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14 Oct 2002 : Column 465W—continued

HOME DEPARTMENT

Female Staff

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of the staff of his Department are women; and what the percentage was in June 1997. [66909]

Beverley Hughes: I refer the hon Member to the reply given to him by my hon Friend, Member for Paisley South (Mr. Alexander) on 5 July 2002, Official Report, column 622W.

Design Champion

Ms Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 14 March 2002, Official Report, column 1223W, on the Design Champion, which two projects the departmental Design Champion is sponsoring. [73639]

Beverley Hughes: My noble Friend Lord Filkin (the Departmental Design Champion) is sponsoring the new Home Office in Marsham Street, Westminster, and is considering the selection of a second project. He will make this known when a decision has been made.

Retail Crime

Dr. Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what assessment he has made of the correlation between retail crime and street crime; [54570]

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Mr. Denham: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend, the Member for Brighton Pavilion (David Lepper) on 23 August 2002, Official Report, column 19W.

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what change there has been in the Partnership Development Fund for crime reduction in the last year. [71218]

Mr. Denham: The Partnership Development Fund aims to build the capacity of Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships to manage the implementation of local projects and strategies to deliver and sustain crime and disorder reduction in their area. The fund enables Crime Reduction Directors located at Government Offices in the Regions and in the National Assembly for Wales to target resources locally. Allocations have been made to Directors totalling #15.54 million in this current financial year.

Street Crime

Mr. Cameron To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement about the responsibilities of Ministers in his Department relating to specific initiatives and in particular police areas in respect of street crime. [65218]

Mr. Denham: As Minister of State for crime reduction, policing and community safety and children and young people, I have specific responsibility for the street crime initiative within the Home Office.

I and nine other Ministers from across Government Departments were asked by my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister (Mr. Blair) in May to act as Xsponsor" Ministers for the 10 police force areas covered by the street crime initiatives. Their role is to work with the

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areas' street crime partnerships to ensure that local systems for dealing with street crime victims and offenders are working effectively.

The 10 street crime sponser Ministers are:


Crime Reduction

Dr. Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what change there has been in the partnership development fund for crime reduction in the last year. [69813]

Mr. Denham: The Partnership Development Fund aims to build the capacity of Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships to manage the implementation of local projects and strategies to deliver and sustain crime and disorder reduction in their area. The fund enables Crime Reduction Directors located at Government Offices in the Regions and in the National Assembly for Wales to target resources locally. An allocation has been made to Directors totalling #15.54 million in this current financial year.

Equipment Leasing

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the equipment leasing arrangements entered into by his Department in each of the last four years; and what the cost is to public funds in each case. [39084]

Beverley Hughes: The Department does not hold detailed information on expenditure for all equipment leasing arrangements. To provide a full answer would incur disproportionate cost, however, the Department's main leasing arrangements are for the supply of photocopiers and fax machines, the majority of which are provided by Canon and Xerox. I am able to provide these details as follows:

#

YearCanon Xerox Total
20001,420,11215,1681,435,280
20011,932,12724,7651,956,892
2002 to date1,531,5179,5411,541,058
Total 4,933,230

Correspondence

Mr. Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he intends to reply to the letter to him dated 30 April from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mrs. Vida Obiri Yebdah Burgess. [68196]

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Beverley Hughes: I refer my right hon. Friend to the answer I provided to him on 15 July 2002, Official Report, column 108W.

Mr Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter to him dated 5 June from the right hon Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Liaqat Ali. [72147]

Mr. Blunkett: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 17 July 2002.

Sir Teddy Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he intends to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Rochford and Southend East of 17 June about Mr. Faut Altunyurt (Ref A 183001). [71350]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 22 July 2002]: I wrote on behalf of my right Hon Friend the Home Secretary to the hon Member on 30 September 2002.

Mr. Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Blackpool, South dated 13 December 2001, ref 925/2. [65619]

Mr. Denham [holding answer 1 July 2002]: I replied to the hon. Member for Blackpool South on 27 September 2002.

Immigration and Nationality Directorate

Anabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in which Scottish newspapers the post of Director-General of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate has been advertised. [68848]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 11 July 2002]: The post of Director General of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate was advertised in the following media:


Odgers Ray and Berndtson, the consultancy service used to administer the campaign, also advertised the post via the Internet.

No newspapers exclusive to Scotland were targeted during this recruitment campaign.

Open Source Software

Brian White: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his policy is towards using open source software; and what percentage is used in his Department. [69316]

Beverley Hughes: The choice of software to meet the business needs of the Home Office now largely rests with its strategic ISIT suppliers who are contracted, largely under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI), to meet business requirements and provide value for money solutions, including the consideration of open source solutions. In the main, the Home Office no longer

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chooses specific software. Within our business requirements the Home Office ensure that any technical choices should meet relevant government software standards and provide for interoperability with our public and business partners. The Home Office supports and will respond where appropriate to Office of Government Commerce competition initiatives which encourage the availability of choice in the software marketplace. The Government's policy for Open Source Software was published in July 2002 and is available at the following web address http://www.govtalk.gov.uk

Current suppliers to the Home Office are not known to extensively use, or have plans for implementing, open source software. None of the major non-PFI delivered projects utilise open source software.

Victims of Crimes

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent representations he has received from the public concerning the position of victims of crimes. [66337]

Hilary Benn: The Home Office receives regular correspondence from victims of crime. Home Office Ministers and officials also have regular contact with Victim Support and other organisations representing victims of crime and take victims' views fully into account when developing policy.

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