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1 Sept 2003 : Column 966W—continued
Cleveland Police
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what additional funding tied to which specific programmes has been allocated (a) to Cleveland constabulary and (b) in total to all UK forces in each year since 1997. [114306]
Caroline Flint: The table lists grants that have been allocated or awarded to Cleveland and to other police authorities in England and Wales, for which my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has responsibility.
In addition to the grants listed, Cleveland receive support towards the costs of the PFI firearms training facility operated jointly with Durham constabulary.
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| Year/Specific Programmes | Cleveland | Total forces |
|---|---|---|
| 1997–98 | ||
| Crime Fighting Fund | — | — |
| Basic Command Unit | — | — |
| Airwave digital radio service | — | — |
| DNA Expansion | — | — |
| Capital grant | 0.60 | 104.17 |
| CSOs | — | — |
| 1998–99 | ||
| Crime Fighting Fund | — | — |
| Basic Command Unit | — | — |
| Airwave digital radio service | — | — |
| DNA Expansion | — | — |
| Capital grant | 0.60 | 91.11 |
| CSOs | — | — |
| 1999–2000 | ||
| Crime Fighting Fund | — | — |
| Basic Command Unit | — | — |
| Airwave digital radio service | — | — |
| DNA Expansion | — | — |
| Capital grant | 0.59 | 91.11 |
| CSOs | — | — |
| 2000–01 | ||
| Crime Fighting Fund | 0.28 | 40.61 |
| Basic Command Unit | — | — |
| Airwave digital radio service | — | — |
| DNA Expansion | 0.35 | 16.22 |
| Capital grant | 0.65 | 91.11 |
| CSOs | — | — |
| 2001–02 | ||
| Crime Fighting Fund | 0.96 | 138.90 |
| Basic Command Unit | — | — |
| Airwave digital radio service | 0 | 93.30 |
| DNA Expansion | 0.70 | 45.66 |
| Capital grant | 0.85 | 91.11 |
| CSOs | — | — |
| 2002–03 | ||
| Crime Fighting Fund | 1.82 | 229.79 |
| Basic Command Unit | — | — |
| Airwave digital radio service | 3.17 | 104.47 |
| DNA Expansion | 0.64 | 54.96 |
| Capital grant | 0.93 | 107.11 |
| CSOs | 0.30 | 19.00 |
| 2003–04 | ||
| Crime Fighting Fund | 2.04 | 263.52 |
| Basic Command Unit | 0.64 | 49.98 |
| Airwave digital radio service | 0.56 | 9618 |
| DNA Expansion | 0.70 | 54.42 |
| Capital grant | 1.04 | 117.11 |
| CSOs | 0.12 | 41.00 |
Notes:
1. In addition, special grant of £1.9 million was paid to Cleveland Police Authority in 2001 to assist with the costs of the Operational Lancet inquiry.
2. Police authorities also receive grant to support costs of borrowing against Supplementary Credit Approvals.
3. Figures for 2003–04 are estimates of currently expected payments.
Commissioner for Correctional Services
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the responsibilities are of the new Commissioner for Correctional Services. [125663]
Paul Goggins: Martin Narey became Commissioner for the Correctional Services on 10 March 2003. His role is to set the strategic direction for and manage the Directors General of the Prison and Probation Services and to ensure the effective, joint working of the Prison and Probation Services and the Youth Justice Board.
1 Sept 2003 : Column 968W
Contingency Planning
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the ability of the emergency services to treat casualties exposed to radioisotope contamination from the explosion of a radiological bomb within a medically appropriate time. [125158]
Mr. Blunkett: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given on 17 July 2003, Official Report, column 592W.
Correspondence
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to reply to the letter of 13 January 2003 from the hon. Member for Leicester, East to the Minister for State, Citizenship and Immigration, P1048812, concerning his constituent, Mrs. Patel. [122999]
Beverley Hughes: I wrote to my hon. Friend on 17 July 2003.
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when his Department will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak, dated 23 January 2003, PO ref 2895/3 regarding Phillipa Eblele Nyakutsilwa. [125283]
Beverley Hughes: Due to an administrative error, my hon. Friend's letter was forwarded to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate, when it was a matter for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to deal with. It has now been sent to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for reply. I am sorry for the delay.
Crime (Fraudulent Reports)
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the extent of fraudulent reporting of crimes to the police. [124992]
Ms Blears: Details of the extent of fraudulent reporting of crimes to the police are not collected centrally.
Crime Statistics
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to improve the (a) accuracy and (b) presentation of crime statistics. [124791]
Ms Blears: The Home Office has always acknowledged the need to improve the accuracy and presentation of the recorded crime statistics. Two important reviews were published in July 2000 which dealt with both these points, and a range of other matters.
The first was the "Review of Crime Statistics" (the 'Simmons Review'), which made a total of 66 recommendations. The report set out clearly some of the problems with the arrangements in place at that time and provided a blueprint for a system of crime statistics in England and Wales designed to overcome those problems and to provide a clearer and more reliable set of crime data. A group was established to oversee this review and to ensure that the recommendations were
1 Sept 2003 : Column 969W
sound, and that group received cross-party support. The full review and the conclusions of this expert group, which asked only that the recommendation relating to establishing an index of crime not be implemented, are available on the Home Office website.
The second report was a thematic inspection report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), entitled "On the Record". One of the conclusions of that report was that interpretation of the Home Office Counting Rules for recording crime by police forces was inconsistent and made it hard to establish the degree to which differences in crime rates were simply due to recording factors, or represented a real change in crime.
As a result of both of these reports, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) developed the new National Crime Recording Standard. The Standard aims to promote a greater consistency between police forces in the recording of crime and to take a more victim oriented approach to crime recording.
The National Crime Recording Standard was adopted nationally with effect from 1 April 2002. However, the work to establish standards for recording and greater consistency is on-going. In .addition, a new audit regime has been introduced, overseen by the Police Standards Unit in the Home Office and carried out on their behalf by the Audit Commission. The audits are designed to ensure that forces are implementing the Standard and applying the Counting Rules correctly. In addition, Force Crime Registrars are encouraged to undertake their own internal audits, and guidance has been provided to ensure that any such auditing is robust.
A further data source is the British Crime Survey (BCS). The BCS is considered to be the most reliable measure of personal and household crime in England and Wales and significant improvements have been made to the Survey recently. The Survey has increased its sample size from 20,000 interviews to 40,000 and it is now conducted on a rolling year basis. The BCS also includes those crimes that are not reported to or recorded by the police. While the BCS does not claim to count all crimes in England and Wales, it does provide a consistent measure of trends from one year to the next in those crimes of greatest concern to members of the public.
With regard to the presentation of crime statistics, the Review of Crime Statistics recommended that the recorded crime statistics and the British Crime Survey should be considered together. They are complementary series that, taken together, provide a better picture of crime than can be obtained from either series alone. The publication of the data in this way ensures that the public has available the most comprehensive picture of crime in a single volume and at the same time.
Figures from both sources were published together for the first time in July last year in "Crime and England and Wales 2001–02" (Home Office Statistical Bulletin 07/02). The second combined volume covering the period 2002–03 has been published and copies are available in the Library. We believe that this publication provides the best and most comprehensive presentation of the latest position on crime in England and Wales.
1 Sept 2003 : Column 970W
Due to the introduction of the new National Crime Recording Standard, this publication makes necessary adjustments to the recorded crime figures in order to present a more accurate picture of the real trends in crime underlying the recording changes. The Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate has published a further report, entitled "National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS): An Analysis of the Impact on Recorded Crime" to explain how these adjustments have been derived, and the impact both nationally and in individual police forces.
As police forces have now had a full year in which to implement the new standard, and as the research report shows that the impact of the new standard appears to be complete for our main target crimes, I am announcing that this is the last occasion on which we will make these adjustments to the recorded crime figures.
The Home Office is committed to continually improving both the accuracy and presentation of the statistics on crime, and will continue to make necessary changes to those statistics in order to do so in future.
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