Previous Section Index Home Page

25 Feb 2008 : Column 1249W—continued


The Department does not hold a central record of individual contracts with Capita Group and its subsidiaries, and to assemble all the requested details from all individual contract records would incur disproportionate cost. The majority of the spend derives from the disclosure service contract between the Criminal Records Bureau and Capita Business Services based upon a public private partnership agreement. The Department is able to provide the information in relation to this contract as set out in the following table.

The contract was awarded in 2000 and runs for 10 years from CRB go-live which occurred in March 2002. The contract cost is estimated at £400 million over 10 years. Contract schedules set out service levels and the service credits that apply should Capita fail to meet the agreed service levels. Liquidated damages are charged in the event of late delivery to agreed changes in the service. From 2001-02, the following payments have been received from Capita for service credits and liquidated damages:


25 Feb 2008 : Column 1250W
Received from Capita for service credits (£)

2001-02

555,000

2002-03

1,718,000

2003-04

1,528,000

2004-05

53,000

2005-06

92,000

2006-07

168,000


The Department awards contracts in competition according to the EU procurement directives based on value for money. The contract was advertised and 94 companies registered expressions of interest.

Correspondence: National Assembly for Wales

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether she has replied to the recent Welsh Assembly Government letter on police pay. [188190]

Mr. McNulty [holding answer 22 February 2008]: A reply was sent on 20 February 2008.

Crime

Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the victimisation rate per 1,000 people was for all crimes in (a) England, (b) each English region and (c) each London local authority area in each of the last 10 years. [185898]

Mr. Coaker: The British Crime Survey (BCS) reports victimisation rates as the proportion of the population who have been a victim once or more in the 12 months prior to interview. Trends in the percentage of adults who were victims of all BCS crime for years are shown in the following table for (a) England and (b) each English region.

Prior to 2001-02 the BCS did not run continuously so information for all years requested is not available. Estimates for English regions are not available prior to 2001-02 nor is it possible to provide (c) estimates for each London local authority area from the BCS as the sample was not designed to provide such breakdowns.

Trends in percentage of adults who were victims once or more of all BCS crime( 1) , 1997 to 2006-07
Percentage
1997 1999 2001-02( 2) 2002-03( 2) 2003-04( 2) 2004-05( 2) 2005-06( 2) 2006-07( 2)

North East Region

n/a

n/a

23.9

24.8

23.9

20.9

23.4

25.2

North West Region

n/a

n/a

32.2

28.8

27.3

26.7

24.1

26.0

Yorkshire and the Humber Region

n/a

n/a

31.7

30.7

30.1

24.3

25.1

25.8

East Midlands Region

n/a

n/a

24.1

26.5

26.2

22.0

24.2

24.6

West Midlands Region

n/a

n/a

28.2

25.8

23.4

23.5

23.9

23.2

East of England Region

n/a

n/a

24.5

24.6

22.2

20.0

21.7

21.5

London Region

n/a

n/a

23.5

25.8

29.6

26.8

25.7

28.1

South East Region

n/a

n/a

31.6

28.7

26.7

25.5

22.9

24.1

South West Region

n/a

n/a

27.9

28.6

22.5

22.6

21.4

21.3

England

34.7

31.2

27.7

27.5

26.1

24.1

23.6

24.6

Unweighted base

14,138

17,983

30,228

33,476

34,916

41,432

43,520

43,053

(1) This rate is calculated by treating a household crime as a personal crime. It is the estimated percentage of adults who have been a victim of at least one personal crime or have been a resident in a household that was a victim of at least one household crime.
(2 )Ints.

25 Feb 2008 : Column 1251W

Crime Prevention

Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she has taken to reduce crime in and around schools in (a) England and (b) Enfield. [186999]

Mr. Coaker: Nationally, the Government are committed to improving the life chances of children and young people, by having fewer young people affected by crime and reduce youth victimisation.

The main initiative to tackle crime on and around school premises has been the Safer School Partnerships (SSPs) originally launched in 2002.

SSPs are a successful mechanism for ensuring structured joint working between schools and police, to identify and support children and young people regarded as being at high risk of victimisation, offending and social exclusion. There are now about 500 SSPs of one form or another across the country. Evaluations have shown that they are proving effective in improving behaviour and attendance, developing strong and positive relationships between the police and young people, and to help young people develop a sense of being part of the local community.

Because of the proven success of SSPs, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) has been working closely with the Home Office, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the Youth Justice Board (YJB) to encourage more schools and police to engage in this type of early intervention and preventative work which is so vital to achieving the outcomes we are all committed to.

There is already a great deal of work going on across Government to tackle offenders and help vulnerable young people achieve the Every Child Matters outcome to ‘Stay Safe’. Initiatives include Youth Inclusion Support Panels and the Youth Inclusion Programme. And since 2004, we have invested over £45 million in Youth Offending Teams which have pioneered antisocial behaviour prevention activities for young people at most risk. Their work includes:

The Home Office has invested in other prevention programmes such as Positive Futures. Around 22,000 young people are currently involved in Positive Futures projects nationwide.

In Enfield there are numerous schemes available to support and divert young people from crime and disorder which contribute to reducing crime in and around schools.

Enfield has the largest secondary school population in London, including 11 per cent. of pupils who travel into the borough to attend school and as a result, it has one of the largest Safer Schools teams in the Met. This ensures that every secondary school in the borough has a dedicated officer. This team also runs activities in the half term and holidays for youth diversion purposes.

Through the Enfield Strategic Partnership, the borough secured the funding for a dedicated Police Youth Inspector and Sergeant to co-ordinate Youth
25 Feb 2008 : Column 1252W
Activity across the borough. It also has Safer Neighbourhood Teams who run youth clubs, boxing clubs and football clubs.

The Youth Offending Service (YOS) runs the YISP—Youth Inclusion Support Panel—scheme that all bodies can refer into for eight to 17-year-olds. There is also the Kickz project run jointly by the Football Foundation (Spurs) and Metropolitan Police in one part of the borough and very soon there will be a second site. On top of this, Enfield uses LAA funding (previously) Safer and Stronger Communities Funding to provide various youth diversion and enforcement activities (e.g. knife arch purchases, youth diversion work, funding for boxing, judo, clubs, street pastors and so on).

Crime: Tamworth

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of trends in crime detection rates in Tamworth over (a) the last 12 months and (b) the last five years. [187758]

Mr. Coaker: The information requested is not available centrally for Tamworth. While detections data are available for basic command units (BCUs), Tamworth is not a BCU.

Departmental Accountancy

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what items of her Department's (a) revenue and (b) expenditure are uprated using (i) the consumer prices index, (ii) the retail prices index and (iii) other measures of inflation. [179942]

Mr. Byrne: The Home Office raises revenues from fees for a number of services. These include charges for passports, managed migration and the fees charged by the criminal records bureau. The costs are uprated based on modelling of the future costs of providing these services. This is based on a range of factors including demand projections, the contracts involved and the general rate of inflation.

Expenditure plans on Home Office business are based on business planning in support of the Department's role in leading the Government-wide strategy to counter terrorism in the UK alongside responsibility for policing, crime reduction, borders and immigration, identity and passports. These plans will be based on forecast activities and costs, including the reinvestment of Value for Money gains.

Departmental Data Protection

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) when each electronic database in her Department containing personal information on members of the public was first created; [169719]

(2) how many security breaches relating to access to personal data occurred within her Department in each year since 1997; [169720]

(3) how many staff of each grade have access to electronic databases in her Department which contain personal information on members of the public; [169721]


25 Feb 2008 : Column 1253W

(4) how many times databases in her Department containing personal information on members of the public have been accessed in each month of the last five years; [169722]

(5) how many times databases in her Department containing personal information on members of the public have been transferred (a) physically and (b) electronically in each year since 1997; [169723]

(6) how many requests her Department has received from the National Audit Office for access to its databases containing personal information on members of the public in each year since 1997; [169724]

(7) what provisions her Department has in place to ensure that its databases containing personal information on members of the public are not accessed (a) by unauthorised staff and (b) for unauthorised purposes. [169725]

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.

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) on how many occasions there have been data security breaches in her Department in the last year; [180374]

(2) on how many occasions officials in her Department and its agencies have been disciplined for breaching departmental guidelines on data security in the last 12 months; [180375]

(3) how many times officials in her Department and its agencies have been disciplined for breaching the terms of the Data Protection Act in the last 12 months. [180439]

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.


Next Section Index Home Page