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22 Mar 2005 : Column 653W—continued
Correspondence
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter dated 8 December 2004 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mrs. Ayesha Siddiqui. [212276]
Mr. Charles Clarke: I refer my right hon. Friend to the answer I gave him on 3 February 2005, Official Report, column 1008W.
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) when he will reply to the letter dated 17 November from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mrs. Thembelani Chinyoka; [212282]
(2) when he will reply to the letter dated 17 November 2004 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton, with regard to Mrs. Thembelani Chinyoka. [215106]
Mr. Charles Clarke: I refer my right hon. Friend to the answer I gave him on 1 February 2005, Official Report, columns 822–23W.
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter dated 1 November from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Lily Beverley. [212283]
Mr. Charles Clarke: I refer my right hon. Friend to the answer I gave him on 1 February 2005, Official Report, columns 822–23W.
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter dated 6 December 2004 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton, with regard to Mrs. Sama Manzoor Ahmed. [215108]
Mr. Charles Clarke: I refer my right hon. Friend to the answer I gave him on 1 February 2005, Official Report, column 823W.
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter dated 30 December 2004 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr. Dwight Swanson. [217047]
Mr. Charles Clarke: I refer my right hon. Friend to the answer I gave him on 21 February 2005, Official Report, column 85W.
Criminal Cases Review Commission
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made in enabling the Criminal Cases Review Commission (a) to obtain documents and information from abroad and (b) to interview witnesses overseas. [218713]
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Paul Goggins: This issue has been considered, but there is currently no statutory basis on which the Criminal Cases Review Commission can request evidence from overseas. Legislation would therefore be required.
Cycling
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 1 March 2004, Official Report, column 1098W, on cycling, if he will make it his policy to record centrally how many cyclists involved in road accidents were reported as cycling without lights. [221684]
Mr. Jamieson: I have been asked to reply.
Personal injury road accident data in Great Britain are collected by the police and reported to the Department for Transport using the STATS 19 accident report format. From the 1 January 2005 the police were asked to record contributory factors to road accidents as part of the STATS 19 form. Among the factors included are Impairment or Distraction—Not displaying lights at night or in poor visibility" and Impairment or Distraction—Cyclist wearing dark clothing at night". The contributory factor data will become available in the summer of 2006.
Dangerous Driving
Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to make available the resources needed to implement the Government's policy of increasing the maximum penalty for dangerous driving from two to five years' imprisonment. [222348]
Caroline Flint [holding answer 17 March 2005]: The Government have a commitment arising from theReview of Road Traffic Penalties to increase the maximum penalty for dangerous driving.
It is our intention to implement this measure as part of a package of measures arising from the Consultation on the Review of Road Traffic Offences involving Bad Driving. This Consultation paper was published on 3 February and the consultation exercise will close on 6 May.
The funding for, and implementation of, this package will be agreed once the assessment of the consultation has been completed later this year.
Departmental Contracts
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many contracts in his Department have been granted to (a) EDS, (b) Fujitsu and (c) EDS and Fujitsu jointly in each of the last two years; whether they were open to competition; for what they were granted; for how much, and over what period of time; and if he will make a statement. [211620]
Fiona Mactaggart: (a) The Home Office has not awarded any contracts to EDS in the financial years 2002–03, 2003–04 or 2004-YTD.
(b) Information held by the Home Office on contracts awarded to Fujitsu in the financial years 2002–03, 2003–04 and 2004-YTD is as follows:
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NCIS awarded two consultancy contracts to Fujitsu following a competitive tender exercise under the OGC S-CAT Framework Agreement. Details are as follows:
April 2002-September 2003 Project Mercury—which was a project to deliver the roll out of windows 2000 across NCIS. The total amount of expenditure over the period with Fujitsu for their delivery of services to the project was £597,375.
A feasibility study for a fire arms tracking database over 2002–03 was commissioned but this was funded via Concerted Inter-agency Drug Action (CIDA) totalling £32,630. (three month project February 2003-April 2003)
The Commercial Directorate placed two orders for various IT hardware via the G-CAT framework on behalf of the National Technical Assistance Centre (NTAC):
The Commercial Directorate awarded a consultancy contract for the production of Test and Validation Strategy for Mental Health Unit (MHU) Case-working Application on behalf of the Information Management and Technology Unit (IMTU). This was competed via the S-CAT framework, details are as follows:
The Commercial Directorate placed an order for various IT hardware via the Suspect Index (S.I.) Supply Agreement on behalf of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND). Details are as follows:
The Prison Service awarded a contract for the provision of IT equipment and software for the Prison Service's Technical Architects Solution Centre in 2004–05. The total cost was £35,000 and was procured through a competition with G-Cat suppliers.
(c) The Home office did not grant any joint contracts to EDS and Fujitsu in the financial years 2002–03, 2003–04 or 2004-YTD.
Departmental Dress Code
Mr. Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his Department's policy is on the wearing of the kirpan by Sikh employees. [222540]
Fiona Mactaggart [holding answer 18 March 2005]: The Criminal Justice Act 1988 makes it an offence for a person in a public place to have a bladed or sharply pointed article—other than a small folding pocket knife—without good reason. The onus is on the knife carrier to show they have a good reason for carrying it. However, the Act exempts Sikhs from criminal prosecution on the ground that the kirpan is a religious article. Article 13 of the Treaty of Amsterdam and the Human Rights Act also protect the right of individuals to follow their chosen religion.
Sikh employees are permitted to wear the kirpan.
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