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21 Jan 2008 : Column 1766W—continued
Essex Police Authority: Finance
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what the total police grant funding was for Essex police authority in each year since 1990; [174086]
(2) how much funding was allocated per head of population to Essex police authority in each year since 1990. [174083]
Mr. McNulty: Essex police authority in its present format came into existence on 1 April 1995. Revenue grants for Essex police authority since 1995-96 are set out in the following table.
The Government do not distribute grant to police authorities purely on the basis of population. The police funding formula uses a range of data relating to demographic and social characteristics to reflect the relative needs of each authority. Grant allocations also take into account the relative tax base of each authority. Grant allocations are stabilised by damping to limit year-on-year variations.
| Essex police authority government revenue grant allocations 1995-96 to 2007-08 | ||
| Government grant( 1) (£ m illion ) | Resident population (million) | |
| (1) Revenue funding includes all grants inside Aggregate External Finance (AEF) (i.e. revenue grants paid for councils' core services), and includes formula grant and all specific grants. (2) 2005-06 figures have been adjusted for purposes of comparison with future years following the transfer of pensions and security funding from general grant in 2006-07. (3) 2006-07 Government grant figures are provisional outurn figures. 2007-08 figures are budget figures. (4) In keeping with an initiative by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, the data for 2006-07 have been collected on a Financial Reporting Standard 17 (FRS17) basis. On this basis, decisions relating to pensions are accounted for in the year they are taken, rather than the year to which they apply. As a result some expenditure on pensions may be reflected in the data and consequently comparisons between 2006-07 and data on a non-FRS17 basis may not be valid. Source: Population: Office of National Statistics, mid year population estimates and projections. Grants: DCLG. | ||
Essex Police: Manpower
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) police officers and (b) operational police officers per head of population there were in Essex police authority in each year since 1990. [174084]
Mr. McNulty: The data for police officers are taken from the Home Office Statistical Bulletin series “Police Service Strength England and Wales” which was first published in 1998, so the data are available from 1998 onwards. The data for operational police officers have been centrally collected since 2003, so the data are available from 2003 onwards. The available data are given in the following table.
| Police officer strength for Essex police force area, as at 31 March (FTE)( 1,2) | ||
| Total officers per 100,000 population( 3) | Total operational officers per 100,000 population( 3) | |
| (1) Full-time equivalent. This figure includes those on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave. (2) This and other tables contain full-time equivalent figures that have been rounded to the nearest whole number. Because of rounding, there may be an apparent discrepancy between totals and the sums of the constituent items. (3) Officers per 100,000 population for City of London and Metropolitan Police are combined. (4) Functional group totals do not match published figures. Data quality may be an issue with this force. | ||
European Police Office
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many non-UK Europol officers have permission to operate within the United Kingdom; and if she will make a statement. [178229]
Mr. Byrne: No non-UK Europol officers currently have permission to operate within the United Kingdom.
Foreign Workers: Care Homes
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment has been made of the effects of the introduction of additional transitional measures to case worker guidance on handling work permit applications relating to senior care worker posts and applications from senior care workers previously refused extensions on grounds that their new posts were not advertised nationally. [179760]
Mr. Byrne: The work permit arrangements do not require now, did not require under transitional arrangements introduced in August 2007, and did not require prior to the introduction of these transitional arrangements, jobs to be advertised nationally when a work permit holder changes employer but continues to do the same type of job. Normally this only applies when an application is received either before permit holders leave their current employment or within 28 days of their last day of work with their previous employer.
Applicants whose work permits have already expired should apply for extensions as soon as possible. Caseworkers consider all aspects of each individual case when making a decision.
Fraud: Credit Cards
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crimes involving fraudulent use of credit or debit cards in Tamworth were (a) reported and (b) successfully detected in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [179384]
Mr. McNulty: The available information relates to offences of cheque and credit card fraud recorded in the Tamworth Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP) area and is given in the following table. Detections data is not available at CDRP level.
| Cheque and credit card fraud offences and theft offences recorded and detected in Tamworth | ||
| Cheque and credit card fraud | ||
| Recorded | Number detected | |
| (1) Not available. (2) The Fraud Act 2006 commenced on 15 January 2007, altering the definition and coverage of fraud and forgery offences. At that time, the counting of cheque and plastic card fraud changed to a “per account” basis rather than a “per transaction” basis. | ||
Genetics: Databases
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the cost to date of removing errors from the National DNA Database. [167031]
Jacqui Smith: A number of procedures carried out by police forces, forensic suppliers and the National DNA Database Custodian’s staff are in place to ensure that information is recorded as accurately as possible on the National DNA Database. These procedures are designed to ensure as far as possible that errors are not included on the database in the first place rather than removing them once they are on. It is not possible to disaggregate the costs of these procedures from the general costs of work done by these organisations.
Human Trafficking
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the security of the support and accommodation arrangements provided for child victims of human trafficking in the north-west, north- east and midlands will be reviewed; what representations she has received from campaign organisations on the safety and security of trafficked children within the care of local authorities; and if she will make a statement. [177079]
Jacqui Smith: Under the Children Acts 1989 and 2004, it is the responsibility of local authorities rather than central Government to safeguard and promote the welfare of any child who is assessed to be at risk of harm and in need of accommodation. Any review of the security of the support and accommodation arrangements provided for child victims of human trafficking in particular areas would, therefore, be for the relevant local authorities.
On 7 December 2007 the Government published supplementary guidance, Working Together to Safeguard Children—Safeguarding Children who may have been Trafficked, which actively guides practitioners towards making appropriate decisions for safeguarding children they suspect may have been trafficked. The Government will also shortly publish their reform programme for
unaccompanied asylum seeking children which will include proposals on how safe arrangements for trafficked children may be further improved.
The Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, my hon. Friend the Member for Gedling (Mr. Coaker), who is responsible for crime reduction, has met representatives from children's charities to discuss the safeguarding of trafficked children, and informed them of the Government's policy aims for safeguarding child victims of trafficking.
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans the Government have for provision of support for people who have been trafficked beyond the current funding arrangement for the Poppy Project. [177080]
Mr. Straw: I have been asked to reply.
The Government have announced their intention to accelerate plans to ratify and implement the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings by the end of 2008, which sets a minimum framework of support for all identified victims of trafficking. This will enable us to enhance our existing arrangements and build on the support provided by the Poppy Project.
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there have been for human trafficking offences in each year since 2001, broken down by type of offence. [177083]
Jacqui Smith: The Sexual Offences Act 2003 came into force on 1 May 2004. Prosecution and conviction figures under dedicated trafficking legislation are as follows:
| Court cases | Guilty verdicts | |
All the above figures relate to cases of human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. There have been no convictions to date for trafficking for exploitation under the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004 which came into force on 1 December 2004.
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent estimate she has made of the number of people trafficked into the UK in each year since 2001. [177084]
Jacqui Smith: The nature of the crime makes it difficult to make an accurate assessment of the extent of the problem. In order to understand the situation better, the Serious Organised Crime Agency and with the United Kingdom Human Trafficking Centre continue to work on improving intelligence collection as a priority. The intelligence collected as part of the current Operation Pentameter 2 will help to improve our understanding of the nature and scale of trafficking throughout the UK.
However, findings from a Home Office research paper estimate that at any one time in 2003 there were in the region of 4,000 female victims of trafficking for prostitution in the UK.
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