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Table 2 shows the percentage of children on Sure Start Schemes at County level. There are a total of6 Counties in Northern Ireland.
| Table 2 | |
| County | Percentage of children that are on Sure Start schemes |
Table 3 shows the percentage of children on Sure Start Schemes at constituency level. There are a total of 18 constituencies in Northern Ireland. Lagan Valley, North Down and South Antrim recorded nil.
| Table 3 | |
| Constituency | Percentage of children are on Sure Start schemes |
Home Department
Criminal Justice and Court Services Act
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reason section 61 of the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 has not yet been brought into force. [68803]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Before implementing this provision we need to consider the implications for the sentencing framework under the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and the development of improved offender management. A Young Adult Offenders project is looking at the specific needs of this age group, including standards for the management of offenders in custody and the community. This will include consultation with the main interest groups. The project is due to report to Ministers in the autumn, following which a decision will be taken on the best way forward.
Criminal Records Bureau
Natascha Engel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what procedures are in place to remove people wrongfully included on the Criminal Records Bureau database. [68449]
Joan Ryan: The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) operates a central database in order to record
transactions during the process of disclosure. This database does not hold details of police convictions or other intelligence, although the CRB does have access to the Police National Computer (PNC) for the purposes of processing disclosure applications.
The CRB has a procedure whereby individuals may contest or “dispute” information held by the police or other data sources in certain circumstances, but the CRB does not have the authority to amend or remove conviction information; this is the responsibility of the police who are the data owners of such material. Where an individual indicates that conviction information has been wrongly or inaccurately portrayed on his or her disclosure, the CRB will contact the relevant force and ask them to review the accuracy or the relevance of such material and will communicate the force's decision to the applicant.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Criminal Records Bureau checks have been carried out since they were introduced. [69439]
Joan Ryan: The latest available figure shows that the Criminal Records Bureau has issued 8,990,597 Disclosures. This is broken down into 1,063,852 Standard Disclosures and 7,926,745 Enhanced Disclosures.
Death Penalty
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the operation of the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965; and what recent representations he has received about the operation of this Act. [69638]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 abolished capital punishment for those convicted of murder and introduced the mandatory life sentence instead. I have not received any representations recently about the operation of the Act.
DNA Database
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which (a) individuals and (b) bodies are authorised to access the National DNA Database. [68460]
Joan Ryan: Authorisation to access the National DNA Database (NDNAD) is given to 18 staff within the HO Custodian's group who have responsibility for maintaining the integrity of the NDNAD. In addition the Forensic Science Service Ltd have 15 staff in the NDNAD service delivery team and 16 staff in their information service division, supporting the systems and working on NDNAD development, who have authorisation to access the NDNAD.
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many volunteers providing DNA elimination samples have consented to the addition of their DNA profile to the National DNA Database in each year since 1997; and what percentage of volunteers this represented in each year. [68461]
Mr. Sutcliffe: No volunteer samples were loaded before the financial year 2004-05. 12,095 samples were loaded in 2004-05, 3,953 in 2005-06, and 135 have been loaded since 1 April 2006. It is not possible to determine what percentage of volunteers this represents, as no central records are kept of volunteers who give samples which are not loaded to the National DNA Database.
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in how many criminal cases familiar searching of the National DNA Database has been used in each year since 1997. [68462]
Mr. Sutcliffe: There were 73 familiar searches in 2004, 78 in 2005 and there have been 19 so far in 2006. There are no data on any familial searches before 2004.
DNA Sampling
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which organisations are approved to provide (a) DNA profiles and (b) crime scene samples. [68459]
Joan Ryan: The following organisations are approved to provide DNA profiles from individuals:
Forensic Science Service Ltd
LGC Limited
Orchid Cellmark
Tayside Police Forensic Science Laboratory
Forensic Science Northern Ireland
The following organisations are approved to provide DNA profiles from crime scene samples:
Forensic Science Service Ltd
LGC Limited
Orchid Cellmark
Tayside Police Forensic Science Laboratory
Strathclyde Police Forensic Science Laboratory
Lothian and Borders Police Forensic Science Laboratory
Forensic Integration Strategy
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what projects are being undertaken under the Forensic Integration Strategy; and if he will make a statement. [68458]
Joan Ryan: There are a number of projects currently being progressed under the auspices of the Forensic Integration Strategy:
National rollout of livescan?project to ensure all police forces are able to rapidly check fingerprints to establish identity in custody centres.
International data-sharing feasibility assessment?work to assess the feasibility of technical options to support international sharing of information, accounting for different national legislation and data protection.
ACPO DNA and fingerprint retention project?work to ensure that DNA and fingerprint records are appropriately retained following the implementation of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001.
ACPO forensic training strategy?to support development and implementation of ACPO's forensic training strategy.
Improvement of forensic mortuaries.
Introduction of national IT system for forensic pathologists?to ensure maintenance of common standards and provision of effective management information.
Development of forensic procurement framework?supporting ACPO to develop common statement of requirements and terms and conditions to support equality of opportunity in development of the forensic service market.
Harry Hammond
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 18 April 2006, Official Report, column 320W, on Mr. Harry Hammond, if he will posthumously strike Mr. Hammond's conviction from the public record. [68961]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Mr. Hammond was convicted by a court of law and only a court can quash that conviction. It is open to the relatives of Mr. Hammond to seek to bring a late appeal or to seek the assistance of the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
Identity Cards
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his plans for the management of the identity card database. [68561]
Joan Ryan: Strategic functions, critical decision making and sensitive staff roles connected with the National Identity Register will remain under the direct control of the public sector under the auspices of the Identity and Passport Service. However, where appropriate, it is also planned that where the operations of the National Identity Scheme can be best delivered by the private sector, the Identity and Passport Service will seek to procure these services from the market. The Government have also confirmed that the facilities used for hosting the National Identity Register, as part of the country's Critical National Infrastructure, as well as those used for the personalisation of identity cards will be located in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has for remote reading of identity cards; and if he will make a statement. [68599]
Joan Ryan: It is currently intended that the identity card will be a valid travel document for travel within the European Union. In order to meet minimum international standards for travel documents set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the identity card must include a “proximity” or “contactless” chip. Such chips are being introduced into travel documents worldwide to improve their integrity and security, with four of the five largest passport issuing countries, the US, UK, Japan and Germany introducing this chip in passports this year.
The “proximity” or “contactless” chip is read by actively placing the chip on the reader (at a distance of 0 cm to 2 cm from the reader). The contents of the chip can only be ‘unlocked’ after special characters printed on the card/passport's Machine Readable Zone (MRZ) are scanned. An attempt to read the chip without using the information printed in the MRZ to ‘unlock’ it will yield no data which can be used to identify the individual. This is known as Basic Access Control protection, which is being implemented internationally in accordance with ICAO standards. It should be noted
that this technology differs from that used in RFID tags. While both use radio frequencies, they operate very differently from one another—an RFID tag is just an identity tag that provides information.
A proximity chip is more advanced—it has processing capability with different operating systems and different security settings. This is reflected in the fact that they are defined by two separate standards set by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO).
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of people who will reapply for passports before their expiry date in advance of passports being issued in combination with identity cards; and whether he plans to recruit additional staff to process passport applications. [68600]
Joan Ryan: The Identity and Passport Service expects to receive 6.9 million applications in the 2006-07 financial year and has recruited sufficient staff for this. We do not anticipate that the number of people choosing to renew early in order to delay enrolment on the National Identity Register will be significant in the context of the overall number of applications. However, the IPS will continue to monitor trends in application numbers closely and will take action if necessary.
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 15 February 2006, Official Report, column 2128W, on the identity cards scheme, whether the total staff costs for the identity cards unit are included in the costs reported to Parliament. [68647]
Joan Ryan [holding answer 8 May 2006]: Yes. The figure of £32.05 million provided in the answer of 15 February 2006 included total staff costs.
Immigration Detention (Children)
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will ensure that children subject to immigration control have their needs represented by the Commissioners for Children and Young People in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. [66790]
Beverley Hughes: I have been asked to respond as I have ministerial responsibility for the Children's Commissioner for England.
The Children's Commissioner has the general function of promoting awareness of the views and interests of children in England on all matters, and on non-devolved matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This is a broad and strategic remit allowing him flexibility in the issues he wishes to consider.
As immigration control is a non-devolved matter the Children's Commissioner has the remit to promote awareness of the views and interests of children across the UK in respect of this matter.
The Children's Commissioner is independent of Government. The Secretary of State for Education and Skills does not have the power to direct the general work of the Children's Commissioner so wouldnot be able to ensure the needs of children subjectto immigration control are represented by the Commissioner. The Secretary of State can however,
direct the Commissioner to hold an inquiry into a case where he considers that the case of an individual child raises issues of relevance to other children.
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