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HOME DEPARTMENT

Age of Criminal Responsibility

Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research he has commissioned on the effects of changing the age of criminal responsibility; and if he will make a statement. [186818]

Paul Goggins: We have no plans to change the current age, 10 in England and Wales, and have not commissioned research on the subject.

Crime

Mr. Anthony D. Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful criminal prosecutions were brought for crimes perpetrated in each Norfolk constituency in each year since 1997; and how many criminal charges were pressed for crimes perpetrated in Great Yarmouth in each year since 1997. [186717]

Paul Goggins: Statistics of defendants charged with offences are not collected centrally, nor is it possible to break down the court proceedings data collected centrally to constituency level.

The following table, however, gives the number of defendants (a) convicted and (b) not convicted in the Norfolk police force area as a whole:
Defendants convicted and those not convicted of offences of all types at all courts in the Norfolk police force area, 1997 to 2002

	Defendants convicted	Defendants not convicted(3)
1997	19,137	1,764
1998	17,537	1,564
1999	16,330	1,597
2000	15,083	3,351
2001	16,661	5,448
2002	16,608	5,234

⁽³⁾ Includes defendants whose proceedings were discontinued, those discharged under Sec 6 MCA 1980, and those, whose charges were withdrawn, dismissed or acquitted.

Statistics for 2003 will be published in the autumn.

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish (a) the growth forecasts and (b) the forecasts of the number and proportion of young men in the population used as assumptions in the Trends in Crime model, Home Office Online Report 38/04. [187236]

Paul Goggins: The growth forecasts used as assumptions in the trends in crime model are those published by Her Majesty's Treasury in the Budget report 2004.

Projections for the proportion of young men in the population are published on the Government Actuary's Department (GAD) website.
 
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Departmental Properties/Staff

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 13 July 2004, Official Report, column 1053W, on departmental properties/staff, if he will place a list of the properties in the Library. [187338]

Fiona Mactaggart: The addresses of Home Office properties are not disclosed for national and personal security reasons.

Financial Advice

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many contracts his Department had with (a) Barclays, (b) Royal Bank of Scotland, (c) UBS Warburg and (d) Bank of Scotland for advice on private finance initiative and public private partnership contracts in each financial year since 2001–02; and what fees were paid in each case. [186694]

Fiona Mactaggart: From the best information available, there have been no such contracts placed with these organisations in the time period specified.

Hate Crime

Mr. Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what hate crime legislation introduced in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 remains to be implemented; and when it will be implemented. [186887]

Paul Goggins: Sections 145 and 146 are the only provisions in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 specifically relating to hate crime; these provide for courts to treat motivation by racial or religious prejudice, or prejudice related to disability or sexual orientation, as an aggravating factor in sentencing for any criminal offence. These sections are not yet in force, but section 145 is simply a re-enactment of existing legislation, contained in section 153 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000, that is already in force. The commencement date for these sections of the 2003 Act is currently under consideration and will be announced in due course.

HMS Daedalus

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his Department has made a formal expression of interest in HMS Daedalus to the Ministry of Defence on behalf of (a) the Prison Service, (b) another agency of his Department and (c) Hampshire Constabulary. [188145]

Paul Goggins [holding answer 13 September 2004]: I can confirm that my Department has not made a formal expression of interest in HMS Daedalus on behalf of the Prison Service or any other part of the Home Office. The acquisition of properties for use by the police is a matter for the appropriate police authority and Chief Officer of Police.

Lost Passports

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many passports sent to his
 
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Department for immigration purposes have been lost in each of the last five years; and how many were subsequently found. [181998]

Mr. Browne: Statistics on the number of letters issued for passports reported lost or mislaid in the Immigration Nationality Directorate would be available only at disproportionate cost.

However, in General Group, which processes all applications for variation of leave to remain from in-country applicants and considers applications for Home Office travel documents from non-British nationals, there were 53 issued from April 2001 to March 2002; 335 issued from April 2002 to March 2003; and 469 issued from April 2003 to March 2004. This should be balanced against the number of decisions made in the same period which were 380,000; 403,000; and 534,000 respectively.

Prisons

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Prison Custody Officer certificates have been issued by his Department for staff at HMP Bronzefield. [187102]

 
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Paul Goggins: Her Majesty's Prison Bronzefield opened on 17 June 2004 and 135 Prison Custody Officers have been certificated.

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Prison Custody Officer certificates have been withdrawn by his Department for each privately run prison in each month since 1 January 2003. [187103]

Paul Goggins: From January 2003 to March 2004, three Prison Custody Officer Certificates were withdrawn from Her Majesty's Prison Dovegate, one certificate at Her Majesty's Prison/Young Offenders Institution Altcourse and one certificate at Her Majesty's Prison/Young Offenders Institution Doncaster.

Since April 2004, one Prison Custody Officer certificate has been withdrawn at Her Majesty's Prison Dovegate and one certificate was withdrawn at Her Majesty's Prison Wolds.

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Prison Custody Officer certificates have been issued by his Department for each privately run prison in each month since 1 January 2003. [187104]

Paul Goggins: The information requested is as follows.

		Certificates issued since April 2004(4)
	Certificates issued from January 2003 to March 2004	April	May	June	July
HMP/YOI Altcourse	31	9	0	8	0
HMYOI Ashfield	123	12	1	1	9
HMP/YOI Doncaster	33	0	0	14	0
HMP Dovegate	132	2	3	3	9
HMP Forest Bank	69	1	0	20	0
HMP Lowdham Grange	66	11	0	11	0
HMP/YOI Parc	47	11	3	0	16
HMP Rye Hill	94	9	0	4	1
HMP Wolds	3	4	1	1	0
Total	598	59	8	62	35
Overall total since January 2003	762

⁽⁴⁾ The Office for Contracted Prisons took over responsibility for Prison Custody Officer certification on 1 April 2004.

Her Majesty's Prison Bronzefield opened on 17 June 2004 and 135 Prison Custody Officers have been certificated.

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