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22 May 2006 : Column 1520W—continued
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he plans to issue guidance to police forces in England and Wales on the powers available under section 52 of the Police Reform Act 2002 for the seizure of mini-motorbikes; and if he will make a statement. [72095]
Mr. Byrne: Section 59 of the Police Reform Act 2002 empowers the police to seize vehicles, including mini-motorbikes, being driven inconsiderately or carelessly on road contrary to section three of the Road Traffic Act 1988, or off-road without authority, contrary to sections 34 of the Act if at the same time they are being driven in such a manner as to cause or be likely to cause alarm, distress or annoyance to members of the public.
The Home Office issued on 1 November 2005 additional guidance to the police on their power to seize vehicles being used in an anti-social manner. This included examples of best practice where the police were working with the local authority to make effective use of the powers available to the two agencies. The Home Office has organised a number of Action Days with anti-social behaviour practitioners to share best practice around the topic of anti-social use of vehicles and has provided guidance specifically on mini-motorbike misuse through the TOGETHER website: www.together.gov.uk
Where mini-motorbike nuisance has been identified as a problem locally we would expect the local crime and disorder strategy to address it making use of the guidance issued as appropriate.
Mr. Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the starting salary was of a police officer in the Cleveland police area in (a) 1997 and (b) 2005. [72594]
Mr. Byrne: The starting salary for a police constable in Cleveland on appointment and prior to the completion of initial training was (a) £15,438 from September 1997 and (b) £20,397 from September 2005.
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much funding was made available to the Shropshire Division of West Mercia police for the Alcohol Misuse Enforcement Campaign. [72389]
Mr. Byrne: Shropshire Division of West Mercia police was allocated £3,000 by the Police Standards Unit for the third national Alcohol Misuse Enforcement Campaign (AMEC 3), which ran from14 November 2005 until the end of that year. The division did not submit a bid for funding for the fourth Alcohol Misuse Enforcement Campaign, which is taking place from 8 May to 8 June 2006.
Mrs. Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what training is given to telephone call handlers in police call centres; and if he will make a statement. [71579]
Mr. Byrne: Forces currently provide extensive induction training to call handling staff lasting approximately four to six weeks. Training varies from force to force, but mainly consists of modules around basic call handling skills, questioning skills, caller expectation settings and also includes IT systems training, policy and procedures, minimal law training and in some forces self-care and stress management.
The National Call-handling Standard (NCHS), currently being introduced to forces, includes the provision of a detailed training package.
Mrs. Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were employed in (a) armed response units and (b) specialist firearms officers teams in Bedfordshire police force in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [71577]
Mr. Byrne: The number of authorised firearms officers in Bedfordshire police since 1996-97 are shown in the table. We do not hold information on whether these officers are in armed response units or specialist firearms officers' teams.
| Authorised Firearms Officers (AFOs), Bedfordshire | |
| Number | |
Mrs. Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what national guidelines are issued
to (a) police firearms units and (b) specialist firearms officers teams on handling incidents; and if he will make a statement. [71582]
Mr. Byrne: National guidance on the handling of firearms incidents is contained within the association of chief police officers (ACPO) manual of guidance on police use of firearms available on the ACPO website (www.acpo.police.co.uk).
Mrs. Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many times the use of firearms was authorised in operations in each police force in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [71594]
Mr. Byrne: The number of operations in which firearms were authorised in each police force in England and Wales is shown in the table.
| Number of operations in which firearms were authorised | |||||||||
| 1996-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-00 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | |
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