| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Probation Service
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) legal advisers and (b) social services advisers have been employed or seconded to work in the Probation Service in each of the last eight years. [79953]
John Reid: The current data collection process for workforce information does not provide data in sufficient detail to provide the information requested. Senior Circuit Judges are appointed by the Department of Constitutional Affairs to sit on Local Probation Boards and advise them on legal matters, as the appointments are made by DCA the National Probation Directorate does not keep records of how many Judges have taken post over the last eight years.
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the total number of (a) operational and (b) non-operational officers employed in the Probation Service was in each of the last eight years. [79954]
John Reid: Information is not available for the full period requested. Data collected prior to one April 2003 is unreliable, and is not directly comparable with the more accurate figures collected since that time. The figures presented in the table show the proportion of staff, in terms of full time equivalent value, employed in an operational capacity at the close of each quarter from one April 2003 to 31 March 2006. Operational staff in the National Probation Service operate in multi-disciplinary teams including dedicated support staff. For this reason the figures provided include both the number of operational staff, and the number of support staff dedicated to operational service teams. The total of these two staff groups gives an accurate representation of the total resource applied to operational services. The non-operational staff in the National Probation Service are all other staff who provide non operational support services.
| Operational staff | Non-operational staff | Total staff in post | |
Rape Charge/Sentencing
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received about the potential to be able to charge with rape clients who use the services of a woman who has been forced into prostitution. [81614]
Mr. Coaker: In response to its consultation document on trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation, the Home Office received a number of representations which expressed support for the “Swedish model” whereby the purchase of sex is made a criminal offence. A summary of the responses received can be found on the Home Office website.
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average sentence was for (a) rape and (b) date rape in each of the last five years. [77160]
Mr. Coaker: The average sentence length of those given custodial sentences for rape, excluding those sentenced to life imprisonment, from 2000 to 2004 is in the following table. The Sexual Offences Act 2003, introduced on 1 May 2004, altered the definition and coverage of sexual offences. It redefined rape to include the non-consensual penetration of a male. ‘Date rape’ is not classified as a separate offence to rape.
| Average length of determinate custodial sentences for rape all courts England and Wales 2000-04. | |
| Rape( 1) | Average sentence length (months) |
| (1)
On 1 May 2004 the law changed to include rape of a
male. Source: RDS NOMS 12 June
2006 | |
Road Safety
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State forthe Home Department what the latest figures are for prosecutions of drivers using mobile phones while driving, broken down by police authority area. [82203]
Mr. Coaker: Available information taken from the Court Proceedings Database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform for the year 2004 (latest available) is in the following table. 2005 data will be available early in 2007.
| Proceedings at magistrates courts for the offence of use of hand held mobile phone while driving( 1) by police force area, England and Wales 2004 | |
| Number of offences | |
| Police force area | Total proceedings |
| (1)
Offences under the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations
1986, Regulations 110 (1), 110 (2) and 110(3). (2)
Nil prosecutions. Source: Court Proceedings
Database. | |
Vulnerable Witnesses
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the national roll-out of the intermediaries scheme for vulnerable witnesses will be implemented; and if he will make a statement. [83895]
Mr. Sutcliffe: We will make a statement following consideration of the final report from the evaluation of the intermediary scheme in the six pathfinder areas.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Afghanistan
Richard Younger-Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) what estimate she has made of the (a) area and (b) yield of this year's opium crop in the Helmand province; [80429]
(2) what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of opium eradication programmes in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. [80436]
Dr. Howells: It is too early to provide accurate figures on the area and yield of this year's opium crop in Helmand Province. However, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime's (UNODC) Rapid Assessment Survey of March 2006 suggests that following a 21 per cent. reduction in overall cultivation last year, planting may increase in 13 of Afghanistan's 32 provinces, including Helmand. Research commissioned by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has shown that in areas with better security, governance and access to resources, there may be further reductions this year.
Eradication was carried out in Helmand by the Afghan Government, at the request of and under the control of the Provincial Governor. The UNODC is currently in the process of verifying levels of eradication delivered, both in Helmand and in Afghanistan as a whole. Final figures for both eradication and cultivation should be available in the autumn. Eradication is a useful deterrent where there is access to legal livelihoods, tackling the drugs problem requires a range of activities including arresting and convicting the traffickers who profit from the trade, and putting in place the development programmes which enable fanners to move away from growing poppy. That is why the UK is spending £270 million over a three-year period on supporting the Government of Afghanistan's National Drug Control Strategy.
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many officials from her Department are based in each province in Afghanistan, broken down by job function. [82734]
Dr. Howells: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office currently has 34 staff serving in Afghanistan. For reasons of personnel security and safety it is not possible to give details of locations or specific functions of staff deployed in Afghanistan.
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 9 February 2006, Official Report, column 1448W, on Afghanistan, what progress the Afghan/UN/US forum in Kabul is making in respect of each of the five pillars of Security Sector Reform. [83288]
Dr.
Howells: The London conference on Afghanistan launched the
Afghanistan Compact. This provides the framework for continued
international engagementin Afghanistan over the next five
years. The Joint
Co-ordination and Monitoring Board (JCMB) was established by the Compact
to co-ordinate the international effort more effectively and to measure
progress against the benchmarks and timelines set out in the Compact.
Consultative Groups focussing on the eight sectors and five
cross-cutting themes covered in the Compact have met and will report to
the next JCMB’s meeting at the end of
July.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |