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22 Nov 2007 : Column 1065Wcontinued
The Welsh Assembly Government are working closely with the Home Office on implementing a number of initiatives to support women who report domestic violence. These include developing specialist
domestic violence courts (SDVCs). There are now seven SDVCs in Wales and separate arrangements being rolled out in Gwent.
The Home Office has also funded independent domestic violence advisor services in these areas, and the implementation of multi-agency risk assessment conferences, both of which aim to increase the safety of high risk victims of domestic violence.
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made in the development of a roadside impairment testing apparatus for use in the identification of drug use by drivers. [165189]
Mr. Coaker: Following extensive development work with manufacturers and other independent experts, the Forensic Science Service aims to issue by Christmas a specification for a drug screening device. The purpose of the device will be to test for the presence in a drivers person of any of six drug types above specified levels. These drug types are known to be capable of causing impairment. It will then be for manufacturers to prepare a device in line with the specification and submit it for type approval. Type approval is necessary before the police can use a device for drug-driving enforcement.
The police are already conducting impairment tests using a prescribed Field Impairment Testing regime. The HO Scientific Development Branch (HOSDB) has been considering possible improvements to this regime and intends to pursue these in discussion with the Department for Transport. HOSDB has also been investigating the possible development of an impairment measuring device and is keeping in close contact with others working in this area. Funding has now been agreed for work to be taken forward in partnership with a suitable university or other outside agency.
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will include fraud offences in the 2008 British Crime Survey; and what steps she is taking to raise public awareness of the dangers of fraud. [166218]
Mr. Coaker: The British Crime Survey (BCS) is a nationally representative survey of households in England and Wales. Its primary purpose is to estimate levels of crime committed against the population of private households and adults living in such households. As such, the survey cannot estimate crimes committed against those outside the scope of the survey, such as commercial and public sector bodies.
The BCS provides a measure of fraud (including identity fraud) committed against individuals in private households, which is important because it captures unreported incidents. However, fraud is a complex area and there are conceptual difficulties around its definition and measurement in surveys. On the one hand, some members of the public who had been victims of poor service may perceive themselves to have been de-frauded, when this is not the case in law, whereas many of those who had been genuine victims of fraud may not be aware of the fact.
A special module of questions has been included in the BCS in recent years focusing on credit and debit card, internet and identity fraud. However, fraud offences are not currently included within the main crime count of the BCS.
The most recent results have been reported in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin 11/07 Crime in England and Wales 2006/2007. More detailed figures can be found in the Home Office Online Report 10/07 Mobile phone theft, plastic card and identity fraud: Findings from the 2005/06 British Crime Survey. New questions have recently been developed, in the card and ID fraud module currently being run within the BCS, and these will be reviewed before continuing inclusion in the 2008/09 BCS.
Information about fraud is included on a number of Government websites including that of the Home Office, which also created and maintains a mini site devoted to fraud within the Governments Crime Reduction Website. The Get Safe Online website, a joint Government and private sector initiative, provides advice to help computer users stay safe online and includes information about fraud. The Home Office has also produced, in conjunction with the banking industry, a leaflet to help prevent plastic card fraud. The leaflet was distributed to police forces and Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships and is available on the Home Office website.
The cross Whitehall review of fraud which reported last year recommended establishing a National Fraud Strategic Authority (NFSA) which will implement a national strategy on fraud. Key actions for the NFSA will be to raise the profile of fraud and to co-ordinate the response to it. A measurement will also be established within the NFSA to measure the national extent of fraud based on robust measurement methodologies.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many truck hijackings have been reported to police in each region in the last 12 months. [166460]
Mr. McNulty: The information requested is not available from the recorded crime statistics.
David Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many reported honour killings there were in each police force area in each of the last 10 years. [165504]
Mr. McNulty: The requested information cannot be provided. Such circumstances cannot be identified from centrally-held homicide data.
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what funding has been allocated to Operation Pentameter 2; and if she will make a statement. [165196]
Mr. Coaker: Tackling human trafficking is core police business. Forces receive over £11 billion in grant annually and work undertaken as part of Operation Pentameter 2 is being met from existing funding streams. The Government have awarded Eaves Housing for Women a grant of £2.4 million over two years to provide tailored high-level support for victims of trafficking. We are investing an additional £100,000 to top-up this grant for Pentameter 2.
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the outcomes of Operation Pentameter 2; and if she will make a statement. [165205]
Mr. Coaker: Operational Pentameter 2 is still ongoing. An evaluation of intelligence obtained and conduct of the operation will be undertaken following its completion.
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the five most common makes and models of vehicles stolen in each police authority area were in each of the last five years. [165677]
Mr. Coaker: Estimates of the numbers of cars stolen, by make and model, at national level in each of the calendar years 2003, 2004 and 2005, were recently published on the Home Office website, along with details of how these estimates were arrived at.
We do not hold this information at police force area level.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made on each of the 12 points outlined by the former Prime Minister as security measures on 5 August 2005; and if she will make a statement. [165724]
Mr. McNulty: Progress on each of the 12 points is set out in the following table.
Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the population is of each police force area. [166411]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 20 November 2007]: Population figures used in the most recent Home Office statistical bulletins on crime and police numbers, and relating to police force areas in England and Wales, are shown in the following table.
Mid 2005 population for each police force area | |
Thousand | |
Source: Office of National Statistics Census-revised mid-year estimates. |
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