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Prostitution
Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the impact of the Association of Chief Police Officers' policy of directing enforcement against prostitution at those creating the demand for street-based sex markets. [110443]
Mr. McNulty: This assessment will be based largely on the numbers of arrests and prosecutions for the offences of kerb crawling and persistent soliciting for the purposes of prostitution. Figures for the period since the Government published their coordinated strategy on prostitution are not yet available.
Public Order
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many dispersal orders were issued in Essex in each of the last three years. [109765]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 18 December 2006]: From April 2006, we have been collecting the number of authorisations by force area. These figures are not yet available.
Rape
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many women who reported rape have subsequently been (a) prosecuted and (b) convicted for (i) perverting the course of justice and (ii) wasting police time in each of the past five years. [110268]
Mr. Coaker: The court proceedings data held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform database does not include information on the circumstances of offences and it is therefore not possible to identify prosecutions, or convictions resulting from reported rapes.
Ritalin
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his Department has received any evidence of Ritalin being used (a) as a recreational drug and (b) as a recreational drug when combined with methadone. [112654]
Mr. Coaker: While Ritalin has a legitimate medical use, the Government recognise its potential for misuse and as a consequence it is controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 as a class B drug, together with amphetamines, and is placed in Schedule 2 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 which places the greatest restriction for medical use, as well as safe custody requirements. The Government are aware of anecdotal evidence of a “black market” and misuse, particularly by young people, but have not made any national assessment. Inappropriate use of Ritalin, including sharing or selling, in a school setting should be dealt with in line with school drug policy.
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his Department has received any evidence of the NHS prescribed Novartis drug Ritalin being (a) sold and (b) used as a recreational drug. [112655]
Mr. Coaker: While Ritalin has a legitimate medical use, the Government recognise its potential for misuse and as a consequence it is controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 as a class B drug, together with amphetamines, and is placed in Schedule two of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 which places the greatest restriction for medical use, as well as safe custody requirements. The Government are aware of anecdotal evidence of a “black market” and misuse, particularly by young people, but have not made any national assessment. Inappropriate use of Ritalin, including sharing or selling, in a school setting should be dealt with in line with school drug policy.
Sex Offenders
Mr. Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of procedures used to track sex offenders released in the community; and if he will make a statement. [109116]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Protecting the public from the harm caused by sex offenders is a priority for this Government. The means of tackling sex offending are constantly developing, and we work together with the front-line agencies to review their effectiveness and, where necessary, make improvements.
Since the establishment in 1997 of a notification requirement for sex offenders to register with their local police (sex offender registration) there have been a number of major developments in measures to monitor sex offenders in the community. The notification requirements themselves have been strengthened by part 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, and in 2001 we introduced statutory multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA) across England and Wales to enhance risk assessment and management of serious sexual and violent offenders. Similar arrangements are being introduced in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The MAPPA were further strengthened by the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and, in 2005, ViSOR (the violent and sex offender register) was successfully rolled out to the police service with plans to extend to the prison and probation services (local authority criminal justice social work departments in Scotland). ViSOR currently provides a national database of intelligence about the behaviour, residence and identity of sexual offenders and will include violent offenders by December 2007.
The Home Secretary has commissioned a review of the management of child sex offenders in the community, in order to identify additional public protection measures. The review is due to report in the new year.
Shopping Centres: Security
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his Department has had discussions with representatives of Bluewater shopping centre on (a) funding scanning equipment for all
entrances of the shopping centre and (b) other security matters relating to the centre. [107297]
Mr. McNulty: It is not Home Office policy to comment on operational security matters.
Single Non-emergency Number
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish the conclusions of assessments of the pilot projects of the Single Non-emergency Number; and what plans he has to reinstate the rollout of the number nationwide. [109608]
John Reid: Evaluation and assessment of the introduction of the Single Non-Emergency Number, 101, in Wave one areas as well as ongoing performance and quality monitoring, are currently ongoing.
The outcome of this evaluation and assessment work, to be completed by the autumn of 2007 and including costs and benefits, will inform plans for the future development of the programme.
The 101 service is now live to the public in five Wave one police and local authority partnership areas covering approximately 10 per cent. of the population of England and Wales. The service is now receiving more than 50,000 calls per month with high levels of customer satisfaction and is already helping to improve the responsiveness and delivery of local community safety services to the public.
Stop and Search
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many stop-and-searches have been made under article 60 (1) (b) of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 as amended by the Knives Act 1997 in each year since the entry into force of the Knives Act 1997; and how many of those stop-and-searches (a) in England, (b) in London, (c) in the Haringey basic command unit lead to an arrest. [108627]
Mr. Coaker: The following table shows stops and searches under Section 60 for England and London. It is not possible to distinguish between stop and searches conducted under Section 60 (1) (a) and (b) of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. Figures are not available for individual basic command units in London.
Terrorism Act
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the individuals detained for a period of (a) 27 and (b) 28 days under the Terrorism Act 2006 after 8 August 2006 were subsequently charged with a criminal offence under the Act. [108822]
John Reid: 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 from this date to 30 September 2006, six individuals were held for 27 to 28 days. Of these, three were charged under the Terrorism Act 2006 and three were released without charge.
Sir John Stanley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been detained in connection with terrorism-related inquiries and then released since the Terrorism Act 2006 came into effect; for how many days each of those detainees were held in detention; and how many of those detainees the police would have wished to detain for a period longer than 28 days while they continued their inquiries. [109771]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 19 December 2006]: The maximum period of detention pre-charge was extended to 28 days by the Terrorism Act 2006 which came into effect on 25 July 2006. Statistics compiled from police records show that 10 people have been held for a period over 14 days. Of those 10 individuals one was held for 14-15 days, three were held for 19-20 days and six were held for 27-28 days.
The Home Office will not comment on the number of detainees that the police may have wished to detain for longer than 28 days. This is an operational matter for the police service.
Mr. David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he plans to review the proscription under the Terrorism Act 2000 of the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (Mojahedin-e Khalk) in the light of the judgment of the European Court of Justice in case T-228/02. [109775]
Mr. McNulty: The Court of First Instance did not rule on the substantive question as to whether People Mojahedin Organisation of Iran is a terrorist group; its judgement was on EU procedures, and as such has no effect on the UK’s domestic proscription arrangements
Thefts: Telephone Report
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the theft of (a) a mobile telephone and (b) a wallet can be reported to the Metropolitan Police on the telephone; and what guidance been has been issued to officers dealing with such enquiries. [109976]
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