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18 Dec 2007 : Column 1235W—continued
Prisons
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what additional personnel will be required to service the proposed new prison for adult males in Northern Ireland; and what estimate he has made of the number of construction jobs created in building the new facility. [174528]
Paul Goggins: Magilligan prison currently employs 441 staff. It is not possible at this stage to determine the final staffing levels for the proposed new prison.
It is anticipated that construction of the new prison will start in 2011-12 on a phased basis. While it is not possible to determine the number of construction jobs required to build the new facility, it will provide additional employment opportunities.
Home Department
Animal Experiments
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress her Department has made in the replacement of animals in scientific procedures; and how many animals she estimates would have been used in excess of the figure actually used, in the absence of Government action to promote such replacement in the most recent year for which figures are available. [165595]
Meg Hillier: The licensing system under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 is demand-led and the Home Office has no control over the number of project licence applications received. Our objective is to minimise the number of animals used in particular programmes of work. We cannot influence the overall amount of animal research which takes place as this is determined by a number of factors, including the economic climate and global trends in scientific endeavour.
We are, however, fully committed to encouraging the development of alternatives to animal experimentation where this is possible and under the 1986 Act, the use of animals in scientific procedures will not be licensed if alternative non-animal techniques are available. The establishment of the National Centre for the Replacement, Reduction and Refinement of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) by Government in May 2004 and continued contributions to its funding by the Home Office demonstrates our ongoing commitment in this area.
Assessing the overall impact of the adoption of non-animal methods is not easy, however some insights can be drawn from the Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals published each year. For example, the use of such methods has reduced the number of mice used each year for monoclonal antibody production from several thousand to zero. Also, between 1996 and 2005 the introduction of the Limulus Assay for some classes of pyrogen testing reduced rabbit use for this purpose from 16,457 to 8,769.
Drugs: Rehabilitation
Jon Trickett:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many places are available in
residential drug treatment and rehabilitation centres in (a) the Wakefield area, (b) Hemsworth constituency and (c) England; and if she will make a statement. [168009]
Dawn Primarolo: I have been asked to reply.
According to Bedvacs, the on-line database of residential rehabilitation services, there are no residential rehabilitation facilities physically located in the Wakefield area.
To make best use of available capacity across the country, clients are regularly placed into residential rehabilitation facilities outside the area of residence of the client. Residential rehabilitation services usually have national catchment areas and clients will access them from across the country. The area of the client's residence has the responsibility for providing funding for residential rehabilitation services based on individual need.
The Wakefield drug action team covers all localities within the area, including Hemsworth.
There were 2,222 beds available for drug dependent clients in England listed on Bedvacs, as of 7 December 2007.
Genetics: Databases
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals have records on the DNA database, broken down by police force area. [167014]
Meg Hillier: The information requested is shown in the following table. The figures given show the number of subject sample profiles retained on the National DNA Database at 25 October 2007 which were taken by forces in England and Wales, and the number of individuals that these profiles represent. They include over 26,000 subject sample profiles taken from volunteers.
It is currently estimated that 13.7 per cent. of profiles held on the NDNAD are replicates, i.e. that a profile for a person has been loaded on more than one occasion (one reason for this is that the person gave different names, or different versions of their name, on separate arrests). Thus the number of individuals on the database is approximately 13.7 per cent. fewer than the number of subject profiles. The presence of these replicate profiles on the NDNAD does not impact on the effectiveness and integrity of the database. Nonetheless, a long-term exercise is under way to identify issues associated with the removal of all such redundant replicate profiles.
Information on the NDNAD is recorded on the basis of the police force which took the DNA sample. The address of the person sampled is not recorded. Thus the figure for Suffolk (for example) includes people from outside Suffolk whose DNA was sampled by Suffolk police, and excludes people from Suffolk whose DNA was sampled by forces elsewhere.
| Force | Total profiles on 25 October 2007 | Total individuals on 25 October 2007 |
Illegal Immigrants: Northern Ireland
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what monitoring her Department conducts of the number of foreign nationals residing in Northern Ireland; and what steps she is taking to tackle illegal immigration in Northern Ireland. [171786]
Mr. Byrne: As with the previous parliamentary question answered 17 December 2007, Official Report, columns 965-66W, the Border and Immigration Agency (the Agency) does not disaggregate statistics for areas within the UK. Migrants who are legally authorized to live and work in the UK may move freely within the UK and are subject to the legal constraints of their immigration status.
The Agency maintains records on Managed Migration, Asylum (Including Failed Asylum Seekers), and Foreign National Prisoners on a UK wide basis. The Agency works closely with the Police Service of Northern Ireland to combat illegal migration within Northern Ireland. The agency have immigration staff based in Belfast responsible for identifying illegal migrants in Northern Ireland. Activity is targeted according to intelligence received. The police prosecute on our behalf in appropriate cases, while the Agency is responsible for the administrative removal of those found in Northern Ireland unlawfully.
There is also a Managed Migration Compliance Team in Northern Ireland who work with employers and educational establishments to assist them to become a sponsor under the Points Based System. Should the compliance team uncover any illegal working it is passed to the relevant Intelligence unit for further investigation and action as specified above.
The Agency operates borders controls on international flights into Northern Ireland. We also work with the Garda National Immigration Bureau in Dublin to deal with migrants who cross the land border into Northern Ireland.
Young Offenders: Essex
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many cautions were issued to those under 16 years of age in (a) Southend and (b) each police force area in Essex in each of the last five years; [165741]
(2) how many cautions were issued in Southend in each of the last five years; for what categories of offences cautions were issued; whether cautions may be repeated in respect of one individual for the same offence; and if she will make a statement. [165742]
Mr. Coaker: Information on the number of offenders aged 10 to 15 who were given final warning and reprimands for all offences in Essex police force area for the years 2001 to 2005 are given in the table. From June 2000, cautions for offenders under 18 years old were replaced by reprimands and final warnings. Data for 2006 will be available in late November of 2007.
Cautions data are only collected by the Ministry of Justice by police force area. Information held centrally does not allow a breakdown of cases by individual police services area within Essex nor can data be provided for the number of cautions issued in Southend.
If a caution has been received previously for any offence then a further simple caution should not be considered unless the current offence is trivial or unrelated to previous offences, or at least two years have passed indicating that the previous caution has had a significant deterrent effect. To help police officers exercise their discretion, guidance from the Home Office requires the police to check nationally and locally held records before administering a simple caution.
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