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Drug Treatment (Prisons)

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what (a) medical and (b) policy advice his Department gave to HM Inspector of Prisons in advance of her statement on drugs treatment in UK prisons. [180109]

Paul Goggins: None. Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons has its own specialist health care and drug service inspectors, who are in contact with relevant Home Office, Prison Service and external expert bodies.
 
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John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what meetings have taken place between the Chief Inspector of Prisons and the National Treatment Agency to discuss drugs treatment in prison. [180110]

Paul Goggins: None. However, the Inspectorate's Head of Health Care Inspection has met with the National Treatment Agency on a number of occasions to discuss drug treatment in prisons.

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what meetings have taken place between the Chief Inspector of Prisons and the Royal College of General Practitioners to discuss drugs treatment. [180111]

Paul Goggins: None.

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what meetings have taken place between the Chief Inspector of Prisons and the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. [180112]

Paul Goggins: None.

Environmental Sustainability

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of electricity used by buildings in (a) his Department and (b) its agencies has come from renewable sources for each year from 1997 to date. [182217]

Fiona Mactaggart: The Home Office has traditionally collected and reported its energy consumption and cost figures in two constituent parts: The prison estate and the non-prison estate. Good progress has been made in both areas, particularly in the non-prison estate. The proportion of renewable electricity used for both estates is as follows:
Percentage

	Non-prison	Prison
1996–97	0	0
1997–98	0	0
1998–99	0	0
1999–2000	0	0
2000–01	10	0
2001–02	59	0
2002–03	69	5
2003–04	Not yet known	7

The non-prison figures relate to key buildings in the core Home Office, the Forensic Science Service and UK Passport Agency. The figures do not include any Home Office sponsored non departmental public bodies. To extract separate figures for the Forensic Science Service and UK Passport Agency could have been done only at a disproportionate cost.

Fireworks

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made in tackling the issue of noisy night-time fireworks. [174849]

Ms Blears: The Department for Trade and Industry launched a formal consultation on 23 April 2004, which details proposed Regulations to be made under the provisions of the Fireworks Act 2003. One of the
 
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proposed measures is to create a curfew on the use of fireworks between the hours of 11 pm to 7 am, with the exception of November 5, new years eve, Chinese new year and Diwali.

Graffiti

Dan Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what resources are being provided to tackle graffiti in Bath and North East Somerset. [182500]

Ms Blears: Whilst no specific funding is being provided by the Home Office to tackle graffiti in Bath and North Somerset, we have provided funding to every Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP) to improve response to anti-social behaviour, including enviro-damage such as graffiti. This included Bath North East Somerset CDRP who received £25.000.

I would also like to welcome the work that Bath Graffiti Partnership has undertaken to tackle graffiti and identify best practice. Furthermore we are currently piloting new powers that enable local authorities to issue clean-up notices to owners of 'street furniture' and public transport providers in 12 areas. This was commenced on 31 March, and we will look at wider rollout of these powers after evaluation of the pilots.

Mobile Phone Crime

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance the Department has issued to mobile telephone retailers on making customers aware of the National Mobile Phone Crime Unit registration service when buying new telephones. [182713]

Ms Blears: The Home Office, police forces and the mobile phone industry work closely in partnership to tackle mobile phone theft as an important part of our Street Crime Initiative, which has delivered a 17 per cent. reduction in robbery in 2002–03 and further reductions in 2003–04. As part of this programme of work, the National Mobile Phone Crime Unit was established in December 2003.

Over the past two months, the Unit, as part of its work, has piloted a phone register in four London boroughs. The register helps the police to return recovered lost or stolen mobile phones to their owner. The register can also be used by the police in operations to tackle mobile phone theft. We are now considering, with the police and the mobile phone industry, how to make best use of the register.

National Offender Management Service

Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether a risk assessment has been carried out into the implications of the National Offender Management Service. [179151]

Paul Goggins: As part of the setting up of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), a comprehensive risk management strategy has been established, providing for the assessment, monitoring and managing of risks across the Change Programme. Risk assessments are currently being undertaken at detail and strategic level, results from which are
 
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reported to the NOMS Board and to other governance bodies within the Home Office. The Change Programme will also be subject to a Gateway Review.

Police Crime Recording Practices

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what mechanisms exist for the internal auditing of crime recording practices in the police to ensure that crimes are assigned to the appropriate offence category. [182094]

Ms Blears: Decisions on assigning crimes to the appropriate crime category are governed by Home Office Counting Rules. In accordance with the National Crime Recording Standard, each force has appointed a Force Crime Registrar, with a range of duties that include ensuring that the Home Office counting rules are followed correctly, and developing audit programmes within their force.

Police forces have been issued with guidance on how to perform self-audit of crime data. This covers the arrangements for managing crime recording and sets out how to make checks of casework, including classification of crime by offence category.

Additionally, the Audit Commission is working in partnership with the Police Standards Unit to perform an external review of forces' compliance with crime recording rules. A report on the quality assurance of crime data is planned around the end of 2004.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

DNA Testing

15. Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what criteria are used to determine which applicants for entry clearance are required to undertake a DNA test. [183369]

Mr. Mullin: DNA tests are not compulsory but can be used as a last resort in settlement applications where there is no reliable documentary evidence available to support the claimed relationship between the visa applicant and the sponsor. Guidance on DNA testing is available on the UKvisas website.

Nepal

16. Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on human rights in Nepal. [183370]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: We regularly voice concern about violence and abuse against civilians by Government and Maoists in Nepal. At the 60th session of the Commission on Human Rights the UK helped secure a chairman's statement which called for improved human rights in Nepal and welcomed Nepal's formal commitment to achieve this. Through the Global Conflict Prevention Pool we provide human rights training for the Nepalese security forces, and support for the National Human Rights Commission and other human rights organisations.
 
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