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22 Jul 2004 : Column 577W—continued
Child Trafficking
Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many unaccompanied minors entered the UK in each of the last five years for which figures are available, broken down by country of origin. [182844]
Mr. Browne: The requested information on the number of unaccompanied children entering the UK in each year is not available.
The available information on applications for asylum from unaccompanied children is given in the table.
Information on asylum applications from unaccompanied minors is published in quarterly web pages and in the annual statistical bulletin 'Asylum Statistics United Kingdom'. Copies of these publications and others relating to general immigration to the UK are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.
(60) Figures rounded to the nearest 5 with *=1 or 2
(61) Unaccompanied at point of arrival, aged (or if no proof) determined to be 17 or under and not known to be joining a relative or guardian in the United Kingdom.
(62) Figures exclude disputed age cases.
(63) May excluded some cases lodged at Local Enforcement Offices.
(64) Not comparable with manual counts data prior to 2002.
(65) Provisional figures.
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Civil Service Recruitment
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the effects of cuts in civil servants will be on his Department. [185812]
Fiona Mactaggart: As my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced on 14 July, the size of the Home Office will be reduced by 2,700 people.
Community Sentences
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how he intends to improve the information received by magistrates regarding prison alternatives. [182286]
Paul Goggins: The National Probation Service has put in place a number of measures to improve the information provided to magistrates on prison alternatives. These include the provision of: a sentencer communications strategy and a sentencer liaison officer in all areas; national and local information about the work of the service; leaflets about the content of successful schemes and programmes attached to pre-sentence reports; and videos on the content of community interventions and the 'what works' initiative.
As the new National Offender Management Service is taken forward we intend to strengthen the liaison arrangements between sentencers and the prison and probation services.
The new Sentencing Guidelines Council will also have a role in providing information to sentencers, for example about sentencing patterns, which will inform discussions at a local level. The council will have key role in re-balancing the system to make better use of resources. In framing sentencing guidelines, the council must, among other things, take account of the cost of different sentences and their relative effectiveness in preventing re-offending. One of its earliest priorities is to produce a guideline on the new generic community sentence.
Computer Misuse
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases of computer misuse there were in his Department in (a) 1997 and (b) 2003, broken down by category of misuse; and how many of those cases resulted in disciplinary action. [163249]
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Fiona Mactaggart: The figures, so far as information is available in the form requested, are as follows:
| Area | 1997 | 2003 |
|---|---|---|
| Core Home Office, including IND | ||
| Sending inappropriate email | (66)— | 18 |
| Accessing inappropriate sites | (66)— | 4 |
| Prison Service Agency | ||
| Sending inappropriate email | (66)— | 2 |
| Accessing inappropriate sites | (66)— | (66)— |
| UK Passport Agency | ||
| Sending inappropriate emails | (66)— | 15 |
| Accessing inappropriate sites | (66)— | (66)— |
| Forensic Science Service | ||
| Sending inappropriate emails | (66)— | 1 |
| Accessing inappropriate sites | (66)— | (66)— |
(66) Indicates that no comprehensive figures available.
Constitutional Treaty
Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research his Department has commissioned on the possible (a) impact and (b) cost that may follow from the adoption of the proposed European Union constitution, in relation to criminal matters. [184015]
Caroline Flint: The Government carried out detailed examination of all proposals in the field of criminal justice with regard to their potential impact, prior to agreement on the Constitutional Treaty. The Government have not commissioned separate research in this area following agreement on the text of the Constitutional Treaty.
Contracted Prisons
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Prison Service annual report for 2003–04 will contain statistical data on the performance of contracted prisons against key performance indicators; and if he will make a statement. [181518]
Paul Goggins: The Prison Service is no longer responsible for the performance of contracted prisons and so the Service's Annual Report does not contain data on the performance of these prisons. The aggregate performance of all prisons in England and Wales, and details of the performance of contracted prison estate are set out in the written ministerial statement I made on 15 July. Details of the performance of individual establishments will be published at a later date.
Conviction Data Systems
Ms Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he plans to take to develop IT systems that can share conviction and non-conviction data across police forces in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. [183266]
Paul Goggins:
As part of current arrangements Scottish conviction records are uploaded automatically to the Police National Computer (PNC) in England and
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Wales through the Scottish Criminal Records Office. The Police Service in Northern Ireland has PNC, which provides them with 24-hour access to the service.
As part of the important work for implementing the recommendations of the Bichard Inquiry we will look to resolve the issue of sharing Intelligence non-conviction data between the 43 forces in England and Wales as well as with Scotland and Northern Ireland.
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