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Public Housing (Vandalism)

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will estimate the cost of damage caused by vandalism to public housing in each local authority area in (a) Essex and (b) the Metropolitan police area of London in each of the past five years. [14276]

Paul Goggins: The information requested is not collected centrally. Statistics are collected on recorded offences of criminal damage to a dwelling but it is not possible to identify those which are public housing nor is it possible to estimate the amount of damage caused.

Public Protection Panels

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offenders who are the subject of multi-agency public protection panel arrangements have been reconvicted since 2001; and what the principal offences concerned were. [4790]

Fiona Mactaggart [holding answer 16 June 2005]: The information is not available in the form requested except at disproportionate cost. Statistical information on Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) can be found in annual reports available in the House of Commons Library and on the National Probation Service website at the following address:

http://www.probation.homeoffice.gov.uk/output/page30.asp.

Race Crime

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to deal with race crime. [7933]

Paul Goggins: In recent years the Government have strengthened the criminal penalties for offences such as incitement to racial hatred and for racially or religiously aggravated assault and criminal damage. As part of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 the Government created new racially-aggravated offences which make available to the courts higher maximum penalties where there is evidence of racial hostility surrounding the offence. The offences include assaults, criminal damage and harassment.
 
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In July 2003 the Crown Prosecution Service set out in a Policy Statement a commitment to prosecute racist and religious crime fairly, firmly and robustly. This sends a clear message to perpetrators that they will not get away with threatening, violent or abusive behaviour towards members of racial or religious groups.

Earlier this year the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Home Office published a Hate Crime Manual, Hate Crime: Delivering a Quality Service." The manual provides good practice guidance on identifying and combating hate crime.

Additionally, in 2002 the Home Office issued guidance to crime reduction partnerships on tackling racist antisocial behaviour. This included a Racist Crime and Harassment Toolkit.

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what advice his Department is giving to police authorities on dealing with race crime. [13560]

Hazel Blears: No guidance has been provided to police authorities since the Code of Practice on Reporting and Recording racist incidents in April 2000. An evaluation of the impact of the code will be available in late summer.

Race Hatred

Mr. Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what monitoring his Department carries out of incidents involving criminal damage, threats and assaults which may contain an element of race hatred on the part of perpetrator; and what assessment he has made of the trends indicated. [14970]

Paul Goggins: The Home Office collects statistical information from a number of sources.

Offences recorded by the police in England and Wales. Figures are available for the following offences which include a racial element:

Racially or religiously aggravated less serious wounding;

Racially or religiously aggravated harassment;

Racially or religiously aggravated common assault;

Racially or religiously aggravated criminal damage to a dwelling;

Racially or religiously aggravated criminal damage to a building other than a dwelling;

Racially or religiously aggravated criminal damage to a vehicle;

Racially or religiously aggravated other criminal damage.

However, it is not possible to separately identify which offences are racial or which are of a religious nature.

Statistics for 1995 to 2004–05 are published in Table 2.04 of Crime in England and Wales 2004–05", a copy of which is available in the Library. The table also contains figures for percentage changes between 2003–04 and 2004–05.

The British Crime Survey (BCS) includes information in relation to racially motivated victimisation incidents. Latest findings, based on the 2003–04 BCS, are in
 
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chapter three of statistics on race and the criminal justice system 2004; previous data are contained in Home Office Findings 237, July 2004 (for 2002–03) and Home Office Research Study 223, October 2001 (trends up to 2000).

The survey provides estimates of the number of racially-motivated incidents for all BCS crime for the total population of England and Wales and by ethnic group. It does not provide these estimates by crime type.

Additionally, the BCS provides a measure of relative risk of crime among different ethnic groups for vandalism and BCS violent crime, but it is not possible to assess to what extent incidents may have been motivated by racial hatred.

The Home Office court proceedings database currently holds data for 2003 on prosecutions, convictions and sentences for racially or religiously aggravated offences of assault, harassment and criminal damage. Data for 2004 will be available in the autumn.

Rec. 61 Form

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been stopped and issued with a Rec. 61 form in each local authority, broken down by ethnicity. [15017]

Andy Burnham [holding answer 22 July 2005]: The requested information is not collected centrally.

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been stopped and issued with a Rec. 61 form in each London police unit since its inception, broken down by (a)ethnicity and (b) police station.[15356]

Andy Burnham: The requested information is not collected centrally.

Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been stopped and issued with Rec.61 forms by Richmond and Kingston police, broken down by (a) ethnicity and (b) police station; and if he will make a statement. [15881]

Andy Burnham: The requested information is not collected centrally.

Safety Belts

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) males and (b) females aged 16 years were (i) charged and (ii)convicted in England and Wales of offences under sections (A) 14(3), (B) 15(2) and (C) 15(4) of the Road Traffic 1988 in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [15353]

Paul Goggins: Information from the Home Office court proceedings database on the number of defendants aged 16 years prosecuted for driving/riding a motor vehicle without a seatbelt and driving/riding a motor vehicle containing a child not wearing a seatbelt, by sex, 1999–2003 is contained in the table.

Statistics for 2004 will be available in the autumn.
 
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Persons aged 16 prosecuted and convicted at all courts for seat belt offences under sections 14(3), 15(2) and 15(4) of theRoad Traffic Act 1988, 1999–2003: England and Wales Defendants

	1999		2000		2001
	Prosecuted	Guilty	Prosecuted	Guilty	Prosecuted	Guilty
Males	9	5	6	5	7	3
Females	1	1	1	1	0	0
Total	10	6	7	6	7	3

	2002		2003
	Prosecuted	Guilty	Prosecuted	Guilty
Males	6	3	7	5
Females	2	1	1	0
Total	8	4	8	5

Note:
These figures are on the principal offence basis

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