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15 Jan 2007 : Column 772Wcontinued
Mr. Ellwood:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many performances in (a) the UK and
(b) abroad the RAF's Red Arrows Display Team participated in during 2006. [113705]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 10 January 2007]: The Royal Air Force Acrobatic Team (the Red Arrows) performed 59 display sequences in the UK and 16 display sequences abroad in 2006.
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what funding his Department has given to individual trade unions in the last three years. [113983]
Derek Twigg: The Ministry of Defence does not provide funding to individual trade unions.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many times (a) C-17A Globemaster, (b) Hercules LC-130, (c) Tristar and (d) VC-10 aircraft have been cannibalised in the last 12 months. [110376]
Mr. Ingram: The removal of serviceable parts from one aircraft for use on another is a routine and temporary measure to ensure that the maximum number of aircraft are available to the front line.
The number of these instances over the last 12 months (January to December 2006 unless otherwise annotated), by donor aircraft, is given in the following table.
Aircraft type | Number of cannibalisations |
(1) 1 November 2005 to 31 October 2006. (2) 30 November 2005 to 1 December 2006. |
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects to decide whether to order the seventh and eighth Type 45 destroyers. [114288]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 11 January 2007]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 7 June 2006, Official Report, column 627W.
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Type 45 destroyers will typically be available for deployment at any one time if six such ships are constructed. [114289]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 11 January 2007]: No decision has been taken to reduce the number of Type 45s to be ordered. Six Type 45 destroyers are already under contract. Once they are in service, five will typically be available, at various states of readiness, for deployment.
10. Meg Hillier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to reclassify cannabis as a class B drug. [114684]
Mr. Coaker: No. The Governments decision to reclassify cannabis as a class C drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 was taken in the light of the advice we received from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs on the harmfulness of cannabis relative to that of other drugs in class B.
The Governments decision last year to retain cannabis as a class C drug was taken in the light of further advice from the council following its consideration of all the relevant evidence about the effects of taking cannabis on mental health.
11. Natascha Engel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what funds his Department plans to provide to support policing in Derbyshire in addition to the Police Grant Settlement. [114685]
Mr. McNulty: Under the terms of the provisional settlement announced on 28 November 2006, in 2007-08 Derbyshire will receive £105.8 million in general grants, an increase of 3.7 per cent. (£3.8 million) over 2006-07.
On top of general grants, Derbyshire will continue to benefit from an estimated £18 million from a range of other Government funding.
13. Mrs. Riordan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offences have been dealt with by community support officers in Halifax since 2005. [114687]
Mr. Coaker: Although the Home Office does not collect data on offences dealt with at individual officer level, we do measure offences brought to justice and sanction detections through the Police Performance Assessment Framework. In the most recent assessment (for 2005-06), West Yorkshire police achieved an excellent rating for investigating crime.
Police community support officers (PCSOs) are important members of Neighbourhood Policing teams, providing reassurance through strong community engagement and high visibility policing. They deal with issues that the local community identify as their priority such as low level crime and antisocial behaviour.
14. Richard Ottaway: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of measures to deport failed asylum seekers. [114688]
Mr. Byrne:
The effectiveness of measures deployed to remove failed asylum seekers is assessed on an
ongoing basis. These measures have ensured that the removal of failed asylum seekers has been steadily increasing over the past few years.
15. Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent research he has evaluated or commissioned on the effectiveness of prisons in reducing reoffending. [114689]
Mr. Sutcliffe: We are delivering a wide range of interventions in prisons which are consistent with international evidence on what is effective in reducing reoffending. We have some evidence on these interventions in England and Wales which the Home Office has published. As part of the ongoing National Offender Management Service research strategy we will be developing our understanding of what works in prisons.
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many visitors were arrested for possession of contraband at each prison establishment in each of the last 12 months for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [113209]
Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer 11 January 2007]: Information on the number of visitors arrested for possession of contraband is not routinely collected. However an analysis of visitors arrested on suspicion of trying to smuggle drugs indicates that in 2005-06 there were around 400 such arrests.
16. Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many vacant positions there are for probation officers. [114690]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Figures for 31 March 2006 show that there were a total of 8,262.50 full-time equivalent probation officers in post in England and Wales. On the same date there were 227.70 full-time equivalent vacancies that were actively being recruited to, which accounted for 2.68 per cent. of the total posts available at that time.
17. Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions he has had with the Association of Chief Police Officers' head of road policing on the impact on crime detection rates of registration of vehicles to false addresses. [114691]
Mr. Coaker: This issue has been considered at various times over a significant period. The most recent ministerial discussion with ACPO took place on 5 July last year.
18. Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation introduced in the last 10 years to combat antisocial behaviour. [114692]
Mr. McNulty: The effectiveness of legislation and interventions introduced to combat anti social behaviour has been assessed in two major independent reports published last year. On 7 December 2006 the National Audit Office published the report titled Tackling Anti-social BehaviourReport by the Comptroller and Auditor General. On 2 November 2006 the Youth Justice Board published a report titled Anti-Social Behaviour Order Research. Both of these reports confirm that our twin track approach of support and sanction is effective in providing communities respite from antisocial behaviour.
19. Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of interventions to combat antisocial behaviour. [114693]
Mr. McNulty: The effectiveness of legislation and interventions introduced to combat antisocial behaviour has been assessed in two major independent reports published last year. On 7 December 2006 the National Audit Office published the report titled Tackling Anti-social BehaviourReport by the Comptroller and Auditor General. On 2 November 2006 the Youth Justice Board published a report titled Anti-Social Behaviour Order Research. Both of these reports confirm that our twin track approach of support and sanction is effective in providing communities respite from antisocial behaviour.
20. Jeremy Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners are being held in police cells. [114694]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The number of prisoners held in police cells will vary on a daily basis and is dependent on the management of regional prison population pressures.
22. Mr. Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the likely effect of the e-Borders scheme on the security of the UK's borders. [114696]
Mr. Byrne: The e-Borders Programme will strengthen the security of the UK's borders by identifying individuals who present a risk through the universal collection and analysis of passenger information from carriers hi advance of travel. It will expedite the movement of legitimate passengers while helping to safeguard the UK against serious organised crime, terrorism and illegal immigration. The concepts have been proved and delivered through Project Semaphore, the de-risking pilot for e-Borders solution.
23. Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he last visited the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in Croydon to assess the efficiency of the service. [114697]
Mr. Byrne: As part of my ongoing programme of weekly regional visits to IND operations in Croydon and around the UK I discuss the services provided by managed migration, asylum and enforcement with both staff and stakeholders. I also regularly discuss the efficiency of the service with the Director General of IND, and other senior officials.
24. John Penrose To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of the introduction of neighbourhood policing in (a) Avon and Somerset police force and (b) England and Wales. [114698]
Mr. Coaker: Neighbourhood policing will be introduced to every area by April 2007, and every community will have a neighbourhood policing team by April 2008. Delivery of neighbourhood policing has now extended to more than 6,700 neighbourhoods.
Currently there are 47 dedicated neighbourhood policing teams in Avon and Somerset.
25. Peter Viggers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the inter-relationship between drug addiction and crime; and what steps he is taking to reduce drugs dependency among criminals. [114699]
Mr. Coaker: The inter-relationships between drug misuse and crime are complex, but it is generally accepted that there is a strong relationship between addiction, especially to heroin and crack cocaine, and acquisitive crime. There has been record investment in tackling this problem, including the establishment of the Drug Interventions Programme, the provision of drug interventions in prisons and the expansion of drug treatment services.
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of (a) public awareness of unpaid work carried out by offenders complying with the terms of community sentences and (b) public engagement in selecting the work to be undertaken by offenders pursuant to community sentences. [114480]
Mr. Sutcliffe:
The Home Office has not made any formal assessment of the public awareness of unpaid work carried out by offenders, however Community Payback (the name by which we promote unpaid work in the community) continues to receive significant amounts of local and national media coverage. Probation areas
seek to make the public aware of this work and the positive contribution it makes to the community by means such as the use of plaques and signs at work sites, displays in public buildings, and by presentations to community groups. All probation areas have set up systems encouraging the public to suggest projects which they would like to see carried out.
In March 2006, probation areas completed a snapshot of their unpaid work provision. This showed the strong links to a wide variety of partners as sources of unpaid work of which the main ones were the voluntary sector (45 per cent.), local authorities (38 per cent.), education (15 per cent.), faith groups (12 per cent.) and Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (10 per cent.). The overall numbers add up to more than 100 per cent. as some projects fit more than one category.
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the trial to assess different models of conditional cautions in seven criminal justice areas. [114481]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Plans to establish new models for conditional cautioning were announced in the Respect Action Plan launched in January 2006. These new models involve the offender undertaking unpaid (reparative) workto make good the damage they have caused to the local community that has suffered. In this way, offenders give something back to the community to repair the harm they have caused. The pilots are now starting in Durham, Lancashire, Merseyside, North Wales, South Yorkshire, Thames Valley and West Mercia, and will run until December 2007. A decision on whether to expand the scheme will be taken early next year.
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