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18 Jan 2005 : Column 900W—continued

Mobile Phones

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been fined under the offence of using a hand-held mobile phone while driving; how many people have contested the fines; and what revenue has been raised through fines, broken down by (a) month and (b) police authority region. [202283]

Caroline Flint: Data on police action (written warnings, fixed penalty notices and court proceedings) for 2003 on the new offence of driving while using a hand held mobile telephone will not be available until early
 
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2005. Information on appeals and revenue raised through fines is not collected centrally by the Home Department.

2004 data will be published in autumn 2005.

Police Vehicles

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the measures taken by Cleveland Police Authority to install recording equipment in police vehicles to monitor how they are driven; and what plans he has to encourage other police authorities to install such recording equipment. [204825]

Caroline Flint: There are two basic types of recording equipment that might be fitted to police vehicles: incident, or collision, data recorders (IDRs) and journey data recorders (JDRs). IDRs are fitted to a vehicle for the capture and short-term storage of data from on-board sensors. Their primary aim is to assist in establishing what occurred prior to and during a collision. They can be used to supplement physical evidence for incident reconstruction and act as an 'independent witness' in the event of a collision. JDRs give management information on a vehicle's performance. They are typically used by fleet managers to monitor vehicle usage and efficiency.

The fitting of such recording devices is a local operational matter. The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) does however recommend that forces consider such a course. We welcome this. Several forces have fitted devices, some on a pilot trial basis and others as permanent attachments to their vehicles. Some are collecting data on their performance, though where their attachment is part of a package of measures it might be difficult to identify the performance of individual elements.

Policing Costs

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) cost and (b) total operational time lost as a result of police officers being withdrawn from duty in each police force for the purpose of policing (i) demonstrations and (ii) football matches was in each of the last five financial years. [208339]

Caroline Flint: This information is not held centrally.

Prisons

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what services are provided by the voluntary sector in contracted-out prisons; and if he will make a statement. [203026]

Paul Goggins: There are over 100 voluntary and community sector service providers working across the contracted out prisons. Many of the organisations are multi-service providers and work in more than one prison, others tend to be local and work with individual establishments. While it is not possible to list all the
 
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services these organisations provide, the following list is a guide to some of the key areas where services are delivered. This will be placed in the Library.

Sniffer Dogs

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many sniffer dogs have been used by the police and security services in each of the last five years; and how many of these animals have died prematurely while in service. [208244]

Caroline Flint: The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) informs me that approximately 2,220 police dogs were in service at the end of 2004. 134 police dogs were retired during that year, and 26 died prematurely while in service. Information is not available for previous years. It has been the policy of successive Governments to neither confirm nor deny questions concerning the activities of the security and intelligence services.

Speed Cameras

Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many motorists were (a) fined and (b) banned from driving as a result of the evidence of speed cameras in the West Derbyshire constituency in each of the last five years; and how much money was raised from fines in each year (i) in total and (ii) in Derbyshire. [207455]

Caroline Flint: Available information on the number of fixed penalties and court fines ordered to be paid and on the number of persons disqualified from driving for speeding offences detected by camera in 1998 to 2002 (latest available) within the Derbyshire police force area is shown in tables A and B respectively. Information on the revenue raised from speeding offences is not available centrally but data are given in the table on the amount of fines imposed by the courts and on the estimated revenue from fixed penalties.

It is not possible from the data collected centrally to identify the constituency of West Derbyshire within the geographical area of the Derbyshire police force.
Table A: Fines and fixed penalty data for speeding offences detected by camera^(16)(17), in the Derbyshire police force area, 1998–2002

	Court proceedings(18)			Fixed penalties
	Number of fines	Total amount of fine (£)	Average fine	Number of tickets(19)	Estimated revenue (£)(20)
1998	1,310	119,500	91	10,600	424,000
1999	1,230	112,500	92	8,500	340,000
2000	870	77,000	89	8,100	351,000
2001	790	69,000	88	10,100	606,000
2002	610	69,000	114	33,700	2,022,000

⁽¹⁶⁾ Automatic cameras until 1998, all camera types from 1999.
⁽¹⁷⁾ Offences under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and The Motor Vehicles (Speed Limits on Motorways) Regulations 1973.
⁽¹⁸⁾ Includes cases where fixed penalty notices were originally issued but not paid and subsequently referred to court.
⁽¹⁹⁾ Paid ie no further action.
⁽²⁰⁾ Estimate based on £40 fixed penalty charge to October 2000. From November 2000 the penalty was raised to £60.





 
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Table B: Number of persons disqualified⁽²¹⁾ from driving at all courts for speeding offences detected by camera^(22)(23) in the Derbyshire police force area, 1998–2002

	Persons disqualified
1998	9
1999	9
2000	7
2001	18
2002	9

⁽²¹⁾ Excludes persons disqualified under s.35 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 (penalty points system).
⁽²²⁾ Offences under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and The Motor Vehicles (Speed Limits on Motorways) Regulations 1973.
⁽²³⁾ Automatic cameras until 1998, all camera types from 1999.

CABINET OFFICE

Constitutional Treaty

John Cryer: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) what guidance has been issued to civil servants regarding providing public information on the proposed Constitutional Treaty for the European Union; [208534]

(2) what guidance he plans to issue to the civil service on its role (a) prior to and (b) during the referendum on the Constitutional Treaty for the European Union; [208535]

(3) what discussions he has had with the Cabinet Secretary regarding the role of the civil service prior to and during the proposed referendum on the Constitutional Treaty for the European Union; and what guidance was issued to civil servants regarding their neutrality in previous referendums; [208536]

(4) what regulations under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 govern the role of the civil service prior to and during referendum campaigns; [208762]

(5) if he will make a statement on the role of the civil service in the proposed referendum on the Constitutional Treaty for the European Union; [208763]

(6) if he will make a statement on the role of the Government Information and Communication Service prior to and during the proposed referendum on the Constitutional Treaty for the European Union; [208764]

(7) if he will make a statement on the role of special advisers prior to and during the proposed referendum on the Constitutional Treaty for the European Union. [208765]

Mr. Miliband: Guidance to civil servants, including special advisers and members of the Government Information and Communication Service, on their conduct during the referendum on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for the EU, and the period leading up to it, will be issued in due course. It will be made public. In addition Section 125 of the provisions of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 will apply.
 
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The most recent example of guidance issued to civil servants on their conduct during referendums is that issued for the referendum on a regional assembly for the North East (available in the Library of the House and on the Cabinet Office website at http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/propriety_and ethics/publications/pdf/nerarg.pdf).

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