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7 Jun 2004 : Column 187W—continued

Corporate Manslaughter

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to publish the draft Bill on corporate manslaughter; and if he will make a statement on the reasons for the delay in its publication. [173565]

Paul Goggins [holding answer 17 May 2004]: The Government remain firmly committed to reforming the law on corporate manslaughter. This involves complex questions that need to be resolved before we can publish proposals.

Our aim is to publish a draft Bill before the end of the current session.

Correspondence

Sir Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the hon. Member for West Worcestershire will receive a response to his letter of 2 March, reference PO3414/4. [174747]

 
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Mr. Browne [holding answer 20 May 2004]: My hon. Friend the Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) wrote to the hon. Member on 27 May.

Mr. Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to reply to the letter to him from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton dated 14 April with regard to Muhammad Rafique. [177026]

Mr. Blunkett: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 27 May 2004.

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull, North will receive a reply to his letter dated 17 February 2004 concerning Mrs. Daod Armouh. [176083]

Mr. Browne: I replied to my hon. Friend on 27 May 2004.
 
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Crime (Public Transport)

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many (a) arrests and (b) convictions have followed from crimes committed on buses in each year since 1997; [175457]

(2) how many convictions resulted from crimes committed on London Underground in each year since 1997. [175460]

Paul Goggins: The information collected centrally on arrests and court proceedings does not identify the location of where an offence took place, as the circumstances of individual offences are not collected.

Detention Centres

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) male and (b) female young offenders were held in detention centres in England and Wales on 1 May 2004. [173537]

Paul Goggins: The number of sentenced young people in Prison Service establishments, secure training centres and local authority secure children's homes at the 31 March 2004 is given in the table.
Sentenced young people at 31st March 2004

	Prison Service establishments	Secure training centres	Local authority secure children's homes
Males
Under 18	1,827	94	185
18–20(47)	6,270	0	0
Females
Under 18	39	50	41
18–20(47)	334	0	0

⁽⁴⁷⁾ Includes 21-year-olds who were aged 20 or under at conviction who have not been reclassified as part of the adult population.

Evidence Production

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance his Department issues to the police to ensure that evidence is provided to the prosecution in time for trial. [170564]

Paul Goggins: The Home Office publishes the "Manual of Guidance for the preparation, processing and submission of prosecution files". The manual is updated on a continual basis by the Manual of Guidance Editorial Board, comprising members of the Association of Chief Police Officers, the Crown Prosecution Service, (CPS) Home Office, the Cabinet Office and operational members of the prosecution team. The manual mandates how prosecution files are to be prepared and provided from the police to the CPS and takes into account at each revision any changes to legislation, policy or operational procedures.

The manual does not stipulate mandatory time scales within which the police must provide evidence to the prosecution, although the quality and timeliness of prosecution files is inherent to the processes outlined in the guidance.
 
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Firearms

Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate his Department has made of the number of authorised firearms officers available to police services in England and Wales. [176269]

Caroline Flint: The latest published statistics, which relate to 2002–03, show that there were 5,763 authorised firearms officers.

Forensic Computing Skills

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the availability of forensic computing skills in law enforcement. [176694]

Ms Blears: Each police force in England and Wales has a minimum of one data recovery officer and one network investigating officer. In addition the National Hi-Tech Centre have their own data recovery unit, with approximately 56 officers. The National Technical Assistance Centre (NTAC) provide specialist technical support to the UK law enforcement community in respect of encrypted data.

Her Majesty's Customs and Excise maintain two units, one for investigations and the Computer Audit Unit for VAT investigations.

A number of other agencies including, Inland Revenue, Ministry of Defence, Royal Mail PID, Royal Air Force, British Transport Police, the Forensic Science Service (FSS) and Trading Standards have their own capabilities.

ICT

Mr. Simon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his budget is for staff training in information and communication technology in this financial year. [173712]

Mr. Blunkett: The Home Office and its agencies (excluding non-departmental public bodies) have a total budget of £3,173,608 for staff training in information and communication technology in the financial year for 2004–05. This figure excludes the Prison Service as they have no IT specific budget allocated for training.

IT Equipment

Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how often his Department and its agencies undergo portable appliance testing of IT equipment; and what the cost was in each of the last five years. [175711]

Fiona Mactaggart [holding answer 26 May 2004]: Under the IT 2000 Services Agreement the core-Home Office obtains a full range of IT services from Fujitsu Alcedo Ltd (operating as 'Sirius'). Similarly, each of the Department's agencies have an agreement with their IT service providers. Under the terms of these Agreements, all of the IT equipment used to provide these services to the Home Office and its agencies is supported and maintained by the various IT service suppliers.
 
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As an example, the IT 2000 Agreement obliges Sirius to advise the Home Office on the frequency of electrical safety testing of portable IT equipment. Sirius's advice is that visual inspection at the time of first installation, reassessment via visual inspection at three year intervals and "combined inspection and test" (i.e. PAT testing) at five year intervals provides the appropriate assurance. However, Sirius are committed to a programme of Technology Refresh leading to the replacement of their equipment before it is five years old. On this basis, formal PAT testing of Sirius's equipment is not required and no formal programme of PAT testing for IT equipment has been conducted since the IT 2000 Agreement was signed.

Any equipment not covered by the various IT Agreements is tested under the agreements held with the various Facility Management (FM) companies responsible for the maintenance of each of the buildings concerned. However, the FM companies are responsible for all electrical equipment not covered by the IT Service Agreements and so it is impossible to separate the IT equipment from the general office equipment.

Additionally and in conjunction with the initiative to relocate the Home Office's London headquarters to 2 Marsham Street, items of IT equipment that are outside the scope of the IT 2000 Agreement are currently being identified so that they can be moved, or disposed of, appropriately. The Home Office will take this opportunity to ensure that the inspection and testing of these items is suitably up to date.

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