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11 Jul 2005 : Column 777W—continued
Miscarriages of Justice (Compensation)
Mr. Pope: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the Government's policy is on recouping the costs of bed and board incurred during imprisonment from the compensation moneys paid to people wrongly imprisoned due to miscarriages of justice. [3082]
Fiona Mactaggart: While the Home Secretary decides whether an applicant qualifies for compensation in respect of a miscarriage of justice, the assessment of the amount of compensation is undertaken by an Assessor appointed by him under the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (currently Lord Brennan QC). The amount of an award is wholly a matter for the Assessor, and the Home Secretary has no power to influence or vary his determination.
Saved living expenses for the period an applicant spent in prison are frequently referred to, incorrectly, as deductions for bed and board" or board and
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lodging". The compensation process involves two separate and distinct concepts of loss: pecuniary and non-pecuniary loss. The pecuniary element, the quantifiable financial loss, is intended to put the applicant back into the financial position they would have been in but for their wrongful conviction, but not to a position better than that. Any deduction for saved living expenses is made by the Assessor in respect of the costs an applicant would have been required to pay out of their net income, for example rent or mortgage payments. The deduction is restricted to the pecuniary loss element only, and is not intended to cover optional or enhanced expenditure, such as luxuries and leisure activities. A minimal monthly expenditure is therefore deducted.
The non-pecuniary loss award, however, is in recognition of, for example, loss of reputation, loss of liberty, hardship, mental suffering, injury to feelings, and inconvenience. It is an award in recognition of the miscarriage of justice itself.
Missing Children
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 20 June 2005, Official Report, column 766W, on missing children, what assessment his Department has made of the viability of collecting this information. [9431]
Hazel Blears: The Home Office has no plans to collect this information centrally. However, we have been working with the Association of Chief Police Officers and the National Missing Persons Helpline to establish joint working arrangements to improve the recording and information sharing and exchange, in order to improve the way in which missing persons are dealt with. Part of this work includes the establishment of a comprehensive national police database of missing and unidentified people reported either to the police or the helpline.
Motoring Offences
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) males and (b) females were convicted of motoring offences in (i)Southend, (ii) Essex and (iii) England and Wales in each of the last five years for which figures are available, broken down by offence. [10509]
Hazel Blears: The information from the Home Office Court Proceedings database is contained in the tables and gives the number of males and females found guilty of motoring offences by offence class in Southend, Essex police force area and England and Wales 1999 to 2003. Statistics for 2004 will be available in the autumn.
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(71)These data are on the principal offence basis
Mr. Crispen Kulinsi
Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will defer the enforced return of Mr. Crispen Kulinsi (Home Office ref K1188546) to Malawi pending consideration by his Department of the risks of Mr. Kulinsi's further deportation from Malawi to Zimbabwe. [7543]
Mr. McNulty: It is not our usual practice to disclose information about an individual's immigration case to anybody other than their nominated representatives or constituency MP.
Murder Rate
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the murder rate per 1,000 of the population in (a) the constituency of Southend, West and (b) England and Wales was in each of the last five years. [10506]
Hazel Blears:
Figures are provided for homicide (murder, manslaughter and infanticide) as, at the time of recording, the nature of the killing is often not known. Information for Southend, West is not available. The
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available data relates to the Southend Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP) area and homicide data at CDRP level has only been collected since 2001–02. Available data are given in the following table.
| 2001–02 | 2002–03 | 2003–04 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southend | |||
| Homicide | 5 | 6 | 2 |
| Rate/1,000 population | 0.028 | 0.037 | 0.013 |
| England and Wales | |||
| Homicide | 891 | (72)1,043 | 853 |
| Rate/1,000 population | 0.017 | 0.020 | 0.016 |
(72)In 2002–03, 172 victims of Dr. Harold Shipman were recorded, all of which relate to offences committed in previous years.
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