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24 July 2006 : Column 1158W—continued
Motoring Offences
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the five most common driving offences were for which (a) men and (b) women were (i) prosecuted and (ii) convicted in each constituency in England in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [85518]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The information required is not available centrally at constituency level.
Murderers
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convicted murderers have been sentenced since the implementation of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. [86052]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Section 269 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 which relates to the determination of a minimum term in relation to mandatory life sentences came into force on 18 December 2003, and figures reported to the Home Office show that 371 persons were sentenced for murder between that date and 31 December 2004, the latest date for which sentencing information is currently available.
Although care is taken in collating and analysing the returns used to compile such figures, the data are of necessity subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system.
We have started a programme of work in the Home Office looking at the quality of existing data on court sentencing and how this might be improved.
Operation Pentameter
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the total value was of assets seized under Operation Pentameter. [82666]
Mr. Coaker: At present it is not possible to provide total values, since operations are still ongoing. The confirmed cash seized to date totals around £200,000.
Overseas HGVs
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drivers of heavy goods vehicles from overseas have (a) committed and (b) been prosecuted for traffic offences on British roads in each of the last three years. [86121]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Information is not collected centrally on offending drivers of foreign registered vehicles who breach road traffic regulations.
Partnership Working
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to foster partnership working. [74611]
Mr. McNulty: Partnership working is central to the delivery of Home Office business. The National Community Safety Plan provides a clear statement of community safety priorities for local partners. Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) are well established as the primary local delivery vehicle for community safety work. Earlier this year, the Government published a review of CDRPs, with the aim of further improving their effectiveness and strengthening their accountability to the communities they serve. Partnership working is also at the heart of neighbourhood policing. As part of the neighbourhood policing initiative the police will work with local partners and communities to tackle local priority issues. At the national level, the Home Office is working with stakeholders to ensure that neighbourhood policing is integrated into the wider community safety agenda.
The National Offender Management Service is giving high priority to fostering partnership working as part of its work to reduce re-offending, including through the Civic Society, Corporate and Faith, Community and Voluntary Sector Alliances.
Working with a range of external partners is vital for delivery of ‘Integration Matters’, our strategy for refugee integration. We recognise that statutory and voluntary sector organisations are best placed to help us to remove the barriers that can prevent refugees from integrating into their new communities. Partnership working is also essential for the National Refugee Integration Forum (NRIF). This body brings together 32 individuals with a range of experiences and perspectives in delivering refugee integration, and is tasked to review our work and ensure that we are delivering on the action plan set out in the strategy.
Placements
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many placements are provided for vulnerable and at risk children and young adults by the (a) private and (b) public sector. [86242]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Youth Justice Board commissions 2,844 places for boys in 13 young offender institutions and 75 places for girls in four special units. It also commissions 274 places in secure training centres and 235 in secure children’s homes. Younger and more vulnerable sentenced young people and those subject to court-ordered secure remands are placed into secure training centres or secure children’s homes. All of the secure training centre places are provided by the private sector and all but one of the secure children’s homes are in the public sector. Eleven of the 13 young offender institutions for boys and all four special units for girls are in the public sector. There are two privately run young offender institutions.
Although the most vulnerable young people are placed in secure training centres or secure children’s homes, all establishments are able to accommodate young people who have some degree of vulnerability. There are safeguarding arrangements in place at all establishments for children and young people.
There is no formal definition of vulnerability for adult offenders but prisoners may be in need of support or protection for a number of reasons. Such prisoners are managed and supported in a range of ways including being located in vulnerable prisoner units, in units or establishments dealing with prisoners convicted of certain offences such as sexual offences, segregated for their own protection or transferred to another establishment where they are not known. The management of vulnerable prisoners is a progressive process and they are not necessarily held in designated accommodation.
Police
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the ratio of police to public was in (a) Southend and (b) each police force in (i) 1979, (ii) 1983, (iii) 1987, (iv) 1992, (v) each year from 1993 to 2004 and (vi) the last period for which figures are available. [70152]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 22 May 2006]: The information that is available for the ratio of police to 100,000 population for each police force area is provided in the table.
Information on basic command units has only been collected since 2003. In March 2003, Southend had 170 (full-time equivalent) officers per 100,000 population. This figure increased to 175 in March 2004 and 179 in March 2005.
Information on the number of police officers to population was published in the annual report of HM chief inspector of constabulary prior to 1998, but this information was based on the authorised establishment of each police force rather than its total strength and
was presented as the ratio of population to each police officer. Therefore it is not possible to provide data for
earlier years as it is not directly comparable with the Home Office calculations from 1998 onwards.
| Police officer strength( 1) per 100,000 population( 2) , by police force area( 3) in each year from 1998 to 2005 | ||||||||
| Year ending 31 March: | ||||||||
| Police force area | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 |
| (1) The table contains calculations based on full-time equivalent figures for police officers which have been rounded to the nearest whole number. Due to rounding there may be an apparent discrepancy between totals and the sums of constituent items in these and similar tables. The police officer strength figures used to calculate the number of police officers per 100,000 population for the years 1998 to 2002 excludes those officers on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave. Figures from 2003 includes those police officers on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave. Therefore figures prior to 2003 are not comparable with figures for 2003 onwards. (2) Officers per 100,000 population for City of London and Metropolitan police are combined. (3) Boundary changes on 1 April 2000 transferred some resources from the Metropolitan police to Essex, Hertfordshire and Surrey police forces. Therefore police to population ratios for these forces are not directly comparable for each of the years provided in the table. | ||||||||
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