---

24 Mar 2003 : Column 22W—continued

Neighbourhood Wardens

19. Mr. Rendel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his estimate is of the number of neighbourhood wardens who will be in place by the end of this financial year. [104125]

Beverley Hughes: There will be about 1,470 wardens in place by the end of the financial year.

Sex Trade

20. Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to allow the victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation to claim asylum after they provide evidence against those responsible for the sex trade in trafficked women and children. [104126]

Hilary Benn: Victims of trafficking can apply for asylum in the United Kingdom in the same way as anyone else. Any such applications should be made as soon as is practicable.

Police Numbers

21. Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on police numbers. [104127]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: By 31 March 2002 (the latest date available) there were 129,603 police-officers in England and Wales, a record number. There were also 58,909 civilian support staff in March 2002, also a record number.

We have set a target of 130,000 police officers by 31 March 2003. We are confident that the target will be exceeded. We have set a further target of 132,500 police officers in 2004.

Sentencing Guidance Council

22. Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will bring forward proposals for a Sentencing Guidelines Council; and if he will make a statement on its likely composition. [104128]

24 Mar 2003 : Column 23W

Hilary Benn: We are continuing to reflect on the issues raised during the Committee Stage of the Criminal Justice Bill in relation to the composition of the Sentencing Guidelines Council. Any changes would, we anticipate, be introduced at Report Stage.

Prison Capacity

23. Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the planned average in-prison capacity is for 2004. [104130]

Hilary Benn: As at 19 March 2003, the planned average useable crowded capacity (operational capacity) is 75,000.

Antisocial Behaviour

Mr. Cawsey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the impact the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 has had on reducing anti-social behaviour. [104124]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The police service and local authorities may carry out directed surveillance under Part II of Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) 2000 for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime or of preventing disorder. However, no assessment has been made of the impact of RIPA on reducing anti-social behaviour.

Appeals

Mr. Pike: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many representations have been received in each year since 1988 regarding right to appeal cases to the Court of Appeal where the sentencing is seen to be unduly lenient; and if he will make a statement. [100208]

The Solicitor-General: Further to my reply of 5 March 2003, the following table shows the number of cases received annually since 1992 (when records began to be kept) by the Law Officers for consideration of a referral to the Court of Appeal as an Unduly Lenient Sentence. The table also shows the number of cases referred by the Law Officers to the Court of Appeal and the number of cases in which the Court increased the sentence.

	Number of cases received by LSLO for unduly lenient sentences	Number of cases sent to the Court of Appeal	Number of cases in which sentence increased
1989	No records available	9	7
1990	No records available	25	17
1991	No records available	26	18
1992	80	37	29
1993	102	30	24
1994	146	50	39
1995	145	77	68
1996	159	68	49
1997	145	70	47
1998	185	95	69
1999	167	89	59
2000	143	67	48
2001	209	90	79
2002	261	112	(5)53

⁽⁵⁾ To date

24 Mar 2003 : Column 24W

Asylum Seekers

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions he has had with the First Minister of Scotland on the UK Government's policy on asylum seekers. [104129]

Beverley Hughes: There have been no recent discussions with the First Minister. However, I have regular quarterly meetings with Scottish Ministers (Anne McGuire, PUSS at Scotland Office and Margaret Curran, Minister for Social Justice) to discuss asylum and immigration matters.

Criminal Justice IT Systems

Mrs. Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will break down the expenditure for modernising the IT systems used by the criminal justice service outlined in the Justice for All White Paper by (a) item, (b) criminal justice system agency and (c) partner; what timetable governs the expenditure; and whether his Department is meeting that timetable. [101930]

Mr. Wills: The Criminal Justice System (CJS) IT spending review for 2002 concluded with ring fenced funding of £834 million new money coupled with £324 million from existing baseline funding. This is intended to provide substantial impetus to reform and modernise the criminal justice system through funding significant new investment in IT. It is important that all criminal justice agencies make progress in a joined-up and consistent way according to common standards, requirements and timetables. A modern and effective IT system that enables secure e-mail, the electronic exchange of case information and case tracking by victims will benefit both users and practitioners.

Officials are currently finalising the CJS IT delivery plan prior to presenting it to Ministers for their approval. Once Ministers have approved this plan we will publish an electronic progress report on the Criminal Justice Information Technology (CJIT) website, http://www.cjit.gov.uk. I will also write to the hon. Member at this time with that information.

This report will include information on the investment profile, the IT that it will buy and the projected benefits that will be delivered. Copies of this report will be laid in the Library.

Emergency Planning

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with fellow Ministers in EU Governments regarding (a) the provision of a rapid reaction civil emergency force within the EU and (b) coordination at the EU level of measures needed to facilitate civil emergency planning. [101596]

Mr. Blunkett: I have had no discussions with Ministers of EU Governments regarding the provision of a rapid reaction civil emergency force within the EU.

There are on-going official level discussions about co-ordination needed to facilitate civil emergency planning in a number of EU working groups.

24 Mar 2003 : Column 25W

Victims' Personal Statements

Ms Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what monitoring is being undertaken of the impact of victims' personal statements on sentencing. [104116]

Hilary Benn: Victim personal statements provide the victims of crime with a formal opportunity to say how they have been affected, and for this to be taken into account by the criminal justice agencies in dealing with the case. The primary purpose of the statement is not to inform sentencing decisions. The implementation and effectiveness of the scheme is being evaluated.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Climate Change Levy

Mr. Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the impact of the climate change levy upon the manufacturing sector. [104145]

Alan Johnson: The climate change levy is an environmental protection measure and is designed to avoid damaging the competitiveness of UK manufacturing. The levy's impact on individual manufacturing businesses will depend on the extent to which they take advantage of the various levy exemptions, the scheme of enhanced capital allowances for energy efficiency, and energy support from the Carbon Trust; and whether their sites qualify for a discount from the levy. Eligible sites in energy intensive industries are receiving an 80 per cent. levy discount where they have committed to challenging energy saving targets in negotiated agreements with the Government.

The Government continue to keep in touch with business on the levy's operation to see how it is changing the way they manage their energy use.

Competitiveness Council

Mr. Hood: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the outcome was of the Competitiveness Council held in Brussels on 3 March; what the Government's stance was on the issues discussed, including its voting record; and if she will make a statement. [101358]

Miss Melanie Johnson: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry represented the UK at the Competitiveness Council 3 March 2003.

Ministers at the Council reached an agreement on the Community Patent. The agreement combines new proposals on jurisdiction and distribution of patent fees with text agreed under the Spanish Presidency on languages and the role of patent offices.

The main elements of the agreement include a unitary jurisdiction enforced by a single panel of the Court of First Instance, in Luxembourg, and a transitional period for enforcement of the patent by national courts to end by 2010 at the latest. On languages member states agreed that the regime for the Community patent should involve translations of the claims part of the patent

24 Mar 2003 : Column 26W

document into all Community languages. They also agreed that the larger part of fee income should be redistributed according to measures of patent activity.

The Presidency invited comments on the Report of the Competitiveness Council's input to the Spring European Council. Among other things, the report stresses the need for increased co-ordination between member states to create the European Research Area (ERA), a true internal market for science and knowledge, through the open method of co-ordination. This should firstly be applied to a number of research-related areas, such as the objective of raising European research spending to 3 per cent. of EU average gross domestic product (GDP), up from the current 1.9 per cent.

The report highlighted the Competitiveness Council role as the 'guardian of competitiveness', ensuring that the effects of all measures taken on the competitiveness of European industry and services are fully taken into account in policy making. Impact assessment was the key to achieving the right balance between the three pillars of sustainable development: economic, social and environmental. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry said that the new Council formation was still building competence and credibility; there was scope for a more ambitious input next year, which should be based on an integrated framework prepared by the High Level Group for Competitiveness and Growth. In particular, this should develop the Council's horizontal role in assessing the work of other Councils for its effects on competitiveness.

There was a public debate on entrepreneurship that allowed member states to emphasise SMEs' crucial role in job creation, growth and innovation in Europe, and the need to better integrate the different policies enhancing entrepreneurship. Several member states, including the UK, mentioned the need to organise information campaigns to improve the image of entrepreneurship, to cut red tape, to improve the access to financing and to public procurement, and to cooperate actively at the regional and local level. The Council adopted conclusions on "The Promotion of Entrepreneurship and Small Firms".

The Commission presented its initiative to simplify the Community's legal acquis. Work will be divided into two stages, the first involving consolidation and codification of legal texts thereby reducing the sheer number of pages of EU law. The second stage begin to reduce legal obligations on economic operators.

Commissioner Busquin presented the Green Paper on European Space Policy. The paper forms the basis of a consultation, to be held from 22 January to 30 May 2003. The Presidency announced that an in-depth discussion on European Space Policy would take place at the next meeting of the Competitiveness Council on 12–13 May 2003.

A progress report by the Commission summarised the state of play of negotiations on the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) nuclear fusion energy research project. A full progress report will be presented at the Competitiveness Council on 12–13 May.

24 Mar 2003 : Column 27W

The Spanish and French delegations underlined the importance of the ITER project. They both confirmed their application to host the ITER facility. A consensus on a draft international agreement to fulfil the ITER, including the site and the cost-sharing scheme between partners, is envisaged for the end of 2003.

The Commission outlined a timetable for their work on the proposed Chemicals Directive. The main elements of this were: an orientation debate to be held in the college before Easter and a five-week internet consultation with business and stakeholders and formal proposals adopted before the summer break. The Commission fully recognised the need to get the right balance between the protection of the environment, jobs and innovation.

The Council reviewed progress on the Directive on takeover bids, presented by the Commission on 2 October 2002. This was followed by an exchange of views. The UK said the Presidency text was a good step towards reaching the necessary level playing field. Commissioner Bolkestein said the Commission would welcome any agreement that goes further than their proposal to achieve a level playing field, provided that it is acceptable both to the Council and to the Parliament.

The Commission introduced its recently adopted proposal for a directive harmonising rules on the enforcement of intellectual property rights, aimed to combat large scale counterfeiting and actions with significant effects on right holders.

Under other business Germany tabled a short paper on implementation of EU directives into national law. Germany suggested that the Commission should consider making a legal assessment as to whether national authorities have correctly implemented EU law when it receives notification of this implementation. The Commission argued that they already do this, when they collate information for the biannual Single Market Scoreboard. They were though willing to engage in further dialogue with Germany to improve systems.

The Portuguese delegation presented to the Council the third "EUREKA meets Asia" event, to be held in Macao in May. The event aims to strengthen the relationship between European and Asian, and particularly Chinese, businesses.

---