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24 Feb 2003 : Column 100W—continued

Cannabis

Peter Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to receive advice on the medicinal benefits and side-effects of cannabis; and when he will make a decision as to whether, and when, how and to whom, it will be legally available for therapeutic purposes. [97174]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: GW Pharmaceuticals have completed their advanced clinical trials into the development of a medical preparation of a cannabis-based drug and are preparing to submit a dossier of their findings to the Medicines Control Agency (MCA), an agency of the Department of Health, for evaluation in the near future.

This assessment by the MCA is one which all prospective new medicines have to go through and is designed to protect public health.

If approval of the safety, quality and effectiveness of the product is forthcoming, the Government will seek Parliament's agreement to make the necessary changes to the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 to enable the prescription of cannabis-based medicine by doctors to their patients at the earliest opportunity. We recognize how eagerly awaited these changes are and intend to press ahead with them as quickly as possible.

24 Feb 2003 : Column 101W

Child Pornography

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he will take to require credit card companies to remove credit cards from those breaking their contract with such companies by viewing child pornography on the net. [97762]

Hilary Benn: Normally it will not be apparent from the information received by a card issuer that a transaction relates to illegal business. However, within the confines of banking law, where a card issuer is alerted to the fact that an offence has been committed by a cardholder, they will take appropriate action under the terms and conditions applying to the use of its card.

The Government do not at this time consider that removing all credit card, debit card, and other non card based forms of payment facilities from an individual convicted of such an offence is the most cost effective or practical way of combating illegal or child abuse images on line.

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he will take to require internet service providers to monitor their services to prevent viewing of child pornography on the net. [97763]

Hilary Benn: Under European e-commerce legislation, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) may not be held liable for unlawful material that they unknowingly transmit, store or host on behalf of their customers. There is also a requirement not to place general monitoring obligations on intermediary service providers, and as such there will be no legislative requirement for United Kingdom ISP's to undertake monitoring of their services for child pornography.

However, if an ISP is warned of illegal material on a website that they host but fails to take the appropriate action by removing or disabling access to the material in question, they will be liable for prosecution.

With regards to sites which host child pornography, the Government supports the work of the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), an industry funded body which allows anyone to report the presence of images of child abuse anywhere in the world. The Foundation determines whether the reported website carries potentially illegal material and takes steps to have access denied to the site. The Foundation passes details of illegal material to the relevant law enforcement agencies to initiate action against the originators. If the originators are abroad, the Foundation passes the report to sister hotlines abroad and to the National Criminal Intelligence Services (NCIS) who liaise with enforcement agencies of the countries concerned.

The Government continues to seek to revise and improve the mechanisms and processes for the reporting and removing of illegal material hosted on the web, for example through the work of the Home Secretary's Task Force on Child Protection on the Internet.

The taskforce, established in March 2001, involves a partnership of child welfare organisations, the internet industry, government, the police and others working towards finding solutions to make the internet a safer place for children, and in January 2003 launched good

24 Feb 2003 : Column 102W

practice models and guidance for the internet industry on a range of services including web based services dealing with adult content.

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he is taking to require internet service providers to end the use of privacy buttons on e-groups to enable better identification and prosecution of those using child pornography material on the Net. [97764]

Hilary Benn: E-Groups enable a great many people to communicate with others with similar interests conveniently and if necessary privately. It is true that this facility, like any other, can be misused, but to require that all e-groups be open would merely displace, not end, the exchange of indecent images of children, and lessen the scope for perfectly legitimate use.

The Government continues to seek to revise and improve the mechanisms and processes for the reporting and removing of illegal material hosted on the web, in particular through the work of the Home Secretary's Task Force on Child Protection on the Internet, which includes the police, the industry, child protection agencies, MPs and others.

Closed Circuit Television

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his answer of 9 January 2003, Official Report, column 310W, on Crime Reduction Partnerships, if he will list the location of the public area CCTV schemes funded through the Crime Reduction Programme Closed Circuit Television, and the grant made to each scheme. [97262]

Mr. Denham: Under the Crime Reduction Programme CCTV Initiative around £170 million will be spent between 1998 and 2003 funding 684 CCTV schemes. More than 550 of these schemes are already fully operational, with further schemes coming on line weekly.

Lists of the schemes funded, including location and grants made to each scheme can be found on the Crime Reduction website at: www.crimereduction.gov.uk/cctvminisite1.htm.

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his answer of 9 January 2003, Official Report, column 310W, on crime reduction partnerships, how much money has been awarded to (a) each region and (b) each local authority area under the Crime Reduction Programme Closed Circuit Television Initiative. [97572]

Mr. Denham: Under the Crime Reduction Programme CCTV Initiative, around £170 million will be spent between 1998 and 2003 funding 684 CCTV schemes. More than 550 of these schemes are already fully operational, with further schemes coming on line weekly. The regional breakdown of funding is as follows:

East Midlands	17,169,228
London	35,410,898
North East	12,900,238
South East	15,328,266
South West	11,784,260
Wales	7,925,968
West Midlands	14,536,391
Yorkshire and Humberside	20,357,137
East	10,909,827
North West	22,804,606

Lists of the schemes funded, including location and grants made to each scheme and local authority, can be found on the Crime Reduction website at: www.crimereduction.gov.uk/cctvminisite1.htm

24 Feb 2003 : Column 103W

Community Support Officers

Mr. Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the impact of community support officers on the level of crime in the pilot areas. [97005]

Mr. Denham: Twenty seven police forces in England and Wales made successful bids last year for a share of the £19 million fund for the introduction of Community Support Officers (CSOs). Training programmes in each force will see more than 1,000 CSOs patrolling the streets by the end of March this year.

The money given to each police force includes an element for evaluation and forces are due to give us initial findings by the end of September. At this stage, it is premature for any meaningful analysis of their effect although there are already early indications of decreased crime in the areas where CSOs have been deployed.

Coniston Hotel

Mr. Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what permission was granted by NASS to Accommodata to move into the Coniston Hotel on 5 February to begin preparations to receive asylum seekers; [97003]

(2) whether Accommodata has been given permission by NASS to refurbish the Coniston Hotel. [97004]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 10 February 2003]: The contract entered into between The National Asylum Support Service (NASS) and Accommodata is for 111 bedspaces at the hotel. Other accommodation at the hotel, including bedrooms which are not part of the NASS contract, will be available for use by the general public. The owner of the hotel does not need permission from NASS to refurbish his premises. Neither does Accommodata require permission from NASS to undertake work at the hotel.

Conviction Rates

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the conviction rates were for each police force in (a) 1999, (b) 2000 and (c) 2001. [97108]

Mr. Denham: The information requested is contained in the table and relates to the number of defendants found guilty of all offences at all courts expressed as

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a proportion of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts for all offences in each of the years, by police force area.

Conviction rates⁽¹⁷⁾ for all offences, by police force areaEngland and Wales   Percentages

Police force area	1999	2000	2001
Avon and Somerset	71	73	72
Bedfordshire	73	74	69
Cambridgeshire	78	80	79
Cheshire	79	80	81
Cleveland	72	75	76
Cumbria	80	81	79
Derbyshire	77	78	79
Devon and Cornwall	75	76	77
Dorset	77	75	74
Durham	73	74	77
Essex	81	78	78
Gloucestershire	73	74	72
Greater Manchester	76	77	72
Hampshire	77	78	77
Hertfordshire	76	74	74
Humberside .	80	79	79
Kent	78	77	77
Lancashire	72	71	71
Leicestershire	76	76	74
Lincolnshire	79	79	79
London, City of	70	80	84
Merseyside	76	73	73
Metropolitan Police	77	76	74
Norfolk	91	83	75
Northamptonshire	71	72	72
Northumbria	74	76	76
North Yorkshire	75	76	73
Nottinghamshire	73	75	74
South Yorkshire	77	78	77
Staffordshire	78	74	71
Suffolk	77	74	69
Surrey	79	75	75
Sussex	73	73	72
Thames Valley	71	71	72
Warwickshire	80	81	80
West Mercia	75	76	75
West Midlands	66	66	67
West Yorkshire	70	68	64
Wiltshire	78	75	75
Dyfed Powys	73	73	73
Gwent	80	78	77
North Wales	78	79	77
South Wales	72	72	71
England and Wales	74.8	74.7	73.4

⁽¹⁷⁾ Defendants found guilty of all offences at all courts as a percentage of persons proceeded against for all offences at magistrates' courts, as notified to the Home Office

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