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9 Oct 2006 : Column 525W—continued
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/security/terrorism-and-the-law/terrorism-act/proscribed-groups
A summary of the reasons for the proscriptions of each group were laid in Parliament at the time of each order in an explanatory memorandum.
Mr. Tom Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the process is for selecting groups for consideration for his Department’s list of proscribed organisations. [90141]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Under part II of the Terrorism Act 2000 the Secretary of State may proscribe an organisation if he believes it to be concerned in terrorism. That is if it commits or participates in terrorist acts or if it prepares, promotes or encourages terrorism or is otherwise concerned in terrorism. The Terrorism Act 2006 added glorification of the commission or preparation of acts of terrorism to these criteria.
There are other factors which the Secretary of State can take into account when deciding which groups should be added to the Schedule 2 list. These include
the nature and scale of an organisation's activities, the specific threat that it poses to the UK or to British nationals and interests overseas, the extent of the organisation’s presence in the UK and the need to support other members of the international community in the global fight against terrorism.
The Secretary of State receives advice from a number of sources when making a decision including from a working group chaired by the Home Office and comprising representatives from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, security and intelligence agencies, police, Cabinet Office and Her Majesty’s Treasury.
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the process is for selecting groups for consideration for his Department’s proscribed terrorist list. [91630]
Mr. McNulty: Under part II of the Terrorism Act 2000 the Secretary of State may proscribe an organisation if he believes it to be concerned in terrorism. That is if it commits or participates in terrorist acts or if it prepares, promotes or encourages terrorism or is otherwise concerned in terrorism. The Terrorism Act 2006 added glorification of the commission or preparation of acts of terrorism to these criteria.
There are other factors which the Secretary of State can take into account when deciding which groups should be added to the Schedule two list. These include the nature and scale of an organisation’s activities, the specific threat that it poses to the UK or to British nationals and interests overseas, the extent of the organisation’s presence in the UK and the need to support other members of the international community in the global fight against terrorism.
The Secretary of State receives advice from a number of sources when making a decision including from a working group chaired by the Home Office and comprising representatives from the FCO, security and intelligence agencies, police, Cabinet Office and HM Treasury.
Prostitution
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children under (a) 16 and (b) 18 years of age have been charged by police with engaging in prostitution in each of the last five years. [90124]
Mr. Coaker: Data from the court proceedings database held by the office for criminal justice reform on the number of children under (a) 16 and (b) 18 years of age who have been prosecuted at magistrates courts for engaging in prostitution in England and Wales, 2000 to 2004 can be viewed in the following table. 2004 data show the inclusion of a new list of some offences brought under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, which came into effect on 1 May 2004.
| Number of children under (a) 16 and (b) 18 years of age proceeded against at magistrates courts for offences relating lo engaging in prostitution( 1) in England and Wales, 2000 to 2004( 2,3) | |||||
| Age | 2000( 4) | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004( 3) |
| (1) This includes parts of the following Acts: Sexual Offences Act 1956, Sexual Offences Act 1967. and Sexual Offences Act 2003. (2 )These data are 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 date are used. (4 )Staffordshire police force were only able to submit sample data for persons proceeded against and convicted in the magistrates courts for the year 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robust enough at a detailed level and have been excluded from the table. (5 )Data for 2004 include a list of some of the new offences under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 Source: RDS Office for Criminal Justice ReformOur net PO 206-06 House of Commons Number [90124] | |||||
Public Enquiry Office
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the outcome of the investigations into allegations about the Public Enquiry Office in Croydon was; and by which Department the subject of the investigations were employed. [73713]
John Reid: I refer the right hon. Gentleman to Mr. Gbedemah's report on the investigation into allegations about practices within the Public Enquiry Office in Croydon, which was published on 14 March.
Reoffending
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons convicted of (a) murder and (b) manslaughter in England and Wales were subsequently (i) charged with and (ii) convicted of murder or manslaughter following their release on licence in 2005. [89699]
Mr. Coaker: Available data for England and Wales are published annually on a financial year basis. Of offences recorded by police as homicide during 2004-05, there was one known homicide conviction where the suspect had previously been convicted of homicide and released.
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions in each of the last 25 years convicted murderers released from (a) psychiatric institutions and (b) prisons have committed murders after release. [89444]
Mr. Sutcliffe:
The information available centrally relates to homicides recorded by the police in England and Wales, and shows numbers of suspects convicted of these homicides after release or termination of sentence for a previous homicide conviction. The
following table provides this information for each year since 1980. It is not possible to distinguish between sentences served in psychiatric institutions and prisons.
| Suspects convicted of homicide after release or termination of sentence for previous homicide conviction( 1) | |
| Year offence initially recorded | Number of suspects |
| (1) As at 28 November 2005; figures are subject to revision as cases are dealt with by the police and by the courts, or as further information becomes available. | |
Responsible Drinking
Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps his Department is taking to promote responsible drinking. [92575]
Mr. Coaker:
The Government are working with the alcohol industry to develop a consistent sensible drinking message on labelling and point-of-sale. The first phase of the Know Your Limits campaign, which will promote sensible drinking to the 16-24 age group, will be launched on television in mid-October. The alcohol industry launched its own voluntary Social Responsibility Standards document last November and the Government have asked for a full report back on its implementation. This is expected shortly. Among other things, the standards encourage retailers to have a clear policy to implement the legal requirement not to sell to customers who are drunk or under age and to put in place internal disciplinary procedures to support this. A fourth Alcohol Misuse Enforcement Campaign was undertaken in the summer aimed at irresponsible drinkers and sellers. The Licensing Act 2003 has provided stakeholders with additional powers to help them deal with problem premises, and the Violent Crime Reduction Bill currently before Parliament will provide additional powers for stakeholders to enable
them to deal with problems of alcohol misuse on the streets. Existing powers such as local authorities introducing Designated Public Places Orders (DPPOs), where it is then an offence to drink alcohol after being required by a police officer not to do so, can also help in dealing with problems of antisocial alcohol misuse. Details on introducing DPPOs can be found from the website at: www.crimereduction.gov.uk/alcoholorders/alcoholorders01.htm.
Restorative Justice
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress the Government have made with its plans to introduce restorative justice; and if she will make a statement. [89489]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Government strategy is to encourage, without requiring, the use of adult restorative justice while we continue to develop the evidence base to show how it works best for adults, particularly in relation to its impact on re-offending. But we strongly support its use as a service to victims as there is consistent evidence to show that it delivers high levels of victim satisfaction. Best practice guidance for practitioners was issued in December 2004 and guidance on setting up adult restorative justice schemes was issued to Local Criminal Justice Boards in March 2005. Restorative justice may be delivered at any stage of the criminal justice system and we are, for example, encouraging its use under the recently introduced conditional caution. Restorative justice has been a central part of the youth justice system since the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and victim contact or reparation can be part of all youth justice disposals.
Road Traffic Act
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) males and (b) females in (i) Essex and (ii) England and Wales were (A) prosecuted for and (B) found guilty of an offence under (1) sections 22 and 22A, (2) section 27, (3) sections 28 and 29, (4) section 30 and (5) section 41A of the Road Traffic Act 1988 in 2005. [89698]
Mr. McNulty: The information requested is currently unavailable. Data for 2005 will be available in the autumn.
Rural Crime
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) burglaries, (b) offences involving violence against the person, (c) sexual offences and (d) car and property crimes there were in rural areas in 2005-06. [89199]
Mr. McNulty:
The information requested is given in the following table. The figures cover the 13 police force areas designated as either 'most rural' or 'least rural' according to ‘A Classification of Residential Neighbourhoods (ACORN)'. The 13 forces are: Cambridgeshire, Cumbria, Devon and Cornwall,
Durham, Dyfed-Powys, Gloucestershire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, North Yorkshire, North Wales, Suffolk, West Mercia and Wiltshire. Further details regarding ACORN classifications are given in Appendix B of Home Office Statistical Bulletin 01/02 entitled 'Rural Crime'. A copy of this publication is available on the Home Office website at:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/hosb102.pdf
| Table 1: Recorded crime in rural areas—2005-06 | |
| Offences | Number of offences |
Science Applications International Corporation
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what meetings took place between (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department and representatives of Science Applications International Corporation between January 2003 and December 2004. [87568]
Mr. McNulty: A review of Management Information Systems has identified that no Ministers met with representatives of SAIC during the dates specified. It is not possible to identify the number of meetings that officials held with the company in managing their contract without incurring disproportionate costs.
Scottish Criminal Records Office
Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 17 July 2006, Official Report, column 76W, on the Scottish Criminal Records Office, if he will place in the Library a copy of the Association of Chief Police Officers National Fingerprint Board document dated 4 April entitled Erroneous and disputed identifications: Learning from experience elsewhere; and if he will make a statement. [89249]
Mr. McNulty: I shall arrange for a copy of the document to be placed in the Library.
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