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8 Mar 2005 : Column 1636W—continued
Mobile Phone Offences
Mr. Amess: To ask the Solicitor-General how many prosecutions there have been in (a) England and Wales, (b) Essex and (c) Southend for the offence of driving while using a hand-held mobile phone since the introduction of the law. [214024]
The Solicitor-General: The Crown Prosecution Service Compass Case Management System (CMS) can provide, with effect from February 2004, a record of specific offences which were the subject of a court hearing, and of the number of such offences. These records indicate that, during the period of February 2004 to December 2004, CPS Essex handled prosecutions in respect of three offences under s110 (1) Road Vehicles Construction and Use Regulations 1986, of which one was dealt with by Southend Criminal Justice Unit. Of these three, one pleaded guilty, one was convicted by the magistrates court and one was acquitted by the magistrates court. In the same period, the Crown Prosecution Service handled prosecutions in respect of 197 offences nationally.
Please note this offence can be dealt with by a fixed penalty notice issued by the Police. These proceedings are not included in the above figures.
Overseas Corruption Investigation
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Solicitor-General what discussions the SFO has had with the Home Office with regard to whether the new Serious Organised Crime Agency SOCA will play a role in investigating overseas corruption. [219294]
The Solicitor-General: The Serious Fraud Office has not held any discussions with the Home Office in respect of the potential role of the Serious Organised Crime Agency in investigating allegations of overseas corruption.
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Solicitor-General whether the SFO has decided to open a domestic investigation into the allegations of overseas bribery on the Nigerian LNG project at Bonny Island. [219295]
The Solicitor-General: The SFO has not commenced a domestic investigation into allegations of overseas bribery in relation to the Nigerian LNG project at Bonny Island.
Mutual legal assistance continues to be provided by the SFO to the authorities of the USA and France. The situation will continue to be monitored with a view to determining whether a domestic investigation into this matter is appropriate.
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Solicitor-General if she will list the police forces from which the SFO is getting assistance with overseas bribery investigations. [219300]
The Solicitor-General: Of the three cases of overseas corruption currently under investigation, the Ministry of Defence Police are providing assistance on two cases. To date no police force has formally appointed to the third case.
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Solicitor-General how many full investigations into allegations of overseas bribery the SFO are undertaking. [219301]
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The Solicitor-General: The SFO is currently conducting three investigations where allegations of overseas corruption may constitute an element of the case.
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Solicitor-General how many vetting investigations into allegations of overseas bribery the Serious Fraud Office is currently overtaking. [219302]
The Solicitor-General: Thirteen referrals where allegations of overseas corruption may constitute an element of the referral are currently subject to the SFO vetting process.
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Solicitor-General what recent assessment she has made of whether the Serious Fraud Office has sufficient resources to investigate allegations of overseas bribery. [219303]
The Solicitor-General: Of the three cases of overseas corruption currently under investigation, one has to date no police force formally appointed to it. The Ministry of Defence police are providing assistance on two cases.
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Solicitor-General how many investigations into overseas bribery the Serious Fraud Office estimates that it is able to undertake in any one financial year. [219304]
The Solicitor-General: The SFO is unable to provide an estimate because it is unclear how many referrals of this type of offence will be annually passed to the SFO.
The SFO does not allocate staff resource by category of offence.
Rape/Sexual Assault
Vera Baird: To ask the Solicitor-General how the No Witness No Justice programme interacts with the work of sexual assault referral centres. [215576]
The Solicitor-General: Sexual assault referral centres (SARCs) provide a co-ordinated service to victims in the immediate aftermath of rape or other sexual assault. victims receive medical attention and counselling, and can have a forensic examination and report the rape/sexual assault to the police if they so choose. There are 13 SARCs across England and Wales.
As part of the no witness, no justice programme, witness care units (WCUs) were established. They provide a single point of contact for victims and witnesses to turn to for information and support from the point of charge until the conclusion of the case. By the end of March this year, there will be 81 such units nationally, and at least one covering each CPS Area. By the end of this year, there will be 165 such units covering all of England and Wales.
That SARCs and WCUs complement each other in helping place the victim at the heart of the criminal justice system.
Special Advocates
Keith Vaz: To ask the Solicitor-General how many Special Advocates have resigned; and how many are in office. [220090]
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The Solicitor-General: Two special advocates have resigned. There are thirteen in office.
Keith Vaz: To ask the Solicitor-General when she received the letter of resignation of Ian Macdonald QC as a Special Advocate; and when she replied to the letter. [220089]
The Solicitor-General: Ian Macdonald's letter of 17 December tendering his resignation as special advocate with effect from 20 December was received by the Attorney-General on 21 December 2004. The Attorney-General replied on 21 December 2004.
TREASURY
Alcohol-related Deaths (Tyne and Wear)
Mr. Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer in how many deaths in each local authority area in Tyne and Wear alcohol use was recorded as a contributory factor since 2000; and how many of those deaths were in those aged under 30 years. [220399]
Mr. Timms: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Jim Cousins, dated 8 March 2005:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking for how many deaths in each local authority area in Tyne and Wear, alcohol use was recorded as a contributory factor since 2000; and how many of those deaths were in those aged under 30 years. (220399)
The latest year for which figures are available is 2003. The attached table shows the numbers of deaths among residents of local authorities in the former metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear where the underlying cause of death indicated a condition directly related to alcohol use in the years 2000 to 2003. During this four year period, six of these deaths in the former metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear were of people aged under 30.
The ONS definition of alcohol-related deaths only includes those causes regarded as being most directly due to alcohol consumption. Apart from deaths due to accidental poisoning with alcohol, this definition excludes external causes of death, such as road traffic deaths and other accidents, and alcohol-related suicides and homicides. Estimates of the annual total number of deaths in which alcohol has played a role can therefore vary widely depending on the criteria used. The definition used by ONS allows for consistent comparisons over time for those deaths where a clear association with alcohol consumption can generally be assumed.
(6)For the year 2000 the cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (1CD-9). The codes used by ONS to define alcohol-related deaths are listed below:
291—Alcoholic psychoses.
303—Alcohol dependence syndrome.
305.0—Non-dependent abuse of alcohol.
425.5—Alcoholic cardiomyopathy.
571—Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis.
E860—Accidental poisoning by alcohol.
For the years 2001–03 the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) was used. To maintain comparability with earlier years the following codes were used:
F10—Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol.
142.6—Alcoholic cardiomyopathy.
K70—Alcoholic liver disease
K73—Chronic hepatitis, not elsewhere classified.
K74—Fibrosis and cirrhosis of liver.
X45—Accidental poisoning by and exposure to alcohol.
The selection of codes to define alcohol-related deaths is described in:
Baker A and Rooney C (2003). Recent trends in alcohol-related mortality, and the impact of ICD-10 on the monitoring of these deaths in England and Wales. Health Statistics Quarterly 17, pp5–14.
(7)Usual residents of these areas.
(8)Deaths occurring in each calendar year.
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