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19 July 2007 : Column 545W—continued
Crimes of Violence: Alcoholic Drinks
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps the Government are taking to tackle binge drinking-related violent crime. [150484]
Mr. Coaker:
‘Safe, Sensible, Social—next Steps for the national Alcohol Strategy’ published on 5 June 2007 builds on the progress made and lessons learned in tackling binge drinking and violent crime since the Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy for England was
published in 2004. The renewed Strategy includes sharpened criminal justice for drunken behaviour, more help for people who want to drink less, local alcohol strategies and a public information campaign to promote a sensible drinking culture. In addition, we will continue to make full and better use of existing laws and licensing powers to bear down on irresponsibly managed bars, pubs, and off licenses. The Government have also introduced provisions in the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006, which include Alcohol Disorder Zones, and Directions to Leave to help support the police and local authorities in tackling alcohol related crime and disorder.
Cryptography: Orders and Regulations
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she plans to lay the statutory instrument relating to encryption under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. [150110]
Mr. McNulty: The statutory instrument relating to encryption, the draft Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Investigation of Protected Electronic Information: Code of Practice) Order 2007, was laid before Parliament on 14 June and considered in Committee on 17 July. Subject to parliamentary approval of the report from Committee, the relevant Commencement Order will be laid. The effect of both Orders will be to commence the provisions of Part 3 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 on 1 October and to bring into force a statutory code of practice relating to the exercise of those provisions on the same day.
Entry Clearances
Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the latest figures are for the number of people with exceptional leave to remain who have applied for indefinite leave to remain and whose cases are awaiting a decision. [149921]
Mr. Byrne: Specialist casework teams in the Border and Immigration Agency are dealing with about 2,000(1 )cases which represent the identified applications not yet decided. A stocktaking exercise is in progress to match data records to files and to identify any cases still requiring a decision held in other parts of the Border and Immigration Agency. Statistics for these cases need verification.
(1)Figures rounded to the nearest 25 as of 10 July 2007. The above data is not provided under the National Statistics protocols. It has been derived from local management information and is therefore provisional and subject to change.
Immigration Controls: Uniforms
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which organisation designed the uniform for border security staff for the pilot programme; whether the same uniform will be used for the full roll-out of the programme; and what the cost was of commissioning the uniform design for (a) the pilot and (b) the full roll-out. [149770]
Jacqui Smith: Alexandra plc. was selected to design the uniform worn by front-line border control staff during the pilot.
The cost of the uniforms pilot was £18,192.55 plus VAT. Following evaluation of the uniforms pilot, minor amendments were made to the design and the fabrics of the uniform to be rolled out.
The cost element of designing the new uniform was incorporated in the total cost of the uniform. The final costs for roll out of uniforms to border control front-line operational staff and the cost element of designing the new uniform cannot be finalised until the supplier has assessed and actioned the total number of orders.
Members: Correspondence
Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she will reply to the letters of (a) 2 July, (b) 14 June and (c) 11 May 2007 from the hon. Member for Woking on Mr. Everet West (HO ref. B17322/7). [150827]
Mr. Byrne: A reply was sent to the hon. Member’s office by the Border and Immigration Agency on 17 July.
Minister for the West Midlands
Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions the Minister for Borders and Immigration has had with her on the amount of time away from her Department which will be required following his appointment as Minister for the West Midlands. [150726]
Jacqui Smith: I meet regularly with each of my ministerial team to discuss both their portfolios and the policy and operational issues which arise from them.
Police: Databases
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many records were held on the Police National Computer in each of the last 10 years. [147757]
Jacqui Smith: The following table shows the number of records held in the Names database on PNC. This includes Arrests, Convictions, Disqualified Drivers, Wanted and Missing.
There are other databases on the PNC: Property, Vehicles and Drivers. The records for the last two databases originate from the databases at the DVLA.
| Persons records | |
| As of 1 January each year | Number |
Police: Eastern Region
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much funding has been allocated to the police per head of population in (a) Suffolk and (b) the East of England for 2007-08. [150542]
Mr. McNulty: The Government do not distribute grant to police authorities purely on the basis of population. The police funding formula uses a range of data relating to demographic and social characteristics to reflect the relative needs of each authority. Grant allocations also take into account the relative tax base of each authority. Grant allocations are stabilised by damping to limit year-on-year variations.
The information requested is set out in the following table.
| Police authority | Total grants 2007-08( 1) (£ million) | Resident Population mid-2005( 2 ) (million) | Funding per head of population 2007-08 (£) |
| (1 )Total grants comprise: Home Office Police Grant, DCLG Revenue Support Grant and National Non-Domestic Rates; Special Formula grant, Specific Grants: Crime Fighting Fund, Neighbourhood Policing Fund, Basic Command Unit Fund, Community Support Officer Funding, Pension Deficit Grant and Dedicated Security Post funding and Capital provision (including the increased capital allocations announced on 24 May and 19 June 2007). (2 )Population Data sourced by the Office for National Statistics from the mid-2005 population estimates. | |||
Police: Grants
Mr. Martlew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what grants were provided to (a) the Crime Reduction partnership in Carlisle, (b) Carlisle city council and (c) Cumbria county council for safety and policing in each year since 2003-04. [149625]
Mr. Coaker: Grant allocations made to Carlisle city council and subsequently to Cumbria county council and available to the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership in each year since 2003-04 are set out in the following table.
| £ | ||
| Building Safer Communities and ASB Co-ordinators Grant (paid to Carlisle city council) | Safer and Stronger Communities Fund (paid to Cumbria county council) | |
These figures reflect the fact that the Building Safer Communities Fund and Anti-Social Behaviour Co-ordinators Grant was pooled within the Safer and Stronger Communities Fund in 2005-06 along with the Drugs Strategy Partnership Support Grant. This pooling was an initial step in the development of Local Area Agreements (LAAs) and saw partnership funding paid to Unitary and Upper Tier Authorities. Cumbria, an Upper Tier Authority, received funding that was originally allocated to Allerdale, Copeland, Barrow, Carlisle, Eden and South Lakeland CDRPs.
The 2007-08 figures are not directly comparable with previous years because the pooled budget now includes a larger number of funding streams. Cumbria county council and its partners are now able to use this grant flexibly to deliver a wide range of outcomes, including reductions in crime, anti social behaviour and the harms caused by drugs.
The figures exclude any funding allocated to the CDRP that has been targeted at specific initiatives, such as the Street Crime Initiative and the Tackling Violent Crime Programme, and any discretionary allocations made by the Regional Director. Data on those funding allocations are not held centrally, or would be available only at disproportionate cost.
Police: Labour Turnover
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers resigned from the police within (a) six months, (b) one year and (c) two years of starting their employment in each of the last five years. [149769]
Jacqui Smith: No breakdown of leaving categories by length of service is collected centrally and so the requested information is not available.
Police: Recruitment
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers were recruited in (a) Hampshire and (b) England in each year since 1997. [151027]
Mr. McNulty: The available data are contained in the following table. Figures prior to 2002-03 were not collected on a comparable basis by the Home Office.
Innovation, Universities and Skills
Adult Education
Mrs. Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills when he last reviewed the definition of non-priority adult education; and if he will make a statement. [150771]
Bill Rammell: Government funding priorities in further education (FE) have been clearly set out in the Skills Strategy White Paper in 2003, 21st Century Skills—Realising our Potential, reinforced in the 2005 Skills Strategy White Paper, ‘Getting on in business; getting on at work’ and in the White Paper on FE reform, ‘FE, Raising Skills, Improving Life Chances’ (published in March 2006). Most recently, the priorities have been laid out in the Department’s response (published 18 July 2007-www.dius.gov.uk/publications) to Lord Leitch’s report to Government on UK skills, ‘Prosperity for all in the global economy—World class skills.’
These priorities have been implemented through the Secretary of State for Education and Skills’ annual grant letters to the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). In turn the LSC communicates the priorities to the FE sector through their Annual Statement of Priorities. The most recent ‘Annual Statement of Priorities-Raising Our Game’ was published in October 2006 and forthcoming priorities for 2008/09 will be published in October 2007 when the CSR settlement is announced.
Government are focusing its resources on these priorities; other provision may be important, but these are where we will focus the majority of public provision.
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