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Robbery

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the most recent estimated annual cost to (a) public funds, (b) private citizens and (c) insurance companies is of robbery. [68790]

Mr. Denham [holding answer 11 July 2002]: The most recent publicly available estimates of annual costs of robbery were published in Home Office Research Study 217 "The Economic and Social Costs of Crime" in December 2000.

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(a) The annual cost to public funds of robbery
The estimated annual cost of robbery to public funds in 1999–2000 is £770 million. This figure includes costs to both the criminal justice system and health services.
(b) The annual cost to private citizens of robbery
The estimated annual cost of robbery to private citizens in 1999–2000 is £1.5 billion. This includes the value of property stolen and the physical impact of the crime on the victim.

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(c) The annual cost to insurance companies of robbery
A rough estimate of the annual insurance administration costs associated with robbery is £19.6 million. Insurance administration costs are harder to estimate than costs to public funds or private citizens.

Mentoring Projects

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the mentoring projects in receipt of grant funding over the next three years. [68793]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 11 July 2002]: The information requested is given in the table.

£

Name of organisation	Amount of grant 2002–03	Amount of grant 2003–04	Amount of grant 2004–05
African Family Support Centre	40,112	46,312	NIL
Age Concern Cambridgeshire	49,999	53,138	NIL
Age Concern Ledbury and District	19,498	20,044	NIL
Big Brothers and Sisters	200,000	200,000	NIL
Bishop Creighton House	24,421	28,604	NIL
Bolton Lads and Girls	57,400	59,398	NIL
Carlisle Mencap	12,028	12,392	NIL
Chance (UK) Ltd	47,089	48,548	NIL
Dines Green Streets Ahead	29,649	30,505	NIL
Enfield Business Education Partnership	21,500	22,800	NIL
Family Service Units	26,117	32,139	NIL
FOCUS	38,712	38,712	NIL
Fun in Action for Children	30,000	40,000	NIL
Home Start Bournemouth	24,500	25,113	NIL
Home Start Nottingham	31,368	32,151	NIL
Home Start Sittingbourne and Sheppey	12,715	13,034	NIL
Home Start Stoke-on-Trent	35,811	37,259	NIL
Home Start Wisbech	28,250	29,500	NIL
Lambeth Wellcare	30,157	31,033	NIL
NECA Services Ltd	50,319	51,384	NIL
Northorpe Hall Trust	35,661	37,490	NIL
One to One Youth Befriending	58,187	60,916	NIL
PACT Community Projects	30,938	31,711	NIL
RAMP- The Renewal Programme	48,435	65,622	NIL
REACH	43,900	46,425	NIL
RPS Rainer	51,413	54,413	NIL
SCOPE (Ref M452)	50,000	50,000	NIL
SCOPE (Ref M384)	44,803	45,982	NIL
Second City, Second Chance	16,125	15,430	NIL
SENSE	16,830	26,775	NIL
Somerset Youth Voluntary Network	45,000	45,000	NIL
SOVA	49,447	49,797	NIL
Swindon Education Business Partnership	27,000	27,000	NIL
Terence Higgins Trust	25,337	26,096	NIL
The Befriending Network	40,000	42,500	NIL
The Kings Cross Project	28,354	29,204	NIL
The Leonard Cheshire Foundation	58,369	59,267	NIL
The London Connection	12,161	NIL	NIL
Those on the Margins of Society	50,000	50,000	NIL
National Mentoring Network(27)	600,000	601,500	NIL

⁽²⁷⁾ (Mentor points) 25 per cent. costs funded by Department for Education and Skills.

Police Recruitment

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects (a) the project establishing national recruitment standards for the police service to be completed and (b) the national recruitment standards to come into effect for all police services in the United Kingdom; and (c) what representations have been made by the Durham Constabulary regarding their eyesight criteria to the project establishing national recruitment standards. [68315]

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Mr. Denham: The information is as follows:

(a) it is the intention to complete the work of the National Recruitment Standards Project during 2003.

(b) national recruitment standards on eligibility criteria and fitness have already been introduced.

New job related medical and eyesight standards are expected by the end of 2002.

A new recruitment application form for the police service is expected to be introduced by January 2003.

A new national assessment and selection process for police recruits is due to be phased in later this year and over 2003.

(c) The Home Office provides guidance to forces on eyesight standards. The present guidance for eyesight is that candidates' unaided vision must be 6/24 or better in either eye and aided vision must be 6/12 or better in either eye, 6/6 or better binocularly. All forces were asked to apply the standards consistently pending the outcome of the research to develop new job-related eyesight standards.

Durham Constabulary informed the Home Office of a pilot scheme which they had run. During this pilot they had lowered their unaided vision to 6/60, provided candidates could achieve a vision of 6/6 with the assistance of contact lenses. This had allowed them to recruit seven additional people. However, in order to co-operate with the Home Office request, the pilot scheme was terminated on 1 August 2001.

Drug Treatment and Testing Orders

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reason the target for the number of referrals to drug treatment through drug treatment and testing orders in 2000–01 was not met. [68784]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth [holding answer 11 July 2002]: Drug Treatment and Testing Orders (DTTOs) were rolled out from October 2000. No formal target for the number of Orders was set for 2000–01. 2001–02 was the first full year of their operation and saw 4,835 DTTOs—over 80 per cent. of our target of approximately 6,000. Some DTTO programmes were affected by local implementation problems, mainly relating to treatment capacity to handle referrals. Arrangements are now in place to ensure any difficulties are closely monitored and dealt with as they arise. Our ability to maintain effective operation is enhanced by the good working arrangements in place with the Department of Health and the National Treatment Agency to address problems quickly. The rate of the upward trend in DTTOs indicates that we should be on track to meet our target of 6,000 Orders in 2002–03.

PSA Targets

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) when he will announce the outcome of his review of the PSA target to reduce the availability of class A drugs by 25 per cent. by 2005 and by 50 per cent. by 2008; [68797]

(2) when the review of the target for the proportion of people under 25 using class A drugs will be completed. [68781]

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Mr. Bob Ainsworth [holding answer 11 July 2002]: The hon. Member for Buckingham has asked two questions about the drugs strategy targets. The reply to each question is the same and I am therefore responding to them together.

The review of drugs strategy targets forms part of the current spending review (SR2002).

Mrs. Zakir Ahmadyar

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will inquire into the case of Mrs. Zakir Ahmadyar to deal with the questions raised in the letter of 27 June, from the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable); and if he will make a statement; [69426]

(2) when he will reply to the letter of 27 June from the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) on Mrs. Zakir Ahmadyar; and if he will make a statement. [69425]

Beverley Hughes: The issues summarised in the hon. Member's letter of 27 June were the subject of communications between the hon. Member and my Private Office between 7 June and 17 June.

My letter to him dated 8 July sought to apologise for those aspects of the handling of this case that were not satisfactory, as well as to explain the reasons for my decision.

I am meeting the hon. Member soon to discuss this matter further.

Speeding Convictions

Mr. David Marshall: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drivers have lost their licence to drive as a result of speeding convictions in each of the last five years. [64213]

Mr. Denham: Information for England and Wales for the years 1996 to 2000 (latest available) is given in the table.

Disqualifications imposed	Number of offences
1996	9,587
1997	10,061
1998	12,215
1999	12,050
2000	11,283

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