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18 Apr 2006 : Column 312W—continued
Indefinite Leave to Remain
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people living in the Putney constituency in March 2006 were awaiting a final decision regarding their application for indefinite leave to remain; and how many had been waiting (a) less than one year, (b) one to two years; (c) three to four years, (d) four to five years, (e) five to six years, (f) six to seven years, (g) seven to eight years and (h) over eight years; and if he will make a statement. [63817]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 19 April 2006]: The information requested could be obtained only by examination of individual records at disproportionate cost.
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for indefinite leave to remain in the UK have been waiting for a decision for longer than (a) 13 weeks, (b) 26 weeks and (c) 52 weeks. [63820]
Mr. McNulty: The requested information on outstanding indefinite leave to remain applications is not available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
International Rendition
Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information officials in United Kingdom (a) police and (b) security services collect on the transit through UK airports of aircraft used by United States officials for the purpose of an international rendition. [36412]
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Mr. Charles Clarke: We have made clear to the US authorities that we expect them to seek permission to render detainees via UK territory and airspace (including overseas territories), and that we will grant permission only if we are satisfied that the rendition would accord with UK law and our international obligations. We would expect them to make available to us whatever information we judged necessary to allow us to decide whether or not to permit the use of UK airspace or territory.
Iraq/Afghanistan
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many meetings he has had with representatives of (a) Iraqi and (b) Afghan communities living in the UK in each of the last three years. [54767]
Mr. McNulty: My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary meets regularly with representatives of different communities living in the UK, including members of the Iraqi and Afghan communities.
Jury Service
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent representations he has received on increasing the upper age limit for jury service. [62232]
Fiona Mactaggart: In the last 18 months representations have been received from two people who favoured raising the present upper limit of 70 for jury service, and from two who favoured reducing it.
Licensing Act
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will estimate the change in the levels of crime on university campuses in the UK (a) since the coming into force of the Licensing Act 2003 and (b) in each of the last 10 years. [62981]
Hazel Blears: Information on crime at university campus level is not collected centrally. The Home Office are conducting an evaluation of the impact of the Licensing Act on levels of crime and disorder in England at a national and local level. However, data relating specifically to crime on university campuses are not being collected as part of the evaluation.
London Bombings
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether there is CCTV footage from King's Cross Station of the London bombers on the morning of 7 July 2005. [63938]
Hazel Blears:
On 12 July 2005, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke said that the Metropolitan Police Service had identified CCTV footage from the morning of 7 July at King's Cross station showing the four men believed to have been responsible for the explosions on that date. Due to the ongoing police investigation, this footage has not been released to the public except for a still image of the man believed to be responsible for the explosion on the bus.
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Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his Department's discussions with (a) the victims, (b) the families of victims and (c) groups that represent the victims and their families of the terrorist arracks on 7 July 2005. [57552]
Tessa Jowell: As Minister responsible for the aftercare of victims, I have been asked to reply to this question.
Last year I invited representatives of all 52 bereaved families to meet me. As a result of this I met with family members and partners of 25 of the 52 people who lost their lives, at three meetings arranged by my Department in the autumn, to discuss their experiences and the lessons we might learn. I also met with several other bereaved families after the service of remembrance on the 1 November 2005, which my Department arranged. Since 7 July, I have been in contact with representatives of 37 of those who died. Officials from my Department attended the most recent bereaved support group meeting at the 7 July Assistance Centre and my Department is consulting with family members on proposals for a permanent memorial. I have extended an open invitation to any family members who wish to meet me on a more personal basis to do so at any time.
I met with a number of survivors at the service of remembrance and have arranged a series of more formal meetings, involving the Metropolitan Police and 7 July Assistance Centre, over the coming months.
My Department will also be involving bereaved families and survivors in our plans for a fitting act of commemoration on 7 July this year.
Magistrates Courts
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the causes of abortive magistrate court hearings; and what steps his Department is taking to prevent them. [56121]
Ms Harman:
Her Majesty's Courts Service, together with criminal justice system (CJS) partners, monitors the performance of magistrates courts with regard to ineffective trials. The CJS has introduced the Criminal Case Management Programme to reduce abortive hearings in the courts. In addition there is a monthly analysis of performance utilising quantitative and qualitative information undertaken by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR) and HMCS. These measures have tackled the root cause of the many different problems which lead to ineffective hearings such as defendants not turning up at court, witnesses being absent, the prosecution and defence not being sufficiently ready and there being insufficient court time to hear a case. Ineffective trials have reduced from 24 per cent. to 12.7 per cent. in the Crown Court and from 31 per cent. to 21.1 per cent. in the magistrates courts since 2002. The data confirm that the causes of ineffective trials have reduced significantly. In the magistrates courts ineffective trials where the defendant
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was absent has improved by 58 per cent. In the Crown Court ineffective trials where the defence, and the Crown Prosecution Service were not ready have improved by 73 per cent. and 63 per cent. respectively. Additionally, HMCS and other CJSs are testing new approaches to case management to further reduce the number of abortive hearings at court.
Manslaughter/Murder Convictions
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many defendants (a) were found guilty of and (b) pleaded guilty to (i) manslaughter which involved their killing another person as a result of gross negligence and (ii) murder which involved their having killed another person (A) with the intention of doing that other person serious harm and (B) with reckless indifference to whether the victim would be killed in each of the last five years for which figures are available; [63219]
(2) how many defendants (a) were found guilty of and (b) pleaded guilty to (i) murder which involved their having killed another person with the intention of
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killing that other person, (ii) complicity in or assisting a suicide, (iii) infanticide and (iv) manslaughter which involved killing another person by means of a criminal act which the defendant intended to cause some injury or realised might cause some injury in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [63221]
Fiona Mactaggart: Data from the Court Proceedings Database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform on the number of defendants found guilty, and who pleaded guilty at all courts in England and Wales for offences relating to murder, suicide, infanticide, and manslaughter for the years 2000 to 2004, are provided in the following table.
It is not possible to identify those (a) found guilty, and those (b) who pleaded guilty, for (i) murder which involved their having killed another person with the intention of killing that other person, (ii) murder which involved their having killed another person (A) with the intention of doing that other person serious harm, and (B) with reckless indifference to whether the victim would be killed or not, as the data is not collected at this level of detail.
Data for 2005 will be available in the autumn of 2006.
(104) These data are provided on the principal offence basis
(105) Common Law. Offences against the Person Act 1861 Sec 1, 9,10.
(106) Common Law. Offences against the Person Act 1861 Sec 1, 9,10.
(107) Common Law. Offences against the Person Act 1861 Sec 10, Sec 5, Sec 9.
(108) Infanticide Act 1938 S1(1).
(109) Infant Life Preservation Act 1929 Sec 1.
(110) Road Traffic Act 1988 Sec 1 as amended by the Road Traffic Act 1991 Sec 1 and CJA 1993 Sec 67.
(111) Homicide Act, 1957 Sec 2.
(112) Road Traffic Act 1988 Sec 3A as added by the Road Traffic Act 1991 Sec 3 and amended by CJA 1993, Sec 67.
(113) Suicide Act 1961 Sec 2(1).
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many defendants were found to have killed another person but were found not guilty of murder by reason of diminished responsibility in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [63220]
Hazel Blears: Available information for England and Wales is held on the Homicide Index. The number of persons indicted for murder and consequently found guilty of section two manslaughter is provided.
Notes:
1. As at 28 November 2005; figures are subject to revision as cases are dealt with by the police and courts, or as further information becomes available.
2. Excludes persons convicted of section 2 manslaughter who had been indicted for manslaughter
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Offences are shown according to the year in which the police initially recorded the crime as homicide, which is not necessarily the year in which the incident took place or the year in which any court decision was made. The data refer to the position as at 28 November 2005, when recording closed down for the purpose of analysis, and will change as court hearings take place or other information is received.
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals have been convicted of murder while on probation in each year since 1997. [63025]
Fiona Mactaggart: Data on the number of individuals that have been convicted of murder while under supervision by the Probation Service have only been collected since 1998 1 .
The data were collected under the serious incident reporting (SIR) process and is given in the table.
From 1 April 2004, the SIR was replaced by the serious further offence report. Between 1 April 2004 to 31 March 2005, out of a total of 224 convictions, 26 were for murder.
As these figures were collected under a different reporting system, they are not comparable.
| Murder | Total convictions | |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 40 | 183 |
| 1999 | 29 | 157 |
| 2000 | 24 | 173 |
| 2001 | 26 | 162 |
| 2002 | 37 | 156 |
| 2003 | 29 | 135 |
RDS NOMS in Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2004 and in Probation Statistics England and Wales 2002.
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