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Taser Weapons
Lembit Öpik: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions the use of Taser weapons by the police has resulted in serious injury; and if he will make a statement. [17218]
Hazel Blears: The Defence Scientific Advisory Council's Sub-Committee on the Medical Implications of Less Lethal Weapons (DOMILL) has produced three statements on the medical implications of the use of the Taser. Copies have been placed in the Library. DOMILL's view is that the risk of life-threatening or other serious injuries from Taser appears to be very low and certainly very much lower than that from conventional firearms.
A Taser Deployment Form is completed on each occasion that Taser is deployed. These forms are passed to DOMILL, together with any post-incident medical assessments undertaken by the Force Medical Examiner. From examination of these reports DOMILL are content that the medical issues attributable directly or indirectly to laser use were not unexpected and are addressed by their extant statements.
Terrorism
Peter Law: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many representations his Department has received from (a) lobby organisations and (b) members of the public since 7 July on protection against terrorism. [28951]
Mr. Charles Clarke: We have received 128 letters from hon. Members and 305 letters from members of the public on protection from terrorism since 7 July. The number of letters from lobby organisations are not listed separately.
Together Campaign
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the 50 Action Areas in which the Together campaign has been pursued. [26693]
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Hazel Blears: There are currently 10 Trailblazer Areas and 51 Action Areas across the country, designated as TOGETHER Action Areas", which will get extra help to tackle antisocial behaviour. They are as follows:
Torture
Dr. Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to ensure that resources are available to the police to investigate credible allegations of criminal offences contrary to (a) section 1 of the Geneva Conventions Act 1957 and (b) section 134 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 regardless of the nationality of the alleged victims and perpetrators. [19756]
Andy Burnham: The Metropolitan police has the lead responsibility for the investigation of offences under section 1 of the Geneva Conventions Act 1957 and section 134 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988. Provision towards the cost incurred is made through formula funding for the Metropolitan Police Authority.
It is for each police authority to set a budget within the resources available to them and for each chief officer to decide how best to allocate available resources according to operational priorities and objectives.
Town Police Clauses Act
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) males and (b) females have been (i) charged and (ii) convicted in England and Wales of offences under section 36 of the Town Police Clauses Act 1847 in each year since 1984; and if he will make a statement on the operation of that section of the Act. [27142]
Paul Goggins: Statistics on the number of males and females charged with an offence are not centrally collected.
Information taken from the Home Office Court Proceedings database on the number of males and females found guilty of sections 21, 28, 29, 35 and 36 under the Town Police Clauses Act 1847 at all courts England and Wales, 1984—2003 is contained in the table. It is not possible to separately identify the figures for section 36.
Court statistics for 2004 will be available in late November.
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(98) These data are provided on the principal offence basis.
Unsolved Murders
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many murders committed in each year since 1980 in (a) Havering, (b) Greater London and (c) England and Wales remain unsolved. [27126]
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Hazel Blears: The available information is given in the following table for the Metropolitan Police Service and England and Wales. The data are provided from the Homicide database which has data back to 1980 and has the outcome for each homicide. However, it does not hold data at a lower level than police force area. Data are also held on the recorded crime database but offences and outcomes are not linked.
(99) As at 22 October 2004; figures are subject to revision as cases are dealt with by the police and by the courts, or as further information becomes available.
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