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7 Apr 2005 : Column 1781W—continued
Badgers
Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) maximum, (b) minimum and (c) average sentences given to individuals convicted of offences involving the baiting and mistreatment of badgers was in each of the last five years. [211880]
Paul Goggins: It has not been possible to provide an answer in the time available before Prorogation.
Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals were convicted of offences involving the baiting or mistreatment of badgers in each of the last five years. [211881]
Paul Goggins: It has not been possible to provide an answer in the time available before Prorogation.
Births (Public Funds)
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of babies born to mothers without recourse to public funds in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [224535]
Mr. Charles Clarke: It has not been possible to provide an answer in the time available before Prorogation.
Border Guard Dogs
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many dogs are used for the purposes of securing the UK's borders. [221862]
Mr. Charles Clarke:
It has not been possible to provide an answer in the time available before Prorogation.
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BREAM
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREAM) certificate will be awarded to the new Home Office buildings in 2 Marsham Street; and what the assessment of the new building was against each indicator of the BREAM ranking. [205340]
Mr. Charles Clarke: It has not been possible to provide an answer in the time available before Prorogation.
Burial and Cemeteries Working Group
Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to (a) publish the responses and (b) respond to the consultation on the burial and cemeteries working group; and if he will make a statement. [214484]
Paul Goggins: It has not been possible to provide an answer in the time available before Prorogation.
Cannabis
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the impact reclassification of cannabis has had on (a) England and Wales and (b) the Ribble Valley. [221982]
Caroline Flint: Government figures on prevalence of cannabis use available for any period since reclassification come primarily from the British Crime Survey (BCS). The BCS for 2003–04 shows cannabis use for 16 to 59-year-olds who have taken the drug in the last 12 months to be at 10.8 per cent. The figure for 2002–03 was 10.9 per cent. In addition, the BCS figures show cannabis use declining steadily among 16 to 24-year-olds between 1998–2004 from 28.2 per cent. to 24.8 per cent.
Cannabis was reclassified on 29 January 2004 to a Class C drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England in 2004 contains the preliminary key findings of a survey of secondary schoolchildren aged 11 to 15. The figures show a decline in cannabis use in the last year from 13 per cent. in 2001 to 2003 to 11 per cent. for 2004.
There are no centrally held figures on the impact of cannabis reclassification in the Ribble Valley.
Caravans
Mr. Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what directions he has given to police forces regarding the checking of (a) transponders on suspected stolen caravans and (b) the Caravan Registration and Identification Scheme Vehicle Identification Number. [223225]
Ms Blears: It has not been possible to provide an answer in the time available before Prorogation.
Mr. Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many caravans were stolen in (a) 2004, (b) 2003 and (c) 2002; and how many were subsequently recovered. [223228]
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Ms Blears: It has not been possible to provide an answer in the time available before Prorogation.
Change up Programme
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for projects the Department has received under the ChangeUp Programme; what the total value is of the projects so submitted; how many projects have been approved; how much and what percentage of the budget for the programme has been committed; and how much money has been disbursed. [219022]
Fiona Mactaggart: ChangeUp is a capacity building framework for the voluntary and community sector, launched in June 2004 after extensive consultation with the sector. It is underpinned by an £80 million initial investment programme by Government available until March 2006.
The £80 million initial investment by Government have now been enhanced by an additional £70 million for the financial years 2006–07 and 2007–08.
Initial activity has been slow due to the need to put in place sustainable sector led decision making mechanisms. Good progress is now being made on the delivery of the ChangeUp investment plan.
£52.4million (65 per cent. of the total investment) has been allocated to local and regional activity to support voluntary and community sector infrastructure and capacity building. This money has been committed to the Government Offices for distribution.
£1.25million of national spend was committed through an early spend programme. This was heavily oversubscribed with 506 applications submitted in open bidding. Twenty two projects were successful with an additional five projects also commissioned. £1 million has been disbursed.
£24million of the main spend programme was allocated to national activity. £4.9 million of this money has been committed for/seven projects and £0.8 million has been disbursed.
£57.4 million (72 per cent. of the £80 million investment has been committed. The 2003–04 spend was £2.2 million and the 2004–05 spend to date is £6.9 million making a total spend of £9.1 million at the end of January 2005.
Community Support Officers
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) whether grant funding of community support officers will continue; and whether the costs of community support officers will be met from the police precept; [221142]
(2) what assessment he has made of the role targeted grant funding through the neighbourhood policy fund plays in recruiting and retaining police community support officers in North Yorkshire. [221143]
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Ms Blears: It has not been possible to provide an answer in the time available before Prorogation.
Mr. Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the 20,000 community support officers the Government proposes to recruit by 2008 are to be posted in Leicester; and if he will make a statement. [224663]
Ms Blears It has not been possible to provide an answer in the time available before Prorogation.
Community-based Sentences
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many community-based sentences have been breached in each year since 1997, broken down by (a) type of sentence and (b) offence committed. [217730]
Paul Goggins: I have arranged for the available information, for the years 1997 to 2003, to be placed in the House Library.
Statistics for 2004 will be published in the latter part of this year.
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