| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
27 Feb 2006 : Column 78W—continued
Crime Detection (Eastern Region)
Mr. Stewart Jackson:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what crime detection rates were recorded for (a) violence against the person, (b) sexual offences, (c) robberies, (d) burglaries, (e) theft of a
27 Feb 2006 : Column 79W
vehicle and (f) drug-related offences in (i) Peterborough constituency and (ii) the Eastern Region in the last year for which figures are available. [51321]
Hazel Blears: Detection data are collected at force and basic command unit levels only. Information for Cambridgeshire Northern BCU and Eastern Region is given in the following table.
| Eastern region | Cambridgeshire Northern BCU | |
|---|---|---|
| Violence against the person | 61 | 53 |
| Sexual offences | 35 | 28 |
| Robbery | 25 | 20 |
| Burglary | 15 | 15 |
| Theft of a vehicle | 20 | 26 |
| Drug offences | 94 | 89 |
Criminal Records Bureau
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people applying for positions within residential care and nursing homes in (a) West Lancashire, (b) Lancashire and (c) England are awaiting clearance from the Criminal Records Bureau. [53396]
Andy Burnham: The information requested by the hon. Member for West Lancashire is not available. The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) is unable to provide information on Disclosure applications based on specific employment sectors or geographical areas.
The CRB aims to complete Disclosure applications across all sectors within the shortest time possible. Its published service standards are to issue 93 per cent. of Standard Disclosures within two weeks and 90 per cent. of Enhanced Disclosures within four weeks for all applications.
Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, when a soldier is found guilty of an offence by the military law courts, that information is recorded by the Criminal Records Bureau and accessed when a check against the Bureau's records is carried out. [53824]
Andy Burnham: The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) does not record details of offences committed by any individual, including service personnel. The CRB obtains details of all criminal convictions, cautions, reprimands and warnings from the Police National Computer (PNC) as part of its Disclosure service. Recordable offences (i.e. those offences which could carry a term of imprisonment) that have been committed by Her Majesty's Armed Forces personnel are placed on the PNC and these details would be accessed as part of the CRB's Disclosure process, subject to the provisions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, 1974.
Departmental Assets
David T.C. Davies:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the items of
27 Feb 2006 : Column 80W
departmental property worth over £100 that have been reported as (a) lost and (b) broken in the last 12 months. [47680]
Mr. Charles Clarke: There have been no items reported lost or broken in the last 12 months.
Departmental Finance
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much is expected to be saved as a result of meeting the Civil Service work force reductions targets for his Department set out in the 2004 Spending Review; and whether these savings count towards the agreed efficiency target for his Department set out in the Review. [52796]
Mr. Charles Clarke: My Department will reduce the size of its headquarters by 2,700 full-time equivalent posts by 31 March 2008, that will contribute savings of at least £61 million p.a. to the Department achieving its target to increase value for money by £1,970 million p.a. by the end of the 2004 Spending Review period.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much of the agreed efficiency target for his Department set out in the 2004 Spending Review is to be cashable; and under what budget headings these cashable efficiency savings will be re-spent. [52831]
Mr. Charles Clarke: My Department has a target to increase value for money by £1,970 million p.a. by 2007–08, of which £1,240 million p.a. (63 per cent.) would be cashable.
The value for money technical note (published on the Home Office website via http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/about-us/publications/our-service-to-you/?view=Standard) sets out how this target would be achieved and measured in the police service and principal parts of my Department's business.
During 2004–05, my Department achieved gains worth £845 million (of which £554 million, 66 per cent., was cashable; reported to Parliament in my 2005 Autumn Performance Report Cm 6707) as the first step towards achieving its target. While my Department does not hypothecate savings, cashable gains are re-cycled to off-set cost pressures in meeting the public's priorities.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the target level of employment expressed as full-time equivalents is in his Department by April 2008, in order to meet his Department's civil service workforce reductions target set out in the 2004 Spending Review. [52850]
Mr. Charles Clarke: In the 2004 Spending Review, my Department adopted a target to reduce the size of the headquarters by 2,700 full-time equivalent posts; that forms part of the Government's overall workforce target.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what total efficiency savings were achieved by his Department in 2004–05; and whether these count towards the agreed efficiency target for his Department set out in the 2004 Spending Review. [52859]
27 Feb 2006 : Column 81W
Mr. Charles Clarke: In my 2005 Autumn Performance Report to Parliament (Cm 6707), I reported that my Department had achieved value for money improvements of £845 million during 2004–05, of which £554 million was cashable, as the first step to achieving the £1,970 million p.a. target that the Department will meet by the end of the 2004 Spending Review period.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what interim targets he has set for achieving (a) the agreed efficiency target for his Department and (b) the civil service workforce reductions targets for (i) gross reductions in posts, (ii) net reductions in posts and (iii) relocations for his Department, as set out in the 2004 Spending Review; what the baseline figures are against which these interim targets are assessed; on what dates they will take effect; and by what dates these interim targets are intended to be met. [52915]
Mr. Charles Clarke: My Department has targets (i) to increase value for money by £1,970 million p.a. by 2007–08 compared with during 2003–04 (the baseline year), (ii) to reduce the size of the headquarters by 2,700 full-time equivalent posts net by March 2008 compared with during March 2004, and (iii) to relocate 2,200 posts. While I have not set interim targets for my value for money programme, in the 2005 Autumn Performance Report (Cm 6707) I reported gains worth £845 million having been achieved during 2004–05, which means that the Department is ahead of what a linear trajectory to achieving its £1,970 million target would require.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what baseline figures he is using for assessing progress on his Department's targets to (a) deliver efficiency gains from policing, (b) increase the proportion of officer time spent on front-line policing, (c) reduce asylum support, processing and operating costs, (d) increase efficiency across the Criminal Justice System and (e) increase efficiency through value for money benefits from investment in ICT; what progress has been made towards these targets to date; and what the total efficiency savings achieved to date are for these targets. [52923]
Mr. Charles Clarke: The baseline and approach to assessing increases in value for money in my Department are set out in the technical note, available via http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/about-us/publications/our-service-to-you/?view=Standard.
In my 2005 Autumn Performance Report (Cm 6707), I reported to Parliament that the Department had increased VfM by £845 million during 2004–05, including through the police service having achieved gains worth £316 million, of which £111 million was cashable, and the Immigration and Nationality Directorate having achieved gains worth £305 million (£295 million was cashable). In his evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee last year, Sir John Gieve, then permanent secretary of my Department, reported that the cost of asylum support had been reduced by more than £250 million during 2004–05.
In general, my Department records increases in VfM in the areas of activity where they arise—such as in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate—because
27 Feb 2006 : Column 82W
that is where management action is required to ensure that gains are achieved, rather than describing gains thematically (such as in terms of 'from investment in ICT').
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what baseline figures he is using for assessing progress on his Department's targets to reduce (a) the number of posts in the National Offender Management Service and (b) the Immigration and Nationality Directorate Headquarters by 1,170; what progress has been made towards these targets to date; and what the total efficiency savings achieved to date are for these targets. [52937]
Mr. Charles Clarke: My Department's target is to reduce the size of the headquarters by 2,700 full time-equivalent posts by 31 March 2008 (of which the Department estimates that around 1,170 posts would be derived from reduction in headquarters functions in the National Offender Management Service and Immigration and Nationality Directorate). That is from a baseline figure for the size of the headquarters of 9,900 full-time equivalent posts in March 2004 (reported in my Department's value for money technical note, available via http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/about-us/publications/our-service-to-you/?view=Standard). Of the total baseline, the National Offender Management Service accounts for around one third of posts in the headquarters, and the Immigration and Nationality Directorate around one quarter.
In my 2005 Autumn Performance Report to Parliament (Cm 6707), I reported that my Department had reduced the size of the headquarters by 917 full-time equivalent posts, including posts in the headquarters functions of the National Offender Management Service and the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. This reduction contributed £32 million per annum cashable gains to the increase in value for money worth £845 million per annum that I reported in respect of the financial year 2004–05.
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what steps his Department is taking to ensure it keeps full and accurate financial records; [49774]
(2) what steps his Department is taking to ensure full and accurate financial records are kept by his Department. [49685]
Mr. Charles Clarke: Several steps are being taken to ensure that my Department is keeping full and accurate records, including:
strengthening and improving the financial control framework and processes throughout the Home Office;
significantly strengthening our financial accounting function: more than doubling the number of qualified and experienced accountants and relocating to our London headquarters;
ensuring that the financial control environment will be kept under close review by the Home Office Audit Committee and Permanent Secretary;
undertaking an external review by a firm of accountants to establish whether any additional steps need to be taken.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |