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30 Apr 2007 : Column 1406W—continued
Correspondence
21. Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what average length of time the director general of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate took to reply to hon. Members' letters in the past 12 months. [134293]
Mr. Byrne:
For the 12-month period up to and including December 2006 the average waiting time for
responses to letters from hon. Members to the Border and Immigration Agency was 24 days in respect of correspondence on immigration matters.
Departmental Restructuring
22. Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on departmental restructuring. [134294]
John Reid: The decision to refocus the Home Office so that it is better able to respond to the changes in the world at both a global and local level, where we have moved from static communities and a static world to a highly mobile world was one that was taken by the Prime Minister and discussed at Cabinet.
Identity Cards
23. Martin Linton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of the potential contribution of identity cards to the tackling of identity fraud. [134295]
Joan Ryan: Our plans for a National Identity Scheme, including the introduction of identity cards, will not only enable people to prove their identity easily, quickly and simply but will also provide a highly secure means of protecting their identity. This will have a significant impact upon identity fraud, which costs the United Kingdom economy at least £1.7 billion each year.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost has been of the identity card scheme. [134288]
Joan Ryan: Some £58 million has been spent on the identity cards scheme since the start of the 2003-04 financial year and up to the end of September 2006.
DNA Database
Ms Diana R. Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the national DNA database. [134364]
24. John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the national DNA database; and if he will make a statement. [134296]
Joan Ryan: The National DNA database is a key police intelligence tool which contributes to the efficiency of crime detection. It has a key role to play in contributing to detection outcomes, eliminating the innocent from inquiries, focusing the direction of inquiries resulting in savings in police time and in building public confidence that elusive offenders may be detected and brought to justice.
Violent Crime
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of measures to combat violent crime. [134297]
Mr. Coaker: The Government are taking forward a full range of work to tackle violent crime. This has included: introducing new legislation; providing intensive support to practitioners in those areas which face the biggest challenges in terms of violent crime; and developing a range of measures to reduce sexual and domestic violence re-offending.
We consider that a 34 per cent. fall in BCS violent crime since 1997 is testament to the effectiveness of these measures, and we will continue to focus our efforts to bring down the level of these serious crimes even further.
Antisocial Behaviour
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans his Department has to hold another Antisocial Behaviour Day Count. [134937]
Mr. McNulty: There are no current plans to hold another national Antisocial Behaviour Day Count.
Since the 2003 day count, a number of new ways of measuring performance have been introduced. The focus is now on the perception of antisocial behaviour rather than specific incident counting, which is subject to severe under-reporting. As such these measures supersede the need for a specific “one day” antisocial behaviour incident count.
The perception of antisocial behaviour is monitored nationally through the British Crime Survey (BCS) and at a local level through the Local Government User Satisfaction Survey (LGUSS). In addition a survey of Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) is conducted on a quarterly basis to monitor, at a local level, the uptake and use of a number of tools and powers used to tackle antisocial behaviour, such as acceptable behaviour contracts (ABCs), demotion orders and housing injunctions.
Crime: Macclesfield
Sir Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the recorded crime figures for the Macclesfield borough in the Cheshire Constabulary East Division were in (a) 2005-06 and (b) 2006-07 according to the classifications (i) all crime, (ii) burglary of a dwelling, (iii) violent crime, (iv) vehicle crime and (v) criminal damage; and what assessment he has made of the trends in these statistics. [134403]
Mr. Coaker: The statistics are not available in the form requested as data for 2006-07 will not be available until 19 July 2007. Statistics for 2005-06 are in the following table together with the percentage change from the previous year.
| Offences recorded in the Macclesfield crime and disorder reduction partnership area | ||
| 2005-06 | Percentage change from previous year | |
Electronic Tags
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offenders reoffended whilst wearing electronic tags in each year since their introduction; and if he will make a statement. [110531]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The following table sets out the number of offenders, who have been cautioned, convicted or are awaiting prosecution for offences while they were subject to the home detention curfew scheme, as currently notified to the National Offender Management Service.
The totals for 2005-06 have been updated following a cross-checking of reoffending data from the Police National Computer for the third and fourth quarters of 2005 and the first quarter of 2006.
Some of those awaiting prosecution will be found not guilty or charges will be dropped.
Information is not collected on further convictions for offenders subject to other electronic monitoring schemes apart from home detention curfew.
| Number of offenders cautioned, convicted or awaiting prosecution for an offence committed while they were subject to the home detention curfew scheme | |
| Number | |
Extradition
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what criteria his Department uses in assessing extradition requests from other countries. [132660]
Joan Ryan [holding answer 18 April 2007]: The requirements for extradition requests are set out in the Extradition Act 2003. Extradition requests from EU member states are assessed wholly by the courts using criteria set out in Part one of the Act.
Extradition requests from other parts of the world are considered in part by the courts using criteria set out in Part two of the Act. The Secretary of State’s role in considering extradition requests is limited to requests made under Part two of the Act; and in those requests, he must decide whether he is prohibited from ordering a person’s extradition under criteria set out at sections 94-96 of the Act. These relate to the death penalty, speciality and possible earlier extradition from a third country.
Fixed Penalties
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many penalty notices for disorder were issued for (a) theft, (b) criminal damage, (c) being drunk and disorderly and (d) dropping litter in each month since November 2004. [130816]
Mr. Coaker: Penalty notices for disorder (PNDs) rolled-out to all police forces in England and Wales under the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001. Under the scheme, the police can issue a fixed penalty of £50 or £80 for a specified range of disorder offences including shop theft (under £200) and criminal damage (under £500).
Data on the number of PNDs (penalty notice for disorder) issued for the specified offence for each month since November 2004 are provided in the following tables. The data for 2006 are provisional. Finalised data for 2006 will be available this summer.
The figures show that the PND has been an increasingly useful disposal option for the police in tackling low-level antisocial behaviour, providing them with a simple, non-bureaucratic financial punishment for first-time offenders.
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