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4 Sep 2006 : Column 1957W—continued
Thomas Curtis
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he knows the whereabouts of Thomas Curtis, who was convicted of murder in 1985 and may have absconded from HMP Leyhill in 1998. [79479]
Mr. Sutcliffe:
The whereabouts of Thomas Curtis is unknown. He absconded from Leyhill open prison in 1998 and as at 19 July 2006 remains unlawfully at large.
He is listed on the Police National Computer as being unlawfully at large and is subject to immediate arrest when traced by the police.
Unaccompanied Children
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children born abroad have been placed on the National Register for Unaccompanied Children since it was established; what steps are taken to identify whether these children are the victims of trafficking; and how many children on the register are estimated to be the victims of trafficking. [82623]
Mr. Coaker [holding answer 5 July 2006]: The National Register of Unaccompanied Children (NRUC), which is not a Home Office system, is operated by the London borough of Westminster on behalf of the London Asylum Seekers Consortium.
It is difficult to quantify the number of child victims of trafficking because traffickers go to great lengths to conceal their exploitation of children. We have no centrally collated data on the numbers of children trafficked into the UK. To help to assess the nature and extent of child trafficking we have commissioned the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre to undertake a study, which we anticipate being completed by the autumn.
The Immigration Nationality Directorate takes its responsibilities towards children very seriously. We are looking at ways to improve the specialist services these children require, including the additional needs of those who may have been trafficked.
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many unaccompanied minors were admitted to the UK in each of the last three years at (a) Heathrow, (b) Gatwick, (c) Stansted, (d) Birmingham, (e) Manchester and (f) other UK airports; and how many unaccompanied minors were admitted through UK ports in each year. [86876]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 20 July 2006]: The information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Under-age Drinking
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions have taken place for under-age drinking in the London borough of Sutton in each year since 1990. [88902]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Data from the court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform for the number of persons aged 10-17 proceeded against for drunkenness offences in the London borough of Sutton in each year since 1990 can be found in the following table.
Court proceedings statistics for 2005 will be available in the autumn of 2006.
In addition to this, the penalty notice for disorder (PND) scheme, brought into effect in all police forces in England and Wales in 2004, gives the police powers to issue persons aged 16-17 believed to be committing
offences of under-age drinking with a fixed penalty notice. No admission of guilt is required and payment of the penalty discharges all liability for conviction for the offence. It is not possible to identify the number of PNDs issued in Sutton as the data is not collected at that level of detail centrally.
| Number of people aged 10-17 proceeded against at Sutton magistrates court for offences relating to drunkenness( 1) ,1990 to 2004( 2,3) | |
| Proceeded against | |
| (1) Includes offences: drunkenness, simple; drunkenness, with aggravation; person under 18 buying or attempting to buy or consuming intoxicating liquor in licensed premises. (2) These data are provided on the principal offence basis. (3) 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. | |
Victim Support
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was granted to Victim Support in each of the last 10 years; and what a real terms change in funding was in each year. [88017]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The following table shows the Home Office grant to Victim Support for the past 10 years. In real terms, as deflated by the GDP deflator on the HMT website (as of 30 June 2006), the change in funding is represented as a percentage.
Violent Crime
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) murders and (b) crimes involving violence were reported in (i) Eastleigh, (ii) Hampshire police area, (iii) Southampton, (iv) Portsmouth, (v) Hampshire county council area, (vi) the south east region, (vii) England and (viii) England and Wales in each of the last 10 years; and what the (A) detection and (B) clear-up rate was in each case. [86685]
Mr. McNulty: The information requested is given in the tables. Statistics for Eastleigh, Southampton and Portsmouth are at Basic Command Unit level.
Since 1996, there have been two major changes to the way in which crime is recorded which makes it impossible to directly compare 2005-06 statistics with those from 10 years ago. The effect of the extended coverage and the change in counting rules in 1998 was to inflate the amount of violent crime recorded nationally by more than 80 per cent. while it is estimated that the effect of the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) in April 2002 caused a further 20 per cent. increase in recorded violent crime in its first year.
| Table 2: Recorded offences of homicide and violent crime—1998-99 to 2001-02 | ||||
| 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | |||
| Area | Number | Detection rate | Number | Detection rate |
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