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9 Jan 2006 : Column 366W—continued
Drug Addicts (Treatment)
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what definition he uses of minimal force in the context of the pilot scheme in Leeds and West London for the treatment in the community of drug addicts who commit non-violent offences; and whether minimal force includes any threat of physical injury. [39593]
Ms Harman: I have been asked to reply.
The pilot scheme in West London and Leeds magistrates courts is not altering the approach of the courts to sentencing nor introducing any definition of minimal force in relation to the cases within the pilot.
The pilots of a dedicated drug court (DDC) at these sites provide increased continuity of district judge or magistrates from sentence through any reviews of any community order with a drug rehabilitation requirement that may have been imposed. This increased continuity, combined with improved interagency working, is expected to result in an improvement in adult offenders remaining in treatment and successfully completing their orders. The entry point for the DDC is conviction of an adult offender for a trigger offence i.e. an acquisitive crime. The implication of entering the DDC for sentence is that the offender is eligible for a drug treatment order. However, that does not mean that other sentencing options, such as a custodial sentence, are not available
Those sentencing the adult offenders going through the drug court will adhere to current guidelines issued by the Sentencing Guidelines Council on sentencing and on assessing the seriousness of the offence, on community sentences if appropriate, and will take into account any case law relating to minimal force laid down by the appellate courts.
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Drunkenness
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offenders were found guilty of (a) drunkenness and (b) drunkenness with aggravation in (i) Wales and (ii) each local authority in Wales in each of the last 20 years. [39295]
Paul Goggins: Data from the court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform on the number of offenders found guilty for drunkenness and drunkenness with aggravation in Wales 1985 to 2004 is given in the table. It is not possible to identify those convicted in each local authority in Wales, as the data is not collected at this level of detail. Court statistics for 2005 will be available in autumn 2006.
n/a—not available
(74) These data are on the principal offence basis.
(75) Includes offences under S.12 Licensing Act 1872, Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol etc.) Act 1985 SS.1(4), 1A(4), 2.(2) and S.12 Criminal Justice & Police Act 2001.
(76) Includes offences under S.91 Criminal Justice Act 1967, S.12 Licensing Act 1872, S.174 Licensing Act 1964, S.9(4) Late Night Refreshment Houses Act 1969, S.28 London Hackney Carriage Act 1843, SS.101(1)(a)(b), (4) and (5) Merchant Shipping Act 1995, S.2 Licensing Act 1902 and S.61 Town Police Clauses Act 1847.
(77) 1985 data no longer available due to corruption of the dataset.
EU Committees
Angus Robertson:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many meetings of the EU (a) Committee for the implementation of the Joint Action establishing a programme of exchanges, training and co-operation for persons responsible for action to combat organised crime, (b) Committee for the implementation of the incentive, exchange, training and co-operation programme for combating trade in human beings and the sexual exploitation of children and (c) Committee for the implementation of the programme of incentives and exchanges for legal practitioners have taken place during the UK presidency of the EU; who presided over each meeting;
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what other UK representatives were present; what provision was made for representation of the devolved Governments; and if he will make a statement. [38647]
Andy Burnham: The STOP II, Oisin II, Falcone, Hippocrates and Grotius (general and criminal) funding programmes expired on 31 December 2002. Their Management Committees last met on 23 and 24 July 2002 to agree the successful projects for funding for that final year. They have since been replaced by a single funding programme known as AGIS.
The AGIS Management Committee normally meets twice a year; in the spring to discuss the evaluation of bids for that funding year, and in autumn to discuss the draft annual work programme and call for bids for the following year. Therefore the Management Committee met once during the UK presidency, on 21 September 2005, to discuss the basis for AGIS 2006.
Before the meeting the Home Office conducted preparatory consultations with past bidders, stakeholders, agencies and devolved Administrations to discuss the UK's position in the Committee.
The Committee meetings take place in Brussels and are called and chaired by the European Commission, with member states attending in an advisory role. The UK is generally represented at meetings of these Committees by a Home Office official and an official from the UK Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels.
The composition of the UK delegation is always agreed beforehand and it is possible for Scottish Executive officials to attend meetings of the Committees as part of the UK delegation.
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many meetings of the EU (a) Committee on the service in the member states of judicial and extrajudicial documents and on cooperation between the courts of the member states in the taking of evidence in civil or commercial matters, (b) committees for the implementation of the programme of exchanges, training and cooperation between law enforcement authorities and (c) Committee for the implementation of the incentive, exchange, training and cooperative programme for the prevention of crime have taken place during the UK presidency of the EU; who presided over each meeting; what other UK representatives were present; what provision was made for representation of the devolved Governments; and if he will make a statement. [38825]
Andy Burnham:
The Committee relating to the Regulation 1348/2000 on the service in the member states of judicial and extrajudicial documents is separate from the Committee relating to the Regulation 1206/2001 on co-operation between the courts of the member states in the taking of evidence in civil and commercial matters. The European Commission has not called any meetings during the UK presidency of either advisory Committee established under these regulations. However the Council's Civil Law Committee did meet once during the UK presidency to discuss revision of Regulation 1348/2000. This was chaired by an official from the Department for Constitutional Affairs, and an official from the Scottish Executive attended.
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The set of five Justice and Home Affairs programmes-STOP II, Oisin II, Falcone, Hippocrates and Grotius (general and criminal)—expired on 31 December 2002. Their Management Committees last met on 23 and 24 July 2002 to agree the successful projects for funding for that final year. They have since been replaced by a single funding programme known as AGIS.
The AGIS Management Committee normally meets twice a year; in the spring to discuss the evaluation of bids for that funding year, and in autumn to discuss the draft annual work programme and call for bids for the following year. Therefore the Management Committee met once during the UK presidency, on 21 September 2005, to discuss the basis for AGIS 2006.
Before the meeting the Home Office conducted preparatory consultations with past bidders, stakeholders, agencies and devolved administrations to discuss the UK's position in the Committee.
The Committee meetings take place in Brussels and are called and chaired by the European Commission, with member states attending in an advisory role. The UK is generally represented at meetings of these Committees by a Home Office official and an official from the UK permanent representation to the EU in Brussels.
The composition of the UK delegation is always agreed beforehand and it is possible for Scottish Executive officials to attend meetings of the Committees as part of the UK delegation.
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many meetings of the EU (a) Committee for the implementation of the programme of training exchanges and cooperation in the field of asylum, immigration and crossing of external borders and (b) Committee on the system for comparison of fingerprints for the effective application of the Dublin Convention have taken place during the UK presidency of the EU; who presided over each meeting; what other UK representatives were present; what provision was made for representation of the devolved governments; and if he will make a statement. [38826]
Mr. McNulty: The Joint Action 98/244JHA of 19 March 1998 introduced a programme of training exchanges in the fields of asylum, immigration and crossing of external borders—the Odysseus programme—which included a Committee for implementation. Odysseus came to an end and was replaced by the Argo programme in 2002, which expanded on the aims of its predecessor to include visas. The Council Decision 2002/463/EC establishing Argo included provision at Article 13 to create a Committee for the purpose of adopting decisions on which actions merit funding.
This Committee last met in November 2003. It has not met during the UK presidency of the EU.
The Committee established by Article 23 of the Eurodac Regulation 2725/2000 on the fingerprint system which now supports the effective application of Regulation EC No. 343/2003 (the Dublin II" Regulation) has not met. There are no immediate plans for it to do so.
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Immigration and asylum matters are reserved subjects and consequently officials from the Scottish Executive are not members of the Committees. A Home Office official and an official from the United Kingdom (UK) Permanent Representation in Brussels would represent the UK at any future meetings of the Committees.
A meeting of the Eurodac User Group took place in Brussels on 13 October 2005 to discuss operational and technical issues. This meeting was chaired by officials from the European Commission. Home Office officials represented the UK.
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