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30 Nov 2006 : Column 898W—continued
In some circumstances, the distribution of such text may be covered by the law on incitement.
Mrs. James: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what legislation governs the making and distribution of indecent images, which are not photographs, of children; and if he will make a statement. [105879]
Mr. Coaker: Section 84 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 updated the controls on the taking, making, distribution and possession of indecent photographs of children, set out in the Protection of Children Act 1978 and the Criminal Justice Act 1988, to include pseudo photographs of children. A pseudo photograph is an image, whether made by computer graphics or in any other way, which appears to be an indecent photograph of a child under 18. The maximum penalty for production and distribution of this material is 10 years and for possession five years’ imprisonment.
The Obscene Publication Acts 1959 and 1964 cover the publication, supply and possession for gain of material, which, in the view of the court, has a tendency to “deprave and corrupt” those likely to read, see or hear it. This includes images of child abuse which do not meet the definition of a pseudo photograph, that is they do not appear to be a photograph of a child, if they meet this test. The maximum penalty for offences under the Act (as amended) is three years imprisonment.
Departmental Accommodation
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what (a) the annual cost of maintenance is and (b) the total value is of (i) the First, Second and Third Floors, 24 Greenwich High Road and (ii) Burghley Hall, 809-813 High Road, London E11. [102821]
Mr. McNulty: The Home Office has no interest in 24 Greenwich High Road. The cost of maintenance of Burghley Hall, 809-813 High Road in financial year 2005-06 was £8435. It is leased and has no capital value.
Departmental Computers
Mr. Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many computers have been stolen from his Department in the last nine years; and what their total value was. [103532]
Mr. Byrne: Current records only date back to 2001, and since then the number of recorded computer thefts have been:
| Number | |
| (1 )No information currently available. | |
The nature of our supply contracts are such that the Home Office buy a managed service from its third party IT suppliers and so a specific cost cannot be attributed to specific items.
We do record all items reported as stolen and appropriate action is taken by internal departments. However, the central record comprises all items, not just computer equipment, so extracting and summarising this information for the whole Department could be achieved only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Energy
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much energy consumed by his Department is acquired from renewable sources. [106151]
Mr. Byrne: In 2004-05, the latest year for which figures have been published, the Home Office (including publicly operated prisons) acquired 62,505,257 kWh from renewable sources.
Departmental Staff
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of staff employed in the top five grades of his Department have (a) a graduate qualification in IT and (b) previous employment as an IT specialist. [105940]
Mr. Byrne: The Home Office does not routinely collect the information sought and to do so specifically would incur disproportionate costs.
Disabled Staff
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what percentage of staff employed in his Department were registered disabled in each year since 2001. [104474]
Mr. Byrne: The following table shows figures for disabled people employed in the Home Department for the years 2001 to 2006. Figures for 2001 to 2004 are taken from the Cabinet Office Mandate return for April in each of the years between 2001 and 2004 (see table).
Drugs
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average London street price of (a) herbal cannabis, (b) skunk, (c) cocaine, (d) crack, (e) heroin and (f) ecstasy was in each year since 1997. [106685]
Mr. Coaker: I understand from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis that not all the information is available. The available information is shown in the following table.
| £ | ||||||
| Per ounce | Per gram | |||||
| Cannabis herbal | Cannabis resin | Cocaine | Crack | Heroin | Ecstasy (per tablet) | |
Gender Equality
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to ensure that private organisations contracted to work (a) in his Department and (b) for non-departmental public bodies and executive agencies for which his Department is responsible are aware of their duties under gender equality legislation when exercising public functions on behalf of public bodies. [101511]
Mr. Byrne: The Department currently ensures that private sector contractors are aware of the discrimination provisions in the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 by incorporating an Unlawful Discrimination Clause into our services contracts as follows:
Unlawful discrimination
“The Contractor shall not unlawfully discriminate in relation to the performance of the Services within the meaning of the Race Relations Act 1976 and the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 or the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and/or any other anti-discrimination legislation from time to time in force. The Contractor shall take all reasonable steps to secure the observance of these provisions by all sub-contractors or agents used in the provision of the Services."
From 6 April 2007, private sector organisations, when carrying out functions of a public nature on behalf of public authorities, will be required to comply with the general gender equality duty which is to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination and harassment and promote equality of opportunity between women and men.
OGC advice is that every procurement will need to be considered and that the gender equality duty should apply where it is relevant to the subject of the contract.
The Commercial Directorate will issue a policy note to the Department's devolved procurement units, executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies informing them about the gender equality legislation and the steps they need to take to ensure that private organisations are aware of their duties under this legislation.
We will also refer to the Equal Opportunities Commission's (EOC) Code of Practice of the Gender Equality Duty and any further EOC guidance when available.
Heroin
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the percentage of heroin trafficked into the United Kingdom in 2005-06 which came through Scotland. [105985]
Mr. Coaker: We estimate that the amount of heroin which enters the UK annually is broadly in the region of 20 tonnes. The bulk is believed to enter through the English channel ports and is subsequently distributed to all parts of the UK, including Scotland. Some heroin is imported directly into Scotland but it is not possible to say what proportion this is of the whole.
Illegal Migrant Population
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he has taken to estimate the illegal migrant population residing in the UK. [103686]
Mr. Byrne: No Government of the UK have been able to say with accuracy how many illegal immigrants are present in the country, because there is currently no means of counting those who leave the country on their own accord without informing the immigration authorities.
The IND Review published on 25 July contains new strategic objectives and plans to tackle identifying individuals who have been refused asylum and not deported.
A full copy of the report can be found at
http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/aboutus/reports/indreview
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