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HOME DEPARTMENT
Antisocial Behaviour Orders
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people in (a) Havering, (b) Essex and (c) Greater London have had (i) one, (ii) two, (iii) three and (iv) four or more antisocial behaviour orders issued against them in the last four years. [27127]
Hazel Blears: It is not possible from the data on antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) collected centrally to identify, within an acceptable degree of accuracy, persons issued with different numbers of ASBOs. A table giving a breakdown of ASBOs issued, by the local government authority area in which prohibitions are imposed, is available on the Crime Reduction website at www.crimereduction.gov.uk. This table gives data by year since ASBOs were introduced.
At-risk Children
John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children were on the at-risk register in each local authority in England at the end of each council year since 1989. [26431]
Beverley Hughes: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested is available from the Department's website at:
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgatewav/DB/VOL/v000553/index.shtml
Bail Hostels
Mr. Ian Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many bail hostels serve courts in Surrey. [27514]
Fiona Mactaggart:
Approved Premises (formerly bail and probation hostels) operate in all parts of England and Wales and provide places for those bailed by the courts, offenders serving community sentences or those released from prison on licence. Surrey has one Approved Premises which serves the courts in the county. In addition, the local probation area has an arrangement with a housing provider in the county for access to accommodation for those on bail who are assessed as medium or low risk of harm.
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Community Service Offenders
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he plans to make community service offenders wear recognisable clothing. [25205]
Fiona Mactaggart: The Home Office through the National Offender Management Service is examining ways of making compulsory unpaid work more visible and this includes looking at the use of a 'Community Payback' logo to identify the work carried out by offenders supervised by local probation areas. Currently probation areas are implementing the proposals of the National Probation Directorate and using this logo to mark current and completed work projects.
The emphasis is on badging the work offenders undertake in order to raise public awareness of the benefits this brings to the communities. In accordance with Health and Safety requirements, offenders on unpaid work projects are regularly required to wear suitable protective clothing and some badging of equipment and protective clothing is currently being introduced.
Counter-terrorism
Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his oral answer of 7 November 2005, Official Report, column 9, on counter-terrorism, which EU countries can detain terrorist suspects without trial for four years. [27334]
Mr. Charles Clarke: There are a number of EU countries where terrorist suspects can be detained, without trial, for four years. In France, for example, a suspect can be detained for up to four years if the crime in question carries a sentence of over 10 years, and this includes many terrorism-related offences. In Germany there is no maximum detention period, although the grounds for detention must be reviewed at least every six months. In Spain there is an initial detention period of up to two years, renewable for a further two if the crime carries a sentence of six or more years and the investigating magistrate fears a risk of absconding.
Criminal Records Bureau
Mr. Pelling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average number of Criminal Records Bureau checks made per week (a) was in (i) 2003 and (ii) 2004 and (b) has been to date in 2005. [26895]
Hazel Blears: The average number of Disclosures issued per week in 2003 was 40,762 and 47,853 in 2004. The average number for 2005 stands at 50,798.
De-activated Firearms
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many de-activated Lee Enfield Mark 1, First World War rifles have been used in the commission of an offence in the last five years; and if he will make a statement on the effect of the Violent Crime Reduction Bill on owners of such rifles. [30087]
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Hazel Blears [holding answer 17 November 2005]: The requested data are not collected centrally. De-activated firearms have been exempted from the definition of realistic imitation firearm and owners of these rifles will be largely unaffected by the provisions in the Bill. Provisions in the Bill relating to the sale of imitations to minors will apply and it will be an offence in future to sell a de-activated firearm to a person under the age of 18.
Departmental Staff
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many full-time equivalent employee reductions (a) were achieved in 2004–05 and (b) are expected to be achieved in 2005–06 as a result of the Gershon review in his Department; what (i) cost savings relating to IT projects and (ii) total efficiency savings (A) were achieved in 2004–05 and (B) are expected to be achieved in 2005–06 as a result of that review; and if he will make a statement. [25915]
Mr. Charles Clarke [holding answer 7 November 2005]: My Department's 2005 Annual Report (Cm 6528) recorded that gains in value for money estimated to be worth £717 million per year were achieved during 2004–05 and that the size of the headquarters had been reduced by 876 full-time equivalent posts.
These improvements form a significant first step towards achieving my Department's targets to increase value for money by £1,970 million per year by 31 March 2008 and to reduce the size of the headquarters by 2,700 full-time equivalent posts.
Value for money increases have been supported, in some areas, by new or changed use of information technology (IT). However IT investment has generally formed only part of a wider change to the way in which work is carried out; it is not possible to show separately what proportion of the Department's substantial gains have arisen directly as a result of IT.
DNA Database
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individual records have been added to the national DNA database in each month since January 2004. [4675]
Andy Burnham: The estimated number of records pertaining to individuals added to the National DNA Database in each month since January 2004 is shown in the following table. The figures shown take account of replicate sample records on the database. There were an estimated 2,888,855 individuals on the database at the end of July 2005.
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Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals have been found guilty on the basis of evidence from the DNA database since its inception. [28065]
Andy Burnham [holding answer 10 November 2005]: It is not possible to provide information on the number of individuals who have been found guilty on the basis of evidence from the National DNA Database as statistical data are not kept in this form.
Government Telecommunications
Mr. Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the security implications of the supply of Government telecommunications equipment by overseas manufacturers. [27313]
Mr. Charles Clarke:
The procurement of Government telecommunications equipment, irrespective of the source of supply, always involves a security assessment appropriate to the purpose for which the equipment is to be used.
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