| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
4 Jun 2007 : Column 265W—continued
Human Trafficking
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 9 January 2007, Official Report, columns 536-7W, on human trafficking, how many police operations were carried out prior to the 30 convictions referred to in the Answer. [136547]
Mr. Coaker [holding answer 14 May 2007]: It is not possible to state how many police operations on human trafficking were carried out prior to the 30 convictions for trafficking for sexual exploitation referred to. Operations often have a number of different facets, for example, facilitation, use of false documents and trafficking. In some cases evidence of trafficking is found as a result of police activity on other forms of criminality.
Missing Persons
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what discussions he has had with the Department for Education and Skills on the next scheduled date for a meeting of the Missing Persons Strategic Oversight Group; how his Department will be represented at that meeting; and what the report-back process will be for Ministers in his Department; [138763]
(2) if he will agree with the Department for Education and Skills suitable dates for a programme of meetings of the Missing Persons Strategic Oversight Group over the next 12 months. [138768]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 22 May 2007]: The next meeting of the Strategic Oversight Group, which is chaired by the Association of Chief Police Officers and supported by the Home Office, is planned for the early part of July 2007. A future programme of meetings will be considered in consultation with members of the Strategic Oversight Group.
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984
Mr. Watson:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 3 May 2007, Official Report, column 1877W, on the Police and
Criminal Evidence Act 1984, on what basis the decision was taken not to consult police staff associations in advance of the publication of the consultation paper. [138781]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 23 May 2007]: The public consultation paper on the review of PACE contains no specific proposals for change. Instead, the consultation exercise aims to encourage stakeholders, practitioners and the public to identify where potential revision of the 1984 Act may increase operational effectiveness. As we are asking police representative associations to initiate proposals for change, no prior formal consultation took place.
Police: Internet
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 24 April 2007, Official Report, column 1058W, on the police.uk website, when he expects the Association of Chief Police Officers and the National Policing Improvement Agency to report on an alternative solution that recognises the internal capability of police forces; and if he will make a statement. [139594]
Mr. McNulty: Provision of an alternative solution to the police.uk website is a matter for the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), working with the police service. I understand from the NPIA chief executive that a new system has been developed and is currently being tested. The results of that process are expected over the next month.
Police: Terrorism
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers in each police authority area have been equipped with specialist training skills in order to deal with the terrorist attack under the Chemical, Biological, Radiological or Nuclear Resilience Programme. [140552]
Mr. McNulty: In excess of 8,300 police officers have been trained in specialist CBRN skills; although not all of these will be available due to staff turnover and role changes. The most recent audit carried out by the Police National CBRN Centre (mid-April 2007) recorded 7,249 fully trained, equipped and deployable CBRN police officers in the UK. The number of trained officers in each police authority is not disclosed for security reasons.
‘ Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what funding was provided to the Police National Chemical, Biological, Radiological or Nuclear Centre in each of the last two years. [140553]
Mr. McNulty: The running costs for the Police National CBRN Centre (covering accommodation, salary and overhead expenses) were approximately £2.9 million in financial year 2005-06 and £3.3 million in financial year 2006-07.
Public Order Offences
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many penalty notices for disorder issued in each of the last five years were paid in full within the 21 day limit established by the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001; [137157]
(2) how many penalty notices for disorder were issued in each of the last five years to individuals aged (a) 10 to 15 years old, (b) 15 to 16 years old and (c) over 16 years old; [137158]
(3) how many and what percentage of penalty notices for disorder issued in each of the last five years were (a) successfully and (b) unsuccessfully contested in court. [137159]
Mr. Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
Penalty Notice for Disorder (PND) Scheme was rolled out to all police forces in England and Wales in 2004 under provisions in the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001, allowing on-the-spot fines to be issued to offenders aged 16 and over for a range of minor disorder offences. Prior to this the police did not have the option of issuing on the spot fines for the offences covered by the scheme, having instead to issue a formal caution, reprimand or final warning or refer offenders to the court system to bring them to justice.
Data from the PND database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform showing the number of PNDs issued to offenders aged over 16 in 2004, 2005 as well as provisional data for 2006 are provided in the table, along with the number of PNDs paid in full and contested in court for 2004 and 2005. Information on whether the contested PNDs were successfully contested is not centrally collected.
Data for 2006 on the number of PNDs paid in full within the 21-day period are currently unavailable as the data for this period have not been finalized.
The evaluation of the pilots undertaken in six police areas for issuing penalty notices for disorder to 10 to 15-year-olds was completed in November 2006 and is currently going through the final quality assurance procedures prior to publication. Until that process is complete we are not able to provide any figures relating to 10 to 15-year-olds.
| Number of PNDs issued to offenders aged 16 and over, the number who paid the fine within 21 days and the number contested in court England and Wales 2004, 2005 and 2006 provisional data( 1) | |||
| PNDs issued to offenders aged 16 and over | Number paid in full within 21 days | Number contested in court | |
| — =Data not available as described in draft. (1) Every effort is made to ensure that the data presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that data are extracted from large scale data collection systems provided by the police. As a consequence, care should be taken to assure that these data collection processes, and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when these data are used. | |||
Respect Task Force: Advertising
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 25 April 2007, Official Report, column 1145W, on the Respect Task Force, if he will provide a breakdown of how the advertising figure of £35,580.32 has been spent since 2005. [139596]
Mr. Coaker: Since its establishment in September 2005, the Respect Task Force has spent £35,580.32 on advertising.
This breaks down into £13,850.32 for advertising on Respect academies and £21,730.00 for advertising on Respect Awards for Taking a Stand (RAFTAs).
Security Service Tribunal
Mr. Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what methods are available to members of the public to access the findings of the Security Service Tribunal before its abolition in 2000. [140280]
Mr. McNulty: The Security Service Tribunal was independent of Government. It is a matter of public record that the Security Service Tribunal did not make a determination in favour of any complainant. There is no public access to past complaints or findings.
Sexual Offences: Young People
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost was of training of front line police officers on evidence collection to support prosecution with particular reference to cases where teenagers have been sexually assaulted or raped in the latest period for which figures are available. [139785]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 25 May 2007]: There are a number of police training modules covering sexual offences for police officers of different ranks and roles. There is also a relevant module for police probationers as part of the Initial Police Learning and Development Programme (IPLDP).
However, there are no courses specifically designed for cases involving “teenagers”.
General probationer and specialist courses are developed centrally but delivered locally by all 43 forces. Information on the delivery cost is not collected centrally.
Special Advisers
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the notices of external employment have been given by special advisers in his Department in the last two years. [105573]
Mr. Byrne: There are no records of any special advisers in the Home Office giving notice of external employment in the period from 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2006.
Speed Limits: Cameras
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will estimate the likely effect of the replacement of film cameras with digital speed cameras on the number of driving offences detected. [139670]
Mr. Coaker: It is a matter for individual chief officers of police to decide which type of approved speed camera to use. Our current estimate is that while a digital camera would generate increased efficiency in the processing of offences, it would not of itself detect more offences.
Terrorism: West Midlands
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what counter-terrorist exercises took place in the West Midlands region in each of the last three years. [140550]
Mr. McNulty: In July 2004 there was a live play counter terrorism exercise (Exercise Horizon), which was led by the Government office for the West Midlands and West Midlands police in partnership with regional and national stake holders, including the Home Office.
This was followed by Exercises Horizon two and three in January and March 2005 respectively, which were in tabletop format to consider further response issues with local authorities and senior executives.
Tabletop exercises were also held with Staffordshire police in November 2004, the West Midlands police in February 2006 and with West Mercia constabulary in June 2006.
Young Offender Institutions
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children were committed to young offenders’ institutions in (a) the year preceding 1 May 1997 and (b) each of the last three years. [136552]
Bridget Prentice: I have been asked to reply.
Figures on the numbers of persons received into prison establishments in England and Wales in 1996-97 and 2003 to 2005 can be found in the following table, by age band. There were no children under 15 years received into prison establishments in either of the periods.
The information is taken from Table 7.6 in the Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2005, which gives figures by calendar year, a copy of which can be found in the House of Commons Library.
| Receptions into prison establishments( 1) under an immediate custodial sentence: 1996-1997 and 2003-2005 | |
| Males and females 15 to 17 | Number of persons |
| (1) Excludes police cells. Note: Figures taken from table 7.6 of the Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2005 found at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs07/hosbl806section7.xls | |
These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Written Answers to Questions
Monday 4 June 2007
Health
Abortion
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions (a) Ministers and (b) officials in her Department have had with the Law Officers on an interpretation of the Abortion Act 1967 (as amended) that would allow nurses to perform abortions; and if she will make a statement. [136793]
Caroline Flint: There is a long standing convention, followed by successive Governments, that neither the fact that the Law Officers have advised on a particular matter, nor the substance of any advice they may have given is publicly disclosed. The purpose of the convention is to enable the Government to obtain frank and full legal advice in confidence.
The Department last issued guidance in this area in 1994 in the joint Chief Medical Officer/Chief Nursing letter PL CMO(94)8, PL CNO(94)10 ‘Termination of Pregnancy by Medical Methods: The role of the registered nurse or midwife and others who are not registered medical practitioners’. One of the requirements of the Abortion Act 1967 is that a pregnancy may only be terminated by a registered medical practitioner. The guidance states that for medical abortions, the practitioner is not required to perform personally each and every action that is needed for the treatment but must personally decide upon and initiate the process of medical induction and take responsibility throughout. This is in line with the legal case Royal College of Nursing v. Department of Health and Social Security [1981] AC 800, [1981] 1 All ER 545, HL.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what research her Department (a) has undertaken, (b) plans to undertake and (c) has evaluated on the long-term effects of abortion on women that drew on (i) UK and (ii) international research; and if she will make a statement; [136800]
(2) what research has been (a) funded and (b) carried out by her Department on the symptoms of post-abortion depression; and if she will make a statement. [136802]
Caroline Flint: The safety and psychological effects of abortion, both immediate and longer-term, were considered by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) in its updated evidence-based guideline, ‘The Care of Women Requesting Induced Abortion (2004)’, copies of which are available in the Library. In updating the guidance, the RCOG took account of the most recent national and international evidence. This is taken into account in the recommendations concerning information for women and abortion aftercare.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |