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3 Nov 2004 : Column 291W—continued

Animal Testing

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will seek the setting up of a Royal Commission to (a) review the (i) effectiveness of and (ii) justification for animal experiments and (b) examine alternatives set out in the document, New Life for Animals published by the Labour Party in 1997. [192905]

Caroline Flint: The Government have no plans to do so. Although we have not ruled out a Royal Commission, in the light of the report of the House of Lords Select Committee on Animals in Scientific Procedures, published in July 2002, we do not believe that a Royal Commission, or other form of public inquiry, would serve any useful purpose at the present time. The Select Committee concluded that there is at present a continuing need for animal experiments both
 
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in applied research to develop human and veterinary medicine and to protect humans and the environment, and in research aimed purely at extending knowledge. The Government endorsed this conclusion in our response to the Select Committee report published in January 2003. Instead, we would rather use the available resources to make continuing improvements to the operation of the 1986 Act and to promote the fullest application of the 3Rs—replacing the use of animals with alternative methods; reducing the number of animals needed for a particular purpose and refining the procedures to minimise suffering.

In this latter regard, earlier this year we announced the creation of a new national centre for replacement, refinement and reduction of animals in research (NC3Rs) building on the existing Medical Research Council Centre for Best Practice in Animal Research (CBPAR). The national centre's mission is to advance and promote the 3Rs in research and testing using animals. Responsibility for the national centre rests with the Office of Science and Technology.

Antisocial Behaviour

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) acceptable behaviour contracts, (b) curfew orders, (c) parenting orders, (d) dispersal orders, (e) fixed penalty notices for antisocial behaviour and (f) antisocial behaviour orders have been issued by (i) South Wales Police, (ii) Bridgend Division of South Wales Police and (iii) Rhondda Cynon Taff Division of South Wales Police. [193349]

Ms Blears: The information is as follows:

Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs)—statistics on the use of ABCs are not routinely collected centrally. However, snapshot figures, from the National Survey on Antisocial Behaviour, released on Thursday 28 October, show that 5,383 contracts have been signed in England and Wales. These data are not broken down by force but show that 219 ABCs have been agreed within Wales.

Curfew Orders—Table A shows the number of Curfew orders with and without electronic monitoring made at courts in each of the petty sessional areas in South Wales (including those made at the Crown court if committed there by magistrates courts in South Wales) from 1999 to 2002.

Statistics for 2003 will be available later in the year.

No applications have yet been received to establish a local child curfew scheme under section 14 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. Some local authorities and police forces have considered the possibility but concluded that other measures should be taken to tackle relevant local problems.

Parenting Orders—Youth Justice Board figures are given in Table B by financial year up to 31 March 2004. Data are given by Youth Offending Team area.

Dispersal Orders—Results from the National Survey of Anti-Social Behaviour, published on Thursday 28 October 2004, show that a total of 418 dispersal orders have been made to tackle the problem of intimidating groups in England and Wales between
 
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January and September 2004. These data are not broken down by police force area but figures indicate that 11 have been issued in Wales.

Fixed Penalty Notices for disorder—Complete information on the numbers issued is not available.

Antisocial Behaviour Orders (ASBOs)—Table C shows the number of ASBOs issued within South Wales, as notified to the Home Office, up to 30 June 2004 (latest available), by all courts and where restrictions have been imposed for a specific local authority area. Data are not available at divisional police force level.
Table A: Number of persons given curfew orders1,2 in South Wales, 1999 to 2002

Petty sessional area	1999	2000	2001	2002
Cardiff	2	6	15	37
Cynon Valley	—	—	—	5
Merthyr Tydfil	—	1	—	7
Miskin	—	—	6	12
Neath and Port Talbot	1	12	10	23
Newcastle and Ogmore	2	8	17	20
Swansea	—	9	17	40
Vale of Glamorgan	3	7	4	23
Total	8	43	69	167

⁽²⁰⁾ Electronic and non-electronic orders.
⁽²¹⁾ Based on principal offence.
Source:
Home Office Court Proceedings Database




Table B: Number of Parenting Orders, issued within South Wales, by Youth Offending Team area, 2000 to 2004

	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04
Bridgend	0	1	1	12
Cardiff	0	1	3	2
Merthyr Tydfil	0	1	0	0
Neath Port Talbot	0	0	0	0
Rhondda Cynon Taff	0	0	1	0
Swansea	0	0	1	1
Vale of Glamorgan	0	18	0	0
Total	0	21	6	15

Source:
Youth Justice Board




Table C: Number of ASBOs, as notified to the Home Office by all courts within South Wales, where restrictions have been imposed for a specific local authority area, 1 April 1999 to 30 June 2004 (latest available)

Local authority area	Total issued
South Wales	52
of which
from 1 April 1999 to 31 May 2000 by pfa	0
from 1 June 2000 to 30 June 2004 by unitary authority area	52
Cardiff CC	20
Merthyr Tydfil CBC	10
Neath Port Talbot County BC	10
Rhondda Cynon Taff County BC	9
Swansea CC	2
Vale of Glamorgan Council	1

Note:
Between 1 April 1999 to 31 May 2000 data available by police force area (pfa) only.
Source:
ASBO database




 
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Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for The Home Department how many antisocial behaviour orders have been issued to young (a) men and (b) women in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [191963]

Ms Blears: The available information is given in the table.
Number of notifications reported to the Home Office, by magistrates courts and the Crown court⁽²²⁾, of antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) issued, by age group, from 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004, England and Wales

Age	Male	Female
18–20	200	16
21–25	106	33
Total	306	49

⁽²²⁾ Excludes ASBOs issued at the county courts because date of birth details are not supplied.

Association of Chief Police Officers

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is provided with copies of (a) memoranda and (b) policy guidance issued to chief constables by the Association of Chief Police Officers. [194128]

Ms Blears: Non-sensitive memoranda and policy guidance is published by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) on their public website.

Additionally, memoranda and policy guidance may be provided to the Secretary of State for the Home Department when requested or when considered of interest, and in practice, the vast majority of literature is copied to relevant policy sections.

Badger Baiting

Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many successful prosecutions against badger baiters there have been in each of the last five years. [195350]

Caroline Flint: The information requested is not available centrally.

Bail Hostels

Mr. Shepherd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the (a) occupancy rates and (b) running costs for each bail hostel in the west midlands in each of the past five years. [188007]

Paul Goggins [holding answer 13 September 2004]: (a) No published data are available on the occupancy rates of approved probation and bail hostels (approved premises). (b) The West Midlands Probation Board have advised the Home Office of the following information on running costs for approved premises.
 
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Expenditure of west midlands approved premises £000

Approved premises	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04
Bilston	221	271	365	354	382
Carpenter House	219	274	364	349	432
Crowley House	264	307	389	386	454
Elliott House	297	346	400	421	485
Stonnal Road	207	273	316	319	361
Sycamore Lodge	266	327	449	442	574
Welford House	275	296	381	384	439
Total	1,749	2,094	2,664	2,655	3,127

Notes:
1. After 1 April 2001, approved premises received 100 per cent. grant from the Home Office, including housing benefit. Prior to this they received 20 per cent. of their funding from local authorities, and housing benefit direct.
2. With effect from 1 October 2002 property costs were included in the budgets.

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