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4 Nov 2003 : Column 578W—continued
Police Pay
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) hourly wage for a newly qualified police officer, (b) the average hourly wage for serving police officers and (c) the hourly wage of newly qualified police officers for overtime work are; and how much money was spent by police forces in employing police officers on overtime in each of the last three years. [135868]
Ms Blears: The information is as follows.
(a) Police officers are not paid an hourly wage, instead they receive an annual salary. Upon completion of initial training, an officer will receive £21,462 per year.
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(b) Figures are not available for the average hourly wage for serving police officers. The average length of service for constables is 11 years. A constable with 11 years service receives £29,589 per year.
The figures do not include any regional allowances which may be payable.
(c) Overtime is payable at the rate of one twenty-fourth of a day's pay for each completed period of 15 minutes of overtime worked.
Figures for the amount spent on overtime in the police service are currently only available centrally for 2001–02 with a total United Kingdom spend of £400,392,000. This was made up of £319,620,000 for England and Wales, £26,097,000 for Scotland and £54,675,000 for Northern Ireland.
Details of overtime payments for other years have not been aggregated.
Prison Population
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his most recent estimates are of the (a) uncrowded and (b) maximum capacity of prisons in England and Wales and of the average daily prison population for each of the next five years. [131652]
Paul Goggins: As at 17 October 2003, the certified normal accommodation (uncrowded) for the prison estate in England and Wales was 66,738 and the useable operational capacity was 74,775. Average projections for the next five years are set out in the following table.
Average daily figures for prison population projections are not available.
| Uncrowded | Usable operational capacity | |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 65,900 | 74,200 |
| 2004 | 67,500 | 75,800 |
| 2005 | 69,800 | 78,200 |
| 2006 | 70,400 | 78,750 |
| 2007 | 70,400 | 78,700 |
| 2008 | 70,400 | 78,700 |
Proceeds of Crime Act
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the value of criminal funds seized since the introduction of the Proceeds of Crime Act has been in (a) the Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK. [133220]
Caroline Flint: Information is available for the United Kingdom only.
The confiscation powers in the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 are triggered by offences committed after the provisions were brought into force on 24 March 2003, so it will be some time before cases are dealt with by the Crown Court in numbers. As of 16 October, nine confiscation orders with a total value of £89,000 had been made against convicted offenders in England and Wales; these orders have yet to be enforced. No confiscation orders under the new legislation have been made in Scotland. The total amount of cash seized by police and customs officers under new powers in the Act
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which came into effect on 30 December 2002 is £41 million in England, Wales and Scotland. In addition, the Assets Recovery Agency has obtained freezing orders on assets with a total value of over £10 million on 16 cases which are under investigation under the new powers in the Act for civil recovery of criminal assets.
Road Deaths
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many deaths there have been because of (a) dangerous driving, (b) driving under the influence of illegal drugs and (c) driving under the influence of alcohol in (i) Southend-on-Sea and (ii) Essex in each year since 2001. [132757]
Caroline Flint: The requested information has not been published and is therefore not available centrally. Recorded crime figures for Southend are collected at Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP), and Basic Command Unit (BCD) level. At CDRP and BCD level, figures are published for six key offences only, which are violence against the person, sexual offences, robbery, burglary in a dwelling, theft of a motor vehicle, and theft from a vehicle.
Sani Abacha
Mr. Colman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reasons he has not responded to requests for documentation sought by the Nigerian Government in connection with funds believed to have been stolen from the country by the late Sani Abacha; and what steps the Government are taking to assist Nigeria in repatriating these funds. [131987]
Caroline Flint: We are still awaiting receipt of information from the Federal Government of Nigeria, requested a year ago that will permit me to make a fully informed decision on transmission of the requested evidence to them. There are court orders that have been issued in Nigeria, which have the apparent effect of precluding the Nigerian authorities from pursuing the mutual legal assistance requests it has issued. We are awaiting confirmation from the Federal Government of Nigeria that those court orders have been lifted or overturned on appeal by them. The Federal Government of Nigeria has confirmed through their solicitors in the United Kingdom that although they contest the validity of those judgments, they would comply with them so long as they remained in force.
In the light of a previous judicial review, it has been made clear that to attempt to transmit the evidence when such court orders were apparently outstanding would leave my discretionary decision liable to being overturned on judicial review. Equally, it would serve no purpose to transmit evidence to Federal Government of Nigeria that they may not be able to use in their criminal proceedings. We prefer to await the outcome of those proceedings before transmitting the requested evidence. We are also not in a position to repatriate any funds that may be in the United Kingdom until the outstanding matters have been addressed by them. We have not been asked to enforce Nigerian confiscation orders in this case.
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Stop and Search (London)
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many stop and searches have been carried out during each of the last three years under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 in London; what the charges of those arrested were; and how many have resulted in successful prosecutions. [135165]
Mr. Blunkett: Figures on stops and searches under section 44(1) and section 44(2) of the Terrorism Act 2000 are published annually in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin. The latest published figures are for the financial year 2001–02 and show that in the Metropolitan police district, 3,598 stops and searches were carried out under section 44(1) resulting in 63 arrests. 473 stops and searches were carried out under section 44(2), resulting in 11 arrests.
For the same period in the City of London police district, 3,409 stops and searches were carried out under Section 44(1) resulting in 92 arrests. 86 stops and searches were carried out under section 44(2), resulting in 8 arrests.
Figures for 2002–03 are due to be published later this year. Figures for 2003–2004 will be published when the relevant data has been collated and verified.
The data collected on stops and searches made under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 is not automatically cross-referenced with subsequent charges or prosecutions, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Young Offenders
Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to combat youth offending; and if he will make a statement. [132938]
Ms Blears: On 8 September we published "Youth Justice—The Next Steps", consulting on how to take further our youth justice reform programme for England and Wales. A copy has been placed in the Library. The document sets out changes we would like to make over the next few years in the way young offenders are dealt with. It includes proposals to:
- Strengthen parenting interventions
Improve understanding of trials and trial preparation
Manage juvenile remandees better in the community
Establish a simpler sentencing structure with more flexible interventions
Provide intensive supervision and surveillance as the main response to repeat and serious offending while still having custody available
Introduce a more graduated progression between secure, open and community facilities
Improve youth justice skills and organisation; and
Invites views on how pre-court interventions can be developed further.
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These proposals complement the wide programme of work put forward in "Every Child Matters", published on the same date by my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. This consults in particular on how to help children achieve their full potential and how to tackle the risks of adverse outcomes including offending which some face in their early lives. The paper consults on ways to strengthen the work of the services which deal with children.
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) police authority and (b) Crown Prosecution Service region fast tracking cases involved persistent youth offenders in the last year for which figures are available. [133053]
Ms Blears: Figures on the time taken from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders are collected by Criminal Justice Area. Nationally, the number of persistent young offender cases dealt with over the last year for which figures are available, was:
| Persistent young offender cases | |
|---|---|
| 2002 | |
| August | 2,065 |
| September | 2,041 |
| October | 2,341 |
| November | 2,120 |
| December | 1,675 |
| 2003 | |
| January | 2,316 |
| February | 2,164 |
| March | 2,123 |
| April | 2,144 |
| May | 2,109 |
| June | 2,111 |
| July | 2,503 |
| Total | 25,712 |
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