House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 15 Mar 2005 (pt 14)

15 Mar 2005 : Column 202W—continued

Prisons

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners were doubling up in cells designed for single occupancy at the most recent date for which figures are available. [214068]

Mr. Charles Clarke [holding answer 4 February 2005]: At the end of December 2004,15,786 prisoners were doubled up in cells certified to hold one person.

Sentencing (Violent Crime)

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average sentence length for offenders convicted of (a) rape, (b) robbery, (c) sexual assault, (d) grievous bodily harm, (e) actual bodily harm and (f) violence against the person was in each year since 1997; and how many convictions there were in each case in each of those years. [217750]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The available information is contained in the table and gives the number of offenders found guilty and the average custodial sentence length at all courts for the requested offences, England and Wales 1997 to 2003.

Statistics on court proceedings for 2004 will be published in the autumn.
Number of offenders found guilty at all courts and the average custodial sentence length received for certain offences⁽¹¹⁾, England and Wales 1997 to 2003

Offence 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

Rape Found guilty (Number) 618 675 659 598 572 655 673

Average custodial sentence length⁽¹²⁾(months) 78.7 79.8 79.8 83.2 81.1 83.7 86.4

Robbery Found guilty (Number) 5,589 5,542 5,626 5,891 6,822 7,711 7,303

Average custodial sentence length⁽¹²⁾(months) 39.1 35.3 35.7 36.1 35.4 38.9 39.3

Sexual assault⁽¹³⁾ Found guilty (Number) 2,963 2,894 2,868 2,633 2,517 2,590 2,467

Average custodial sentence length⁽¹²⁾(months) 24.5 24.8 24.1 24.6 25.4 26.3 26.3

Grievous bodily harm⁽¹⁴⁾ Found guilty (Number) 6,126 6,397 6,004 5,784 5,775 6,134 5,966

Average custodial sentence length⁽¹²⁾(months) 26.1 24.8 25.6 24.9 26.3 26.8 28.9

Actual bodily harm⁽¹⁵⁾ Found guilty (Number) 17,685 18,388 17,337 16,569 14,962 14,904 14,961

Average custodial sentence length⁽¹²⁾(months) 7.8 7.5 7.8 8.0 8.5 9.2 9.2

Violence against the person Found guilty (Number) 34,562 37,050 35,700 35,270 35,298 37,708 38,036

Average custodial sentence length⁽¹²⁾(months) 17.4 16.1 15.7 15.8 16.7 17.6 18.8

⁽¹¹⁾ These data are on the principal offence basis.
⁽¹²⁾ Excludes life sentences.
⁽¹³⁾ Includes: Indecent assault on a male and female.
⁽¹⁴⁾ Excludes racially and religiously aggravated GBH.
⁽¹⁵⁾ Excludes racially and religiously aggravated ABH.

15 Mar 2005 : Column 203W

Offence		1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Rape	Found guilty (Number)	618	675	659	598	572	655	673
	Average custodial sentence length⁽¹²⁾(months)	78.7	79.8	79.8	83.2	81.1	83.7	86.4

Robbery	Found guilty (Number)	5,589	5,542	5,626	5,891	6,822	7,711	7,303
	Average custodial sentence length⁽¹²⁾(months)	39.1	35.3	35.7	36.1	35.4	38.9	39.3

Sexual assault⁽¹³⁾	Found guilty (Number)	2,963	2,894	2,868	2,633	2,517	2,590	2,467
	Average custodial sentence length⁽¹²⁾(months)	24.5	24.8	24.1	24.6	25.4	26.3	26.3

Grievous bodily harm⁽¹⁴⁾	Found guilty (Number)	6,126	6,397	6,004	5,784	5,775	6,134	5,966
	Average custodial sentence length⁽¹²⁾(months)	26.1	24.8	25.6	24.9	26.3	26.8	28.9

Actual bodily harm⁽¹⁵⁾	Found guilty (Number)	17,685	18,388	17,337	16,569	14,962	14,904	14,961
	Average custodial sentence length⁽¹²⁾(months)	7.8	7.5	7.8	8.0	8.5	9.2	9.2

Violence against the person	Found guilty (Number)	34,562	37,050	35,700	35,270	35,298	37,708	38,036
	Average custodial sentence length⁽¹²⁾(months)	17.4	16.1	15.7	15.8	16.7	17.6	18.8

Serious Organised Crime Agency

Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to assess the effectiveness of the Serious Organised Crime Agency. [218363]

Caroline Flint: The Serious Organised Crime Agency and Police Bill provides that the Secretary of State may determine strategic priorities for the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and, where he has done so, he may direct SOCA to establish levels of performance ("performance targets") to be aimed at.

Special Constables

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what the average age of serving special constables was, broken down by police force area in 1997; [216312]

(2) what the average tenure of serving special constables was, broken down by (a) year of entry and (b) police force area in 1997. [216313]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The information requested is not available.

Staff Identity Passes

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost of producing a staff identity pass was in the Department on the latest date for which figures are available; and how many staff identity passes have been reported lost or stolen in each year since 1997. [215088]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The cost of producing a staff pass in February 2005 was £4.25 per pass (including the cost of the pass and administrative costs).

The number of Home Office passes reported lost or stolen on the central London and Croydon estates annually is as follows:

15 Mar 2005 : Column 204W

Number

1998 95

1999 34

2000 89

2001 64

2002 138

2003 291

2004 321

Note:
Figures for 1997 are not available.

	Number
1998	95
1999	34
2000	89
2001	64
2002	138
2003	291
2004	321

Tetra

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what resources were given to Sussex Constabulary to roll out the commission for Tetra police communication networks in Sussex. [220483]

Caroline Flint [holding answer 10 March 2005]: The Home Office has provided funding to Police Authorities for the implementation of the Airwave service. Sussex Police Authority received £4.575 million from the Home Office in 2002–03 to support installation costs within the force.

A further £441,000 has been provided during the current financial year and a one-off payment £1.067 million will be paid in 2005–06 to meet our commitment to provide all forces with sufficient funding to meet their initial costs from when ready for service status has been achieved.

Proceeds of Crime

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action is to be taken by (a) his Department and (b) other appropriate authorities to seek to confiscate the money that has been earned by women forced into prostitution in the UK by foreign nationals who have recently been found guilty of the trafficking of women in court cases; and if he will make a statement. [220383]

15 Mar 2005 : Column 205W

Caroline Flint: The Government have introduced new legislation to enable appropriate authorities to confiscate the proceeds of crime. The Government encourage the police and other agencies to make use of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) at every appropriate opportunity. Under the Act anyone convicted of a criminal offence is liable to confiscation proceedings to recover any proceeds of their criminality. In the absence of a conviction it is open to law enforcement agencies to refer the case to the Assets Recovery Agency to consider civil recovery or taxation proceedings instead. POCA also contains provisions for enabling the seizure of cash where it can be demonstrated that it is from, or intended for use in, crime.

The Home Office funds Reflex, the multi-agency enforcement taskforce established to tackle organised immigration crime, including human trafficking. Many of the recent court cases have resulted from Reflex supported operations. Confiscating the proceeds of crime is an important part of the reflex strategy and a new dedicated Reflex Financial Investigation Unit has recently been established within the National Crime Squad.

In addition the Home Office funds five multi agency Regional Asset Recovery Teams to increase the confiscation of the proceeds of crime and tackle money laundering.

Under-age Drinking (London)

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions have taken place for under-age drinking in each London borough in each year since 1990. [216846]

15 Mar 2005 : Column 206W

Paul Goggins: There is no specific offence of under-age drinking.

However, the available information from the Home Office Court Proceedings database, gives the number of defendants aged 10–17 years who were proceeded against in each London borough, for offences of being drunk, drunk at a designated sports event and drunk and disorderly together with defendants proceeded against for the offence of:

"Selling etc., intoxicating liquor to persons under 18 for consumption on the premises".

Figures for 1990 to 2003 are given in the following table. Statistics for 2004 will be available in the autumn.

In addition, the penalty notice for disorder scheme provides for persons who commit specified penalty offences to be issued with a fixed penalty notice instead of being prosecuted or cautioned. The scheme was extended to 16 and 17-year-olds from 20 January 2004. The second table details the number of penalty notices issued for the listed offences which involve under age drinking. These include offences committed by 16 and 17-year-olds and alcohol offences involving the purchase for, sale or delivery to persons aged under 18 years.

The penalty notice for disorder scheme has been extended to allow penalty notices to be issued to 10 to 15-year-olds and pilots of these powers are now under way in seven police force areas including the borough of Kingston in the Metropolitan police force area. A further under age drinking offence, purchase of alcohol on licensed premises by a person under 18, is to be added to the scheme as set out in a draft Order laid before Parliament on 17 March.
Persons aged 10 and under 18 proceeded against at magistrates courts for certain alcohol related offences, by London borough 1990 to 2003⁽¹⁶⁾

Offence/London borough 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996

Drunk in a highway or other public place, whether a building or not, or on licensed premises
Inner London magistrates courts⁽¹⁷⁾

City of London police

Guildhall Justice rooms — — — — — — —

Metropolitan police

Bow Street⁽¹⁸⁾ — — 1 — — — —

Camberwell Green/Tower Bridge — 2 — — — — —

Greenwich and Woolwich — — 1 — — — —

Highbury Corner⁽¹⁹⁾ 1 — — — — — —

Horseferry Road — — 1 — — — —

Marylebone — — — — — — —

South Western — — — — — — —

Thames — — — — — — —

West London 3 — — — — — —

Inner London Juvenile Courts⁽²⁰⁾ 4 — 1 — — — 1

Outer London boroughs

Metropolitan police

Barking and Dagenham — — — — — — —

Barnet — — — — — — —

Bexley — — — — — — —

Brent — — 1 — 1 — —

Bromley — — 1 — — — —

Croydon — — 1 — — — —

Ealing — — — — — — —

Enfield — — — — — — —

Haringey — — — — — — —

Harrow — — — — — — —

Havering — — — — — — —

Hillingdon — — 1 — — — —

Hounslow 1 — — — 1 — 1

Kingston-upon-Thames 2 — — 1 — — —

Merton — — — — — — —

Newham — — — — 1 — —

Redbridge — — — — — — —

Richmond upon Thames — — — — — — —

Sutton — — — — — — —

Waltham Forest — — — — — — —

Total Metropolitan police 3 — 4 1 3 — 1

Total Greater London 11 2 8 1 3 — 2

15 Mar 2005 : Column 207W

Offence/London borough 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

Drunk in a highway or other public place, whether a building or not, or on licensed premises
Inner London magistrates courts⁽¹⁷⁾

City of London police

Guildhall Justice rooms — — — — — — —

Metropolitan police

Bow Street⁽¹⁸⁾ — — — — — — —

Camberwell Green/Tower Bridge — — — 3 — 1 —

Greenwich and Woolwich — — — — — — —

Highbury Corner⁽¹⁹⁾ — — — — — — —

Horseferry Road — — — — — — —

Marylebone — — — — — — —

South Western — — — — — — —

Thames — — — — — — —

West London — 1 1 2 1 — 1

Inner London Juvenile Courts⁽²⁰⁾ — — — — — — —

Outer London boroughs

Metropolitan police

Barking and Dagenham — — — — 2 — —

Barnet — — — — — — —

Bexley — — — — 1 — 3

Brent — — — — — — —

Bromley — — — — 1 — —

Croydon — — — — 1 — —

Ealing 1 — — — — — —

Enfield — — — — — — —

Haringey — — — — — 1 —

Harrow — — — — — — —

Havering — — — — 1 1 —

Hillingdon — — — 1 — — —

Hounslow — — — 1 1 — —

Kingston-upon-Thames — 1 — — — — —

Merton — — — 1 2 — —

Newham — — — — — — —

Redbridge — — — — — — —

Richmond upon Thames — — 1 1 1 1 1

Sutton 1 — — 1 — 1 1

Waltham Forest — — — — — — —

Total Metropolitan police 2 1 1 5 10 4 5

Total Greater London 2 2 2 10 11 5 6

⁽¹⁶⁾ These data are on the principal offence basis.
⁽¹⁷⁾ Information held centrally does not allow a breakdown of cases by borough in the Inner London area.
⁽¹⁸⁾ Includes Marlborough Street 1997–99.
⁽¹⁹⁾ Includes Clerkenwell and Hampstead, 1997–98.
⁽²⁰⁾ Cases included with adult courts from 1998 (from 1999 for cases heard at the Crown court).

Number of penalty notices for disorder issued in London⁽²¹⁾ for offences relating to alcohol—2004 (Provisional figures)

Offence
Statute Number of notices issued

Offences committed by juveniles aged 16 and 17 years

Drunk and disorderly Criminal Justice Act 1967, Sec 91 22

Being drunk in a highway, other public place or licensed premises Licensing Act 1872, Sec 12 2

Consumption of alcohol in designated public place Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001, Sec 12 —

Consumption of alcohol by under 18 in licensed premises⁽²²⁾ Licensing Act 1964, Sec 169E(1) —

Offences involving the purchase for, sale or delivery to, persons aged under 18 years

Sell alcohol to person under 18⁽²²⁾ Licensing Act 1964, Sec 169A 5

Purchase of alcohol in licensed premises for person under 18⁽²²⁾ Licensing Act 1964, Sec 169C(2) —

Purchase of alcohol for consumption in bar of licensed premises for person under 18 Licensing Act 1964, Sec 169C(3) 2

Allowing consumption of alcohol by under 18 in bar of licensed premises⁽²²⁾ Licensing Act 1964, Sec 169E(2) —

Delivery of alcohol to person under 18 or allowing delivery⁽²²⁾ Licensing Act 1964, Sec 169F 3

⁽²¹⁾ City of London and Metropolitan police force areas.
⁽²²⁾ Offence added to PND scheme only from 1 November 2004.

15 Mar 2005 : Column 209W

Offence/London borough	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996
Drunk in a highway or other public place, whether a building or not, or on licensed premises
Inner London magistrates courts⁽¹⁷⁾
City of London police
Guildhall Justice rooms	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Metropolitan police
Bow Street⁽¹⁸⁾	—	—	1	—	—	—	—
Camberwell Green/Tower Bridge	—	2	—	—	—	—	—
Greenwich and Woolwich	—	—	1	—	—	—	—
Highbury Corner⁽¹⁹⁾	1	—	—	—	—	—	—
Horseferry Road	—	—	1	—	—	—	—
Marylebone	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
South Western	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Thames	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
West London	3	—	—	—	—	—	—
Inner London Juvenile Courts⁽²⁰⁾	4	—	1	—	—	—	1

Outer London boroughs
Metropolitan police
Barking and Dagenham	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Barnet	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Bexley	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Brent	—	—	1	—	1	—	—
Bromley	—	—	1	—	—	—	—
Croydon	—	—	1	—	—	—	—
Ealing	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Enfield	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Haringey	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Harrow	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Havering	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Hillingdon	—	—	1	—	—	—	—
Hounslow	1	—	—	—	1	—	1
Kingston-upon-Thames	2	—	—	1	—	—	—
Merton	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Newham	—	—	—	—	1	—	—
Redbridge	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Richmond upon Thames	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Sutton	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Waltham Forest	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Total Metropolitan police	3	—	4	1	3	—	1

Total Greater London	11	2	8	1	3	—	2

Offence/London borough	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Drunk in a highway or other public place, whether a building or not, or on licensed premises
Inner London magistrates courts⁽¹⁷⁾
City of London police
Guildhall Justice rooms	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Metropolitan police
Bow Street⁽¹⁸⁾	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Camberwell Green/Tower Bridge	—	—	—	3	—	1	—
Greenwich and Woolwich	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Highbury Corner⁽¹⁹⁾	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Horseferry Road	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Marylebone	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
South Western	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Thames	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
West London	—	1	1	2	1	—	1
Inner London Juvenile Courts⁽²⁰⁾	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Outer London boroughs
Metropolitan police
Barking and Dagenham	—	—	—	—	2	—	—
Barnet	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Bexley	—	—	—	—	1	—	3
Brent	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Bromley	—	—	—	—	1	—	—
Croydon	—	—	—	—	1	—	—
Ealing	1	—	—	—	—	—	—
Enfield	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Haringey	—	—	—	—	—	1	—
Harrow	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Havering	—	—	—	—	1	1	—
Hillingdon	—	—	—	1	—	—	—
Hounslow	—	—	—	1	1	—	—
Kingston-upon-Thames	—	1	—	—	—	—	—
Merton	—	—	—	1	2	—	—
Newham	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Redbridge	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Richmond upon Thames	—	—	1	1	1	1	1
Sutton	1	—	—	1	—	1	1
Waltham Forest	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Total Metropolitan police	2	1	1	5	10	4	5

Total Greater London	2	2	2	10	11	5	6

Offence	Statute	Number of notices issued
Offences committed by juveniles aged 16 and 17 years
Drunk and disorderly	Criminal Justice Act 1967, Sec 91	22
Being drunk in a highway, other public place or licensed premises	Licensing Act 1872, Sec 12	2
Consumption of alcohol in designated public place	Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001, Sec 12	—
Consumption of alcohol by under 18 in licensed premises⁽²²⁾	Licensing Act 1964, Sec 169E(1)	—

Offences involving the purchase for, sale or delivery to, persons aged under 18 years
Sell alcohol to person under 18⁽²²⁾	Licensing Act 1964, Sec 169A	5
Purchase of alcohol in licensed premises for person under 18⁽²²⁾	Licensing Act 1964, Sec 169C(2)	—
Purchase of alcohol for consumption in bar of licensed premises for person under 18	Licensing Act 1964, Sec 169C(3)	2
Allowing consumption of alcohol by under 18 in bar of licensed premises⁽²²⁾	Licensing Act 1964, Sec 169E(2)	—
Delivery of alcohol to person under 18 or allowing delivery⁽²²⁾	Licensing Act 1964, Sec 169F	3

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