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2 Dec 2002 : Column 589W—continued
Police Investigations
Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many investigations in the last year resulted in the police taking no further action; and if he will make a statement. [83682]
Mr. Denham: During 2001–02, 1,291,396 recorded offences were detected by the police of which 199,567 1 (15 per cent.) were detected with no further action by the police. This means that 4 per cent. of all recorded crime is detected in this way. More detailed information on method of detection is published in table 8.02 of XCrime in England and Wales 2001–02". A copy of this publication is available in the Library.
The figures for crimes detected with no further action by the police above exclude those undetected crimes that are not investigated beyond initial reporting.
The current methods of detection are:
- Charge/summons
- Caution
- Taken into consideration; and
- Other (no further action)
The XOther" category are those in which the case is not proceeded with –ie there is no legal sanction against the offender.
- 1 This figure excludes detections for Durham, which are not broken down by method of detection, and thus represent something of an under-estimate.
Police Numbers
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers are attached to each Basic Command Unit in England and Wales. [83674]
Mr. Denham: Information on the number of officers in each Basic Command Unit (BCU) is provided annually (31 March) by each police force to Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary. The tables setting out the position for 31 March 2002 have been placed in the Library.
Policing by each BCU would additionally be supported by officers deployed to other operational roles, such as traffic officers, police support units and dog and mounted sections.
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Police Technology
Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research he has commissioned into the development of less lethal technologies for use by the police. [83681]
Mr. Denham: The Home Office's Police Scientific Development Branch have published two reports, in April 2001 and November 2001, detailing their research into less lethal technologies for the police.
Previous Convictions
Mr. Malins : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the changes his proposals for revealing previous convictions to a jury will make to the law on similar fact evidence. [82084]
Hilary Benn: The Government proposes to place the admissibility of evidence of previous misconduct on a statutory basis in a Criminal Justice Bill, which was introduced in Parliament on 21 November. Our proposals will ensure that all evidence of bad character, including previous convictions, is admissible where it is relevant to a matter at issue in a trial. This will represent a fundamental change to the current law on previous misconduct, including the similar fact rule. There will be a discretion to exclude evidence of bad character if its prejudicial effect exceeds its probative value. However, the proposed scheme will create a clearly inclusionary approach under which relevant bad character evidence will not be excluded unless the court is satisfied that there is good reason to do so.
Our proposals will also offer new protection to witnesses, to guard against unnecessarily wide ranging and humiliating attacks on their character. The current rules offer no such protection.
Prison Deaths
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many inquests into deaths in (a) police and (b) prison custody resulted in a verdict of neglect in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [83683]
Mr. Denham: The Home Office publishes annual statistics of deaths in police custody or otherwise following contact with the police. There have been no inquest verdicts of neglect but a number where neglect has been a contributory factor, which are shown in the table.
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The Prison Service has only been collecting data on neglect riders to inquest verdicts since the beginning of 2001. In that time there have been four inquest verdicts with neglect riders. All four verdicts were returned in 2002, three of them referring to deaths in 2001. This does not include one case of natural causes aggravated by self-neglect.
Prison Hospital Beds
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which prisons do not have (a) in-patient beds and (b) 24 hour nursing care. [83181]
Hilary Benn: Health services in the following prisons are based on primary care and have no in-patient beds or 24 hour nursing care:
- Acklington,
Albany,
Ashwell,
Askham Grange,
Blantyre House,
Blundeston,
Brockhill,
Buckley Hall,
Camp Hill,
Channing's Wood,
Coldingley,
Cookham Wood,
Dover,
Downview,
Drake Hall,
Durham (Female),
East Sutton Park,
Erlestoke,
Everthorpe,
Featherstone,
Ford,
Guy's Marsh,
Haslar,
Haverigg,
Hewell Grange,
Highpoint South,
Hollesley Bay Colony,
Huntercombe,
Kingston,
Kirkham,
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Lancaster,
Latchmere House,
Leyhill,
Lindholme,
Littlehey,
Lowdham Grange,
Maidstone,
Moorland Open (Hatfield),
Morton Hall,
The Mount,
North Sea Camp,
Portland,
Ranby,
Reading,
Rochester,
Send,
Shepton Mallet,
Shrewsbury,
Spring Hill,
Stafford,
Standford Hill,
Stocken,
Sudbury,
Swinfen Hall,
Thorn Cross,
Usk/Prescoed,
The Verne,
Wayland,
Wealstun,
Weare,
Wellingborough,
Werrington,
Whatton,
Wymott.
Prison Nurses
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) nurses and (b) prisoners there are in each prison in the UK; and what the ratio is of nurses to prisoners. [83179]
Hilary Benn: The information available for England and Wales is set out in the table. It relates only to nursing staff or other staff with nursing experience working in prison health care that are employed by the Prison Service. Information about the numbers of prisoners in each establishment in England and Wales is available in the Home Office quarterly publication XPrison Population Brief", a copy of which is on the
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Home Office website at www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/prisons1 .html. Matters concerning Scotland are for the devolved administration to answer. While the
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institutions in Northern Ireland are dissolved, responsibility rests with Ministers in the Northern Ireland Office.
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