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7 Mar 2007 : Column 2034W—continued
Firearms
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of illegal firearms in England and Wales. [122388]
Mr. Coaker: There is no reliable method of estimating of the number of illegal firearms in England and Wales. Any such figures would, by their very nature, be guess estimates, and therefore of little value.
Following the Prime Minister’s summit on 22 February, we announced a three-point plan to tackle gun crime and gangs, focusing on policing, powers and prevention. As part of the plan, the Home Secretary announced a review of the legislation on gangs, guns
and knives, focussing in particular on gangs. The review will cover: sentencing policy generally, including in relation to juveniles; gun supply issues; gang membership as an aggravating factor; what new powers might be needed; and other relevant issues.
ACPO are already leading work on issues around the international market in firearms and supply, building up a national intelligence picture of the scale and nature of the problem around guns and gangs and working with individual forces to tackle problems proactively and robustly.
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how the firearms collected in the amnesty of 2003 were (a) registered, (b) stored and (c) disposed of by police authorities in England and Wales. [123602]
Mr. Coaker [holding answer 26 February 2007]: The Home Office provided guidance to police forces and authorities on the receipt and disposal of firearms and ammunition handed in during the amnesty in 2003. The guidance advised forces that all firearms and ammunition should be destroyed in accordance with force policy, other than those items considered to be of exceptional historic or forensic significance (as advised by the Forensic Science Service (FSS)), or items believed to have been used in crime and, after examination by the FSS, retained as part of an on-going investigation.
The Gun Crime Investigative Guidance manual of good practice jointly published by the ACPO Criminal Use of Firearms Group and the Home Office also provides detailed guidance around the recovery of firearms. Disposal, however, is dealt with by individual force policy and procedures, dependent on the circumstances of each case and whether or not criminal proceedings are involved.
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he is taking to reduce the number of guns (a) in general circulation and (b) being sold in England; and what steps he is taking to prevent those who have been convicted of crimes from purchasing guns on their release. [124339]
Mr. Coaker: The Association of Chief Police Officers, in conjunction with the Serious Organised Crime Agency and HM Revenue and Customs, are working together to tackle the illicit supply of firearms, both within England and Wales and internationally. The Government are not seeking to restrict further the legitimate ownership and use of firearms, which is already tightly controlled.
Under section 21 of the Firearms Act 1968, a person sentenced to three or more years’ imprisonment is prohibited from ever possessing a firearm, and a person sentenced to between three months’ and three years’ imprisonment must not possess a firearm for five years following their release. The maximum sentence for these specific offences is five years’ imprisonment. If a person is also convicted of unlawful possession of a prohibited firearm, they may be sentenced to a minimum five years’ (and a maximum of 10 years’) imprisonment.
Firearms: Crime
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans his Department has to tackle gun-related crime. [122709]
Mr. Coaker [holding answer 27 February 2007]: As announced at the Prime Minister’s Summit on guns and gangs on 22 February, we are tackling gun crime with a three-point plan, focusing on:
Policing—ensuring the police are equipped to tackle gun crime;
Powers—giving the police and courts the powers to deal with offenders; and
Prevention—empowering communities to take action themselves to prevent gun crime and gang culture and offering support to parents to challenge their children’s behaviour.
This comprehensive approach draws together the broad range of work currently under way including tough new gun laws, intelligence-driven policing initiatives and community-led projects and will be taken forward by the Home Office Round Table on Guns, Gangs and Knives which is chaired by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary.
In April we will introduce a new offence of ‘using someone to mind a weapon’, meaning that people who pass weapons to girlfriends, younger siblings or other gang members will still face prosecution. People should not think they can get away with passing off their gun to someone else. Unlawful possession of a prohibited firearm means five years in jail, and this will now also apply to people who use others to look after their weapons for them. This measure was passed in the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 and will become an offence this spring.
ACPO are already leading work on issues around the international market in firearms and supply, building up a national intelligence picture of the scale and nature of the problem around guns and gangs and working with individual forces to tackle problems proactively and robustly.
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 19 February 2007, Official Report, column 105W, on firearms crime, if he will publish the minutes of the meeting held on 7 February. [123888]
Mr. Coaker [holding answer 27 February 2007]: The minutes of the round table meeting held on 7 February will be published on the Connected website www. connected.gov.uk once attendees have confirmed that they are accurate.
Grendon Prison
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the cost per prisoner place at HM Prison Grendon; and if he will make a statement. [125310]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The average annual cost per prisoner place at HMP Grendon and Springhill was £27,591 in 2005-06.
This figure excludes the element of headquarters overheads. It also excludes costs of capital and depreciation on land and buildings, which are held by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS).
Identity Cards
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what restrictions he plans to impose on the purchase of identity card readers by (a) public and (b) private sector organisations. [120388]
Joan Ryan: The Home Office will not place any restrictions on the purchase of card readers as such restrictions would not be of any consequence to the effective management of identity checking services provided by the National Identity Scheme.
The ability of any card reader to verify information against the National Identity Register is dependent on the controls in place that regulate whether or not that reader is permitted to carry out that function. Only organisations accredited by the Identity and Passport Service will be provided with the necessary digital certificates to enable their readers to verify identity against information held on the National Identity Register. Such digital certificates allow for revocation of such services should the reader be stolen or the service misused.
Money Laundering
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will transpose into UK law the requirements of the third money laundering directive on (a) protecting people making suspicious activity reports from reprisals, (b) publishing information on the effectiveness of the reporting regime annually and (c) encouraging and enabling compliance by publishing information on trends in the criminal activities targeted by the directive. [125099]
Mr. Coaker: The Government are fully committed to fulfilling the requirements of the 3rd European Union money laundering directive. Part 7 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 is compliant with the directive. In respect of the three issues identified, it will not be necessary for the Government to bring forward new legislation to achieve compliance. These obligations will be fulfilled by other means.
The Government recognise the importance of protecting the identity of those making suspicious activity reports (SARs) to the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), and have taken firm action to address this matter. After consultation with the private sector we issued detailed guidance to the police, other law enforcement agencies, and prosecution agencies on the importance of confidentiality in the handling of SARs. Adherence to this guidance is a condition of access to the SARs database maintained by the Serious Organised Crime Agency. This issue was also addressed in Sir Stephen Lander's review of the SARs regime which was published in April 2006. SOCA has subsequently set up a dedicated telephone line to enable any breaches of the guidelines to be reported. We will keep the guidance under review.
SOCA has governance of the SARs regime and will be reporting to Ministers on its effectiveness through an
annual report in October 2007. An unclassified version will be published on the SOCA website thereafter. This will include information on breaches of confidentiality.
SOCA regularly shares information on trends and specific threats in money laundering activities with the reporting institutions, the regulatory bodies and law enforcement agencies. In addition, SOCA has established the following mechanisms to facilitate effective governance and dialogue about the SARs regime:
a sub-committee of SOCA’s board to oversee the regime's governance. Membership is comprised of representatives from the reporting sector, regulators, SOCA and end users;
a vetted group, comprising representatives of the reporting sectors, of law enforcement and of the key policy departments, to discuss sensitive casework and reporting issues, and to clear the distribution of SOCA alerts and guidance;
Sector specific seminars, aimed at providing directed feedback to individual sectors;
a regulators' forum, to provide regulators with information about reporting within their sectors; and
an alerts branch to issue warnings and advice to encourage businesses, the public and others to take appropriate action against serious organised crime.
Neighbourhood Watch Schemes: East Sussex
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Neighbourhood Watch schemes are in operation in (a) Eastbourne and (b) East Sussex. [125449]
Mr. McNulty: The Home Office does not collect information on the number of Neighbourhood Watch schemes in England and Wales. However, Sussex police does gather this information and has advised me that in Eastbourne there are 230 Neighbourhood Watch schemes covering about 11,000 households and in East Sussex there are 3,037 schemes covering 25,258 households.
Oakhill Secure Training Centre
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 19 February 2007, Official Report, column 120W, on Oakhill secure training centre, how many of the 80 places available are occupied; and how many were occupied on the last day of each month since January 2005. [122838]
Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer 23 February 2007]: On 26 February, the latest date for which figures are available, 71 places were occupied. The other information requested is set out in the following table. The last column indicates how many places were available for occupation under the terms of the contract.
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