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30 Jun 2003 : Column 8W—continued
Anti-Semitism
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many anti-semitic incidents were recorded in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement on the trend over the last year. [120937]
Fiona Mactaggart: The Government publishes general statistics on racist incidents and racially-aggravated crime, but does not hold figures on specifically anti-semitic incidents. However, according to figures made available by the Community Security Trust (CST), a body that advises and represents the Jewish community on matters of anti-semitism and security, the numbers of anti-semitic incidents over the last five years were as follows:
| Total number of incidents | |
|---|---|
| 1998 | 236 |
| 1999 | 270 |
| 2000 | 405 |
| 2001 | 310 |
According to the same source there were 89 anti-Semitic incidents reported in the first three months of 2003, an increase of 75 per cent. on the equivalent period in 2002. A high proportion of these incidents took place on university campuses.
Asylum Seekers
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what services there are at Heathrow airport for unaccompanied children seeking asylum in the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement. [116709]
Beverley Hughes: The Immigration Service has a duty of care to all unaccompanied children. Services and procedures are in place at Heathrow to ensure that this duty is fulfilled. These are:
- Unaccompanied children are dealt with immediately on arrival. They are given priority over other passengers.
Appropriate adult staff are provided to supervise children while they are at Heathrow.
All children are offered refreshments.
Unaccompanied children arriving at Heathrow are, wherever possible, interviewed by immigration officers specifically trained to interview children.
Reference to the Port Medical Inspector is always made prior to departure on temporary admission, or earlier, if there are any concerns about a child's health.
Those children whose circumstances raise care and protection issues are referred to Hillingdon Social Services and the Metropolitan police's child protection officer based at Heathrow.
All unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are referred to the Children's Panel who act as the independent advisor to the child during the processing of their asylum claim.
We are currently trialling a multi-agency project on children who arrive at Heathrow Unaccompanied or without parents or guardians present. This will provide the basis for a detailed evaluation of such an approach in the longer term.
Civil Contingencies
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what additional expenditure over and above that identified prior to 1 April 2002 (a) was
30 Jun 2003 : Column 9W
spent in 2002–03 and (b) will be spent in 2003–04 on national and regional resilience work for (i) dealing with mass fatalities and (ii) decontamination; whether arrangements exist to release expenditure during the current financial year for resilience projects currently under consideration for (A) dealing with mass fatalities and (B) decontamination; and if he will make a statement. [113926]
Mr. Blunkett [holding answer 16 May 2003]: The Government's Civil Contingencies Capabilities Programme has identified broad areas of activity under which Departments group specific projects, activity and programme expenditure. The purpose is to deliver broad generic capabilities which allow the UK to respond effectively to a wide range of disruptive challenges.
The Home Office assumed responsibility for the initial assessment of the mass fatalities resilience work in late 2002. Prior to this, work was carried out on fatalities but was judged not to necessitate a specific project and was incorporated in other resilience work. All expenditure in 2002–03 is therefore additional. In 2002–03 £15,000 has been used researching the preparedness of the emergency services. £65,000 has been provided for work on a temporary facility (organised by GOLondon) at Northolt Airport and is to be spent in 2003–04. Further to this spending any additional money for the current financial year will not be known until the completion of the initial assessment work. The central expenditure excludes all the related work under way in local authorities.
Decontamination is led by the Department of Health and supported by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister through Her Majesty's Fire Service Inspectorate. I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by the Minister of State, Department of Health, the right hon. Member for Barrow and Furness (Mr. Hutton), on 12 June 2003, Official Report, column 1068W, and my hon. Friend the former parliamentary Under-Secretary, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Mr. Leslie) on 26 June 2003, Official Report, column 900W. Within the Home Office the Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Team works on CBRN resilience which includes decontamination. This is not quantifiable in financial terms as it is integrated with other aspects of CBRN planning.
The capabilities that we are working to deliver have been developed to allow the Government to deal with the fullest range of scenarios. Should a specific additional urgent operational need arise, at any point of the spending cycle, action would be taken to meet it. The public expenditure framework the Government have put in place provides the flexibility to deal with unexpected pressures.
Civil Service (New Entrants)
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many new entrants to the Civil Service were employed in his Department in each of the last five years; and how many in each year were aged 50 or over. [119825]
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Mr. Blunkett: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Member for Paisley, South (Mr. Alexander) on 24 June 2003, Official Report, column 657W.
DNA Database
Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department under what circumstances records of a person's DNA are kept; what plans he has to create a national DNA database; and what security measures he proposes to put in place to ensure that it is not abused. [119571]
Ms Blears: Sections 63 and 63A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984, as amended, provides powers for taking a non-intimate sample without consent from a person in police detention in the following circumstances:
- following charge with a recordable offence or notification that a suspect will be reported for such an offence;
on an Inspector's authority, which can only be given where the officer has reasonable grounds for believing the suspect is involved in a criminal offence and the DNA fingerprints will tend to confirm or disprove his involvement; or
following conviction for a recordable offence.
DNA samples and their profiles may also be retained from persons who have voluntarily given a DNA sample and who have given their written consent to the profile being added to the National DNA Database, for example, persons who have taken part in an intelligence screening exercise where an offender is believed to live in a particular area.
The national DNA database was established in 1995. It is a police intelligence database managed by the Forensic Science Service (FSS) on behalf of the police forces of England and Wales. Scotland has its own DNA database, and DNA profiles from subjects and selected unsolved crimes in Scotland are also added to the National DNA Database. The Police Service of Northern Ireland also has its own DNA Database. The Northern Ireland DNA Database is maintained by Forensic Science Northern Ireland. Occasional checks are made against the National DNA Database on behalf of the Police Service of Northern Ireland and steps are in hand to carry out quality checks on the Northern Ireland data with a view to adding all the profiles from that database to the National DNA Database.
The Chief Scientist of the FSS is the Custodian of the National DNA Database under a Memorandum of Understanding with the Association of Chief Police Officers. Access to the information contained on the database is strictly controlled by the National DNA Database Custodian. Only Custodian staff have direct access and then only to the level required.
There are no Government plans to introduce a database containing the DNA profiles of the entire UK population.
30 Jun 2003 : Column 11W
Drugs
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many kilograms of (a) heroin and (b) cocaine were seized by Merseyside police in each of the past five years; and how many arrests were made in each year. [121624]
Caroline Flint: Kilograms of (a) heroin and (b) cocaine seized by Merseyside police in each year from 1997 to 2001 are shown in the table. Information on arrests for drug offences does not separately identify individual drugs. However, data provided in the table show persons found guilty or cautioned for possession of (a) heroin and (b) cocaine in the Merseyside police area from 1997–2000.
The data on seizures and offenders for 1997–2000 are taken from the annual Home Office Statistical Bulletin, and on seizures for 2001 from Finding 202, "Seizures of Drugs in the UK 2001". These are available on the RDS website and in the Library (http://www. homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/hosb402.pdf and http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/r202.pdf)
| Cocaine | Heroin | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quantity (kg) | Offenders | Quantity (kg) | Offenders | |
| 1997 | 5.6 | 141 | 8.6 | 263 |
| 1998 | 3.5 | 209 | 3.4 | 368 |
| 1999 | 2.8 | 217 | 13.7 | 316 |
| 2000 | 16.1 | 223 | 3.5 | 365 |
| 2001 | 27.3 | (1)— | 7.1 | (1)— |
(1) 2001 data on offenders are not yet available.
Source:
Home Office Drug Seizure and Offender Statistics, United Kingdom—Area Tables.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his Department makes money seized from drug dealers under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 available to fund additional places in drug rehabilitation clinics for addicts. [121625]
Caroline Flint: Criminal assets recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 are paid into the Consolidated Fund. There are no plans for money recovered from drug dealers to be used to fund additional places in drug rehabilitation clinics. However, money from recovered assets is currently being used to fund a number of anti-drugs projects and will in future go to the Home Office to help fund core expenditure programmes, including crime reduction and policing.
Significant funding is being invested into the improvement of drugs treatment services. The annual spending on all treatment services, including treatment in prisons and supervised opiate substitute prescribing schemes, has increased considerably and is now over £500 million per annum.
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