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14 Nov 2005 : Column 975W—continued

China

Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will ensure that peaceful protests on human rights abuses in China are allowed during the state visit of the President of China; and if he will make a statement. [22231]

Mr. Charles Clarke [holding answer 25 October 2005]: The policing of the state visit of the President of China is operational matter for the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis. He tells me that it is the intention of the Metropolitan police to facilitate lawful assembly and legitimate protest during the visit.

Correspondence

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many letters to his Department from hon. Members in session (a) 2004–05 and (b) 2005–06 remain unanswered, broken down by those which are (i) one month old, (ii) two months old, (iii) three months old, (iv) four months old and (v) over six months old. [13865]

Mr. Charles Clarke: No centrally tracked correspondence from MPs received by the Home Office in 2004 or earlier remains outstanding. In the period 1 January to 30 September 2005 the Home Office (including the Immigration and Nationality Directorate but excluding agencies) had received 37,348 items of correspondence from MPs which required a reply from the Home Office and as at 19 October 2,487 (7 per cent.) are overdue and remain outstanding as follows:
 
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391 letters received in September (one month old); 619 letters received in August (two months old); 841 letters received in July (three month old); 614 letters received in June (four months old) ; 21 letters received in May (five months old); one letter received in April or earlier (six months or older).The remainder of the letters received in 2005 are less than one month old. The Cabinet Office, on an annual basis, publishes a report to Parliament on the performance of departments in replying to Members/Peers correspondence. The Report for 2004 was published on 6 April 2005, Official Report, columns 137–140WS).

Court Orders

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons in Greater London have been issued with a detention and training order in each of the last five years; and how many 12 to 17-year-olds have breached antisocial behaviour orders in Greater London in each year. [26440]

Hazel Blears: The information on detention and training orders in each of the last five years for Greater London is shown in the table.

Data on convictions for breach of an antisocial behaviour order (ASBO) are currently available from 1 June 2000 to 31 December 2003 and for juvenile and adult age groups only. Within Greater London during this period, of the 53 ASBOs issued to persons aged 10 to 17 years, as reported to the Home Office, 11 breached their ASBO on one or more occasion.
Persons sentenced to detention and training orders (DTOs) in Greater London⁽³²⁾ 2000–04

	Number sentenced to DTOs
2000	738
2001	980
2002	1,023
2003	759
2004	794

⁽³²⁾ The data shown for Greater London is made up from the two police force areas of Metropolitan police and City of London.
Source:
RDS NOMS 8/11/2005

Crimestoppers

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost of the Crimestoppers scheme has been in each year since its inception. [24477]

Paul Goggins: The Crimestoppers Trust is an independent charitable organisation and its general financial position is a matter for its trustees and senior management. Since its inception in 1988 it has been funded by private donors and business. The Government have contributed core funding since 2001, as set out in the table:

	Amount (£)
2001–02	341,000
2002–03	826,000
2003–04	846,000
2004–05	846,000
2005–06	900,000

 
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Departmental Staff

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the rates of employee absence in his Department have been in each year since 1997. [21018]

Mr. Charles Clarke: I refer the hon. Member to the figures contained in the annual report Analysis of Sickness Absence in the Civil Service published by the Cabinet Office. Table A of the report gives details of both the average working days absence per staff year and the number of staff years on which that calculation is based on. The most recent report for the calendar year 2003 was published on 1 November 2004, copies of which are available in the Library. This report and those for 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 are available on the Cabinet Office website at:
 
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http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/management_of_the_civil_service/conditions_of_service/occupational_health/publications/index.asp

Departmental Consultation

Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list formal consultations being sponsored by his Department and its agencies; and what the (a) commencement date and (b) deadline for responses is in each case. [22570]

Mr. Charles Clarke: Updated information on Home Office formal consultation may be found on the Home Office website:

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/about-us/haveyoursay/

As at 31st October, the information was as follows:

	Publication date	Closing date for responses
Restructuring Probation to Reduce Re-offending	27 October 2005	20 December 2005
Preventing Extremism Together: Places of Worship	6 October 2005	11 November 2005
Consultation on Standard Powers for Community Support Officers	31 August 2005	26 October 2005
Possession of Extreme Pornographic material	30 August 2005	2 December 2005
Private Security Industry Act 2001:Approved Contractor Scheme—Partial RIA	25 August 2005	—
Cross Government Guidance—Sharing Information on Children and Young People	23 August 2005	15 November 2005
Consultation on European Commission proposal for a Council Framework Decision on taking account of convictions in the course of new criminal proceedings	17 August 2005	17 November 2005
Non-statutory consultation on broadening exclusion and deportation powers	5 August 2005	19 August 2005
Proposed Changes to the Misuse of Drugs Legislation	28 July 2005	21 October 2005
Selective Admission: Making Migration Work for Britain	19 July 2005	7 November 2005

Departmental Vehicles

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many vehicles for which the Department is responsible are fitted with retreaded tyres. [17986]

Mr. Charles Clarke: For information on the use of retread tyres in vehicles provided to the Department by the Government Car and Despatch Agency I refer the hon. Member to the letter of 11 October 2005 which he received from the Chief Executive of the GCDA, reference UIN15087 & UIN15088. Copies of this letter are available in the Library.

Departmental Energy Consumption

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much energy has been consumed by his Department in each of the last five years; and how much was spent on energy in each year. [22453]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The tables show consumption data and expenditure on energy for the years 2000–01 to 2004–05.
Energy Costs

£
	Home Office (non prisons)(33)	Public sector prisons	Total
2000–01	2,853,523	23,778,727	26,632,250
2001–02	3,499,541	27,234,995	30,734,536
2002–03	3,446,772	28,745,834	32,192,606
2003–04	3,540,139	32,579,862	36,120,001
2004–05	4,469,782	34,462,450	38,932,232

Energy consumption (weather corrected kWh)

	Home Office (non prisons)(33)	Public sector prisons	Total
2000–01	102,714,825	1,362,678,852	,465,393,677
2001–02	127,394,562	1,369,096,678	11,496,491,240
2002–03	92,893,512	1,541,275,375	1,634,168,887
2003–04	100,125,828	1,358,398,490	1,458,524,318
2004–05	104,814,403	1,413,544,834	1,518,359,237

⁽³³⁾ These figures relate to key buildings only and the total number of properties varies from year to year.



 
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