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26 Oct 2004 : Column 1129W—continued

Knives

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) household knives and (b) other types of knife were seized by the police in each of the last three years. [193992]

Ms Blears: This information is not collected centrally.

Long Baton

Mr. Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department under what circumstances it would constitute a disciplinary offence for a police officer to strike an individual on the head with a long baton. [192693]

Ms Blears: The Police (Conduct) Regulations 2004 set out, at Schedule 1, a Code of Conduct, the 12 principles of which guide police officers' conduct. Code 4 specifically states:

"Officers must never knowingly use more force than is reasonable, nor should they abuse their authority".

Therefore, if an officer goes beyond what is considered reasonable in the circumstances, this would constitute a breach of the Code. It would be up to the
 
26 Oct 2004 : Column 1130W
 
chief officer of the Police Service concerned to deal with that breach under the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2004.

Neighbourhood Watch

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator positions are funded (a) wholly and (b) partially by local authorities. [193054]

(2) what proportion of Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator positions, or equivalent, are wholly or part-funded by (a) community safety partnerships, (b) crime reduction partnerships, (c) local authorities and (d) other funding sources. [193055]

Ms Blears [holding answer 21 October 2004]: Local Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinators are primarily unpaid volunteers. Some are given training and are provided with office facilities in police stations. In addition, a proportion may also receive funding to cover other expenses or specific projects, but these are local arrangements for which information is not collected centrally.
 
26 Oct 2004 : Column 1131W
 

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance he gives to organisations seeking funding for a Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator. [193056]

Ms Blears [holding answer 21 October 2004]: No specific guidance is given to organisations seeking funding for Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinators, most of whom are unpaid volunteers.

Police Pay

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what salary police officers receive in (a) Havering and (b) Greater London on average. [192648]

Ms Blears: The Home Office does not collect information on average police salaries. There are national scales for ranks below Chief Officer, with higher rates of pay for Inspectors in London.

All officers in the Metropolitan Police Service also qualify for:

London Weighting at £1,938 a year.

London Allowance—at £4,338 a year if appointed on or after 1 September 1994 or £1,011 a year in other cases.

Metropolitan Police Officers may also qualify for:

Special Priority Payments of between which can be awarded to up to 40 per cent. of officers in posts identified by the force with the agreement of the police authority. Annual payments range from £500 to £3,000, and exceptionally up to £5,000;

If they are at the maximum of their pay scale and are able to demonstrate high professional competence, Competence Related Threshold Payments of £1,032 per annum;

A dog handler's allowance of £1,815 a year, where they care for a police dog at their home.

The current pay scales for officers in the Metropolitan Police Service are:
Constables and Sergeants £

Pay point	With effect from 1 September 2004
Constables
On commencing service	19,803
On completion of initial training	22,107
2	23,388
3	24,819
4	25,599
5	26,421
6	27,174
7	27,849
8	28,740
9	29,781
10	30,477
11	31,092
Sergeants
0	31,092
1	32,157
2	33,237
3	33,948
4	34,944

 
26 Oct 2004 : Column 1132W
 

Inspectors and Chief Inspectors: London salaries £

Pay point	With effect from 1 September 2004
Inspectors
0	41,586
1	42,711
2	43,839
3	44,970
Chief Inspectors
1	45,852
2	46,737
3	47,664

Superintendent and Chief Superintendent £

Pay point	Salary p.a.
Superintendent
1	53,046
2	55,233
3	57,420
4	59,613
5	61,800
Chief Superintendent
1	63,345
2	65,145
3	66,951

Senior ranks

	£
Commissioner	221,451
Deputy Commissioner	182,826
Assistant Commissioner	154,500
Deputy Assistant Commissioner	118,452

Commanders

	£
1	77,250
2	79,827
3	82,401
4	84,975
5	87,552
6	90,126

Racial/Religious Attacks

Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many violent attacks perpetrated against Sikhs have been recorded in each of the last five years; and in how many of these attacks race or religion was deemed to be a factor. [192502]

Ms Blears: Information relating to the race or religion of victims of such offences is not available centrally. The information available centrally relates to offences which are racially or religiously aggravated and is given in the tables.
 
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Table 1: Racially or religiously aggravated offences recorded by the police in England and Wales 1999–2000 to 2001–02 1

Period	Racially or religiously aggravated less serious wounding	Racially or religiously aggravated common assault
1999–2000	2,687	4,275
2000–01	3,176	4,711
2001–02	3,463	5,164

⁽⁶⁾ The data in this table are prior to the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002. These figures are not directly comparable with those for later years.


Table 2: Racially or religiously aggravated offences recorded by the police in England and Wales 2002–03 to 2003–04 1

Period	Racially or religiously aggravated less serious wounding	Racially or religiously aggravated common assault
2002–03	4,352	4,491
2003–04	4,840	4,017

⁽⁷⁾ The data in this table take account of the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002. These figures are not directly comparable with those for earlier years.

RAF Fairford

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for The Home Department what the final costs of policing anti-war protests at RAF Fairford in 2003 were. [192158]

Ms Blears: The Chief Constable informs me that the final costs of policing the anti-war protests at RAF Fairford were £7.723 million. The Home Office has provided a special grant of £7.29 million to Gloucestershire Constabulary to cover most of these costs.

Safer Neighbourhoods Programme

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the initial roll-out of the Metropolitan Police Service's Safer Neighbourhoods Programme. [192535]

Ms Blears: An evaluation of the National Reassurance Policing Programme has been commissioned. This study will assess the impact of police activity on public feelings of safety and security, community engagement, confidence in, and satisfaction with, the police in 16 pilot sites around the country. Two of the sites, Bexley and Enfield, are also part of the Safer Neighbourhoods Programme in the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) area. The evaluation is based upon a repeat survey of residents in pilot and control areas during Winter 2003–04 and Winter 2004–05. The respondents were randomly sampled to render the findings more robust. The results should be available in autumn 2005.

The MPS are conducting their own internal assessment of the Safer Neighbourhoods Programme for operational purposes. They are rolling out a public attitudes survey across the 96 wards involved in the programme. Residents in the first six wards were interviewed in April using a quota sample. A second quota sample of residents in the same six wards was taken in August.
 
26 Oct 2004 : Column 1134W
 

The Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis reports that the introduction of Safer Neighbourhoods Teams is making a discernible impact across London. The feedback is extremely favourable: the public, the business sector and police partners are supportive of the programme. It is placing an increased uniform presence on the streets, increasing accessibility to policing services, galvanising community cohesion, impacting on crime, providing benefits to the wider community and providing the necessary familiarity to increase public confidence in the police service.

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