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7 Nov 2002 : Column 812W—continued

Bail

Mr. John Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proposals he has to deal with the bailing of prolific offenders especially where there is a history of non-compliance; if he will offer guidance to magistrates in these matters; and if he will make a statement. [77101]

Hilary Benn: The decision on whether to grant bail or remand a defendant in custody is, of course, one for the courts to make, in each case, in line with the statutory framework primarily set out in the Bail Act 1976.

To help the courts to tackle the problems of persistent offending on bail by juveniles, I announced on 16 April 2002 the extension of the existing powers to enable courts to place on secure remand any 12 to 16-year-old where they are of the opinion that the child or young person has a recent history of repeatedly committing imprisonable offences on bail or in local authority accommodation and that it is necessary to remand him into secure accommodation in order to protect the

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public from serious harm or to prevent him committing more imprisonable offences. This came into force nationally on 16 September 2002 after implementation on 22 April 2002 in the 10 street crime areas.

In addition to this, the national implementation of electronic tagging for 12 to 16-year-olds on bail and local authority remand was introduced from 1 June 2002. Tagging will strengthen the powers of the courts by increasing their options for dealing with young people who commit repeated imprisonable offences (such as theft and criminal damage) while on bail.

We also intend to include provision, as soon as parliamentary time allows, to weight the court's discretion against granting bail to a defendant who has been charged with an imprisonable offence committed while on bail for another offence. Once this has been introduced we will provide the courts with guidance on the new provision in the usual way.

Brixton Police

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 11 February, Official Report, column 56W, on Brixton Police, for what reasons staff were absent during the periods in question. [37513]

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

Burglar Alarms

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many false burglar alarm call outs there were in each police force in England and Wales, and what the percentage increase or decrease was in each of the last five years. [37430]

Mr. Denham: The requested information is not available centrally.

Burglary

Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what the clear-up rate by police force was for burglaries in (a) urban, (b) rural and (c) suburban areas in each year since 1979; [78757]

(2) what the average clear-up rate by police force was in each year since 1979. [78756]

Mr. Denham [holding answer 4 November 2002]: Recorded crime and detection statistics are not recorded by whether the crimes are committed in urban, rural or suburban areas. The requested figures for clear-up (detections) rate by police force area for each year since 1979 are given in the table, which has been placed in the Library.

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 also a change in the counting rules for detections on 1 April 1999, the new instructions providing more precise and rigorous criteria for

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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.

The adoption of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) in April 2002, aimed to move the crime counts for the 43 forces of England and Wales onto a more consistent national basis, and to take a more victim-centred approach to crime recording. A small number of forces adopted the principles of the standard prior to April 2002. As a result both recorded crime and detection rates will have been affected for 2001–02. Had this effect not occurred, it has been estimated that the overall detection rate in England and Wales in 2001–02 would have been 24 per cent., the same as the previous year.

Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many burglaries with entry per 10,000 households in (a) 2000–01, (b) 2001–02 and (c) 2002–03 took place in (i) urban and (ii) rural areas of England and Wales; and if he will break them down by region. [78856]

Mr. Denham [holding answer 5 November 2002]: Recorded crime statistics are not recorded by whether the crimes are committed in urban, rural or suburban areas. However, the British Crime Survey (BCS), indicates the percentage of households victims of burglary with entry (once or more) by area type for interviews conducted in the 2001–02 financial year. The BCS estimates that 1.2 per cent. of households in rural areas were victims of burglary with entry (once or more) compared to 2.1 per cent. of those in urban areas.

The latest British Crime Survey produced for the first time, for BCS interviews conducted in 2001–02 estimates of burglary with entry per 10,000 households, and attempted burglary per 10,000 households, by region. Figures were not recorded on this basis before this, and the figures for 2002–03 are not yet available. Regional figures are only given for the BCS due to the variability of specific offence figures at police force level. The figures for 2001–02 BCS interviews are given in the table.

Burglaries recorded by the BCS, by region 2001–02⁽¹⁾Rates

	BCS Figures(2)
Region	Burglary with entry per 10,000 households	Attempted burglary per 10,000 households
North East Region	454	167
North West Region	310	280
Yorkshire and the Humber Region	364	221
East Midlands Region	198	198
West Midlands Region	188	279
East of England Region	188	111
London Region(3)	308	204
South East Region	149	143
South West Region	239	156
Wales	159	76
England and Wales	252	190
England and Wales(4)	243	188

⁽¹⁾ Household data have been revised since publication on 12 July 2002.

⁽²⁾ Regional figures only are given for the BCS due to the variability of specific offence figures at police force area level.

⁽³⁾ The BCS does not identify City of London and Metropolitan areas within the London Region.

⁽⁴⁾ Excluding London Region.

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Care Home Staff

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the estimated waiting times were in each of the last six months for (a) new care home staff, (b) registered care home providers, (c) managers of care homes, (d) foster carers and (e) adoptive parents who apply for a Criminal Records Bureau check. [80031]

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

Category D Prisoners

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Category D prisoners have been transferred from an open to a closed prison for breaching prison regulations in each year since 1997. [77396]

Hilary Benn: The information requested is not routinely collected.

Commission for Racial Equality

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with (a) Ms Beverley Bernard and (b)Mr. Trevor Phillips about the chairmanship of the CRE. [78864]

Mr. Blunkett: The Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) is a public appointment governed by the Nolan rules. Ministerial involvement in the process is limited to making the final appointment from a shortlist of candidates drawn up independently by an advisory panel which includes an independent assessor.

Police Service (Civilian Staff)

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the policy of the Government is in relation to the police service employing civilian staff with (a) spent and (b) unspent convictions. [79617]

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

Columbus House

Mr. Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has for the Home Office leased building at Columbus House on the Langstone Business Park in Newport, South Wales; and if it will be used for residential purposes. [79704]

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

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