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9 Nov 2005 : Column 542W—continued

Seatbelts (Fixed Penalties)

Shona McIsaac: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many fixed penalty notices were issued for (a) carrying a child under 14 years without a seatbelt (i) in the front and (ii) in the rear seat, (b) driving a car with an unrestrained child under 12 years and (c) failure to wear a seatbelt in the Humberside police area in each of the past five years. [24759]

Paul Goggins: Available information held centrally on police action taken for motoring seat belt offences, does not distinguish between the offence of driving/riding in a motor vehicle not wearing a seat belt and that of driving a motor vehicle with a child not wearing seat belt. Nor does it distinguish between individual circumstances that may have existed at the time each offence was committed.

Primates

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many primates have been used for biomedical tests in the United Kingdom in each of the last five years. [10194]


 
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Andy Burnham: The number of primates used in procedures for which the primary purpose was applied studies in human medicine or dentistry is given in Table 1a of the annual publication Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, a copy of which is in the Library.

Only the number of procedures starting in a particular year is recorded against that particular year; the figures exclude procedures which started in a previous year and are ongoing.

A brief extract from this table, showing also total figures, is shown in the table.
Number

Non-human primates which started regulated procedures under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986Applied studies in human medicine or dentistry
19993,1912,740
20002,9512,473
20013,3422,511
20023,1732,649
20033,0732,191

Road Accidents

Shona McIsaac: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people involved in road traffic accidents in the Humberside police area were (a) uninsured, (b) banned from driving and (c) had not passed a driving test in each of the past five years. [24761]

Paul Goggins: The information is not collected centrally by the Home Office.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action the Government are taking to reduce the number of road accidents. [26450]

Dr. Ladyman: I have been asked to reply.

In March 2000, the Government launched the road safety strategy, Tomorrow's roads—safer for everyone", establishing new long-term 10 year casualty reduction targets to be achieved by the end of 2010. These are:

(compared with the average for 1994–98).

The Department for Transport has a road safety public service agreement (PSA) target to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured and children killed or seriously injured as outlined above. In 2002 the PSA target was strengthened to include a commitment to

The first review of the road safety strategy was published in April 2004 and concluded that good progress was being made. It highlighted issues of particular concern, such as the levelling out of road deaths and the potential under reporting of slight casualties. The Department for Transport has
 
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commissioned research to investigate both of these issues. The second review of the strategy will commence in spring 2006.

A comprehensive Road Safety Bill is currently progressing through the House of Lords, to give effect to several elements of the road safety strategy and support the casualty reduction targets.

There is continued good progress towards our targets. Full 2004 data (published 29 September 2005) show KSI casualties 28 per cent. down on the 1994–98 baseline, and child KSIs down 43 per cent. 2004 saw the biggest annual drop (8 per cent.) in both deaths and serious injuries since the road safety strategy was launched. Provisional data for Q2 2005 show a continuing decline in KSIs, down 33 per cent. on baseline.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many deaths of children aged seven to 16 years there were on 30 miles per hour limit roads in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [26453]

Dr. Ladyman: I have been asked to reply.

The number of children aged seven to 16 years killed in personal injury road accidents between 1997 and 2004 on roads where the speed limit was 30 miles per hour are shown in the table.
Number of fatalities
1997111
199882
199989
200098
2001110
200278
200381
200475

We remain committed to achieving our PSA targets of a 40 per cent. reduction in the overall number of people killed or seriously injured compared with the 1994–98 baseline by 2010; and our target of reducing the number of children aged 0–15 killed or seriously injured to 50 per cent. of the 1994–98 baseline by 2010. In 2004 all killed and seriously injured casualties were 28 per cent. below the baseline and such child casualties were 43 per cent. below the baseline.

Telecommunications Masts

Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment his Department has made of the suitability of the location of the Tetra mast in Haverfordwest; and if he will make a statement. [657]

Hazel Blears: None. The provision of the infrastructure needed by the airwave radio system is the responsibility of O 2 Airwave, the network provider. Radio masts are subject to ODPM planning regulations.

Vehicle Excise Duty Evasion

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were convicted of vehicle excise duty evasion in each of the last six years. [24629]


 
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Paul Goggins: [holding answer 3 November 2005]: Available information taken from the Home Office Court Proceedings Database from 1998 to 2003 (latest available) is given in the following table. 2004 data will be available early in 2006.
Total findings of guilt at all courts for the vehicle offence of failing to pay appropriate duty(13) England and Wales, 1998–2003

Number of offence
England and Wales
1998143,600
1999126,657
2000132,776
2001129,183
2002134,598
2003176,581


(13) Offence under the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 s. 29 (1)—(3)
Note:
The statistics of court proceedings are based on returns made by the police to the Home Office's Data Collection Group. Although these include offences where there have been no police involvement such as those prosecutions instigated by Government Departments (in this case DVLA) and private organisations and individuals, the reporting of these types of offences is known to be incomplete. Moreover, it is thought that for some police force areas, the reporting of court proceedings, in particular those relating to motoring offences and to TV licence evasion may also be less than complete; the extent of under-reporting may vary from year to year and this could be responsible in part for the annual variations.




Vehicle Offences

Shona McIsaac: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many recorded theft and unauthorised taking of vehicle offences there were in the Humberside police area in each of the past five years. [24758]

Paul Goggins: The information requested is given in the following tables.
Table 1: Offences of theft or unauthorised taking of a motor vehicle recorded by the police in Humberside—2000–01 and 2001–02

Number of offences
2000–016,033
2001–026,469




Note:
The data in this table is prior to the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard. These figures are not directly comparable with those for later years.





Table 2: Offences of theft or unauthorised taking of a motor vehicle recorded by the police in Humberside—2002–03 to 2004–05

Number of offences
2002–037,607
2003–047,619
2004–056,096




Note:
The data in this table takes account of the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002. These figures are not directly comparable with those for earlier years.





 
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