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9 Oct 2006 : Column 540W—continued
Under-age Sex
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases of unlawful sexual intercourse with a person aged under 16 years were (a) reported, (b) the subject of a caution and (c) prosecuted in (i) the 12 months prior to and (ii) each 12 month period since June 2004. [89638]
Mr. Byrne: Data on the number of offenders cautioned, defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for offences related to unlawful sexual intercourse are provided in the following table. Data for 2003 and 2004 have been given because these are the two most recent 12 month periods for which data are available.
Court proceedings data for 2005 will be available in the autumn.
Figures for reported crime are not collected centrally. Data are provided for recorded crime available on a financial year basis. The recorded crime statistics are based on offences and the court proceedings statistics are based on persons. As a result the two datasets are not directly comparable.
The introduction of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, in May 2004, created a number of new offences which identified the age group of the victim.
As a result, the recorded crime and court proceedings data provided are not comparable year on year.
| Number of offenders cautioned and defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts for offences related to unlawful sexual intercourse with persons aged under 16, England and Wales 2003-04( 1,2,3) | ||
| Offenders cautioned | Proceeded against | |
| (1) These data are provided on the principal offence basis. (2) Data include offences of unlawful sexual intercourse with persons aged under 16 and persons under 13, as well as buggery by a male with a male under 16. Buggery offences include non-consensual buggery as well as consensual buggery. (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 police forces and courts. 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. | ||
Violent Crime
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many violent crimes were recorded in each year since 1990, broken down by police force area. [89445]
Mr. McNulty: The information requested is given in the tables, a copy of which will be placed in the Library. Since 1990, there have been two major changes to the way in which crime is recorded. The effect of the extended coverage and the change in counting rules in 1998 was to artificially increase recorded violent crime 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.
Websites (Suicide)
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he is taking to tackle websites that promote suicide; and if he will make a statement. [90282]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Government take this difficult problem seriously and is taking a range of non-legislative steps to tackle it, including raising awareness of the potential dangers of suicide websites being accessed by vulnerable people; encouraging search engine companies to ensure that search results give prominence to sites offering help and support to people contemplating suicide; and working with Internet Service Providers to discourage them from hosting sites which may encourage suicide. The Department of Health is also continuing to explore what more non-legislative action might be possible in the context of their Suicide Prevention Strategy.
At the Government’s request, the Law Commission has considered the law as it applies to suicide websites as part of their work on participation in crime. Although they conclude (in Annex B to their report Inchoate Liability for Assisting and Encouraging Crime, published on 11 July and available on their website (www.lawcom.gov.uk)) that the contemporary problems posed by suicide websites and other involvements in suicide can be adequately addressed without reform to section 2 of the Suicide Act, they recommend that the language of the legislation could be updated, and that consideration should be given to applying their proposed extra-territorial jurisdiction provisions to the offence of assisting suicide. We will consider these recommendations carefully.
Widespread Education Campaign
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer to parliamentary question 81979, how much was spent on the widespread education campaign, broken down (a) geographically and (b) by campaign element. [91031]
Mr. Coaker
[holding answer 13 September 2006]: The Government are taking forward, on an ongoing basis, a wide range of activities to warn young people of the harms of drugs, including cannabis. This
includes: the FRANK campaign, which has been running since 2003. Last year over £6 million was spent on supporting the campaign including the helpline, website, leaflets and communications. Every day, FRANK answers over 1,000 calls and has 15,000 website hits. Cannabis information is the most popular reason for contacting FRANK. This year we will increase our investment with a further £2.75 million to increase cannabis messages. In addition, the Government have produced the ‘Understanding Drugs’ pack which is a teacher and pupil information pack, available to every secondary school in England. The total cost of producing this pack was £230,000.
The Government have also produced a range of education materials focusing on the impact of cannabis on mental health. This includes a Mental Health Toolkit for mental health practitioners and information materials for young people produced by Young Minds. The total cost of producing these materials was £258,000. All of these activities are England-wide initiatives. However, the Department of Health is responsible for disseminating the Mental Health Toolkit to practitioners, and it is planning some regional events which are not yet finalised.
Wildlife Crime
Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether wildlife crime is addressed in Home Office advice on sentencing. [89366]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Home Office has not issued any advice on sentencing for wildlife offences.
Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average sentence has been in each of the last five years in respect of convictions for (a) egg collecting, (b) the use of poison to kill or attempt to kill protected species and (c) illegal possession of proscribed pesticides. [89384]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Figures reported to the Home Office on persons dealt with for (a) egg collecting and (b) the use of poison to kill or attempt to kill protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 cannot be accurately identified on the Home Office Court Proceedings database. Statistics on (c), illegal possession of proscribed pesticides, cannot be separately identified in the statistics collected centrally. We have started a programme of work in the Home Office looking at the quality of existing court sentencing data and how this might be improved.
Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps are being taken to ensure effective action to deter wildlife crime. [89385]
Mr. Coaker: The Government promotes and encourages wildlife law enforcement through the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime (PAW)—a multi-agency body comprising representatives of the statutory and voluntary organisations with a role in wildlife law enforcement. PAW has ensured strong cooperation and coordination between all the bodies involved in wildlife law enforcement in the UK. In addition there is also the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU).
Worker Registration Scheme
Mr. Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 18 July 2006, Official Report, column 423W, on the worker registration scheme, how many workers from EU accession countries currently legally working in the UK are exempt from the requirement to register under the Worker Registration Scheme because (a) they have been working for 12 months or more, (b) they are working in a self-employed capacity, (c) they are working for less than 30 days and (d) any other relevant category; and if he will make a statement. [90222]
Mr. Byrne: Workers in these categories are exempt from the need to register under the Worker Registration Scheme and as such the Government do not hold figures on their numbers.
Young Offenders
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children have been kept in penal custody in each of the last three years; what proportion of children so held had (a) some form of mental health problem, (b) a history of having been in care, (c) literacy levels below the average for their age, (d) no educational provision, (e) reported experience of violence at home and (f) reported suffering from sexual abuse. [47527]
Fiona Mactaggart: The information regarding the numbers of children under the age of 18 who are held in custody is provided in the following table. All children in penal custody below statutory school leaving age have access to educational provision regarding (a) to (c) and (e) and (f). Information on these is not held centrally and could not be obtained without disproportionate cost, although research in these areas is published in Annex D of the Social Exclusion Unit report “Reducing re-offending by ex-prisoners”.
| Young persons population in custody at 30 June 2003-05 | |||
| 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | |
| Source: RDS-NOMS monthly briefs. | |||
Trade and Industry
Agricultural Subsidies
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the concessions on agricultural subsidies in the latest Doha trade talks offered by (a) the EU and (b) the US. [89080]
Mr. McCartney:
Negotiations on the Doha Development Agenda were suspended on 24 July by the Director General of the World Trade Organisation, Pascal Lamy. This suspension was due to a failure to
reach agreement in the negotiations on the agriculture dossier, including on agricultural domestic support, on which neither the US or EU have made a new offer since October 2005. The UK Government remain committed to achieving an ambitious, pro-development outcome to the DDA, and we hope that the negotiations can be restarted at the earliest opportunity.
Annual Reports
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many staff in his Department did not achieve an acceptable mark in their annual report in each of the last three years; and what percentage this represented of the total number of staff in each case. [75117]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The number of staff in the Department who did not achieve an acceptable mark in their annual report in each of the last three years; and what percentage this represented of the total number of staff in each case, is listed in the following table:
| Financial year | Number of unacceptable box markings awarded | Percentage of total number of staff |
These figures represent the numbers of staff who were given an unacceptable box marking under formal inefficiency proceedings. Unacceptable performance has to be addressed as soon as it occurs rather than waiting for the appraisal cycle to complete. Central records record cases of poor performance current at the end of the appraisal year.
Art Market
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the implications for the UK art market of the implementation of EU Directive 2001/84/EC (Artists’ Resale Right (Droit de Suite)). [91877]
Jim Fitzpatrick: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 13 July 2006, Official Report, column 574W, which read:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, what assessment she has made of the impact of Droit de Suite on (a) the London and (b) the British art market; and if she will make a statement.
A study into the potential impact on the British art market was carried out prior to the implementation of the directive introducing Droit de Suite. The report of its findings and the regulatory impact assessment which was prepared during the implementation are available on the Patent Office website. This study did not consider the London art market separately.
A further study is being commissioned to assess the actual impact following our implementation of the directive. This will be undertaken during 2006-07.
Assisted Areas
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what changes have been made to the assisted area map for Wales in the last 30 years. [88281]
Margaret Hodge: The information requested is not held centrally but assisted areas coverage is set out in the Industrial Development Act 1982 Annual Reports available from the Libraries of the House.
Bankruptcy
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many people were declared bankrupt in (a) 2000-01, (b) 2001-02, (c) 2002-03, (d) 2003-04 and (e) 2004-05, broken down by those aged (i) under 20, (ii) 21 to 25, (iii) 26 to 30, (iv) 31 to 35, (v) 36 to 40 and (vi) over 41 years. [92065]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Official bankruptcy statistics are not routinely analysed by age and to provide the information on the age groups requested would incur disproportionate cost. However, the Insolvency Service published the report “Characteristics of a bankrupt” in March 2006 which included an analysis of bankruptcies in England and Wales by broad age groups for the financial years 2001-02 to 2004-05 and is available here:
http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/insolvencyprofessionandlegislation/policychange/cob.pdf.
The relevant statistics are summarised in the following table. Equivalent statistics for 2000-01 are not available.
| Bankruptcy Orders by Age | ||||||
| No Age Recorded | 18 to 29 | 30 to 39 | 40 to 49 | 50+ | Total (where age is recorded) | |
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