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13 Mar 2006 : Column 1958W—continued
Animal Cruelty
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) allegations, (b) investigations and (c) prosecutions have occurred under (i) the Animals (Cruel Poisons) Act 1962, (ii) the Abandonment of Animals Act 1960 and (iii) the Docking and Nicking of Horses Act in the last 10 years. [54795]
Fiona Mactaggart: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Southend, West (Mr. Amess) on 1 March 2006, Official Report, column 800W.
Anti-Semitic Incidents
Mr. Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to tackle anti-Semitic incidents in England and Wales. [54706]
Paul Goggins: The Government deplores all forms of racism and is committed to tackling anti-Semitism wherever it exists.
In recent years the Government have strengthened both the legal framework against race discrimination and the criminal penalties for offences such as incitement to racial hatred and for racially or religiously aggravated assault and criminal damage.
We have robust police and CPS policies. Police forces are alert to crimes committed against members of all faith communities and take appropriate steps to safeguard people and property.
In May 2005, The Home Office and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) published a Hate Crime Manual: Hate Crime: Delivering a Quality Service." The manual provides tactical and practical guidance to police forces and authorities on the handling and investigation of hate crimes including racially and religiously motivated offences.
We are teaching young people through the National Curriculum about citizenship and there is a statutory requirement on schools to teach about the Holocaust. Government also supports the annual commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day to reinforce the message that racism and prejudice can have catastrophic consequences.
Asylum/Immigration
Dr. Evan Harris:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) asylum seekers and
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(b) failed asylum seekers left the UK under the voluntary assisted return and re-integration programme administered on behalf of his Department by the International Organisation for Migration in each year since 1999, broken down by nationality. [57107]
Mr. McNulty:
The statistics for returns under VARRP (Voluntary Assisted Return and Reintegration Programmes) are not split into current and failed
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asylum seekers. In order to be eligible for return under VARRP the applicant must have either a current asylum application waiting consideration or they must be a failed asylum seeker. The total numbers of people who have left the UK since 1999, split by nationality are in the table.
The figure for 2006 consists only of the number of returns for January and February.
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum-seeking children in the UK in (a) 1995, (b) 2000, (c) 2004 and (d) 2005 had been residing in the UK for (i) less than one year, (ii) one to two years, (iii) two to three years and (iv) more than three years; and if he will make a statement. [57610]
Mr. McNulty: The requested information is not available.
Information on the total number of asylum applications awaiting an initial decision is published quarterly and annually. Copies are available from the Library and on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate website at http://homeoffice. gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many deportation cases have not been proceeded with in the last five years where immigrants have alleged that their past crimes will affect the observance of their human rights on return to their country of origin. [57128]
Mr. McNulty: The Immigration and Nationality Directorate does not routinely collect this information and it could be gathered only at disproportionate cost.
Biometric Passports
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) when he expects the first biometric passport to be issued; [56961]
(2) whether he expects to meet the target for full issuing of biometric passports by October 2006. [56960]
Andy Burnham: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 2 March 2006, Official Report, column 952W.
British National Party
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many arrests have been made of members of the British National Party in the last 12 months for inciting (a) violence and (b) murder. [56562]
Paul Goggins: This information is not collected centrally.
Compensation Awards
John Penrose: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will establish a system whereby compensation awarded by a court could be paid from a central fund and then recouped by the court from the offender. [34144]
Ms Harman: I have been asked to reply.
We currently have no plans to introduce a central victims compensation fund for the payment of court-awarded compensation orders.
The HMCS enforcement programme has made progress in improving the national payment rate, and is now focusing effort on the collection of outstanding compensation orders. We are also considering ways to improve communication with victims throughout the payment period.
Drug Classification
Paul Flynn:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what evidence he has collated on the
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extent to which classifying drugs in class A, rather than B or C, (a) reduces individual harm, (b) reduces harm to public health, (c) prevents misuse, (d) deals with social problems connected with their misuse and (e) reduces (i) availability and (ii) criminality. [47807]
Paul Goggins: Controlled drugs are classified under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 according to their comparative harmfulness. The overall aim of the drug strategy is to reduce the harms caused by illegal drugs. It focuses on the most dangerous drugs (i.e. class A), the most damaged communities and those who cause most harm to themselves and others.
The Drug Harm Index (DHI) (measuring the harm from illegal drugs using the Drug Harm Index. Home Office Online Report 24/05), which has been developed to monitor the public service agreement (PSA) target to reduce harm caused by illegal drugs" agreed in the 2004 Spending Review, incorporates the harms that individuals and society suffer due to drug-related crime, the health impact of drug use and dealing on communities. A high level description of how harm reduction is measured is given in the supporting PSA Technical Note SR04—PSA four, which is available in the Library. As a measure of the overall impact of the drug strategy the DHI shows a 9 per cent. reduction in the harms caused by drug misuse between 2002 and 2003 (i.e. the latest complete data available).
By identifying the most dangerous drugs, the classification system provides a focus for efforts and resources to be targeted in the most effective way. However, it is the drugs strategy, and underpinning evidence, which drives the reduction of drug-related harms rather than the classification system itself.
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