---

21 Jul 2005 : Column 2189W—continued

David Rayan Ellis

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the application for a spouse visa for David Rayan Ellis, Immigration and Nationality Directorate ref: LR1883010136/1 submitted in February, will be granted; and if he will set out the reasons for the time taken to process the application. [13367]

Mr. McNulty: Mr. Ellis is currently seeking leave to enter the United Kingdom on the basis of his marriage to a British Citizen. A number of issues remain outstanding in respect of Mr. Ellis' case and it will not be possible to resolve his application until these have been addressed. The Immigration and Nationality Directorate will reach a decision as soon as possible and advise Mr. Ellis of their decision direct.

Disability

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how the (a) Disability Discrimination Act 1975 and (b) Disability Equality Duty will be applied to (i) prisons and (ii) probations services in England and Wales. [13600]

Fiona Mactaggart: The Prison Service already seeks to apply the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) to prisons by the issuing of a Prison Service Order and an auditable Prison Service Standard. A quarterly bulletin on best practice—Inside Disability—is made available to all Governors and staff.
 
21 Jul 2005 : Column 2190W
 

The National Probation Directorate seeks to apply the DDA through its national compliance strategy requiring the 42 probation areas to produce individual area compliance strategies.

The National Probation Directorate and the Prison Service are working with the Home Office Race and Diversity Action Team to produce a Disability Equality Scheme. The model likely to be used will be similar to the Race Equality Scheme currently in use.

Guidance is to be issued to the Prison Service and to the 42 Probation Areas of England and Wales in accordance with the timescale set out in the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 to assist the Areas in implementing a Disability Equality Scheme.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many individuals in prison in England and Wales have a disability; [13601]

(2) what facilities are available in prisons in England and Wales to assist prisoners with disabilities; [13602]

(3) how many individuals (a) in prison and (b) supervised by the probation service have (i) a hearing difficulty, (ii) a sight impairment and (iii) a mobility difficulty; and what services are available to assist them. [13603]

Fiona Mactaggart: The Prison Service for England and Wales does not, at present, collect data centrally on the number of prisoners with disabilities held in the system.

Statistics are not collected centrally for offenders by the 42 probation areas of England and Wales and could be made available only at disproportionate cost.

Key facilities in prison such as physical access are addressed by access audits to ensure prisoners with disabilities are not treated less favourably than other prisoners. To assist prisoners and the prison in meeting individuals needs all prisons have a disability liaison officer.

Driving (Mobile Phone Use)

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many drivers in London have received penalties for use of a hand-held mobile phone while driving; and how many drivers have been disqualified; [11042]

(2) in how many cases in London a driver has been disqualified as a result of using a mobile phone while driving. [11043]

Paul Goggins: Available information on the number of penalties ordered to be paid for the offence of driving while using a hand-held mobile telephone is given in a table which will be placed in the Library. 2004 data will be available in early 2006. Data on disqualifications are not available.

The offence was introduced on 1 December 2003 and the use of a hands-free mobile phone is not part of the new offence.

A provision in the Road Safety Bill seeks to make using a hand-held mobile phone while driving an endorsable offence.
 
21 Jul 2005 : Column 2191W
 

Drug Rehabilitation

Colin Challen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the impact on levels of crime in Leeds of the increase in drug rehabilitation services within the area since 2001. [8435]

Paul Goggins: The Leeds Drug Partnership has expanded drug services with funds received from the National Drug Strategy since 1998. In 2003–04 there were 2,453 individuals in treatment; by the end of 2004–05 there were 3,517—an increase of 43 per cent.

In 2005 Leeds will receive the following funds from central government: £4.9 million to provide adult drug treatment; £998,000 to provide a range of drug services for young people; and £1.9 million to provide services to drug using offenders as part of the Home Office Drug Intervention Programme.

Home Office studies have confirmed the association between illegal drug use and crime and particularly with the acquisitive crimes such as robbery, burglary and vehicle crime. Research also confirms that effective drug treatment reduces crime by drug misusing offenders. The monitoring of recorded acquisitive crime trends has become an effective measure of the effect of increasing the availability of drug treatment.

Recorded acquisitive crime in England and Wales fell by 11 per cent. between December 2003 and December 2004. During 2003–04 Home Office recorded crime figures for Leeds showed robbery down by 26 per cent., burglary by 16 per cent., theft of a motor vehicle by 21 per cent. and theft from a motor vehicle by 12 per cent.

Drugs Act

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the compatibility of section 21 of the Drugs Act 2005 with European Union treaties in relation to free trade and the single market. [14029]

Paul Goggins: Home Office lawyers have advised that in their view the restriction in section 21 would be permitted under article 30 of the EC treaty on the grounds of public policy and/or for the protection of health and life of humans. When drafting section 21 and providing briefing for Ministers, officials referred to the following reports:

1. Risk assessment report relating to paddos (psilocin and psilocybin): Coordination Centre for the Assessment and Monitoring of new drugs—February 2000

2. Psilocine/Psilocybine mushrooms—legal status across the EU: European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)—2004

3. Acute psychological and physiological effects of psilocybin in healthy humans: a double-blind, placebo-controlled dose-effect study: Hasler et al—2004

Emergency Workers

Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will assess the merits of introducing legislation similar to the Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act 2005 in England and Wales. [5366]

 
21 Jul 2005 : Column 2192W
 

Paul Goggins [holding answer 20 June 2005]: The Government are committed to ensuring tougher sentences for those involved in attacks on public sector workers. Such attacks can attract maximum sentences of between six months and life. The fact that a victim was serving the public is one factor already taken into account by the courts in sentencing and the Sentencing Guidelines Council have issued guidelines identifying this as a serious aggravating factor. The Sentencing Advisory Panel is due to issue a consultation in the summer on sentencing of violent crime, which we expect will also refer explicitly to an aggravating factor of a victim serving the public.

We keep all legislation under review, and will be particularly interested in the Scottish experience. The Scottish Act is part of a wider programme in Scotland to protect emergency workers.

The programme in England and Wales includes work by the Health and Safety Commission to help employers tackle work related violence. Across Government we are encouraging victims to report incidents more consistently; and video camera are being fitted in ambulances and fire appliances to increase detection rates.

Extradition

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State forthe Home Department how many US citizens have been extradited to the UK under the Extradition Act 2003. [13962]

Andy Burnham: Confirmed figures are available for the period between the implementation of the Extradition Act 2003 (the Act"), on 1 January 2004, and 30 June 2005.

Extradition requests made by the UK to territories other than those designated as category 1 under the Act do not fall within the statutory framework of the Act. Instead, they are made under the Crown prerogative. One US citizen was extradited to the UK between 1 January 2004 and 30 June 2005.

Mr. Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for theHome Department how many extradition requests have been made under the terms of the Extradition Act 2003. [13447]

Andy Burnham: It is necessary to distinguish between requests made by the UK under Part 3 of the Extradition Act 2003 (the Act"); and all other requests. Confirmed figures are available for the period between the implementation of the Act, on 1 January 2004, and 30 June 2005.

Part 3 requests are arrest warrants which have been issued by the UK to any territories designated as Category 1 under the Act. There were 139 Part 3 requests for individuals made by the UK between 1 January 2004 and 30 June 2005.

Extradition requests made by the UK to any other territories do not fall within the statutory framework of the Act. Instead, they are made under the Crown prerogative. There were 58 such requests made for individuals by the UK between 1 January 2004 and 30 June 2005.
 
21 Jul 2005 : Column 2193W
 

Mr. Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many extradition requests have been received under the terms of the Extradition Act 2003. [13448]

Andy Burnham: It is necessary to distinguish between requests to the UK made under Part 1, and those made under Part 2, of the Extradition Act 2003 (the Act"). Confirmed figures are available for the period between the implementation of the Act, on 1 January 2004, and 30 June 2005. Part 1 requests are general circulations from all territories designated as Category 1 under the Act, and there is not necessarily a basis for believing that the requested person is in the UK. On this basis, there were 4,027 Part 1 requests for individuals received by the UK between 1 January 2004 and 30 June 2005. 110 of these resulted in arrests in the UK during that period.

Part 2 requests are requests from all other territories, provided that they have reached a point at which Part 2 proceedings are initiated. By this definition, Part 2 requests include both: (a) requests made by the delivery of Full Order extradition papers to the British Government; and (b) requests in which a provisional arrest for extradition has been made but Full Order papers have not yet been delivered to the British Government. There were 137 Part 2 requests for individuals received by the UK between 1 January 2004 and 30 June 2005.

---