House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 21 Nov 2005 (pt 59)

21 Nov 2005 : Column 1736W—continued

Cannabis

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the prevalence of cannabis use by (a) adults and (b) minors in England in each of the last 10 years. [28445]

Paul Goggins: Estimates of cannabis use among the adult population in England and Wales are available from the British crime survey, which has included a consistent self completion module of questions on illicit drug use since 1996. The figures for cannabis use since 1996 are shown in the table. The latest published figures for 2004–05 show cannabis use in the last year was reported by 9.7 per cent. of 16 to 59-year-olds, a statistically significant decrease compared with the previous year. Estimates of drug use among minors are available from the survey of smoking, drinking and drug use among secondary schoolchildren in England. Comparable estimates of drug use are available from 2001 to 2004. The level of cannabis use in the last year among the 11 to 15-year-olds in this survey remained stable at 13 per cent. between 2001 and 2003 before declining to 11 per cent. in 2004.
16 to 59-year-olds reporting cannabis use in the year before interview from the British crime survey

Percentage

1996 9.5

1998 10.3

2000 10.5

2001–02 10.6

2002–03 10.9

2003–04 10.8

2004–05 9.7

	Percentage
1996	9.5
1998	10.3
2000	10.5
2001–02	10.6
2002–03	10.9
2003–04	10.8
2004–05	9.7

Chief Constables

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his policy is on the replacement of retiring police chief constables. [24748]

Hazel Blears: The general policy for the replacement of retiring police chief constables is in line with section four of the Home Office guidance on the appointment process of chief police officers (available on the Home Office Police website at http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/trainingandcareerdevelopment/index.html/chiefofficer recruit.html/) and section 11 Police Act 1996.

In his capacity as chair of the Senior Appointments Panel (a tri-partite body which advises me in the exercise of my role in approving chief police officer appointments) Sir Ronnie Flanagan, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary, recently wrote to police authorities addressing the implications of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary's 'Closing the Gap' report on the current structure of policing. The

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letter presented the panel's view that, except where specific approval had already been granted, the common sense approach would be to advise police authorities not to proceed with existing or future plans to recruit new chief constables and accordingly sought their support in maintaining a consistent approach in these exceptional circumstances. I am placing a copy of this letter in the Library.

Child Deaths in Custody

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to reduce the number of child deaths in custody. [24291]

Fiona Mactaggart: The Home Office and the Youth Justice Board (YJB) are working closely together to prevent the deaths of young people held in their care. The YJB has funded a dedicated juvenile outreach team to assist juvenile establishments further develop and maintain their local suicide and self-harm prevention strategies. Nationally, there is a specific suicide prevention strategy for juvenile prisoners. This focuses on promotion of peer support through insider schemes; counselling, support groups and specialised psychological intervention for those who self-harm; vulnerability recognition; and child protection training. We continue to learn lessons from previous incidents to inform our strategies for the future. Suicide prevention work is also increasingly linked with the wider Safeguards Development Programme, as part of which safeguards managers and local authority social workers have been appointed at juvenile establishments, and there has been a programme of minor works across establishments to improve provision of safer and reduced risk accommodation and other built-environment improvements.

Child Offenders

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to reduce the use of penal custody for child offenders. [26689]

Fiona Mactaggart: The Government firmly believe that young people should only be sent to custody as a last resort. We have made available to the courts strong community penalties, with more young offenders being intensively supervised in the community to help reduce re-offending. The Youth Justice Board is also committed to lowering the number of young people in custody and has a target to reduce the population of those remanded and sentenced to secure facilities by 10 per cent. by March 2008.

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children in West Lancashire under the age of 10 years would have been charged in the last 12 months if they had been over the age of criminality when they committed their misdemeanour. [27859]

Hazel Blears: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Chinese Official Visit

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the policing of the protest during the official Chinese visit in

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October 1999 in preparation for the forthcoming state visit of the Chinese Premier; and if he will make a statement. [25035]

Paul Goggins: The policing of the state visits is an operational matter for the Commissioner of the Police of the Metropolis. He has confirmed that the Metropolitan police facilitated lawful assembly and legitimate protest during the state visit of the President of China from 8 to 10 November 2005.

Community Service

Mr. Ian Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many community-based projects for offenders sentenced to community service there are in Surrey. [27517]

Fiona Mactaggart: There are 249 probation supervised community-based projects for offenders sentenced to Unpaid Work in the Surrey Probation Area

Mr. Ian Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many non-completed community-based sentences there were in the last period for which figures are available. [27518]

Fiona Mactaggart: Information on the completion rates for the main types of community sentence, for each year since 1993, can be found in table 5.1 of the Home Office Statistical Bulletin: Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2003, a copy of which can be found in the Library.

Correspondence

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter of 6 July from the hon. Member for Aylesbury (Home Office reference M16069/5; IND reference K1195526) about the immigration status of Mrs. Y.B.K. of Aylesbury. [24835]

Mr. McNulty [holding answer 7 November 2005]: I wrote to the hon. Member on 3 November.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter of 20 July from the hon. Member for Aylesbury (Home Office reference M17814/5 and P400744) about the immigration and asylum status of Mr. J. P. of Aylesbury. [24836]

Mr. McNulty [holding answer 7 November 2005]: I wrote to the hon. Member on 3 November.

Clare Short: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter dated 5 July 2005 from the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood on behalf of Babo Yoro Ho ref Y1000875/B572069. [28442]

Mr. McNulty: The Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) wrote to my right hon. Friend on 14 November 2005.

Clare Short: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter from the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood, dated 25 May, and acknowledged on 8 June, ref B10929/5, on behalf of Thabiso Tshuma T1052684. [28443]

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Mr. McNulty: The Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) wrote to my right hon. Friend on 14 November 2005.

Clare Short: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Minister of State for Immigration, Citizenship and Nationality will reply to the letters dated 18 July 2005, acknowledgement ref B16662/5, and 21 September 2005, not yet acknowledged, from the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood on behalf of Wajid Hussein H1105609. [28444]

Mr. McNulty: The Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) wrote to my right hon. Friend on 14 November 2005.

Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter dated 5 October from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton, with regard to Mr. Oluyomi Akinola. [29107]

Mr. Charles Clarke: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 15 November 2005.

Clare Short: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter from the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood, of (a) 7 April 2005 on behalf of Honya Sharif, daughter of Nask Omar Abdulla (Home Office reference S1165302) and (b) 20 June 2005 on behalf of Idel Austin (Home Office reference C1016519). [29149]

Mr. McNulty: The information is as follows:

(a) The Immigration and Nationality Directorate wrote to my right hon. Friend on 27 September 2005 in response to my right hon. Friend's letter of 6 September 2005 regarding Honya Sharif. I am sorry that my right hon. Friend did not receive a reply to her letter of 7 April 2005.