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29 Jan 2007 : Column 127W—continued

Criminal Records Backlog

Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign offence notifications he received in each of the last 10 years, broken down by country. [115890]

John Reid [holding answer 15 January 2007]: The latest available information was set out in my statements to the House of Commons dated 10 January and 16 January, and in the Home Office press statement issued on 13 January.

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his Statement of 10 January 2007, Official Report, column 285, on the criminal records backlog, how many of the (a) 29 paedophiles, (b) 17 sex offenders, (c) three people convicted of attempted rape and (d) 25 people convicted of rape have been entered onto the Sex Offenders Register. [116279]


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John Reid [holding answer 17 January 2007]: The latest available information was set out in my statements to the House of Commons dated 10 January and 16 January, and in the Home Office press statement issued on 13 January.

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his statement of 10 January 2007, Official Report, column 285, on the criminal records backlog, (1) how many of the 260 most serious offenders entered into the Police National Computer are working with vulnerable people; [116280]

(2) how many of the 260 most serious offenders are working (i) with children, (ii) in the education system, (iii) in the NHS, (iv) with the elderly and (v) with disabled people; [116281]

(3) how many of the 260 most serious offenders now entered into the Police National Computer have re-offended since notifications were made; [116282]

(4) what estimate he has made of the number of British criminals convicted in non-Council of Europe countries who have been able to return to the UK without being registered on the Police National Computer; [116283]

(5) how many Association of Chief Police Officers staff have job responsibilities for clearing the backlog of 27,529 files; and how many had such responsibilities before 10 January; [116284]

(6) how many of the 260 of the most serious offenders whose files are on the Police National Computer the Criminal Records Bureau had checked on 12th January. [116300]

John Reid: The latest available information was set out in my statements to the House of Commons dated 10 January and 16 January, and in the Home Office press statement issued on 13 January.

Custody Cells

Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many custody cells are available in Brecon and Radnorshire; and where they are situated. [111656]

Mr. McNulty: The provision of policy custody accommodation is an operational matter for the chief constable.

Departmental Expenditure

Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much programme expenditure sponsored by his Department was spent via each of the Government Offices for the Regions in the most recent year for which figures are available. [116761]

Mr. Byrne: The Crime and Drugs Directorate of the Home Office has recorded the following programme expenditure across the Government Office Network and Wales, for the 2004-05 financial year.

The hon. Member may wish to be aware that, for 2006-07 and beyond, the Building Safer Communities Fund, (included within the 2004-05 programme spend figures in table) will form part of the Safer and
29 Jan 2007 : Column 129W
Stronger Communities Fund. This is a pooled budget with contributions from the Home Office and the Department for Communities and Local Government and will no longer be expended through the Government Office Network in England.

Analysis of 2004-05 programme spend for the Government Office Network (including Wales)
Government office for 2004-05 programme expenditure £000

Wales

6,423

London

21,839

North West

18,025

North East

7,409

West Midlands

12,961

East Midland

11,104

Yorkshire and Humberside

13,068

East

10,651

South East

15,355

South West

10,456

Total

127,291


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Dog Fighting

Sir Peter Soulsby: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) arrests were made and (b) convictions were obtained in (i) Leicester and (ii) Leicestershire for offences relating to organised dog fighting in each of the last five years. [111109]

Mr. McNulty: The information on arrests is not available. Information on arrests held centrally by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform covers persons arrested for recorded crime (notifiable offences), by age group, gender, ethnicity and main offence group only within the 43 police force areas in England and Wales.

Data held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform court proceedings database for the number of defendants convicted of cruelty to animals within the Leicestershire Police force area, 2001-05 can be found in the attached table. Information held centrally does not enable offences relating to dog fighting to be separately identified from other offences involving cruelty to animals.

The number of defendants convicted of cruelty to animals under the Protection of Animals Act 1911 in Leicestershire Police force area and Leicester local justice area, 2001-2005( 1,2,3)
Force/Area 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Leicester local justice area

8

16

13

7

10

Other local Justice Areas within

Leicestershire police force area

5

2

10

7

4

Total (Leicestershire police force area)

13

18

23

14

14

(1) These data are on the principal offence basis. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (3) It is not possible to separately identify those offences which relate to dog fighting. Source: RDS Office for Criminal Justice Reform

Domestic Violence

Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidents of domestic violence were recorded in (a) England and Wales, (b) Avon and Somerset and (c) Taunton in each of the last five years. [112097]

Mr. McNulty: The British Crime Survey (BCS) routinely provides information on the number of incidents of domestic violence in England and Wales, but this is not broken down by region or police force area.

The 2005-06 British Crime Survey estimated that there were in total 357,000 incidents of domestic violence in England and Wales. The number of incidents of domestic violence as measured by the BCS has decreased by 43 per cent. from 2001-02 to 2005-06 BCS interviews.

Number of BCS incidents of domestic violence, 2001-02 to 2005-06
England and Wales
Number

2001-02

626,000

2002-03

506,000

2003-04

447,000

2004-05

401,000

2005-06

357,000

Source:
2001-02, 2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 British Crime Surveys

Dr. Andrew Lutakome Kayiira

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish the report by Scotland Yard into the murder of Dr. Andrew Lutakome Kayiira in Uganda. [117059]

Mr. McNulty: Publication of the report is a matter for the Government of Uganda.

Drink-driving

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to increase the consistency of the sentencing of those convicted of drink-driving offences. [111140]

Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer 25 January 2007]: Sentencing guidelines for the ‘drink driving’ offences that are triable on summary conviction only (that is
29 Jan 2007 : Column 131W
triable only in the magistrates courts) are included in the Magistrates Courts Sentencing Guidelines. These guidelines do not currently have any statutory force. However, they are in the process of being reviewed by the Sentencing Guidelines Council (SGC), who now have responsibility for them. When the new guidelines are finalised, courts will be required to have regard to them or state the reasons for departing from them.

The Sentencing Guidelines Council will prepare a guideline on the indictable only (i.e. triable in the Crown Court only) offence of causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs in due course.

Eagle Base: Bosnia

Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether personnel from his Department have (a) been posted to and (b) visited Eagle Base in Tuzla, Bosnia since September 2001. [101170]

Mr. Byrne: The Home Office does not have any record with (a) being posted to, or (b) visiting Eagle Base in Tuzla, Bosnia since September 2001.

Exit Checks

Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the merits of reintroducing exit checks at airports. [116367]

John Reid: Selective intelligence-led embarkation controls continue to take place at major ports to identify failed asylum seekers and other immigration offenders who are leaving the UK. We also retain the capacity to set up more extensive targeted controls at short notice when required.

The e-Borders programme, scheduled to commence in 2008, will strengthen and modernise our border control and provide an electronic record of those entering and leaving the UK.

Extraditions

Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what procedures there are for adding those who are extradited from the UK to the Police National Computer. [116368]

John Reid: Recent events have made clear the complexity of the issues faced across government and beyond. This is not helped by the differences in systems, procedures and criteria for recording and using for public protection, information about criminality in this country and outside the UK. I have therefore instigated a government-wide review of the way in which information is shared and used.

Foreign National Criminals

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information he has received from European accession states, including Bulgaria and Romania, on the number of nationals with criminal records who have moved to the UK since
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2004; how many of this number committed serious crimes; and how much of this data has been transferred to the Police National Computer. [115778]

Mr. McNulty [holding answer 15 January 2007]: The latest available information was set out in my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary's statements to the House of Commons dated 10 January and 16 January, and in the Home Office statement issued on 13 January.

Foreign National Prisoners

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign nationals who have not been charged or convicted in UK courts are held in prison under anti-terror laws; and what the nationality is of each prisoner. [104383]

Mr. Byrne [holding answer 27 November 2006]: None.

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 15 January 2007, Official Report, columns 781-82W, on foreign prisoner releases, what offences were committed by those foreign national prisoners released from HMP Peterborough in the 12 months to 31 March 2006; and if he will make a statement. [110895]

Mr. Byrne [holding answer 25 January 2007): The requested information is not centrally recorded and could be obtained only by an examination of individual case records at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign national prisoners there are in England and Wales, broken down by country and by security category of each prison. [105099]

Mr. Byrne: Information on the numbers of foreign national prisoners held in prison establishments in England and Wales, broken by (a) European Union and (b) other countries, and security category of prison establishment, can be found in the table.

The data, which are obtained from the prison IT system, are not shown separately by nationality within individual prison establishment because the numbers are small and the accuracy at this level of detail cannot be guaranteed.

These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system, and although shown to the last individual the figures may not be accurate to that level.


29 Jan 2007 : Column 133W
Foreign national prison population by EU/non-EU and prison, 31 October 2006
Prison main function All EU countries Non-EU countries

All

11,083

2,332

8,750

Category B

1,078

224

854

Category C

3,235

670

2,566

High security

292

61

230

Female closed

211

52

160

Female local

381

82

299

Female open

15

5

10

Male closed young offender

615

96

519

Male juvenile

117

15

102

Male local

4,225

1,018

3,207

Male open

127

48

79

Semi open

788

62

726


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