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19 Feb 2007 : Column 96W—continued
Community Support Officers: Protective Clothing
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 31 January 2007, Official Report, column 364W, on police community support officers, what advice the Home Office Scientific Development Branch has given to police forces in England and Wales on the issuing of protective equipment for police community support officers. [121155]
Mr. McNulty: The Home Office Scientific Development Branch regularly advises police forces with regard to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). However, they have not been asked to provide advice specific to police community support officers. Additionally, any advice is always on the understanding that suitable risk assessments are carried out by the force to determine if PPE is required and the level of protection that the PPE should offer.
Crime
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people convicted of an offence in the last five years had parents who have been previously convicted of a crime. [119353]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Information held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform does not include data on the parents of defendants.
Crime: Suffolk
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many criminal offences committed in Suffolk in each of the last five years resulted in (a) a prison sentence and (b) a suspended prison sentence. [119531]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The available information is contained in the following table and shows immediate and suspended custodial sentences given in magistrates courts in Suffolk and at the Crown Court if committed by Suffolk magistrates. The Home Office Courts Proceedings Database does not include details as to where crimes are committed.
Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much compensation was granted by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) constituency and (b) local authority of recipient. [112625]
John Reid: The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority advises that it cannot provide information about compensation paid by a constituency or local authority area.
Criminal Investigation: Broadcasting
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what powers the police have to force broadcasters to disclose unbroadcast edited material as part of a criminal investigation. [119926]
Mr. McNulty: Part II of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984 enables a constable to gain access to journalistic material that is deemed to be special procedure material by making an application under schedule 1 of PACE to a circuit judge if he or she considers:
there are reasonable grounds that an indictable offence has been committed;
that the material exists on premises specified in the application or on premises occupied or controlled by the person specified on the application;
that the material is likely to be of substantial value; and
the material is likely to be relevant evidence.
Dale Miller
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when details of Dale Miller’s convictions in (a) Switzerland and (b) Germany were entered on the police national computer; and which agency entered the details. [119022]
John Reid: It would be inappropriate to comment on individual cases.
Data Sets
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) whether the Child Protection Agency, police and local authorities share a common address database for their services; [116308]
(2) whether the police and ambulance services share a common address database for their services. [116312]
Mr. McNulty: In most cases, police and other agencies do not use a common address database (gazetteer).
Police force gazetteers are derived from commercially available files which provide a database of postal address locations. Forces will often tailor these databases to make them more relevant to their police force area. Although other agencies using address gazetteers are likely to use the same or similar underlying data, it is not standard practice to share the same gazetteer.
Data-sharing
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the European Union’s plans for EU data-sharing will entail the sharing of data held (a) in the National Identity Register, (b) on the National DNA database, (c) on the NHS Spine and (d) by the Valuation Office Agency. [119971]
Joan Ryan: There are a number of EU initiatives to improve information sharing in the area of Justice and Home Affairs. In principle the UK is keen to share information with EU partners that will add to our ability to protect the public, where the request is in the interest of prevention and detection of crime and taking account of the justification and proportionality of disclosure in accordance with human rights legislation. The Government are supportive of a current initiative by the German presidency of the EU to transpose parts of the PrĂ1/4m Convention into EU law, which includes provisions on improving the sharing of DNA data.
The provision of information from the National Identity Register will be regulated by the Identity Cards Act 2006 which includes no power for information to be given to foreign Governments, except in the limited circumstances set out in the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 relating to criminal proceedings carried out by law enforcement agencies overseas. Information about UK NHS patients is not shared with other European health administrations unless the patient has consented, and either has been referred for treatment to a provider in another European state or is seeking care from a provider in another European state (e.g. they are taken ill while abroad). I am not aware of any plans to share data held by the Valuation Office Agency.
Departmental Offices
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what area of office space his Department and its agencies used in central London in (a) 2004 and (b) 2006; and if he will make a statement. [112183]
Mr. Byrne: In December 2004 the Home Office and its agencies occupied 103,800 square metres net internal area and in December 2006 104,360 square metres net internal area in the inner London boroughs.
Departmental Travel
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his Department’s expenditure was on foreign travel including accommodation in (a) 1996-97 and (b) 2005-06. [114033]
Mr. Byrne: Separate records were not kept of foreign accommodation costs in 1996-97 and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Costs of foreign accommodation in 2005-06 were £3,775,458.
The increase in costs over the period reflects the changing nature of the Home Office’s business, in particular the growth of international terrorism, migration and international travel. Collaboration and information exchange with other countries on counter-terrorism activities and border control have become increasingly critical to the effective discharge of the Department’s responsibilities for asylum, immigration and national security. This has involved higher levels of overseas travel.
For ministerial foreign travel, which is included in the above, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 19 December 2006, Official Report, column 1808W.
Freedom of Information
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions special advisers have been consulted in replying to Freedom of Information requests to his Department; and what his Department's policy is on the role of special advisers in the answering of Freedom of Information requests. [119857]
Mr. Byrne: Special advisers conduct themselves in accordance with the requirements of the code of conduct for special advisers.
Deportation: Algeria
Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assurances were sought from the Government of Algeria before the removal to Algeria on 20 and 24 January 2007 of two men who had been detained in the UK under anti-terrorism powers. [119931]
Mr. McNulty: The British Government seek to remove individuals to Algeria on the basis of assurances regarding treatment contained within an exchange of letters, signed by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister and President Bouteflika on 11 July 2006 (copies are in the Library), supplemented by specific assurances where necessary. This approach has recently been endorsed by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC).
The two individuals referred to voluntarily chose to withdraw their appeals against deportation and were returned to Algeria last month. The general assurances in the exchange of letters will apply to both individuals.
Specific assurances were also sought in the case of the individual returned on 24 January. The individual who was returned on 20 January withdrew his appeal before the process of seeking assurances in his case. Officials from the British embassy in Algiers have remained in close contact with the Algerian authorities regarding the deported individuals. Both men were provided with full details of the British embassy’s contact details and it was explained that they or a nominated contact point could maintain contact with the British embassy after their return. Neither of the men wished to make such a request.
The British Government are confident we can deport terrorist suspects to Algeria without breaching the UK's domestic and international human rights obligations. We base this judgment on the changing circumstances in Algeria, on the rapidly developing relationship between the UK and Algeria and on the assurances given by the Algerian Government on individual deportees.
Deportation: Court Orders
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many deportations following court orders have taken place in the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [119354]
Mr. Byrne: The information requested is not available and could be obtained only by an examination of individual case records at disproportionate cost.
Deportation: Northern Ireland
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals have received deportation orders from Northern Ireland in each of the last five years; and how many of them are still in the Province. [119156]
Mr. Byrne: The information requested is not available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
On 23 May 2006 my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary set out eight priority areas to achieve our long-term policy goals on foreign national prisoners, including arrangements for the consideration for deportation of foreign national prisoners in custody in Northern Ireland. Prison authorities in Northern Ireland have confirmed that these arrangements are now well established and that no foreign national prisoners within Northern Ireland Prison Service custody have been released without first being considered for deportation.
Detention Centres
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the 32 foreign national prisoners held in Channings Wood prison as at 15 February are still being held at Channings Wood; how many have been released; and how many of those that have been released have been deported. [101843]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 23 November 2006]: As of 29 January, four foreign national prisoners who were held at Channings Wood on 15 February 2006 are still being held at that prison.
The further information requested on those who are no longer at Channings Wood is not centrally held by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate and to provide this would involve an individual examination of case files at disproportionate cost.
Prisoners leave establishments for a number of different reasons including, for example, removal from the UK, or on transfer to other prison establishments or Immigration Removal Centres.
DNA Database
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 25 January 2007, Official Report, column 2013W, on the DNA database, why the number of individuals on the database registered in the City of London exceeds the number of residents. [120332]
Joan Ryan: The National DNA Database shows which force took a DNA sample from the person concerned, not which force area that person resides in. The City of London police area has a very small resident population and most of those who have a DNA sample taken by the force live elsewhere.
Domestic Disturbances
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many domestic disturbance calls were made to the police from Tamworth constituency in each of the last two years. [107005]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Home Office does not routinely collect data on calls to the police for assistance. However, Staffordshire police have been able to provide the following statistics on the number of domestic incidents reported to the police for the constituency of Tamworth.
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