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18 Feb 2008 : Column 433W—continued
Departmental Contracts
Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) objective and (b) value was of each contract, consultancies and other services placed with (i) Deloitte & Touche, (ii) Ernst & Young, (iii) KPMG, (iv) PricewaterhouseCoopers and (v) PA Consulting by her Department and its agencies in each year since 2004-05. [179024]
Mr. Byrne: The (a) nature of all contracts, consultancies and other services placed with (i) Deloitte & Touche, (ii) Ernst & Young, (iii) KPMG, (iv) PricewaterhouseCoopers and (v) PA Consulting is the provision of advice, guidance, training and operational development and support in a broad range of areas from business change to technical analysis.
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, such as PA Consulting Group’s contract as development partner on the identity cards programme and, where more cost effective, longer term service delivery programmes.
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.
The information held by the Home Department on the (b) total value of contracts, in each year since 2004-05 by her Department inclusive of its agencies is as follows:
| Home Office inc. agencies | |||
| £ | |||
| 2004-05 | 205-06 | 2006-07 | |
Departmental Data Protection
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many times (a) her Department and (b) the Border and Immigration Agency lost or misplaced databases relating to (i) British citizens and (i) foreign nationals in each of the last five years; what information, relating to how many people, was held on lost or misplaced databases; and if she will make a statement; [169554]
(2) how many officials in her Department are authorised to access electronic files and databases relating to an individual's (a) immigration status, (b) asylum application and (c) passport application; and if she will make a statement; [169555]
(3) how many staff in her Department and its agencies have been (a) investigated, (b) disciplined and (c) dismissed for matters relating to unauthorised or attempted unauthorised access to files or databases containing personal information in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement; [169556]
(4) how many electronic and computer files her Department and its agencies lost in transit in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement; [169558]
(5) how many people working for or on behalf of her Department and its agencies were (a) investigated, (b) disciplined and (c) dismissed for losing or misplacing sensitive personal data in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement; [169559]
(6) how many staff in her Department and its agencies were (a) investigated, (b) disciplined and (c) dismissed for not following practice and protocols when handling files and databases containing personal information on members of the public in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement. [169560]
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many electronic databases within her Department contain (a) names, (b) addresses, (c) bank details and (d) other personal information on members of the public. [169718]
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many confirmed data security breaches there have been in her Department in the last 36 months; and what action was taken after each occurrence; [170251]
(2) what training is provided to staff in her Department and its agencies on the safe handling of data to counteract identity theft and other data security breaches. [171373]
Mr. Byrne: I refer the hon. Members to the statement made by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 21 November 2007, Official Report, column 1179W. The review by the Cabinet Secretary and security experts is looking at procedures within Departments and agencies for the storage and use of data. A statement on Departments’ procedures will be made on completion of the review.
Jo Swinson:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many confirmed security breaches of databases controlled by her Department occurred in each of the last five years; whether the breach resulted from internal or external sources in each case; how many records were compromised on
each occasion; and what estimate was made of the total number of records accessible to the individuals concerned. [173692]
Mr. Byrne: Except in exceptional cases, when it is in the public interest, it has been the policy of successive Governments not to comment on breaches of security.
Departmental Email
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will take steps to reduce the number of hard copies of emails printed by officials in her Department. [179467]
Mr. Byrne: A number of initiatives are currently in place within my Department to raise staff awareness about printing unnecessary documents, including emails. In particular Home Office staff are encouraged to avoid printing emails by including a message within their signature blocks.
Departmental Marketing
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what products featuring departmental or Government branding were procured by (a) her Department and (b) its agencies in each of the last five years. [179917]
Mr. Byrne: There is no central record of procured products featuring departmental or government branding. Such products procured by the Department and its agencies include stationery, booklets, leaflets and media advertising in addition to promotional items. To manually examine files across all areas of the Department and its agencies for specific procured items in each of the last five years would incur disproportionate cost,
Departmental Recycling
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what weight of paper her Department recycled in each of the last five years. [179456]
Mr. Byrne: The weight of paper recycled is not currently measured within the Home Office as a whole as this is not a recognised Government target. However, 100 per cent. of paper placed in the designated receptacles at our London headquarters building, which is now shared with Ministry of Justice staff, is recycled. The most recent figures provided by our facilities supplier at 2 Marsham street are as follows:
| Financial reporting year | Tonnage recycled paper |
Departmental Redundancies
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost was of redundancies in her Department in the 12 months preceding (a) 30 June 2004, (b) 30 June 2005 and (c) 30 June 2006. [175323]
Mr. Byrne: To identify redundancies the Home Department has made in the 12-month periods preceding 30 June, from 1 July 2003 to 30 June 2006, could be undertaken only at disproportionate cost.
Central information held on early departures does not distinguish between those who were compelled to leave the Department on compulsory redundancy terms, and those who wished to leave voluntarily on similar terms and not subject to the Department’s formal redundancy procedure. Consolidated historic information on early departures is also not generally held in periods of 12 months to 30 June each year, but held by financial year. It would be necessary to review historic individual files to extract the information requested.
Provisions made each year for new cases of early departures, which include any redundancies, are published in the Home Office Consolidated Resource Accounts. The figures, as follows, show the provisions made each financial year, for the full costs of new cases of early departures (including early retirements) from 2003-04 to 2005-06.
| Total ( £000 ) | |
The aforementioned totals include the core Department, agencies and the 42 local probation boards but not NDPBs.
Note that the figures include any early departure costs which may have arisen in the Office of Criminal Justice Reform and National Offender Management Service, part of the Home Office during the period shown. They are now part of the Ministry of Justice.
Departmental: Public Expenditure
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the Answer of 11 December 2007, Official Report, column 480W, on departmental public expenditure, when she expects budget allocations for 2008-09 to be delegated within her Department. [184879]
Mr. Byrne: Budget delegations will be issued shortly within the Department to all the main Home Office business areas. This will allow time for further sub-delegation in advance of 1 April 2008.
Domestic Violence
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many repeat offences of domestic violence were recorded in each police authority area in the last period for which figures are available. [184758]
Mr. Coaker: The British Crime Survey (BCS) routinely provides information on the number of incidents of domestic violence in England and Wales, but it is not possible to break it down by region or police force area.
BCS interviews for 2006-07 showed that domestic violence had the highest rate of repeat victimisation,
with 42 per cent. of victims being victimised more than once. Repeat victimisation accounts for 70 per cent. of all incidents of domestic violence as measured by the BCS.
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in how many cases of domestic violence the alleged perpetrator was released on bail without notification to the victim in each police authority in the latest period for which figures are available. [184759]
Mr. Coaker: The Home Office does not routinely collect this information.
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) cautions were imposed and (b) prosecutions were brought for domestic violence offences in the (i) Bedfordshire and (ii) Luton areas in each of the last five years. [184761]
Mr. Coaker: Details of prosecutions for alleged domestic violence related offences in Bedfordshire are contained in the following table (figures for 2007-08 relate only to the period from 1 April 2007 to 4 February 2008). The Crown Prosecution Service is unable to break these data down by towns within the county.
The Home Office does not routinely collect data on domestic violence related cautions, and Bedfordshire police are unable to collate these data at the present time. However, the force is planning to implement mechanisms to enable such data to be collected in the future.
| CPS Bedfordshire magistrates and Crown court defendant prosecutions for domestic violence | |||||
| Successful | Unsuccessful | ||||
| Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | Total prosecution | |
Driving Under Influence: Drugs
Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many arrests for drug-driving took place (a) in England and (b) in each police authority area in each year since 1997; [186024]
(2) in how many hit and run incidents where the driver was subsequently identified the driver was found to have been impaired by drugs in 2006. [186026]
Mr. Coaker: This information is not collected centrally
Drugs
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will introduce a nationwide scheme to close down crack houses. [185188]
Mr. Coaker:
The Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 introduced across England and Wales the power for courts to issue orders for the closure of premises where class A drugs and serious nuisance and disorder are a
problem. The provision commenced on 20 January 2004 and is proving effective with over 1,000 properties closed according to early analysis due to be published in the spring.
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