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European Evidence Warrant

Mr. Gauke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list types of evidence covered in the proposed European Evidence Warrant. [35642]

Andy Burnham: The draft Council Framework Decision on a European Evidence Warrant is still under negotiation. It is intended to cover objects, documents or data required for use in criminal proceedings. The taking of interviews, examinations of the body including obtaining DNA or fingerprints, information obtained in real-time for example through interception or surveillance, and the analysis of objects, documents or data are all currently excluded from the scope of the Framework Decision unless the evidence is already in the possession of the executing authority.

Experience Corps

Mr. Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department why no report has been available on the work of the Experience Corps since March 2004. [40241]

Paul Goggins: The Home Office has not funded the Experience Corps since March 2004 and has not therefore required any report since that date.

Faith Communities (Grants)

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what grants his Department has made in each of the last three years to organisations linked to faith communities; for what purposes; and what conditions are attached to funds. [27080]

Paul Goggins: Detailed information on all grants made to organisations linked to faith communities is not held centrally within the Home Office; to gather all of this would incur disproportionate costs. Details of recent grants made by the Communities Group in the Home Office are available.

In 2004–05 the former Faith Communities Unit awarded the following grants to organisations for a range of capacity building projects:

An-Nisa Society (£50,000)

Muslim Council of Britain (£148,160)

The Inter Faith Network (£32,525 and £115,000 strategy grant)

United Religions Initiative (£7,450)

School Development Support Agency (£17,500)

Karimia Institute (£21,750)

British Sikh Consultative Forum (£23,500)

Network of Sikh Organisations (£6,300)

Muslim Youth Helpline (£28,578)

 
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Hindu Council UK (£35,400)

The Festival of Muslim Cultures (£46,000)

In this current year the Cohesion and Faiths Unit have made grants to the following organisations:

Women's National Commission (£83,700)

British Muslim Research Centre (£50,000)

Christian Muslim Forum (£131,000)

The Multi Faith Centre—University of Derby (£48,400)

Tower Hamlets Council of Mosques (£5,000)

All grants awarded by the Home Office are subject to standard conditions (which are the same as those applied to other grants awarded by public bodies) and are conditional on the organisation completing the project within an agreed timescale. The Home Office have also this year launched the Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund. The assessment process is currently under way and we expect that successful organisations will be awarded grants in February 2006.
 
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Fireworks

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many penalty notices have been issued in relation to the illegal use of fireworks by each police force area in Wales since the relevant legislation was introduced. [39294]

Hazel Blears: Offences under the Fireworks Regulations 2004 (made under section 11 of the Fireworks Act 2003) for breach of the national fireworks curfew, the illegal possession of category four fireworks and the possession by a person under 18 of an adult firework attract penalty notices for disorder, as does the offence of throwing fireworks. The offence of throwing fireworks has been included in the penalty notice for disorder scheme since it was introduced nationally during 2004. The offences under the Fireworks Regulations 2004 were brought into the scheme with effect from 11 October 2004. The numbers of penalty notices issued by police force areas in Wales are provided in the table.
Number of penalty notices for disorder issued for fireworks offences, Wales, 2004 and January-August 2005 provisional figures

	Throwing fireworks		Breach of fireworks curfew		Possession of a Category 4 firework		Possession by under 18 of adult firework
Police force area	2004	January-August 2005	2004	January-August 2005	2004	January-August 2005	2004	January-August 2005
Dyfed-Powys	1	1	—	—	—	—	—	—
Gwent	1	3	1	1	1	—	—	—
North Wales	8	7	1	1	1	—	—	—
South Wales	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Total	10	11	2	1	1	1	1	—

Source:
RDS—Office for Criminal Justice Reform

Imitation Firearms

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have received a prison sentence for carrying an imitation firearm in each of the last five years. [24277]

Hazel Blears: The offence of possessing an imitation firearm in a public place without reasonable excuse was created by an amendment to section 19 of the Firearms Act 1968 which was introduced by section 37(1)(d) of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003. The new offence came into force on 20 January 2004.

Since the amendment, the sentencing statistics include data on the new offence under a code that also covers airweapons. Therefore we are unable to provide data for imitation firearms alone. In 2004, 358 people were sentenced for carrying a loaded or unloaded imitation firearm or airweapon in a public place. Of these, 29 were given a custodial sentence.

Forensic Science Service

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the national targets are for the Forensic Science Service; and what the performance of relevant offices in Devon and Cornwall has been against those targets. [38417]

Andy Burnham: The Forensic Science Service (FSS) has a number of national targets; these are set out in the table.

The FSS does not have a laboratory or offices in Devon and Cornwall.

	Measure	2005–06 targets
1	Risk adjusted return on capital (ROCE)	15 per cent. ROCE
2	Real reduction in charges versus average earnings index (AEI)	75 per cent. AEI
3	Investment in development work per cent. turnover	10 per cent.
4	External funding for Research and Development	£500,000
5	Percentage of cases with FSS case officer	100 per cent.
6	Deliver training to police and CPS	Customer satisfaction
7	Percentage fast track processing of DNA samples	20 per cent.
8	Average time to analyse and inform customers of DNA intelligence crime scene stain results on database (normal track cases)	(78)5 days
9	Per cent. of target eight delivered in less than 10 days	(78)95 per cent. of intelligence crime stains delivered 10 days
10	Average time to analyse and inform customers of DNA suspect sample results on database (normal track cases)	(78)5 days
11	Per cent. of target 10 delivered in less than eight days	(78)95 per cent. of CJs delivered <8 days
12	Per cent. of work delivered in less than 33 days	95 per cent. of work delivered in less than 33 days
13	Maintain ISO accreditation	Maintain accreditation
14	Investors in People	Establish processes and behaviours to retain IIP in 2006–07
15	Maintain diversity programme	Maintain

⁽⁷⁸⁾ These figures include one day for the Custodian.



 
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Identity Cards

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate the Government has made of the percentage of check points of identity cards that will (a) check all the biometrics and (b) consist of human face-to-face checks; and whether this has been accounted for in the Government's cost-benefit analysis of the scheme. [20866]

Andy Burnham: Primarily, it will be a decision for the user organisation in question to decide if a biometric verification or simple visual verification is necessary, depending on the transaction and their previous relationship with the individual in question. The Home Office has conducted research with potential users of identity services with regard to preferred types of verification method. This was conducted independently by Taylor Nelson Sofres and the report Identity Cards—An assessment of awareness and demand for the Identity Cards Scheme" is available in the Library and on the Identity Cards website—www.identitycards.gov.uk

Estimates of the volumes of the different methods the Identity Cards Scheme will offer of verifying identity have been made for the purposes of the business case. Human face-to-face checks, where only a visual verification of the card against the person presenting it is made, are not included in these figures as these do not constitute a check against the register and do not incur any costs.

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