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Police Disciplinary Procedures

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he plans to introduce reforms of police disciplinary procedures for the Metropolitan police; and if he will make a statement. [195584]

Ms Blears: The police disciplinary procedures are detailed in the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2004 and apply to all police officers across the police service in England and Wales.

My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has asked for a review of the police disciplinary arrangements to report to him in December 2004 and this review is under way. Following receipt of this report the Home Secretary will consider the appropriate next steps.
 
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Terrorism

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the risk of a terrorist attack involving anthrax. [194326]

Ms Blears [holding answer 28 October 2004]: Many different terrorist threats have been considered, and scenarios are constantly being tested and reviewed. We do not publicly go into the detail of threat and risk assessments or scenarios, since the information could be useful to terrorists.

The threat is monitored very closely and is regularly assessed.

Ross Cranston: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been arrested for terrorist offences since 11 September 2001; and how many of them (a) have been charged, (b) have been released without charge, (c) have been bailed, (d) are still in custody, (e) were prosecuted in court for terrorist offences, (f) were convicted for terrorist offences and (g) were handed over to immigration officials; and in relation to those convicted of terrorist offences (i) with what offences they were charged and (ii) what sentences the court imposed. [187962]

Mr. Blunkett: The figures requested are not routinely collected centrally by the police in the form requested. However, their records show that, cumulatively from 11 September 2001 until 30 June 2004, 609 people were arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000. 61 of these were charged under the Act and 38 under both the Terrorism Act and other legislation. The remainder were either released without charge, bailed to return, cautioned, charged under other legislation (such as that for murder, grievous bodily harm and use of firearms or explosives), or dealt with under immigration or mental health legislation. Of the 99 individuals charged under the Terrorism Act, 15 have been convicted.

It will continue to be the case that some persons arrested under the Terrorism Act will be charged with offences such as murder, grievous bodily harm, use of firearms or explosives which are all outside the scope of the Terrorism Act. A simplistic quote from the Terrorism Act statistics is therefore not the best way to evaluate the success of the Police and the Security Services.

The figures now appear on the Home Office website and will be updated every six months.

Home Office Research Development and Statistics publish a Command Paper and supplementary volumes of criminal statistics annually. A breakdown of prosecutions and convictions under the Terrorism Act 2000 for 2001 and 2002 is attached. Figures for 2003 will not be available until later in the year.
 
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Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts, found guilty and sentenced at all courts for offences under the Terrorism Act 2000, England and Wales 2002 1

		Sentence breakdown
Offence description	Statute	Proceeded against	Found guilty	Sentenced	Fine	Immediate custody
Relating to membership of proscribed organisations	Terrorism Act 2000, Sec 11	1	1	1	—	1
Wearing any item of dress in support of a proscribed organisation	Terrorism Act 2000, Sec 13a	—	—	—	—	—
Wears, carries or displays any article in support of a proscribed organisation	Terrorism Act 2000, Sec.13b	1	1	1	1	—
Contributions towards acts of terrorism	Terrorism Act 2000, Secs 15–18 & 22	8	1	1	—	1
Failure to disclose knowledge or suspicion of acts of terrorism	Terrorism Act 2000, Sec.19	—	—	—	—	—
Failure to leave a cordoned area immediately when ordered to do so by a constable in uniform	Terrorism Act 2000, Sec.36(1)(a)	1	—	—	—	—
Failure to leave premises, which abut or are wholly or partially within a cordoned area, immediately if ordered to do so by a constable in uniform	Terrorism Act 2000 Sec.36(1)(b)	1	—	—	—	—
Failure of driver or person in charge of a vehicle which is in a cordoned area to immediately move the vehicle if ordered to do so by a constable in uniform	Terrorism Act 2000 Sec.36(c)(d)(e)	—	—	—	—	—
Contravention or a prohibition or restriction order made by a constable in uniform to a cordoned area	Terrorism Act 2000 Sec.36(f)	—	—	—	—	—
Making any disclosure likely to prejudice an investigation about acts of terrorism or failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism	Terrorism Act 2000 Sec.39	—	—	—	—	—
Failure to stop (Power to stop and search vehicles and pedestrians)	Terrorism Act 2000, Secs.43, 44 and 47(1)(a)(b)(2)	1	—	—	—	—
Wilful obstruction (Power to stop and search vehicles and pedestrians)	Terrorism Act 2000 Secs.43, 44 and 47(1)(c) and (2)	—	—	—	—	—
Failure to move vehicle when ordered to do so by a constable in uniform, (vehicle had been permitted to remain at rest in contravention of any prohibition or restriction)	Terrorism Act 2000, Secs.48and 51(2)	—	—	—	—	—
Leaves a vehicle, or permits a vehicle to remain at rest, on a road in contravention of a prohibition or restriction	Terrorism Act 2000 Secs.48 and 51(1)	—	—	—	—	—
Provides instruction; invites another to receive instruction in weapon training.	Terrorism Act 2000 Sec.54	1	—	—	—	—
Directing terrorist training	Terrorism Act 2000 Sec.56	1	—	—	—	—
Collect, record or possession of information or articles likely to be of use to terrorists	Terrorism Act 2000 Sec.57 and 58	3	1	1	—	1
Failure to furnish information when required by examining officer	Terrorism Act 2000 Sch.7(5)(a)and(18)	1	—	—	—	—
Failing to produce either a valid passport or identifying document when required by examining officer	Terrorism Act 2000 Sch.7(5)(b)and(18)	—	—	—	—	—
Failing to declare or produce any relevant documents when required by examining officer	Terrorism Act 2000 Sch7(5)(c)(d)and(18)	—	—	—	—
Failing to submit to search by examining officer or person acting on his/her behalf	Terrorism Act 2000 Sch7(7)(8)and(18)	—	—	—	—	—
Failing to complete and produce an embarkation card when required to by examining officer	Terrorism Act 2000 Sch 7(16) and (18)	1	—	—	—	—
Wilfully obstructing a constable in the execution of his duty in a cordoned area	Terrorism Act 2000 Sch.5Sec.36(1)(2)	—	—	—	—	—
Wilfully obstructing or seeking to frustrate the object of a search in a cordoned area	Terrorism Act 2000 Sch5(1–3)	—	—	—	—	—
	Total	20	4	4	1	3

⁽²⁶⁾ These data are on the principal offence basis.

Tsar Appointments

Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many tsars have been appointed with responsibilities which cover part of the work of his Department; and if he will make a statement. [191917]

Fiona Mactaggart: There are no individuals with the term 'Tsar' in their job title currently employed by the Home Office.
 
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WORK AND PENSIONS

Benefit Payments

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pension and benefit recipients receive their money by way of a post office card account in (a) Scotland and (b) the City of Edinburgh local authority area. [195157]

 
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Mr. Pond: The information is not available in the format requested.

Information is available on the number of pension and benefit accounts paid into a post office card account as at September 2004. This is shown in the table.

	Number of benefits paid into card account
(a) Scotland	180,040
(b) Edinburgh	9,935

Data refer to the benefit through which the payment is being made. Therefore if a person is receiving two benefits paid separately into a post office card account, they will be counted twice. Due to the nature of the data it would be difficult to try and accurately match these accounts to a single figure.

A customer is allowed only one post office card account into which pension and benefit payments are made. If a person receives two or more benefits they would only have one post office card account for receipt of all their payments.

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