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8 Jul 2004 : Column 822W—continued
Police
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) police officers, (b) community support officers and (c) administrative support staff for police operations there are in (i) Leyton and Wanstead, (ii) the London borough of Redbridge and (iii) the London borough of Waltham Forest; what the figures were in 1997; what the crime clear-up rate (A) is now and (B) was in 1997; what the level of spending on policing and community safety in each area (1) is now and (2) was in 1997; and what the change in spending has been in real terms. [178178]
Ms Blears: Information on police officers, police staff and community support officers has been supplied by the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis and is set out in the table. Community support officer numbers are those for 31 March 2004.
| 31 March 2001 | 31 March 2004 | |
|---|---|---|
| London borough of Redbridge | ||
| Police officers | 371.8 | 437.9 |
| Police Staff(6) | 106.8 | 81.4 |
| PCSO | Not applicable | 21 |
| London Borough of Waltham Forest | ||
| Police officers | 439.9 | 530.5 |
| Police Staff(6) | 115.3 | 95.7 |
| PCSO | Not applicable | 18 |
(6) Police staff figures for 2001 include staff in control rooms. These staff are now counted centrally as part of the MPS C3i communications system.
All figures are full-time equivalents.
I am told by the Commissioner that the current London Borough Operational Unit structure was only introduced in 2000 after the boundary changes with Essex, Hertfordshire and Surrey force areas. It is not therefore possible to provide earlier police strength data at borough level.
The budgets set by the Commissioner for Redbridge and Waltham Forest are as follows:
| Budget set by Commissioner | |
|---|---|
| London Borough of Redbridge | |
| 2003–04 (£ million) | 19.77 |
| 2004–05 (£ million) | 22.47 |
| Increase (Percentage) | 13.6 |
| London Borough of Waltham Forest | |
| 2003–04 (£ million) | 23.81 |
| 2004–05 (£ million) | 26.49 |
| Increase (Percentage) | 11.3 |
London borough policing is also supported by police services funded centrally by the Metropolitan police, such as the Territorial Support Group and other specialist units. It is not possible to provide earlier budget data at borough level.
Information on detection rates is available for five key categories of crime for each basic command unit (BCU)—in London BCUs equate to London boroughs—are available for 2001–02 and 2002–03. It can be found on the Home Office website, www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/crimeew0203.html. The Metropolitan police service
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(MPS) adopted the National Crime Recording Standard in 2002 and this would affect the comparison of detection rates with earlier years.
| Detection rate | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 2002–03 | |
| London Borough of Redbridge | ||
| Violence against the person | 21 | 19 |
| Robbery | 8 | 11 |
| Burglary | 6 | 8 |
| Theft of a vehicle | 7 | 6 |
| Theft from a vehicle | 1.5 | 1.4 |
| London Borough of Waltham Forest | ||
| Violence against the Person | 27 | 28 |
| Robbery | 9 | 10 |
| Burglary | 8 | 10 |
| Theft of a vehicle | 9 | 8 |
| Theft from a vehicle | 2.1 | 1 .5 |
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers in the Humberside force were disciplined on charges of (a) assault and (b) false imprisonment in the last year for which figures are available. [180036]
Ms Blears: Figures are kept for every year. Humberside police have advised that there were no officers disciplined on charges of assault or false imprisonment for the period 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004.
Prison Volunteers
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many hours of voluntary service have been carried out by prisoners working on day release in the community in the last year. [182093]
Paul Goggins: The Prison Service in England and Wales does not maintain a central record of number of hours of unpaid community work undertaken by prisoners released on temporary licence for this purpose. However, at any one time, about 950 prisoners participate in resettlement regimes that provide the opportunity for regular release on temporary licence in order to undertake unpaid community work.
Prisons in Scotland and Northern Ireland are the responsibility of the Scottish Executive and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland respectively.
Racism
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of (a) the response of Metropolitan police officers to the race training that they have been offered and (b) the effects of the training on perceptions of institutional racism in the force. [180102]
Ms Blears:
The Metropolitan police service published an assessment of its own diversity training in December 2003. The Home Office also commissioned two independent studies to assess the impact of community and race relations training on the police service as a whole. They will be published shortly. One of these studies focused on the effect that community and race
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relations training has had on increasing the trust and confidence in policing among minority ethnic communities. A strategy is currently being developed to build on the investment already made in community and race relations training in the police service. This will help provide a framework to ensure that race and diversity learning and development delivers improved performance in this area.
Whistleblowers' Hotline
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many civil servants have contacted his Department's Whistleblowers' hotline since its inception. [180104]
Fiona Mactaggart: There have been eight calls to the telephone hotline set up specifically for staff in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND). There has also been one call to the general hotline serving the non-agency Home Office since both were announced to staff on 30 March 2004.
DEFENCE
Agusta Westland
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the consequences for his defence industrial policy of the proposed acquisition by Finmeccanica of the GKN holding in Agusta Westland. [177258]
Mr. Ingram: The Defence Industrial Policy makes clear that the United Kingdom defence industry embraces all defence suppliers that create value, employment, technology or intellectual assets in the UK. This includes both UK and foreign-owned companies; we welcome inward investment into the UK. We remain committed to implementing the Policy and delivering its objectives.
Boards of Inquiry
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what amendments have been made in the last two years to the rules governing boards of inquiry in HM Armed Forces. [176028]
Mr. Ingram: No amendments have been made to either the Board of Inquiry (Air Force) Rules 1956 or Board of Inquiry (Army) Rules 1956 in the last two years. There are no statutory Rules for the Royal Navy. Queen's Regulations for each of the Services contain rules for BOIs. In the last two years these have been amended as follows.
Army—February 2004: to allow (as in the other two Services) more readily for the concurrent running of Army Boards of Inquiry and police investigations, where this would not affect the proper conduct of the police investigation, and generally clarifying some of the factors relevant to whether a Board of Inquiry should be held.
RAF—February 2003: minor clarification of existing rules.
RN—No changes have been made in the last two years.
Correspondence
Sir Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the hon. Member for West Worcestershire will receive a response to his letter of 18 May (Ref: 02493/2004). [182932]
Mr. Ingram: I wrote to the hon. Member on 6 July.
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