House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 11 May 2006 (pt 0022)

11 May 2006 : Column 510W—continued

Conviction Rates

Edward Miliband: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convictions for public order offences there were in Doncaster North in (a) 1984, (b) 1994, (c) 2004 and (d) the most recent period for which figures are available. [68404]

Mr. Coaker: The following table shows the number of defendants convicted at all courts in Doncaster for public order offences in 1984, 1994 and 2004. 2004 is the most recent period for which data is currently available. It is not possible to identify convictions in Doncaster north as the data are not collected at that level of detail. Data for 2005 will be available in the autumn.

Number of defendants convicted for public order offences in courts in Doncaster petty sessional area, 1984,1994 and 2004^{( 1)}
Offence description	1984	1994	2004
Rioting	—	—	—
Violent disorder	—	6	1
Affray	—	28	65
Note: ⁽¹⁾These data are provided on the principal offence basis

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Criminal Records Bureau

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions since March 2004 applicant details supplied by the Criminal Records Bureau to the police led to conviction details being matched mistakenly with an applicant. [38194]

Joan Ryan: There have been 1472 occasions since March 2004 where disclosure applicant details were matched by the Criminal Records Bureau to a person with the same or similar details who has a criminal record and, where the details had been challenged by the applicant, their dispute was subsequently upheld.

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost to his Department was of Criminal Records Bureau applications in 2005-06. [69441]

Joan Ryan: Interim financial results for the 2005-06 Financial Year indicate the amount funded by the Home Office to be £1.78 million.

Economic Migrants (Wirral, West)

Stephen Hesford: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many economic migrants there are in Wirral, West. [62351]

John Healey: I have been asked to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 11 May 2006:

As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your question regarding how many economic migrants there are in Wirral, West. (62351)

We are not able to provide estimates of the number of economic migrants in Wirral West, as this information is not collected.

Electronic Tagging (Providers)

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the firms which provide electronic tagging of offenders for his Department. [69365]

Mr. Sutcliffe: Since 1 April 2005 electronic monitoring services in England and Wales have been provided by two companies, Group Four Securicor and Serco.

Foreign Prisoners

Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) whether there is an official in the prison service who is responsible for foreign national prisoners; and if he will make a statement; [67471]

(2) whether there is a unit in his Department with responsibility for liaison between the prison service and the Immigration and Nationality Directorate; and if he will make a statement. [67576]

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Mr. Sutcliffe: Different aspects of policy in relation to foreign national prisoners are the responsibility of a number of different policy units. However, the lead for policy on the management of foreign national prisoners in custody rests with the offender policy and rights unit of the national offender management service.

Internet Watch Foundation

Judy Mallaber: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he made of the Internet Watch Foundation's annual report 2005; and if he will make a statement. [66691]

Mr. Coaker: The Government welcome the 2005 annual report of the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), published in March 2006, and congratulates the IWF and their partners on their achievements. The IWF report an increase in the number of reports made to their hotline, from 17,255 in 2004 to 23,658 in 2005.

This resulted in 6,128 reports being made to law enforcement agencies and other national hotlines around the world. The report also highlights the fact that only 0.4 per cent. of potentially illegal child abuse content identified by the IWF in 2005 was hosted in the UK. This represents a major improvement from 18 per cent. in 1997, and demonstrates the commitment of the IWF, the UK industry, and others, to work collaboratively to remove potentially illegal child abuse content wherever in the world it originates. The IWF report that there were no instances of either criminally obscene content or criminally racist content hosted in the UK during 2005.

The Government also pay tribute to the IWF for supplying a list of websites to ISPs, mobile operators, search providers and filtering companies so they can play their part in protecting UK internet users from being inadvertently exposed to potentially illegal child abuse content by various blocking techniques. The fact that the IWF's core funders have grown in number to over 60 is evidence of their strengthening reputation. The IWF is seen as a highly successful model of cooperation and one which other countries seek to learn from and replicate.

Motoring Offences

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the reply 18 April 2006, Official Report, c. 318W, on motoring offences, what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the reasons that females were convicted of offences at a higher rate than males; and if he will make a statement. [69608]

Mr. Coaker: The following tables which appeared in the reply to the hon. Member was subject to a processing error by the official reporters in which columns were transposed. The tables have been re-submitted.

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Table A: Convictions at South East Essex PSA^{( 1 )} by sex, 1996-2004.
Number of offences
	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
Offence	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
Brakes defective⁽²⁾	14	2	8	1	9	—	3	—	2	—
Lighting offences⁽³⁾	156	11	133	17	146	18	78	17	112	27

	2001	2002	2003	2004
Offence	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
Brakes defective⁽²⁾	—	—	2	—	2	—	4	—
Lighting offences⁽³⁾	94	11	61	6	32	2	28	3
Notes: ⁽¹⁾Data for Southend are not available but data are given for the S.E. Essex P.S.A. which covers Southend. ⁽²⁾The lighting defect data are not available broken down to the level of detail requested. Offence under the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regs. 16 & 18 and Sch. 3; Road Traffic Act 1988 s. 41A as added the Road Traffic Act 1991 s.8. ⁽³⁾Offence under the Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations 1989; the Road Vehicle (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 1971 Reg. 19.

Table B: Convictions at magistrates' courts, by sex, Essex police force area, 1996-2004.
Number of offences
	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
Offence	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
Brakes defective⁽¹⁾	55	3	42	2	56	5	29	4	21	2
Lighting offences⁽²⁾	463	45	390	32	453	53	323	50	331	51

	2001	2002	2003	2004
Offence	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
Brakes defective⁽¹⁾	24	2	19	2	18	—	10	—
Lighting offences⁽²⁾	252	38	231	28	131	16	121	8
⁽¹⁾Offence under the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regs. 1986 Regs. 16 & 18 and Sch. 3; Road Traffic Act 1988 s. 41A as added by the Road ⁽²⁾Offence under the Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations 1989; the Road Vehicle (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 1971 Reg. 19

Table C: Convictions at magistrates' courts, by sex, England and Wales, 1996-2004.
Number of offences
	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
Offence	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
Brakes defective⁽¹⁾	3,823	191	3,424	201	3,157	201	2,364	155	2,020	134
Lighting offences⁽²⁾	18,404	1,548	17,425	1,621	16,977	1,676	15,638	1,610	13,019	1,423

	2001	2002	2003	2004
Offence	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
Brakes defective⁽¹⁾	1,610	99	1,376	89	1,239	75	1,070	62
Lighting offences⁽²⁾	10,314	1,162	10,076	1,165	9,444	1,121	8,722	953
⁽¹⁾Offence under the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regs. 1986 Regs. 16 & 18 and Sch. 3; Road Traffic Act 1988 s. 41A as added by the Road Traffic Act 1991 s. 8 ⁽²⁾Offence under the Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations 1989; the Road Vehicle (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 1971 Reg. 19

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