| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
19 Feb 2007 : Column 146W—continued
Public Order Offences
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what procedures are in place for those people who cannot afford to pay a penalty disorder notice when issued with one. [120597]
Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer 9 February 2007]: Penalty Notices for Disorder (PND) provide the police with a swift non-bureaucratic disposal option to deal with minor offences. They are fixed penalty. There is no means test as part of the process of issuing PNDs and it would be impractical and overly bureaucratic to seek means information before issuing a ticket. Payment must be made in full; the current PND computer processing system precludes payment by instalments. If the recipient does not pay the penalty or request a court hearing, a fine at one and a half times the penalty amount is registered against the recipient and enforced in the same way as any other fine. However, operational guidance to the police advises officers that PNDs may not be appropriate for a suspect who appears to be destitute.
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many penalty disorder notices were issued (a) in England and Wales and (b) by the West Midlands Police Authority in each of the last three years. [120598]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 9 February 2007]: The penalty notices for disorder (PND) scheme was brought into effect in England and Wales in 2004 to provide police with a quick and effective means of dealing with a number of minor disorder offences. Under the scheme, a fixed penalty is issued to the offender who has 21 days to either pay the fine or seek a court hearing
Data on the number of PNDs issued for all offences in (a) England and Wales and (b) the West Midlands
Police Authority in 2004 and 2005, as well as provisional data for January to June 2006 are provided in the following table. Full provisional data for 2006 will be available in April 2007.
| Number of PNDs issued to offenders aged 16 and over in the west midlands police force area and England and Wales 2004-05 and January to June 2006 (provisional data)( 1) | ||||
| Police force area | 2004 | 2005 | 2006( 2) | Total |
| (1) 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 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. (2) January to June (provisional figures) | ||||
Rape
Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research his Department has conducted on the merits of the use of lie detection tests in rape cases. [118339]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Home Office commissioned the pilot use of polygraph (lie detection) testing of sex offenders in 10 Probation Areas. The pilot lasted for two years, between September 2003 and September 2005; 347 offenders volunteered for testing, 33 per cent. of whom (116) were tested on two or more occasions. In total, 483 polygraph examinations were carried out. The majority of offenders tested had been convicted of offences against children: 166 (48 per cent.) of contact offences against children, 111 (32 per cent.) of internet related offences, with 70 (20 per cent.) for offences classified as other sex offences. Rapists were not separately classified but were among this 20 per cent. of the sample. The main aim of the study was to assist Offender Managers in risk assessment and risk management based on new disclosures made by offenders during the examination. Overall new disclosures relevant to treatment or supervision were made in 70 per cent. of tests. However, the report does not provide information on differences between offence types and, as the sample was of volunteers, no firm conclusions may be drawn from it as to whether the disclosures are attributable to the polygraph tests. The full report is available from the website of the National Probation Service.
Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many reported rapes resulted in convictions in (a) Solihull and (b) England and Wales in each of the last five years. [118663]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The following table shows data from the court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform, namely the number of defendants committed by Solihull magistrates court and convicted of rape at the Crown Courts from 2001 to 2005, and all convictions in England and Wales for rape over the same period.
| Number of defendants found guilty of rape at all courts in England and Wales, and where Solihull magistrates court was the committing court, 2001 to 2005( 1,2) | ||
| Found guilty | ||
| Solihull | England and Wales | |
| (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. | ||
Recruitment Agencies
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much his Department paid to recruitment agencies for the hire of temporary staff in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [110472]
Mr. Byrne: The Department does not hold information at the requested level of detail. To provide such detailed information could be done only at disproportionate cost.
Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000
Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received from UK law enforcement agencies on the operation of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 since 2000; and whether he plans to review the operation of the Act. [119796]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 8 February 2007]: Prompted partly by representations from police forces, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the Home Office have conducted a review of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. The review identified that some practices and processes associated with the legislation are excessively bureaucratic. The Home Office is currently working with ACPO, the Office of Surveillance Commissioners, the Interception of Communications Commissioner’s Office and, from April, the National Policing Improvement Agency, to eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy whilst ensuring that surveillance which does intrude into people’s lives is properly authorised and undertaken lawfully.
Reparation by Offenders
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what support is provided for the development of restorative justice in England and Wales. [119837]
Mr. Sutcliffe:
The Government have invested £5 million in the Crime Reduction Programme Restorative Justice pilots and their independent evaluation. The final research reports on victim and offender satisfaction, and on the impact of restorative justice on
re-offending and cost-effectiveness, are expected to be published this year. This research will inform our longer term strategy for adult restorative justice. In the meantime, Best Practice Guidance for Restorative Practitioners was issued in December 2004, and this now forms the basis of National Occupational Standards. In March 2005, the National Criminal Justice Board provided guidance to Local Criminal Justice Boards to encourage the development of adult restorative justice schemes, particularly as a service to victims. The guidance included toolkits for local criminal justice agencies setting up schemes.
The Home Office Youth Justice and Children Unit is the sponsor of the Youth Justice Board (YJB). As part of the YJB’s work overseeing the youth justice system to reduce offending and re-offending by children and young people under 18, the YJB has promoted restorative justice in the youth justice system since 2001, including the publication of the key elements of effective practice in restorative justice and setting performance targets for youth offending teams to develop restorative processes with high levels of victim satisfaction. The YJB is working to develop and broaden the practice of restorative justice and in December 2006 an Action Plan, ‘Developing Restorative Justice’, was published. The plan outlines details of projects which will improve the delivery of referral orders and youth offender panels, promote restorative justice in the secure estate and develop a long term restorative justice strategy.
Respect Action Plan
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will assess the effectiveness of his Department's Respect Action Plan. [112374]
Mr. McNulty: The Respect Action Plan, published in January 2006, set out an ambitious programme of work to build a modern culture of respect. One year on, good progress is being made and a progress report, published on 22 January 2007, is available on the Respect website at www.respect.gov.uk.
Evaluation of this programme is being achieved in a number of ways.
We have established a public-perception-based indicator of respect, which has been placed in the British Crime Survey and the local government user satisfaction survey. This will allow measurement of change in people's perception of respect at the local and the national level. We have also developed a ‘basket of measures’, agreed with all relevant Government Departments, which identifies change on a number of outcome and output measures that relate to respect, such as truancy and bullying. In addition to this, we conduct and publish a regular survey of local areas to learn more about their use of tools and powers to tackle antisocial behaviour. A number of commitments in the Respect Action Plan are subject to separate evaluations, including an evaluation of the schemes to establish new models for conditional cautions, parenting pathfinders and family intervention projects—the outcome of which will be published fully.
The Respect programme is a key Government priority and as such is reflected in performance frameworks for local agencies. From 1 April 2007, local
area agreements will include mandatory outcomes and indicators on Respect and antisocial behaviour against which progress will be monitored. Together with the relevant Government Departments, we will continue to push forward activity in developing and fulfilling the commitments in the Respect Action Plan.
Respect Zones
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much has been set aside for funding respect zones. [112313]
John Reid: Local authorities confirmed as respect areas will be given access to up to £6 million in 2007-08 (up to £125,000 each) from the Department for Education and Skills to improve parenting provision in their areas. This funding is only available to respect areas and is dependent on achieving that status. Respect areas will continue to receive other funding from the Respect Task Force for work to tackle antisocial behaviour and its causes, although these grants are available to a wider number of areas facing significant challenges and are not dependent on respect area status.
Runaway Children
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children under the age of 18 were victims of crime while running away or missing from care or home in the last 12 months. [118840]
Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer 5 February 2007]: The information requested is not available centrally. Information on the overall prevalence of personal victimisation among young people is published in ‘Home Office Statistical Bulletin 17/06 Young People and Crime: Findings from the 2005 Offending, Crime and Justice Survey’, copies of which are available from the Library of the House or from the Home Office website:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/offending_survey.html
Serious Organised Crime Agency
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 1 February 2007, Official Report, column 523W, on the Serious and Organised Crime Agency, if he will place in the Library a copy of the (a) memorandum of understanding and (b) other document that sets out the operational discretion of the (i) Chairman and (ii) Director General of the Serious Organised Crime Agency. [121074]
Mr. Coaker: The operational responsibility of the Director General is set out in section 21 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005. Chapter 3 of the Management Statement and Financial Memorandum sets out the role and responsibilities of the Chairman of the SOCA Board. Copies of both documents are available in the Library.
Sexual Harassment: Convictions
Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convictions there were for (a) harassment, (b) sex discrimination, (c) breach of human rights legislation and (d) malicious communication where unwanted verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature was a significant feature of the case in each of the last 10 years; and whether convicted offenders in such cases will be placed on the Sexual Offenders Register. [119008]
Mr. Coaker: Information held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform does not include data on the circumstances surrounding a case.
Offenders convicted of a sexual offence (listed in schedule 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003) are automatically made subject to notification requirements, commonly known as the sex offenders register, where relevant age and sentence thresholds have been met. Schedule 5 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 includes offences which could have a sexual motive. Where an offender is cautioned or convicted for an offence under schedule 5, and the police and courts believe the motive to be sexual, they can make that person subject to a Sexual Offence Prevention Order and consequently to notification requirements. Amendments to the Sexual Offences Act 2003, due to be commenced on 19 February 2007, will add a number of offences including harassment; sending prohibited articles by post; and improper use of public electronic communications networks to schedule 5.
Sexual Offences: Morecambe
Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people in Morecambe and Lunesdale are on the sex offenders register. [118029]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) Annual Report for 2005-06 for Lancashire shows that, on 31 March 2006, the total number of registered sex offenders in each of the Basic Command Units (formerly police divisions) was as follows:
| Number | |
Sexual Offences: Wales
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many sex offenders are registered in Wales, broken down by police force; how many in each force area are being monitored; and how many are missing from their registered addresses. [117991]
Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer 5 February 2007]: The Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) Annual Reports for 2005/2006 show that, on 31 March 2006, the total number of registered sex offenders in Wales was as follows:
| Number of registered sex offenders | |
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |