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14 Mar 2006 : Column 2113W—continued
Home Detention Curfews
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to improve the processes within the part of the criminal justice system for which he is responsible for responding to breaches in home detention curfew; and if he will make a statement. [58235]
Fiona Mactaggart: The electronic monitoring contractors are required to report breaches of Home Detention Curfew to the Home Office within 24 hours. Performance in this area has improved under the new electronic monitoring contracts that began to operate in April 2005. In February 2006, breaches were reported on time in 99 per cent. of cases.
Where the Home Office is notified that a breach of licence conditions has been committed by an offender on the Home Detention Curfew, a revocation order is issued within 24 hours of notification being made.
Arrest of the offender and subsequent return to custody is an operational matter for the police. Work is underway to ensure that all revocation orders are actioned as quickly as possible.
Illegal Immigrants
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crimes were committed by illegal immigrants in each of the last five years. [57127]
Mr. McNulty: The information requested is not available from the recorded crime statistics.
Immigration and Nationality Directorate
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many immigration case files are stowed in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate's work-in-progress hold; and if he will make a statement; [47632]
(2) how many case files now stored in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate's work-in-progress hold relate to applications submitted to his Department in
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(a) 2006, (b) each of the six preceding calendar years and (c) an earlier period; and if he will make a statement. [47634]
Mr. McNulty: The information is not available in the form requested.
Immigration Detention Centres
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of those held at immigration detention centres in 2005 were held at more than one centre during their period of detention. [58202]
Mr. McNulty: The required statistics could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Iraq
Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether Italian prosecutors have contacted UK law enforcement agencies in relation to an investigation of Italian arms exported to Iraq. [57255]
Hazel Blears: It is the Home Office's practice to treat letters of request for assistance in criminal matters from foreign governments confidentially, as communications between two countries. We are normally therefore unable to confirm or deny that we have received a request.
However, the United Kingdom remains committed to assisting its international partners in the fight against crime wherever possible.
Liverpool Prison
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what actions he has taken to address the culture of bullying at HMP Liverpool identified by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons; and if he will make a statement. [57768]
Fiona Mactaggart: The prison's primary mechanism for dealing with bullying is through the Tackling Antisocial Behaviour (TAB) strategy, which takes a zero tolerance approach and includes a staged response to challenge prisoners who bully and support those who are the victims of this behaviour.
The TAB committee is chaired by the Head of Safer Custody. It brings together suicide and self-harm, violence reduction, anti-bullying and drug strategies to ensure a consistent establishment-wide response in these important areas and to maintain safe, ordered and decent environment for those in the prison's care.
The Chief Inspector also expressed specific concerns about the role and safety of the vulnerable prisoner unit. An action plan has been put in place and prisoner feedback and levels of assaults, self harm, use of control and restraint and unexplained injuries all indicate that those requiring protection can be effectively protected.
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Mini-motorcycles
Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many unregistered mini-motorcycles have been confiscated by the police in (a) Greater Manchester, (b) the North West and (c) England in the last two years. [57385]
Hazel Blears [holding answer 10 March 2006]: This information is not collected centrally.
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the questions tabled by the hon. Member for Woking, reference (a) 44140–43, (b) 44642–48, (c) 44118, (d) 44120 and (e) 44125. [48627]
Mr. Charles Clarke [holding answer 6 February 2006]: I have replied to the hon. Member as follows:
The following questions were transferred:
Question 44644 was answered by the Department of Health on 31 January.
Passport Information Sharing
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what (a) plans, (b) regulations, (c) guidance and (d) facilities there are for the sharing of (i) biometric and (ii) other details to be contained within passports with (A) foreign governments and (B) the EU; and if he will make a statement. [57553]
Andy Burnham: The UK Passport Service and the Immigration Service pass details contained within passports, including the facial biometric, to foreign and EU immigration/border control/law enforcement agencies on a case by case basis for the prevention or detection of crime and the apprehension or prosecution of offenders.
The UK Passport Service is in discussion with the US Departments of Homeland Security and State and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs about the mutual sharing of the personal details, including the facial biometric, contained within passports. This would be for the purpose of checking passports presented in support of visa applications and/or for travel. This will be in accordance with existing legislation, mainly the
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Data Protection Act 1998, and Memoranda of Understanding will be agreed. There are no plans for similar arrangements with the EU.
Police
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps his Department is taking to increase the (a) number and (b) percentage of black and ethnic minority employees in the police service. [26664]
Hazel Blears: It remains the Government's policy that the composition of the police work force should reflect the communities which it serves. The police service continues to make progress against the Home Secretary's recruitment targets for 2009, and all forces are committed to recruit from minority ethnic groups in proportion to, or at a level above, their representation in the local economically active population. Performance against this objective is a key performance indicator in the policing performance assessment framework.
In 1999, two per cent. of police officers were from minority ethnic communities, the latest available figures show that at 31 March 2005 black and minority ethnic police officers made up 3.5 per cent. of total officer strength. Between April 2004 and March 2005, a further 371 minority ethnic police officers were recruited. 2,497 minority ethnic officers have been recruited since 1999. In March 2005, there were 5,250 minority ethnic police staff, accounting for 6.5 per cent. of the total. This represents an increase of 703 (13.4 per cent.) between April 2004 and March 2005.
The Home Office is working with the police service to accelerate the pace of change. The measures currently in hand include outreach programmes in police forces, engagement with student faith societies and black students' unions to encourage applications from minority ethnic graduates and measures to increase minority ethnic applications to the High Potential Development Scheme. The Home Office has developed in collaboration with force recruitment departments materials aimed at increasing recruitment from minority ethnic groups, including multi-lingual recruitment material, a toolkit providing best practice guidance for familiarisation events and a video to familiarise applicants with police assessment and selection procedures.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) role and (b) purpose of the basic command units is; and what changes are proposed under the Government's reforms. [56218]
Hazel Blears: Basic command units (BCUs) are operational policing units covering a geographical area within a force such as a town or district and consist of several hundred police officers and staff. Their main purpose is to tackle local crime and disorder and respond to the varied demands made by the public.
The Police and Justice Bill proposes to put BCUs on a statutory footing and requires their boundaries to be aligned with those of local authorities. No changes to the role or purpose of BCUs are proposed under the new Bill.
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Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what advice was given to police forces that had delayed investing in IT systems because they expected a national intelligence system to be in place by 2007 once it became clear that delivery of the national system would be delayed until at least 2010. [56260]
Hazel Blears [holding answer 7 March 2006]: I am not aware of any advice of this nature being given by the Home Office to forces. The IMPACT Nominal Index is already facilitating the sharing of intelligence and other information between forces and further functionality will be incrementally delivered over the coming years.
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