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7 Feb 2007 : Column 970W—continued
Car Audio Systems
Dr. Tony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions were brought in each of the last five years for offences involving excessive noise from car audio systems. [118899]
Mr. Coaker: The Office for Criminal Justice Reform collects and publishes centrally police action for noise offences under the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986, regs. 54-58, 97-99 combined.
It is not possible to identify from the data those offences resulting from excessive noise from car audio systems.
Crime and Disorder Reduction
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to publish the Government’s evaluation of the effectiveness of crime and disorder reduction partnerships. [117743]
Mr. Coaker: The Home Office published in January 2006 the findings of a review of Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) which examined the provisions governing the work of CDRPs. While not an evaluation of effectiveness as such, the work sought to identify the conditions required for effective partnership based on the experience of CDRP working since 1998. The review made a number of recommendations, some of which were enacted through the Police and Justice Act 2006, with the remainder being delivered through secondary legislation and other non-statutory routes.
In addition, the Home Office, the Government Offices and Welsh Assembly Government monitor the performance of every CDRP using the latest crime reduction information available to the Department.
Crime: Railways
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions there have been where CCTV evidence has been used following incidents on the railways in each of the last 10 years. [118322]
Mr. Tom Harris: I have been asked to reply.
This information is not held by the Department for Transport but by the British Transport Police who can be contacted at: British Transport Police, 25 Camden Road, London NW1 9LN, e-mail: general. enquiries@btp.pnn.police.uk.
Criminal Convictions Information
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with which countries the United Kingdom has bilateral or multilateral agreements on the exchange of criminal convictions information. [115885]
John Reid [holding answer 15 January 2007]: The UK has bilateral Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) Treaties with Australia, Ukraine, India, Nigeria, Bahrain, Canada, Ecuador, Hong Kong SAR, Ireland, Malaysia, Panama, Bolivia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Thailand, United States of America, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Romania, The Netherlands, Sweden, Bahamas, Barbados, Colombia, Grenada, Guyana, Paraguay, Italy, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Chile, and Mexico.
The UK is a party to the following multi-lateral agreements which include MLA provisions:
United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, done at Vienna in 1988
United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, done at Palermo 2000
United Nations Convention against Corruption, done at Mexico 2003
European Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, done at Strasbourg in 1959 and the Additional Protocol to the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters 1978
Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds of Crime, done at Strasbourg in 1990
Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters between the Member States of the European Union, Brussels,
2000 and Protocol to the Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters between Member States of the European Union, Brussels, 2001
Scheme relating to Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters within the Commonwealth (the Harare Scheme) (as amended)
Mutual legal assistance arrangements between states are less focussed on a systematic exchange of information about convictions than they are on securing details of a particular suspect's (or defendant's) previous convictions for use during a criminal investigation or during criminal proceedings. So mutual legal assistance arrangements will typically only provide for provision of information about convictions or sentences in response to specific requests, not on a systematic basis. Of these only the 1959 Convention includes a requirement for parties to communicate information on certain criminal convictions
MLA channels may be used to make specific requests for evidence of an individual's criminal convictions for use in specific criminal investigations or proceedings.
There is also the 2005 EU Council Decision on the exchange of information extracted from the criminal record (which is not an agreement as such) which requires the systematic communication of certain criminal convictions between EU member states.
Dispersal Orders
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many dispersal orders have been issued in each police authority area since April 2006. [118200]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 2 February 2007]: Data on dispersal orders for the period requested are not yet available.
Driver Prosecutions
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drivers were prosecuted for offences contrary to sections (a) 3 and (b) 34 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 in Suffolk in each year since 1997. [118656]
Mr. Coaker: Available information for the Suffolk police force area and taken from the Court Proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform covering offences under section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 from 1997 to 2004 (latest available) are given in the table.
Offences under section 34 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 cannot be identified separately from other summary motoring offences. 2005 data will be available later this year.
Freedom of Information
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what grounds a police force may turn down a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. [118173]
Mr. McNulty: The police may turn down a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 under any of the exemptions, other than Section 35.
Harmondsworth Centre
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 8 January 2007, Official Report, column 449W, on Harmondsworth Centre, if he will undertake to make public the results of the inquiry. [116364]
John Reid: The investigation into the circumstances of the recent disturbance at Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre is being carried out by Mr. Robert Whalley CB, a retired senior civil servant. The investigation will establish the lessons to be learnt from this event for the management of the immigration detainees and of the immigration detention estate. It will take full account of the separate police inquiries that are continuing and will be conducted in a way which does not impede any criminal prosecution. Subject to ensuring that any possible criminal prosecutions are not prejudiced, I will arrange for the outcome of the investigation to be available to the House.
Human Trafficking
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many women supported by the Poppy Project over the last three years were first trafficked before they were 18 years; and of those how many entered the UK before they were 18 years. [118537]
Mr. Coaker: The Poppy Project does not collate this information.
Licensed Premises: Crimes of Violence
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many violent offences committed in connection with licensed premises there have been in each year since 2002-03, broken down by police force area; and if he will make a statement. [119221]
Mr. Coaker: The information is not collected centrally. The Home Office collects statistics on violent crimes recorded by the police but no details are available about the premises on which such offences occur.
PCSOs
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police community support officers were employed in (a) Bexley and (b) Greater London in each year since their introduction; and how many he expects to be employed in (i) 2007-08 and (ii) 2008-9. [111646]
Mr. McNulty: Data for police community support officer (PCSO) strength by Basic Command Unit area are not collected centrally as part of the police statistics series. These data will be collected centrally from 2006-07 onwards; PCSO strength data as at 31 March 2007 will be available by the end of 2007-08. The most recent figures available (30 September 2006) indicate that there are 2,681 PCSOs in the Metropolitan Police area.
Police
Mr. Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers in each police force in England were allocated specifically to traffic duties in (a) 1996 and (b) 2006. [118845]
Mr. Coaker: These data are not available for 1996, data for 2006 are given in the table.
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