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Criminal Cases Review Commission

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps the CCRC is taking to (a) ensure clear communication and (b) promote awareness and understanding among its stakeholders. [128884]

Paul Goggins : The Commission's communications strategy concentrates on promoting awareness and understanding among its stakeholders. It disseminates widely an information pack and other materials that clarify its role and powers. These include press releases and feature articles, an audiotape and videotape ("Open to Question", which has received an international award). It also operates the website http://www.ccrc.gov.uk and a 24-hour media inquiry service. Commission staff frequently give lectures and presentations on the Commission, and visit other agencies in the criminal justice system. A second workshop for selected stakeholders was held in July 2003.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what pieces of new legislation have been stimulated by the CCRC's casework. [128848]

Paul Goggins: To 31 March 2003, the Commission's casework has stimulated only one piece of new legislation: the Criminal Cases Review (Insanity) Act 1999.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps are being taken by the CCRC to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the case review process. [128850]

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Paul Goggins: Efforts are continually being made by the Commission to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the case review process, without compromising its commitment to reviewing each case thoroughly. For case review, as for any of its processes, the Commission's goals must satisfy five distinct criteria. They must be:

specific, i.e. define a precise process modification to be made, or numerical performance standard to be reached;


payoff-oriented, i.e. be defined to achieve improvements in effectiveness, efficiency and/or economy;


intrinsically rewarding, otherwise staff will not be motivated to achieve them; realistic, otherwise staff are likely to be demotivated by them; and


observable, i.e. it must be possible to determine unambiguously whether or not they have been achieved.

These are stringent requirements, and imply that the necessary planning, resource allocation and monitoring processes are implemented to achieve and observe them. Much of the Commission's routine managerial effort is directed to continuous improvement of its processes by the definition and implementation of process goals. Whenever special process review seems appropriate, the Chairman convenes an internal Process Improvement Group (PIG), which may then set up specific Process Improvement Projects (PIPs).

Criminal Justice and Public Order Act

Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many stops and searches have been carried out by each police force under section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 in each year since 1998–99, broken down by ethnic origin of those stopped and searched; and how many of these involved the searching of vehicles. [131587]

Ms Blears: The information requested on stop and searches of persons under Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 that has been published in "Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System" is given in the tables for each financial year from 1998–99 to 2001–02 inclusive. Also included in the tables which have been placed in the Library, is information on the number of vehicles searched. This information is not routinely published. Data are not yet available for the 2002–03 financial year.

Dr. Ali Dizaei

Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reasons Section 8 warrants were applied for in relation to Dr Ali Dizaei. [131365]

Ms Blears: The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis informs me that the reasons for the 12 warrants applied for and issued under Section 8 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 on 15 January 2001 were to allow officers to search for documents and correspondence which may have shown a criminal relationship between Ali Dizaei and two named individuals and computer and electronic storage devices on which such documents and correspondence may have been created and stored.

The section 8 warrant applied for and issued on 20 January 2001 was to allow officers to search for documents and correspondence.

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Forensic Science Laboratory (Chorley)

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which police forces in England and Wales contract work to the Forensic Science Laboratory in Chorley; how many staff are employed at the Chorley site; and what representations he has received in response to his statement of 17 July 2003, Official Report, column 61WS, from (a) the workforces, (b) trade unions, (c) police forces, (d) hon. Members and (e) other bodies. [131497]

Ms Blears: Chorley Forensic Science Laboratory provides services to the police forces in its North West region, which are Cumbria, Lancashire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Cheshire, and North Wales. The Laboratory also provides services to police forces in Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire.

These services are based on Service Level Agreements and not legally binding contracts.

At 31 August, there were 228 individuals employed at Chorley Forensic Laboratory.

To date, representations in response to my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary's statement of 17 July about the future of the Forensic Science Service have been received from (a) two FSS employees, (b) two trade unions, Prospect and PCS, and from Brendan Barber, General Secretary of the TUC, (c) no police forces or police authorities, (d) 89 hon. Members and (e) no other bodies.

Jamaican Prisoners

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to introduce alternatives to prosecutions for drugs mules from Jamaica. [132416]

John Healey: I have been asked to reply.

None. All those detected attempting to smuggle drugs into the UK should expect to face prosecution in the UK. However, HM Customs and Excise has seen a 75 per cent. reduction in the number of cocaine couriers from Jamaica arrested in the UK since they began to provide support to the Jamaican authorities in June 2002 to intercept couriers prior to boarding planes in Jamaica.

Terrorism Act

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions police officers used powers provided by the Terrorism Act 2000 during protests at (a) RAF Fairford and (b) the Mining Bomb Store at Welford, Berkshire. [130344]

Ms Blears: Gloucestershire Police inform me that, during the period 6 March to 27 April 2003, the stop and search powers conferred by authorisations under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 were used on a total of 2,132 occasions in the vicinity of RAF Fairford. The police also used their powers under section 45(2) to seize articles from 28 of those who were stopped. One arrest was made under section 41 of the Act. I understand that none of the other powers in Part V of the Act were used.

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Thames Valley Police inform me that during the period 1 March to 22 April 2003, the stop and search powers conferred by authorisations under section 44 of the Act were used on 41 occasions in the vicinity of the Mining Bomb Store at Welford, Berkshire. One arrest was made under section 41 of the Act. I understand that none of the other powers in Part V of the Act were used.

Mr. Pike: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many notices under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 he has signed this year relating to (a) London and (b) the rest of England; and if he will make a statement. [131300]

Mr. Blunkett: So far this year the use of section 44 powers has been confirmed on 20 occasions within London. The power has been confirmed on 125 occasions for the rest of England.

This is an important power and the Government are adamant it must be used appropriately and proportionately.

National Probation Directorate

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons (a) are employed and (b) act as consultants for the National Probation Directorate. [131165]

Paul Goggins: The information requested is as follows:

Collected Staff in Post figures indicate that as of August 2003 there were 430 staff in post within the National Probation Directorate.

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Of these staff currently, there are 42 consultants in post.

Police Identification

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the statutory basis is for the requirement that police officers must display an identifying number on their uniform. [131655]

Ms Blears: There is no statutory requirement for police officers to display an identifying number on their uniform.

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