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31 Mar 2008 : Column 615W—continued
Police: Pensions
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions she has had on the reform of police pensions; and if she will make a statement. [195688]
Mr. McNulty: Police pensions policy is kept under regular review, and has only recently been subject to major changes. We have introduced the New Police Pension Scheme which applies to new entrants joining on or after 6 April 2006. We have also reformed the way police pensions are financed by introducing on 1 April 2006 a system based on employer contributions which takes away from police authorities the financial burden of meeting the cost of pensions in payment. There have been no specific discussions regarding reform beyond these developments.
Police: Vacancies
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officer vacancies of all ranks there were within (a) the Metropolitan Police Force and (b) other constabularies in each year since 1997. [195618]
Mr. McNulty:
This information has not been collected since 1995 following the introduction of the Police and Magistrates Courts Act 1994 which
abolished Home Office authorised establishments. It is a matter for the police authority and Chief Officer of Police to determine the number of police officers that each force has.
Racial Hatred: Internet
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions have been brought under section 21 of the Public Order Act 1986 for using the internet to distribute or play threatening, abusive or insulting images for the purposes of inciting racial hatred in each of the last five years. [195544]
Jacqui Smith: The Government take the view that the courts should prosecute the offence, and not the medium through which it is committed. Therefore no separate statistics are kept for offences committed over the internet. Since the Public Order Act 1986 was introduced, there have been a total of 86 prosecutions under the offence of racial hatred, resulting in 60 convictions.
Rape: Prosecutions
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what mechanisms the Rape Performance Group will use to monitor local performance in relation to rape prosecutions. [194278]
Mr. Coaker: The Rape Performance Group uses a range of indicators spanning the criminal justice process. These are:
The rate of recorded rape offences per 1,000 of the population (a low rate of offences per 1,000 in a force may indicate a low level of reporting);
The proportion of offences that are categorised as ‘no crime’;
The proportion of recorded offences that result in a sanction detection;
The proportion of charged cases that are subsequently discontinued by the CPS; and
The proportion of cases going to trial that result in a conviction.
Its focus is on the system as a whole, with an assumption of shared police and CPS responsibility for the delivery of outcomes. Where the data suggests that the performance of a particular area differs significantly from the national and peer-group averages, the Rape Performance Group will raise this with the relevant chief constable and chief Crown prosecutor to seek further information on the approach to the investigation and prosecution of rape in that area and to offer support, where appropriate, in addressing any performance issues. These performance monitoring arrangements are complemented by the support functions of the joint ACPO/Home Office operational support team and CPS Rape Prosecutions Delivery Unit.
Serious Crime Prevention Orders
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she plans to bring serious crime prevention orders into effect. [196839]
Jacqui Smith:
The Serious Crime Act 2007 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional and Transitory Provisions and Savings) Order 2008, which was made
on 17 March, will bring the serious crime prevention order provisions of the Act into force on 6 April 2008.
Sexual Offences
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many registered sex offenders there were in each police authority area in each year since 2004; and how many offenders were (a) cautioned and (b) charged for failing to comply with the notification requirements of the Sexual Offenders Act 2003 in that period. [195016]
Mr. Coaker: Table 1 gives the number of registered sex offenders in each police authority area for every year since 2003-04.
The Government do not routinely collect data on the number of sex offenders cautioned for failing to comply with their notification requirements. However, the Government do collect data on the number of sex offenders who were:
charged with a serious further offence;
found in breach of their licence conditions; and
found in breach of a Sexual Offence Prevention Order.
Tables 2 to 4 give these figures (in relation to sexual offenders managed at MAPPA levels 2 and 3) for each of the aforementioned categories, by area, for every year since 2003-04.
| Table 1: Registered sex offenders by area | ||||
| Area | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 |
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