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Lunar House

Richard Ottaway: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) whether the Minister for Immigration will attend the South London Citizens' Inquiry into Lunar house; [8337]

(2) for what reasons the Minister for Immigration decided not to give evidence to the South London Citizens' Inquiry into Lunar house. [8338]

Mr. McNulty: The Inquiry is focusing on how the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) provides its services at Lunar house. In the light of this it was more appropriate for officials to attend rather than the Minister. Joanna Place and Jeremy Oppenheim, two of the senior directors in IND attended the Inquiry on 30 June.

Methadone

Mr. Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the sources of methadone traded illegally. [6991]

Hazel Blears [holding answer 28 June 2005]: The Home Office have not conducted any systematic assessment of black market" trading in methadone.

Motoring Offences (London)

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many people have been prosecuted for driving (a) without a licence, (b) without insurance and (c) without an MOT in each London borough in each of the last five years; [5451]
 
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(2) how many people were prosecuted for having an untaxed vehicle in London in each of the last five years. [5450]

Paul Goggins: The following table shows (by London borough) the number of persons proceeded against for failure to produce a driving licence and for using a vehicle uninsured against third party risks. From the Home Office Court Proceedings Database it is not possible to separately identify the specific offence of driving a vehicle without a valid MOT certificate from other vehicle test offences, nor the offence of having an untaxed vehicle from other registration and licence offences.
Number of persons⁽⁴⁶⁾ proceeded against for failing toproduce a driving-licence⁽⁴⁷⁾ in Greater London bymagistrates court/London borough, 1999–2003⁽⁴⁸⁾

London boroughs/magistrates courts	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Inner London magistrates courts (49)
City of London Police
Guildhall Justice Rooms	20	38	31	34	53
Total City of London Police	20	38	31	34	53
Metropolitan police
Bow Street	—	—	—	—	3
Camberwell Green/Tower Bridge	2	1	1	3	—
Greenwich and Woolwich	2	—	—	4	1
Highbury Corner	5	10	11	12	9
Horseferry Road	16	4	1	1	9
Marylebone	15	2	—	—	—
South Western	12	3	1	—	2
Thames	21	18	12	9	12
West London	2	2	2	2	4
Outer London boroughs
Metropolitan police
Barking and Dagenham	2	1	4	6	6
Barnet	—	—	—	5	4
Bexley	1	—	—	—	—
Brent	3	14	7	3	—
Bromley	2	5	2	6	4
Croydon	3	1	4	2	—
Ealing	11	100	6	3	—
Enfield	9	14	21	14	8
Haringey	5	10	3	1	1
Harrow	15	9	10	17	52
Havering	1	2	3	6	7
Hillingdon	10	12	11	5	6
Hounslow	20	21	17	2	—
Kingston-upon-Thames	8	9	8	2	3
Merton	3	1	4	1	1
Redbridge	1	3	10	5	5
Richmond upon Thames	8	12	8	7	13
Sutton	1	4	—	5	2
Waltham Forest	4	1	1	2	5
Total Metropolitan police	182	259	147	123	157
Total Greater London	202	297	178	157	210

⁽⁴⁶⁾Excludes companies, local authorities etc.
⁽⁴⁷⁾An offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988 S.164(1)
⁽⁴⁸⁾These data are on a principal offence basis
⁽⁴⁹⁾Information held centrally does not allow a breakdown of cases by borough in the Inner London area

Offensive Weapons

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many persons have been (a) charged with, and (b) convicted of offences relating to unlawful (i) marketing of knives and (ii) publications in connection with the marketing of knives under sections 1 and 2 of the Knives Act 1997 in each of the last four years; and what proportion received a custodial sentence in each year; [6595]
 
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(2) how many persons have been (a) charged with and (b) convicted of an offence under section 6 of the Offensive Weapons Act 1996 in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and what proportion received a custodial sentence in each year. [6596]

Hazel Blears: Statistics on the number of persons charged with a crime are not collected centrally. The information contained in the table gives the number of defendants proceeded against at the magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for the offences requested, England and Wales 1999 to 2003. No sentences of immediate custody were given for these offences; the sentence breakdown for each offence has been provided. Statistics on court proceedings for 2004 will be published in the autumn.
Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty and sentenced at all courts for certain knife offences⁽⁵⁰⁾—England and Wales 1999 to 2003

Offence description	Statute	Year	Proceeded against	Found guilty	Sentenced
Unlawful	Knives	1999	5	—	—
marketing of knives	Act 1997,	2000	3	2	2
	sec. 1	2001	2	—	—
		2002	5	3	2
		2003	3	—	—
Publication of any	Knives	1999	1	—	—
written, pictorial or	Act 1997,	2000	—	—	—
other material in	sec. 2	2001	—	—	—
connection with the		2002	—	—	—
marketing of knives—suggesting the knife is suitable for combat		2003	—	—	—
Any person who sells to a person under age of 16 yrs a knife; knife blade, razor blade, axe and any other article which has a blade, that is sharply pointed and which is made or adapted for use for causing injury to the person	Criminal Justice Act 1988, sec. 141A(1) added by Offensive Weapons Act 1996 sec.6(1)	1999 2000 2001 2002 2003	3 — 9 11 17	2 — 8 10 17	2 — 8 10 17

			Sentence breakdown
Offence description	Statute	Year	Conditional discharge	Fine	Otherwise dealt with
Unlawful marketing	Knives	1999	—	—	—
of Knives	Act 1997,	2000	—	2	—
	sec. 1	2001	—	—	—
		2002	1	1	—
		2003	—	—	—
Publication of any written, pictorial or other material in connection with the marketing of knives—suggesting the knife is suitable for combat	Knives Act 1997, sec. 2	1999 2000 2001 2002 2003	— — — — —	— — — — —	— — — — —
Any person who sells to a person under age of 16 yrs a knife; knife blade, razor blade, axe and any other article which has a blade, that is sharply pointed and which is made or adapted for use for causing injury to the person	Criminal Justice Act 1988, sec. 141A(1) added by Offensive Weapons Act 1996 sec.6(1)	1999 2000 2001 2002 2003	— — — — 2	1 — 8 10 14	1 — — — 1

⁽⁵⁰⁾These data are on the principal offence basis



 
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Passports

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been convicted for fraudulently using a UK passport in London in each of the last five years. [8201]

Hazel Blears: Data from the Home Office Court Proceedings database on the number of people found guilty of fraudulently using a UK passport under S.26(1)(d) Immigration Act 1971 in London, 1999 to 2003 is contained in the table.
Number of offenders found guilty for offences under S.26 (1 )(d) Immigration Act 1971 in London, 1999–2003^{(51)(5507980052)}

	Number
1999	4
2000	1
2001	2
2002	1
2003	2

⁽⁵¹⁾These data are on the principal immigration offence basis.
⁽⁵²⁾Includes Metropolitan and City of London police force areas.
Note:
Statistics for 2004 court proceedings will be available in the autumn.

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