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7 Jan 2008 : Column 296W—continued
| Table B: North East Region | |||||
| Police officers (FTE)( 1,)( )( 3) | Police sergeants (FTE)( 1,3) | Special constables (HC)( 4) | Traffic police officers (FTE)( 1,)( )( 5) | Police community support officers (FTE)( 1) | |
Police: Retirement
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average age of retirement was for police officers in England retiring in the last 12 months; and what average pension is being paid to those officers. [174719]
Mr. McNulty: An average retirement age cannot be separately identified from the available data. The available data are the age on leaving the service within the following time bands only: 25 and under, 26 to 40, 41 to 55 and over 55. Information about the average pension being paid to officers retiring in a particular year is not held centrally. The size of an officer’s annual pension depends largely on his or her pensionable pay, and length of pensionable service. Under the Police Pension Scheme 1987, a lump sum is not paid out automatically but only where the officer chooses to convert (commute) part of his or her pension into a lump sum. The size of a lump sum therefore depends on the officer’s annual pension, the proportion of pension that the officer chooses to commute, and the commutation factor to be applied to the surrendered portion of pension in order to convert it into a lump sum. A typical officer, retiring after 30 years’ service on a final pensionable pay of £34,080 (the 2006-07 pensionable maximum for an officer of constable rank outside London), would be entitled to a pension of £17,040 per annum and a lump sum of £85,200, based on the officer commuting the maximum possible proportion of his or her pension, and using the most substantial factor. Based on the available data, the indications are that the average pre-commutation pension would be in the region of £21,500.
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers were (a) offered early retirement schemes and (b) accepted early retirement schemes in each of the last 10 years. [175057]
Mr. McNulty: A police officer who is a member of the Police Pension Scheme 1987 is entitled to retire with an ordinary pension after 25 years' service, payable from the age of 50. An officer who is a member of the 1987 scheme can also retire with a full and immediate pension at any age once he or she has accrued 30 years' service. The earliest age from which this would normally be possible is 48Â1/2, given the minimum entry age of 18Â1/2 for the police service. Unless an officer becomes permanently disabled for police duty, and is required to retire on ill health grounds, there is no specific early retirement scheme. In order to qualify for an ordinary pension, officers must in all cases, however, provide the police authority with one month's notice of their intention to retire, or three months in the case of chief officer ranks, although it is at the discretion of the police authority to accept a shorter notice period. As it is a matter for local discretion, there are no centrally held data on its frequency of use.
Project Semaphore
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which carriers provide both travel document information and passenger name record data under Project Semaphore. [174753]
Mr. Byrne: A number of carriers do provide both travel document information and other passenger information under Project Semaphore. The use of that data is operationally sensitive and it would not be appropriate for those details to be released.
Prosecutions: Driving Under the Influence
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many motorists were (a) stopped on suspicion of drink-driving and (b) prosecuted for drink-driving on UK roads last year. [175043]
Mr. Coaker: Information relating to Northern Ireland and Scotland is the responsibility respectively of the Northern Ireland Office and the Scottish Government.
Information on stops for suspected drink driving in England and Wales is not collected centrally. Available information relates to the number of screening breath tests and the number of prosecutions for driving after consuming alcohol or taking drug. In 2005, the latest period for which figures are available, there were 607,400 screening breath tests and 103,482 prosecutions. Data for 2006 will be available next year.
Public Order Act 1986
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) prosecutions have been made and (b) convictions obtained for offences under sections 21 and 22 of the Public Order Act 1986 in the last three years for which figures are available. [174427]
Mr. Coaker: The information requested is provided in the following table.
| Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for offences under sections 21 and 22 of the Public Order Act 1986( 1, 2) , England and Wales( 1, 2, 3) | ||||
| Distributing, showing or playing a recording intended or likely to stir up racial hatred. (Public Order Act 1986 S.21) | Broadcasting or including a programme in programme service intended or likely to stir up racial hatred. (Public Order Act 1986 S.22) | |||
| Proceeded against | Found guilty | Proceeded against | Found guilty | |
| (1) These data are provided on the principal offence basis. (2) 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 courts and 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. (3) The found guilty column may exceed those proceeded against as a defendant can be found guilty in a different year, or for a different offence to the one for which proceedings are originally brought. Source: Court Proceedings Database, Office for Criminal Justice Reform, Ministry of Justice. | ||||
Sexual Offences
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many registered (a) sex offenders and (b) paedophiles were resident in each police authority area in each of the last five years. [176106]
Maria Eagle: I have been asked to reply.
Data on registered sexual offenders is published in local multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA) Annual Reports which are available in the House Libraries and on the internet at:
These reports record that the number of registered sexual offenders in each police force area in England and Wales over the last five years is as follows:
| Area | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 |
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