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HOME DEPARTMENT

Animal Welfare

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to introduce a ban on animal testing in connection with (a) household cleaning products and (b) ingredients used in household cleaning products; and if he will make a statement. [165437]

Caroline Flint: The Government currently have no plans to introduce a ban on the use of animals in assessing the safety of household cleaning products and their ingredients.

National and international regularly bodies require that the chemical ingredients used in a range of household products should be tested to assess the risk they might pose to man (both the workforce and consumers) and the environment. Under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 such testing using animals can only be licensed when the information to be obtained is considered essential to the required risk
 
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assessment, and when it cannot be obtained by non-animal methods. Unfortunately there are in some cases still no reliable alternatives to this kind of animal testing if the necessary safety data is to be generated.

Credit Card Fraud

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how much he estimates businesses have lost through credit card fraud committed (a) in general transactions, (b) over the internet and (c) over the telephone in each year since 1990; [164842]

(2) what police help is offered to businesses who are victims of fraud of less than £500,000; and whether the police are obliged to take action in the case of fraud involving less than £500,000; [164843]

(3) what action his Department is taking to combat and prevent credit card fraud committed over the internet; [164844]

(4) if he will introduce a national initiative on internet and credit card fraud to increase awareness amongst the police and the general public about combating fraud; [164845]

(5) what support his Department is offering to businesses who are repeatedly targeted by fraudulent use of credit cards over the internet. [164846]

Ms Blears: The Government do not collect figures on the cost of credit card fraud. The Association for Payment Clearing Services (APACS) has estimated the total cost of losses due to credit card fraud (as reported by card issuers) over the last 10 years as:

	£ million
1994	96.8
1995	83.3
1996	97.1
1997	122.0
1998	135.0
1999	188.4
2000	317
2001	411.5
2002	424.6
2003	402.4

(Specific figures for costs to businesses are not available)

The decision on whether and how to investigate alleged criminal offences is an operational matter for the relevant chief officer of police. The decision will take account of national and local policing priorities as well as the resources available.

We have recently boosted the resources available to police to tackle fraud. In the recent Green Paper on "Policing, Building Safer Communities Together", we signalled our intention that some forces should develop expertise in certain specialist types of investigation and play a lead role in those areas. The City of London Police will become the first such lead force tackling fraud. The Home Office and the Corporation of London have each agreed to contribute £1 million per year towards the cost of an expanded City of London Police fraud squad. The Home Office will also meet capital start-up costs of the new unit.
 
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This arrangement will allow the City of London Police to significantly expand its fraud squad enabling it to take a lead role in the investigation of fraud in London and the south east. We will need to assess the additional achievements that result from providing these new arrangements before considering any further additional funding.

In October 2003 the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU), APACS (the Association for Payment Clearing Services) and the BBA (British Bankers' Association) issued a checklist for UK consumers to help protect themselves against the Internet fraudster. The Home Office has also recently launched a website to combat internet fraud. The 'e-tailing mini site' forms part of the Crime Reduction website and provides information to help both businesses and consumers protect themselves when using the internet.

The Home Office is also represented on an APACS led Steering Group which aims to tackle 'Card Not Present' (CNP) fraud. This includes fraud over the internet. We support practical measures being introduced by the industry to increase levels of security for internet transactions. These include Address Verification Services (AVS), Card Security Code (CSC), Mastercard Secure Code and Verified by Visa. There is also a manual ("Spot & Stop Card Fraud Retailer Pack") resulting from the CNP Steering Group's Work which aims to educate merchants on the dangers of CNP fraud and the steps which can be taken to prevent it.

We are about to publish, jointly with APACS, a leaflet for members of the public to raise awareness about safe credit card use. The leaflet will include a section on using cards safely over the internet. Supplies of the leaflet are being sent to all police forces in England and Wales.

The Home Office does not operate any specific support schemes for repeat victims of credit card fraud, however the schemes outlined above to tackle CNP fraud are already making a significant impact in preventing this type of fraud.

Crime (Humberside)

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on crime trends within the Humberside police authority area. [165037]

Ms Blears: There were 132,734 offences recorded in the Humberside police force area in 2002–03 which was an increase over the previous year. However, figures were affected by the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) which Humberside adopted in April 2002. For total crime in this force, the Home Office estimated the NCRS had a 9 per cent. impact for 2002–03.

NCRS was introduced across England and Wales in April 2002. Broadly, the NCRS had the effect of increasing the number of crimes recorded by the police. Therefore, following the introduction of the Standard, numbers of recorded crimes are not directly comparable with previous years.
 
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The table gives a quarterly breakdown of the most recently published statistics. It is an extract from the new Home Office website: www.crimestatistics.org.uk
Recorded offences in the Humberside police force area 2002–03

Month	Total number of offences	Offences per 1,000 population
April to June 2002	31,284	36.0
July to September 2002	29,854	34.4
October to December 2002	33,567	38.6
January to March 2003	38,029	43.8

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many burglaries per 1,000 households there have been in the Humberside police authority area in each year since 1999; and what the detection rate for burglaries in homes was. [165046]

Ms Blears: The available information is given in the table.
Burglary in a dwelling in the Humberside police force area

	Number of burglaries in a dwelling per 1,000 households	Detection rate for burglary in a dwelling (percentage)
1999–2000	n/a	10
2000–01	n/a	11
2001–02	32	10
2002–03(112)	33	11

n/a = Not available.

Forensic Science Service

Mr. Pound: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the savings that would result from the privatisation of the Forensic Science Service in England and Wales in (a) 2004–05, (b) 2005–06 and (c) 2006–07. [165521]

Ms Blears: It is not intended to privatise the Forensic Science Service, but to develop it as a public private partnership (PPP).

Work is under way to prepare an outline business case that will include a financial analysis of the impact of the proposed change in status.
 
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Mr. Pound: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with the Forensic Science Service in respect of the applications by (a) Turkey and (b) Croatia to join the European Network of Forensic Science Services. [165522]

Ms Blears: Turkey and Croatia are already members of the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes. No discussions have taken place between the Secretary of State for the Home Department and the Forensic Science Service regarding the applications by Turkey and Croatia to join the European Network of Forensic Scientists

Mr. Pound: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with the European Network of Forensic Science services in connection with the possible privatisation of forensic science services in England and Wales. [165523]

Ms Blears: It is not intended to privatise the Forensic Science Service (FSS), but to develop it as a public private partnership (PPP).

Informational discussions between Home Office officials and the chair designate and secretariat of the European Network of Forensic Sciences Institutes (ENFSI) about the future status of the FSS took place in November 2003.

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