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27 Nov 2006 : Column 410W—continued


Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the progress being made by his Department on the approval of roadside drug testing equipment. [102562]

Mr. Coaker: International research has confirmed our belief that no existing device is suitable to be type approved for the conduct of roadside drug tests under the Road Traffic Act. The Home Office Scientific Development Branch and Forensic Science Service are preparing a detailed specification for a device that would be suitable for type approval and this should issued shortly. It will then be for manufacturers to prepare a device in accordance with this specification and submit it for the rigorous testing that forms part of the type approval process.

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many traffic offences were lost under the six-month rule in the last financial year for which figures are available. [102736]

Mr. McNulty: The information requested is not collected centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Security Industry Authority

Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications received by the Security Industry Authority are waiting to be processed; what the average waiting time is for processing such applications; what steps he has taken
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to reduce waiting times; when he expects the backlog of applications waiting to be processed to be cleared; and if he will make a statement. [101322]

Mr. Coaker: Applications received are currently being immediately checked and entered onto the Security Industry Authority (SIA) processing system. At 14 November the SIA had 17,220 applications in the processing system.

Valid applications which are not subject to further inquiries about qualifications, identification or criminality are normally processed in approximately six weeks.

Under a contingency plan adopted by the SIA two extra processing centres were set up to clear the backlog of applications waiting to be logged onto the licensing system. There is currently no backlog in placing applications onto the SIA’s licensing system.

The SIA has now deployed extra staff to assist with those complex applications which require further checks.

Statements (Disabled People)

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of training provided for police officers in taking statements from disabled people. [102469]

Mr. McNulty: Individual forces train officers and staff in obtaining evidence from victims and witnesses. Evaluation of training is a matter for forces, and information about it is not collated centrally.

Terrorist Detainees

Mr. Mullin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many terrorist suspects have been detained for 28 days; and how many of these have subsequently been (a) charged and (b) released. [101498]

Mr. McNulty [holding answer 21 November 2006]: The maximum period of detention pre-charge was extended to 28 days with effect from 25 July 2006. Statistics compiled from police records show that six people have been held for 27 to 28 days. Of these six individuals, three were charged and three were released.

Underage Drinking

Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what funding is available from his Department for the local council trading standards Christmas campaigns against underage drinking. [101493]

John Reid: Our expectation is that this Christmas, local council trading standards Christmas campaigns against underage drinking will be funded from their core budgets.

Young Offenders

Dr. Vis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many times children have been
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released from Ashfield Young Offender Institution without their property in each of the last three years. [101673]

Mr. Sutcliffe: HMP and YOI Ashfield has no record of any young person being released from custody (into the community) without their property over the last three years. There have been occasions, however, where young people have claimed that items have been lost from either their stored property, or in-possession property. In such cases a claim will be considered from the young person and compensation will be paid if the prison is found to be at fault.

Dr. Vis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what injuries were incurred by boys held in Huntercombe Young Offenders Institution during control and restraint in each month in (a) 2005 and (b) 2006. [101675]

Mr. Sutcliffe: Data on injuries sustained by boys held in Huntercombe during any incident in which force was used up to and including full control and restraint for the period January 2005 to October 2006 is shown in the following table. The forms used to record any incidents of use of force do not differentiate between control and restraint and other use of force. There were a total of 676 incidents; 134 of which (19.8 per cent.) resulted in some injury to the young person involved. A number of these injuries will have been sustained in incidents between young persons which lead to control and restraint being used but it has not been possible to extract all of these.


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Data on injuries sustained by boys held in Huntercombe prison
Injuries received
Month Number of occurrences when force was used for any reason Number Nature

January 2005

33

4

Cut to finger, pulled muscle

Sore right elbow

Swollen knuckle

Scratch to chest

February 2005

25

3

Abrasion to right arm

Painful right wrist

Mark to neck and damaged cuticle

March 2005

32

10

Sore thumb

Graze to right shoulder

Cut to lower lip, bruising to eyebrow

Swelling to left side of forehead and back of head

Swollen wrist, suspected fracture but none

Swelling and small cut to bottom lip

Graze to left side of head

Pain to elbow, sore knuckle to left hand

Scratch to back

Graze to eyebrow

April 2005

29

5

Sore knuckle

Sore right wrist

Cut and bump to centre of forehead

Swollen left wrist

Swelling to left side

May 2005

20

8

Pain in chest

Nose pain

Sore lip

Swollen knuckle and small scratch to right cheek

Graze left side of forehead and pain in right wrist

Pain and swelling to wrist

Pain right forearm

Sore right arm

June 2005

23

1

Left wrist swollen

July 2005

24

4

Small wound to right cheek and bit lip

Painful left wrist

Bit tongue

Painful shoulder/ribcage

August 2005

18

1

Red wrist

September 2005

24

5

Cut lip

Minor graze to right wrist

Painful right wrist

Painful right arm

Reddening of elbows

October 2005

32

7

Cut to lip

Redness to nose and forehead

Painful left wrist

Right index finger hurt

Painful right wrist

Nosebleed

Small bruise to jaw, graze to neck and scratch to back

November 2005

42

3

Sore back

Nosebleed

Redness to wrists

December 2005

42

6

Red marks to back

Small abrasion

Painful hands and wrists

Scratches to neck

Red marks to wrists

Painful arm

January 2006(1)

51

13

Pain in left wrist

Small bump to back

Pain in right wrist

Right wrist bruised

Pain to left wrist

Red mark on forehead

Red marks right wrist

Bump to head

Carpet burn, bruise and grazes

Bruised right knee

Painful right wrist

Left wrist slightly swollen

Pain in left thumb

February 2006

14

3

Pain and slight redness left hand

Redness to both wrists, sore nose

Red marks around wrists

March 2006

36

11

Abrasions to left shoulder, knees and right arm

Superficial graze to knee

Small graze to right hand

Sore wrists

Bruising to temple, graze left leg, bruising to upper arms and right forearm

Pain and slight swelling to left forearm

Small scratch to left side of neck

Small injury to right thumb

Painful right wrist

Pain in right wrist

Soreness and bump above top lip

April 2006

39

11

Graze to left elbow

Cut to fingers

Sore wrist

Stiff neck

Right arm painful

Redness to wrists

Left hand sore

Sore right wrist

Graze to nose and ear

Little finger swollen

Sore wrists

May 2006

46

7

Small incision to lip, chipped tooth, swelling to forehead

Painful left wrist

Marks to wrists

Painful wrists

Bleeding mole on forehead

Superficial cut to neck

Small bump to forehead

June 2006

34

10

Bang to back of head

Bruise to wrist and elbow

Sore wrist

Scratch on hands

Right hand red and slightly swollen

Right wrist pain and slightly swollen

Small cut behind right ear

Left wrist swollen and bruised

Bruising to wrists

Sore arm

July 2006

33

5

Marks on wrists

Fractured wrist

Painful wrists

Painful left wrist

Nosebleed

August 2006

36

7

Pain to wrists

Small bruise to forehead

Left wrist painful

Graze to forehead, cut lip, painful wrist

Slight pain to wrist

Small cut to right finger

Small bump and graze to forehead

September 2006

23

2

Painful left wrist

Painful wrists, slight swelling to thumb

October 2006

20

8

Red marks on wrists and small abrasion on face

Sore elbow

Sore left wrist

Sore wrist and bump to head

Very small bruise left shoulder

Painful left hand

Scratches

Painful right wrist

Total

676

134(2)

(1) Major incident outside the mosque—approximately 30 boys attacking each other and staff
(2) 19.8 per cent. of use of force incidents resulted in some injury

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