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27 Jan 2003 : Column 699W—continued
Deportations
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were deported last year having served a custodial sentence in a UK prison. [92619]
Beverley Hughes: 634 persons were deported during 2002 on completion of a custodial sentence.
DNA Data
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what DNA data are held on people with criminal convictions; and if he will make a statement. [91155]
Mr. Denham: The DNA profile of people with criminal convictions is held on the National DNA database. The profile is derived from a sample taken by the police from the offender. A part of the original sample is also preserved for possible use in the future. This is to enable the profile to be upgraded if necessary in the light of advances in DNA technology and for quality assurance purposes.
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Domestic Violence
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he intends to consult on guidance to police authorities on dealing with perpetrators of domestic violence by police officers. [86422]
Mr. Denham: Work is continuing to produce guidance on dealing with perpetrators of domestic violence within police ranks. Consultation will take place with relevant bodies later this month, and guidance issued in spring. Work is also being done to ensure that police discipline procedures complement the guidance when it is issued.
Drug Treatment Testing Orders
Mr. Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what proportion of drug treatment testing orders in (a) Tunbridge Wells and (b) Kent have been breached; [92105]
- (2) how many drug treatment and testing orders have been made in (a) Tunbridge Wells and (b) Kent; [92107]
(3) what proportion of those given drug treatment testing orders in (a) Tunbridge Wells and (b) Kent have subsequently reoffended; [92106]
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(4) what estimate he has made of the cost of drug treatment testing orders in (a) Tunbridge Wells and (b) Kent. [92104]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: No unit cost information is available for the specific costs of drug treatment and testing orders (DTTO) in Kent and Tunbridge Wells. The assessed national average unit cost of a DTTO is £6,000, of which £2,400 is retained by the probation service to cover supervision, enforcement and other related costs. The balance of £3,600 per order is transferred to the Department of Health pooled treatment budget to cover treatment and related costs.
234 orders have been commenced in Kent since the national roll-out of DTTOs in October 2000. Kent probation area has been set a target of 160 DTTOs in the current year and 86 orders have been made to 30 November 2002 including six orders in Tunbridge Wells.
It is increasingly the practice of the courts when considering a breach of an order, to allow the DTTO to continue where good progress has otherwise been shown. Information is collected centrally on the total number of breach actions initiated but is not available in a form which allows the incidence of breaches to be linked to an individual order.
Since national roll-out in October 2000, Kent probation has initiated breach action which resulted in the revocation of 121 orders: 91 for failure to comply, and 30 following a conviction for another offence. However, some of these offences were committed before the order began. Results from local intelligence sources, including the police, suggest that the volume of offending for this chaotic group of offenders is reduced and maintained over time for those responding to their treatment.
Mr. Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of each type of crime in (a) Tunbridge Wells and (b) Kent in each of the past five years was deemed to be drug-related. [92116]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: 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, although the conclusions do not relate specifically to Kent. 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 reported having 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
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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.
Drug-related Offences (Durham)
Mr. Cummings: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions there were for drug-related offences in the Peterlee sub division of the Durham police in (a) 2001 and (b) 2002; and if he will make a statement. [91609]
Mr. Denham: The available information relating to illegal drugs, is given in the table.
| Easington petty sessional area | |
|---|---|
| Possession of a controlled drug | |
| 1999 | 21 |
| 2000 | 61 |
| 2001 | 118 |
| Dealing in a controlled drug(58) | |
| 1999 | 21 |
| 2000 | 61 |
| 2001 | 32 |
(57) Persons for whom these offences were the principal offence for which they were dealt with.
(58) Includes offences of importation/exportation, production, supplying, possession with intent to supply etc.
The number of arrests within the Peterlee sub division of Durham constabulary are not available centrally. The 'use' of illegal drugs is not an offence.
Statistics for 2002 will be available in the autumn. 2001 Criminal statistics is available on the Stationary Office website (http:www.homeoffice.gov.uk.rds. pdfs2hosb402.pdf), and copies are available in the Library.
Examining Officers' Powers
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his answer of 19 December 2002, Official Report, column 987W, on examining officers' powers, when he will respond to Lord Carlile of Berriew QC on the issue raised in his report on the operation in 2001 of the Terrorism Act 2000; when he will report his response to the House; and if he will make a statement. [92360]
Mr. Blunkett [holding answer 21 January 2003]: I will be giving my full consideration to all of these proposals, including examining officers' powers, and I will be responding to Lord Carlile on the issues raised imminently. I will, of course, report my response to the House.
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Firearms
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions have been recorded in each of the last three years for (i) carrying a loaded firearm in a public place, (ii) acquiring a firearm under the age of 17, (iii) a person under 14 possessing an airgun or ammunition, (iv) a person under 17 having an air weapon in a public place, (v) a person under 14 making improper use of an airgun when under supervision, (vi) supplying an air weapon to a person under 14, (vii) discharging a firearm
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within 50 feet of the centre of a highway, and (viii) an adult supervisor of a person under 14 making improper use of an airgun. [92267]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The information contained in the table gives the number of defendants proceeded against and convicted of the various firearms offences requested, in England and Wales, 1999 to 2001, apart from 'discharging a firearm within 50 feet of a highway', which is not separately identifiable on the Home Office Court Proceedings database.
Statistics for 2002 will be published in the autumn.
| 1999 | 2000(60) | 2001 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Offence description | Statute | Proceeded against | Convicted | Proceeded against | Convicted | Proceeded against | Convicted | ||
| (See footnote (3) for definition of Firearm Groups) | |||||||||
| Carrying a loaded firearm in a public place | |||||||||
| Carrying loaded firearm in public place etc.(Group I). | Firearms Act 1968 sec. 19 amended by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 sec. 157 sch. 8 part III | 81 | 63 | 71 | 49 | 66 | 52 | ||
| Carrying loaded firearm in public place etc. (Group II). | Ibid. | 25 | 21 | 22 | 17 | 22 | 13 | ||
| Carrying loaded firearm in public place etc.(Group III). | Ibid. | 237 | 176 | 213 | 170 | 241 | 180 | ||
| Total | 343 | 260 | 306 | 236 | 329 | 245 | |||
| Acquiring a firearm under the age of 17 | |||||||||
| Person under 17 acquiring firearm (Group I) | Firearms Act 1968 section 22(1). | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ||
| Person under 17 acquiring firearm (Group II) | Ibid. | 1 | 1 | — | — | 1 | — | ||
| Person under 17 acquiring firearm (Group III) | Ibid. | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | ||
| Total | 7 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | |||
| Person under 14 having with him an air weapon or ammunition therefore, (Group III). | Firearms Act 1968 section 22(4) | 13 | 12 | 21 | 16 | 12 | 3 | ||
| Person under 17 having with him an air weapon in a public place, (Group III) | Firearms Act 1968 section 22(5) | 68 | 54 | 66 | 52 | 66 | 46 | ||
| Person under 14 making improper use of air weapon when under supervision, (Group III) | Firearms Act 1968 section 23(1)(a) | — | — | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Supplying air weapon to person under 14, (Group III) | Firearms Act1968, sec. 24(4) | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ||
| Person supervising person under 14, permitting improper use of air weapon, (Group III) | Firearms Act 1968 section23(1)(b) | — | — | 2 | 2 | — | — | ||
(59) These data are on the principal offence basis.
(60) Staffordshire Police Force were only able to submit sample data for persons proceeded against and convicted in the magistrates courts for the year 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robust enough at a detailed level and have been excluded from the table.
(61) For the purposes of recording offences, firearms are divided into three groups as below:
Group I—All firearms etc. other than those described in Groups II and III.
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