| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
5 Jun 2006 : Column 60W—continued
Mr. McNulty: The information requested is not collected centrally.
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers were on attachment to overseas police forces in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [72358]
Mr. McNulty: The maximum number of UK police officers who may be deployed to international peace support operations at any one time is 475. On average, around 170 officers from forces in England and Wales are deployed in this capacity each year.
In the years 2001 to 2005, the Home Office issued the following numbers of authorisations under section 26 of the Police Act 1996 to police officers from forces in England and Wales in respect of travel overseas to provide assistance to an international organisation or other body engaged outside the UK in policing activities:
| Number | |
The majority of these authorisations were in respect of short-term assistance, including in the areas of counter-terrorism, serious and organised crime and disaster relief, such as the extensive help provided in 2004-05 in the aftermath of the tsunami.
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons are employed (a) full-time and (b) part-time in working for Police Direct; what his policy is on the expansion of Police Direct; and if he will make a statement. [70899]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 16 May 2006]: The information requested is not collected centrally.
Mr. Fraser: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of how one super force for the entire Eastern region would affect (a) the number of full-time police officers deployed in the area served by the Norfolk constabulary, (b) the level of service offered to the public and (c) the rates of crime. [38866]
Mr. McNulty: An assessment of the single Eastern regional option was not undertaken. Both the Home Office and forces and authorities in this region agreed that there were other more viable options on which resources needed to be focused.
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the precepting arrangements will be for the new proposed Yorkshire police force; and whether the current arrangements requiring majority support among elected members of the police authority before a precept increase can be agreed will remain in place. [65792]
John Reid:
I think the strategic direction that has already been set out is the right one. I have not yet had time to consider these matters in the considerable detail
that would be wished, but will be turning my mind to how we can achieve this direction in the not too distant future.
Prisons
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost was of the preparation and production of the performance testing bid at HMP Wandsworth. [74005]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The additional cost of the performance test at Wandsworth prison was £200,000. This does not include the cost of any support for the process found from within existing resources.
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he is taking to reduce the incidence of prisons breaching Rule 39 correspondence conditions; what estimate he has made of the number of breaches at each establishment in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [66560]
Mr. Sutcliffe: There are clear procedures in place for the handling of correspondence to which prison rule 39 applies. No estimate has been made of the number of breaches of these procedures but we have no information to suggest this is a significant problem.
Private Members' Bills
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list those Private Members' Bills in respect of which his Department adopted a policy of neutrality in each session since 2001-02; and if he will make a statement. [72098]
Mr. Byrne: The information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Probation Service
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) active and (b) inactive operational vacancies there were for each probation area in England and Wales at the end of each of the past five financial years. [48448]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Information is not available for the full period requested. Data on active vacancies has only been collected since 1 April 2004.
The figures presented show active vacancies, in terms of full-time equivalent value, at the close of each quarter from 1 April 2004 to 30 September 2005. An active vacancy is one which a probation area is actively trying to fill through a recruitment process. The table also shows active vacancies as a percentage, shown in brackets, of total available posts. This shows the proportion of vacancies being carried by each area relative to the size of the work force in that area.
The National Probation Service is unable to provide figures on the number of inactive vacancies. This is because not all probation areas operate a set
establishment against which inactive vacancies can be measured.
| 2004-05 | ||||||
| Quarter 1 | Quarter 2 | Quarter 3 | ||||
| Figure | Percentage | Figure | Percentage | Figure | Percentage | |
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |