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27 Jun 2006 : Column 280W—continued
| Table 3: Recorded crime in rural areas—2002-03 to 2004-05 | |||
| Number of offences | |||
| Offence | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 |
| Notes: 1. The data in this table take account of the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002. These figures are not directly comparable with those for earlier years. 2. The Sexual Offences Act 2003, introduced in May 2004, altered the definition and coverage of sexual offences. | |||
Security Service Act
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the operation of the Security Service Act 1989; what recent representations he has received about the operation of this Act; and whether he has plans to amend this Act. [80276]
Mr. McNulty: I have received no representations on the operation of the Security Service Act 1989 and there are no plans to amend it at present.
Terrorism Act
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people (a) arrested, (b) charged and (c) convicted under the Terrorism Act 2000 were (i) Muslim, (ii) British and (iii) foreign. [79055]
Mr. McNulty: Statistics on arrests, charges and convictions under the Terrorism Act (2000) are available on the Home Office website: www.homeoffice.gov.uk/security/terrorism-and-the-law/terrorism-act
These statistics are provided by the police and are not broken down in the way requested.
Travel Documentation (Ireland-England)
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the documentation requirements are for a British citizen wishing to travel between England and the Republic of Ireland. [79961]
Joan Ryan: Travel between the UK and Ireland is subject to the provisions of the Common Travel Area (CTA). Section 1(3) of the Immigration Act 1971 gives the CTA full statutory basis in UK legislation and allows for control-free travel for British citizens to or from Ireland. The only documentation requirements that British citizens may encounter are those imposed by travel operators as part of their conditions of carriage and/or those imposed by the Irish Government on arrival in Ireland.
Young Offenders
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what the average cost of (a) keeping a non-violent young offender in prison, broken down by prison category, and (b) alternatives to custody of non-violent young offenders was in each of the last five years. [78646]
(2) what the total cost to his Department of (a) keeping non-violent young offenders in prison and (b) alternatives to custody of non-violent young offenders was for each of the last five years. [78647]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Prison Service does not collect cost data in the format requested.
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research his Department has undertaken on comparative recidivism rates of alternatives to custody and imprisonment for (a) non-violent young offenders and (b) non-violent offenders. [78649]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Re-offending rates for adults and juveniles, including re-offending rates by disposal, are published annually on the Home Office website. The latest reports are:
“Re-offending of adults: results from the 2002 cohort” (Home Office Statistical Bulletin 25/05) and
“Re-offending of juveniles: results from the 2004 cohort” (Home Office Statistical Bulletin 10/06).
Re-offending rates vary considerably by type of disposal and some of this can be explained by the differences in the characteristics of offenders given each disposal. For instance, the number of previous offences is one of the key indicators for predicting re-offending and these differ substantially between disposals. For reasons such
as this, the rates cannot be used to judge the effectiveness of different sentences. Analysis of re-offending by disposal is discussed further on pages seven to nine of the report on adults and pages eight to 10 of the report on juveniles.
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what date Lee Wagstaff died in HM Young Offenders Institution Hindley; what his age was at the time of death; and what the (a) date and (b) result was of the coroner's inquest. [79864]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Lee Wagstaff tragically died at HMYOI Hindley on 17 January 1997, aged 17. The coroner's inquest was held on 24 March 1998, and the jury returned a unanimous verdict that the deceased had taken his own life while the balance of his mind was disturbed.
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children with an assessment of vulnerability were sent to young offenders’ institutions in 2004-05. [79865]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Figures provided by the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales show that during the period April 2004—March 2005 the number of young people who were assessed as vulnerable by a youth offending team and subsequently placed in a young offenders’ institution was 3,370.
Wales
Departmental Finance Director
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what the (a) name, (b) professional and academic qualifications and (c) relevant experience are of the finance director of his Department. [80074]
Mr. Hain: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 15 June 2006, Official Report, column 1347. The Director of the Wales Office accounts for its expenditure as an Additional Accounting Officer to the Accounting Officer for the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA). The Office has no accountancy-qualified finance director but calls on finance and accounting expertise from DCA as need be.
Prime Minister
Iraq
Mr. Harper: To ask the Prime Minister on which dates since February 2006 he has visited British soldiers injured in Iraq; and what locations were visited on each occasion. [80691]
The Prime Minister: I have nothing further to add to the answer I gave the hon. Member on 27 February 2006, Official Report, column 36W.
Work and Pensions
Benefits
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the administration cost was of each of the benefits administered by his Department and the agencies for which his Department is responsible in each of the last five years. [78006]
Mr. Plaskitt: The information requested on administration costs of each benefit is not available in the format requested.
The latest available data on administrative costs, taken from the published accounts of each agency (net of income) is as noted below. No entry in a column indicates a period before the Department became responsible for the agency or before it was created. Figures for 2005-06 are not yet available.
| £ million | ||||
| Outturn | ||||
| Agency | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 |
The administration costs for Jobcentre Plus also include the costs of administering labour market
activities. The costs for the Pension Service also include the costs of delivering Pensions Forecasts.
The major benefits administered by each Agency are as follows:
| Agency | Benefits |
|
Jobseekers allowance, incapacity benefit, income support and social fund | |
|
Disability living allowance, carers allowance and attendance allowance |
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the reasons for the low take-up rate of council tax benefit; and if he will make a statement. [78156]
Mr. Plaskitt: The latest estimates of the take-up of council tax benefit can be found in the DWP report entitled “Income Related Benefits Estimates of Take-Up in 2003-04”.
This publication contains analysis of the characteristics of those entitled to but not receiving council tax benefit (CTB). Where appropriate, the analysis contrasts the characteristics of those identified as entitled, but not in receipt, with those of recipients of CTB, and explores some of the possible causes of non-take-up.
Copies of the report are available in the Library.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the level of fraud and error in housing benefit was in each year since 1996-97; and if he will make a statement. [77945]
Mr. Plaskitt: The most recent available housing benefit fraud and error estimates are in the table.
| Housing benefit fraud and error estimates; amount and proportion of expenditure: Great Britain | ||||||
| 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | ||||
| Amount (£ million) | Percentage | Amount (£ million) | Percentage | Amount (£ million) | Percentage | |
| Notes: 1. Totals and proportions may not sum due to rounding. 2. These figures are estimated using reviews of around 85 per cent. of HB expenditure (used for measuring performance against the relevant PSA target to reduce fraud and error in HB) together with more approximate estimates of error in the remaining 15 per cent. of expenditure. For further details on this, please see the relevant National Statistics reports in the “Fraud and Error in Housing Benefit” series. These are available in the Library and online at: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd2/fraud_hb/fraud_hb.asp. 3. Previous estimates were carried out for 1997-98, but a different methodology was used so they are not comparable. No estimates are available for other years. | ||||||
Financial Assistance Scheme
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when the Department expects all those eligible under the financial assistance scheme to have received payment; and if he will make a statement. [78292]
James Purnell: Members do not generally receive payments until they are 65. With the extension of the financial assistance scheme to members of qualifying schemes who were within 15 years of their scheme pension age on 14 May 2004, all eligible members with scheme pension ages of 65 should have received their first payment by May 2019, while all of those with scheme pension ages of 60 should have received their first payment by May 2024.
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many potential recipients of assistance through the financial assistance scheme he estimates will also receive deemed buy-back of contracted out rebates. [78309]
James Purnell: This information is not available. To date only a small number of schemes and members have qualified and opted for deemed buyback, so there is insufficient data on which to base an estimate.
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