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Veterinary Medicines

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what assessment she has made of the Competition Commission's provisional conclusions and hypothetical remedies contained in its inquiry into the pricing of prescription-only medicines; what assessment she has made of the effect of the inquiry's initial proposals on the (a) ability to dispense and (b) profitability of (i) small animal and (ii) large animal veterinary practices; and if she will make a statement; [88722]

(2) when the findings of the Competition Commission's inquiry into the pricing of prescription-only veterinary medicines will be published; and if she will make a statement. [88721]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The Competition Commission's statement of provisional conclusions and hypothetical remedies was made public to inform interested parties in case they wished to make further representations to the Commission in the course of the inquiry. Therefore, it would not have been appropriate for DTI Ministers to make any assessment or statement until after receipt of the final report.

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The Competition Commission's draft final report on the supply of prescription only veterinary medicines was sent to DTI on 8 January 2003. The administrative target is to publish within 10 weeks of receipt.

CHURCH COMMISSIONERS

Register of Interests

Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners if he will place in the Library a copy of the Register of Interests of the Church Commissioners; for what reason the Register of Interests of the Church Commissioners is not (a) available for inspection by the general public, (b) published and (c) available by photocopy on payment of a reasonable fee; and to what Government commitments to openness and freedom of information the Church of England is bound by reason if its establishment. [89655]

Mr. Bell: Although the Commissioners are not bound by the type of Government commitment to which the hon. Gentleman refers, the Board of Governors agreed in May 2000 to establish a members' Code of Conduct and Register of Interests in line with good practice.

This is freely available by appointment to any Member of Parliament, Government official or General Synod member, which reflects the Commissioners' accountability to both bodies.

I will arrange for a copy of it to be placed in the library.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Asylum Seekers

Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the impact upon voluntary organisations in receipt of European Social Fund and other funding sources of the withdrawal of the work concession for asylum-seekers for whom no decision had been made in six months and the consequent loss of grant to voluntary organisations offering services to those groups. [89779R]

Beverley Hughes: Operation of the European Social Fund is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions who has said that there will be no impact on voluntary organisations that have ensured that their European Social Fund projects support only those people eligible to benefit from the fund.

Fast asylum decision making will mean that asylum seekers who receive positive decisions will be able to access the full range of projects very quickly and so the impact on projects aimed at asylum seekers who would previously have been granted permission to work will be minimal.

Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the level of awareness of asylum-seekers and those

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organisations working with them of the learning and volunteering opportunities which are no longer open to them. [89781R]

Beverley Hughes: We are keen to see asylum seekers make a positive use of their time while waiting for their claim for asylum to be assessed. A range of opportunities are available to all asylum seekers regardless of the state of their claim and asylum seekers are also able to contribute to their communities through voluntary work.

Faster decision making will ensure that asylum seekers receiving positive decisions will be able to access a full range of opportunities at a far earlier stage than previously was the case.

Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the potential for (a) underspending on this year's European Social Fund allocation to organisations working with asylum-seekers, (b) capacity to meet agreed ESF targets, and (c) implications for future ESF allocations, following the withdrawal of the work concession for asylum-seekers who do not have a decision after six months. [89785R]

Beverley Hughes: The operation of the European Social Fund (ESF) is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions who has said that, where necessary, allocation to organisations working with asylum seekers will be absorbed by other beneficiaries, and there is not expected to be any change to capacity to meet ESF targets, and there are not expected to be implications for future ESF allocations.

Correspondence

Mr. Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he intends to reply to the letter to him dated 4 November from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr. Imad Osman Ahmid. [89237]

Beverley Hughes: I wrote to my right hon. Friend about this case on 15 January 2003.

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter to the Minister of State from the hon. Member for Colchester of 27th November 2002. [90280]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 13 January 2003]: I wrote to the hon. Member on 13 January 2003.

Domestic Violence

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in how many cases power of arrest has been used in cases involving domestic violence in each UK region in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [88312]

Hilary Benn: Information from the Best Value Performance Indicators for the police service for April 2001—March 2002 on the number of people that have been arrested for domestic violence is as follows.

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Police Force	Domestic violence persons arrested
Avon and Somerset	1,499
Bedfordshire	1,182
Cambridgeshire	N/A
Cheshire	844
City of London	17
Cleveland	1,207
Cumbria	812
Derbyshire	N/A
Devon and Cornwall	2,808
Dorset	615
Durham	1,971
Dyfed-Powys	879
Essex	972
Gloucestershire	N/A
Greater Manchester	4,205
Gwent	401
Hampshire	N/A
Hertfordshire	N/A
Humberside	746
Kent	2,438
Lancashire	2,376
Leicestershire	N/A
Lincolnshire	N/A
Merseyside	N/A
Metropolitan Police	6,265
Norfolk	1,326
Northamptonshire	398
Northumbria	5,663
North Wales	1,889
North Yorkshire	648
Nottinghamshire	N/A
South Wales	2,179
South Yorkshire	N/A
Staffordshire	3,636
Suffolk	19
Surrey	N/A
Sussex	3,313
Thames Valley	583
Warwickshire	N/A
West Mercia	N/A
West Midlands	7,025
West Yorkshire	76
Wiltshire	1,125
England and Wales	57,117

N/A—Figures not available.

Domestic violence itself is not a criminal offence and offenders are charged under a number of different offences (assault, GBH etc). Police forces have to examine individual crime reports in order to identify these crimes, and to identify which resulted in arrests. It is expected that rollout of new IT should enable all forces to produce this data in due course.

Drugs Crime

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of crime in the (a) Twickenham constituency, (b) London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and (c) London in 2001 was deemed to be drug related; and if he will make a statement. [88824]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth [holding answer 13 January 2003]: Recorded crime figures include statistics on drugs offences, such as possession, and on acquisitive crimes, such as burglary, but do not record whether the latter are related to an offender's drug habits.

However, the New English and Welsh Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (NEW-ADAM) research programme, which involves interviewing and drug testing those arrested by the police, confirms a link between drug misuse and crime. The conclusions do not

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relate specifically to Twickenham or Richmond-upon-Thames, although two of the eight sites were in London (Bethnal Green and Hammersmith). Analysis of the data from the first eight sites in the survey, collected during 1999–2000, shows that 65 per cent. of arrestees provided a urine sample that tested positive for one or more illegal drug. The analysis also shows that up to 29 per cent. of arrestees tested positive for opiates (including heroin) and/or cocaine (including crack).

As a guide to the proportion of crime that is drug-related, analysis of the NEW-ADAM self-report data indicates that while only 21 per cent. of non-drug using arrestees reportedhaving previously offended in the past 12 months, this figure rises to 75 per cent. for those arrestees who use heroin and/or cocaine/crack. Moreover, while users of both heroin and cocaine/crack represented just under one quarter of all arrestees interviewed, they were responsible for more than three fifths of all the illegal income reported.

In support of this, 55 per cent. of arrestees who reported using one or more drugs in the last 12 months and committing one or more acquisitive crimes, acknowledged a link between their drug use and their offending behaviour. This proportion rose to 78 per cent. for arrestees who said they had used heroin and cocaine/crack.

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