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21 Apr 2008 : Column 1517W—continued
Security: Licensing
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps the Security Industry Authority has taken to accelerate the licence application process. [196414]
Mr. Coaker: Steps taken by the SIA to speed up the licence application process include the following:
A number of improvements have been made to simplify and streamline the application process, including:
the introduction of a simplified application form and application system;
an online request system for application forms and distribution of forms to training providers and security companies;
facility for licence application to be made for more than one licensable sector on the same form;
reduced document requirements for some applicants renewing their licences;
improvements to the processing of applications; and
improvements to the online application tracker to provide applicants with more information on the progress of their applications.
online application facility;
Direct Debit payment facility for companies (who may apply on behalf of individual employees); and
online UK passport checks.
Steps have also been taken to deal with the immediate workload, including:
At the SIA's Managed Service Provider (MSP) facility:
deployment by the MSP of additional staff from other areas, together with additional specialist equipment;
employment of additional staff and management; and
overtime working at weekends and evenings, and double shifts;
prioritised work on older licence applications which suffered delays due to changes to the SIA's processing system in November and December 2007; and
been deployed at the SIA's call centre for temporary periods.
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many licence applications pending a decision by the Security Industry Authority are over nine weeks old. [196417]
Mr. Coaker: This information is not currently available. I will write to the hon. Member as soon as it is available.
Security: Litter Bins
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what advice she has issued on the security implications of the provision of litter bins at (a) railway stations and (b) other public places. [198473]
Mr. McNulty: As part of their work, the Government's Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) and the police National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) provide advice on appropriate protective security measures for crowded places. This includes advice on minimising the risk from devices placed in litter bins. CPNI's website:
provides advice on a range of basic good security measures, which includes giving consideration to the location, cleaning regime and removal of bins, as well as the use of clear plastic bags.
Further advice is available on the NaCTSO website:
CPNI, in conjunction with the Home Office Scientific and Development Branch (HOSDB), has also developed a standard against which the explosion resistance of litter and recycling bins can be tested by manufacturers.
The railway industry is subject to requirements and guidance on the provision of litter bins at railway stations regulated by the Department for Transport. Bins installed are subject to specific security control measures, including their design, location and security management. The Department for Transport has also provided guidance to local authorities on how they can help with railway security when installing street furniture, such as litter bins, in the immediate vicinity of stations.
Sexual Offences
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many sexual offences prevention orders have been issued in respect of those convicted of sexual offences overseas in the last three years. [197427]
Mr. Coaker: Data on the number of Sexual Offence Prevention Orders issued to those convicted of sexual offences overseas are not collected centrally.
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people convicted of a sexual offence overseas were included on the Sex Offenders Register at the latest date for which figures are available. [197430]
Mr. Coaker:
Data on the number of offenders subject to the notification requirements who were convicted overseas are not collected centrally. Data on the number of notification orders granted by magistrates courts are collated by the Ministry of Justice from MAPPA annual reports. Notification orders are applied for by the police and granted by magistrates courts. They require sexual offenders convicted overseas of an offence equivalent to a relevant offence in the UK to become subject to the notification requirements of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Notification orders were introduced by the
Sexual Offences Act 2003, which came into force on 1 May 2004. Figures for the number of notification orders granted are provided in the following table.
| Number of notification orders granted | |
Sexual Offences Act 2003
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offences were recorded under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in each year since its entry into force, broken down by offence; and what percentage of these offences (a) resulted in court proceedings against suspected perpetrators, (b) led to a conviction and (c) resulted in a sanction detection. [196017]
Mr. Coaker: The information is not available in the form requested.
Table 1 gives the number of offences recorded for the offence classifications which came into force with the introduction of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. It also gives the number of offences detected by means of a sanction detection. Table 2 shows the numbers of defendants proceeded against and found guilty at all courts for the years 2004 to 2006, and is taken from the court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform. Figures for crimes and sanction detections in 2004-05 and those proceeded against and found guilty in 2004 are not for complete 12 month periods, as the Sexual Offence Act 2003 was enacted in May 2004.
The figures given in Table 2 relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offence for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences, the offence selected is the one for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
Recorded crime and court proceedings statistics are from two different databases and recorded in quite different ways. Recorded crime data are provided on a financial year basis and counts offences whereas court proceedings data are on a calendar year basis and count offenders. Therefore, these two separate data-sets are not directly comparable.
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