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15 May 2006 : Column 719W—continued
Domestic Violence
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what percentage of calls to the police for assistance in (a) Southend-on-Sea, (b) Essex, (c) the Metropolitan police area of London and (d) England and Wales were to incidents of domestic violence in each of the last 10 years. [64990]
Mr. Byrne: The Home Office does not routinely collect data on calls to the police for assistance and does not have the figures for England and Wales.
Essex police and the Metropolitan police service (MPS) have been able to provide force level statistics on the number and percentage of calls made to their command and control systems which were incidents of domestic violence.
| MPS total incidents | MPS total DV incidents | MPS percentage of all incidents which were DV | Essex total incidents | Essex total DV incidents | Essex percentage of all incidents which were DV | |
Driver Prosecutions
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions there have been of motorists who have driven through red lights in (a) England and Wales and (b) Northamptonshire in the last 12 months. [68958]
Mr. Byrne: 2005 data will be available early in 2007.
Europol
Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether it is his Department's policy to support proposals (a) to fund Europol directly from the EU budget, (b) to strengthen its mandate, (c) to increase the number of permanent staff at Europol and (d) to give the European Parliament a role in its supervision and management; and if he will make a statement. [69447]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 8 May 2006]: The future of Europol is currently being examined within a 'Friends of the Presidency Group.' All member states, the commission and Europol itself are represented on the group. It will report to the JHA Council in June.
The Government believe that Europol should have at its disposal the resources required to achieve its aims. The permanent staff of Europol has recently increased by 47 and the Government would look at any future bids for more staff in light of the business case for them.
Intelligence Database
Natascha Engel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what procedures (a) Government Departments and agencies and (b) local authorities with independent prosecuting authority for particular criminal offences use to forward details of (i) convictions, (ii) cautions and (iii) intelligence on possible criminals to (A) the Criminal Records Bureau and (B) the police national computer; what amendments to these procedures are proposed in relation to National Intelligence Database; and if he will make a statement. [68448]
Mr. Byrne: Government Departments and any other agency, including local authorities, with independent prosecuting authority for particular criminal offences are required to notify the police service in the area in which the offence was committed of any intention to prosecute such an offence. The police service enters details of such prosecutions onto the police national computer (PNC). Final disposals from courts are entered onto the PNC by the police, regardless of who is the prosecuting authority. The only exceptions to this are Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and the Royal Military Police who update their own cases on to PNC.
The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) has access to PNC conviction information as part of the disclosure process. In the event of an enhanced disclosure request, the CRB would also cause an inquiry to be made with the local police force who would consider whether or not it is relevant to disclose additional information. This may be non conviction information or intelligence. Guidance is available as to considerations prior to disclosure of such information.
The police national database, to be delivered by the IMPACT Programme, will facilitate the sharing of operational information between forces by giving authorised officers access to a data repository comprising copies of records held in individual force systems. The details of amendments to procedures with CRB in relation to this are still to be determined.
Juvenile Detention
Dr. Blackman-Woods: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the Government's policy is on the detention of children and babies for immigration and asylum purposes; and if he will make a statement. [71114]
Mr. McNulty: Unaccompanied minors are not detained other than in one very limited circumstance:
where, exceptionally, it is necessary to detain a child while alternative care arrangements are made and, then, normally just overnight.
Families with children may be detained in the following circumstances: initially, whilst their identities and basis of claim are established; where there are reasonable grounds for believing that they will fail to comply with the conditions of temporary admission or release; or to effect removal. In addition, families whose asylum claims appear to be capable of being decided quickly may be detained as part of a fast-track process.
Mobile Phone Driving Prosecutions
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been prosecuted for driving while using a mobile telephone in the last 12 months in Northamptonshire. [68933]
Mr. Byrne: 2005 data will be available early in 2007.
Mobile Phone Thefts
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will make a statement on the operation of the Mobile Phones (Re-Programming) Act 2002; what recent representations he has received about the operation of this Act; if he will place in the Library copies of such representations; and whether he plans to (a) amend and (b) repeal this Act; [69146]
(2) what steps he (a) has taken and (b) plans to take to reduce the theft of mobile phones; and if he will make a statement. [69147]
Mr. Byrne: Action to address mobile phone theft is a key element in the Government's programme to reduce robbery. The Street Crime Initiative has helped develop a strong and successful partnership between Government, industry and police which has led to several key actions being delivered.
These include a database of stolen and lost mobile phones that can be blocked on any network and providing funding, with the Metropolitan police, for the National Mobile Phone Crime Unit to focus specific operations on reducing mobile phone theft.
The Government also introduced the Mobile Telephones (Re-programming) Act 2002 which was welcomed by the police and industry alike. The purpose of the Act was to support the industry and the police in ensuring that stolen phones could not be further used by thieves.
According to National Mobile Phone Crime Unit statistics, from January 2004 to December 2005 there have been over 400 individual police operations. A number of custodial sentences and fines have resulted from the legislation.
Following representations from the industry and the police the Government have sought to strengthen the provisions in the Act, by introducing an amendment to the Violent Crime Reduction Bill to make it an offence to offer or agree to re-programme a mobile phone.
Copies of representations have been placed in the Library. The Government will keep this legislation under review to ensure its effectiveness.
In addition to public information and awareness campaigns, the Government intend to further strengthen the partnership with the mobile phone industry and the police to build on these measures and ensure that mobile phone theft remains a priority for action.
Non-emergency Situations
John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer given by the hon. Member for Salford (Hazel Blears) on 18 April 2006, Official Report, column 322W, on non-emergency situations, if he will take steps to ensure that the criteria for deciding whether (a) drug taking, (b) drunken behaviour, (c) harassment and (d) intimidation should be treated as (i) emergency and (ii) non-emergency situations are established by Ministers. [67696]
Mr. Byrne: I refer the hon. Member for Birmingham, Yardley to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Member for Salford (Hazel Blears) on 18 April 2006, Official Report, column 322W.
Police
Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to publish his Department's police restructuring proposals following the recent consultations; and if he will make a statement. [48618]
Mr. Byrne The former Home Secretary (Mr. Clarke) announced on 3 March his intention to initiate amalgamations in the West Midlands, North-East, North-West regions and Wales.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 8 March 2006, Official Report, column 1598W, on police, whether the statistical series of deaths during or following police contact produced by his Department's Police Leadership and Powers Unit will now (a) cease, (b) be taken over by the Independent Police Complaints Commission or (c) continue to be produced by his Department and be accessible via links on the Commission's website. [67535]
Mr. Byrne: Responsibility for the collation, analysis and publication of deaths during or following police contact passed to the Independent Police Complaints Commission with effect from 1 April 2005. Figures published on such deaths will be a matter for the Commission. Links to published figures will be accessible via the Home Office website.
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers are planned to be deployed in each basic command unitin the Staffordshire police force area in (a) 2006, (b) 2007 and (c) 2008. [68360]
Mr. Byrne: Deployment of police officers in Staffordshire to basic command units and to other specialist units is an operational matter for the chief constable, subject to the resources that are available.
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers were deployed in each basic command unit of the Staffordshire police force area in (a) 1987, (b) 1992, (c) 1997, (d) 2001, (e) 2004 and (f) 2005. [68361]
Mr. Byrne: Figures for police officers have been collected only by basic command unit (BCU) since March 2002. The available information is given in the following table.
| The number of police officers deployed in each basic command unit (BCU) level of the Staffordshire police force area( 1) | ||
| Basic command unit | 31 March 2004 | 31 March 2005 |
| (1) This table contains full-time equivalent figures that have been rounded to the nearest whole number, due to rounding there may be an apparent discrepancy between the totals and sums of the constituent items. Figures include police officers on maternity/paternity leave. |
Edward Miliband: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers were deployed in Doncaster, North in (a) 1984, (b) 1994 and (c) 2004. [68405]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 4 May 2006]: Figures relating to the number of police officers are collected by police force area and have only been collected at basic command unit (BCU) level since March 2003. Figures for Doncaster, North are not collected centrally.
As at 31 March 2004, there were 549 full-time equivalent (including those on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave) police officers in the Doncaster BCU.
Mr. Fraser: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what criteria were used by his Department for adopting the deadline of 23 December for submitting final proposals on police restructuring. [38868]
Mr. Byrne: The former Home Secretary (Mr. Clarke) chose 23 December as the deadline for submitting final proposals because it provided sufficient time for the development of options.
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether more crime data will be held centrally if constabularies are merged. [67083]
Mr. Byrne: The restructuring of the police service is not expected to result in more recorded crime data being collected centrally.
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance he has issued on the fitting of front-line police vehicles with satellite navigation systems; and what percentage of such vehicles in each police force have been fitted with such devices. [68910]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 11 May 2006]: The fitting of satellite navigation systems to front-line police vehicles is currently a local operational issue for police forces and we do not issue guidance from the Home Office. As a result we no not have data on the number of vehicles which have been fitted with such devices.
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