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26 Oct 2006 : Column 2121W—continued
Dorset Police
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what national police responsibilities are tasked to Dorset constabulary. [92309]
Mr. McNulty: Under the terms of the Police Act 1996 each police authority in England and Wales is responsible for maintaining an efficient and effective force for policing its police area. Section 96A(4) of the 1996 Act sets out the national and international functions of the Metropolitan police. No other police force has statutory national police responsibilities although individual chief officers lead for the Association of Chief Police Officers on particular policing and criminal justice issues. The allocation of these portfolios is a matter for ACPO.
Environmental Standards
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his Department (a) is committed to the achievement of environmental management to ISO 14001 standard and (b) has been externally certified as in compliance with that standard; and if he will make a statement. [81186]
Mr. Byrne: The Home Office is committed to the achievement of environmental management to the ISO 14001 standard. In line with the Government target all major buildings on the Home Office estate now have an environmental management system based on ISO 14001 principles. The Department has also introduced a number of certified ISO 14001 systems in key areas such as the main headquarters building in 2 Marsham street and the custodial estate.
EU Accession Countries Worker Registration Scheme
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when his Department next plans to review the working of the EU Accession Countries Worker Registration scheme; and when it next expects to publish a report. [40990]
Mr. Byrne: In developing and implementing the Worker Registration scheme (WRS) we have sought to strike the right balance between the objective of monitoring the labour market impact of enlargement and avoiding unnecessary bureaucracy. The Government believe that the WRS has worked well to date as a means of monitoring impacts and as a safeguard against fraudulent access to benefits. However, we will continue to keep the scheme under review. The most recent accession monitoring report was published on 22 August 2006. The next accession monitoring report will be published towards the end of November 2006.
EU Veto
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether it is the Government’s policy to retain the national veto on Justice and Home Affairs at European Union level under all circumstances. [93744]
John Reid: We welcome efforts to take forward EU co-operation in the Justice and Home Affairs field, in line with the Hampton Court delivery agenda. We would need to be fully satisfied that any changes to the existing arrangements would genuinely improve the decision-making process, and that such a move would be in the UK's national interest.
The proposal to change the current voting arrangements for police and judicial co-operation and move from unanimity to qualified majority voting was discussed by EU Interior and Justice Ministers at the JHA Informal Council in Tampere on 20-22 September and the JHA Council in Luxembourg on 5-6 October. A broad exchange of views took place, where there was limited support for the proposal.
The Government also set out the concerns which the UK had about the proposal, many of which were shared by other member states. These featured prominently in the negotiations on the JHA aspects of the draft constitutional treaty, where the UK identified a number of substantive concerns, including the potential impact on national security, the extension of external competence and the need for safeguards such as the emergency brake. These concerns remain as valid now as they were then.
It is, as yet, unclear whether the Finnish presidency will bring forward further work in this area but the Government consider the current debate to be over and that we should instead focus on practical measures in the current JHA agenda. We will keep Parliament informed of any developments.
Extradition
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many requests for extradition from the UK to the US have been made in each of the last five years; and how many (a) were successful, (b) were unsuccessful and (c) remain outstanding. [85409]
John Reid: Figures are given in the following table. Rather than use terms like “successful” with reference to extradition requests, we show the number of cases which have resulted in surrenders and the number which have closed for other reasons. The figure does not include requests from Ministers in Scotland and Northern Ireland, who have devolved powers to make or grant requests.
| England and Wales requests to U.S. 2001 to 2005 | ||||
| Total | Surrenders | Closed without surrender | Outstanding from the year | |
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals the UK has (a) successfully and (b) unsuccessfully attempted to extradite from the United States since 1997 in cases where all proceedings are complete, broken down by type of charge. [96246]
Joan Ryan:
These figures only apply to England and Wales, as Scotland and Northern Ireland make their own extradition requests. Since 1997, 33 individuals
have been successfully extradited from the US. In addition to this, the subject of one extradition request to the US was arrested in New Zealand and 15 extradition requests have been withdrawn by the UK’s prosecuting authorities. The following table gives an annual breakdown of the numbers returned, requests withdrawn and the offences concerned in each case.
| Withdrawn | ||
| Offence | Number | |
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received from representatives of the United States on extradition of individuals suspected of being an enemy combatant. [96517]
John Reid: I believe the hon. Gentleman to be referring to unlawful enemy combatants as defined in the US Military Commissions Act 2006. No suspect has been described to us as an unlawful enemy combatant in any representations received from the US on extradition.
Firearms
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) handguns were confiscated and (b) convictions there were for the possession of handguns in each police authority area in each of the last eight years. [93554]
Mr. McNulty: Data from HMRC for the number of illegal weapons including handguns seized by HM Customs and Excise for the years 1997 to 2003 in England and Wales can be found in the following table.
For the years 2004-05, please refer to the following website link:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/about/reports.htm
Figures for the number of firearms seized by police forces are not collected centrally.
Data from the court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform on the number of convictions for possession of a firearm, by police force area 1997 to 2004, can be found in the following table.
Data held by the court proceedings database is unable to identify separately the type of firearm possession.
Data for 2005 will be available in mid November.
| Number of illegal weapons seized by HM Customs and Excise | ||||||
| Year ended 31 March | Hand guns | Rifles | Shotguns | Self defence sprays | Stun guns | Total |
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