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Burglary (North Yorkshire)
20. Miss Anne McIntosh (Vale of York) (Con): To ask the Solicitor-General if she will make a statement on the rate of successful prosecution for burglary in north Yorkshire. [176009]
The Solicitor General: The conviction rate for all cases in North Yorkshire magistrates court is 98 per cent., and for all cases in the Crown Court the figure is 90 per cent. We do not have separate figures for conviction rates for burglaries in north Yorkshire.
Miss McIntosh: I have the separate figures, which show that less than 5 per cent. of burglary cases lead to successful prosecutions. In 2002–03, more than 11,000 burglaries were recorded, but fewer than 700 offenders were brought to justice, which is defined as a successful prosecution. The figure is very low, and I wonder what is going wrong and what damage is being caused to the morale of North Yorkshire police, which brings cases to trial, where the offenders are not successfully prosecuted.
The Solicitor General:
In north Yorkshire, the police, prosecutors, courts and other agencies are working together to try to reduce the gap between the number of
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offences committed and the number of offenders brought to justice. That is happening locally as well as throughout north Yorkshire in general. As the hon. Lady will be aware, there has been a fall in the number of burglaries. The latest information shows that the number of domestic burglaries in north Yorkshire has fallen and that there has been an increase in the number of arrests. It is preferable that burglaries should be deterred, but if they happen, we must ensure that they are detected—that is a major issue—and that people are effectively prosecuted when brought to court. The police and the CPS are working together on that and making some progress.
Government Counsel
21. Mr. Gordon Prentice (Pendle) (Lab): What criteria she uses to select counsel to represent the Government in court. [176011]
The Solicitor General: The selection criteria for counsel to represent the Government include experience in advocacy and advice, quality of written work, academic strength and references.
Mr. Prentice : I thank my right hon. and learned Friend for that answer, but is there any kind of performance monitoring of Treasury counsel—not only for those who represent the Government in court, but for those who represent them in inquiries? For example, was Jonathan Sumption, who represented the Government during the Hutton inquiry, told whether he did a good or bad job? What kind of feedback did he get?
The Solicitor General: I cannot comment on that specific case, but continuous monitoring and feedback happens for important cases. The panel is reviewed, so that people do not stay on it for life. People's performance is reviewed to determine whether they will stay on the panel of counsel to be instructed by the Government.
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Business of the House
12.31 pm
Mr. Oliver Heald (North-East Hertfordshire) (Con): Will the Leader of the House give us the business for the week after the recess?
The Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. Peter Hain): The business for the week after the Whitsun recess will be as follows:
Monday 7 June—Second Reading of the Patents Bill [Lords], followed by a motion to approve the Third Report of the Procedure Committee on joint activities with the National Assembly for Wales, followed by a motion to amend the Standing Orders in relation to the nomination of Select Committees.
Tuesday 8 June—Remaining stages of the Age Related Payments Bill, followed by a debate on the "Future of Air Transport" White Paper on a motion for the Adjournment of the House.
Wednesday 9 June—A debate on veterans' affairs on a motion for the Adjournment of the House.
Thursday 10 June—A debate on disability on a motion for the Adjournment of the House.
Friday 11 June—The House will not be sitting.
The provisional business for the following week will be:
Monday 14 June—Second Reading of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Bill [Lords].
Tuesday 15 June—Opposition half-day [10th Allotted Day] (Part Two). There will be half-day debate on an Opposition motion, subject to be announced, followed by a motion to approve European documents relating to the financial perspective and to the structural and cohesion funds.
Wednesday 16 June—A debate on European affairs on a motion for the Adjournment of the House.
Thursday 17 June—Remaining stages of the Human Tissue Bill.
Friday 18 June—Private Members' Bills.
Mr. Speaker, I wish you and all members of staff of the House, on whom we so gratefully rely, a happy break.
Mr. Speaker: Order. Before I call the hon. Gentleman, may I say to the House that questions must be put about the business after next week? I shall be very strict on that and will not allow questions on any matter other than that. I remind hon. Members that there will be an Adjournment debate later during which matters may be raised of any Back Benchers' choosing.
Mr. Heald: I thank the Leader of the House for giving us the business. May I associate my right hon. and hon. Friends with his remarks about the staff of the House and his best wishes to you, Mr. Speaker?
Can the Leader of the House give us any indication of when the debates promised by the Foreign Secretary on Zimbabwe and Iraq will take place?
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The Leader of the House will have seen reports of the ruling in the Belfast Crown court that the Real IRA is not a proscribed group under the Terrorism Act 2000; that means that it is not an offence to be a member of that organisation. Is not that a blunder by the Lord Chancellor, who gave clear assurances to the contrary? When the Terrorism Bill was in Committee, he said:
"the organisation must be a proscribed organisation under Schedule 2 to the Bill. Under Schedule 2, the Irish Republican Army will include the Provisional IRA, the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA."—[Official Report, House of Lords, 6 June 2000; Vol. 613, c. 1064.]
We want that matter rectified rapidly. Will the Leader of the House promise us an early Bill? I assure him that he will have our full support.
As the business in the week after we come back is somewhat slight, can the Leader of the House fit in a short debate entitled, "The mystery of the missing men from the Ministry"? Figures published this week show an annual rise of 88,000 in public sector employment in education, yet the Department for Education and Skills website claims that the number of teachers has risen by only 4,000. Who are the other 84,000? Can we have an assurance that they are not yet more bureaucrats?
Turning to the D-day commemorations, the Leader of the House will know that there is to be a written statement today and that many veterans are concerned about the arrangements for them to attend the march-past. Apparently, there are considerable transport difficulties. Does he agree that had there been such difficulties 60 years ago, we would never have won the war? What is he going to do about it and can we have an oral statement?
The Leader of the House knows that, by and large, we prefer oral statements to written statements, but could not the titles of written statements be more informative? I notice today, for example, that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is going to tell us all about "Dealing with the past." It would be much more helpful if he could tell us exactly what his statement was about.
Mr. Hain: I will certainly bear in mind what the hon. Gentleman says about statement titles, as will, I am sure, all my colleagues in the Cabinet and in the Government.
On Zimbabwe, I can promise the hon. Gentleman that a debate will be notified as soon as we have had discussions through the usual channels, including on the availability of the Foreign Secretary. We intend to have a debate on Iraq when the opportunity is right to do so. As the hon. Gentleman will be aware, the Defence Secretary is to make a statement to the House this afternoon. The hon. Gentleman asked for that last week, and it is being served up for the House. I am sure that he will welcome that.
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