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8 Apr 2003 : Column 204W—continued
Command Paper 5778
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many young offenders have participated in family group conferencing since its inception in 1999 as set out in paragraph 2.17 of Command Paper 5778. [106787]
Hilary Benn: Family group conferencing is one of a range of restorative approaches available to Youth Offending Teams to engage young offenders and their families to prevent re-offending. National figures are not available on family group conferencing but, as an example of its local development, in Essex between June 2000 and the end of March 2003, 77 family group conferences have taken place and eight are pending.
Commercial Confidentiality
Rob Marris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance his Department issues to civil servants on how to deal with claims from organisations that the information they provide to the Department is commercially confidential. [105558]
Mr. Blunkett: The issue of the commercial confidentiality of information received from organisations only becomes relevant if the question arises as to whether the information should be disclosed to another party. In such cases, the Home Office will respond in line with guidance on how to deal with commercially confidential information outlined in The Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
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The Code of Practice contains a specific exemption—exemption 13—that protects commercially confidential information from being disclosed. In assessing whether information ought to be withheld under this exemption, officials must determine:
- (1) Whether the disclosure of such information could harm the competitive position of a third party.
(2) Whether the information has been given in confidence, and publicising it would constitute a breach of such confidence.
(3) Whether the disclosure of the information could reasonably be expected to prejudice the Department's competitive position or negotiations, or the effective conduct of commercial or contractual activities.
Community Support Officers
Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions he has had with (a) the Mayor of London and (b) the Metropolitan Police Authority regarding community support officers. [106860]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has recently met with the Metropolitan Police Authority and with the Mayor of London. Community Support Officers were discussed at these meetings.
Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many community support officers are being assigned to the outer London boroughs; and how many (a) have been assigned and (b) are planned to be assigned to the London Borough of Havering. [106867]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The posting of Community Support Officers (CSOs) within the Metropolitan Police District is a matter for the Metropolitan Police Authority and the Commissioner of police of the Metropolis. I have been informed by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) that the CSOs recruited from the first funding round have been assigned to the following boroughs:
| Borough | CSOs |
|---|---|
| Barnet | 8 |
| Brent | 10 |
| Croydon | 10 |
| Ealing | 8 |
| Greenwich | 10 |
| Hackney | 11 |
| Hammersmith | 8 |
| Haringey | 11 |
| Islington | 10 |
| Lewisham | 10 |
| Southwark | 14 |
| Enfield | 9 |
| Camden | 30 |
| Kensington and Chelsea | 30 |
| Lambeth | 21 |
| Westminster | 200 |
| Tower Hamlets | 20 |
| Newham | 40 |
| Heathrow | 40 |
No CSOs have been assigned to Havering.
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Later this month I will be considering the second round of bids for funding CSOs from forces throughout England and Wales including the MPS.
Contractors (Ashfield)
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the financial penalties imposed on the contractor for HMYOI Ashfield exceeded the ceiling of 5 per cent. of annual fees due to the contractor (a) for the financial years (i) 2000–01, (ii) 2001–02 and (b) to date during 2002–03; and if he will make a statement. [106908]
Hilary Benn [holding answer 4 April 2003]: No financial penalties have reached the ceiling of 5 per cent. of the annual fee. The contract does not allow for financial penalties in excess of the 5 per cent. ceiling.
Criminal Justice Bill
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Cardiff, West (Kevin Brennan), of 18 March 2003, Official Report, column 702W, on the Criminal Justice Bill, what research he used to reach his estimates of the numbers of juveniles likely to be affected by the new provisions. [107311]
Hilary Benn: The estimates took account of the numbers of juveniles who are currently sentenced for the offences included in Schedule 12 of the Criminal Justice Bill. Those numbers were taken from Criminal Statistics, England and Wales 2001.
Criminal Offences
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many new criminal offences have been created since May 1997. [107386]
Hilary Benn: Although the Home Office is responsible for scrutinising proposals for new offences, no comprehensive records are kept centrally of all new offences by all government departments. The following information therefore relates only to Home Office measures which have been enacted since 1 May 1997.
The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 created two new offences: breach of anti-social behaviour orders and breach of sex offender orders. It also created nine racially-aggravated offences (amended by the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 to "racially or religiously aggravated offences"), but these are based on existing offences and do not render unlawful behaviour which would otherwise have been lawful. The Data Protection Act 1998 created four new offences.
The Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 created 12 new offences. The Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 created four new offences. The Football (Offences and Disorder) Act 1999 created one new offence.
The Terrorism Act 2000 created 38 new offences. The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 created four new criminal offences. The Football (Disorder) Act
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2000 created two new criminal offence. The Freedom of Information Act 2000 created three new criminal offences.
The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 created 69 new criminal offences. The Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 created three new criminal offences. The Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000 created two new criminal offences.
The Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 created 12 new criminal offences. The Private Security Industry Act 2001 created 10 new offences. The Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 created 19 new offences. The International Criminal Court Act 2001 created two new criminal offences.
The Mobile Telephones (Re-programming) Act 2002 created five new criminal offences. The Nationality Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 created 19 new criminal offences. The Police Reform Act 2002 created 23 new criminal offences. The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 created 28 new criminal offences.
Criminal Records Bureau
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many outstanding (a) standard and (b) enhanced Criminal Records Bureau disclosures there were in each of the last three months; and how many were over (i) three weeks and (ii) six weeks old in each month. [103938]
Hilary Benn [holding answer 20 March 2003]: The information sought by the hon. Member is not available in the format requested. There are no IT procedures at present to differentiate between Standard and Enhanced Disclosures that are outstanding. The following is a breakdown for the last three months which shows the total number of outstanding Disclosures held by the Criminal Records Bureau, and details how many were over three weeks and six weeks old. These figures do not include the applications where applicants have been asked to provide further information.
| Month end | Total outstanding | 3–6 weeks | Over 6 weeks |
|---|---|---|---|
| December 2002 | 152,374 | 28,634 | 71,567 |
| January 2003 | 131,255 | 8,933 | 53,754 |
| February 2003 | 121,335 | 15,696 | 33,651 |
Departmental Catering Services
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost was of (a) in-house canteen and (b) other catering services provided by the Department in 2002. [104268]
Beverley Hughes: In financial year 2002–03 a subsidy of £179,000 was paid for provision of canteen and catering services to the Home Office's main central London estate. This is in line with the reduction in subsidy forecast in the Department's previous answer on 10 April 2002, Official Report, column 348W. The services, including two restaurants and a snack bar, can
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be accessed by all staff within the Home Office group comprising up to 5,000 based in the central London buildings as well as those visiting from elsewhere.
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