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4 Sep 2006 : Column 1848W—continued

Life Sentences

Mr. Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will limit the ability of people who pleaded guilty to murder and receive life sentences to appeal against such sentences. [40411]

Mr. Sutcliffe: No. There is no right of appeal against a life sentence imposed following a conviction for murder because this is a mandatory sentence. However, it is appropriate that there should be a right of appeal against life sentence tariffs in murder cases because they are imposed by the court, according to what it thinks is appropriate taking into account the seriousness of the offence, on the basis of its assessment of the facts of the individual case.

Magistrates Courts

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the operation of section 19 of the Magistrates Courts Act 1980. [64591]

Mr. Sutcliffe: Section 19 of the Magistrates Courts Act 1980 makes provision for the manner in which magistrates courts are to decide whether offences that are triable either way should be tried summarily or on indictment. It will be slightly modified when the new allocation arrangements in Schedule three to the Criminal Justice Act 2003 are brought into force.

Male Rape

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convictions there have been for the non-consensual sexual penetration of a male in each of the last five years. [86330]

Mr. Coaker: Data from the court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform on the number of defendants convicted at all courts for offences relating to non-consensual sexual penetration of a male, in England and Wales, for 2001 to 2004 are contained in the following table. 2004 data shows the inclusion of a new list of offences brought under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, which came into effect on 1 May 2004. 2000 data are not being provided as prior to the implementation of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000 which commenced on 8 January 2001, the offence of buggery (under s.12 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956 as subsequently amended) would have included instances of consensual as well as non-consensual acts. Statistics for 2005 court proceedings will be available in the autumn of 2006.

4 Sep 2006 : Column 1849W

Number of defendants convicted at all courts for offences relating to non-consensual sexual penetration of a male in England and Wales, 2001 to 2004( 1,2)
	Years( 3)
Offence description	2001	2002	2003	2004
Buggery or attempted buggery by a male of a male. Assault on a male by penetration. Rape of a male aged under 16(4)	120	94	78	95
(1) These data are on the principal offence basis. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts, and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (3,4) Data for 2001 to 2003 include offences from the following principal statutes: Sexual Offences Act 1956 (amended by the following amendments: Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, and the Sexual Offences Act 2000), and Sexual Offences Act 2003. Data for 2004 include a list of new offences under the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Source: RDS—Office for Criminal Justice Reform

Malicious Damage Act 1861

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) males and (b) females in England and Wales were (i) prosecuted for and (ii) convicted of offences under sections (A) 35 and (B) 36 of the Malicious Damage Act 1861 in 2005. [89700]

Mr. McNulty: The information requested is currently unavailable. Data for 2005 will be available in the autumn.

Mental Health

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many forensic psychiatrists per 100,000 population are available to assess the mental state of individuals taken into custody in each police authority area. [77115]

Caroline Flint: I have been asked to reply.

This information is not collected centrally. At 30 September 2005, there were 239 forensic psychiatrists working in the national health service in England.

Ministerial Meetings

Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when (a) he and (b) his Ministers have (i) met and (ii) had telephone conversations with the editors of the national press to discuss Home Office policy since January 2006; and where the meetings took place. [80643]

Mr. McNulty: Ministers have meetings with the media from time to time and this includes discussions with various national press representatives.

4 Sep 2006 : Column 1850W

Ministerial Posts

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what criteria he used in making the decision to transfer the Minister of State for Immigration, Citizenship and Nationality to another post in his Department. [74432]

John Reid: I am responsible for deciding which Minister covers which policy areas within his team. I held discussions with my ministerial team and decided on this division of work.

Ministerial Visits

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which drug rehabilitation centres Ministers in his Department have visited in each year since 1997; and for what purposes. [63060]

Mr. Coaker: This information can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions (a) civil servants and (b) special advisers in his Department have stayed overnight in (i) five star, (ii) four star and (iii) three star hotels on foreign visits in each of the last three years. [68964]

Mr. Byrne: The answer could be given only at disproportionate cost.

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the total cost was of overnight accommodation for (a) civil servants and (b) special advisers in his Department staying overnight in (i) mainland Great Britain, (ii) Northern Ireland, (iii) the Republic of Ireland and (iv) other countries in each of the last three years. [68965]

Mr. Byrne: The answer could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discounts are available in relation to hotel accommodation used by (a) civil servants and (b) special advisers in his Department. [68966]

Mr. Byrne: There is no single percentage discount figure available on hotel bookings. The Home Office, through its appointed contractor, negotiates rates for individual hotels or hotel chains subject to city location. All hotels offer their standard rate (the rack rate) which will then be discounted either to a Government rate available to all individuals carrying out work on behalf of the Home Office or other public sector bodies or, subject to there being sufficient volume room usage, special rates for individual departments. Generally the Home Office achieve savings on average of 30 per cent. on standard rates.

4 Sep 2006 : Column 1851W

Mobile Phones

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drivers have been prosecuted for using mobile telephones while driving since the new laws restricting mobile telephone use while driving were introduced. [86122]

Mr. Sutcliffe: Available information taken from the Court Proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform for the years 2003 to 2004 (latest available) is given in the 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) , England and Wales, 2003 to 2004
	Number of offences
2003	1
2004	789
(1) Offences under the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986, Regulations 110 (1), 110 (2) and 110 (3) introduced 1 December 2003. Source: Court Proceedings Database.

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many mobile telephone thefts there were in Brent in each year since 1997. [87341]

Mr. McNulty: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Motoring Offences

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drivers were (a) prosecuted for and (b) convicted of driving without insurance in each year since 1980. [85144]

Mr. McNulty: Available information from 1980-2004 (latest available) for the offence of using a motor vehicle uninsured against third party risks, is given in the table.

4 Sep 2006 : Column 1852W

Proceedings at magistrates courts and findings of guilt at all courts for the offence of using a motor vehicle uninsured against third party risks( 1) —England and Wales, 1980-2004
Number of offences
	Total proceedings	Findings of guilt
1980	n/a	(2)164,613
1981	n/a	(2)172,688
1982	n/a	(2)191,842
1983	n/a	(2)242,858
1984	241,462	194,378
1985	242,651	193,604
1986	245,287	190,269
1987	270,915	200,309
1988	294,966	208,568
1989	304,432	208,010
1990	317,797	209,476
1991	364,035	225,910
1992	404,492	246,054
1993	446,568	281,136
1994	446,559	286,252
1995	441,241	283,141
1996	415,015	267,932
1997	396,912	257,689
1998	390,074	256,974
1999	393,469	234,830
2000	391,659	264,574
2001	388,297	266,757
2002	410,963	289,064
2003	447,267	323,374
2004	441,819	322,816
n/a = data not available (1) Offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988 s. 143 (2) (2) Magistrates courts only. Note: Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

Mr. de Menezes

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects the report by the Independent Police Complaints Commission of its investigations into the death of Mr. de Menezes in London on 22 July 2005 and the conduct of the Metropolitan Police to be published. [84724]

Mr. McNulty: Publication of the outcome of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) investigations into the events surrounding the fatal shooting of Mr. Jean Charles de Menezes is a matter for the IPCC as the independent body which carried out the investigations.

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