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2 Feb 2007 : Column 599W—continued

Joseph Deele Omanga

Mr. Mullin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the letter of 6 September 2006 from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary on the asylum application of Joseph Deele Omanga (Home Office reference 01066013), when he expects to provide a substantive response to the letter of 4 April 2006; and if he will make a statement. [114741]

Mr. Byrne: I wrote to the hon. Member on 31 January 2007.

Kenya

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will ask the police to initiate an inquiry into former colonial officials resident in the UK alleged to be responsible for the deaths and torture of Kenyans during the 1950s Kenyan emergency; and if he will make a statement. [111332]

Mr. McNulty: It is an operational matter for the police to investigate evidence of any criminal offence.

Mental Illness: Employment

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he is taking to promote actively the employment within (a) his Department and (b) public sector bodies for whom he has responsibility of people with mental illnesses in line with the advice and codes of practice produced by the Disability Rights Commission. [117077]

Mr. Byrne: Under the disability equality duty introduced by the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, my Department and the public sector bodies for which I am responsible are required to publish and implement disability equality schemes. These are plans setting out how we will carry out the disability equality duty, monitor, and report on progress. In particular this includes our arrangements for gathering information on the effect of our policies and practices on the recruitment, development and retention of our disabled employees, including those with mental health conditions, and making use of that information.

Further details of these arrangements are set out in the Department’s disability equality scheme published on 4 December 2006 and are available on http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/ho-disability-equality-scheme/.


2 Feb 2007 : Column 600W

Mentally Disordered Offenders

Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what definition he uses of a mentally disordered offender. [117805]

Mr. Sutcliffe: Mentally disordered offender is not a term with any statutory meaning, but the Home Office uses it to denote anyone convicted of an offence (or disposed of by the court following a finding under the Criminal Procedure (Insanity) Act 1964) and then dealt with under powers in Part III of the Mental Health Act 1983.

Clause 29 of The UK Borders Bill, introduced on 26 January, creates a number of exceptions to the automatic deportation procedure for foreign criminals. One of these, Exception 5, is where certain provisions of the Mental Health Act 1983 or corresponding legislation in Scotland or Northern Ireland apply (the foreign criminal is a “mentally disordered offender”). This is because we think it is right that full consideration is given on a case by case basis to the complex issues surrounding the deportation of people falling within this category rather than deportation being automatic.

Mr Boukhalfi

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects the application by Mr. Boukhalfi (HO ref. B1050245) for indefinite leave to remain in the UK, made on 4 January 2006, to be determined. [117544]

Mr. Byrne [holding answer 30 January 2007]: I wrote to the hon. Member regarding this matter on the 29 January 2007.

MSC Napoli

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will compensate the Devon and Cornwall constabulary for costs incurred policing the beached cargo from the MSC Napoli; and if he will make a statement. [111853]

Mr. McNulty [holding answer 26 January 2007]: Policing beaches within a force area is the operational responsibility of the police and is therefore an appropriate charge to the budget of the local force. Police authorities are expected to hold contingency reserves to meet exceptional events.

If additional costs incurred by the force are of a magnitude that puts at risk their operational capability, after use of any contingency reserves, then they may apply to the Home Office for special grant support.

Police

Mr. Fraser: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) full-time, fully trained police officers and (b) police community support officers Norfolk constabulary had in each of the last 10 years. [117747]

Mr. McNulty: The available data are given in the tables.


2 Feb 2007 : Column 601W
Police officer strength( 1) (FTE)( 2) by police force as at 31 March 1997 to 31 March 2006
Norfolk police force Full-time equivalent

31 March 1997

1,432

31 March 1998

1,430

31 March 1999

1,381

31 March 2000

1,381

31 March 2001

1,420

31 March 2002

1,468

31 March 2003

1,499

31 March 2004

1,510

31 March 2005

1,544

31 March 2006

1,557

(1) This table contains full-time equivalent figures that have been rounded to the nearest whole number. Because of rounding, there may be an apparent discrepancy between totals and the sums of the constituent items.
(2) Full-time equivalent excludes those on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave.

Police community support officer strength( 1 ) (FTE)( 2) by police force as at 31 March 2003 to 31 March 2006( 3)
Norfolk police force Full-time equivalent

31 March 2003

12

31 March 2004

33

31 March 2005(4)

68

31 March 2006(4)

65

(1) This table contains full-time equivalent figures that have been rounded to the nearest whole number. Because of rounding, there may be an apparent discrepancy between totals and the sums of the constituent items.
(2) Full-time equivalent includes those on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave.
(3) Police community support officers were introduced in statute in 2002, therefore data are not available prior to 2002-03.
(4) Strength figures as at 31 March 2005 onwards include those staff on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave. Therefore these figures are not comparable with those provided for other years in the table.

Police Community Support Officers

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) police community support officers and (b) police officers were recruited to West Lancashire police force in each year since 2002. [112302]

Mr. McNulty: The available data for Lancashire police force are given in the following table:

Police community support officer and police officer recruits to Lancashire police from 2002-03 to 2005-06( 1) (FTE)( 2)
Recruits 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06

PCSOs

94

7

66

56

Police Officers

224(3)

332(4)

160(4)

209(4)

(1) Financial year runs 1 April to 31 March.
(2) Full-time Equivalent. This figure includes those on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave.
(3) Not comparable with later years; data include transfers from other England and Wales forces and officers returning after a period of secondment
(4) Data include transfers from other England and Wales forces but do not include officers returning after a period of secondment.

Police Riot Protection

Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what funds have been allocated to
2 Feb 2007 : Column 602W
the Home Office Scientific Development Branch to develop requirements and test methods for police riot protection. [112628]

John Reid: Over a three year period (2004 to 2007) approximately £200,000 has been allocated for the development and publishing of HOSDB standards for public order protection.

Police: West Midlands

Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) when he expects the 101 programme to be implemented in the West Midlands police area; [117892]

(2) how much has been spent on publicising the 101 programme since its introduction; [117893]

(3) how many calls were handled by the five local authorities participating in the 101 programme in 2006. [117894]

Mr. McNulty [holding answer 1 February 2007]: Evaluation and assessment of the introduction of the single non-emergency number, 101, in the five Wave 1 Police and Local Authority Partnership areas are currently ongoing. Plans for further programme development beyond Wave 1 Partnership areas have been deferred pending the outcome of this evaluation and assessment to be completed in autumn 2007.

The 101 service was introduced between May and September 2006 in the five Wave 1 Partnership areas involving 30 local authorities and five police forces covering approximately 10 per cent. of the population of England and Wales. £1.3 million was spent on publicising the new service locally across these areas and informing the public how it should be used.

Since this introduction until the end of December 2006, 101 call advisers have handled more than a quarter of a million (277,272) calls from the public in their local areas with high levels of customer satisfaction and positive feedback on the service received.

Probation Service

Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many full-time equivalent probation officers were employed in each probation area in each of the last 10 years. [117786]

John Reid: Information is not available for the full period requested. Data collected prior to 1 April 2003 are not directly comparable with the more accurate figures collected since that time. The figures presented show full-time equivalent (FTE) figures at the close of each quarter from 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2006.

In addition, the information required to break down the number of Probation Officers in post by area in quarter 1 2003-04 is no longer held. As a result, only the total figure has been provided for this period.


2 Feb 2007 : Column 603W
Probation officers in post by area
2003-04
Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4

Avon and Somerset

96.40

112.90

110.40

Bedfordshire

57.30

61.10

62.60

Cambridgeshire

75.50

85.35

75.97

Cheshire

116.10

112.30

114.30

Cumbria

59.90

59.90

56.30

Derbyshire

117.60

106.70

102.70

Devon and Cornwall

136.80

149.35

146.30

Dorset

63.00

68.00

63.10

Durham

72.00

86.50

87.50

Dyfed Powys

46.70

46.30

43.70

Essex

106.00

111.20

117.50

Gloucestershire

52.30

56.40

55.40

Gwent

69.10

68.10

69.20

Hampshire

155.90

173.59

178.60

Hertfordshire

63.70

65.90

71.99

Humberside

121.78

139.78

138.78

Kent

138.35

148.55

154.95

Lancashire

243.20

243.60

246.10

Leicestershire

126.00

125.00

130.70

Lincolnshire

64.20

61.60

60.60

London

795.70

840.50

862.50

Greater Manchester

414.70

399.80

387.58

Merseyside

243.90

241.50

238.44

Norfolk

72.68

76.88

84.18

North Yorkshire

66.20

75.80

75.60

North Wales

58.70

67.10

67.50

Northamptonshire

69.00

65.00

63.00

Northumbria

223.30

252.26

253.10

Nottinghamshire

166.00

171.50

160.90

South Wales

155.60

157.60

172.30

South Yorkshire

183.50

203.00

202.40

Staffordshire

148.70

147.10

146.20

Suffolk

82.25

81.75

85.15

Surrey

56.70

63.90

66.55

Sussex

121.20

123.30

126.60

Teesside

64.60

76.60

74.85

Thames Valley

163.00

176.70

182.00

Warwickshire

55.00

55.00

53.21

West Mercia

123.31

125.46

125.90

West Midlands

374.50

429.20

406.82

West Yorkshire

275.57

310.48

313.86

Wiltshire

41.90

48.90

50.10

Total

5,831.10

5,937.84

6,271.45

6,285.43


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