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23 Jun 2004 : Column 1411W—continued

Tax Credits

Mr. Tynan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many payments have been made in respect of (a) unnecessary worry and distress and (b) postage and telephone expenses in respect of tax credits in each of the last three years; what the total value of these payments was in each of the last three years; and what proportion of these (i) have been and (ii) will be reclaimed from companies providing services or support to the Inland Revenue where a problem with the services or support necessitated the compensatory or special payment. [178603]

Dawn Primarolo: Information in the form requested is not available.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Credit Card Fraud

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the estimated cost of credit card fraud in the UK was in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [179523]

Ms Blears: The Government do not collect figures on the cost of credit card fraud but the Association for Payment Clearing Services (APACS) estimates the cost of all plastic card fraud in 2003 to have been £402.4 million, a decrease of 5 per cent. over the previous year.

Antisocial Behaviour Orders

Ms Atherton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many antisocial behaviour orders have been imposed in (a) Carrick District and (b) Kerrier District. [179268]

Ms Blears: Antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) have been available to the courts since 1 April 1999. From commencement, up to 31 December 2003 (latest available), the Home Office has been notified of one ASBO being issued within the Carrick District and none within the Kerrier District.

British Consul (Bucharest)

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when Ministers in his Department were informed of the suspension of the British Consul in Bucharest. [166553]

Mr. Browne: Ministers were informed on the 24 March that the Consul in Bucharest had been suspended after admitting having sent anonymous emails to the leader of the Opposition. In the
 
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information provided to Ministers at that time no detail was provided of the content of the emails and no connection was drawn between this and previous contact between the Consul and the Immigration and Nationality Directorate

Burma

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will prevent British counter-terrorism experts advising Burmese trainees at the new counter-terrorism centre in Semarang, Indonesia. [178839]

Mr. MacShane: I have been asked to reply.

At the Bali Ministerial conference in February 2004, the UK offered to provide counter-terrorism assistance to South East Asian countries through the Jakarta Centre for Law Enforcement Cooperation at Semarang. However, British counter-terrorism experts will not advise Burmese trainees at the centre.

Commission for Racial Equality

Mr. Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many organisations applied for funding from the Commission for Racial Equality under the Getting Results Scheme; how many applications were successful; when the Commission for Racial Equality and the Home Office agreed which organisations would receive funds; and for what reasons organisations whose applications were unsuccessful were not informed until 10 May. [173778]

Fiona Mactaggart [holding answer 17 May 2004]: The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) received 196 applications for consideration under its Getting Results programme; 93 of these were successful, which is five more than last year.

In accordance with section 44 of the Race Relations Act, the CRE is responsible for setting the criteria for its grant programme, and for deciding which applications meet those criteria; the Home Office approves the overall level of funding.

Applicants for section 44 funding were informed of the outcome of their applications on 6 May. Prior to this the Commission for Racial Equality and the Home Office worked together to agree this year's delegated budget and the CRE assessed the large pool of applications it had received in accordance with its criteria.

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions he has had with the Chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality about the new equality proposals. [178780]

Fiona Mactaggart: I meet the chairman of the Commission of Racial Equality regularly and discuss a range of issues with him, including the new equality proposals.

Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships

Mr. Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crime and disorder reduction partnerships there are; and what assessment he has made of their effectiveness in combating crime. [179431]


 
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Ms Blears: There are 354 Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) in England and 22 Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) in Wales. These partnerships bring together a wide range of key agencies that are engaged in tackling crime and disorder, misuse of drugs and anti-social behaviour. Information from a variety of partnership sources including recorded crime statistics and other police and local authority data, is used to assess the impact of partnerships in reducing crime.

We are developing an integrated performance management framework for the crime reduction and misuse of drugs agendas which will allow us to agree with each Government Office in the regions (GO) and the Welsh Assembly clear targets for the performance of partnerships in their area, and hold them to account for local delivery. This will be underpinned by a targeted programme of work aimed at identifying and addressing the issues which community safety practitioners themselves tell us remain barriers to success.

We have introduced a partnership self-assessment tool, which leads to an improvement planning process, which GOs use to improve partnership performance.

Crime Reduction Programme

Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the projects being funded under the Crime Reduction Programme. [179710]

Ms Blears [holding answer 21 June 2004]: The Crime Reduction Programme (CRP) was a pioneering multi-million pound intervention programme, which was initially to run for three years from April 1999. Around £340 million was committed to over 1,470 projects in England and Wales under the 20 separate main initiatives which formed the programme, the largest single investment anywhere in the world in an evidence-based approach to crime reduction.

The individual projects are too numerous to list, but the initiatives were as follows:
InitiativeProject
Reducing Burglary Initiative250
Locks for Pensioners1
Targeted Policing Initiative59
Summer Schemes/SPLASH147
Prostitution11
On Track26
Treatment of Offenders1
Drug Arrest Referrals1
Effective Schools Management39
Violence Against Women58
Vehicle Crime13
Youth Inclusion70
Sentencing3
Neighbourhood Wardens85
Design Against Crime1
CCTV initiative684
Project Spectrum1
Toolkits22
Suzy Lamplugh Trust1
Rape Crisis Federation1
Arson Control1
Vehicle Crime publicity1
Partnership Development Fund1


 
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Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which projects being funded under the Crime Reduction Programme are focused on assessing the effectiveness of advocacy, outreach and support measures for victims of domestic violence. [179712]

Ms Blears [holding answer 21 June 2004]: The Crime Reduction Programme Violence against Women Initiative was an evidence-led project to find out which approaches were effective in supporting victims and tackling violence against women. In July 2000 34 "Round One" multi-agency victim focused pilot projects were funded and independently evaluated. While many of the projects either directly or indirectly supported victims, the following 14 Round One projects specifically aimed to provide support to women who were victims of domestic violence.

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