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26 Nov 2007 : Column 112W—continued

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with reference to the answers of 16 January 2007, Official Report, columns 1027-28W and 22 May 2007, Official Report, column 1252W, on disorder penalty notices, when he expects the evaluation of the pilot on the issuance of penalty notices for disorder to 10 to 15-year-olds to be completed; and if he will make a statement. [167114]

Mr. Hanson: The evaluation report will be published as soon as possible.

Young People: Alcoholic Drinks

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many penalty notices for disorder in relation to the sale of alcohol to a person under 18 years of age were issued in each police force area in England and Wales in each year since 2004; how many of these resulted in an unpaid fine in each area; and what the average level of fine was in each year. [165811]

Maria Eagle: The information requested on the number of penalty notices for disorder issued for selling alcohol to persons under-18 is provided in the following table.

This offence attracts a penalty notice for disorder (PND) of £80. The offence was added to the PND scheme on 1 November 2004. Failure to pay the penalty or request a court hearing within 21 days, results in a fine of one-and-half times the penalty amount, in this case £120, being registered by the court. Data on the number of PNDs issued and fine registered for 2004 and 2005 are also provided in the table; data for 2006 will be available shortly.

26 Nov 2007 : Column 113W

The number of penalty notices for disorder issued for offences related to the illegal sale of alcohol to persons aged under-18( 1, 2)
	Penalty notices for disorder issued		Penalty notices for disorder fine registered
Police force area	2004	2005	2004	2005
Avon and Somerset	—	56	—	4
Bedfordshire	—	2	—	—
Cambridgeshire	—	11	—	—
Cheshire	—	49	—	2
Cleveland	—	33	—	1
Cumbria	—	23	—	—
Derbyshire	—	8	—	1
Devon and Cornwall	—	82	—	7
Dorset	22	22	2	—
Durham	—	—	—	—
Essex	7	120	—	6
Gloucestershire	—	42	—	5
Greater Manchester	—	127	—	22
Hampshire	2	67	1	7
Hertfordshire	—	3	—	—
Humberside	2	45	—	3
Kent	—	10	—	6
Lancashire	30	190	1	22
Leicestershire	2	46	—	4
Lincolnshire	—	26	—	1
Merseyside	2	73	—	15
Metropolitan Police	21	161	3	16
Norfolk	—	—	—	—
North Yorkshire	—	—	—	—
Northamptonshire	1	39	—	4
Northumbria	1	48	1	3
Nottinghamshire	9	117	—	17
South Yorkshire	2	107	—	9
Staffordshire	—	19	—	1
Suffolk	—	19	—	1
Surrey	—	—	—	—
Sussex	—	63	—	2
Thames Valley	—	12	—	—
Warwickshire	—	3	—	1
West Mercia	1	22	—	1
West Midlands	6	114	2	13
West Yorkshire	4	72	—	11
Wiltshire	—	8	—	1
Dyfed-Powys	—	18	—	—
Gwent	—	20	—	2
North Wales	1	58	—	10
South Wales	—	123	—	13
England and Wales	113	2,058	10	211
(1) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (2) PND data covers the offence of sale of alcohol to person under-18 under the Licensing Act 2003 S126. Source: Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Ministry of Justice.

Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform

Business: Royal Mail

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, if he will hold discussions with the chair of the National Consumer Council on the requirements of business users of the Royal Mail following its agreed merger with Postwatch and Energywatch. [166810]

Mr. McFadden: My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State will hold discussions with the chair of the new National Consumer Council on a wide range of consumer matters including any plans the council may have in relation to problems faced by small businesses in the postal and energy sectors.

The Consumers Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007 provides the new National Consumer Council with extensive powers to investigate complaints and the definition of "consumer" in the Act is sufficiently wide to incorporate small businesses. However the new National Consumer Council is an independent body and will consult on its priorities and how it intends to address the range of issues affecting consumers in its business plan.

Companies Act 2006

Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform which individuals and organisations his Department plans to consult on the commencement date for those provisions of the Companies Act 2006 which do not necessitate changes to Companies House processes and which were originally due to come into force on 1 October 2008. [166765]

Mr. Timms: The Government have invited comments from key stakeholders on the commencement date of provisions of the Companies Act 2006 which could still be commenced on 1 October 2008 because they do not necessitate changes to Companies House systems and processes. Officials have also discussed the commencement date of such provisions with stakeholders at a meeting of the Companies Act Implementation Advisory Group on 21 November, and have had separate meetings and discussions with other business organisations.

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