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7 Nov 2002 : Column 806W—continued

Prison-building Programme

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his Department's proposed spending plans on new prison building in 2003–04. [78627]

Hilary Benn: I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library.

Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he will take to ensure that the contractors in the expanded prison building programme comply with Government requirements regarding the use of timber from legal and sustainable sources; and if he will make a statement. [77672]

Hilary Benn: I will write to my hon. Friend and place a copy of my letter in the Library.

Racial Equality (Sikhs)

Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when his Department will have in place means to monitor Sikhs separately with respect to (a) employment and (b) the provision of public services. [80370]

Beverley Hughes: We have no plans to do this,

Mr. Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will amend the statutory Code of Practice on the Duty to Promote Race Equality so that it requires public authorities to monitor Sikhs separately. [78213]

Beverley Hughes: Some Sikh organisations have argued that Sikhs should be monitored as a separate ethnic group rather than subsumed in one of the generic monitoring categories used in the 2001 census. The fact that case law has established Sikhs as an ethnic group for the purposes of the Race Relations Act does not, of itself, justify different treatment from the many other ethnic and racial groups in the United Kingdom. Therefore, we do not intend to amend the statutory Code of Practice.

The statutory Code of Practice is not prescriptive about the form of ethnic monitoring. Rather it encourages authorities to use the same ethnic classification system as used in the 2001 census, or categories that match them very closely. However the statutory Code also recognises that authorities may choose to collect more detailed information to reflect local circumstances. Public authorities with significant Sikh populations in their area may opt to do this. Helpfully, demographic information about British Sikhs will be available for the first time from the results of the religious identity question in the 2001 census due to be published next February.

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Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many public authorities are monitoring Sikhs as a separate ethnic group following the issue of the statutory Code of Practice on the Duty to Promote Race Equality. [80372]

Beverley Hughes: I will write to the hon Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library.

Sentencing

Dr. Francis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the Government's policy on consistency of approach to sentencing; [78689]

(2)when he will implement the provisions in the Crime Sentences Act 1997 regarding (a) the imposition of curfew orders, (b) community punishment orders and (c) driving disqualifications for fine defaulters. [78682]

Hilary Benn: I will write to my hon. Friend and place a copy of my letter in the Library.

Sentencing Powers

Dr. Francis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which magistrates' powers will be increased to allow their sentencing powers to be raised (a) to 12 months and (b) subsequently to 18 months as indicated in the White Paper, Justice for All. [78687]

Hilary Benn: I will write to my hon. Friend and place a copy of my letter in the Library.

Terrorism

Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what research he has taken into the threat to departmental computer systems from e-terrorist attack; [78977]

(2) what assessment he has made of the threat to e-government from e-terrorist attack. [78976]

(3) what assessments she has made of the threat to UK business from e-terrorist attack. [78975]

Mr. Blunkett: The threat from terrorists to the Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), in Government and the private sector, is growing but unpredictable. While there is always the possibility of a low level attack (eg, website defacements or narrowly targeted denial of service attacks) we think the current likelihood of a successful major damaging attack against United Kingdom interests is low. However, we keep the situation under constant review, a task which lies with the National Infrastructure Security Co-ordination Centre (NISCC) (see www.niscc.gov.uk). Although focused on CNI institutions, other systems administrators may like to look at the advice and information available through the NISCC website, and also at the linked Unified Incident Reporting and Alert Scheme, www.uniras.gov.uk which contains information on best practice, new vulnerabilities and mitigating actions. www.dti.gov.uk also contains useful information on information security.

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what request for assistance he has received from the FBI concerning the links of a UK

7 Nov 2002 : Column 808W

Moslem cleric with James Ujaama, currently under arrest and indicted in Portland, Oregon concerning an alleged terrorist training camp. [79526]

Mr. Blunkett: I will write to my hon. Friend and place a copy of my letter in the Library.

Ageism

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what strategies his Department has to ensure that there is no ageism in recruitment and retention processes. [79287]

Hilary Benn: The Home Office has made a commitment to provide staff of all ages and backgrounds with opportunities to maximise their skills and achieve their potential. This is incorporated into our employment policy on discrimination and is set out in equal opportunities statement which was revised and updated in March 2002.

The Department continues to monitor recruitment, selection and appraisal statistics to ensure that neither age discrimination nor any other form of discrimination is taking place.

Following a comprehensive review of the Department's age retirement policy, all Home Office staff below the Senior Civil Service now have the option to retire at any point between the ages of 60 and 65.

This move was reflected in the Department's recruitment policy. The Home Office will consider job applications from people up to age 64, subject to their meeting normal standards of health. Provided that there is an expectation of a reasonable period of employment and a return on the investment in recruitment and training, the primary criterion for selection will be the ability of the candidate to carry out the duties of the vacant post. In making these various changes, the Home Office is implementing the recommendations of the Performance and Innovation Unit report XWinning the Generation Game".

Separate arrangements apply to Her Majesty's Prison Service who have conducted their own review to tackle age discrimination.

Air Support (Surrey Police)

Mr. Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will grant the application by Surrey police authority for funding to assist with the purchase of a new EC135 helicopter for use in policing in the county. [79911]

Mr. Denham: Surrey police authority has submitted an application for funding to assist in the purchase of a new police role-equipped helicopter. This application has been made under the guidelines for the allocation of Home Office capital funding for police air support (2003–04).

A number of police forces have submitted applications for funding in 2003–04 for air support purposes and a decision on the allocation of the available funding will be announced in the new year.

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Antisocial Behaviour Orders

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many anti-social behaviour orders have been made in each local authority area in England since May 1997; how many of these orders have been broken by the offender; and what average prison term has resulted from such breaches of ASBOs. [56239]

Mr. Denham: I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library.

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many anti-social behaviour orders and acceptable behaviour contracts have been issued, broken down by police authority area in England and Wales. [76257]

Mr. Denham: I will write to my hon. Friend and place a copy of my letter in the Library.

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many anti-social behaviour orders have been issued in (a) Hampshire and (b) Portsmouth South in the last six months; and if he will make a statement. [76502]

Mr. Denham: I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library.

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many anti-social behaviour orders have been issued since their introduction, broken down by local authority area; and if he will make a statement. [79592]

Mr. Denham: I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library.

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