House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 05 Jun 2007 (pt 0028)

5 Jun 2007 : Column 424W—continued

Crime: Surveys

Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which external survey research company his Department commissions to carry out the British crime survey; and if he will make a statement. [140685]

Mr. Coaker: The Home Office currently commission BMRB Social Research to carry out the British crime survey.

Drugs: Smuggling

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the central drugs trafficking database; and what the estimated cost is of the establishment and maintenance of the database. [138692]

Mr. Coaker: The central drugs trafficking database is a Metropolitan police project that is in the process of being developed using funding from Metropolitan police budgets.

Entry Clearances

Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his estimate is of the number
5 Jun 2007 : Column 425W
of people who stayed in the UK after their tourist visa expired in each of the last three years; and what his estimate is of the number of such people who were based in London. [135994]

Mr. Byrne: As the Home Secretary set out in his evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee on 23 May 2006, following the dismantling of embarkation controls beginning in 1994, no Government have been able to produce an accurate figure for the number of people who are in the country illegally, and that remains the case. The Home Secretary has set a clear goal of reintroducing systems to count everyone in and out of Britain.

Parliament Square: Protests

Stephen Pound: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with the Metropolitan Police Commissioner on the number of semi-permanent dwellings in Parliament square and the consequences of such obstructions if an air ambulance attempted to land. [139935]

Mr. Coaker: The Home Office is in regular discussion with the Metropolitan police service and the Greater London Authority about the presence of the tents on Parliament square.

While the presence of the tents is an operational matter for both the Metropolitan police service and the GLA working within the framework of relevant legislation, the Home Office is providing appropriate co-ordination in response to a number of parliamentary and public requests.

We have not specifically discussed the consequences of the tents causing an obstruction to an air ambulance attempting to land on Parliament square. The responsibility of landing the air ambulance is with the pilot, who will take into account all risks before and during landing and take off.

Serious Organised Crime Agency

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) police officers and (b) immigration officers are on secondment to the Serious Organised Crime Agency. [124766]

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John Reid: As of 1 May 2007, 76 police officers were seconded to SOCA. No immigration officers are on secondment to SOCA.

Shoplifting: Ribble Valley

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many small businesses in the Ribble Valley reported incidents of shop-lifting in the last five years. [140487]

Mr. Coaker [holding answer 4 June 2007]: The available information relates to offences of theft from shops recorded by the police and is given in the table. Information on the type of business in which shop-lifting offences occur is not available centrally.

Offences of theft from shops recorded by the police in the Ribble Valley Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership area
	Number
2001-02	65
2002-03	51
2003-04	84
2004-05	73
2005-06	74

Television Licence Evasion

Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 20 April 2007, Official Report, column 798W, on television licence evasion, how many people were charged with such evasion in each police force area in each of the last five years. [134217]

Mr. Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.

Local information on charging is not centrally held.

Data from the court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform on the number of persons proceeded against at magistrates court and found guilty at all courts for offences relating to television licence evasion in police force areas in England and Wales in the years 2001 to 2005 can be found in the table.

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

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Number of persons proceeded against at magistrates court and found guilty at all courts for offences relating to TV licence evasion in police force areas in England and Wales, 2001 to 2005^{( 1, 2, 3)}
	2001		2002		2003		2004		2005
Force	P	G	P	G	P	G	P	G	P	G
Avon and Somerset	1,558	1,381	2,183	1,826	1,766	1,436	1,870	1,475	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—
Bedfordshire	387	321	247	212	353	286	207	171	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—
Cambridgeshire	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—
Cheshire	2,478	2,166	3,777	3,395	3,036	2,727	3,211	2,906	2,902	2,653
Cleveland	3,514	3,084	3,565	3,394	2,716	2,712	2,999	2,993	3,591	3,365
Cumbria	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—	761	676	677	592	749	701
Derbyshire	2,969	2,657	2,621	2,255	2,379	2,024	2,058	1,825	2,226	1,967
Devon and Cornwall	2,042	1,828	1,420	1,222	1,516	1,217	2,001	1,529	2,490	2,067
Dorset	724	621	410	364	462	360	496	410	676	546
Durham	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—
Essex	2,644	2,326	2,997	2,571	2,768	2,236	2,420	1,868	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—
Gloucestershire	590	499	593	508	318	281	714	603	905	845
Greater Manchester	3,039	2,594	5,685	4,831	4,483	3,827	10,904	9,491	10,721	9,355
Hampshire	3,392	2,985	2,311	2,056	1,891	1,498	1,889	1,539	2,520	2,106
Hertfordshire	690	566	310	249	599	475	1,486	1,184	1,711	1,402
Humberside	2,958	2,617	3,453	3,112	3,868	3,474	3,527	3,119	4,425	4,062
Kent	903	814	852	734	1,821	1,529	1,538	1,227	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—
Lancashire	4,720	4,292	5,058	4,753	3,824	3,444	4,145	3,733	6,270	5,762
Leicestershire	2,291	2,069	2,624	2,376	1,681	1,486	2,120	1,879	3,076	2,743
Lincolnshire	1,295	1,165	1,187	1,071	1,128	985	1,262	1,040	1,287	1,138
Merseyside	4,733	4,217	7,849	7,374	6,238	5,623	6,057	5,501	8,651	8,024
Metropolitan Police	7,817	6,349	13,209	10,877	9,460	7,243	16,768	12,318	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—
Norfolk	900	769	626	549	506	436	661	576	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—
North Yorkshire	463	413	905	762	308	238	472	419	470	386
Northamptonshire	1,828	1,578	1,318	1,164	1,608	1,408	1,218	1,045	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—
Northumbria	7,686	6,765	5,634	5,071	5,929	5,236	4,597	4,141	6,293	5,656
Nottinghamshire	3,588	2,972	3,100	2,764	2,780	2,416	3,283	2,771	4,719	4,132
South Yorkshire	2,529	2,207	5,908	5,058	2,635	2,171	3,847	3,374	5,369	4,620
Staffordshire	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—
Suffolk	708	637	882	757	624	474	978	756	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—
Surrey	614	514	611	491	419	255	455	316	723	518
Sussex	2,441	2,147	1,761	1,401	1,740	1,316	1,981	1,608	2,344	1,947
Thames Valley	1,216	1,013	1,822	1,516	1,388	1,091	3,152	2,482	3,330	2,704
Warwickshire	484	421	334	278	⁽⁴⁾—	⁽⁴⁾—	674	589	616	581
West Mercia	1,918	1,667	2,253	1,920	1,733	1,521	1,949	1,762	2,269	2,066
West Midlands	9,081	7,737	8,244	7,173	7,874	6,838	10,946	9,394	12,604	11,071
West Yorkshire	5,975	5,254	6,612	5,915	5,822	4,913	5,179	4,411	5,333	4,781
Wiltshire	838	719	886	730	678	523	665	557	855	749
Dyfed-Powys	907	764	969	855	1,040	844	857	753	631	552
Gwent	1,699	1,435	2,316	2,041	2,052	1,753	1,758	1,625	2,448	2,277
North Wales	1,782	1,556	2,400	2,100	1,683	1,451	1,630	1,480	2,067	1,835
South Wales	2,877	2,464	3,127	2,776	3,867	3,320	4,810	4,132	5,476	5,005
Total	96,278	83,583	110,059	96,501	93,754	79,743	115,461	97,594	107,747	95,616
P = Prosecuted G = Guilty ⁽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. ⁽³⁾ The TV licensing provisions of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 were replaced by new provisions in the Communications Act 2003 which came into effect 1 April 2004. ⁽⁴⁾ Following quality checks these data are not considered reliable enough for publication. Note: England and Wales totals excludes those police force areas with data quality issues. Source: RDS—Office for Criminal Justice Reform

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