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7 Mar 2006 : Column 1314W—continued
Mr. David Mills
Mr. Evans:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will list correspondence between his Department and (a) Italian prosecutors and (b) the
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Italian Government relating to the investigation into Mr. David Mills; and if he will place copies of them in the Library; [56249]
(2) if he will place in the Library a copy of the letter from the Italian prosecutor to his Department relating to the investigation into Mr. David Mills. [56250]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 6 March 2006]: Correspondence between the UK and other countries relating to mutual legal assistance and extradition is by its very nature confidential and the Home Office would normally neither confirm nor deny that such requests have been received or considered by UK authorities. I am aware that a number of documents relating to this case have apparently been leaked to the press.
As a result it is clear that advice on extradition matters has been sought and that requests for mutual legal assistance have been received and acted upon. Regardless of this development, and considering the Government's policy to decline to comment on leaked documents, I consider it right to retain the confidentiality of these documents and as such they will not be placed in the Library.
Muslim Communities
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many meetings he has had with representatives of UK (a) Muslim communities and (b) Muslim youth groups in each of the last three years. [54766]
Paul Goggins: My right hon. Friend The Home Secretary meets regularly with representative groups from all faith communities. Specific details on meeting with representatives of UK Muslim communities and Muslim youth groups are not separately available.
National Offender Management Service
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Chief Executive or Head of the National Offender Management Service will be appointed on a permanent basis; who is to be appointed; and what annual salary the appointee will receive. [55090]
Fiona Mactaggart: There is an open competition in progress to appoint a permanent Chief Executive of the National Offender Management Service. The salary range for the successful candidate is £150,000-£170,00, although more may be available for an exceptional candidate.
Number Plates
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the cost to local authorities of (a) introducing and (b) rolling out automatic number plate recognition via local authority-owned CCTV systems. [54547]
Hazel Blears:
In local authority closed circuit television systems (CCTV), automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology utilises already existing camera networks. Where these systems have been upgraded to accommodate ANPR, the cost, in most cases, has been borne by the individual Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships on a case by case
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basis. It is not, therefore, possible to provide a centrally collated estimate of the cost of this facility to local authorities.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans the Government have to encourage the use of automatic number plate recognition technologies; and if he will make a statement. [54550]
Hazel Blears: The Government have made £25 million capital funding available to the Police Service in years 2005–06 and a further £7.5 million in 2006–07 (£32.5 million in total) for the provision of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology development. This investment addresses the fight against serious and organised crime, terrorism, volume crime and road traffic offending.
The Home Office has supported the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) through funding the development of the National ANPR Data Centre as it meets many of its strategic aims for crime reduction. This facility will enable the Police and intelligence services to track vehicle movements throughout the United Kingdom mainly for the purposes of detection and prevention of serious crime. The ANPR facility specifically targets those who choose to use our roads illegally, leaving law-abiding citizens to go about their business uninterrupted.
Passports
Mr. David Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will estimate the cost of extending free passports to British citizens born after 2 September 1929 when they reach their 75th birthday. [55404]
Andy Burnham: The UK Passport Service has no plans at present to introduce free passports to all British citizens.
If this change were implemented, the estimated impact, based on the current £51 fee, is:
| Additional free passports | Additional cost (lost revenue) (£) | |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 52,776 | 2,692,000 |
| 2007 | 70,012 | 3,571,000 |
| 2008 | 96,150 | 4,904,000 |
| 2009 | 112,381 | 5,731,000 |
| 2010 | 141,540 | 7,219,000 |
| 5 year total | 472,859 | 24,117,000 |
The current scheme entitles those born on or before 2 September 1929 to a free passport. The cost of this scheme in terms of lost revenue for 2005 was £7.3 million from 172,650 applications.
Police
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many injury award pensions are being paid by each police force in England and Wales. [55897]
Hazel Blears:
The information requested is not held centrally.
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Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much funding was allocated to police services in (a) Uxbridge and (b) each London borough in each year since 1995. [53639]
Hazel Blears: The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis is responsible for the operational management of, and allocation of funding by the force. I understand he has replied to the hon. Member directly. I will place a copy of the reply in the House Library.
Anne Snelgrove: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers there were in South Swindon in each year since 1997. [52687]
Hazel Blears: The available information is given in the table. Figures are for the basic command unit for Swindon as information is not collected centrally for South Swindon. Data are only available from 2002–03 onwards.
| As at 31 March: | Full-time equivalent(20) |
|---|---|
| 2003 | 335.1 |
| 2004 | 356.0 |
| 2005 | 355.1 |
(20) Police officer strength has only been collected by the Home Office at basic command unit level since 2003. Figures are based on full-time equivalent figures (including staff on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave) and have been rounded to the nearest whole number.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much it costs on average to employ a (a) police officer and (b) community support officer for each of the first 10 years of service. [54514]
Hazel Blears: The only available information on police officer costs by length of service relates to police constables' pay and is provided in the table. The table shows the salary of a police constable on completion of initial training and the relevant regional allowance.
The pay scales for police constables range from £20,397 for a newly recruited officer, rising to £32,025 for an officer with 10 year's service. Additionally, a constable who has served at the top of the pay scale for one year has access to a competence-related threshold payment of £1,062 per year. Salary and other terms and conditions for police community support officers (PCSOs) are determined by the respective police authority.
We do not routinely maintain data on PCSO salaries. The most recent data we have on PCSO salary costs and allowances is contained in a report by Accenture on terms and conditions for PCSOs, which was published on three February. The report provides a range of data on basic pay rates and allowances paid to PCSOs and an analysis of the variations between forces. The report found that the typical average salary for PCSOs was £17,269 and the average total cash reward (basic salary plus allowances and overtime) was £20,526. The report is available on the Home Office website-http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/community-policing/commu nity-support-officers/
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(21) (a)
(22) (b)
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