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6 Oct 2003 : Column 1247W—continued
Public Lavatories (Sexual Activity)
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his policy on sexual activity in public lavatories. [130431]
Paul Goggins: The Government believe that no-one should have to witness sexual activity in public lavatories. While the Government believe that current legislation does cover such activity, it is sympathetic to
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the aim of ensuring that there is no doubt that sexual activity in public toilets is unlawful. It has, therefore, tabled, during the Committee Stage in the House of Commons, amendments to Clause 67 of the Sexual Offences Bill, which proposes a new offence of "sexual activity in a public lavatory", to make explicit that such behaviour is unlawful and to ensure that the offence will be workable in practice.
Rape
Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether reports of drug rape since 2001 have involved the presence of a drug which had not before been known as a drug rape drug. [129668]
Caroline Flint [holding answer 16 September 2003]: A large number of sedative drugs (controlled and medicinal) could potentially be used to facilitate rape. The Forensic Science Service say that no new drug is being regularly detected in cases of drug rape reported to them over the last two years.
Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether forensic medical examiners are in receipt of specific training about the symptoms and effects of drugs which have been used in rape cases. [129672]
Caroline Flint [holding answer 16 September 2003]: The Forensic Science Service (FSS) is developing a Toxicology Awareness module to be incorporated into Forensic Medical Examiner training, which is currently supplied by FSS. The aims of the module are to discuss case results specific to the police force concerned and compare these with national results, thereby raising general awareness.
Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of forensic nurses in supporting rape complainants. [129781]
Caroline Flint: The Violence against Women Initiative under the Crime Reduction Programme has funded projects to provide support to victims of rape and sexual assault, and to find out what works in reducing attrition within the criminal justice system. One of these projects, St. Mary's Sexual Assault Referral Centre in Manchester, has trained a female nurse to conduct forensic examinations and provide evidence in court. The findings from the evaluation of this project are expected to be published at the end of this year.
Refugees
Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether in the last six months refugee status has been granted to persons in respect of whom extradition proceedings had begun; and if he will make a statement. [130866]
Caroline Flint [holding answer 18 September 2003]: Refugee status has been granted on one occasion in the last six months to a person who was the subject of extradition proceedings.
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Removal Centre (Haslar)
Mr. Viggers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans there are for the development of the removal centre at Haslar. [131266]
Beverley Hughes: There are no plans at present to develop the removal centre at Haslar.
Mr. Viggers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions have been held with Gosport borough council about the development of the removal centre at Haslar. [131267]
Beverley Hughes: No meetings have taken place with Gosport borough council about the development of the removal centre at Haslar. There are currently no plans to extend or develop Haslar.
Mr. Viggers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what planning procedure and public consultation the Government propose to undertake with regard to development of the removal centre at Haslar. [131268]
Beverley Hughes: If we planned any development of the removal centre at Haslar, we would consult with the council and other interested parties at a very early stage. There are however no plans for any development or expansion at Haslar.
Reoffending
Mr. Keith Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offenders who have been placed on an Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme have re-offended during the course of the programme. [129180]
Paul Goggins [holding answer 11 September 2003]: The Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme was launched in 2001 to provide the courts with a tough community based programme designed to tackle persistent young offenders. It currently provides for approximately 3,500 young offenders a year at an annual cost of £21.5million. Additional funding of £2 million has been made available for national roll-out, providing for a total of 4,200 persistent young offenders annually from January 2004. The programme is being fully evaluated by Oxford University; the final report with an analysis of reconvictions is due in March 2004. It is not possible at present to provide a comprehensive answer to my hon. Friend's question.
Repeat Offending (Drugs)
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases of repeat offending among problem drug-misusing offenders there have been in each of the last six years. [130481]
Caroline Flint: Data are not collected in this way. But the New English and Welsh Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (NEW-ADAM) research programme, which involved interviewing and drug testing a sample of those arrested by the police in 1999–2000, reported that 15 per cent. of arrestees were classed as drug misusing repeat offenders (defined as arrestees who reported using heroin and/or cocaine or crack at least once a week who reported two or more income-generating offences per month).
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New nationally-representative measures of drug-related crime are being developed, including a new Arrestee Survey able to provide national estimates of drug-related crime, which commenced in September 2003 and replaces the NEW-ADAM research programme.
Road Safety
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many deaths there have been on roads in (a) 1997 and (b) 2002 as a result of people using a mobile telephone whilst driving. [130751]
Mr. Jamieson: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested is not available as the official road casualty statistics which are collected by the police and reported to the Department using the STATS 19 accident report format does not currently include information on mobile phones.
Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the number of participants in the Seasonal Agricultural Workers' Scheme. [130499]
Beverley Hughes: The quota for the Seasonal Agricultural Workers' Scheme for 2003 is 25,000. We expect most of those places to be filled.
Security Industry Authority
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were employed by the Security Industry Authority on (a) 1 April and (b) 1 July. [130474]
Ms Blears: The Security Industry Authority had 33 staff on 1 April 2003 and 35 staff on 1 July 2003. In each case the figures include 13 staff on secondment from government departments, mainly the Home Office.
Sentencing Powers (Juveniles)
Dr. Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in what circumstances courts can impose (a) a detention and training order and (b) any other custody-based sentence on juveniles aged under 15, who have been found guilty of breaching an anti-social behaviour order. [129115]
Paul Goggins: Where a juvenile aged 15 or more but under 18 breachesan anti-social behaviour order (ASBO), the youth court can impose any sentence up to and including a Detention and Training Order (DTO). No other custodial sentence is available for such cases. It is for the court to decide which sentence is appropriate, in the light of the young person's background, home surroundings and family circumstances.
Sexual Offences
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many people in (a) 2000, (b) 2001 and (c) 2002 were proceeded against in the UK for outraging public decency where this was the principal offence; and how many of these were found to be guilty; [128637]
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- (2) what the conviction rate was for persons proceeded against in the UK for outraging public decency where this was the principal offence, in each of the last five years. [128638]
Paul Goggins: The information requested, for England and Wales, is contained in the table.
Figures for Scotland are a matter for the Scottish Office and those for Northern Ireland for the Northern Ireland Office.
Statistics for 2002 will be published in December.
| Year | Proceeded against | Found guilty | Conviction rate(66) (percentage) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 47 | 13 | 28 |
| 1998 | 42 | 28 | 67 |
| 1999 | 86 | 26 | 30 |
| 2000(67) | 121 | 31 | 26 |
| 2001 | 164 | 34 | 21 |
(65) These data are on the principal offence basis.
(66) Persons found guilty at all courts as a percentage of persons proceeded against at magistrates' courts—as notified to the Home Office.
(67) Staffordshire Police were only able to submit sample data for persons proceeded against and convicted at magistrates' courts in 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robus enough at a detailed level and have been excluded from the table.
Linda Perham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent representations he has received on the effectiveness of the Sex Offenders Registry. [127839]
Paul Goggins: The purpose of the notification requirements of Part 1 of the Sex Offenders Act 1997 (commonly known as the Sex Offenders' Register) is that the police know the names and addresses of the most serious sex offenders living in their area. This is one of a number of tools which enable them to protect the public more effectively.
We have received no specific representations on the effectiveness of the register. However, we receive a large number of letters on the Sex Offenders Act, which sometimes raise, among other issues, the effectiveness of the register as it applies in individual cases.
The most useful measure of effectiveness for the 'register' itself is the level of compliance with the notification requirements. We estimate that nationally around 97 per cent. of offenders currently on the 'register' are complying fully with the notification requirements.
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