Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
9 Oct 2007 : Column 479Wcontinued
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much extra funding will be provided by the Government for policing provision during the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth. [156022]
Mr. McNulty: The Home Office provide special grant to police authorities to pay for the additional costs of policing the main annual party conferences.
Dorset police submitted a bid of £4.5 million (revenue) plus £80,000 (capital) for the additional costs of policing the 2007 Labour Party autumn conference which has been approved.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will make a statement on the current formula for determining the annual pay of police officers. [156698]
Mr. McNulty: It is important that pay arrangements for the police are both fair and affordable, for the taxpayer as well as the police service. This is why the Government asked Sir Clive Booth to conduct a review of police pay. His recommendations were published in a written ministerial statement on 21 February 2007, and they recommended an interim index linking increases in police officer pay to increases in the public sector. This was the basis of the 2007 pay offer to police officers. The Government made clear in their ministerial statement of 21 February that Sir Clive Booth's recommendations would be taken forward through the Police Negotiation Board (PNB). We are disappointed that the PNB failed to reach agreement. The matter has now been referred to the Police Arbitration Tribunal. Before my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary makes her decision on the police pay award for 2007, she will consider very carefully the recommendations that result from this process.
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many security alerts were dealt with by police in each police force area in each of the last 10 years. [156476]
Mr. McNulty: This information is not held centrally by the Home Office and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers there were (a) in total and (b) per 100,000 of the general population in (i) Devon and Cornwall, (ii) the South West and (iii) England in (A) 2006 and (B) 2007. [156316]
Mr. McNulty: The requested data are published annually in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin series Police Service Strength, England and Wales, copies of which are available online and are in the Library of the House.
The available data are given in the tables.
Total police officers (FTE)( 1) for Devon and Cornwall force, South West region and England as at 31 March 2006 and 2007 | |||
As at 31 March each year | Devon and Cornwall | South West | England |
(1) Full-time equivalent strength figures that have been rounded to the nearest whole number. |
Total police officers per 100,000( 1) population for Devon and Cornwall force, South West region and England as at 31 March 2006 and 2007 | |||
As at 31 March each year | Devon and Cornwall | South West | England |
(1) Based on full-time equivalent strength figures that have been rounded to the nearest whole number. |
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the 35 main ports of entry to the UK were staffed 24 hours a day by immigration officials in (a) 2003 and (b) 2006. [156308]
Jacqui Smith: Of the 35 main ports of entry, there are 19 ports in the UK and in juxtaposed locations which are staffed 24 hours a day. A further 16 have staff based there during operating hours. Other ports are staffed on a regular basis to cover scheduled services with all remaining points of entry attended on a risk assessed basis or in response to specific intelligence.
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what (a) assessment has been made of and (b) guidance her Department has issued on the use of section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 by the Metropolitan Police Service. [156011]
Mr. McNulty:
In spring 2007, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) carried out a review of its use of stop and search powers under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000. One of the recommendations was to continue to apply appropriately for the authority. Another recommendation was to raise public awareness about the powers. As part of that commendation, the MPS are publishing stop and search figures for each London
borough on a monthly basis. Lord Carlile of Berriew also assesses the use of section 44 in his capacity as Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation.
National guidance for the police on the use of section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 was published in July 2006 by the National Centre for Policing Excellence. One of the key aims of the guidance was to set out a framework for the use of section 44 powers to ensure that they are used appropriately by officers on the ground. In August 2006, the Home Office produced a circular for the police on the use of section 44. This included a requirement for the authorising officer to provide details of the community impact assessment made prior to authorising the powers.
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many vehicles were seized as uninsured vehicles in each of the last three years for which figures are available; and how many of those were subsequently destroyed or scrapped. [156320]
Mr. Coaker: The police power is to seize vehicles driven by someone without appropriate insurance. Information on the number of vehicles seized is not recorded centrally.
Robert Key: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the costs were of (a) interpretation and (b) translation in connection with police work by the Wiltshire Constabulary in each of the five most required foreign languages in each of the last five years. [156721]
Mr. McNulty: This is an operational matter for the Chief Officer and the Police Authority.
Dr. Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications from employers for work permits were waiting for processing to be completed on (a) 1 March and (b) 1 September; and what the average time was between (i) initial receipt of the application and despatch from the payment processing facility and (ii) completion of the payment processing and approval of the work permit on each of those dates. [155639]
Mr. Byrne: The number of work permit applications awaiting an initial decision was 4,658 on 1 March 2007 and was 3,508 on 1 September 2007.
Work permit applications received at the payment processing centre before 1.30 pm are delivered to the Border and Immigration Agency the same day. Those received later are delivered the next working day.
For the six- month period prior to 1 March 2007 it took an average eight calendar days from receipt at the Border and Immigration Agency to complete a work permit application and for the six-month period prior to 1 September 2007 it took an average of 10 calendar days.
All the above figures exclude those applications that had been initially refused but which were being reconsidered on review at these dates.
he 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.
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of people who were granted a UK work permit in 2000 subsequently (a) applied for and (b) were granted settlement. [156305]
Jacqui Smith: The information requested could be obtained by the detailed examination of individual records only at disproportionate cost.
Although information on both work permits and grants of settlement are provided in the Home Office Command Paper Control of Immigration: Statistics United Kingdom 2006, it is not possible to directly cross reference between the data as the basis for calculation is different.
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the value was of international trade in (a) goods and (b) services for the Yorkshire and the Humber region in (i) 1996-97 and (ii) the latest year for which figures are available; and what percentage of gross domestic product in each year each figure represents. [155273]
Mr. Timms [holding answer 12 September 2007]: HM Revenue and Customs publishes a regional breakdown for trade in goods going back to 2000. Their figure for 2000 for exports of goods from Yorkshire and the Humber was £8.8 billion compared with £12.7 billion in 2006; the 2006 figure may have been affected by transactions associated with missing trader VAT fraud. In 2000 this was about 14.5 per cent. of regional gross value added; regional GVA figures for 2006 are not yet available, but the comparable figure is likely to be about 15.4 per cent. For imports of goods, equivalent figures are £10.7 billion and 17.6 per cent. in 2000, and £14.1 billion and 17.1 per cent. in 2006. Similar data for regional trade in services are not available.
Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform whether alternative locations for post offices that Royal Mail propose for closure will be required to comply with disability discrimination legislation; and if he will make a statement. [155604]
Mr. McFadden: Disability access to Crown post offices is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. acting in compliance with the requirements of the disability discrimination legislation.
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform if he will ask the Competition Commission to inquire into whether practices of UK supermarkets involve significant exploitation of workers in developing countries; and if he will make a statement. [152605]
Mr. Thomas: The Government do not request the Competition Commission to undertake inquiries except in certain, limited circumstances. Ensuring that markets operate freely and fairly is not a matter for the Government, but is for the independent competition authorities.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has asked the CC to investigate if any features of this market prevent, restrict or distort competition and if so, what action might be taken to remedy these. The CC has a statutory requirement to report within two years of a reference to them by the OFT. It is required to publish its final report by 8 May 2008, but is aiming to do so by October 2007. The CC expects to publish its emerging thinking for consultation on 23 January. The current timetable for the inquiry can be found at:
The CC investigation is not limited to considering only the issues that the OFT has identified, and any issues should be raised direct with them.
Mr. Kemp: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many domestic wind turbines were granted planning permission on land designated as green belt for each of the previous three years for which figures are available. [156572]
Mr. Iain Wright: I have been asked to reply.
This information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Ms Dari Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many arts organisations in (a) Stockton on Tees and (b) the North East received Arts Council England North East funding in each of the last 10 years. [149968]
Margaret Hodge: The table shows the amount of arts organisations in Stockton on Tees and the North East in receipt of Arts Council funding for each of the last 10 years.
Figures for the North East prior to 1999-2000 relate to arts organisations receiving lottery funding distributed by the Arts Council. From 1999-2000 the figures for the North East include regularly funded organisations. This is because prior to the merger of
the Regional Arts Boards in 2003-04 to create Arts Council England, each region managed its funding records independently.
Stockton on Tees | North East | |
Next Section | Index | Home Page |