require the submission of (a) weekly and (b) other reports on specified categories of crime to (i) the Prime Minister, (ii) his Department and (iii) other Ministers. [68021]

Mr. Denham: Although sections 45(1) and 58 of the Police Act 1996 enable the Secretary of State to require a range of information to be provided by chief officers, the use of this power has not been considered. The Street Crime Initiative benefits from the committed participation of the 10 police forces involved.

Work Permits

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many work permits were granted in 2001, broken down by category. [67927]

Beverley Hughes: A total of 117,386 work permit applications were approved in 2001. The table provides a breakdown by category:

Type of permit	Number issued
Business and commercial	105,016
Sports and entertainments	5,532
Training and work experience	6,838
Total	117,386

Chief Constable, Leicestershire

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he last met the Chief Constable of Leicestershire in his official capacity. [68015]

Mr. Denham: I last met the Chief Constable of Leicestershire Constabulary on Monday 28 January 2002 when I visited his force.

15 Jul 2002 : Column 97W

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