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Bicester Accommodation Centre

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much compensation was awarded to GSL UK Ltd. for (a) construction works, (b) design works, (c) legal costs, (d) financial costs and (e) professional advisory costs on termination of the contract to build an accommodation centre for asylum seekers at Bicester. [43508]

Mr. McNulty: No compensation has been paid to GSL (UK) Ltd. following termination of the contract to design, build and operate the accommodation centre near Bicester. All amounts certified for payment to GSL (UK) Ltd. are covered by the contract, which also allows for a number of merited payments in the event of voluntary termination of the contract by the Home Office. The information relating to those payments is not available in the form requested. It could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost to his Department was of purchasing site A at Ministry of Defence Bicester to build an accommodation centre for asylum seekers. [43510]

 
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Mr. McNulty: The cost of the land was £3.25 millions; there were additional transaction costs of some £16,000.

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what date GSL UK Ltd. signed the contract to build an accommodation centre for asylum seekers at Bicester. [43511]

Mr. McNulty: The contract is dated 17 June 2004.

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what date his Department agreed a compensation package with GSL UK Ltd. after the contract to build an accommodation centre for asylum seekers at Bicester was terminated. [43512]

Mr. McNulty: Discussions of GSL's claim under the contract termination procedure continue.

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost to his Department was of pursuing plans for an accommodation centre for asylum seekers at Bicester (a) at planning inquiry and (b) at judicial review. [43513]

Mr. McNulty: The information is not available in the form requested. It could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Cash-in-transit Crime

Mr. McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 11 October 2005, Official Report, column 2526W, on cash-in-transit attacks, what discussions his Department has had with (a) the British Security Industry Association and (b) the police since September regarding the reduction of cash-in-transit robberies in England and Wales; and what progress has been made in developing national strategies to reduce such attacks. [42931]

Hazel Blears [holding answer 16 January 2006]: I had a very constructive meeting with representatives of the British Security Industry Association, the GMB union and Group four Securicor on 18 January 2006, where we agreed to work together, with other partners, on devising ways to reduce the number of cash-in-transit robberies.

Charity Commission

Dr. Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) whether the Charity Commission is required to investigate a charity more than once in relation to the same allegations without the provision of additional documentary evidence; [43666]

(2) whether the activities of charities are inspected on a regular basis by the Charity Commission; and how often such inspections took place in each of the last five years. [43667]

Paul Goggins: This is a matter for the Charity Commission as the Government Department responsible for the regulation of charities in England and Wales. The chief executive of the Charity Commission will write to the hon. Member and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Library.
 
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Codes of Practice (Compliance Auditing)

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how the Codes of Practice of (a) the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and (b) the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 are audited for compliance; who is responsible for auditing compliance; and whether the reports on compliance are published. [42525]

Hazel Blears: Compliance with the PACE and CPIA Codes is an operational issue for the chief officer of the force concerned. Police officers are required to keep decision logs stating decisions made and the reasons for those decisions. Senior supervising officers are required to monitor and supervise the use and application of the provisions of the codes.

Any breach of the codes may result in an officer facing action under disciplinary and complaints procedures. The Crown Prosecution Service will consider the investigation into a case before deciding to charge. The Attorney-General's guidelines on disclosure place specific duties on the CPS to review police documentation under the CPIA Code; PACE Code C provisions require compliance with the guidelines when considering a decision to charge a suspect.

The courts who provide routine oversight of the police's compliance with both the PACE and the CPIA Codes, in that, for example, the defendant may raise a successful abuse of process argument at the trial based on an alleged breach; the court may decide to exclude evidence and the defendant may be acquitted as a result.

Independent Custody Visitors and Appropriate Adults are empowered to examine and report on the conditions and treatment of detainees in police custody in accordance the safeguards set out in PACE Code C.

Community Support Officers

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what period funding allocations for community support officers (CSOs) will apply; and what plans he has for funding CSOs when the current funding period expires. [43416]

Hazel Blears: We are making available £88 million in 2006–07 and £340 million in 2007–08 through the Neighbourhood Policing Fund (NPF) to help forces increase community support officer (CSO) numbers to 24,000 by March 2008. In addition, we continue to provide funding support of £44 million in 2006–07 and £47 million in 2007–08, for a number of CSOs recruited by forces before the NPF was introduced. We have made it clear that, we will sustain the investment in CSOs and in the longer term we will put this money into general police funding.

Consultants

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much has been spent on consultants in each year since 1997. [17566]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The information held by the Home Office on its spend on consultants is as follows:
 
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	£
1997–98	7,627,016
1998–99	4,588,445
1999–2000	10,302,672
2000–01	27,877,286
2001–02	21,147,058
2002–03	Not held
2003–04	106,800,000
2004–05	46,900,000

We do not hold information on the Department's total expenditure on consultants for 2002–03 and to obtain this information would incur disproportionate cost.

The best information available for the financial year 2003–04 from interrogation of the business and accounting strategic system (BASS), indicates that the cost of external consultants to the department in 2003–04 was £106.8 million.

The best information available for the financial year 2004–05 from the interrogation of the Adelphi Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system accounts payable module indicates that the cost of external consultants to the department was £46.9 million.

The department awards contracts in open competition according to the EU procurement regulations based on best value for money. The use of external consultants in the Home Office provides the department with specialist knowledge, skill, capacity and technical expertise that is not otherwise available in-house.

Crime

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 1 November 2005, Official Report, column 925W, on crime, what plans he has to extend the Partners Against Crime Partnership; and if he will make a statement. [44050]

Hazel Blears: A local evaluation of this trial initiative, which was set up in partnership by Dyfed-Powys police and the Post Office Ltd., began at the end of the initiative in October 2005. I understand that the evaluation will be completed in spring 2006.

Any decision to extend the Partners Against Crime Partnership will be made by local police and partners when the evaluation has been completed.

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the reported level of (a) burglaries and (b) robberies was in the last period for which figures are available. [41913]

 
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Hazel Blears: The latest figures relate to England and Wales as a whole for the period April to June 2005. The figures were published in Table A (page 10) of 'Crime in England and Wales: Quarterly Update to June 2005'.

The publication is Home Office Statistical Bulletin 18/05 and can be accessed online via the following link:

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/hosbpubs1.html

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent estimate he has made of levels of (a) violent crime, (b) car crime, (c) robbery and (d) burglary in Tamworth constituency; and if he will make a statement. [42099]

Hazel Blears: The available information relates to recorded offences in the Tamworth Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership area and is given in the table.
Offences recorded in the Tamworth crime and disorder reduction partnership area, 2004–05

Offence	Number of offences
Violent crime(17)	2,436
Car crime	800
Robbery	80
Domestic burglary	444

⁽¹⁷⁾ Includes offences of violence against the person, sexual offences and robbery.

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offences involving air weapons there have been in each division of the Staffordshire police force in each year since 2001. [43475]

Hazel Blears: Centrally-collected data for recorded crime involving firearms in England and Wales are only available at police force level. Staffordshire Police recorded 270 offences involving air weapons in 2001–02, 309 in 2002–03 and 274 in 2003–04. The National Crime Recording Standard was introduced on 1 April 2002. Figures before and after this date are not directly comparable.

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