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29 Nov 2005 : Column 429W—continued
Coltsfoot Consultants Ltd
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his Department plans to meet representatives of Coltsfoot Consultants Ltd.; and if he will make a statement. [31291]
Paul Goggins:
I am not aware of any existing plans from officials at the Home Office to meet representatives of Coltsfoot Consultants Ltd.
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Commission for Integration
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the membership of the Commission for Integration is expected to be decided; and when the Commission is expected to hold its first meeting. [29926]
Paul Goggins: The Home Secretary wrote to faith leaders and other key stakeholders on 21 September inviting views on the terms of reference and membership of the Commission. These views are currently being considered as part of our wider discussions and we hope to make an announcement about the Commission's membership and terms of reference before the end of the calendar year. The date for the first meeting will follow thereafter.
Community Support Officers
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average salary paid to a community support officer is in 2005–06. [30793]
Hazel Blears: The salary and allowances of a community support officer are determined within each police force by the chief officer of that force and the police authority. We estimate that the average payment of salary and allowances this year is about £20,100.
Mr. Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police community support officers have enlisted in Gravesham since 1 January 2000; and how many of these remain in service. [29899]
Hazel Blears: Figures for the Gravesham district are not collected centrally.
Conviction Rates
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of (a) burglaries and (b) crimes against individuals resulted in a conviction in each year since 1997; and what percentage resulted in custodial sentences. [30570]
Hazel Blears: The table shows the number of convictions for burglary and the number resulting in a custodial sentence expressed as a percentage of the number of burglaries recorded, in each year since 1997. Neither the recorded crime data nor the court proceedings data enable offences against individuals to be separately identified from offences against businesses and organisations in all cases.
(41) These data are on the principal offence basis.
(42) The number of crimes recorded using the expanded coverage and rules which came into effect on 1 April 1998.
(43) The recorded crime figured from 2002–03 onwards take account of the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002. These figures are not directly comparable with those for earlier years.
Source:
RDS—Office for Criminal Justice Reform
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Correspondence
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will answer the letter to him dated 22 September from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to (a) Mr. Mohammed Ashraf and (b) Ms Juliet Kufvor. [27085]
Mr. Charles Clarke: The information is as follows:
(a) I replied to my right hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Gorton about Mr. Mohammed Ashraf on 24 November.
(b) I replied to my right hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Gorton about Ms Juliet Kufour on 11 November.
Clare Short: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Minister for the Criminal Justice System and Offender Management will reply to the letter from the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood, of 24 August on behalf of Serge Paul and West Midlands Prison Visiting Transport Service. [29151]
Fiona Mactaggart: My noble Friend Baroness Patricia Scotland of Asthal replied to my right hon. Friend on 21 November enclosing a copy of her reply to Mr. Paul dated 9 September.
Clare Short: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter of 6 July from the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood, (acknowledged on 25 July ref B15446/5) on Home Office case reference K1025532 regarding Mr. Karenzada. [32274]
Mr. McNulty: The Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) wrote to my right hon. Friend on 22 November 2005.
Crime Reduction
David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what measures have been introduced since 2001 to reduce crime against small businesses in (a) North West Leicestershire and (b) England; [31362]
(2) what steps are being taken to reduce the number of crimes committed against small businesses. [31377]
Hazel Blears:
In 2002 the Government provided North West Leicestershire with over 200,000 for crime reduction measures. This was used to set up the 'Retail
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Radio' system in Coalville and Ashby to provide immediate intelligence on business crime such as shoplifting, crime in a neighbouring shop and violence against a shopkeeper. The funding was also used to set up the PubWatch scheme in the same areas.
More widely, in 2001 £15 million was given to the Small Retailers in Deprived Areas initiative (SRDA). Over the next three years, the SRDA helped 12,500 small businesses in the most deprived areas to improve security and introduce other crime prevention measures.
In January 2004, the Home Office established a Small Business Forum with members from a wide range of organisations to hear at first hand the particular crime problems small and medium sized enterprises face, and to develop and implement practical and effective measures to reduce those crimes.
Earlier this year we also provided nearly £1 million to the Action Against Business Crime Group to help set up local business crime partnerships in town and shopping centres across England and Wales.
David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what methods his Department uses to record crimes against small businesses. [31394]
Hazel Blears: The Home Office publishes annual total crime statistics recorded by the police in England and Wales for the following offences specifically relating to business crime; robbery of business property, theft by an employee, theft from shops, and theft of an automatic machine or meter.
However we are aware that, given the complexity and range of crimes experienced by the business sector, no one method of collecting data will provide a sufficiently complete picture. We are therefore considering how both police and survey data collection can be refined and extended to give us a more accurate and comprehensive overview of the crimes experienced by businesses.
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the crime reduction funding streams available in each of the last five years. [26624]
Hazel Blears:
The table shows the crime reduction funding streams that were allocated for national and local activities, by year, during the period in question. A number of national activities for various crime types were funded through general crime reduction grants.
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As outlined in the 2004 National Audit Report on the Crime Reduction programme, the Home Office has reduced the bureaucratic burden on Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships by rationalising the number of funding streams and the associated monitoring procedures, from fourteen in 2003/04 to three main funds in 2005/06, with just a handful of minor budgets channelled through the Government Offices.
That progress will continue over the coming months, particularly with the roll out nationally of the Safer Stronger Communities Fund, which will combine a number of Home Office and Office of the Deputy Prime Minister funding streams into a single fund.
That progress will continue over the coming months, particularly with the roll out nationally of the Safer Stronger Communities Fund, which will combine a number of Home Office and Office of the Deputy Prime Minister funding streams into a single fund.
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