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27 Feb 2006 : Column 83W—continued

Departmental Staff

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans his Department has to change the London allowance of its staff; and if he will make a statement. [50016]

Mr. Charles Clarke: London locational allowances are normally reviewed as part of the annual pay award settlements and takes account of the Home Office business needs to recruit and retain staff, local employment markets and cost of living pressures. The last review of these allowances occurred in 2005. For the non-agency Home Office these allowances were increased by 12 per cent. with a further review timetabled for 2007. For the Prison Service there was no increase in the value of local pay allowances in London. However, a further review will be carried out in 2006 and the value of any increases has yet to be determined.

Domestic Violence

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many domestic violence prosecutions were undertaken in each English police region in each of the last five years. [51350]

Fiona Mactaggart [holding answer 13 February 2006]: Offences involving domestic violence are not identifiable on the Office for Criminal Justice Reform Court Proceedings database as no specific statute covers such offences.

Data held by the Crown Prosecution Service for the number of domestic violence cases dealt with during the financial year 2004–05, and April to December 2005 are provided in attached table. Figures for previous years are not available.
Total number of cases dealt with by the Crown Prosecution Service involving domestic violence in England by police force region for the financial year 2004–05 and April to December 2005

Police force areaFinancial year 2004–05April to December 2005
Avon and Somerset919877
Bedfordshire240358
Cambridgeshire421407
Cheshire533735
Cleveland378463
Cumbria351364
Derbyshire834964
Devon and Cornwall1,0471,076
Dorset255341
Durham409432
Dyfed Powys236231
Essex885987
Gloucestershire493520
Greater Manchester1,6041,570
Gwent445377
Hampshire and IOW1,4031,159
Hertfordshire518756
Humberside258506
Kent696533
Lancashire1,2611,243
Leicestershire693684
Lincolnshire336345
London2,8073,272
Merseyside1,3171,194
Norfolk483447
Northamptonshire300459
Northumbria1,2531,112
North Wales439530
North Yorkshire362430
Nottinghamshire762851
South Wales1,182997
South Yorkshire884891
Staffordshire1,2681,324
Suffolk527518
Surrey305363
Sussex1,194837
Thames Valley9491,194
Warwickshire32115
West Mercia690634
West Midlands2,7142,444
West Yorkshire2,6082,212
Wiltshire548479
Total34,83935,231

 
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Drug Classification

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether there are performance measures by which the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs can review the efficacy of its advice to classify drugs in a particular class. [47810]

Paul Goggins: The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs keeps under review all the recommendations it makes in respect of the classification of individual drugs, and will update its advice in the event of any change in circumstance, including the emergence of new evidence.

Drug Offences

Mr. David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were prosecuted by North Wales Police for the offences of (a) supply of, (b) possession with intent to supply and (c) possession of a (i) Class A and (ii) Class B controlled drug in each of the last three years for which figures are available. [47731]

Paul Goggins: The available information relates to the number of persons dealt with at court and is given in the table.
Number of persons dealt with at court(26) for drug offences in North Wales, 2002 to 2004

2002
2003
2004
Offence typeclass Aclass Bclass Aclass Bclass A(27)class B
Unlawful supply79138155
Possession with intent to supply013112016
Unlawful possession339645208135


(26) Includes those found not guilty.
(27) Class B data for 2004 exclude cannabis offences due to its reclassification to class C drug on 29 January 2004.





 
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Mr. David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were (a) cautioned and (b) prosecuted by North Wales Police for the offence of possession of cannabis in each of the last three years for which figures are available. [47732]

Hazel Blears: The requested information is given in the table. Available data for prosecutions relate to the number of persons dealt with at court.
Number of persons in North Wales receiving police cautions and dealt with at court for cannabis possession, 2002 to 2004

Cautioned by police(28)Dealt with at court(29)
2002700364
2003708453
2004450187


(28) Not including police formal warnings for cannabis possession which are not counted as police cautions.
(29) Includes those found not guilty.


Drug Treatment Programmes

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much his Department has spent on drug treatment in each of the last five years. [47720]

Caroline Flint: The Department and the Home Office have combined the funding provided centrally for drug treatment. Known as the pooled treatment budget, this money is allocated to the 149 drug action teams (DATs) across the country. This budget has increased from £142 million in 2001–02 to £300 million in 2005–06.

The pooled treatment budget allocation since 2001 is shown in table one.
Table 1: Pooled treatment budget allocation, 2001–02 to 2005–06

Amount (£ million)
2001–02142
2002–03191
2003–04236
2004–05253
2005–06300

The 149 DATs also receive funding and time-limited funding from the local organisations that form part of the DAT. These include primary care trusts (PCTs), local authorities (LAs), strategic health authorities (SHAs) and probation services. The National Treatment Agency monitors how this money is spent. Estimates of these amounts for the past five years are shown in table 2.
Table 2: Estimates of funding, 2001–02 to 2005–06

Amount (£ million)
2001–02145
2002–03131
2003–04200
2004–05(30)204
2005–06(30)208


(30) Local funding increases based on 2 per cent. inflation increase.


Drugs (Afghanistan)

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been
 
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prosecuted in the UK in each of the last four years for drugs offences related to the import of illegal drugs from Afghanistan. [47726]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The requested information is not collected centrally.

Executive Agencies

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what (a) targets, (b) advice and (c) guidance his Department has given to executive agencies that fall under the remit of his Department on the reorganisation of their administrative functions on a regional basis; and if he will make a statement. [41646]

Fiona Mactaggart: The information requested is as follows.

Criminal Records Bureau

The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) is based in Liverpool and therefore no advice has been provided centrally on reorganisation of administrative functions on a regional basis. The Home Office is represented on the CRB Management Board and there is ongoing dialogue about how greater integration and alignment of support services can be achieved, particularly in the area of human resources.

The Prison Service

Her Majesty's Prison Service is the only executive agency within the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). The management of all its prisons, except for the High Security Estate which is managed nationally, is already established on an area structure based upon the boundaries of Wales and the nine government regions of England. Three prison service areas fall within the south-east region due to the number of prisons within that location.

United Kingdom Passport Service

The Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) does have planning links with the United Kingdom Passport Service (UKPS), and as part of this have regular bi-laterals at an official level. However IND does not provide UKPS with targets or any guidance on their organisation. Furthermore while Ministers are consulted about policy objectives to improve passport security and counter fraud, the UKPS set their own business drivers and as part of this will be opening sixty nine interview offices across the United Kingdom in 2006.


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