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5 Jun 2003 : Column 560W—continued
Police
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list those police forces which operate anti-gun crime initiatives similar to Operation Trident in the Metropolitan police; and what funding is available in each case. [109599]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Anti-gun crime initiatives similar to Operation Trident in the Metropolitan police are being run by the following police forces:
- Avon and Somerset
Greater Manchester Police
Nottinghamshire
South Wales
South Yorkshire
Sussex
West Midlands
West Yorkshire
Prisons
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the star system for measuring the performance of prisons was introduced; what criteria it employs; and if he will make a statement. [109521]
Paul Goggins: The Director General of the Prison Service announced the introduction of a performance rating system for establishments in England and Wales on 8 April 2003.
All establishments will be assessed on a performance scale of 1 to 4, with level 4 for a prison delivering exceptionally high performance and level 1 indicating a poor performer. The ratings will be published on the Prison Service website for the first time at the end of June 2003.
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The Director General will make the assessment for public sector establishments, in consultation with Directors and Area Managers.
The Commissioner for Correctional Services will make the assessment for contracted prisons. Assessment will be reviewed quarterly and are based upon a range of factors:
- 1. Finance and performance information using the Prison Service Weighted Scorecard to assess relative performance against key targets.
2. Compliance with Prison Service Standards.
3. Findings from Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons and Boards of Visitors.
4. The views of Prison Service Area Managers and the Prison Service Management Board, allowing for assessment of more subjective factors such as decency and the prison's commitment to delivering change.
Public Service Agreements
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps the Department has taken to publicise its Public Service Agreement targets; and at what cost to public funds. [114448]
Mr. Blunkett: The Department's Public Service Agreement targets were first publicised in the Treasury White Paper "2002 Spending Review: Public Service Agreement Targets 2003—2006" (Cm5571). Since then, the new targets have appeared in a range of Home Office publications (for example, the 'Targets Delivery Report', Cm5754) and on the Department's website. Publicising the Department's targets was not the principal purpose of any of these publications; it had no measurable impact on cost.
Radiocommunications
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many of the Terrestrial Trunk Radio (TETRA) base stations required to provide full national radio coverage (a) have not yet found a site acceptable to landowners, (b) have yet to be subject to a planning application, (c) have been refused planning permission, (d) are proposed to be located in an area with a landscape planning dispensation, (e) are subject to a planning appeal and (f) have been subject to the upholding of a refusal to grant planning approval following an appeal; [114598]
- (2) how many Terrestrial Trunk Radio (TETRA) base stations are required across the country to provide the police with the required national digital radio communications service. [114597]
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Mr. Bob Ainsworth: About 3,000 TETRA base stations will be required to provide the police with an effective radio communications service across the Country. However, the total number of sites required to support the Airwave service has not yet been finalised and it is anticipated that many base stations will use existing facilities and not require new masts.
Acquisition of suitable site facilities is a matter for mm02, the main Airwave service provider. They have indicated to us that they do not maintain statistics on sites not yet found acceptable to landowners. In addition they have yet to start planning procedures for around 1,200 base stations. Owing to uncertainties in the network planning, particularly for Scotland where the roll-out is not due to take place before the last quarter of 2004 figures on the number of sites which have been refused planning permission or that will be located in an area with landscape planning dispensation are not available.
The mm02 have also advised us that the number of pending appeals is currently of the order of 10 and the number of lost appeals in the order of five. These figures compare very favourably with those for mobile phone networks, where the number of controversial sites is expected to be around five per cent of the total.
Stranraer and Cairnryan
Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department to which locations individuals making asylum applications at Stranraer and Cairnryan ports have been removed, and in what numbers, in each year since 1 January 2000. [115829]
Beverley Hughes: From 1 January 2000 to 30 November 2002—179 asylum applications have been made at the Port of Stranraer and Cairnryan. Of these applications three have been granted exceptional leave to remain and 63 have so far been removed.
The remaining cases are outstanding. Of those removed not all have been removed to their country of origin. Some have been removed to the country where they had a previous opportunity to seek asylum.
Sustainable Development
Mr. Horam: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which United Kingom commitments arising from the World Summit on Sustainable Development (a) have been incorporated into the Department's existing delivery plan for Service Delivery Agreements and (b) will be incorporated in its delivery plan for Service Delivery Agreement in advance of the 2004 Spending Review. [113876]
Mr. Blunkett: The Home Office does not have a lead or a contributory responsibility for any of the main United Kingdom commitments arising from the World Summit on Sustainable Development. We will continue to monitor developments and be prepared to contribute should it become appropriate to do so.
The Department does contribute towards sustainable development through the objectives and targets set by the Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate. The Framework covers issues such as the implementation of environmental management
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systems, transport emission reductions, water consumption, energy management, waste minimisation, sustainable procurement, biodiversity and estate management.
In common with the Department's other support activities, these are not incorporated in the Service Delivery Agreement (Cm 5754) which addresses activities to deliver the Department's Public Service Agreement targets, which were published in July 2002.
TRANSPORT
Vehicle Licences
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will estimate how many vehicle owners do not have a licence for their vehicle; what his estimate is of the loss of revenue for the last financial year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [116317]
Mr. Jamieson: The National Roadside Survey of vehicle excise duty (VED) evasion held in June 2002 showed that there were approximately 1.75 million vehicles evading VED. There are currently over 30 million licensed vehicles.
The survey indicated the level of evasion as 4.5 per cent. of revenue due which equates to £193 million in 2002–03. This was offset by £110 million in fines, penalties and relicensing revenue recovered through enforcement activities, which brought 819,000 offenders to book.
A range of measures were announced on 22 May to modernise the vehicle registration system. These are designed to improve the accuracy of the vehicle register, help local authorities tackle abandoned vehicles, and reduce vehicle crime as well and reduce VED evasion.
We intend to bring forward secondary legislation to implement powers taken in the 2002 Finance Act to ensure that from 1 January 2004 the registered keeper of a vehicle will be liable for licensing the vehicle until it is notified as sold, scrapped, stolen or exported, or unless a current Statutory Off-Road Notification has been declared to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).
Under the same powers we will bring forward secondary legislation to provide for a new automatic fixed penalty for those who fail to re-license (tax) on time.
The new measures aim to provide greater protection to honest motorists.
- Motorists will be legally responsible at all times for re-licensing (taxing) their vehicle.
Those who fail to re-license on time will be liable for a standard penalty of £80. Determined offenders could face a severe fine if taken to court. If the vehicle remains unlicensed, then following the provisions of the Finance Act 2002, DVLA may prosecute and a court may fine the registered keeper of an unlicensed
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- vehicle a minimum of £1,000 and a maximum of up to 10 times the annual rate of duty. For an HGV this could be up to £25,850.
Offenders will be penalised automatically when their tax-disc expires or Statutory Off-Road Notification lapses.
The level of the standard penalty will be subject to public consultation later this year.
- The DVLA will increase and re-focus its enforcement activities. It will give particular attention to enforcement from the record and increased co-operation with the police.
Already, from 1 February 2003, vehicles can only be licensed (taxed) with a valid V5 vehicle registration document (logbook) or VI1 reminder, to ensure that every vehicle has a traceable keeper.
The DVLA will be issuing new-format vehicle registration documents (logbooks) to all law-abiding and, by definition, traceable vehicle keepers from January 2004. All previous vehicle registration documents will be invalid from 31 March 2005.
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