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Wildlife Trusts
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what meetings have been held by Ministers and her officials in the last year with representatives of the wildlife trusts. [130594]
Margaret Beckett: My hon. Friend the Minister of State for Environment met Dr. Simon Lyster and John Everitt of the Wildlife Trusts on 2 December 2002. In addition, representatives of the Wildlife Trusts regularly meet with Defra officials on matters of mutual interest, and have attended numerous functions where Defra Ministers have been present.
Zoo Animals
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the number of llamas and alpacas kept (a) in zoos and (b) outside zoos in the United Kingdom. [129338]
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Margaret Beckett: As the licensing of zoos is a function for local authorities, there are no central records for the numbers of different species kept in zoos. The British Llama and Alpaca Association's own figures indicate that there are in the region of 2,700 llamas and 4,500–5,500 alpacas in private ownership in the UK.
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make it her policy to provide a general exemption for keepers of llamas and alpacas from the requirement to hold a zoo licence. [129339]
Margaret Beckett: The advice received from the Zoos Forum is that New World Camelids such as llamas and alpacas have not been kept in this country in sufficient numbers for sufficient time for them to be considered "normally domesticated in Great Britain" and they therefore fall within the scope of zoo licensing legislation.
Keepers of llamas and alpacas wishing to exhibit their animals to the public for seven days or more in any period of 12 consecutive months are therefore required to apply for a zoo licence. However, establishments displaying small numbers of llamas and alpacas may be eligible for a full exemption from the Act or for dispensations from the full inspection regime. I consider each case on its own merits.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Fraud
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the impact of credit card fraud on British businesses' operating costs. [130813]
Ms Blears: The Government do not collect figures on the cost of credit card fraud but the Association for Payment Clearing Services (APACS) estimates the cost of all plastic card fraud in the year to August 2002 to be £424.6 million. A majority of these costs will be borne by businesses. As with all expenses the costs of card fraud will have an impact on business's operating costs.
APACS figures up to July 2003, which have not yet been published, suggest a year on year decline in card fraud of around 5 per cent. This follows a number of initiatives both within government and in partnership with the private sector to combat this type of fraud.
In April 2002, the Government launched a two-year pilot of a unique policing unit (the Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit—DCPCU) based in London, which works closely with the banking industry to reduce organised card and cheque fraud, using intelligence largely provided by the card industry. DCPCU has had significant success in its first year including recovery of more than 4,000 cards and 524 cheques, resulting in 59 arrests and six convictions with potential savings of £13.35 million.
The Government are actively supporting the introduction of 'Chip and PIN', a major finance and retail industry initiative to reduce card fraud. This involves the introduction of microchips into payment
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cards to help authentication, combined with the use of PIN codes in place of signatures. The banking industry anticipates that by 2005 the new Chip and PIN technology will eliminate over half of the predicted level of plastic card fraud in the UK.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of the cost of fraud in the UK's financial services industry on the UK economy. [131384]
Caroline Flint: A Home Office study, the Economic and Social Costs of Crime, published in July 2000 estimated that the total economic cost of fraud in Britain was up to £13.8 billion in 2000, equivalent to £230 per head. The Home Office does not collate separate figures on the costs of fraud in the United Kingdom's financial services industry.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with (a) credit card companies, (b) representatives of the retail sector and (c) law enforcement agencies on the level of credit card fraud in the United Kingdom. [131387]
Ms Blears: The Home Office is actively supporting the finance and retail industry's 'Chip and PIN' initiative and maintains regular contact with the Association for Payment Clearing Services and the British Retail Consortium (BRC). 'Chip and PIN' involves the introduction of microchips into payment cards to help authentication combined with the introduction of PIN codes in place of signatures. The banking industry anticipates that by 2005, the new Chip and PIN technology will eliminate over half of the predicted level of plastic card fraud in the UK.
Since my appointment to the Home Office in June I have provided forewords for the two reports on the public trial of 'Chip and PIN' which took place in Northampton between May and August this year. I shall shortly be meeting with APACS and the BRC to receive a progress report on the 'Chip and PIN' project. My right hon. Friend the Member for Southampton, Itchen (Mr. Denham) also discussed the 'Chip and PIN' initiative with the BRC and APACS.
The Home Office has frequent and regular contact with law enforcement agencies. In addition, in April 2002 the Government launched a two-year pilot of a unique policing unit (the Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit—DCPCU), which is funded jointly by the Home Office and the card industry. The DCPCU is based in London and works closely with the banking industry to reduce organised card and cheque fraud, using intelligence largely provided by the card industry. DCPCU has had significant success in its first year including recovery of more than 4,000 cards and 524 cheques, resulting in 59 arrests and six convictions with potential savings of £13.35million.
Accommodation Centres
Mr. Viggers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what Government policy was on abiding by the outcome of a public inquiry on accommodation centres on 5 November 2002; what the policy is now; and when and for what reason it changed. [131392]
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Beverley Hughes: The Government's policy has not changed. We will abide by the planning process and the outcome of the public inquiry which is a part of it. The outcome of the public inquiry is my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister's decision.
Annual Crime Survey
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with representatives of the British Retail Consortium on its latest Annual Crime Survey. [130581]
Ms Blears: I have not held any discussions with representatives of the British Retail Consortium (BRC) about its latest Annual Crime Survey. I am, however, aware of the regular information that the survey provides. The Home Office has also recently undertaken a Crime against Business survey, covering the retail and manufacturing sectors, in conjunction with Her Majesty's Treasury, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's Neighbourhood Renewal Unit and the Small Business Service (an agency of the Department for Trade and Industry). The British Retail Consortium, British Chambers of Commerce, and the Confederation of British Industry have been consulted and closely involved in the survey.
The Government take the issue of retail crime very seriously and it is one of the main workstreams on business crime that is being progressed by the Business Crime Section in the Home Office. We have provided £15 million over three years to improve the security of small retailers in deprived areas and 12,500 individual businesses will have benefited by the end of this year. We are supporting the development of retail crime partnerships in major town and shopping centres. Home Office officials are also working closely with the BRC and other members of the retail industry in the Retail Strategy Group, set up by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, to address crime problems facing the retail industry in a strategic way.
Anti-social Behaviour
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the links between anti-social behaviour and social exclusion; and if he will make a statement. [130205]
Ms Blears: The links between anti-social behaviour (ASB) and social exclusion can be examined on two separate levels: (1) links between experience or perceptions of ASB in local areas and social exclusion and (2) links between engaging in ASB and social exclusion.
In terms of the links between experience or perception of ASB and social exclusion the British Crime Survey (BCS) provides data on people's experience (as a victim) and perception of anti-social behaviour according to respondents' neighbourhood and their current status in terms of employment, skills, income and housing.
Ellis, C. and Fletcher, G. (2003) 'Antisocial behaviour and disorder'. In C. Flood-Page and J. Taylor (Eds.) Crime in England and Wales 2001/2002: Supplementary Volume. Home Office Statistical Bulletin 01/03.
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London: Home Office—deposited in the Library. The report indicates that people living in council estates and low-income areas are most likely to perceive local problems of disorder and that the economically inactive, those on low income, the unskilled and social renters are most likely to say that disorder has a great impact on their lives.
In terms of the links between engaging in ASB and social exclusion see Campbell S. (2002). A review of Anti-social Behaviour Orders. Home Office Research Study No. 236. London: Home Office—deposited in the Library. The review found that where case file information was available, a high proportion of people placed on Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) during the evaluation period had some sort of mitigating factor, e.g. had been evicted from their home or had been excluded from school, which appeared to have contributed to their behaviour. Additional work which has been commissioned and which will examine the link between engaging in ASB and social exclusion:
A forthcoming evaluation based on research of Acceptable Behaviour Contracts in Islington will look at the social background of families involved in ASB. A new Home Office survey of the general population currently in the field will provide information on offending, anti-social behaviour and victimisation. It will be possible to use England and Wales 2001/2002: Supplementary Volume. Home Office Statistical Bulletin 01/03. London: Home Office—deposited in the Library. The report indicates that people living in council estates and low-income areas are most likely to perceive local problems of disorder and that the economically inactive, those on low income, the unskilled and social renters are most likely to say that disorder has a great impact on their lives. In terms of the links between engaging in ASB and social exclusion see Campbell S. (2002). A review of Anti-social Behaviour Orders. Home Office Research Study No. 236. London: Home Office—deposited in the Library. The review found that where case file information was available, a high proportion of people placed on Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) during the evaluation period had some sort of mitigating factor, e.g. had been evicted from their home or had been excluded from school, which appeared to have contributed to their behaviour. Additional work which has been commissioned and which will examine the link between engaging in ASB and social exclusion:
- A forthcoming evaluation based on research of Acceptable Behaviour Contracts in Islington will look at the social background of families involved in ASB.
A new Home Office survey of the general population currently in the field will provide information on offending, anti-social behaviour and victimisation. It will be possible to use the survey data to identify links between problems associated with social exclusion and anti-social behaviour.
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