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25 Jun 2007 : Column 320W—continued


Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police staff were dedicated solely to the recovery of stolen works of art in each of the last 10 years. [142965]

Mr. McNulty: This is a matter for each local constabulary.

Police: Motor Vehicles

Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in how many accidents police vehicles were involved in each of the last five years; how many injuries were sustained by (a) police officers and (b) police community support officers in such accidents; and if he will make a statement. [143199]

Mr. McNulty: The available data are from 2002-03 onwards and are given in the tables. The data are not available by rank.

Number of road traffic collisions on public roads involving police vehicles, from 2002-03 to 2005-06—England and Wales
Number

2002-03(1)

18,644

2003-04

20,511

2004-05(2)

19,046

2005-06

19,280

(1) Data not available for Durham and West Midlands.
(2 )Data not available for Cleveland, Leicestershire and South Wales.

Number of police personnel casualties resulting from those road traffic accidents during immediate/emergency response—England and Wales
Fatal injury Serious injury Other injury

2002-03(1)

2

33

568

2003-04

1

38

765

2004-05(2)

0

25

781

2005-06(3)

3

28

828

(1) Data not available for Durham, Metropolitan Police (other injury only), North Yorkshire and West Midlands.
(2) Data not available for Dorset and Leicestershire.
(3) Data not available for Nottinghamshire.

Police: Pensions

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his latest estimate is of the total cost of all police pensions as a share of police spending in each year from 1990-91 to 2020-21; and if he will make a statement. [144276]

Mr. McNulty: Information on the total cost of police pensions as a share of police spending since 1990-91 is not held centrally as the administration of the police pension schemes is the responsibility of individual police authorities. Information on financial statistics, including expenditure on police pensions and overall spending, for police forces is included in the annual reports published by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA). This information is gathered independently of the Home Office.

The following figures are the most recently published projections of total future expenditure on police pensions in England and Wales, net of the contributions made by serving officers. These were produced by the Government Actuary's Department (GAD) as part of the consultation process on the new system for funding police pensions in 2005. GAD advise that in view of the time elapsed since the figures were produced they should be viewed only as indicative of the likely future trend of police pensions expenditure. No projections are available for 2013-14 to 2020-21:

Financial year Estimated pensions expenditure (£ billion)

2007-08

1.61

2008-09

1.74

2009-10

1.88

2010-11

2.00

2011-12

2.12

2012-13

2.25


Police spending is based on government grants on which no decisions have yet been taken for the comprehensive spending review (CSR) years and on police precept which is a matter for local authorities. Information on projected police spending for 2007-08 is included in the annual reports published by CIPFA.

The system for financing police pensions changed on 1 April 2006. Under the new system, police authorities no longer have to meet the cost of pensions in payment out of their operating accounts. Police authorities now have a separate pensions account for this purpose, into which are paid officers' contributions and a new employer's contribution. Where the pensions account does not have enough funds to meet the cost of pensions in any year it is topped up with a grant from central Government; any surplus is recouped. A key benefit of this change is that it takes away from police
25 Jun 2007 : Column 321W
authorities the responsibility for meeting the rising cost of pensions in payment as a result of an increase in the number of pensioners.

Police: Vocational Training

Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to promote the Fullbright Fellowship in Police Studies scheme. [145417]

Mr. McNulty: The National Policing Improvement Agency is responsible for the Fulbright Fellowship in Police Studies. Details of the Fulbright Fellowship are currently available on the Home Office Website. The NPIA, ACPO and the Fulbright Commission will be working together to promote the scheme across the police service.

Police: Weapons

David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was spent on the development of non-lethal weaponry to be used by the police in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [143755]

Mr. McNulty: Funding dedicated to the development of less lethal technologies for the police through the Home Office Scientific Development Branch—previously the Police Scientific Development Branch—is set out in the following table.

£

2002-03

623,551

2003-04

50,300

2004-05

274,140

2005-06

111,409

2006-07

132,711


In addition, the breakdown of cross-Government spend through the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory on developing the Attenuated Energy Projectile (AEP), its predecessor the L21A1 and the Discriminating Irritant Projectile (DIP), is set out in the following table.

£

2002-03

168,005

2003-04

715,885

2004-05

1,338,189

2005-06

401,053

2006-07

768,191

2007-08

92,097


The development of the L21A1, the AEP and the DIP is overseen by the UK Steering Group on Alternative Policing Approaches Towards the Management of Conflict, set up in line with recommendations 69 and 70 of the Patten Report to establish less potentially lethal alternatives to the baton round and expand the range of tactical options available to operational commanders. The development of less lethal alternatives also addresses the Government’s responsibilities arising from article 2 of the UN Basic Principles on the use of Force and Firearms which states that Governments and law
25 Jun 2007 : Column 322W
enforcement agencies should develop a range of means as broad as possible and equip law enforcement officials with various types of weapons and ammunition that would allow for a differentiated use of force and firearms.

Prisoners: Foreigners

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign national prisoners were transferred from immigration removal centres to open prisons in each of the last three years; and what the criteria were for transferral. [132349]

John Reid: Time-served foreign national prisoners who are held in the Border and Immigration Agency’s Removal Estate would only be transferred to prison accommodation where their behaviour threatens the security or control of the Removal Centre concerned or where they are subject to further criminal charges.

Those transfers relating to issues of security or control would not be to category D prisons. Where an individual is transferred back to prison custody because they are subject to further criminal charges, they would be transferred to a closed prison near the court before which they were to appear.

Radio Frequency Identification

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his policy is on the regulation of the use of radio frequency identifiers; and to what use information derived from these is put. [145015]

Margaret Hodge: I have been asked to reply.

The use of radio frequency identifiers (RFID) is regulated by Ofcom under the terms of the Wireless Telegraphy Act. Licenses may be granted setting out permitted power levels, frequency bands and antenna configurations to reduce the likelihood of interference with other radio spectrum users.

Harmonised standards maximise the benefits of RFID use in global supply chains. In January 2006 Ofcom responded to a recommendation from the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) making harmonised spectrum available for RFID use in the UK.

The need for further harmonisation was noted in the April 2007 European Commission Communication (7544/07) ‘Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in Europe: steps towards a policy framework’. The Government support this approach.

RFID is an important business technology in food production, logistics, supply chain and retail. Information derived from it is used for quality assurance and audit and for efficient management of shipping, supply chain, warehousing and stock. It is used increasingly in documents, banknotes and ticketing to reduce counterfeiting. Millions of RFID enabled cards are used by commuters, easing access to transport systems. RFID is starting to be used in health care where it can significantly enhance patient safety.

Information derived from RFID normally describes objects. Where information pertains to, or is associated with, persons that information is subject to the terms of the Data Protection Act. The Government believe the
25 Jun 2007 : Column 323W
current regulatory regime is adequate but keeps it under review in light of future technological and market developments.

Sea Carrier Liaison Officers

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) pursuant to the written statement of 18 June 2007, Official Report, columns 76-77WS, on the Managing of Global Migration Strategy, how many of the proposed Sea Carrier liaison officers will be stationed in Scotland; and at what ports they will be stationed; [144402]

(2) what plans his Department has to liaise with the Scottish Parliament Cabinet Secretary for Justice on the deployment of the proposed Sea Carrier liaison officers. [144403]

Mr. Byrne: Based on the successful model of the Airline liaison officer, we are examining the concept of a Sea liaison officer who could undertake a similar function at major sea ports of embarkation to the UK. This work is at an early stage and will be taken forward in liaison with all interested parties in the UK and abroad. It is too soon to say where such officers would be located or how many there would be.

Seasonal Workers

Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many EU nationals registered to enter the United Kingdom to work as seasonal workers in agriculture in 2007, broken down by nation and region of origin; and if he will make a statement. [132081]

Mr. Byrne: Provisional figures indicate that the nine contracted operators, administering the Home Office Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (SAWS), issued 1,535 SAWS work cards to Bulgarian nationals and 890 to Romanian nationals for a set period not exceeding six months in the period 1 January 2007 to 31 March 2007.

We are unable to provide geographical data broken down by region of origin.

Data on Bulgaria and Romania are available on the BIA website by following the link below:

The figures quoted are not provided under National Statistics protocols and have been derived from local management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change.

Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign students registered to enter the United Kingdom to work as seasonal workers in agriculture in each of the last 10 years, broken down by nation and region of origin; and if he will make a statement. [132080]

Mr. Byrne: The following table shows the number of Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (SAWS) work cards issued based on the date the work card was printed. It is broken down by the top 20 nationalities for each year from 2004 to March 2007.


25 Jun 2007 : Column 324W

For 1997 to 2003 inclusive, nationality data is not available.

The figures quoted are not provided under National Statistics protocols and have been derived from local management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change.

SAWS work cards printed top 20 nationalities
Year/Country 2004 2005 2006 January- March 2007

Ukraine

6,909

5,159

5,089

2,339

Bulgaria

3,471

2,742

3,806

1,218

Russia

2,539

2,485

2,921

895

Romania

1,436

1,926

2,050

602

Belarus

2,339

1,618

1,020

311

Moldova

663

992

1,035

327

Poland

1,864

0

0

0

Lithuania

960

1

1

0

China

677

0

0

0

Latvia

594

1

0

0

Macedonia

96

71

143

135

Serbia

96

60

98

67

Georgia

79

116

78

5

Albania

146

66

46

0

Armenia

47

38

91

58

Yugoslavia

14

27

94

1

Mongolia

81

17

8

4

Ghana

11

19

32

40

India

85

6

3

0

Estonia

76

8

3

1

Others

199

112

89

37

Total

22,382

15,464

16,607

6,040


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