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19 Mar 2008 : Column 1262W—continued
Government Departments: ICT
Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will make a statement on the steps taken to improve cyber security and resilience across Government Departments. [195051]
Mr. McNulty: Government Departments are made resilient and robust in the face of cyber threats through constant monitoring and upgrading of Government networks including the Government secure intranet (GSI) now connecting in excess of 400,000 users.
GCHQ and the Centre for Protection of the National Infrastructure also provide warnings, alerts and emergency response as well as assessment of information security products and services.
Human Trafficking: Convictions
Ms Dari Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were (a) arrested and (b) convicted for human trafficking offences in (a) Cleveland, (b) Stockton and (c) England and Wales in each of the last five years. [189338]
Mr. Coaker: The Sexual Offences Act came into force on 1 May 2004. 232 arrests have been made for human trafficking offences with 134 being charged with trafficking and related offences. Conviction figures under dedicated trafficking legislation for the United Kingdom are as follows:
| Number | |
2004 | 3 |
2005 | 21 |
2006 | 30 |
2007 | 17 |
There have been no arrests in Stockton nor Cleveland.
Immigration: Gurkhas
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discretion she is able to exercise in granting (a) leave to remain and (b) British citizenship to Gurkha soldiers who completed their service before 1 July 1997; and how many times that discretion was exercised in each year since 1997. [193714]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 13 March 2008]: I would refer the hon. Member to my reply of 18 March 2008, Official Report, columns 934-35W. Former Gurkhas who are unable to fulfil the requirements of the Immigration Rules, including those who were discharged from service before 1 July 1997, may benefit from concessionary arrangements on a case-by-case basis where there are strong reasons why settlement in the UK is appropriate. Guidance for dealing with these cases is contained in Immigration Directorate Instructions Chapter 15, Section 2A, at:
Discretion will have been exercised in all those cases where settlement was granted to former Gurkhas who retired prior to 1 July 1997 but it is not possible to separate the data provided to identify those who retired before on or after that date.
Gurkha soldiers who have completed their service in the British Army and wish to apply for British citizenship must make a successful application for naturalisation under section 6 of the British Nationality Act 1981. There is no distinction between those who enlisted before or after 1 July 1997.
Policy requirements and procedures for handling nationality applications are available for viewing on the Border and Immigration Agency website at:
National Firearms Licensing Management System
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 16 January 2008, Official Report, column 1302W, on national firearms licensing management system, when the National Policing Improvement Agency review of the effectiveness of the interface between the national firearms register on the Police National Computer and the National Firearms Licensing Management System will be completed; and if she will publish the results and recommendations of this review. [194286]
Mr. Coaker: Following successful completion of the implementation of the interface between the National Firearms Licensing Management System (NFLMS) and the Police National Computer (PNC), a review of the efficiency of the interface between the two systems is now being conducted with a view to ensuring that the business benefits are fully realised by the Police Service.
The review is being conducted by the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) and the Association of Chief Police Officers. The work has commenced, but it is too early to say when it will be completed. A summary of the review will be made available on the NPIA website:
Police: Finance
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the adequacy of police precepts on the council tax due following increases in (a) licensing hours and (b) the number of licensed premises since 1997. [192193]
Mr. Coaker: The recent changes to licensing law appear to have only increased opening hours by around 20 minutes on average across on-licensed premises. The Licensing Act 2003 brought in a new system for licensing the sale of alcohol, regulated entertainment and late night refreshment. While no complete data exist for the total number of premises that were licensed under the old regimes, the 2003 Act has probably increased the number of licensed premises only by requiring late night take-aways outside London to be licensed for the first time. This measure has been welcomed by the police as a key benefit in helping them control potential flashpoints for alcohol related crime and disorder. The number of premises licensed for the sale of alcohol has decreased since 1997.
The evaluation of the Licensing Act 2003, published on 4 March 2007, concluded that the overall volume of crime and disorder has remained stable and not risen.
Prosecutions: Licensing
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were (a) prosecuted and (b) convicted under (i) section 172, (ii) section 172a and (iii) section 173 of the Licensing Act 1964 in each year since 1997; and how many landlords had their licences revoked as a consequence of breach of these provisions. [185641]
Mr. Coaker [holding answer 18 February 2008]: The number of people proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts under (i) section 172, (ii) section 172a and (iii) section 173 of the Licensing Act 1964 can be found in the following table.
Court proceedings data for 2007 will be available in late November 2008.
The Licensing Act 2003 repealed the Licensing (Occasional Permissions) Act 1983 Act when it came into effect on 24 November 2005.
| The number of people proceeded against at magistrates court and found guilty at all courts for offences under the Licensing Act 1964 sections 172,172A, and 173, in England and Wales for the years 1997 to 2006 1,2,3,4 | ||
| Statute: | Offence description: | |
| Licensing (Occasional Permissions) Act 1983 Schedule (Sec 3) para 6. Licensing Act 1964 Sec 172. | Holder of permission not to allow drunkenness etc. Permitting drunkenness or riotous conduct on the premises or selling liquor to a drunken person. | |
| Year | Proceeded against | Found guilty |
| Statute: | Offence description: | |
| Licensing Act 1964 Sec 172A as added by Criminal Justice & Police Act 2001 S.32. | Relevant person working in licensed premises to permit drunkenness or violent behaviour etc. | |
| Year | Proceeded against | Found guilty |
| Statute: | Offence description: | |
| Licensing (Occasional Permissions) Act 1983 Schedule (Sec 3) para 7. Licensing Act 1964 Sec 173. | Person in licensed premises procuring intoxicating liquor for a drunken person or aiding a drunken person to obtain drink. | |
| Year | Proceeded against | Found guilty |
| (1) These data are on the principal offence basis. (2) 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 the courts and police forces. 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. (3) The Licensing Act 2003 repealed the Licensing (Occasional Permissions) Act 1983 Act when it came into effect on 24 November 2005. (4) Staffordshire police force were only able to submit sample data for persons proceeded against and convicted in the magistrates' courts for the year 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robust enough at a detailed level and have been excluded from the table. Source: Court proceedings database held by RDS - OCJR, Ministry of Justice | ||
Prostitution
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans she has to amend the law on street prostitution; and if she will make a statement. [194279]
Mr. Coaker: The Government are fully committed to legislating to remove the stigmatising and outdated term “common prostitute” from the statute books and to reframe the offence of loitering and soliciting. We also remain committed to provide a new court disposal to help those convicted of loitering or soliciting to break the cycle of offending and to develop routes out of prostitution and will look to introduce the necessary legislative changes as soon as parliamentary time allows.
Sexual Offences: Crime Prevention
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) sexual offences prevention orders, (b) risk of sexual harm orders and (c) foreign travel orders were issued in each of the last three years. [194331]
Mr. Coaker: Data on the number of risk of sexual harm orders issued are not collated. Figures for the number of sexual offence prevention orders (SOPOs) and the number of foreign travel orders (FTOs) issued in each of the last three years is provided as follows.
| 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | |
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