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25 Oct 2005 : Column 355W—continued
Psychics
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which police authorities have used the services of a psychic; and at what cost; and if he will make a statement. [4610]
Hazel Blears: The use of psychics by police forces is an operational matter for individual chief officers. Information on their use is not collected centrally.
Retina Identification
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 20 July 2005, Official Report, column 1786W, in what proportion of iris identification checks a misidentification or other error is expected for those who (a) wear and (b) do not wear contact lenses. [19235]
Andy Burnham: Reports (Independent Testing of Biometric Technology, Final Report" International Biometrics Group, May 2005) of recent iris recognition trials with a mix of contact lens wearers and non-contact lens wearers have demonstrated a recognition accuracy of 99.4 per cent. with a 0.00129 per cent. chance of an impostor being misidentified as another person.
The effects of wearing contact lenses will be quantified in tests scheduled for next year, however we believe that most contact lens wearers will have no difficulty using iris recognition.
Sexual Offences Act
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 21 July 2005, Official Report, column 2219W, on the Sexual Offences Act, if he will publish such data as he has broken down by constabulary. [18862]
Paul Goggins:
Further to the answer given on 21 July, the recorded crime data in relation to section 15 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 by police force area are given in the following table.
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Street Drinking (Wales)
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures have been introduced to reduce street drinking in Wales since 1997. [8845]
Hazel Blears: The Government take the problem of street drinking and antisocial behaviour very seriously. That is why we introduced local Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, and the Anti-social Behaviour Act in 2003—both of which cover England and Wales.
Measures introduced to help reduce street drinking in Wales from 1997 include the Lions Breath" project and the Targeting Alcohol Related Street Crime (TASC) initiative in Cardiff, the Calling time on Violent Crime" initiative in Swansea and the national Alcohol Misuse Enforcement Campaigns which took place over the summer and Christmas period last year.
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The Violent Crime Reduction Bill, which is currently before Parliament and covers England and Wales, includes further measures like alcohol disorder zones, drinking banning orders and dispersal powers which may also have an impact on street drinking.
Student Visas (Deportations)
Mr. Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been deported after attempting to procure a student visa in the last 10 years. [20078]
Mr. McNulty: This information is not available, and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Statistics on the number of persons deported from the UK are published in the Control of Immigration Statistics Command Paper on the Home Office website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html
Telecommunications Mast
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what date the Tetra telecommunications mast in Haverfordwest was activated. [483]
Hazel Blears: The operation of Airwave masts is a matter for O2 Airwave, the network provider.
Travellers
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the Government's policy is on dealing with Travellers who are deemed to be staying on illegal sites. [19386]
Yvette Cooper: The joint Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM)/Home Office document, Guidance on Managing Unauthorised Camping" provides comprehensive advice to local authorities, the police and other landowners on dealing with unauthorised encampments. This document can be found on the ODPM website at:
Where Travellers are occupying sites without planning permission local authorities have a range of discretionary enforcement powers available to them.
Zimbabwe
Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many officials from his Department visited Zimbabwe during the summer to report on conditions for returned failed asylum seekers; [19793]
(2) whether officials from his Department met representatives of the Zimbabwean Government when they visited Zimbabwe in the summer; [19794]
(3) if he will place in the Library a copy of the report prepared by officials from his Department following their visit to Zimbabwe in the summer. [19795]
Mr. McNulty:
A team of three Home Office and two Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials visited Harare between 4 and 10 September. The team was concerned with the issue of failed asylum seekers
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returned to Zimbabwe from the UK. The team met a broad range of non-governmental organisations and representatives of civil society.
A visit was paid to the Zimbabwean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Zimbabwean Immigration Service, in both cases these were courtesy visits which did not form part of the substantive work of the team. Due to the political climate in Zimbabwe, the meetings with some of the sources were conducted on the basis that their identities would not be revealed except in relation to the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT) proceedings. The AIT decided to make an order under the Contempt of Court Act 1981 by which those sources which had requested anonymity were protected, and accordingly the team's summary of their evidence was not made public. However, the team's evidence is noted in detail in the determination of the AIT, which can be viewed on the AIT website at: http://www.ait.gov.uk/determinations.do
NORTHERN IRELAND
Illegal Fuel
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people have been charged in relation to the operation of illegal fuel laundering plants within Northern Ireland in the last three years. [20604]
John Healey: I have been asked to reply.
The number of people charged related to hydrocarbon oils fraud in Northern Ireland during the last three years are as set out in the following table.
| Number of people charged | |
|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 7 |
| 2002–03 | 5 |
| 2003–04 | 6 |
The figures relate to charges for all types of hydrocarbon oils fraud.
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) how many petrol filling station owners have been convicted of selling illegally laundered fuel in Northern Ireland in the last three years; [20605]
(2) how many petrol filling station owners have been convicted of selling smuggled fuel in Northern Ireland in the last three years. [20606]
John Healey: I have been asked to reply.
The number of convictions secured which are related to hydrocarbon oils fraud in Northern Ireland during the last three years are as set out in the table.
| Number of convictions | |
|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 15 |
| 2002–03 | 3 |
| 2003–04 | 4 |
The figures relate to convictions for all types of hydrocarbon oils fraud.
25 Oct 2005 : Column 359W
Figures for 2004–05 will be published in HMRC's Annual Report 2004–05.
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