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23 Nov 2005 : Column 2148W—continued
Homophobic Crime
Stephen Williams:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidences of crime
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involving an element of homophobia were reported in each year between 1999 and 2004, broken down by police authority. [28332]
Paul Goggins: The information requested is not collected centrally as offences involving homophobia are not separately identified in the recorded crime series.
Illegal Drugs Trade
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the value of the illegal drugs trade in (a) Southend, (b) Essex and (c) the Metropolitan police area of London in the past 15 years. [16593]
Paul Goggins: The Home Office does not estimate the value of the illegal drugs trade at a local level. We do, however, estimate the overall size of the market for illicit drugs on a national basis. In 2001, the Home Office published an estimate of the size of the market for illicit drugs in the UK which amounted to around £6.6 billion in 1998. Full details of this study (Occasional Paper 74) are available to download at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/drugs1.html.
Jury Trials
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to bring into force part 7 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 relating to conducting complex trials without a jury; and if he will make a statement. [21995]
Fiona Mactaggart: Further to the statement made in both Houses on 21 June 2005, Official Report, column 35WS, a draft order to bring section 43 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (which makes provision for serious or complex fraud cases to be tried without a jury) into force on 1 January 2006 was laid before Parliament on 27 October. The Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Commencement No. 12 and Transitory Provisions) Order 2005 requires an affirmative resolution of both Houses.
Learco Chindamo
Mr. Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make inquiries of the Parole Board whether it is intended to release Learco Chindamo from prison in the near future; and if he will make a statement. [30493]
Fiona Mactaggart [holding answer 21 November 2005]: The independent Parole Board cannot consider the question of Mr. Chindamo's suitability for release on life licence until he has served the minimum period of imprisonment necessary to meet the requirements of retribution and deterrence (the tariff). Mr. Chindamo's tariff was set at 12 years and will not expire until 2008.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will provide the Parole Board with his view of Mr. Chindamo's potential risk and he will also be represented at the parole hearing. However, the decision on whether or not to release Mr. Chindamo on tariff expiry will be a matter for the Parole Board panel. That decision will be based on the level of harm to the public that the panel considers he presents at that time.
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Murder
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were successfully prosecuted for murder, where they were judged to have been provoked (a) between 1996 and 2001 and (b) since 2001. [21053]
Fiona Mactaggart: The available information from the Home Office Court Proceedings database on the number of successful prosecutions for murder and manslaughter, 1996 to 2003, is contained in the table. It is not possible to identify those convictions where the defendant was judged to have been provoked, as the circumstances surrounding an offence are not centrally collected.
(52) These data are on the principal offence basis.
(53) Covers: manslaughter, infanticide, child destruction, causing death by dangerous driving, diminished responsibility and causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs.
(54) Found guilty figures may include those prosecutions for murder that were reduced to manslaughter.
Statistics on court proceedings for 2004 will be published in late November.
National Offender Management Service
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans there are for the replacement of the chief executive of the National Offender Management Service; and what the recruitment arrangements will be. [22675]
Fiona Mactaggart: The chief executive post will be subject to an external recruitment campaign. The Department is being assisted in this process by a specialist, external recruitment agency.
The Civil Service Commissioners are fully involved in this process, and a Commissioner will chair the selection panel.
The post is permanent and pensionable.
Parole
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list (a) the crimes committed by prisoners released on parole and (b) the number of individuals who committed each crime while on parole in the last year for which figures are available. [29351]
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Fiona Mactaggart: The requested information is not recorded in this format centrally and is thus not available.
Passports
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many passport applications have been refused (a) to prevent individuals from leaving the UK to avoid prosecution or legal action, (b) to individuals considered to be notoriously undesirable or dangerous and (c) to prevent the international abduction of children in the last 10 years; and whether there are any other circumstances in which passports have been refused. [18435]
Andy Burnham: Passports are issued at the discretion of the Secretary of State in exercise of the Royal Prerogative. Apart from those applications that are unsuccessful because the applicant does not hold British nationality or because identity is not satisfactorily established, there are additionally four separate circumstances where an individuals passport application is refused. These are
1. a minor whose journey is known to be contrary to a court, order, to the wishes of a parent or other person or authority who has been granted a residence or care order and in other similar circumstances;
2. a person for whose arrest a warrant has been issued in the United Kingdom or who is wanted by the police on suspicion of a serious crime;
3. in very rare cases, a person whose past or proposed activities were so demonstrably undesirable that passport facilities would be contrary to the public interest; and
The Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 makes provision for the Crown Courts to impose travel restriction orders on certain drug trafficking offenders and to confiscate the passports of those who are British nationals for the period of the travel ban. The courts provide details to the UKPS of those subject to a travel restriction order.
The UKPS records of other unsuccessful applications are not held in a form which distinguishes between those where the claim to a passport is not established and those refused on one of the grounds above.
Police Reform Act (Schedule 4)
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many vehicles being used in a manner which contravened sections 3 or 34 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 have been seized by (a) community support officers and (b) police officers under paragraph 9 of schedule 4 to the Police Reform Act 2002 in each of the last four years, broken down by police authority. [29354]
Paul Goggins: The figures requested are not collected centrally.
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