| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
4 Apr 2005 : Column 1121W—continued
Correspondence
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will provide a substantive reply to the letter of 22 December 2004 from the hon. Member for Aylesbury about the case of Mr. A. K. (references K516836 and B179/5) which his Department acknowledged on 13 January. [221347]
4 Apr 2005 : Column 1122W
Mr. Browne [holding answer 14 March 2005]: The Immigration and Nationality Directorate replied to the hon. Member on 22 March 2005.
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letters dated 24 and 25 January from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Ms Madeline Crolla and Ms Vanessa Lees, transferred from the Department of Constitutional Affairs. [221912]
Mr. Charles Clarke: I replied to my right hon. Friend on 10 March and 18 March 2005 respectively.
Criminal Justice (Case Files)
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the project to make case file information on a suspect electronically available to all the main criminal justice organisations was initiated; what stage the project has reached; whether it is on schedule; and what the latest estimate of the cost of this project is. [218856]
Caroline Flint: The contract for NSPIS case preparation was placed in 1997 and for NSPIS custody in 1998. Thick" client case preparation, whereby the NSPIS case preparation application is held on the force's local IT server system, was initiated and deployed in March 2002 and custody followed in May 2002. Presently there are 11 forces with NSPIS case preparation in operational use and nine forces with custody. Version four of NSPIS custody and case preparation is scheduled to be rolled out in April 2005 with version five to follow in July 2005. NSPIS custody and case preparation will be available to all 43 forces in England and Wales by 31 March 2006. The forecast spend for the NSPIS programme to the end of 2005–06 is £228 million.
Criminal Justice Act
Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the provisions of chapter 2 ofthe Criminal Justice Act 2003 will be brought into force. [216108]
Paul Goggins: The provisions relating to hearsay evidence contained in chapter 2 of part 11 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 will be brought into force on 4 April 2005.
Departmental Policies (Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps the Government have taken to promote stronger and safer communities in Newcastle-under-Lyme since 1997. [223233]
Ms Blears:
Since 1997 Newcastle-under-Lyme has benefited from a number of crime reduction and community safety initiatives. The Government Office for the West Midlands provides partnership support for all Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) across the region, with identified partnership support officers to assist with making best use of Government funds. In addition, support is given to enable CDRPs to make better linkages with other funding programmes and achieve greater efficiency in programme management and evaluation.
4 Apr 2005 : Column 1123W
The Newcastle-under-Lyme Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership has received a total of £997,370 since 2001–02 to promote stronger and safer communities. This funding has been provided through a variety of funds, as set out in the following table. While Newcastle-under-Lyme will have received further funding for some elements of the Crime Reduction Programme prior to 2002, the exact details are not collected centrally.
(16)BCU fund goes to North Staffs BCU which covers both Newcastle-U-Lyme and Staffordshire Moorlands CDRP and is £200,000. For ease of reckoning it is inferred that each CDRP would receive 50 per cent., hence £100,000.
Information on police strength is set out in Table 1. The Newcastle-under-Lyme parliamentary constituency is part of the North Staffordshire Basic Command Unit (BCU) of the Staffordshire Police. Information on strength at BCU level is collected annually and reflects the position at the end of March. Information on BCU strength is only available from 2002. BCU strength between March 2002 and March 2004 is set out in the Table 2. It is not possible to provide police numbers at constituency level.
(17)Data provided by Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate (RDS).
(18)August 2004 was collected separately outside of the normal data collection arrangements and has not been subject to the same validation as RDS data.
4 Apr 2005 : Column 1124W
| As at 31 March | Number of police officers |
|---|---|
| 2002 | 269 |
| 2003 | Not available |
| 2004 | 301 |
Note:
The deployment of officers to BCUs is a matter for the Chief Constable (Mr. John Giffard QPM) and within the North Staffordshire BCU deployment of officers is a matter for the Divisional Commander.
Door Supervisor Licensing
Mr. Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects the licensing of door supervisors under the Private Security Industry Act 2001 to be completed in (a) the North East and (b) London; and if he will make a statement. [223494]
Ms Blears [holding answer 22 March 2005]: Security Industry Authority licences have been required for door supervisors working in the North East area since 13 December 2004 whereas those in London have until 11 April 2005 to get licensed.
E-mails
Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his Department's policy regarding the retention of e-mails in electronic form (a) after and (b) up to 1 January 2005; and what instructions have been given regarding the deletion of e-mails prior to 1 January 2005. [206963]
Fiona Mactaggart: The Department continues to implement well established policies and procedures for the review and disposal of files in accordance with its administrative needs and the Public Records Act.
E-mail messages that form part of the official record are saved for as long as business needs require and stored corporately in accordance with departmental record management procedures. Further e-mail guidance is available on the National Archives website at: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/electronicrecords/advice/pdf/managing emails.pdf.
Departmental policies are kept under review and this is the case for all record management policies. There has been no change to policies over the last 12 months. They continue to treat e-mails as one of the many document types containing business information and so they are used as part of the business record accordingly.
Fixed Penalty Notices
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of each category of fixed penalty notices have been (a) issued and (b) paid in each month since their introduction in each police force area. [223586]
Mr. Charles Clarke [holding answer 23 March 2005]: The information requested in relation to penalty notices for disorder will be published in May/June.
Mr. Amess:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many times (a) Essex and (b) Southend community support officers have issued a fixed penalty notice to parents for truancy since 27 February 2004; [210150]
4 Apr 2005 : Column 1125W
(2) how many times (a) Essex and (b) Southend community support officers have stopped cyclists in order to issue a fixed penalty notice for cycling on a footpath since 20 January 2004; [210151]
(3) how many times (a) Essex and (b) Southend community support officers have issued a fixed penaltynotice for graffiti and fly posting since 31 March 2004; [210152]
(4) how many times (a) Essex and (b) Southend community support officers have used the power to disperse groups since 20 January 2004; [210153]
(5) how many times (a) Essex and (b) Southend community support officers have used the power (i) to detain a person for up to 30 minutes pending the arrival of a constable, or to accompany that person to a police station with the person's agreement and (ii) to use reasonable force to detain a person or prevent him or her from leaving the scene in each year since their inception. [210154]
Ms Blears: This information is not collected centrally.
Commencement of paragraph 2 of Schedule 4 to the Police Reform Act 2002, whereby a Chief Constable may designate the power of detention to a Community Support Officer (CSO), took place on 23 December 2004. The Chief Constable of Essex is currently considering whether to designate CSOs on his force with the power to detain.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |