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3 Feb 2004 : Column 807W—continued
Police Reform
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the results of the consultation exercise on police reform launched on 4 November 2003 will be available. [150184]
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Ms Blears: The results of the initial consultation exercise on police reform will be made available as soon as possible after the end of the consultation period on 27 January 2004. However, consultation on police reform will be an on-going process and will continue beyond this date. The responses received will be used to develop the reform agenda and we will consult on more detailed options for reform later in 2004.
Rural Policing
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what areas in Lancashire meet the requirement for the Rural Policing Fund. [151268]
Ms Blears: The Rural Policing Fund is allocated to police authorities on the basis of population and a measure of sparsity of population. The sparsity measure is calculated at Census enumeration district level, aggregated for the whole authority area. The police authority area as a whole rather than particular parts, qualifies for allocation from the Fund.
Sexual Offences
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police forces have dedicated anti-paedophile units; and how many officers are working in those units. [151420]
Paul Goggins: Every chief officer of police has dedicated staff and resources to tackling sexual offending against children and child pornography. Separate anti-paedophile units are one way for police forces to organise operations against those who sexually abuse children. However, in some forces officers work within different structures, such as child protection teams, intelligence units or public protection units. Information on the approach adopted by each police force is not held centrally.
In all cases, forces will be supported by the specialised teams working on this issue in the National Criminal Intelligence Service and the National Crime Squad.There is no central record held of the numbers of officers currently engaged in work on the specific issue of child sexual abuse.
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what additional resources have been made available to police forces to facilitate the investigation and prosecution of offenders under section 15 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. [151421]
Paul Goggins: The investigation and prosecution of offenders under section 15 of the Sexual Offences Act will be undertaken within existing resources. Whilst the offence is designed to allow earlier intervention than is possible under the current law, that is, before a child is sexually abused, the investigation of grooming of children for sexual motives is not a new area of responsibility for the police.
Statutory Sick Pay
Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people employed in his Department have claimed statutory sick pay for (a) less
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than one week, (b) one to three weeks, (c) four to six weeks, (d) seven to 12 weeks, (e) 13 to 20 weeks and (f) 21 to 28 weeks in each year since 1997. [148623]
Fiona Mactaggart: Please see the figures given in the following table, which relate to staff in central Home Office plus Immigration and Nationality Directorate
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and cover approximately 20,000 staff. The details have been broken down by tax year (6 April to 5 April) with the exception of the current tax year, for which data has been supplied up to 31 January 2004. The Home Office pays Statutory Sick Pay over five days, Monday to Friday. A week has therefore been classed as five days.
| Staff total for 1 April at end offinancial year(9) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tax year | Less than5 days | 5 to15 days | 16 to30 days | 31 to60 days | 61 to100 days | More than 101 days | Totalcases | Stafftotals | Cases of sickness divided by staff levels | |
| 1997 to 1998 | 1,101 | 639 | 235 | 172 | 75 | 71 | 2,293 | 8,070 | 3.52 | |
| 1998 to 1999 | 1,199 | 772 | 259 | 199 | 82 | 71 | 2,582 | 7,710 | 2.99 | |
| 1999 to 2000 | 1,380 | 858 | 299 | 177 | 96 | 112 | 2,922 | 9,270 | 3.17 | |
| 2000 to 2001 | 1,643 | 1,069 | 365 | 220 | 110 | 159 | 3,566 | 13,020 | 3.65 | |
| 2001 to 2002 | 1,763 | 1,147 | 416 | 295 | 143 | 196 | 3,960 | 13,550 | 3.42 | |
| 2002 to 2003 | 2,063 | 1,310 | 501 | 376 | 198 | 211 | 4,659 | 16,157 | 3.47 | |
| 2003 to January 2004 | 1,827 | 1,094 | 379 | 325 | 185 | 147 | 3,957 | 17,968 | — | |
(9) FTE of permanent staff, core Home Office including IND but not Prison Service or agencies.
Source:
Civil Service statistics for staff totals up to year 2002; after that, provisional figures taken from Home Office PIMMS staff database.
Victim Support (Data Protection)
Dr. Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance his Department has issued to chief constables in England regarding the disclosure of names and contact details of victims of crime to victim support charities following recent data protection legislation. [150997]
Ms Blears: Guidance regarding the arrangements for referring the contact details of victims of crime to Victim Support by police forces was issued in Home Office Circular 44/2001 of 3 October 2001. This guidance was developed following extensive consultation with the Association of Chief Police Officers, Victim Support and the Information Commissioner. It takes into account the requirements of the data protection legislation.
Violent Crime (West Mercia)
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many violent crimes against people were committed in each year since 1997 in West Mercia. [151360]
Ms Blears: The available information is given in the following table.
| Offences recorded | |
|---|---|
| 1997(11) | 4,213 |
| 1998–99(12) | 7,964 |
| 1999–2000 | 9,157 |
| 2000–01 | 8,765 |
| 2001–02(13) | 18,440 |
| 2002–03 | 21,499 |
(10) In accordance with Home Office Counting Rules for Recorded crime, violent crime comprises offences of violence against the person, sexual offences and robbery.
(11) Crimes were recorded on a calendar year basis until 1997, and on a financial year basis thereafter.
(12) The number of crimes recorded in that financial year using the expanded offence coverage and revised counting rules which came into effect on 1 April 1998.
(13) West Mercia Police implemented the principles of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) on 1 April 2001, which was a year earlier than the official introduction across England and Wales on 1 April 2002. Broadly, the NCRS had the effect of increasing the number of crimes recorded by the police, with violent crime in particular being affected. Therefore, following the introduction of the Standard, numbers of recorded crimes are not comparable with previous years.
CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT
BBC Charter
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the budget is for implementing the young people's version of the BBC Charter Review consultation; and if she will make a statement. [152396]
Tessa Jowell [holding answer 2 February 2004]: There is no separate budget for consultation of children and young people. The current consultation stage is expected to cost around £325,000 (not including staff costs) and part of this will provide for events, currently being planned, for children and young people.
The consultation was translated by the Children's Rights Alliance for England at no cost to the Department. Graphic design of the accompanying leaflet and an initial print run of 5,000 copies cost a total of £2,454.
We are publicising this consultation via existing relationships, as well as with around 150 organisations with an interest in increasing young people's participation in decision-making. The consultation will also be publicised in the DfES publication, Spectrum, which is distributed to schools.
Licensing
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) whether her Department encourages staged closing times for (a) pubs and (b) clubs in England and Wales; [151984]
- (2) what discussions her Department has had with the Home Office regarding the public order implications of a standard closing time for pubs in city centres in England and Wales. [151985]
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Mr. Caborn: Current closing times are matters of legislation and extensions of these hours are matters for consideration by licensing justices under that legislation, on a case by case basis.
The Licensing Act 2003 will, when it is brought into force, allow applicants for premises licences or club premises certificates to state in their application, to the relevant licensing authority, what hours they wish to be authorized to carry out licensable activities and to stay open to the public (these times may be different). Where there are representations, relating to the licensing objectives, from interested parties or responsible authorities about opening hours the licensing authority will, in most cases, have to hold a hearing in order to decide what the opening hours should be. These decisions will be taken on a case by case basis. The 2003 Act does not require and the Guidance, to be issued by the Secretary of State under section 182 of the Licensing Act 2003 (which will be subject to parliamentary approval), will not promote staged closing times. The Licensing Act 2003 was not designed to replace the peaks of disorder and anti-social behaviour, which currently occur at fixed closing times, with a series of smaller peaks. On the contrary, our aim is to promote, in areas where it is appropriate, generally later (but not standard) closing times for pubs and clubs, which will allow customers to disperse gradually over a longer period. We consider, for these reasons, that the 2003 Act will reduce the concentrations of people leaving premises at the same time and queuing for public transport and fast food, which can lead to disorder under the present system.
The policy underpinning the Licensing Act 2003 was originally developed in the Home Office and, since the policy responsibility was transferred to my Department in June 2001, we have continued to work closely with the Home Office on all aspects of the prevention of crime and disorder that arise in the context of licensing law.
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