House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 16 Mar 2004 (pt 10)

16 Mar 2004 : Column 185W—continued

Holocaust Memorial Day

Mrs. Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consultations his Department has held with the Department for Education and Skills on future production of education materials for Holocaust Memorial Day. [160643]

Fiona Mactaggart [holding answer 11 March 2004]: Officials from the Departments have a close working relationship around all aspects of Holocaust Memorial Day and have discussed the future production of educational materials.

The Department for Education and Skills will be producing education resources in support of Holocaust Memorial Day 2005. Both the Home Office and the Department for Education and Skills will continue to support fully the aims and objectives of Holocaust Memorial Day.

Identity Cards

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what estimate he has made of the cost of providing (a) mobile and (b) fixed local reader systems for national identity cards; [160452]

Beverley Hughes: The cost assumptions and cost estimates which have been used in the preparation of the Home Office's business case have not been placed in the public domain for reasons of commercial confidentiality. These estimates are based on extensive research and consultation with stakeholders both within and outside Government, and will be the subject of further refinement as the programme progresses.

Biometric checks known as quick checks are used to search an individual's fingerprint against the Immigration Asylum Fingerprint System (IAFS) in order to identify if that individual is known to the

16 Mar 2004 : Column 186W

Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND). Quick checks searches can be conducted by immigration officers anywhere and a result known within three minutes.

There are around 300 quick checks facilities within the Immigration Service including local enforcement offices around the country. Approximately 20 quick checks facilities have been placed in police stations to check identities of suspects if the Police think IND may have an interest in them.

Quick checks have also been used in a pilot visa application process in Sri Lanka, which is now being repeated in several east African countries in order to collect fingerprints of individuals requesting visas. These data are held on IAFS.

Some police forces use readers to check fingerprints in joint working with the Immigration Service. Finger print readers will also be used by Northamptonshire police in a pilot later this year involving automated number plate recognition. When there is some reason to stop a particular vehicle the fingerprints of the driver, and passengers, can be taken and checked.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how long it will take to register an individual for a national identity card. [159757]

Beverley Hughes: The Home Office is working on designing a process which enables an individual to be registered in a convenient and timely manner. However, it is too early at present to specify the exact registration times that will be taken. Projects such as the UK Passport Service biometric trial will help to inform the estimates of the registration time.

Mr. Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of how DNA information might be used alongside other biometric data when identity cards are introduced. [161223]

Beverley Hughes: DNA has well-known applications in identification of people in a law enforcement context and is both universal and able to discriminate among a very large number of individuals. However, the requirements of an identity card scheme are for high-volume, real-time identity verification and so DNA would be unsuitable because of the specialist expertise and length of time needed in taking and analysing samples.

Internet Child Pornography

Ms Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of whether a hard drive amnesty should be introduced for people who have child pornography downloaded on their systems, in return for a caution and agreement that they undertake a course of treatment. [159482]

Paul Goggins: We have no plans to take forward such an amnesty.

Ms Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance he has issued to the (a) police and (b) Crown Prosecution Service on the investigation of individuals suspected of (i) making and (ii) possessing illegal images of children. [159483]

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Paul Goggins: The criminal offences relating to taking, making distributing and possessing indecent photographs of children are contained in the Protection of Children Act 1978, as amended, and no central guidance has been issued.

However, section 46 of the sexual Offences Act 2003 provides a defence to a charge of "making" indecent photographs of children under section 1 of the 1978 Act, and we are working with representatives of the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Crown Prosecution Service on a Memorandum of Understanding concerning its interpretation. This will provide guidance to those working in the field on the issues that need to be considered in determining whether acts of "making" fall within the scope of the defence. We have consulted bodies representing internet service providers and other interested parties on the content of the document. It is intended that the final document will be published on the Crown Prosecution Service website when the Sexual Offences Act comes into force.

Judicial Responsibility

Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the extent of his responsibility for (a) magistrates and (b) district judges. [159298]

Paul Goggins: Responsibility for magistrates and district judges rests with the Department for Constitutional Affairs. The Home Office has certain responsibilities in relation to magistrates courts, including the legislation governing the procedures and sentencing powers of those courts.

Justice and Home Affairs Council

Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many meetings of the Justice and Home Affairs Council he has attended since being appointed Secretary of State for the Home Department. [156487]

Paul Goggins [holding answer 1 March 2004]: Eight.

Police Officers (Early Retirement)

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers have retired early owing to ill-health in each year since 1997. [151416]

Ms Blears [pursuant to her reply, 28 January 2004, Official Report, c. 444W]: The information that was given in the answer was not accurate due to an administrative error; the correct version of the answer is as follows: The requested figures, including the figure for 2002–03 published by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary last year, are given in the table.

Medical Retirements

1996–97 2,012

1997–98 1,811

1998–99 1,642

1990–2000 1,232

2000–01 1,209

2001–02 1,114

2002–03 821

	Medical Retirements
1996–97	2,012
1997–98	1,811
1998–99	1,642
1990–2000	1,232
2000–01	1,209
2001–02	1,114
2002–03	821

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Prisoners

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what the average proportion of prisoners who were (a) illiterate and (b) innumerate on (i) entering and (ii) leaving prison was in each year since 1997; [158733]

(2) what the average proportion of young offenders who were (a) illiterate and (b) innumerate on (i) entering and (ii) leaving young offenders institutions was in each year since 1997. [158735]

Paul Goggins: The following table shows the proportion of young offenders and other prisoners assessed on reception into prison as having literacy and numeracy skills at or below level 1.

Percentage at or below level 1

Literacy Numeracy

2002–03

Young offenders 81.7 78.1

Prisoners⁽²⁾ 69.9 70.7

2001–02

Young offenders 78.1 72.9

Prisoners⁽²⁾ 73.9 67.2

2000–01

Young offenders 72.7 75.0

Prisoners 61.6 65.5

1999–2000

Young offenders 72.0 80.8

Prisoners 74.3 64.0

1998–99

Young offenders 70.0 77.6

Prisoners 68.5 66.4

1997–98

Young offenders 68.5 82.4

Prisoners 55.9 66.8

	Percentage at or below level 1
	Literacy	Numeracy
2002–03
Young offenders	81.7	78.1
Prisoners⁽²⁾	69.9	70.7

2001–02
Young offenders	78.1	72.9
Prisoners⁽²⁾	73.9	67.2

2000–01
Young offenders	72.7	75.0
Prisoners	61.6	65.5

1999–2000
Young offenders	72.0	80.8
Prisoners	74.3	64.0

1998–99
Young offenders	70.0	77.6
Prisoners	68.5	66.4

1997–98
Young offenders	68.5	82.4
Prisoners	55.9	66.8

The Prison Service does not currently have systems for tracking individual prisoner progress. The following table sets out prisoner achievement against our literacy and numeracy targets since 2000–01.

Target Achievement

2000–01 14,500 (level 2) 12,500 (86%)

2001–02 18,000 (level 2) 16,000

2002–03 28,800 (all levels) 41,518 (144%)

Of which:

6,000 (entry) 9,120

12,000 (level 1) 17,208

10,800 (level 2) 15,190

2003–04⁽²⁾ 36,676 (all levels) 38,464 (105%)

Of which:

8,1 17 (entry) 11,223

14,501 (level 1) 15,694

14,058 (level 2) 11,547

2004–05 60,000 (all levels)

	Target	Achievement
2000–01	14,500 (level 2)	12,500 (86%)
2001–02	18,000 (level 2)	16,000
2002–03	28,800 (all levels)	41,518 (144%)
Of which:
	6,000 (entry)	9,120
	12,000 (level 1)	17,208
	10,800 (level 2)	15,190

2003–04⁽²⁾	36,676 (all levels)	38,464 (105%)
Of which:
	8,1 17 (entry)	11,223
	14,501 (level 1)	15,694
	14,058 (level 2)	11,547

2004–05	60,000 (all levels)

⁽²⁾ To January 2004.

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