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EU-Africa Meeting
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the EU-Africa meeting on 1 April in Dublin; what issues were raised; what was agreed; and whether follow-up meetings are scheduled. [167186]
Mr. Straw: The EU-Africa meeting on 1 April was part of the EU-Africa dialogue process. The discussion was focussed on peace and security, governance, regional integration, trade and key development issues. The two sides agreed a joint declaration on effective multilateralism and endorsed a joint report on the scale, nature and impact of Africa's debt burden. A communiqué was issued after the meeting, copies of which have been placed in the Library of the House. The Irish Presidency of the European Union will report on this meeting at the next General Affairs and External Relations Council on 26 April. The next meeting of the EU-Africa troika at ministerial level is expected to be organised by the Netherlands in the second half of this year.
Official Residences
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which members of the (a) Government and (b) civil service are permitted to use accommodation at ambassadors' and high commissioners' official residencies when visiting overseas on (i) official and (ii) private business; and what rules and protocols govern use by (A) (a) and (b) and (B) their families. [167242]
Mr. Mike O'Brien [holding answer 22 April 2004]: For ministerial visits, a Head of Mission is normally expected to offer accommodation to a Minister and his or her Private Secretary. But local and individual circumstances will inevitably vary.
Officials and visitors on private business may be accommodated at the residence at the discretion of the Head of Mission.
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Turkey
Mr. Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with EU counterparts regarding the potential accession to the EU by Turkey. [163144]
Mr. MacShane: Both my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and I frequently raise the issue of Turkey's potential accession with EU counterparts, in bilateral and EU fora. We repeatedly affirm the UK's strong support for Turkey's EU aspirations.
The last major EU discussion of Turkish accession was at the Brussels European Council in December when the Council welcomed the considerable efforts of Turkey's political reforms and identified five areas where further sustained efforts are needed.
PRIME MINISTER
EU Constitution
Bob Spink: To ask the Prime Minister what representations he has (a) made to and (b) received from the European Commission on a referendum on the EU Constitution. [167655]
The Prime Minister: As far as I am aware, none.
Speeches
Norman Baker: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list the occasions since June 2001 when he last made a speech containing a significant section on (a) the environment and (b) terrorism-related matters. [167788]
The Prime Minister: I regularly give speeches on a wide range of domestic and international issues that cover environmental and terrorism issues. Copies of my speeches are available on the No 10 website.
HOME DEPARTMENT
CCTV (Manchester)
Mr. Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much public funding has been spent on CCTV security cameras in Manchester, Gorton since 1997. [167469]
Ms Blears: Since 1997, the Home Office has provided £3,515,685 to Manchester city council (which includes the Manchester, Gorton constituency) for CCTV schemes.
Allocation of that funding locally, is a matter for Manchester city council and the Greater Manchester police. The information is not held centrally.
Departmental Policies (Newcastle)
Mr. Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to the Newcastle East and Wallsend constituency, the effects on Newcastle East and Wallsend of his Department's policies and actions since 1997. [166877]
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Ms Blears: Most of the policies initiated by the Home Office since 1997 have had an impact on the Newcastle East and Wallsend constituency as on other parts of the country. However, it is not possible to gauge the impact of every policy and action the Home Office has initiated since 1997 on a constituency basis and statistical information relating to the constituency is not available for all Home Office policy areas. This answer sets out the information that is available for the constituency itself, or the relevant local authority and police areas for Newcastle East and Wallsend, it is not always possible to provide details back to 1997. The following are examples of initiatives or policies that have had an impact on the constituency, or an area of which the constituency is a part, together with the relevant statistics.
Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend forms part of the Northumbria police force area. On 31 March 1997 the Northumbria police force had 3,677 police officers this figure had risen to 4,048 by 31 December 2003, an increase of 371. In addition the Northumbria police force area has been allocated £330,398 to deliver 45 Community Support Officers in 2003–04.
£78,413 Basic Command Unit (BCU) funding was available to Newcastle East command in 2003–04 and used to fund police operations, publicity material and technical equipment targeting burglary to homes, vehicle crime and violent crime. Events were held on personal safety, asylum seekers and community crime awareness, and youth diversionary work was also undertaken.
In 1993, the total number of recorded crimes in the Northumbria police force area was 192,773. In 2002–03, the total number of recorded crimes was 165,496. This represents a reduction of 27,277 (a percentage decrease of 14 per cent.).
Recent change in levels of crime at BCU level are difficult to interpret because of the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) in April 2002 which increased the consistency of crime recording across the country but also inflated the number of crimes recorded by police. Northumbria police estimated that the NCRS had an impact of approximately 25 per cent. on total recorded crime from April 2002.
Home Office policy and actions since 1997 that contributed to these figures include setting up the Community Safety Partnerships, which are responsible for improving community safety, including quality of life issues such as anti-social behaviour, graffiti and the fear of crime.
The Home Office provided £352,073 Building Safer Communities funding in 2003–04 rising to £360,875 in 2004–05 to Newcastle Community Safety Partnership and £204,876 to North Tyneside Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP). Although the majority of this funding is used to benefit the area as a whole, some of the funding was targeted at specific areas, including the East End, for example Byker Street Wardens received £50,000 to create eight warden posts, one supervisor and a manager. Over 1,000 patrols have been completed and 3,629 incidents have been reported. Running costs of £5,000 have been provided for a CCTV
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van operating in Newcastle East. Funding of £10,000 has resulted in increased monitoring of the Nexus CCTV system which serves Byker, Heaton and Wallsend.
In addition, £35,000 Small Retailers in Deprived Areas funding was used to improve the security and safety of 18 retail premises in the 10 per cent. most deprived wards in Newcastle during 2003–04, and similar funding of £20,000 was made available to North Tyneside.
The Home Office has funded the Byker Advice and Information project to assist community development. This project covers the wards of Byker, Dene, Heaton, Monkchester, Sandyford, Walker and Walkergate and is entering its third (and final) year of funding. £25,009 was awarded in year 1, £26,486 in year 2 and £30,998 will be awarded this year. The project aims to assimilate a sustainable recruitment, training and development policy for local volunteers, which should increase their skill base, improve their career prospects and benefit the local community.
Drugs information relates to the areas of the Newcastle and North Tyneside Drugs Action Teams (DAT) which between them serve the constituency of Newcastle upon Tyne and Wallsend. The DATs are responsible for local delivery of the National Drug Strategy to a combined population of over 450,000 and until 1999 they operated as a single partnership. They continue to work together closely, with many users North Tyneside being treated at services based in Newcastle, e.g. Plummer Court.
Central Government funding for drug strategy delivery has increased steadily in recent years. In 2004–05 Newcastle's and North Tyneside's combined budgets for adult treatment will increase by over 7 per cent. to over £3.2 million and expenditure on young people will exceed £400,000. This investment and other Home Office funded programmes, e.g. Communities Against Drugs has resulted in:
A 64 per cent. increase in drug users having structured treatment in Newcastle between 2002–03 and 2003–04 (1,180 users). In 1999–2000 562 Newcastle based clients presented to drug services.
Approximately 460 drug users resident in North Tyneside were in treatment as at November 2003. In 1999–2000 175 North Tyneside based clients presented to drug services.
Average waiting times in Newcastle and North Tyneside reduced sharply to two weeks between 2002–03 and 2003–04 (compared to 2.3 weeks across the region). In the same period the waiting time for specialist prescribing in North Tyneside reduced from over three months to two weeks. In 1999–2000, the average waiting time in Newcastle and North Tyneside was about five weeks including 20 weeks for community prescribing in Newcastle.
A planned 15 per cent. increase to over 2,500 in available drug treatment places in Newcastle and North Tyneside in 2004–05.
Almost 1,400 drug possession offences were committed in Newcastle and North Tyneside in 2002–03. Of these, almost 820 related to Class A drugs.
A number of high profile police operations in 2003–04 including Operation Trinity which resulted in 34 arrests in East Newcastle and Wallsend and Operation Bobbin in which 1.4 million of drugs was seized in Walker.
Both DATs will also receive considerable funding from April 2004 to March 2006 to deliver the Criminal Justice Interventions Programme (CJIP, a range of schemes aimed at moving drug misusing offenders into treatment and away from drug use and crime). Newcastle will receive additional CJIP funding, having been selected a site for "intensive" delivery. Implementation of this programme will place considerable pressure on criminal justice and treatment agencies in the City but the GO Drugs Team is encouraged by the DAT's planning for delivery. The forthcoming intensive CJIP activity in Newcastle is expected to impact upon crime in neighbouring wards in North Tyneside.
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Since 3 April 2000 the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) has been responsible for administering the support provided to asylum seekers. Asylum seekers requiring accommodation will normally be housed in dispersal areas across the UK; Newcastle upon Tyne is a dispersal area. The total number of asylum seekers being supported by NASS in Newcastle East and Wallsend as at the end of December 2003 was 595, of these 585 were supported in NASS accommodation and 10 were in receipt of subsistence only support from NASS. These figures include dependants and are rounded to the nearest five. Corresponding data for earlier years is not available. Similar data for Newcastle upon Tyne local authority for earlier periods has been published in successive editions of the quarterly and annual asylum statistics published at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html