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7 Nov 2006 : Column 1320W—continued


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West Midlands Ambulance Service

Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health who the new non-executive directors of the West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS trust are; and what their registrable (a) interests and (b) affiliations are. [98482]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The appointment of non-executive directors of national health service trusts, including ambulance trusts, has been delegated to the Appointments Commission. I have asked Sir William Wells, chairman, to write to the hon. Member with the detailed information requested.

West Sussex Health Care

Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent meetings she has had to discuss the future of hospitals in West Sussex; when they were held; and who attended each. [94841]

Caroline Flint: My right hon. Friend Secretary of State has not had any recent meetings to discuss the future of hospitals in West Sussex.

Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment her Department has made of the future demographic pressures on the health service in West Sussex. [94863]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The configuration of local health services is a matter for the local national health service. It is for local NHS organisations, in conjunction with local stakeholders, to plan and develop services to meet both national and local priorities.

West Sussex Hospitals

Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will visit hospitals in West Sussex planned for closure or downgrading. [95941]

Caroline Flint: My right hon. Friend has no current plans to visit West Sussex. She did however, visit services in the former Surrey and Sussex strategic health authority on 14 July 2006. She met with a number of senior health and social care providers including the chief executives and chairs of the hospitals the hon. Member is referring to.

The Secretary of State also held a staff engagement session at the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals national health service trust which included clinical and non-clinical staff from across the health economy.

Worthing Hospital

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were admitted to Worthing hospital to see an (a) dermatology and (b) cardiology consultant in each of the last three years. [93352]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is only held at trust-level.


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Health Expenditure Weighting

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 23 August to question 13422, if she will set out the impact of the weighting of the three elements of the national weighted capitation formula in three hierarchical tables where the primary care trusts with the highest weighting, and therefore receiving the greatest resources placed at the top and those with the least at the bottom. [91943]

Andy Burnham: The information has been placed in the Library.

Home Department

Accession Countries

Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many workers from the new member states of the EU are claiming tax credits; and how many are claiming in respect of families still living in their home countries. [98683]

Dawn Primarolo: I have been asked to reply.

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Rayleigh (Mr. Francois) on 13 September 2006, Official Report, columns 2337W-38W.

Albania

Mr. Wilshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department who he met during his recent visit to Albania; what matters were discussed; and if he will make a statement. [67267]

John Reid: I have not visited Albania. On 4 April 2006 the then Home Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for Norwich North, (Mr. Clarke), visited Albania as part of a regional tour that also included visits to Romania and Bulgaria. In Albania he met the Prime Minister, Sali Berisha; the Minister of the Interior, Sokol Olldashi; the Minister of Justice, Aldo Bumci; and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Besnik Mustafaj. The meetings were constructive and areas of discussion included how the UK and Albania could continue to work together to tackle serious organised crime, manage migration and combat terrorism.

Alcohol (Minors)

Mr. Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of measures to prevent the purchasing of alcohol by adults for consumption by minors. [99702]

Mr. Coaker: No assessment has been made of the effectiveness of measures to prevent the purchasing of alcohol by adults for consumption by minors.

Fixed penalties for the proxy purchase offences of purchasing alcohol for underage consumption were introduced as part of the penalty notice for disorder (PND) scheme established under the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001. The PND scheme, which was
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piloted in 2002, was rolled out to all police forces in England and Wales in 2004. In November 2004 the PND scheme was widened to include proxy purchase offences of buying or attempting to buy alcohol on behalf of an individual aged under-18. 84 PNDs were issued for these related offences in 2004; 253 in 2005 and 245 for the first half of 2006 (provisional).

Mr. Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment his Department has made of the role of alcohol abuse by minors in recorded cases of antisocial behaviour in Copeland. [99703]

Mr. Coaker: The Home Office has made no such assessment of alcohol misuse by minors in Copeland.

Tackling alcohol misuse effectively requires a mix of activity delivered by local agencies working in partnership. Cumbria police, Cumbria county council and Copeland borough council have undertaken work to tackle alcohol related crime and disorder involving youths. The activity includes: confiscations of alcohol
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from youths in Whitehaven; underage test purchasing operations in licensed premises in West Cumbria; talks to secondary school pupils on alcohol misuse in Copeland; and the use of acceptable behaviour contracts.

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been prosecuted for selling alcohol to minors in the last 12 months. [97305]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The information requested is provided in the table. Data for 2005 will be available in late November.

The offence of sale of alcohol to a person under 18 can attract a penalty notice for disorder (PND). The offence was added to the PND scheme on 1 November 2004, and there were 113 penalty notices issued for the offence in November and December of that year. A further 2,058 penalty notices issued for the offence in 2005. Data for this period for PNDs have been provided as 2005 is the most recent 12 month period for which complete and finalised data is available.

Number of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for offences related to the sale of alcohol to persons under 18, England and Wales 1995-2004( 1, 2)
Offence Offence description Principal statute Year Proceeded against Found guilty

14203

Selling etc intoxicating liquor to person under 18 for consumption on the premises

Licensing Act 1964 S.169 A & B as added by Licensing (Young Persons) Act 2000 S.1

2004

814

586

14352

Wholesaler selling intoxicating liquor to a person under 18

Licensing Act 1964 S.181 A(1) as added by Licensing Act 1988 S.17

2004

5

3

(1) These data are provided on the principal offence basis.
(2) 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.
Source:
RDS - Office for Criminal Justice Reform

Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many online retailers were prosecuted for selling alcohol to under-age customers in each year for which figures are available. [97504]

Mr. Sutcliffe: Data held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform does not separately identify online retailers from other retailers prosecuted for the offence of selling alcohol to underage customers.

Alcohol Treatment Requirement Orders

Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Alcohol Treatment Requirement Orders have been issued in England and Wales in 2005. [99364]

Mr. Sutcliffe: Between April and December 2005, 1,370 alcohol treatment requirements were made under Community Orders which commenced under probation service supervision. A further 200 such requirements were made under Suspended Sentence Orders which commenced supervision during the same period.

These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system, and the totals have been rounded.

Alcohol-related Crime

Mr. Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much has been made available in each constabulary for tackling alcohol-related crime in each of the Alcohol Misuse Enforcement Campaigns; and on what dates the money was made available in each constabulary. [98155]

Mr. McNulty: We do not hold the information in the format requested as not all participating police forces were the same in each of the Alcohol Misuse Enforcement Campaigns (AMECs). To collate that information at this stage would involve disproportionate cost. However, the total amounts of funding provided to police forces for each of the AMECs are as follows.


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BCUs( 1) £ million

AMEC one (Summer 2004)

92

1.5

AMEC two (Christmas 2004)

188

1.2

AMEC three (14 November 2005 to 31 December 2005)

233

2.5

AMEC four (8 May to 8 June 2006)

221

2.3

(1) Basic Command Units

Mr. Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what additional money has been made available to the police in the last 12 months for tackling alcohol-related crime in addition to the Alcohol Misuse Enforcement Campaigns. [98157]

Mr. McNulty: In addition to the Alcohol Misuse Enforcement Campaigns, the Home Office made £1.062 million available to police forces and Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships to tackle alcohol-related crime in the last 12 months.

Mr. Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans his Department has to extend the Alcohol Misuse Enforcement Campaigns. [98158]

Mr. McNulty: The primary function of the Alcohol Misuse Enforcement Campaigns has been to develop and nurture tactics which are effective in dealing with alcohol-related crime and disorder. Having had four specific campaigns, and a separate set of processes for ensuring that good practice is shared and disseminated across England and Wales, our approach now is to look to forces to embed these arrangements in their core everyday policing arrangements.


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Mr. Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many alcohol-related crimes have been recorded in each constabulary in each quarter of the last five years. [98159]

Mr. McNulty: From the information collected centrally on recorded crime, it is not possible to identify those offences which are alcohol-related. Such offences are not specifically defined by statute and details of the individual circumstances of offences do not feature in the recorded crime statistics.

Mr. Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convictions there have been for alcohol-related crimes in each quarter of the last five years. [98160]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The information requested, covering the years 2000-04, are provided in the first table.

Data for 2005 will be available in late November 2006.

Additionally, the penalty notice for disorder scheme was brought into effect in all police forces in England and Wales in 2004. Under the scheme the police are able to issue persons committing specified minor offences with a fixed penalty notice of either £50 or £80. No admission of guilt is required and payment of the penalty discharges all liability for the offence. Data on the number of PNDS issued for these offences in 2004, 2005 and 2006 (provisional January to June), broken down by quarter, are provided in the second table. A list of those alcohol-related offences for which a PND may be issued is also included in the second table.


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7 Nov 2006 : Column 1328W
Number of defendants found guilty at all courts for alcohol related offences, by offence class and quarter, England and Wales 2000-04( 1,2)
Drunkenness, simple Drunkenness, with aggravation Offence by licensed person, etc.( 3) Other offences against liquor laws( 4)

2000

Quarter 1

734

6,476

61

50

Quarter 2

755

6,162

63

31

Quarter 3

819

6,002

34

44

Quarter 4

661

5,573

51

28

Total

2,969

24,213

209

153

2001

Quarter 1

684

6,167

54

34

Quarter 2

666

5,763

43

28

Quarter 3

696

5,963

41

26

Quarter 4

695

5,612

35

31

Total

2,741

23,505

173

119

2002

Quarter 1

646

6,311

42

44

Quarter 2

644

5,991

55

18

Quarter 3

644

6,194

44

29

Quarter 4

576

5,892

79

47

Total

2,510

24,388

220

138

2003

Quarter 1

559

6,439

98

40

Quarter 2

596

6,177

142

41

Quarter 3

591

6,420

134

23

Quarter 4

553

6,362

129

45

Total

2,299

25,398

503

149

2004

Quarter 1

577

6,335

149

48

Quarter 2

488

5,147

178

53

Quarter 3

499

4,246

206

37

Quarter 4

384

3,457

150

25

Total

1,948

19,185

683

163

(1) These data are provided on the principal offence basis. (2) 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. (3) Includes offences of licence holders permitting violent conduct on premises, sale of alcohol out of hours etc. (4) Includes offences of individuals buying, selling alcohol unlawfully etc. Source: RDS—Office for Criminal Justice Reform

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