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12 Nov 2003 : Column 368W—continued
Entertainment
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was spent by his Department in the last 12 months on entertainment, broken down by the costs of (a) food and (b) drink. [135899]
Mr. Blunkett: Home Office expenditure on official entertainment is made in accordance with departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety based on the principles set out in Government Accounting.
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In 2002–03, the cost of hospitality (entertaining non-civil servants) and management entertainment of civil servants was £72,000. This was about 0.006 per cent. of the Home Department's Administration Costs in the 2002–03 Resource Accounts. The Department does not separately identify the costs of food and drink.
Recovered Assets Incentive Fund
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which organisations, and at which level, will be able to bid for sums from the Recovered Assets Incentive Fund; whether bids will be permitted direct from (a) police operational command units and (b) local crime and disorder partnerships; against what criteria bids will be assessed; what amount he expects to be available under the Fund in (i) this and (ii) the next financial year; and if he will make a statement. [133906]
Caroline Flint: The Recovered Assets Incentive Fund was set up this financial year to incentivise asset recovery by asset recovery agencies including law enforcement and prosecuting authorities. £15.5 million a year for three years has been allocated to the Fund. The funds have been fully committed over the next three years to projects agreed by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and others, that will increase the confiscation of criminal assets. The fund is not open to bids from other organisations or partnerships.
Of £46.5 million that will be available under the Fund over the next three years, up to £38 million will be spent on funding an ACPO proposal to set up an additional four multi-agency regional asset recovery teams to disrupt organised crime groups and to confiscate criminal assets. The teams will comprise staff from the police, National Crime Squad, Her Majesty's Customs and Excise, National Criminal Intelligence Service, Crown Prosecution Service, Assets Recovery Agency and Inland Revenue. The balance of the Fund will be spent on asset recovery projects managed respectively by the Crown Prosecution Service, the Department for Constitutional Affairs, and the Assets Recovery Agency.
An additional £7 million a year for three years has been made available separately from the Recovered Assets Incentive Fund for community projects. This year £4 million has been allocated to the Adventure Capital Fund to regenerate communities. The Adventure Capital Fund Round 2 is open to applications from community-based organisations operating anywhere in England, which are engaged in specified areas of activity including crime reduction and drug prevention, and which are seeking to achieve sustainability through enterprise, while investing surpluses for community benefit. The Adventure Capital fund is not open to bids from other organisations or partnerships.
£1.5 million has been allocated to anti-gun crime initiatives. £1.2 million of this is being disbursed by eight of the regional government offices to projects that will help local communities in the most affected areas in tackling gun crime and gun culture. The money has now been allocated and is not open to bids. £300,000 is being used to support the Disarm Trust, and it is open to projects working to tackle gun crime in local communities to seek support or funding from the Trust.
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A further £1.5 million has been allocated to regional government offices to fund capacity building in crime and disorder reduction partnerships.
Of the £7 million available for next year, £3 million has been committed to fund community justice centre pilot schemes. The balance of £4 million is not yet committed but there are no plans to invite specific bids.
Sentencing
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many criminal convictions (a) carried a prison sentence and (b) carried a community-based sentence, in each year from 1990 to 2002; and if he will make a statement. [124593]
Paul Goggins: The available information is contained in the table.
Statistics for 2002 will be published in the autumn.
| England and Wales 1990–2001 | Community sentence | Immediate custody |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 100,884 | 57,748 |
| 1991 | 104,457 | 61,363 |
| 1992 | 102,413 | 58,092 |
| 1993 | 114,806 | 58,738 |
| 1994 | 128,875 | 69,588 |
| 1995 | 129,922 | 79,538 |
| 1996 | 132,637 | 85,249 |
| 1997 | 139,990 | 93,841 |
| 1998 | 149,388 | 100,566 |
| 1999 | 151,633 | 105,323 |
| 2000(24) | 155,538 | 106,187 |
| 2001 | 164,997 | 106,273 |
(23) These data are on the principal offence basis.
(24) Staffordshire Police Force were only able to supply a sample of data for magistrates courts proceedings covering one full week in each quarter for 2000. Estimates based on this sample are included in the figures, as they are considered sufficiently robust at this high level of analysis.
Terrorism Offences
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been (a) convicted and (b) acquitted of offences under the (i) Terrorism Act 2000 and (ii) Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001. [137370]
Mr. Blunkett [holding answer 11 November 2003]: According to Home Office records cross-referenced with records held by the National Joint Unit in New Scotland Yard and the Crown Prosecution Service show that 25 individuals have been convicted under the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001. There have been no acquittals.
Figures on how many individuals have been convicted and acquitted under the Terrorism Act 2000 are published annually in the Criminal Statistics for England and Wales supplementary tables. The latest published figures are for the financial year 2001–02 and show that two individuals were convicted and two were acquitted. The Terrorism Act provides a range of important powers for the police to conduct investigation. Many of these arrested under its provisions are subsequently charged under other criminal legislation.
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Figures for 2002–03 are due to be published later this year. Figures for 2003–04 will be published when the relevant data has been collated and verified.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast-Larne Railway
Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the speed restrictions that apply to the Belfast to Larne railway line. [137667]
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Mr. Spellar: The details in the table show all the permanent speed restrictions on the Belfast/Larne line. There are currently no temporary speed restrictions on the line at this time.
Translink anticipate that once the track relay between Bleach Green Junction and Whitehead is complete and tested trains can revert to the line speed which is appropriate for track geometry for that section of line.
| Reason | Location | Mileposts | Mph |
|---|---|---|---|
| Track alignment | Lagan Junction—Donegall Quay | 113.75–114.00 | 30 |
| Track alignment | Donegall Quay—Yorkgate (Signal 217–219) | 114.00–115.00 | 45 |
| Track alignment | Donegall Quay—(to and from up loop) | 114.25–114.50 | 25 |
| Track condition | Carrickfergus—Jordanstown (up line only) | 10.00–05.25 | 30 |
| Track condition | Jordanstown—Bleach Green Junction (up line only) | 05.25–04.75 | 20 |
| Track condition | Bleach Green Junction (down line to Larne line) | 04.75–05.00 | 50 |
| Track condition | Bleach Green Junction—Jordanstown (down line only) | 05.00–05.50 | 30 |
| Track condition | Jordanstown—Trooperslane (down line only) | 05.50–07.75 | 50 |
| Track condition | Trooperslane (down line only) | 07.75–08.25 | 30 |
| Track condition | Trooperslane—Carrickfergus ( down line only) | 08.25–09.50 | 50 |
| Track condition | Carrickfergus station (down line only) | 09.50–09.75 | 30 |
| Track alignment | Kilroot—Down line to single line | 12.25–12.50 | 30 |
| Track condition | Whitehead (to and from Up Loop) | 14.25–14.50 | 15 |
| Track condition | Through Whitehead station | 14.25–14.75 | 30 |
| Track alignment | Magheramorne Curves | 19.50–20.00 | 30 |
| Track alignment | Larne Town Curves | 23.00–24.25 | 40 |
| Track alignment | Larne Town—Larne Harbour single line to Down line (through No. 940 points) | 23.75–24.00 | 20 |
Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many of the new trains and rolling stock for the Northern Ireland network will be allocated to serve on the East Antrim line between Belfast to Larne; and when these trains and rolling stock will be operational in (a) East Antrim and (b) other areas of Northern Ireland. [137668]
Mr. Spellar: Translink advise that they have set up a team to determine optimum use of the new train sets on the basis of accessibility and logistics, potential for passenger growth, current infrastructure constraints and other criteria including improvement of network integration. They will announce their intentions for the new train sets when this work is complete. It is intended that the first new train set should be in operation in mid 2004 with the remaining 22 sets coming into service progressively during the rest of 2004 and 2005.
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