Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
27 Nov 2006 : Column 410Wcontinued
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.
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
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 SIAs licensing system.
The SIA has now deployed extra staff to assist with those complex applications which require further checks.
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.
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.
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.
Dr. Vis:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many times children have been
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.
Next Section | Index | Home Page |