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5 Apr 2005 : Column 1390W—continued
Deaths Abroad
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to establish a system of discretionary rather than mandatory inquests for violent or suspicious deaths abroad; and if he will make a statement. [224108]
Paul Goggins: At present coroners in England and Wales are required to hold inquests into deaths which occur overseas only if the body is repatriated, the death is reported to them, and the death would have been subject to an inquest if it had occurred in England and Wales.
The Government commissioned an independent report—Death Certification and Investigation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the report of a Fundamental Review" [Cm 5831] which was presented to Parliament in 2003. It included recommendations on coroners' responsibilities for deaths abroad (pages 136–139) and proposed that public inquests should be at the discretion of coroners, but with an expectation that they would take place in particular circumstances.
Drawing on the recommendations of the review, and taking full account of the Third Report of the Shipman Inquiry which was also published [Cm 5854] in 2003, we outlined our intention to proceed with coroner and death certification reform in a position paper presented to Parliament in March 2004 [Cm 6159]. We are concluding detailed work currently and will put forward firm plans, including the handling of coroners' investigations into deaths abroad, as soon as we can.
Departmental Policies (Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for theHome Department how much has been spent on tackling drugs misuse in Newcastle-under-Lyme since 1997. [223238]
Caroline Flint: A breakdown of financial allocations to local constituencies is not available in the form requested, as funding is allocated to Drug Action Teams (DATs). In this case, the figures given are those for Staffordshire DAT, which covers Tamworth, Staffordshire Moorlands, Burton, Cannock Chase, Lichfield, Newcastle-under-Lyme, South Staffordshire and Stone.
Direct annual funding nationally to tackle drug misuse amounted to £1,244 million in 2003–04, rising to £1,344 million in 2004–05. Staffordshire DAT has seen a significant increase in direct funding for tackling drugs, in particular for drug treatment services and the throughcare and aftercare elements of the Drug
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Interventions Programme. In 2003–04 the allocation for Staffordshire DAT amounted to £4.38 million, rising to £5.16 million in 2004–05.
Domestic Violence
Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to ensure that the recommendations of the joint Crown Prosecution Service and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary inquiry, Violence in the Home, are being implemented in all police areas. [207496]
Ms Blears: Under the leadership of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), comprehensive guidance on investigating domestic violence has been produced by the National Centre for Policing Excellence. This guidance was launched at the ACPO domestic violence conference in November 2004 and is currently being implemented by all police forces with the assistance of the National Centre for Policing Excellence.
The guidance has incorporated all of the relevant recommendations from the HMCPSI/HMIC report. ACPO has agreed with the Home Office and CPS a common definition of domestic violence. This is the definition used by the ACPO guidance on investigating domestic violence.
The new guidance is also supplemented by the Centrex modular training package on domestic violence. This training package was subjected to an annual update and has been recently re-released to all police forces in England and Wales. The update includes the incorporation of information from the HMCPSI/HMIC Thematic report and the ACPO guidance on investigating domestic violence.
Drug-related Crime
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been arrested for crimes connected with (a) cocaine and (b) heroin use in each constituency in each year since 1997. [224333]
Caroline Flint: Data on crimes related to the drugs specified are not currently collated at constituency level. The Home Office collates data at police force level on arrests for property crimes, but do not record whether they are related to an offender's drug habit. However, data on drug offenders are collated at police force level.
Data on the numbers of people arrested for cocaine and heroin offences in the United Kingdom are available in the Drug Seizure and Offender Statistics, United Kingdom" Home Office statistical bulletin 2001 and 2002, and the Drug Offenders finding, for England and Wales 2003. The area tables accompanying these publications provide a break down at police force level.
Copies are available in the Library of the House and on the RDS website at: www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs04/hosb0804.pdf%5D
Mr. Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were arrested for crimes connected with (a) cannabis, (b) cocaine, (c) ecstasy and (d) heroin use in each constituency in each year since 1997. [223733]
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Caroline Flint [holding answer 24 March 2005]: Data on crimes related to the drugs specified are not currently collated at constituency level. The Home Office collates data at police force level on arrests for property crimes, but do not record whether they are related to an offender's drug habit. However, data on drug offenders are collated at police force level.
Data on the numbers of people arrested for cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy and heroin offences in the United Kingdom are available in the Drug Seizure and Offender Statistics, United Kingdom" Home Office statistical bulletin 2001 and 2002, and the Drug Offenders finding, for England and Wales 2003. The area tables accompanying these publications provide a break down at police force level. Copies are available in the Library and on the RDS website at: http://uk.sitestat. com/homeoffice/homeoffice/s?rds.hosb0804pdf&ns_type= pdf&ns_url=%5Bhttp://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs04/hosb0804.pdf%5D
Drugs
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate his Department has made of how much (a) heroin, (b) cocaine and (c) cannabis was sold in (a) cash value and (b) weight terms in each year since 1975. [223708]
Caroline Flint: The information requested is not centrally available.
Emergency Calls
Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average response time for police to 999 calls was in (a) Hartlepool and (b) England and Wales in each year since 1997. [218509]
Ms Blears: The information requested is not collected centrally.
Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary (HMCIC) publishes statistics of the percentage of 999 calls answered within target time. The latest available statistics relate to 2002–03 and 2003–04 and are published in Table 5 of HMCIC's Annual Report. The publication is available via the Home Office website at:
The equivalent figures for earlier years are available from previous annual reports, copies of which should be in the Library. These statistics are only available at police force area level and figures are not available for Hartlepool.
Equip for Service
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether a comprehensive risk assessment has been carried out by the Metropolitan Police Service on the outsourcing of the Equip for Service facility at Northolt. [219337]
Ms Blears
[holding answer 1 March 2005]: Decisions relating to the use of resources are a matter for the Commissioner and the Police Authority.
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The Commissioner of police of the Metropolis informs me that the Metropolitan Police Service conducted a comprehensive risk assessment on the outsourcing of the Equip for Service function in early 2004. From the assessment he is confident that all the risks are manageable.
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what impact outsourcing the Equip for Service facility at Northolt will have on each London borough and their ability to deliver the national crime reduction strategy. [219338]
Ms Blears [holding answer 1 March 2005]: Decisions relating to the use of resources are a matter for the Commissioner and the Police Authority.
The Commissioner of police of the Metropolis informs me that the outsourcing will not affect the Service capacity to police each London borough or to deliver the national crime reduction strategy.
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