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28 Mar 2003 : Column 454W—continued
Police Numbers
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) full time police officers, (b) special constables and (c) civilian police support staff there were in the Suffolk constabulary in each year since 1997. [104801]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The table gives number of police officers, special constables and civilian support staff in the Suffolk constabulary from 1997 to 2002.
| March | September | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2002 | |
| Police officer strength | 1,180 | 1,186 | 1,190 | 1,145 | 1,133 | 1,203 | 1,228 |
| Special constables | 379 | 397 | 420 | 391 | 349 | 308 | n/a |
| Civilian staff | 522 | 583 | 594 | 600 | 621 | 692 | n/a |
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) uniformed officers and (b) civilian staff there were in each police authority area in the eastern region in each year since 1997; and what the ratio per head of population was in each case. [104814]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The table gives numbers of police officers and civilian staff and the rate per 100,000 population for police forces in the eastern region.
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* These forces have been affected by the boundary changes which took place in April 2000.
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research his Department has undertaken on the density of police officers in the UK per (a) area and (b) head of population; which of these studies contained international comparisons; and if he will make a statement. [104430]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The Home Office produces annually national, statistics on the density of total police officers and constables per head of population.
The latest data available are contained in "Police Service Strength England and Wales, 30 September 2002" Home Office Online Report 23/03. The average number of police officers for England and Wales per 100,000 population (including National Crime Squad (NCS), National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS), and other secondments) was 252.6. Figures for 31 March 2003 will be published in due course.
An international comparison of police officer density per 100,000 population was conducted by the Home Office for the period 2000 (See table.) These data will be updated in future.
| Country | Police Officers per 100,000 population 2000(13),(14) |
|---|---|
| Austria | 330 |
| Belgium | 183 |
| Denmark | 195 |
| England and Wales | 235 |
| Finland | 154 |
| France | 397 |
| Germany | 262 |
| Greece | 426 |
| Ireland | 302 |
| Italy | 169 |
| Luxembourg | 300 |
| Netherlands | 269 |
| Norway | 192 |
| Portugal | 481 |
| Spain | 312 |
| Sweden | 181 |
| Switzerland | 201 |
| Australia | 228 |
| Canada | 184 |
| New Zealand | 185 |
| USA | 238 |
| Japan | 208 |
| Korea | 204 |
| Turkey | 190 |
| India | 134 |
(13) Police officers only, not civilians.
(14) Or nearest available year.
Note:
Direct comparisons of the police service in different jurisdictions can be difficult due to differences in the type of duties carried out by the people included in the total number.
28 Mar 2003 : Column 456W
Prisoners (Self-injury)
Mrs. Helen Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of the prevalence of self-injury in prison. [104216]
Jacqui Smith: I have been asked to reply.
Prison Health and the prison service's safer custody group keep the prevalence of self injury in prison under regular review. The prison service routinely collects statistics from establishments about self-inflicted deaths and self harm. After research had demonstrated a problem with under-reporting of self-harm, a new, simpler and standardised method for recording and reporting such incidents was introduced from 1 December 2002, which, when piloted, had been shown to produce more reliable data. The number of incidents of self-harm reported during the first three months the new form was in operation was 3143.
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS
Abandoned Vehicles
Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to give further help to councils in (a) support and (b) funding to remove abandoned vehicles. [105501]
Mr. Meacher: We will be publishing a consultation document later this spring on reducing the statutory notice periods for vehicles abandoned on private land.
We are providing £2.7 million through the Invest to Save budget to enable local authorities to have free on-line access to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency's (DVLA) vehicles database. This will enable local authority officers to make immediate decisions about the actual status of apparently abandoned vehicles and thus get them cleared away more quickly. To date out of 239 local authorities that have expressed an interest in joining, 57 have been linked to the database.
Local authorities can now take on DVLA's wheelclamping powers to help them tackle unlicensed vehicles. 5 local authorities now use these powers: the
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London Boroughs of Croydon and Newham, Southend-on-Sea, Hastings and Middlesbrough. Liverpool, Luton and Doncaster should be taking on the powers during the 2003–04 financial year. Discussions are currently taking place with 12 other local authorities.
Local authorities will be running more Operation Cubits where all the different enforcement agencies co-operate to deal with vehicles that are unlicensed, abandoned or dangerously or illegally parked. To date more than 6,000 abandoned unlicensed vehicles have been targeted as a result of Operation Cubits with over 4,000 vehicles crushed. More operations are planned.
We are progressing reforms to the vehicle registration system to ensure that in future all vehicles can be traced to the correct keeper. Section 19 and schedule 5 of the Finance Act 2002 cover vehicle registration. They seek to help tackle the blight of abandoned vehicles, reduce vehicle crime, reduce tax evasion and benefit the honest motorist by enabling the Secretary of State for Transport to introduce new licensing legislation which will improve the integrity of the vehicle record.
Further legislation through detailed regulations will be necessary to give full force to the provisions in the Finance Act. A Modernising Vehicle Registration Implementation Board has been established to advise on these matters and consists of representatives of the motor industries, motorists' organisations, the insurance industry and the police, as well as officials. We are also consulting widely among the various interests to ensure that no one is unfairly affected by these measures. The intention is to deal with those who commit crimes or abandon vehicles, not to target honest and law abiding motorists.
DTI, who have the lead in implementing the End-of-Life Vehicles Directive, are transferring £25 million per annum to local authorities under the "New Burdens" arrangements, for the years 2003–04, 2004–05, and 2005–06, to meet additional costs which might be incurred in dealing with abandoned vehicles.
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