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18 Feb 2008 : Column 428W—continued
Christmas
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much her Department's agencies spent on (a) Christmas cards and (b) postage of Christmas cards in each year since 1997. [182442]
Mr. Byrne: The amount spent on (a) Christmas cards and (b) postage since 1997 is as follows:
Information concerning the (a) cost and (b) postage of Christmas cards from the Border and Immigration Agency for each year since 1997 is not known centrally and would be available only at disproportionate cost.
(a) The costs for Christmas cards from the Criminal Records Bureau for each year since 2003 are as follows:
| £ | |
The Criminal Records Bureau's Disclosure service was launched in 2002 and no information is held on costs incurred before or during 2002.
(b) Spend on postage of Christmas cards is not separated from spend of all Criminal Records Bureau mail and therefore is not calculable.
(a) The costs for Christmas cards from the Identity and Passport Service for each year since 2005 are as follows:
| £ | |
| (1) No information held centrally | |
(b) Spend on postage of Christmas cards is not separated from spend of all Identity and Passport Service mail and therefore is not calculable.
Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 26 November 2007, Official Report, column 180W, on the Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis, for what reasons she did not provide the information requested in the question; and if she will make a statement. [172525]
Mr. McNulty: My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary and I have regular meetings with the Metropolitan police commissioner to discuss official business.
Crime: Darlington
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what trends there have been in crime detection rates in Darlington over (a) the last 12 months and (b) the last five years. [186313]
Mr. Coaker: The information requested is not available centrally for Darlington. While detections data are available for basic command units, there are currently only two in the Durham police force area, north and south Durham.
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the change has been in crime rates by category of offence in Darlington in (a) the last year and (b) the last five years. [186454]
Mr. Coaker: The available information relates to percentage changes in crimes recorded in the Darlington crime and disorder reduction partnership area and is given in the following table. Data for 2001-02 are not directly comparable with those for later years and therefore the percentage change between 2002-03 and 2006-07 has been provided.
| Percentage change in offences recorded by the police in Darlington | ||
| Percentage change between | ||
| Offence group | 2002-03 and 2006-07 | 2005-06 and 2006-07 |
Crime: Genetics
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will undertake an investigation into the Forensic Science Service's use of DNA testing in criminal investigations. [182056]
Meg Hillier: The Interim Forensic Science Regulator commissioned a scientific review of low template forensic DNA profiling, which includes the Forensic Science Service’s Low Copy Number DNA profiling service. The review, which is being led by Professor Brian Caddy of Strathclyde University, is due to report at the end of February.
Crimes of Violence
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate her Department has made of the number of violent crimes committed (a) in and (b) immediately outside pubs and clubs in each year since 1997. [185132]
Mr. Coaker [holding answer 6 February 2008]: The British Crime Survey (BCS) routinely provides information on the location of violent incidents in England and Wales.
BCS interviews for 2005-06 showed 17 per cent. of violent incidents took place around pubs or clubs (this includes inside the premises or on the street/car park outside). The following table gives the numbers since the 1997 BCS.
| Location of violent incidents (BCS) | |||||||
| Percentage | |||||||
| All violence | |||||||
| 1997 | 1999 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | |
| (1) Includes pub/club premises, whether inside or nearby street/car parks. | |||||||
Crimes of Violence: Greater London
Mr. Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crimes were committed in public parks in each Greater London borough (a) in total and (b) where the victim was female in each year since 2000. [186658]
Mr. Coaker: The information requested is not collected centrally. Offences which take place in public parks cannot be separately identified in the recorded crime statistics.
Crimes of Violence: Schools
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many pupils were arrested in each of the last five years for violent offences in schools in (a) England and Wales, (b) the north east, (c) Tees Valley district and (d) Middlesbrough, South and East Cleveland constituency. [185505]
Mr. Coaker: The information requested is not centrally available.
Criminal Records Bureau
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average time was for a Criminal Records Bureau check to be made from the date of application in the most recent period for which figures are available. [182612]
Meg Hillier: The CRB operates to a set of published service standards (PSS) which include to issue 90 per cent. of Standard Disclosures within 10 days and 90 per cent. of Enhanced Disclosures within 28 days. Between April 2007 and December 2007 the CRB has issued 228,728 Standard Disclosures and 2,272,369 Enhanced Disclosures.
During this period the CRB has exceeded PSS with a cumulative total of 99.7 per cent. of Standard Disclosures issued within 10 days and 96.6 per cent. of Enhanced disclosures issued within 28 days.
Delivery Services
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which companies are under contract to her Department to provide mail services. [170168]
Mr. Byrne: The Department does not hold central courier contracts nor is information held centrally on all the couriers it uses. Firms which have been used by the Department or its agencies either regularly or from time to time include:
Royal Mail Special Deliveries
Data Express
Transworld Couriers
City Link
Amtrak (Netfold)
CDS
DHL
A to Z Couriers
Secure Mail Services
Captain Courier
DX Network Services Ltd.
Hansam Couriers
TNT UK Ltd.
City Sprint (UK) Ltd.
Rico Logistics
Federal Express
Swift Despatch
Ecosse World Express.
Departmental Carbon Emissions
Mr. Kemp: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she has taken to reduce her Department’s carbon dioxide emissions in 2008-09. [181812]
Mr. Byrne: In line with the targets within the sustainable operations on the government estate framework my department has implemented a number of initiatives that should reduce carbon dioxide emissions in 2008-09. For example further improvements in data capture and performance measurement through the introduction of new shared service facilities management contracts are expected to lead to reductions in carbon dioxide emissions.
Departmental Consultants
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consultancy contracts her Department issued in each year since 2005; what the (a) value, (b) purpose and (c) contractor was in each case; and whether the consultant's report is publicly available in each case. [181884]
Mr. Byrne: The Home Department engages consultancy firms to support and augment civil servants in the delivery of a specific range of work, including large IT development programmes and, where more cost effective, longer term service delivery programmes.
The Department’s expenditure on these services is allocated across a wide range of firms, from small, specialist companies with niche expertise and few employees, to global multinational organizations offering a broad spectrum and substantial depth of consultancy expertise.
The Department awards contracts in competition according to the EU Procurement Directives based on value for money. The Department uses OGC framework agreements where appropriate. The use of external consultants provides the Department with specialist knowledge, skill, capacity and technical
expertise that would not otherwise be available. Some expenditure is on consultants to whom we have outsourced services, such as IT.
The Department does not hold a central record of individual contracts with external consultants showing the level of detail requested. To identify and assemble the requested details from individual records would incur disproportionate cost.
The information held by the Home Department on the total value of spend on consultancy since 2005 is as follows:
| £ | ||
| Financial year | ||
| 2005-06 | 2006-07 | |
| (1) IPS recently revised figures. | ||
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