| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
4 Sep 2006 : Column 1875W—continued
People Trafficking
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been convicted of offences related to human trafficking in each year since 1997. [74858]
Mr. Coaker: Following the commencement of dedicated trafficking offences in 2004 the convictions are as follows:
| Conviction | |
Prior to the introduction of this dedicated legislation there was only one conviction for a trafficking offence under the Immigration Act 1971.
Perverting the Course of Justice (Punishments)
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the punishments available for those found guilty of (a) attempting to pervert and (b) perverting the course of justice. [64700]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Perverting the course of justice and attempting to pervert the course of justice are common law offences for which there is no statutory maximum. The full range of penalties is therefore available. Custodial sentences of up to eight years have been imposed in recent cases. Sentences average around eight months.
Police
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers have been (a) killed, (b) sexually assaulted and (c) physically assaulted while on duty in (i) England, (ii) the North East and (iii) the Tees Valley in each year since 1997. [71092]
Mr. McNulty: The available information is provided in the table. Figures on police assaults are collected by degree of injury which includes death, serious injury and minor or no injury. Figures on those sexually assaulted are not collected centrally.
Figures are available by police force area only.
| Table 1: Assaults on police officers by degree of assault in England (1997-2005) | ||||
| As at 31 March: | Fatal assaults | Serious assaults | Other assaults | Total |
| (1) Some forces were unable to provide a breakdown on the degree of assault so have been included in the overall total only (2) In 2005, the Metropolitan police were unable to separate assaults on police officers and police staff and are therefore excluded from the total. As at 31 March 2005, there were 2,614 total assaults on both police officers and police staff. | ||||
| Table 2: Assaults on police officers by degree of assault in Cleveland (1997-2005) | ||||
| As at 31 March: | Fatal assaults | Serious assaults | Other assaults | Total |
| Table 4: Assaults on police officers by degree of assault in Durham (1997-2005) | ||||
| As at 31 March: | Fatal assaults | Serious assaults | Other assaults | Total |
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what average percentage of time police officers spent (a) on the beat and (b) on patrol in each of the last five years; [74588]
(2) what percentage of their time on average police officers spent completing paperwork in each of the last five years; [74587]
(3) what research his Department has conducted on the amount of time police officers spend (a) on patrol and (b) completing paperwork; what the conclusions were; and if he will make a statement. [74591]
John Reid:
The Government introduced a measure in 2003 to record the amount of time that police officers spend on frontline duties in order to help to maximise the time spent on their core roles of preventing and reducing crime. More police officer time was spent on front line duties in 2004-05 (64.1 per cent.) than in 2003-04 (63.6 per cent.) and we are determined to see this improvement continue, with police authorities setting robust targets for improvement. The Home Office expects that the police service can increase this to a national average of around 72 per cent. in 2008. This will be a gain in time on frontline duties equivalent to an extra 12,000 police officers. These frontline duties include providing a visible patrolling presence in communities—a role which has been greatly enhanced by the creation of Police Community Support Officers, whose core function it is to provide high visibility reassurance policing to local communities, primarily on foot patrol. The
Government have also been working with the Association of Chief Police Officers since 2002 to reduce the burden of paperwork. Already we have:
made nearly 9,000 forms obsolete across all 43 forces;
nearly 125,000 fixed penalty notice tickets were issued in 2005—around 90 minutes saved per ticket;
207 Livescan Units, which enable electronic fingerprint images to be taken from people instantly, in 37 forces. This saves 7.5 minutes per arrest over ink and roller (5 minutes as opposed to 12.5 minutes);
the introduction of street bail in 2003 enables an officer to grant bail elsewhere other than a police station, remain on front-line operational duties and better plan the investigation to meet operational needs; and
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |