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7 Mar 2006 : Column 1311W—continued

Drugs

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the percentage of crime attributable to drug misusers; and what estimate he has made of the cost of such crime to public funds. [44643]

Paul Goggins: Routine crime statistics used for monitoring crime trends, such as recorded crime and the British crime survey, do not contain information on the
 
7 Mar 2006 : Column 1312W
 
offender's drug habits. It is therefore not possible to provide an estimate of the proportion of all crime that is drug-related. A Home Office Research Study, 'The Economic and Social Costs of Class A Drug Use in England and Wales', provided an estimate of the criminal justice costs associated with problem drug users' criminal activity.

The total cost to the criminal justice system was estimate to be around £2.3 billion for the year 2000.

Early Retirement

Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of his Department's employees have taken early retirement in each year since 1997. [34038]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The number of employees that have taken early retirement in each year since 1997 is answered in the table.

Home Office employees who have taken early retirement in each year since 1997 are as follows:

	Home Office(12)(5508890013)	Prison service	United Kingdom passport service(14)	Forensic science service(15)
1997	24	n/a	0	7
1998	18	38	0	6
1999(16)	116	65	0	10
2000	15	61		4
2001	17	165		3
2002	22	92	10	2
2003	40	114		8
2004(17)	167	51		3
2005	3	47		4

n/a = not available.
⁽¹²⁾ Home Office PIMMS figures 1997–2004. Fire Service College figures are included within HO figures for the period 1997 to 2002.
⁽¹³⁾ Home Office Adelphi figures 2004–05 including manual figures for handover period.
⁽¹⁴⁾ UKPS records 10 cases occurring after January 2000, and none before.
⁽¹⁵⁾ FSS ceased to be a Home Office Agency on 5 December 2005 figures run to 3 December 2005.
⁽¹⁶⁾ During 1997–99 there was a scheme to reduce staff across the HO, due to the introduction of the computerised system (Casework programme in Immigration and Nationality).
⁽¹⁷⁾ A large early retirement scheme was run in 2004. Of the figures shown 145 of the HO early retirements, and 19 of the Prison Service early retirements fell under the scheme.

Energy Costs

Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was spent by his Department on (a) gas and (b) electricity in 2004–05. [51776]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The following table shows cost data for gas and electricity for the financial year 2004–05.
Electricity and gas costs for 2004–05

£
Fuel	Home Office (excluding prisons)l	public sector prisons(19)	Total
Gas	854,329	13,957,042	14,811,371
Electricity	3,360,523	16,267,718	19,628,242
Total	4,214,852	30,224,761	34,439,613

⁽¹⁸⁾ These figures relate to key buildings only.
⁽¹⁹⁾ Gas figures include natural gas and LPG.



 
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Ketamine

Mrs. James: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he plans to bring ketamine within the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971; and if he will make a statement. [56001]

Paul Goggins: Ketamine was brought under the control of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 on the 1 January 2006 as a class C controlled drug and under part 1 of schedule 4 of the Misuses of Drugs Regulations 2001.

Magic Mushrooms

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were (a) arrested, (b) prosecuted, (c) convicted and (d) imprisoned for possession of magic mushrooms in the last period for which figures are available. [47709]

Hazel Blears: The requested data are not collected centrally.

MI5

Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) whether external cultural diversity training is given to recruits to MI5 in Northern Ireland; [53204]

(2) what arrangements are in place for monitoring membership of (a) loyal orders and (b) the Freemasons of members of MI5 in Northern Ireland; [53206]

(3) what the names are of the senior management of MI5 in Northern Ireland of grade equivalent to the Northern Ireland senior civil service; [53207]

(4) how many people have been externally recruited to MI5 in Northern Ireland in each of the last 10 years, broken down by community background; [53210]

(5) whether 50/50 recruitment is applied by M15 in Northern Ireland in respect of recruitment in Northern Ireland; [53215]

(6) if he will break down the MI5 workforce in Northern Ireland by religious composition; [53257]

(7) how many former officers of the Royal Ulster Constabulary work in MI5 in Northern Ireland; [53258]

(8) whether an audit has been conducted in the last five years of whether there is a neutral working environment in M15 in Northern Ireland. [53212]

Mr. Charles Clarke: It has been the policy of successive Governments not to comment on the details of intelligence and security agency staffing matters. Exceptionally, the name of the director general of the Security Service has been made public.

The Security Service is accredited to the Investors in People standard. Training and development for all staff, who are recruited from throughout the UK, includes training in human rights and cultural awareness. Systems are in place to ensure that the selection of new staff and decisions on promotion and postings are free of prejudice or bias, irrespective of gender, age, race, marital status, ethnic origin, working pattern, sexual orientation, disability or religion.
 
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All recruits must pass a comprehensive vetting process which is standard for all national Government posts that require the highest level of security clearance.

Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent independent reviews there have been of intelligence gathering in M15 in Northern Ireland. [53214]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The work of the Security Service is subject to review by the independent Intelligence Services and Interception Commissioners established under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 and by the Intelligence and Security Committee established under the Intelligence Services Act 1994. It is also subject to scrutiny by the National Audit Office.

Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the budget was for MI5 in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years; and what projections there are for its budget in each of the next five years. [53260]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The Security Service's budget, which includes its work in Northern Ireland, is paid from the single intelligence account, which also comprises the Secret Intelligence Service and Government communications headquarters.

For reasons of operational security and efficiency no breakdown of funding between or within the Agencies is published. The total budget for the most recent five year cycle published in the Intelligence and Security Committee's last annual report (Cm 6510) was as shown in the following table. An additional £85 million to be split over the three years 2005–08 was announced on 25 January 2006, (Hansard Cm 57–58 WS) to ensure early delivery of increased capacity to counter the threat from international terrorism in the light of the July bombings in London.
£ million

Financial year	Resource	Capital
2002–03	940	121.8
2003–04	1060.4	509.9
2004–05	1156.8	156.9
2005–06	1156.4	204.9
2006–07	1266	214.0
2007–08	1324	229

Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recommendations of the Chilcott Report affected MI5 in Northern Ireland; and what progress has been made with the implementation of each. [53261]

Mr. Charles Clarke: I have nothing to add to the written ministerial statement on 16 July 2003, Official Report, columns 40–41WS, by the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland concerning the Chilcott Report.

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