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31 Jan 2007 : Column 361W—continued
Passports
Mr. Pelling:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which contractors have been responsible for operating the secure delivery of
passports for the Identity and Passport Service since 1 January 2003; and what estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) percentage of passports mislaid by such contractors each year since 2003. [111182]
Joan Ryan: Passports were delivered by First Class post in 2003, and during this year 3,593 passports were recorded as lost. This equates to 0.06 per cent. of passports produced.
Secure Mail Services commenced the Secure Delivery of passports on 9 February 2004, and losses since this contract commenced are as follows:
| Number | |
These losses equate to around .013 per cent. of output over this period, a reduction of 80 per cent. over the losses previously experienced.
Penalty Tickets
Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many penalty tickets have been issued in Surrey to individuals for offences other than road traffic offences in the last 12 months; what the value was of such issued tickets; and what percentage of such value has been collected. [116578]
Mr. Coaker: The penalty notice for disorder (PND) scheme was introduced in England and Wales in 2004. Under the scheme, the police are able to issue persons suspected of committing specified minor offences with a fixed penalty notice of £50 or £80. No admission of guilt is required and payment of the penalty discharges all liability to conviction for the offence. Data held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform show that 641 PNDs were issued in the Surrey police force area in 2005 which is the most recent 12 month period for which complete and finalized data are available. Of these, 517 were issued for ‘higher tier offences’ which attract a penalty of £80; the remaining 124 were for ‘lower tier offences’ which attract a penalty of £50. The total value of these tickets was £47,560. Data for 2006 will be available in mid 2007.
The initial payment rate for PNDs in Surrey was 63 per cent. in 2005. 35 per cent. of PND recipients had a fine of one and a half times the penalty registered against them, as they failed to pay the penalty or request a court hearing within the 21 day suspended enforcement period. Once registered, these fines fall into the HMCS fine enforcement and collection systems. Figures provided by the Courts Service show that the courts achieved an overall payment rate for all kinds of fines of 83 per cent. in 2005-06.
Police
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the employee contribution rate is to the Police Pension scheme; and if he will make a statement. [111512]
Mr. McNulty: There are two Police Pension schemes in England and Wales; the Police Pension scheme (1987) (PPS) and the new Police Pension scheme (2006) (NPPS) which was introduced for new entrants with effect from 6 April 2006. The employee contribution rate for the PPS is 11 per cent. of pensionable pay (7.5 per cent. if an officer is ineligible for ill-health benefits). The employee contribution rate for the NPPS is 9.5 per cent. of pensionable pay (6 per cent. if an officer is ineligible for ill-health benefits).
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many complaints the police received about the activities of illegal street traders in each of the last 10 years. [111741]
Mr. Coaker: The information requested is not recorded centrally.
Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer of 22 January 2007, Official Report, column 1544W, on the police, if he will place in the Library a list of the police forms which have been eliminated. [111785]
Mr. McNulty: The information on the nearly 9,000 police forms no longer in use, is not held centrally.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the total cost was of police force pensions in each of the last nine years; and what estimate he has made of the cost of police force pensions in each of the next five years. [111927]
Mr. McNulty: Information on the total cost of police pensions in payment for each of the last nine years is not held centrally as the administration of the Police Pension schemes is the responsibility of individual police authorities. Information on financial statistics, including expenditure on police pensions, for police forces is included in the annual reports published by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA). This information is gathered independently of the Home Office.
The figures given in the following table are the most recently published projections of total future expenditure on police pensions in England and Wales, net of the contributions made by serving officers. These were produced by the Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) as part of the consultation process in 2005 on the new system for financing police pensions.
GAD advises that in view of the time elapsed since the figures were produced they should be viewed only as indicative of the likely future trend of police pensions expenditure.
The system for financing police pensions changed on 1 April 2006. Under the new system, police authorities no longer have to meet the cost of pensions in payment out of their operating accounts. Police authorities now have a separate pensions account for this purpose, into which are paid officers' contributions and a new employer's contribution (currently 24.6 per cent. of each officer's pensionable pay). Any shortfall in an authority's pensions account each year is topped up with a grant from central Government; any surplus is
recouped. A key benefit of this change is that it takes away from police authorities the responsibility for meeting the rising cost of pensions in payment as a result of increases in the number of pensioners.
| Financial year | Estimated expenditure (£ billion) |
| Note: GAD projections of total future expenditure on police pensions in England and Wales (2005) | |
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his answer of 22 January 2007, Official Report, column 1545W, on police community support officers, what evidence he has considered on the effect of the use of stab vests on the safety of employees of the police force. [112589]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 30 January 2007]: The Home Office Scientific Development Branch develops and publishes standards for a range of protective equipment for the police and advises police forces and the Government on protective equipment for police use, ensuring that officers have the equipment they need to protect themselves and the public. However the decision on deployment and equipment of PCSOs in each force remains a matter for the chief constable.
Police Cells
Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he has taken to provide extra emergency cells in London to ensure that prisoners no longer have to sleep overnight in court cells. [110898]
Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer 29 January 2007]: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) aims to maximize the use of all available space within the prison estate. This allows spaces to be made available in London to manage the increasing demand for prison places by the courts. The Chief Executive of NOMS formally reactivated Operation Safeguard on Monday 22 January. The Metropolitan Police Service has made a number of places available.
Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the capacity is of police cells in England and Wales; and how many of these cells are occupied by prisoners relocated there under Operation Safeguard. [110899]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 23 January 2007]: The capacity of police cells in England and Wales is not held centrally.
The number of prisoners held in police cells varies on a daily basis and is dependent on court activity and the management of regional prison population pressures. We aim to hold prisoners in police cells for the minimum period and not more than a few days, unless they are appearing regularly at a local court.
Under the reactivation of Operation Safeguard, triggered on 22 January 2007, there are approximately 400 places available nationally.
Police Community Support Officers
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police community support officers were employed in Essex in each of the last five years; how many he expects to be employed by 2008; and if he will make a statement. [111261]
Mr. McNulty: The information requested is set out in the following table. PCSOs were first recruited in Essex in 2002-03 so figures have been shown from that period. The Essex Police has a target of 362 police community support officers for April this year and in support of this will receive funding totalling £5 million in 2006-07, increasing to £6.7 million in 2007-08. It is a matter for the chief constable and the police authority to take decisions on the number of police community support officers and other staff that the force should employ by March 2008.
| Essex police: police community support officers | |
| 31 March | Number of police community support officers( 1) |
| (1 )All figures are full time equivalents. Source: Home Office Research, Development and Statistics bulletins on police service strength | |
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what factors were taken into account when deciding not to supply police community support officers with handcuffs; [111859]
(2) what response he has made to the request from Unison to provide police community support officers in the west midlands with stab vests. [117343]
Mr. McNulty [holding answers 22 and 26 January 2007]: A chief officer may designate a PCSO with the power to use reasonable force in carrying out the relevant powers designated to that officer under schedule 4 of the Police Reform Act 2002.
The use of handcuffs or other restraint or protective equipment by PCSOs is an operational matter for the chief officer.
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reason the target for the recruitment of police community support officers has been changed from 24,000 to 16,000. [117341]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 22 January 2007]: I refer my hon. Friend to the written ministerial statement on 27 November 2006, Official Report, columns 82-86WS.
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) police community support officers and (b) police officers were recruited to Humberside police force in each year since 2002. [117153]
John Reid: The available data are given in the following table.
| Police community support officer and police officer recruits to Humberside police from 2002-03 to 2005-06( 1) | ||
| Recruits | PCSOs | Police officers |
| (1) Financial year runs 1 April to 31 March. (2) Not comparable with later years; data include transfers from other England and Wales forces and officers returning after a period of secondment. (3) Data include transfers from other England and Wales forces but do not include officers returning after a period of secondment. | ||
Police: Surveillance
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the total cost of operational surveillance by the police of suspected perpetrators of serious and organised crime was in each of the last five years. [112405]
Mr. Coaker: The information is not held centrally.
Prison Service
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the (a) extent of and (b) reasons for (i) staff transfer, (ii) staff turnover and (iii) staff departure from posts within the Prison Service as a consequence of stress; and if he will make a statement. [110920]
Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer 29 January 2007]: Staff transfers and departures are managed at local level and the details requested are not recorded centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The Prison Service is currently working with the Health and Safety Executive to identify initiatives that will aim to reduce workplace stressors and there is ongoing work to look at the reasons why staff leave the Prison Service and also to develop a policy on stress.
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what training is given by the population management unit of HM Prison Service to prison officers who review category C prisoners eligible for a move to a lower security category prison. [111307]
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