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Homicide Law

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the research conducted by the Law Commission into the deficiencies in the English law of homicide. [159709]

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Paul Goggins: There are two recent pieces of work which the Law Commission have undertaken on the law of homicide. The first, published in September 2003, was entitled "Children: Their non-accidental death or serious injury (criminal trials)" (no 282). The research the Law Commission drew on in undertaking this work is set out in their report. We have built on the Law Commission's proposals in formulating the offence of causing or allowing the death of a child in the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victim's Bill currently before Parliament, and the accompanying procedural measures.

The Commission have also begun work on the partial defences to murder, which reduce the charge of murder to that of manslaughter. They published a consultation document in October 2003 which sets out in more detail the research they have or will be undertaking on this. The consultation period closed at the end of January. We understand the Commission received a very large number of responses which they are considering and analysing. They are due to report in early summer and we await their conclusions with interest.

Huntingdon Life Sciences

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consideration was given, and by whom, to the ethical aspect of allowing dogs to be used for the testing of the effects of HCFCs at the Huntingdon Life Sciences Laboratory before a licence was granted for this procedure. [159795]

Caroline Flint [holding answer 8 March 2004]: Dogs are among the species specially protected by the Animals Scientific Procedures Act 1986, in that they can only be used in scientific studies when no other species are suitable or available. Their use in the study in question was to collect safety data about a chemical compound still in use.

Initial consideration of the choice of species for the study, taking account of ethical and scientific considerations, was undertaken by those concerned at the establishment when preparing their application for the necessary project licence authorities under the 1986 Act. The special case for using dogs had to be made out at that stage.

The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Inspectorate provided a professional assessment of the application, and was satisfied that the use of dogs was justified and that there was no acceptable alternative. The Inspectorate was also satisfied that the other statutory criteria for granting the requested authorities had been met. In particular, the testing was for a permissible purpose, its likely benefit was deemed to outweigh the expected animal welfare costs, and the animal suffering was to be minimised consistent with achieving the scientific purpose.

Home Office officials acting on behalf of the Secretary of State considered and accepted the Inspectorate's recommendation that the licence authorities should be granted.

Identity Cards

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) civil servants in his Department, (b) civil servants in other Departments

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and (c) external consultants are employed in taking forward his proposals for (i) identity cards, (ii) the National Identity Register and (iii) the draft identity cards legislation. [161786]

Beverley Hughes: The work on identity cards, the National Identity Register, and the draft identity cards legislation is carried out within the Identity Cards Programme. We currently have 23 civil servants and three full-time secondees, who are not established civil servants, working on the programme. Civil servants in other Departments contribute to the programme alongside their other duties but none are dedicated to this role.

We also have six external part-time consultants currently contracted to provide specialised advice on particular parts of the programme.

Internet Child Pornography

Ms Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of individuals suspected of (a) making and (b) possessing internet child pornography due to investigations carried out under Operation Ore have been (i) cautioned, (ii) prosecuted and (iii) convicted. [159485]

Paul Goggins: I understand that of approximately 6,000 suspects being investigated under Operation Ore, to date there have been 1,202 individuals charged and 655 convicted. There are no centrally aggregated figures available for the number of cautions.

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action his Department is taking to tackle the pornographic exploitation of children on the internet. [161334]

Paul Goggins: The Government is determined to reduce availability of child pornography on the internet and to deal with those people who use such images. Within the Task Force on Child Protection on the Internet we work with partners in industry, the law enforcement agencies and children's charities in order to improve technical and legal methods of addressing this problem as well as promote public awareness. We are also working with our international partners in the G8 and the ED to the same end. Achievements so far include increased police resources, higher criminal penalties for use of and trading in indecent photographs of children, and new offences in the Sexual Offences Act 2003 dealing with people who act so as to involve children in pornography. Additionally, the National Crime Squad of England and Wales have embarked on a global initiative with partner countries currently comprising Canada, USA and Australia, as well as Interpol, to establish new ways of combating and reducing child abuse on line.

Legislation

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list by clause the provisions enacted in legislation sponsored by his Department since 1997 which have not been implemented. [158464]

Mr. Blunkett: The table, which has been placed in the Library, lists the bills introduced by the Home Office in the sessions 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–2001

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and 2001–2002. The table indicates the extent to which provisions are not in force or only partially in force. Last session's bills are not included as the session only ended in November 2003.

We have now implemented over 94 per cent. of the legislation passed in these sessions.

In some cases provisions have been repealed and replaced by later legislation and improved measures such as those now in the Anti-Social Behaviour Act. In some cases legislation has been updated following representations from Parliament for example from the Home Affairs Select Committee and others.

Misuse of Computers Act

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what estimate he has made of the financial cost to (a) the UK and (b) the regions of the misuse of information technology systems in the last 12 months; [162416]

(2) what steps he is taking to reduce the incidence of misuse of information technology systems; and if he will make a statement. [162417]

Caroline Flint: There are no centrally aggregated figures of the financial cost to either the UK or the regions resulting from the misuse of information technology. There are a number of surveys and reports which seek to provide an estimate of the financial cost of such incidences, although these surveys are usually limited to a small sample of businesses and provide mainly subjective assumptions of financial loss. The government e-crime strategy will seek to bring together existing information in this area and consider the next steps to providing an accurate picture of the harm caused by computer related offences.

There are a variety of measures which the government is taking to reduce the criminal misuse of computer systems.

We have set up the National Hi Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) as part of the National Crime Squad to combat national and transnational hi-tech crime within or which impacts upon the UK. The Unit, together with the specialist units within local forces which also deal with hi-tech crime investigations, have established good international links with overseas industry and law enforcement, necessary to follow the evidence trail to discover and prosecute the perpetrators of offences committed against computer systems or facilitated by the misuse of technology.

We continue to keep all legislation which pertains to offences which can be committed by utilising information technology under review to ensure that developments in technology do not prevent law enforcement from being able to use legislative provisions to effectively investigate and prosecute computer related offences.

The government e-crime strategy currently being developed will look to provide a framework for Government, law enforcement and industry action in response to all crimes which can be committed through the misuse of technology. It will outline current legislation, policy and practice, as well as advancing and informing the debate on longer-term issues.

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