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4 Apr 2005 : Column 1269W—continued
Conviction Times
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average time between the reporting of a crime and securing a conviction was in (a) 1998, (b) 2001 and (c) 2004. [221532]
Ms Blears [holding answer 15 March 2005]: The information requested is not collected centrally.
Deaths Abroad
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many inquests have been held in the UK regarding violent or suspicious deaths abroad in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [224120]
Paul Goggins: Statistics on inquests held on those who die overseas are not collected centrally.
However, I can draw the hon. Member's attention to the figures quoted in Death Certification and Investigation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland: The Report of a Fundamental Review 2003." [Cm 5831] This independent Review commissioned its own one-off research which concluded that, in the previous 12 months, about 550 deaths abroad were the subject of an inquest when the body was returned to the UK.
Departmental Accounts
Tony Baldry:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether Ministers in his
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Department have issued written instructions to override his Department's accounting officer's objections since 1997. [221112]
Fiona Mactaggart: No such directions have been issued by Home Office Ministers since 1997.
The Treasury, which has a wider policy responsibility for the financial accountability mechanisms under which such directions are issued, has not been notified of any directions by Ministers in Departments to their accounting officers beyond those already disclosed to Parliament in the following written answers:
The former Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Andrew Smith) on 23 October 2000, Official Report, column 73W and 8 May 2002, Official Report, column 253W, myself on 10 June 2002, Official Report, column 1037W, the Economic Secretary (John Healey) on 13 January 2003, Official Report, column 413W and 23 June 2003, Official Report, column 618W and the former Financial Secretary (Ruth Kelly) on 30 October 2003, Official Report, columns 319–20W and 24 March 2004, Official Report, column 841W.
The circumstances in which an accounting officer should seek a direction from a Minister before authorising expenditure are set out in paragraphs 15–18 of the Treasury document, The Responsibilities of an Accounting Officer (as updated in March 2004). This document is published as Annex 4.1 of the Treasury guidance, Government Accounting and is accessible at www.government-accounting.gov.uk
Departmental Expenditure
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost of travel within the UK for the Department was in each year since 1997; and how much of this was spent on (a) hire cars, (b) helicopter hire, (c) hotel accommodation and (d) subsistence. [206467]
Fiona Mactaggart: Home Office rules provide for the reimbursement of extra expenses necessarily" incurred in carrying out official duty and in certain other specified circumstances. The overriding principle is that: where no extra expense is incurred no reimbursement is due. Overall expenditure on travel and subsistence is controlled through devolved budgets that enable managers to keep under review both the need for official travel and the economy of the travel arrangements. Managers are required to satisfy themselves that, for instance, regular travel commitments or programmes cannot be curtailed or reorganised, that meetings involving costly travel are really necessary, that the venue is appropriate, that only the necessary numbers of staff attend; and consider the desirability of requiring their staff to declare their forward visit proposals for prior approval. Where staff undertake necessary official travel, managers are required to ensure that they do so by the most efficient and economic means, taking all costs into account.
Travel costs for the core Home Office have been held centrally only since 1996; totals as follows:
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The marked increases in travel costs since 2001 can largely be attributed to changes in strategy within the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) where increased staff numbers and the need to travel as a result of new policy initiatives to improve IND performance and reductions in unauthorised entry to the UK. Other contributing factors have been related to providing advice to the organisers of the 2002 Football World Cup in Japan and Euro 2004 in Portugal and the creation of new units to support the police reform agenda.
Hotel accommodation costs and subsistence payments are recorded together against a general subsistence account on the General Ledger. Examination and extraction of hotel elements from T and S claims and the expenses payment system could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
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Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many overseas trips, and at what total cost, have been made by his Department in each year since 1997; and what the costs of (a) flights, (b) internal travel, (c) hotel accommodation and (d) subsistence were of each trip. [206654]
Fiona Mactaggart: All categories of overseas visit require prior authorisation through the normal line management chain and are required to accord with Cabinet Office guidelines and the Home Office Overseas Travel Guide. In approving an overseas visit careful regard is given to the objective of the visit in relation to the guidelines and in particular, the benefit that will accrue to the Department in relation to the cost.
The total cost of overseas travel for the Home Department since 1997 are given in the table.
The cost of overseas internal travel is not recorded separately and is incorporated within the travel totals given in the table. Similarly, the number of overseas journeys is not recorded separately within the claims calculation process; it would not be possible to extract these aspects of from the data provided without interrogating the paper claim records, this could be done only at disproportionate cost.
The marked increases in travel costs since 2001 can largely be attributed to changes in strategy within the Immigration and Nationality Directorate where increased staff numbers and the need to travel as a result of new policy initiatives to improve IND performance and reductions in unauthorised entry to the UK. Other contributing factors have been related to providing advice to the organisers of the 2002 Football World Cup in Japan and Euro 2004 in Portugal and the creation of new units to support the police reform agenda.
Information relating to overseas travel by Ministers is published on an annual basis. Information for the period 2 May 1997 to 31 March 2004 is available in the Library of the House.
Information for the financial year 2004–05 will be published as soon as possible at the end of the current financial year.
Drug-related Arrests
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many arrests have been made for (a) possession and (b) supply of (i) cannabis and (ii) class A drugs in the last two years; [220848]
(2) how many arrests have been made for (a) possession and (b) supply of (i) cannabis and (ii) class A drugs in London in each month since January 2004. [220849]
Caroline Flint: The information requested is not available centrally.
Information on arrests collected centrally is based on persons arrested for notifiable" offences by main offence group only and therefore does not identify individual offences. The data are also only available by police force area and collected on a quarterly basis.
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