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1 Mar 2006 : Column 816W—continued
Identity Cards
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the statement by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State during the debate on the Identity Card Bill, 13 February 2006, Official Report, column 1209, whether the set-up costs for the Identity Card Scheme are included in the £584 million annual cost over 10 years of the scheme. [53754]
Andy Burnham: £584 million is the average annual cost of issuing passports and identity cards to British nationals and operating an identity verification service over a 10-year period. This includes charges for the depreciation and amortisation of capital assets purchased during the set-up of the scheme. Additionally, not all assets required to set up and deliver the scheme will be purchased up front, some will be charged by regular payments over time, and these charges are also included in the figure of £584 million.
However, final decisions as to which assets are purchased up front and what components are delivered through ongoing service charges can only be formalised following the conclusion of the forthcoming procurement process.
Identity Fraud
David Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he plans to change the operation of the deed poll system in order to prevent identity fraud. [53881]
Andy Burnham:
There are no plans to make any changes to the deed poll process, but we are working with a range of public and private sector organisations to reduce identity fraud. We have introduced a range of measures to tackle identity related crime which are set out at www.identitytheft.org.uk
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There are a number of ways in which an individual can change his or her name, of which deed poll is one. A name is one element of a person's identity, but there are others such as date of birth, address and, with the development of technology, biometric information which can uniquely identify an individual. We are committed to reducing identity fraud and this is one of the reasons why we want to establish a national Identity Cards Scheme. The scheme will utilise biometrics and provide people with a highly-secure means of protecting their identity.
Internet (Terrorism)
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will make a statement about progress being made to prevent internet service providers based abroad using the web to promote terrorism; [54287]
(2) when he last met ICANN (Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers) to discuss the monitoring of the internet to prevent communication between terrorist organisations. [54288]
Hazel Blears: I have had no recent meetings with ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). However, we continue to co-operate with internet service providers in the UK and abroad to tackle websites that promote terrorism both generally and in relation to specific sites. We are also working closely with international partners in a number of for a including the EU, UN, G8 and OSCE.
Juvenile Offenders
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crimes were committed by juvenile offenders in (a) Peterborough constituency and (b) the Cambridgeshire area in each quarter since 2001; how many cautions were issued in relation to such cases; and how many children in the Peterborough city council area (i) were convicted, (ii) were in local authority care, (iii) received a reprimand, (iv) received a final warning and (v) were found guilty in each year. [52324]
Hazel Blears: Data held by the juvenile offenders reprimanded, given final warnings, prosecuted, and found guilty of all offences in Cambridgeshire police force area, are provided in the following table. Figures are presented for the years 2001–04. Statistics on court proceedings for 2005 will be published in autumn 2006. It is not possible to separately identify Peterborough as the data are not collected at this level of detail. DfES has advised that for the period 2001 to 2004, the number of looked-after children in Peterborough, were as follows, 355 for 2001, 325 for 2002, 335 for 2003 and 325 for 2004.
(18) Under the Crime and Disorder Act 1 998 cautions were replaced for juveniles with reprimands and final warnings.
(19) Prosecuted at magistrate's courts.
(20) Found guilty at all courts.
(21) All data given refer to the principal offence only.
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Life Sentences
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the shortest amount of time served by a prisoner sentenced to life imprisonment before he or she were released on licence was in each year between 1999 and 2004. [53773]
Fiona Mactaggart: The information requested, as recorded on the Prison Service IT system, is provided in the following table.
(22) Calculated using the centralised prisons IT system.
(23) Time served under sentence.
Magic Mushrooms
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department at what point after the implementation of the Drugs Act 2005 the advice given by the Talk to Frank helpline in relation to the status of unprepared magic mushrooms was changed. [54039]
Paul Goggins: The change under the Drugs Act 2006 in relation to magic mushrooms came into effect on 18 July 2005. Prior advice was provided to the Talk to Frank helpline advisers on 14 July 2005.
Manslaughter
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) minimum and (b) maximum sentence is for manslaughter; and what the sentencing guidelines are for that offence. [54262]
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Fiona Mactaggart: The maximum sentence for manslaughter is life imprisonment; there is no minimum sentence.
There are no statutory sentencing guidelines for the offence. However, the Sentencing Guidelines Council issued a guideline Manslaughter by Reason of Provocation" on 28 November 2005, and there several Court of Appeal guidelines for the offence of manslaughter.
Muslim Groups (Consultations)
Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he has taken to ensure that, in his Department's ongoing dialogue with faith groups and representatives of British Muslims on issues relating to community cohesion and counter-terrorism, the views of the Somali community are adequately represented. [44137]
Paul Goggins: The Government are committed to engaging with all sections of all faith communities.
Dialogue has been established with representatives from the Somali community at local, regional and national level.
The nine ministerial visits which took place after the London bombings played an important part in informing Government of the steps needed to prevent extremism and improve community cohesion. Representatives from the Somali communities in Birmingham, Bolton, Leicester and Manchester were actively involved in these discussions with Ministers.
Further opportunities for dialogue have been taken, including a recent visit to Ealing and Hounslow by my ministerial colleague, the member for Harrow East, who met representatives from the local Somali community.
The Government will continue to improve and develop its relationship with the Somali community so as to ensure that the views of this community are fully represented.
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