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18 Feb 2008 : Column 458W—continued
Police: Computers
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many hand held computers have been provided to police officers to log crime in each of the last three years. [184615]
Mr. McNulty: Numbers of hand-held computers currently in use by the police service are not held centrally.
The Government have funded a pilot of mobile information systems in six police forces. Based on this pilot, it is estimated that the number of hand-held computers in use has risen from 250 at the end of 2006 to 2,500 at the end of 2007. In September 2007, my
right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, announced an initiative to provide police officers with additional hand-held computers, increasing the total number in use to over 10,000 by the end of 2008. My right hon. Friend, the Home Secretary, announced that £50 million capital would be made available to provide the police with access to crime-fighting technologies, such as hand-held computers and mobile fingerprinting devices. We are working closely with the Association of Police Authorities and the Association of Chief Police Officers on proposals to take the initiative forward.
Police: Genetics
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in what circumstances a police officer may ask for a DNA sample. [181244]
Mr. McNulty: A constable has power under section 63 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) to take a non-intimate sample (i.e. cells inside the mouth or from the roots of a sample of non-pubic hair) for DNA profiling without consent from a person aged 10 or over if that person is in police detention as a consequence of being arrested for a recordable offence and the same sample has not already been taken or the sample previously taken proved insufficient; or in police custody on the authority of a court and authority to take the sample is given by an inspector or above who has grounds to suspect the person of involvement in a recordable offence and to believe that the sample will tend to prove or disprove that involvement; or has been charged with, or reported for, a recordable offence and a same sample has not already been taken or a sample previously taken proved unsuitable or insufficient; or has been convicted of a recordable offence. A sample may also be taken from a person with the appropriate consent in writing.
Appropriate consent means for a person aged 17 or over, the person's consent; for a person aged 14 to 16 inclusive, the consent of the person and their parent or guardian; and, for a person aged 10 to 13 inclusive, the consent of the person's parent or guardian.
Police: Greater London
Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers there were in Enfield North in (a) 1997 and (b) 2007, how many community safety officers there were in Enfield North in 2007; and how many incidents of recorded crime there were in Enfield North in (i) 1997 and (ii) 2007. [183318]
Mr. McNulty: Police strength data are not collected by parliamentary constituencies; data are available at the basic command unit level from 2002-03 onwards.
Recorded crime data are not collected by parliamentary constituencies; data are available at the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership level from 1999-2000 onwards.
The available data are given in the following tables.
| Table 1. Police officer strength (FTE)( 1) in Enfield basic command unit as at 31 March( 2) | |
| Number | |
| (1) These figures are based on full-time equivalents that have been rounded to the nearest whole number, due to rounding there may be an apparent discrepancy between totals and the sums of constituent items. Figures include those officers on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave. (2) Data were collected centrally from 2002-03 onwards, the data for 2002-03 have been provided for reference. | |
| Table 2 . Police community support officer strength (FTE)1 in Enfield basic command unit as at 31 March | |
| Number | |
| (1) These figures are based on full-time equivalents that have been rounded to the nearest whole number, due to rounding there may be an apparent discrepancy between totals and the sums of constituent items. Figures include those officers on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave. | |
| Table 3. Number of recorded crimes( 1) in Enfield CDRP as at 31 March( 2) | |
| Number | |
| (1) The data in this table take account of the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002. These figures are not directly comparable with those for earlier years. (2) Data were collected centrally from 1999-2000 onwards. | |
Police: Influenza
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 7 January 2008, Official Report, column 294W, on police: influenza, if she will make it her policy to direct individual chief constables to conduct an assessment of the operational capacity of the police service in their area should a serious outbreak of pandemic influenza occur. [184222]
Mr. McNulty: Operational capacity and evaluation of any potential threats to this capacity is a matter for individual chief constables.
Police: Information and Communications Technology
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how much has been spent on (a) hand held computers and (b) other time saving technologies for police forces in England and Wales since January 2007; [180151]
(2) when she expects all forces in England and Wales to issue all officers with (a) hand held computers and (b) other time saving technologies; [180152]
(3) what the procedures are by which police forces in England and Wales may apply for funds for hand held computers and other time saving technologies before September 2008; [180153]
(4) whom her Department consults before a police force is awarded funds to provide its officers with hand held computers and other technology. [180154]
Mr. McNulty: The Government have no plans to issue all officers with hand held computers and other time saving technologies as this is a matter for individual chief officers of police. However, all police officers have benefited from the introduction of the national ‘Airwave’ digital radio network which incorporates advanced voice, text and image capability.
Since January 2007, the Government have made £1 million available to pilot mobile information systems in six police forces. In addition, £1.5 million has been provided during the same period for ‘Project Lantern’, a pilot of mobile fingerprint technology. The amount spent by individual police forces on mobile technology is not held centrally.
In September 2007, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced a new initiative to provide police officers with additional hand held computers. My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has announced that £50 million would be made available for meeting this objective. The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), is working closely with the Association of Police Authorities and the Association of Chief Police Officer’s Mobile Information Programme Board, on proposals for the bidding criteria and in early February, the NPIA will invite police forces to submit applications for funding.
Police: North Yorkshire
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) police and (b) community support officers were employed in North Yorkshire at the latest date for which figures are available. [183435]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 31 January 2008]: Figures published on 31 January 2008 show that there were 1,623 police officers and 186 police community support officers employed in North Yorkshire on 30 September 2007. Both figures are in terms of full-time equivalents rather than head counts, and include officers on career breaks and maternity/paternity leave.
Police: Pay
Jeremy Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the financial liability is for compensation to police officers owed for rest days not taken of (a) Warwickshire Police Authority and (b) all police authorities in England and Wales. [180651]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 21 January 2008]: The Home Office does not collect data on rest days not taken by police officers in England and Wales.
Police: Standards
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Head of the Police and Crime Standards Directorate will be eligible for a bonus for 2007; and what the criteria are for the award of such bonuses. [176061]
Mr. Byrne: The information requested cannot be provided as it relates to an individual. However, members of the senior civil service are usually eligible for consideration for bonuses based on their performance against agreed objectives and targets.
Police: Telephone Services
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans her Department has to (a) extend and (b) terminate central funding of the 101 non-emergency numbers in local areas. [176708]
Mr. McNulty: It has been decided that the Home Office will not continue to fund centrally the operation of the single non-emergency number 101 service in existing live areas or the development of 101 services in other areas. This was a difficult decision taken in the context of significant pressure on resources and competing policing and security priorities.
However, the Government recognise the many benefits demonstrated by the live areas. These benefits include how, through better partnership working and information about what problems are happening where, 101 has helped local police and councils to target their resources more effectively and efficiently and improve services to the public. The Home Office will therefore continue to provide funding for the national 101 infrastructure in order to enable and support local areas to maintain or develop their own locally funded 101 services, informed by and building on these benefits.
Postal Services
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many items of post sent by her Department were reported missing by the intended recipient in each year since 1997; [171286]
(2) what steps her Department has taken to protect the personal data on members of the public which it holds. [171416]
Mr. Byrne: I refer the hon. Member 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.
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Mr. Gauke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the value of her Department's contracts with PricewaterhouseCoopers on private finance initiative projects was in each year since 1997. [180846]
Mr. Byrne: The Department does not hold a central record of individual contracts with external consultants. To identify and establish whether the Department let contracts where PricewaterhouseCoopers was engaged to work on PFI contracts, and compile their value from individual records would incur disproportionate cost.
Proscribed Organisations Appeals Commission
Mr. Lidington:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will make a statement on the status of the Government's appeal against the decision
of the Proscribed Organisations Appeals Commission in the case of the People's Mojahedin of Iran. [183485]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 31 January 2008]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for North Thanet (Mr. Gale) on 21 January 2007, Official Report, column 1786W.
Public Order Offences: Photography
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will issue guidance to police forces on steps which may be taken against persons taking photographs in public places. [183454]
Mr. McNulty: The police may remove persons from public areas, prevent filming or confiscate equipment where they are responding to an offence or where they suspect an offence is about to happen in order to prevent it from being committed. They may also take action to prevent a breach of the peace. In such cases the police may require a person to leave a place or prevent them from entering a public area where their presence is likely to cause a breach of the peace. Police tactics and decisions on how to achieve these objectives are a matter for the independent judgment of chief officers of police.
Smart Water
Mr. Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police forces have purchased stocks of smart water; and how many crimes have been detected in each police authority area through the use of smart water. [178696]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 29 January 2008]: Smartwater is only one of a number of crime prevention tools available on the market. The use of Smartwater, as with other operational matters, is a matter for each police force.
Stop and Search
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the answer of 16 October 2007, Official Report, column 983W, on stop and search, for what reasons data on individuals stopped and searched under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 is not collected by (a) gender and (b) age. [168642]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 29 November 2007]: The recording requirements for stop and search data under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 are set out in PACE Code A issued under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. Code A does not require that gender details should be recorded although the officer exercising a stop and search can request a person’s date of birth. Police forces nevertheless do collect data on individuals’ gender and age when exercising stop and search powers under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000. However, these data are not held centrally and the information could not be provided except at disproportionate cost.
Terrorism
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what guidelines are given to the police in dealing with extremist literature discovered in UK mosques; [183779]
(2) what steps she is taking to ensure inflammatory literature is not available in UK mosques. [183782]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 1 February 2008]: The Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 makes it an offence to publish or distribute material which stirs up religious, as well as racial, hatred.
We have also introduced new offences and powers in the Terrorism Act 2006 to tackle those who promote terrorism, including glorification of terrorism; dissemination of terrorist publications; and powers to remove terrorist-related material from a website. We have extended in the Terrorism Act 2006 the grounds for proscription to catch organisations which glorify terrorism.
The police will deal with the discovery of extremist literature in mosques within the parameters of the available legislation. Where there is evidence of an offence being committed, the prosecuting agencies will take the appropriate action.
The Government are also working with the Muslim communities to support them in raising standards of governance in mosques. The Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board’s (MINAB) work to develop core standards for mosques is an important step. These standards include a focus on strengthening governance and ensuring faith leaders have the leadership skills to isolate and defeat violent extremism. Strong mosques positioned at the centre of the community and effectively governed will be better able to withstand attempts by certain groups or individuals to incite hatred or promote violent extremist interpretations of Islam.
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