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23 Feb 2005 : Column 696W—continued
Primary Care Trusts
Mr. Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the spearhead primary care trusts and the constituencies that they cover in the south-west. [216924]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 21 February 2005]: There are no spearhead primary care trusts within the south-west. The spearhead group list consists of the local authority areas that were in the bottom fifth nationally for three or more of the following five factors:
Data for the first four factors are for the period 1995–97.
Regulation
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost to local authorities of implementing new statutory and regulatory duties that were the responsibility of his Department which have come into force since May 2001. [216900]
Dr. Ladyman [holding answer 22 February 2005]: The Department provides the financial resources needed by local authorities to deliver their adults' personal social services commitments and most appropriately meet the needs of the local community. Responsibility for children's personal social services transferred to Department for Education and Skills from 1 April 2004.
Whilst the Department is responsible for establishing overall social care policy, it is for local authorities themselves to manage the implementation of new
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statutory or regulatory changes, including the attribution of appropriate resources, in accordance with locally determined priorities.
The Department publishes regulatory impact assessments in relation to new statutory and regulatory duties. These show that the cost to local authorities of implementing such new duties since May 2001 can be estimated at around £43 million, with a further £159 million shared between local authorities and other organisations.
Residential Care
Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many of the people in residential care in 2002–03 were disabled. [216043]
Dr. Ladyman [holding answer 21 February 2005]: This information is not collected routinely. However, from the 2001 census there were around 304,000 people living in residential care, who reported having a limiting long-term illness. This represents some 94 per cent. of all those living in residential care at the time of the census.
Wells Report
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will publish the Wells Report. [211261]
Ms Rosie Winterton: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health does not currently intend to publish the Wells Report.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Alcohol-related Disorder
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his Department's strategy for tackling the problemsof alcohol-related disorder in towns and city centres. [216755]
Ms Blears: The Government are taking forward work to tackle alcohol-related crime and disorder through the Alcohol Harm Reduction Programme. Recent achievements include: the Alcohol Misuse Enforcement Campaigns which took place over the summer and winter last year, the introduction of new fixed penalty notices for minor alcohol offences from November last year and the launch of the first tranche of the Tackling violent Crime Programme—providing extra help to those areas which have the highest volumes of violent crime. We are also working with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to develop guidance for local authorities to help them manage the night-time economy.
To build on this work, the Government published a consultation document called Drinking Responsibly" on 21 January 2005 outlining new policy proposals for tackling the problems of alcohol-related disorder. The proposals included: Alcohol Disorder Zones for town and city centres, Drinking Banning Orders, a review ofthe penalties associated with alcohol-related crimes and new police closure powers for premises selling to under-age children. Replies to the proposals in the
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consultation paper are due by the 28 February 2005. We will consider all of the responses before making any final decisions on the proposals.
Al-Takfir wa al-Hijra
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for theHome Department what assessment his Department has made of the activities in the UK of Al-Takfir wa al-Hijra since January 2002; and if he will make a statement. [216718]
Mr. Charles Clarke: Any information suggesting illegal activity by any individual or group will be investigated by the appropriate authorities. Should anyone have evidence of criminal acts being carried out they should take it to the police in the first instance.
Anti-terrorism Measures
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many anti-bomb litter bins have been installed in major metropolitan areas. [215349]
Mr. Charles Clarke: Individual local authorities, transport operators and site owners providing litter bins in public places will determine numbers, distribution and type to be provided. We do not hold information about the number of blast resistant litter bins installed.
Correspondence
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will instruct the Visa Correspondence Section of UK Visas to respond to correspondence from the hon. Member for Edinburgh, West, regarding a case involving Qamar Zamanai Mansoori and Fareda Ui-Haz Sadique (Now Fareda Bano). [204772]
Mr. Mullin: I have been asked to reply.
UKVisas replied to the hon. Member on 16 December 2004. UKVisas also corresponded by e-mail with the hon. Member's office on 18 January, 1 February and 8 February.
Crime Statistics
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the HomeDepartment what his estimate is of the number of recorded crimes in (a) the North West and (b) Lancashire in 2004; and what percentage were cleared up. [215324]
Ms Blears: The latest available information on recorded crime and detections for the North West and Lancashire is for 2003–04 and is published in Table 7.04 of Home Office Statistical Bulletin 10/04; a copy of which is available in the Library.
Criminal Cases Review Commission
Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Criminal Cases Review Commission expects to start and to complete the Stage 2 Review of (a) the case of Derek Jack Tully and (b) a case received on 10 February which had the same priority. [216587]
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Paul Goggins: It is not the practice to give specific information about a particular case. Cases in the Stage 2, at-liberty queue currently being allocated to a Case Review Manager are, on average, 30 months old. Cases in the Stage 2, in-custody queue currently being allocated to a Case Review Manager are, on average, 19 months old. The Commission would expect applications received in February 2005 to wait a comparable time, but this is subject to other factors such as the need to prioritise certain cases and the time taken to complete case reviews in progress. The majority of cases (some 77 per cent.) are, however, allocated for review with minimal delay, because they are assessed as requiring less than five caseworker-days' work.
It is not possible to estimate how long the review of a case will take until it has been allocated to a Case Review Manager.
Peter Bottomley:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the level of resources the Criminal Cases Review
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Commission would need to eliminate queues of cases by March 2006; and what targets for reduction in queues Ministers have set. [216588]
Paul Goggins: There has been no assessment made by the Home Office of the level of resources required by the Criminal Cases Review Commission to eliminate queues of cases by March 2006. Ministers have not currently set targets for reduction in queues.
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