---

9 Oct 2007 : Column 453W—continued

9 Oct 2007 : Column 454W

Table 2: Disposals given to those convicted of dealing in drugs and the average sentence given by the courts for the years 2001-05
	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Immediate custody(1)	65	44	56	61	60
Average sentence (months)	26	22	30	28	22
Suspended custody	65	40	35	67	47
Average sentence (months)	19	18	17	20	20
Community Service Order	5	2	4	6	4
Average sentence (hours)	116	170	133	145	180
Attendance Centre Order	0	0	0	1	0
Average sentence (hours)	—	—	—	24	—
Probation Order	2	6	7	14	11
Average sentence (months)	24	20	19	18	16
Fine	7	14	9	20	16
Average amount (£)	221	128	106	254	209
Combination Order	1	4	4	9	6
Average probation period (months)(2)	—	—	15	17	14
Average community service period (hours)(2)	—	—	95	78	65
Youth Conference Order(3)	—	—	—	0	1
Conditional Discharge	6	2	4	4	4
Other(4)	1	0	0	0	0
Total number convicted	152	112	119	182	149
‘—’ = Not applicable. (1) Data include those sentenced to prison, Young Offenders’ Centre and those given Custody Probation Orders. (2) Data are not available for the average probation period (months) and the average community service period (hours) for Combination Orders for 2001 and 2002. (3) Average sentence lengths are not given for Youth Conference Orders. (4) Other includes Absolute discharge and Recognisance.

Northern Ireland Police Authority; Information Officers

Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many press officers are employed by the Northern Ireland Police. [154720]

Paul Goggins: The PSNI currently employ 16 personnel, filling 13 Press Officer positions (one of whom is part-time) and three Senior Press Officer positions.

Rates and Rating: Northern Ireland

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland where responsibility lies for making changes to the system of local taxation in Northern Ireland. [154688]

9 Oct 2007 : Column 455W

Mr. Woodward: Local taxation in Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the devolved Administration in Northern Ireland. The UK Government remain responsibility for taxes that apply to the United Kingdom as a whole.

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether the UK Government are making a submission to the Northern Ireland Executive's review of domestic rates. [153890]

Mr. Woodward: Local Taxation in Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the devolved Administration in Northern Ireland. The Government have no plans to make a submission to the review of domestic rates in Northern Ireland.

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to the answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) of 15 January 2007, Official Report, column 955W, on valuation and rating, if he will place in the Library a copy of the letter sent by the Rate Collection Agency's Chief Executive. [153893]

Mr. Woodward: A copy of the Chief Executive’s letter has now been placed in the Library of the House.

Sexual Offences

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the (a) shortest sentence, (b) shortest suspended sentence and (c) lowest fine handed down by the courts in Northern Ireland was following conviction for (i) rape, (ii) attempted rape, (iii) indecent assault on a female, (iv) indecent assault on a male, (v) indecent assault on a female child, (vi) indecent assault on a male child, (vii) gross indecency with a child, (viii) buggery with a boy under 16 years of age, (ix) buggery with a girl, (x) unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under 14 years, (xi) unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under 17 years, (xii) permitting a girl under 17 years to use premises for intercourse, (xiii) incest by man, (xiv) indecent exposure with intent to assault a female, (xv) exposure, (xvi) voyeurism, (xvii) sex offender failing to notify police of change of address, (xviii) breach of interim sex offender’s prevention order, (xix) bigamy, (xx) distributing indecent photographs of children, (xxi) possessing indecent photograph of a child, (xxii) taking indecent photograph or pseudo photograph of children and (xxiii) making indecent photograph or pseudo photograph of children in each of the last three years. [154009]

Paul Goggins: The information requested is contained in the following tables.

Tables 1-3 give the number sentenced to immediate custody and the minimum sentence length (in months) handed down by the courts for those convicted of specific sexual offences for the calendar years 2003 to 2005 (the latest years available). Tables 4-6 provide similar information for those given a suspended sentence.

The number of defendants disposed of by a fine and the minimum fine amount given over the same period are documented in tables 7-9.

9 Oct 2007 : Column 456W

Data are collated on the principal offence rule; thus only the most serious offence with which an offender is charged is included.

Table 1: Number sentenced to immediate custody for sexual offences and the minimum sentence length (in months) given by offence for the year 2003
Offence	Number sentenced to immediate custody	Minimum custodial sentence given (months)
Rape	8	18
Attempted rape	1	24
Indecent assault on female	30	4
Indecent assault on male	4	12
Indecent assault on female child	3	12
Indecent assault on male child	0	(1)—
Gross indecency with child	5	12
Buggery with boy under 16 years	1	84
Buggery with girl	0	(1)—
Unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under 14	1	60
Unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under 17	0	(1)—
Permitting girl under 17 to use premises for intercourse	0	(1)—
Incest by man	0	(1)—
Indecent exposure with intent to insult a female	0	(1)—
Indecent exposure	0	(1)—
Voyeurism	0	(1)—
Sex offender failing to notify police of change of address	0	(1)—
Breach of interim sex offender’s prevention order	0	(1)—
Bigamy	0	(1)—
Distributing indecent photographs of children	0	(1)—
Possessing indecent photograph(s) of child(ren)	0	(1)—
Taking indecent photograph or pseudo photographs of children	1	24
Making indecent photograph or pseudo photograph(s) of children	0	(1)—
(1) Sentence length is not applicable.

---