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24 Jun 2003 : Column 734W—continued

Emergency Vehicles

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to (a) issue guidance and (b) write to chief constables to advise police forces not to prosecute ambulance and other emergency vehicle drivers for exceeding the speed limits while transporting human tissue and human organs. [120023]

Ms Blears: I am very aware of the current concerns about the legal position of vehicles which exceed the speed limit while transporting human tissue or human organs. I am in discussion on this with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport (Alistair Darling), and will consider in the light of this what guidance or clarification of the law might be necessary.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) ambulance and (b) other emergency vehicle drivers have been prosecuted by police forces for exceeding the speed limit while transporting human (a) tissue and (b) organs in each year since 1984. [120072]

Ms Blears: The requested information is not available centrally.

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Female Prisoners

Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what plans he has to reduce the number of women in prison for non-violent offences; [119980]

(2) what plans he has to reduce re-offending among women released from prison; [119981]

(3) whether it is his policy to reduce the female prison population; [119982]

(4) what assessment has been made of the scope for the awarding of non-custodial sentences for women who are mothers. [120019]

Paul Goggins: The significant increase in the female prison population, and the wider consequences of this in terms of disruption to their families, particularly their children, underlines the importance of responding specifically to the particular needs and characteristics of women offenders.

We are taking forward the Women's Offending Reduction Programme over the next three years in order to promote a more distinct response to the range of factors that have an impact on why women offend, and encourages joint working between departments, agencies and other relevant organisations. A primary focus will be on improving community based interventions that are better tailored to the needs of women, and encouraging greater use of community disposals to ensure that custody is only used for women offenders who really need to be there.

It is, of course, for the courts to decide what sentence is appropriate in individual cases, but we intend to support and encourage greater use of community sentences for women by making sure that there is a comprehensive package of community interventions and services to meet their particular needs, including child care facilities, safe housing, drug treatment or mental health services. We will continue to ensure that the courts are made fully aware of the community options that are available.

We are also introducing new sentencing powers in the Criminal Justice Bill that will allow offenders on short custodial sentences to focus their rehabilitative work in the community, enabling them to maintain family ties and employment. The Criminal Justice Bill will introduce 'Custody minus', under which offenders will have a custodial sentence of under 12 months suspended providing they follow set requirements in the community, breach of which would return them to prison.

There is a new sentence of intermittent custody, under which offenders can spend part of the week in custody and part 'on licence' in the community. One of the pilots for this sentence will be at a women's prison, Her Majesty's Prison Morton Hall. Intermittent Custody will provide an alternative to full-time custody for suitable offenders and will enable them to serve their sentence in a way which dovetails more closely with their personal circumstances.

For women who do need to be held in custody, resettlement is a vital element of the Women's Offending Reduction Programme. More effective re-integration

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into the community for women prisoners on release should have a positive impact on re-offending rates. The implementation of the Women's Estate resettlement strategy will ensure that women are kept as close to home as possible, that good family ties are maintained to minimise the impact on children separated from their mothers, and necessary local community links are made to meet the range of women's resettlement

needs.

Gloucestershire Constabulary

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what the first date since 1 January was on which he received a section 44 authorisation from Gloucestershire Constabulary in relation to RAF Fairford; [119937]

(2) when since 1 January he has confirmed section 44 authorisations submitted by Gloucestershire Constabulary; [119938]

(3) what reasons were given by Gloucestershire Constabulary for each section 44 authorisation. [119939]

Mr. Blunkett: I can confirm that authorisations under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 have been made by Gloucestershire Constabulary and confirmed by Ministers. An authorisation may be given only for the purpose of preventing acts of terrorism. It is a longstanding policy of this and previous administrations not to comment on operational counter-terrorist measures and it would be inappropriate for me to elaborate further.

Home Security

Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proposals he has to assist disadvantaged people in providing for home security in poorer areas; and if he will make a statement on measures to be taken when a home has been repeatedly burgled. [119573]

Ms Blears: Under the Crime Reduction Programme, around 200 of the 250 reducing burglary projects involved some form of target hardening for houses that had been burgled or were otherwise considered vulnerable. The projects were all in areas with high burglary rates, which correlate closely with areas of deprivation. We also provided home security improvements to around 55,000 low income pensioners living in areas with burglary rates above the national average.

The Crime Reduction Programme has now been replaced by the Building Safer Communities fund (BSC). BSC funding is mainly distributed directly to Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships and it is open to individual Partnerships to introduce target hardening for disadvantaged people, if this accords with local priorities and after consultation with the regional Home Office Director. Reducing burglary is a priority for more than four-fifths of Partnerships and many are undertaking target hardening schemes.

The Police Standards Unit has developed a model of best practice and a menu of tactical options for tackling repeat burglary. It includes such things as target hardening, fast-track processing of DNA, watch

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schemes (such as Neighbourhood Watch), installation of CCTV and alarms, high visibility patrolling (from police, community safety officers etc.) and better use of intelligence. It also includes a tool to allow household risks and requirements to be assessed. This is being tested in several forces prior to the results being more widely disseminated.

The results of the British Crime Survey indicate that the risk of burglary is inversely related to the level of household security. Householders can, therefore, reduce their chances of being re-victimised by fitting and properly using good quality door and window locks; fencing and gates; alarms etc.

Immigration

Mr. Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many fast track visas have been granted to non-EU migrants each year since 1997. [120295]

Beverley Hughes: Information on the number of work permits issued on the basis of the Shortage Occupation List (to which the term 'fast track visas' is assumed to refer) is only available from 2000 onwards. The number of such permits issued over this period is as follows:

	Number
2000	24,485
2001	47,654
2002	49,572

Mr. Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many non-EU citizens have been granted work permits in the United Kingdom in each year since 1992. [120296]

Beverley Hughes: The total number of work permit approvals for each year since 1995 (the first year for which information is available) is as follows:

	Number
1995	34,862
1996	38,256
1997	44,958
1998	53,962
1999	60,743
2000	88,651
2001	120,823
2002	136,151

Mr. Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the target number of work permits to be issued was in each year since 1992. [120297]

Beverley Hughes: The Government do not set targets for the number of work permits to be issued. Assumptions are made about the numbers of work permit applications that are expected to be received in order that Work Permits UK can effectively allocate resources to process applications.

Mr. Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many software developers from (a) India, (b) elsewhere in the sub-Indian continent and

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(c) other Asian countries have been granted (i) fast track visas and (ii) ordinary work permits in each year since 1992. [120298]

Beverley Hughes: The numbers of work permits issued to all IT workers from these geographic areas since 2000 (the earliest year for which data on shortage occupations, to which the term 'fast track visas' is assumed to refer, is available) is as follows:

	Shortage occupations	Non-shortage occupations
India
2000	3,950	7,519
2001	9,175	7,839
2002	7,039	10,324
	Rest of Indian sub-Continent(18)
2000	114	103
2001	388	130
2002	453	280
	Other Asian Countries(19)
2000	220	544
2001	499	727
2002	272	774

⁽¹⁸⁾ Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh.

⁽¹⁹⁾ Nepal, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Mongolia, China, Bhutan, Taiwan, Japan, North and South Korea.

Work Permits (UK) is not able to provide distinct figures for software developers.

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