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10 Mar 2008 : Column 74W—continued
Immigrants: Domestic Violence
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance she has provided to (a) local authorities and (b) voluntary agencies on women whose insecure immigration status is being assessed on the no recourse to public funds rule in the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004; if she will bring forward proposals to amend the Act to provide funding for such women; and if she will make a statement. [190051]
Mr. Coaker: In February 2006, guidance and a factsheet were issued to all local authority chief executives alerting them to the key issues experienced by these women and setting out how they can be helped through other legislative processes.
We have also commissioned the development of a step-by-step guide for women in black and minority ethnic communities who are victims of domestic violence. It will provide practical advice on how victims, and agencies supporting victims, can protect themselves and their children. This will be published in spring 2008.
Soon we will be announcing a new scheme where victims of domestic violence who have no recourse to public funds may be able to have their housing and living costs met linked to indefinite leave to remain (ILR) criteria. The proposals under the new scheme will strengthen the way in which domestic violence cases are considered, enabling those victims who are vulnerable to access further support.
Immigration
Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will instruct the Border and Immigration Agency to issue a decision on the application for indefinite leave to remain made by Mr. Wael Hussein (Home Office reference: H1086470). [177615]
Mr. Byrne: I wrote to the hon. Member on 4 March 2008.
Immigration: Detention Centres
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether her Department plans to build new immigration detention centres; and if she will make a statement. [181191]
Mr. Byrne: Yes. As I said in January we will publish proposals during the course of 2008.
Internet: Regulation
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she plans to take to improve the regulation of the internet. [188323]
Mr. Coaker: The Home Office does not directly regulate the internet as the internet is subject to UK law and we take the view that what is illegal offline is illegal online.
The Home Office set up the Child Exploitation Online Protection Centre (CEOP) in 2006 to help protect children online and also works closely with the internet industry through the Home Secretary’s task force on online child protection to ensure a safe internet for children.
In September 2007, the Prime Minister announced a review into the risk to children of exposure to harmful or inappropriate content in video games and online. The review will also assess the effectiveness and adequacy of existing measures to help prevent children from being exposed to such material and help parents understand and manage the risks of access to inappropriate content.
Dr. Tanya Byron is conducting this review and will report to Ministers in March 2008. The Home Office looks forward to hearing the recommendations.
Members: Correspondence
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she expects to answer Question 177566, tabled on 7 January 2008 by the hon. Member for Southend, West; what the reasons are for the time taken in replying; and if she will make a statement. [186298]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 19 February 2008]: I replied to the hon. Member on 20 February 2008, Official Report, column 795W. The Department makes every effort to answer Members questions within the timescales set. However, this is not always possible.
Mr. Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she expects to reply to the letter of 4 February from the hon. Member for Walsall North on a constituent (ref H1127502/M16935/7). [191897]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 6 March 2008]: I wrote to my hon. Friend on 3 March.
Police: Interpreters
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average retention rates were of interpreters working for police services in the latest period for which figures are available; and what estimate she has made of the proportion of their working weeks which are spent by police-employed interpreters interpreting between police officers and members of the public. [186128]
Mr. McNulty: The information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Police: Nottinghamshire
Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers there were in Nottinghamshire constabulary in (a) 1997 and (b) the most recent period for which figures are available. [187308]
Mr. McNulty: The available data for Nottinghamshire constabulary are given in the following table.
| Police officer strength( 1) (FTE)( 2) in Nottinghamshire police force area as at 31 March 1997 and 30 September 2007 | ||
| Police force | 31 March 1997 | 30 September 2007( 3) |
| (1) This table contains 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. (2) Full-time equivalent ‘excludes’ those on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave. (3) Comparable strength (excludes those on career breaks, or maternity/paternity leave). The Police Numbers Task Force (2001) recommended that a clear presentation was made of the number of staff employed by police forces including those seconded into the force and those on any type of long or short-term absence. These new calculations were first used in 2003, and are not comparable with data prior to March 2003. The data from 2003 onwards, used here, are termed comparable because they have been calculated on the old basis to allow comparison. | ||
Police: Political Campaigns
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance has been issued to police officers on participating in party political (a) campaigns and (b) literature in uniform. [192321]
Mr. McNulty: Regulation 6 of the Police Regulations 2003 as amended by The Police (Amendment) Regulations 2004 states that:
“a member of a police force shall at all times abstain from any activity which is likely to interfere with the impartial discharge of his duties or which is likely to give rise to the impression among members of the public that it may so interfere. A member of a police force shall in particular not take any active part in politics”.
No guidance has been issued to police forces on the interpretation of these provisions.
Police: Recruitment
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average cost of recruiting and training a new police officer in England and Wales was in the last 12 month period for which figures are available. [187428]
Jacqui Smith: This information is not held centrally.
Sexual Offences: Young People
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many sex offences against a minor were committed by individuals with a previous conviction for a sexual offence in (a) 2005, (b) 2006 and (c) 2007; and in how many of those cases the offender was a family member, a friend or otherwise well-known to the victim. [187487]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 21 February 2008]: The Ministry of Justice collates and publishes data on the re-offending rate of offenders discharged from custody or commencing a community sentence. These data show re-offending rates by the offence for which the offender has previously been sentenced (the index offence). The re-offending rate covers convictions for all subsequent offences, not just sexual offences, so the re-offending data requested are not available.
Information about victims of sex offenders, such as their relationship to the perpetrator, is not collected centrally.
Surveillance
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what plans her Department has to issue revised guidance to local authorities on their use of surveillance and the interception of communications; [191672]
(2) which local authorities recruited covert human intelligence sources in 2006-07; [191673]
(3) which local authorities were (a) authorised to acquire and (b) acquired communications data in 2006. [191674]
Mr. McNulty: The Home Office is revising the Codes of Practice for Directed Surveillance and Covert Human Intelligence Sources in 2008. This will give practical guidance to public authorities as to their responsibilities under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA). Local authorities are not permitted to intercept communications under RIPA.
We do hold a central database of all covert human intelligence sources recruited by Public authorities as all local authorities have the ability under RIPA to recruit covert human intelligence sources; these activities are overseen by the Office of Surveillance Commissioner.
Public authorities able to obtain communications data using the provisions of section 22 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 are set out in section 25(1) of that Act and in orders made under section 25(1)(g). Those orders are the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Communications Data) Order 2003 (Statutory Instrument 2003 No. 3172), the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Communications Data) (Amendment) Order 2005 (Statutory Instrument 2005 No. 1083) and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Communications Data) (Additional Functions and Amendment) Order 2006 (Statutory Instrument 2006 No. 1878).
Terrorism: Stop and Search
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many times Ministers have given stop and search authorisation under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000. [175239]
Jacqui Smith: The Terrorism Act 2000 came into effect on 19 February 2001.
Information on stop and searches and resultant arrests under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 from 2001-02 to 2005-06 (latest available) is given in the following table. These are the most recent figures.
| Searches of vehicles( 1) and occupants, and pedestrians under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000( 2) and resultant arrests( 3) , England and Wales, 2001-02—2005-06 | |||
| Stop and searches in order to prevent acts of terrorism | |||
| Total searches | Resultant arrests( 3) | Percentage of arrests | |
| (1) Searches may be conducted on vehicles only, occupants only or both may be searched. Where a vehicle and driver occupier are searched simultaneously the search is recorded against the driver (occupant). Any other passengers searched are recorded as occupants. (2) The Terrorism Act 2000 came into force on 19 February 2001. (3) Includes arrests under the Terrorism Act, arrests for terrorist related matters and other serious crimes. (4) Figures updated since publication of the 2004-05 Bulletin. Note: Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by police officers. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. | |||
Vandalism: Buses
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many arrests were made under Operation Bus Tag in each of the last five years; [181478]
(2) how many people were charged as a result of evidence gathered under Operation Bus Tag in each of the last five years. [181480]
Mr. Coaker: The following information has been supplied by the Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis.
The number of those arrested under Operation Bus Tag, to late January, are:
| Number | |
Total arrests since introduction equals 2,419.
Many of those arrested by Operation Bus Tag are first time offending juveniles, therefore in many instances the means of disposal could be by juvenile reprimand or caution and not charge. The available figures indicated that between 2004 and 2006 there were 344 charges, and between 2006 and late January there have been 917 charges, though this figure indicates the number of charges not necessarily the number of persons charged.
Health
Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people aged (a) under 18, (b) 18 to 25 and (c) 25 to 29 were (i) admitted as an in-patient or (ii) treated as an out-patient with alcohol poisoning in hospitals in Lancashire in each of the last three years. [193164]
Dawn Primarolo: The information is not available in the format requested. Data on the reasons for out-patient attendances are not collected centrally. The following table shows the total finished admissions to providers in Lancashire in which the patient had a primary or secondary diagnosis of alcohol poisoning at the start of his/her stay—for under 18, 18 to 24 and 25 to 29 in the years 2004-05 to 2006-07.
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