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29 Mar 2006 : Column 1033W—continued
Correspondence
Clare Short: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Immigration and Nationality Directorate will reply to the letter from the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood of 11 January 2006 regarding Nasir Razzaq (Home Office Reference IMM/E071S, date of birth 15 March 1974). [59443]
Mr. McNulty: The Immigration and Nationality Directorate wrote to my right hon. Friend on 24 March 2006.
Mr. Mullin:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will ask the Director General of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate to report to him on when she plans to reply to the letter of
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22 December from the hon. Member for Sunderland, South on behalf of Ashraf Suleiman (HO reference 5887070). [59744]
Mr. McNulty: The Immigration and Nationality Directorate replied to my hon. Friend on 20 March 2006.
Clare Short: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Minister for Immigration will reply to the letter from the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood, dated 6 December 2005 (acknowledgement reference B29113/5) on behalf of Mrs. Anarine Atherton (ne"e Porter), Home Office reference P1035420/2. [59906]
Mr. McNulty: The Immigration and Nationality Directorate wrote to my right hon. Friend on 20 March 2006.
Crime Prevention
John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the oral answer of 13 February 2006, Official Report, column 1134, on crime prevention, if he will amend the guidance issued on the use of cautions. [59397]
Fiona Mactaggart: One of the main aims of the caution, as stated in the Cautioning of Adult Offenders Circular 30/2005 issued by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform is to reduce the likelihood of re-offending. It is not possible to set out definitive rules on the circumstances in which cautions are appropriate, because their use involves the exercise of discretion by the police who have to take into account a number of considerations in each case. These considerations include whether a caution is appropriate to the offence and the offender and whether it is likely to be effective in the circumstances.
The circular advises that both national and any locally held records must be checked before a caution is given. If the suspect has previously received a caution, then a further caution should not normally be considered. However, if there has been a sufficient lapse of time to suggest that a previous caution has had a significant deterrent effect (two years or more), then a caution can be used. If evidence of repeat cautioning, of the kind
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referred to in the hon. Gentleman's question, suggests this is an issue in a number of other areas, we will consider revisiting the guidance on this point.
Dispersal Orders
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many dispersal orders were issued by Peterborough youth court in the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [60870]
Hazel Blears: Authorisations under Section 30 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003, commonly known as dispersal orders, are made by a Superintendent with the agreement of the local authority. The courts are not involved in the authorisation procedure. We do not hold information centrally on the number of authorisations in the Peterborough area.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner
Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the responsibilities are of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner with regards to terrorism. [60432]
Hazel Blears: The Commissioner is responsible for the overall strategic direction and efficiency of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) across the range of the services that it delivers, including counter terrorism.
Motoring Offences
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many motoring offences were recorded in each year between 1999 and 2004 (a) in total and (b) broken down by sex. [61686]
Hazel Blears: Available information on the number of motoring offences dealt with by official police action in England and Wales from 1999 to 2003 (latest available) is given in the table. 2004 data will be available at the end of March 2006.
| Total (Thousands of offences) | |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 5,558.1 |
| 2000 | 5,296.9 |
| 2001 | 5,133.8 |
| 2002 | 5,274.6 |
| 2003 | 6,109.8 |
(4) Consists of court proceedings, written warnings, fixed penalties and vehicle defect rectification scheme notices complied with.
Note:
Information by gender is available at court proceedings level only.
Police
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to ensure that the existing North Wales police force area will not have fewer resources following the establishment of a single police force for Wales. [51025]
Hazel Blears
[holding answer 13 February 2006]: The new strategic police authority will need to take the particular needs of North Wales into account in its resource planning. It will be for the authority to ensure that it meets the policing needs in all of its constituent
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areas. The roll-out of neighbourhood policing teams to every area of England and Wales underpins the restructuring programme, and strategic forces will help to safeguard local policing by reducing the need to abstract officers from neighbourhood policing teams. Therefore people will see a significant improvement in their local police service, whatever the eventual overall structure.
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the extent to which the burden of administration affecting police activity has been minimised; whether he (a) has new proposals to reduce the burden and (b) is considering the merits of a further review; and if he will make a statement. [61898]
Hazel Blears: We have made good progress in reducing the bureaucratic burdens on police officers by cutting nearly 9,000 unnecessary forms; civilianising posts; rolling out the penalty notice for disorder scheme; and ensuring that forces have the best scientific and technological support like video identity parades and electronic fingerprinting.
The National Bureaucracy Adviser, an assistant chief constable with over 20 years' experience, continues to provide practical experience to forces in the implementation of their work on reducing bureaucracy. This includes visiting forces to spread good practice; challenge, where necessary, existing practices; and drive force-led reductions in bureaucracy. This will be particularly important in the context of creating strategic forces.
The Frontline Policing Measure for 2004–05 indicated that officers in England and Wales spent 64.1 per cent. of their time on frontline duties. Police authorities have set local improvement targets which should deliver substantial gains by 2008.
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will place in the Library the business case documents submitted to him by the Thames Valley police authority in response to his request for proposals on the reconfiguration of police force areas. [42568]
Hazel Blears [holding answer 16 January 2006]: There are no plans to place the business case documents in the Library. However anyone wishing to access the documents should contact Thames Valley police authority, who as the authors can release these documents if they wish to do so.
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how he will ensure that the resources in a merged Welsh police force will be distributed fairly throughout Wales. [51022]
Hazel Blears:
The new strategic police authority will need to take the needs of the whole of Wales into account in its resource planning. It will be for the authority to ensure that it meets the policing needs in all of its constituent areas. The roll-out of neighbourhood policing teams to every area of England and Wales underpins the restructuring programme, and strategic forces will help to safeguard local policing by reducing the need to abstract officers from neighbourhood
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policing teams. Therefore people will see a significant improvement in their local police service, whatever the eventual overall structure.
Dr. Francis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he plans to meet the Welsh police authorities to discuss the proposed restructuring of Welsh police authorities; and if he will make a statement. [55147]
Hazel Blears: My right hon. Friend The Home Secretary and I met with the Welsh Police Authority Chairs and Chief Constables on 6 February to discuss the way forward for Wales following the assessment of the options by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary. Since then, the Home Office central team have been working closely with the Police Authorities and Chief Constables to develop the implementation plan for the move to an all-Wales strategic police force.
The creation of an all-Wales force is subject to our consideration of any objections received in response to the notice we gave on 3 March of our intention to merge the four police areas in Wales and to Parliament's approval of the necessary amalgamation order.
Dr. Francis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Wales since the four Welsh police authorities did not meet the consultation deadline for the proposed restructuring of the police force in Wales; and if he will make a statement. [55148]
Hazel Blears: My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary is in close contact with the Secretary of State for Wales on the subject of police force restructuring in Wales, and has regular bi-lateral meetings with him. The four Welsh police authorities did submit business cases by the December deadline, although they were unable at that point to indicate a preferred option.
The Home Secretary has given formal notice of his intention to amalgamate the four Welsh police force areas to the affected police authorities, local authorities and chief constables and to the Welsh Assembly Government. They have until 2 July to submit any objections to the proposal. Without prejudice to our consideration of any objections received and Parliament's consideration of the necessary amalgamation order, we will be working closely with the police authorities and chief constables on an implementation plan over the coming weeks.
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