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22 Nov 2007 : Column 1065W—continued

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
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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.

Driving Under Influence: Drugs

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 driver’s 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.

Fraud

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.


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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 Government’s 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.

Hijacking: Lorries

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.

Homicide: Religion

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]


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Mr. McNulty: The requested information cannot be provided. Such circumstances cannot be identified from centrally-held homicide data.

Human Trafficking

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.

Motor Vehicles: Theft

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.

National Security

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.


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Progress on 12 point plan
Measure Progress

1. Introduce new grounds under which the Government can deport and exclude foreign nationals (i.e. on the basis of incitement/glorification as well as direct national security threat)

Since the introduction of the new grounds of Unacceptable Behaviour for deportation and exclusion, 65 individuals have been excluded from the UK and 1 deported. A further 40 exclusion and 4 deportation cases are under consideration.

Separately, we are also seeking to deport people on national security grounds under longstanding immigration powers. Since 7 July 2005, 9 foreign nationals have been deported under immigration powers on grounds of national security (8 Algerians and 1 French national). A further 24 foreign nationals are subject to deportation proceedings on grounds of national security.

2. To create an offence of condoning or glorifying terrorism

The Terrorism Act 2006 includes the new offence of encouraging terrorism, including glorifying terrorism, which is now in force.

3. To refuse asylum in this country automatically to anyone who has participated in terrorism

Section 54 in the Immigration and Nationality Act allows us to deny asylum to terrorists while respecting our obligations under the Refugee Treaty. Section 55 in the Act allows the Secretary of State to certify that an appellant is not entitled to the protection of the Refugee Convention.

4. To consult on extending the powers to strip citizenship, applying them to British citizens engaged in extremism and making the procedures more effective

A provision included in the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 lowers the bar for removal of citizenship by replacing one of the existing criteria with a new power to deprive where such action is held by the Home Secretary to be “conducive to the public good”. The power came into force on 16 June 2006. One person has been deprived under this new power. A number of other cases are being actively pursued having been identified as priority cases by the Security Service and the Special Cases Oversight Board.

5. To consult on setting a maximum time limit for all future extradition cases involving terrorism

Rashid Ramda extradited.

The tri-departmental group set up to speed up the extradition of terrorist suspects has concluded that part of its work and is now considering how to prepare for the expected surge in European Arrest Warrants after the introduction of the Schengen Information System 2 computer in 2010.

6. To examine a new court procedure to allow a pre-trial process to allow sensitive evidence to be brought forward in court.

Pre-trial processes considered. Decided not to take forward. We are awaiting the outcome of the Privy Council review on using intercept as evidence.

7. To extend the use of control orders for those who are British nationals and cannot be deported

The last Control Order Quarterly Statement to Parliament on 17 September 2007 confirmed that there are 14 orders currently in force, 8 of which are in respect of British citizens. Control orders continue to be an important tool to address the threat posed by suspected terrorists who cannot currently be prosecuted or, in respect of foreign nationals, who cannot be removed from the UK. But they are not perfect, and never have been.

8. To expand the court capacity to deal with control orders

Work continues to review the capacity of the courts, specialist tribunals and the judiciary to deal with existing and anticipated caseload relating to terrorism.

9. To proscribe Hizb-ut Tahrir and the successor organisation of Al Mujahiroun

The Terrorism Act 2006 widens the criteria for proscription. Two of the successor organisations to Al Mujahiroun were proscribed in July 2006. HUT are a group of real concern and remain under review.

10. To review the acquisition of British citizenship to make sure that it is adequate and to establish with the Muslim community a commission to advise on better integration

We have extended the requirement to be of good character to virtually all applicants for British citizenship. The relevant provision, section 58 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, was commenced on 4 December 2006. We are also looking at extending the checks carried out to establish good character.

The Commission on Integration and Cohesion was launched on 24 August 2006 with a remit to identify local and practical ways in which cohesion could be built. It reported on 14 June 2007 and made 57 recommendations. On 5 October 2007, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government announced her initial response to the report, which included £50 million additional funding for local authorities over the next three years to build cohesion. This will be followed by a full response in the new year.

11. To consult on a new power to order closure of a place of worship which is used as a centre for fermenting extremism and to consult with Muslim leaders in respect of those clerics who are not British citizens to draw up a list of those not suitable to preach and who will be excluded from our country in the future

The public consultation on taking powers to close place of worship resulted in a decision not to legislate at this stage. This decision was announced to Parliament on 15 December 2005.

The Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board (MINAB) formally launched on the 29 October 2007 alongside a set of draft core minimum standards and constitution for mosques and imams in the UK.

MINAB have also contributed to the work of the Border and Immigration Agency on Entry requirements for ministers of religion.

12. To bring forward the proposed measures on the security of our borders with a series of countries specifically designated for biometric visas over the next year

By March 2007, all visa applicants (100 nationalities) will be required to provide biometric data (10 fingerscans and digital photograph) wherever in the world they apply for a UK visa. The equipment and process changes to enable this are being deployed overseas between autumn 2006 and the end of 2007. We are currently collecting biometric data from all visa applicants in 115 countries and checking the data against records held on the Border and Immigration Agency’s Immigration Fingerprint Service database. The intention is that in due course all fingerscans will be checked against the Border and Immigration Agency’s Immigration and Asylum Fingerprint Service database held in the UK, and the police national database, prior to reaching a decision on the visa application.


Police

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

Avon and Somerset

1531

Bedfordshire

583

Cambridgeshire

749

Cheshire

993

Cleveland

553

Cumbria

499

Derbyshire

981

Devon and Cornwall

1629

Dorset

702

Durham

599

Dyfed Powys

505

Essex

1646

Gloucestershire

575

Greater Manchester

2548

Gwent

556

Hampshire

1811

Hertfordshire

1048

Humberside

891

Kent

1621

Lancashire

1439

Leicestershire

953

Lincolnshire

679

London, City of

9

Merseyside

1367

Metropolitan Police

7509

Norfolk

824

North Wales

675

North Yorkshire

769

Northamptonshire

652

Northumbria

1407

Nottinghamshire

1041

South Wales

1222

South Yorkshire

1286

Staffordshire

1055

Suffolk

692

Surrey

1076

Sussex

1517

Thames Valley

2139

Warwickshire

534

West Mercia

1185

West Midlands

2591

West Yorkshire

2119

Wiltshire

631

Source:
Office of National Statistics Census-revised mid-year estimates.

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