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16 Apr 2007 : Column 466W—continued


Immigration: Manpower

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many full-time equivalent staff are employed by his Department and its agencies as immigration officers at (a) Bristol International airport, (b) Shoreham (Brighton city airport), (c) Leeds Bradford airport, (d) Bournemouth airport, (e) Blackpool airport, (f) Birmingham International airport, (g) Aberdeen airport, (h) Belfast George Best city airport and (i) Belfast International airport. [124510]

Mr. Byrne: This information cannot be disclosed as this could provide information of value to those seeking to circumvent immigration controls, thereby prejudicing the prevention and detection of immigration offences.


16 Apr 2007 : Column 467W

Lancashire Police: Special Constables

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many special constables were recruited by the Lancashire police force in each of the last five years. [130734]

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

Special constables (headcount) recruited( 1) by police force from 2002-03 to 2005-06( 2)
Lancashire Number of special constables

2002-03

74

2003-04

70

2004-05

63

2005-06

92

(1) Recruits include those specials joining as direct recruits to the constabulary, and exclude transfers and rejoiners.
(2) Financial year runs 1 April to 31 March inclusive. Data are not available prior to 2002-03.

Leyhill Prison

Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he has taken to apprehend escaped prisoners from Leyhill open prison; how many prisoners are still at large; and what offences they are guilty of. [131083]

Mr. Sutcliffe: When a prisoner absconds from an open prison, the police are informed immediately. Their apprehension is then a police matter. The following table sets out the number of prisoners who are still unlawfully at large after absconding, during the last five financial years. Offence details could be provided at disproportionate cost only.

Nu mber of prisoners unlawfully at large after absconding, 2002-2007
Number of prisoners UAL( 1)

2002-03

2

2003-04

2

2004-05

5

2005-06

6

2006-07

5

(1) Data accurate as of 2 April 2007

Members: Correspondence

Clare Short: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter dated 7 February from the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood on the briefing on the arrests made in Birmingham of nine young men for terrorist offences. [124763]

Mr. McNulty: I refer my right hon. Friend, the Member for Birmingham, Ladywood, to my right hon. Friend, the Home Secretary’s letter of 19 March 2007.

Migrant Workers

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many self-employed migrant workers there are in (a) Wales, (b) England, (c) Scotland and (d) Northern Ireland. [126829]

Mr. Byrne [holding answer 12 March 2007]: This information is not available.


16 Apr 2007 : Column 468W

Miscarriages of Justice: Compensation

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reasons, and on what legal basis, the revised fee structure for the Independent Assessor of compensation for miscarriages of justice was implemented on 26 July 2006; and who (a) designed and (b) authorised the revised fee structure. [131057]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The legal basis for the payment of fees to the Assessor is set out in Schedule 12 and section 133 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988.

The fee structure implemented on 26 July 2006 took account of the increase in the complexity of cases and the requirement, following the Court of Appeal judgment in Mickey and O'Brien, for the Assessor to provide a more detailed breakdown of the elements of his assessment. The new fee structure was proposed by officials following discussion with the Assessor. It was authorised by the Home Secretary on 5 July 2006.

Due to an oversight, formal Treasury approval for the revised fee structure was not given until 15 February 2007. This oversight, which is regretted, has been brought to the attention of the Home Office accounting officer

Money Laundering

Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will undertake a review of the capability of the Suspicious Activity Report regime; and if he will make a statement. [131612]

Mr. Coaker: At the request of the Government, Sir Stephen Lander, Chairman of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), carried out a comprehensive review of the Suspicious Activity Report regime in 2005-06. The report, which was completed after extensive consultation with public and private sector stakeholders, was published in April 2006. A copy is available on SOCA's website. The report made 24 recommendations.

21 of the recommendations have been delivered and the remainder are on track to be implemented. An annual report on the regime's functioning, covering October 2006 to October 2007, will be published in the autumn.

Motoring Offences

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) males and (b) females were convicted of motoring offences in (i) Tamworth, (ii) Staffordshire and (iii) England and Wales in the most recent year for which information is available, broken down by offence. [129994]

Mr. McNulty: Data from the court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform on the number of males and females found guilty at all courts for motoring offences in Staffordshire police force area and England and Wales in 2005 can be found in the following table. It is not possible to identify those found guilty in Tamworth, as the data are not collected at this level of detail


16 Apr 2007 : Column 469W

Court proceedings data for 2006 will be available in the autumn of 2007.

Number of offenders found guilty at all courts of motoring offences by gender and offence class in Staffordshire police force area, and England and Wales, 2005( 1, 2)
Staffordshire England and Wales
Offence class Male Female Male Female

Dangerous driving

68

2

4,522

173

Driving etc. after consuming alcohol or taking drugs

1,306

205

74,282

10,258

Careless driving

556

124

17,308

3,133

Accident offences

158

21

4,991

859

Driving Licence related offences

1,008

78

48,495

3,866

Vehicle Insurance Offences

3,779

475

179,492

20,423

Vehicle Registration and Excise Licence offences

31

14

10,219

2,589

Work record or employment offences

4

0

1,976

23

Operator’s Licence offences

3

0

477

17

Vehicle Test offences

126

12

11,300

1,175

Fraud, forgery, etc. associated with vehicle or driver records

19

0

1,746

174

Vehicle, or part, in dangerous or defective condition

82

9

6,512

534

Speed limit offences

3,344

916

124,952

28,814

Motorway offence (other than speeding)

29

2

1,596

228

Neglect of traffic directions

57

13

16,998

3,576

Neglect of pedestrian rights

16

3

1,700

299

Obstruction, waiting and parking offences

26

3

5,655

1,852

Lighting offences

42

4

2,162

187

Noise offences

2

1

365

13

Load offences

138

1

3,629

94

Offences peculiar to motor cycles

4

0

204

15

Miscellaneous offences (including trailer offences)

2,206

454

56,892

13,425

Total

13,004

2,337

575,473

91,727

(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.
Source:
RDS Office for Criminal Justice Reform.

National Crime Intelligence Service: National Crime Squad

Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much and what percentage of their budget each police force in England and Wales contributed to (a) the National Criminal Intelligence Service and (b) the National Crime Squad in each year since 1998. [130189]

Mr. McNulty: The National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) and the National Crime Squad (NCS) were funded by a levy on police forces until 1 April
16 Apr 2007 : Column 470W
2002. On average, forces contributed about 1.75 per cent. of their budgets to fund the two bodies.

From 1 April 2002, NCS and NCIS were financed primarily by grant in aid from the Home Office, and individual forces no longer contributed.


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