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22 May 2008 : Column 457W—continued
In addition, ONS discusses the methods and data sources used to produce population statistics with local authority representatives who are members of the population statistics subgroup that exists under the aegis of the Central and Local government Information sharing Partnership liaison arrangements.
Missing Persons
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases of reports of missing persons involved co-operation between different police forces in the last financial year. [202226]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 28 April 2008]: The number of cases of reports of missing persons which involved co-operation between different police forces in the last financial year are not collected centrally and are a matter for individual police forces.
Missing Persons: Databases
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 22 February 2008, Official Report, column 1084W, on missing persons, what progress has been made by the Government via the National Policing Improvement Agency’s Missing Persons Bureau in identifying best practice in capturing, recording and sharing data relating to missing persons; how much has been allocated to this initiative for 2008-09; and what the timetable is for completion of a national system for storage and retrieval of data on persons reported missing. [205096]
Mr. McNulty: The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) launched the Missing Persons Bureau (MPB) on the 1 April 2008.
The requesting of national data from police forces will be subject to the requirement laid out in the NPIA’s developing strategic assessment work with police forces and stakeholders, which is yet to be finalised and circulated for consultation. The classification of these data will again be dependent on the developing requirement of the strategic assessment.
At present, there is no national requirement for police forces to use electronic management systems or to provide the MPB with their data so that the MPB can incorporate them into their national database of missing persons. The MPB is working to develop a comprehensive set of data on missing persons.
The MPB is using the same electronic case management system as the charity Missing People. Work is in progress by the software manufacturer to enable electronic sharing of data between the MPB and the charity. Work is also in progress to enable electronic data transfer from police forces to the MPB.
Current guidance advises the transfer of information to the MPB within 14 days of a person going missing. Proposed changes to the guidance are likely to advise the transfer of information to the MPB within 24 hours for very high risk; 72 hours for high/medium risk; and seven days for low risk missing people, where this transfer can be done by automatic electronic means.
The MPB’s existing budget has been established to incorporate this element of work, which is scheduled to be completed by the end of September 2008.
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the Answer of 29th April 2008, Official Report, column 344W, on missing persons: databases, what information, relating to reports of missing persons, police officers are required to enter onto the Police National Computer within 48 hours of such reports being made under the national guidance on the management, recording and investigation of missing persons. [205097]
Mr. McNulty: Guidance on the details that are recorded on the police national computer (PNC) for missing persons are outlined in the ACPO guidance on the recording, management and investigations of missing persons, produced in 2005. The rules for recording information on the PNC are set out in the National Policing Improvement Agency's PNC user manual.
The name and basic descriptive information for the individual should be entered under the ‘wanted/missing’ category to identify that they are missing and should be entered onto the PNC as soon as possible and at least within 48 hours of the person’s disappearance. Basic descriptive details for unidentified persons or bodies should be entered under the ‘wanted/missing’ category as a found report using ‘information’ as the surname. Basic descriptive information encompasses details such as: date of birth, gender, ethnicity, height, build, hair colour, shoe size and so on, where these are known.
The PNC is an operational police database which holds details of those persons currently listed as recorded missing by the police and details of unidentified persons found by the police. As soon as an individual is located or identified, the PNC record is either suitably updated to show the current status or deleted by the police.
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 29 April 2008, Official Report, column 344W, on missing persons: databases, which of the police force databases for the management and recording of missing persons data referred to in the answer (a) can and (b) cannot share information electronically in real time with (i) the National Policing Improvement Agency's Missing Persons Bureau and (ii) the Police National Computer. [205098]
Mr. McNulty: None of the police forces' missing persons databases can share information electronically in real time with the Missing Persons Bureau's (MPB) database. In order to determine which of the police forces' missing persons databases can share information electronically in real time with the Police National Computer (PNC), it would be necessary to contact each individual police force.
The PNC is a live system accessible by all police forces 24 hours a day, which enables them to share information relating to missing persons.
The MPB is working together with information technology system providers towards developing a technical solution, so that information on missing persons cases held on police forces' systems can be electronically transferred onto the MPB's database. However, there is no requirement for sharing data in
real time as the MPB only currently accepts cases to work on after 14 days, thus negating the need for real time updates.
At present there is no national requirement for police forces to use electronic management systems or for them to share information with national systems.
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 29 April 2008, Official Report, column 344W, on missing persons: databases, what recent assessment (a) she has and (b) chief police officers have made of the performance of police forces in England and Wales against the requirement in the national guidance on the management, recording and investigation of missing persons that details of such persons reported to the police should be recorded on the Police National Computer within 48 hours; and what mechanisms are in place to (i) encourage and (ii) audit performance against this requirement. [205164]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 12 May 2008]: The mechanisms in place to encourage forces to record data on to the police national computer (PNC) are the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) guidance on the management, recording and investigation of missing persons in combination with the rules for recording missing and found persons as set out in the National Policing Improvement Agency’s PNC User Manual.
Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary (HMIC) reviewed all of the police forces’ compliance with investigating missing persons, in October 2007. This review focused on the processes and systems that were in place to investigate and supervise missing persons investigations. In this review, out of the 43 police forces, one force was graded as excellent, 21 were graded as good and 21 were graded as fair, meaning that they meet the required standard.
HMIC do not carry out an inspection on missing persons data held within PNC but they do audit forces to ensure that forces have their own audit procedures in place and comply with the rules set out in the PNC manual.
Police forces all have an internal review where they audit the information placed on to PNC, and the missing persons data held on PNC would form part of that.
When HMIC do carry out inspections of forces, they also make sure that they comply with the ACPO Data Protection Audit Manual.
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 29 April 2008, Official Report, column 344W, on missing persons: databases, what (a) steps would be required and (b) costs would be incurred for the data on missing persons captured by the Police National Computer to be extracted to provide national figures on missing persons. [205165]
Mr. McNulty
[holding answer 12 May 2008]: The police national computer (PNC) is an operational police database which is not designed to disseminate statistical information of this nature. The PNC does hold details of those persons currently listed as
recorded missing by the police, however, as soon as an individual is located, the PNC record is deleted.
The Missing Persons Bureau is looking separately at how best to collate statistics on missing persons.
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 29 April 2008, Official Report, column 344W, on missing persons: databases, which of the police force databases for the management and recording of missing persons data referred to in the answer can share information electronically in real time with each other such database listed in the answer. [205172]
Mr. McNulty: The information technology systems used by Dyfed-Powys police and Gwent police are able to share missing persons information with each other.
The 20 police forces that have the community policing and case tracking (COMPACT) computer system all have the facility to export data to each other, should a missing persons investigation move locations.
At present there is no national requirement for police forces to use electronic management systems or for their systems to share information with one another.
The Police National Computer is a live system accessible by all police forces 24 hours a day, which enables them to share information relating to missing persons. The Police National Database (PND), being delivered by the National Policing Improvement Agency-led IMPACT programme, will provide a capability for all police forces to electronically share information from their main local systems with each other. The programme is in the process of asking forces for details of what sort of information from which police force systems they plan to provide to the PND. Deployment of the PND is scheduled to commence in 2010.
Missing Persons: Wirral
Stephen Hesford: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people between the ages of 16 and 27 years were reported as missing in 2007 in Wirral West constituency. [205070]
Mr. McNulty: This is a matter for Merseyside police.
Missing Persons: Young People
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the Answer of 29 April 2008, Official Report, column 346W, on missing persons: young people, (1) if she will request from each police force the number of people reported to that force as missing in 2007; [205166]
(2) if she will request from each police force the number of people reported to that force as missing in 2007 who were (a) classified as a vulnerable adult, (b) aged (i) between 18 and 16, (ii) 15 and 12 and (iii) under 12 years of age, (c) in care and (d) disabled. [205167]
Mr. McNulty
[holding answer 12 May 2008]: The Missing Persons Bureau (MPB) is currently making an assessment of the current status of the issue of missing persons in conjunction with its partners and
stakeholders, including Missing People and the Missing Persons Strategic Oversight Group.
At present, there is no national requirement for forces to provide these data, or use electronic management systems. The requisition of data from all police forces is subject to the requirement set out in the National Policing Improvement Agency’s developing strategic assessment work with forces and stakeholders, which is yet to be finalised and circulated for consultation.
The MPB has requested the number of missing persons records from all United Kingdom police forces for 2007 split by age and gender. The majority of police forces in the United Kingdom have some sort of electronic system to manage their missing persons cases, however, many of these systems are designed specifically for case management recording and do not have integral statistical packages.
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 29 April 2008, Official Report, column 344W, on missing persons database, if she will request from each police force the number of children and young people reported missing to the police (a) under the age of 16 and (b) aged 17 and 18 years, broken down by local authority area. [206305]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 16 May 2008]: The Missing Persons Bureau (MPB) is currently making an assessment of the current status of the issue of missing persons in conjunction with its partners and stakeholders, including the Missing People charity and the Missing Persons Strategic Oversight Group.
At present, there is no national requirement for forces to provide these data, or use electronic management systems. The requisition of data from all police forces is subject to the requirement set out in the National Policing Improvement Agency's developing strategic assessment work with forces and stakeholders, which is yet to be finalised and circulated for consultation.
The MPB has requested the number of missing persons records from all United Kingdom police forces for 2007 split by age and gender. Data broken down by local authority area are not available, as police force boundaries are not all coterminous with local authority boundaries. The majority of police forces in the United Kingdom have electronic systems to manage their missing persons cases. However, many of these systems are designed specifically for case management recording and do not have integral statistical packages.
North Wales Police: Manpower
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers were employed by North Wales Police on 1st April in each of the last 10 years. [203534]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 7 May 2008]: The data requested are published annually in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin series “Police Service Strength, England and Wales” and are given in the following table.
| Police officer strength( 1) (FTE)( 2) for North Wales police as at 31 March 1997 to 2007 | |
| As at 31 March | Police force |
| (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 numbers 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. | |
Offensive Weapons: Schools
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many times the police exercised their right of entry and search for weapons under section 139B of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 relating to schools and persons on school premises in (a) 2005, (b) 2006 and (c) 2007, broken down by police force area. [205361]
Mr. McNulty: The stops and searches collection held by the Ministry of Justice covers the main stop and search powers within Code A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and counts the number of searches undertaken. The number of times the police exercise their right of entry and the number of searches under section 139B of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 are not identified by the collection.
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