Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 12 March 2008
Leader of the House
Regional Government: Select Committees
Mr. Allen: To ask the Leader of the House what progress has been made on the establishment of regional select committees; and if she will make a statement. [193298]
Helen Goodman: This matter is being examined by the Select Committee on the Modernisation of the House of Commons, chaired by my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House. Proposals will be brought to the House in due course in the light of the Committee’s report.
Solicitor-General
DNA: International Co-operation
David Davis: To ask the Solicitor-General when the Crown Prosecution Service’s inquiry into its treatment of a Dutch request to check DNA data will be completed; and if she will make a statement. [192784]
The Solicitor-General: As soon as she was made aware of an issue surrounding the disk containing the 2,159 crime scene profiles from unsolved crimes submitted by the Dutch authorities, my right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney-General ordered the CPS to conduct an urgent inquiry as to what happened and to report to her as soon as possible. The CPS is working closely with the police on this issue and the inquiry is not yet complete. The inquiry has three strands and it is expected that two of these strands will be completed by the end of March 2008.
Northern Ireland
Departmental Cost Effectiveness
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress his Department has made in its zero-based budget review under the Comprehensive Spending Review. [191482]
Mr. Woodward: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the annex pertaining to my Department in Meeting the aspirations of the British people: the 2007 pre-Budget Report and Comprehensive Spending Review (Cm 7227).
I would also refer to the Department's Value for Money Delivery Agreement
which outlines plans to deliver £108 million of savings by March 2011. The first update on progress will be published by the Department in its autumn performance report.
Departmental Hospitality
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many receptions were held at 11 Millbank in each of the last five years. [187221]
Mr. Woodward: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 12 September 2007, Official Report, columns 2148-249W. There have been no further receptions subsequent to this answer.
Departmental Impact Assessments
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many regulatory impact assessments his Department has conducted in the last 12 months. [191260]
Mr. Woodward: The Northern Ireland Office has conducted three regulatory impact assessments in the last 12 months:
1. Draft Criminal Justice Order 2008;
2. PSNI (Conduct) (Amendment) Regulations 2008; and
3. The Police Act 1997 (Criminal Records) (Registration) Regulations (Northern Ireland). Although this is a 1997 policy it has not yet been implemented.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether consideration has been given to applying gender responsive budgeting to his Department's budget. [192105]
Mr. Woodward: The UK Government are supportive of efforts to achieve gender equality and continue to work very closely with both the Women's National Commission and the Women's Budget Group on promoting gender equality within the UK.
In 2004, HM Treasury undertook a pilot project on gender analysis of expenditure with the Women's Budget Group. The project demonstrated the value of gender analysis in some areas and identified what tools and expertise were necessary within Government to carry out gender analysis, but that further work was needed before gender responsive budgeting could be implemented.
In 2008, HM Treasury will be conducting further work that will determine whether it is prudent and feasible to disaggregate departmental expenditure statistics by gender.
Written Questions
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many written questions to his Department had not received an answer as at 25 February 2008 for (a) between two and four, (b) between four and six, (c) between six and eight and (d) more than eight weeks; and how many in each category were tabled for named day answer. [193395]
Mr. Woodward: As at 25 February 2008 10 questions remained unanswered for between two and four weeks and three questions remained unanswered for between six and eight weeks. None of these questions were for Named Day answer.
Sexual Offences
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many category (a) 1, (b) 2 and (c) 3 sex offenders there are (i) in custody and (ii) resident in the community in each district council area in Northern Ireland. [190032]
Paul Goggins: As of 1 February 2008 the number of sex offenders in custody assessed under the multi-agency sex offender risk assessment and management (MASRAM) arrangements is shown in the following table.
| Number | |
The following table updates the information provided in the annual report ‘Managing the Risk’ published last year by the Northern Ireland Sex Offender Strategic Management Committee. It also provides information on risk categories of offenders assessed under the MASRAM arrangements resident in police command areas as at 26 February 2008.
| Sex offenders by police command area assessed under the MASRAM arrangements | ||||
| Police command area | Category 1 (low risk) | Category 2 (medium risk) | Category 3 (high risk) | Total |
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