| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
22 May 2008 : Column 463W—continued
Pakistan
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the outcomes of her recent visit to Pakistan were; and if she will make a statement. [203939]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 7 May 2008]: My right hon. Friend, the Home Secretary visited Pakistan from 7 to 8 April. She had bilateral talks with Prime Minister Yusuf Gillani, Interior Adviser Rehman Malik, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Information Minister, Sherry Rahman. She also delivered a keynote speech at the Pakistan National Council of Arts on counter-terrorism, met UK Borders Agency staff serving overseas and was briefed on the British high commission's programme to tackle forced marriage.
On counter-terrorism issues we agreed to an early meeting of our Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Organised Crime and a joint workshop on extremism to be held in Pakistan. On migration issues, Pakistan agreed to continue to honour our bilateral MOU on returns to remove those persons already in the United Kingdom, once the European Community Readmission Agreement is signed. My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has also invited Interior Adviser Malik to visit the UK later this year.
Passengers: Surveys
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether her Department plans to increase the size of the sample in the International Passenger Survey. [206839]
Phil Hope: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 22 May 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your question on plans to increase the size of the sample in the International Passenger Survey. (206839)
The International Passenger Survey (IPS) is a multi-purpose survey which collects information from a quarter of a million passengers each year, as they enter or leave the UK. It is used for balance of payments, tourism and migration statistics. ONS has focused on whether the size of the migrant sub-sample is adequate.
Less than 1% of all travellers are long-term international migrants and the migrant sub-sample is much smaller than the total number of IPS interviews. In order to boost the size of the migrant sub-sample, additional sampling is conducted at selected ports. The 2006 inter-departmental Task Force into migration statistics included recommendations to improve the coverage of migrants in a port survey, particularly of emigrants. The number of emigrants sampled was increased with immediate effect, from 2007. ONS also immediately undertook a Port Survey Review (PSR) to investigate options for taking forward these particular recommendations.
An interim report of the PSR was published in October 2007 and is available on the National Statistics website:
A primary aim in the short-term is to deliver better migration data from a redesigned port survey while continuing to meet other statistical requirements. With this aim in mind, steps have been taken to increase the sample size from April 2008 by implementing new migration sampling at Manchester, Stansted and Luton and by introducing new IPS samples, or adding to existing samples at several other regional airports.
In the longer-term ONS is looking at more radical options for redesigning the port survey. It is expected that the number of migrant interviews on which estimates are based will be increased in a redesigned port survey.
A progress report on the PSR, to be published in the summer, will provide further details.
Police National Computer: Data Protection
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what mechanisms are in place to detect careless and abusive disclosures from the Police National Computer. [204220]
Mr. McNulty: The detection and prevention of unlawful disclosure from the Police National Computer (PNC) is a matter for individual police forces and other criminal justice agencies with access to PNC data. All organisations with access to PNC data are bound by the Data Protection Act 1998; controls specified in the Risk Management Accreditation Document Set for the PNC; and their own internal security procedures.
Police National Missing Persons Bureau
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the operation of the Police National Missing Persons Bureau. [199334]
Mr. McNulty: The Missing Persons Bureau took over responsibility from the Metropolitan Police Service’s Police National Missing Persons Bureau on 1 April 2008. It is not yet possible to assess its operational effectiveness in its new capacity.
A review of the former Police National Missing Persons Bureau carried out by Perry Nove was completed in 2005. As a result of the review, a strategic oversight group, chaired by the Association of Chief Police Officers, has been created with responsibility for the direction and co-ordination of the response to the issue of missing persons.
Police: Airports
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost of policing each airport was in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement. [198491]
Mr. McNulty: There are currently nine airports “designated” under the Aviation Security Act 1982 for policing purposes—London Heathrow, London Gatwick, London Stansted, Edinburgh, Glasgow International, Prestwick, Aberdeen, Manchester and Birmingham. At these airports the airport operator is required to meet the costs of the agreed uniformed police presence. At non-designated airports, they either have a dedicated uniformed police presence or the police attend when there is an operational need to do so. These costs are funded wholly or partly by the police authority in which that airport is located, or by other means, for example, voluntary contributions by the airport operator. The cost of uniformed police officers at each airport is therefore not held centrally.
The Home Office Dedicated Security Posts (DSP) Grant provides the central contribution to the policing costs for of specific security functions, including the Special Branch presence at ports. The grants paid to police forces towards the costs of funding their Special Branch officers at ports in financial years 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 were £70.6 million, £71.4 million and £72.6 million respectively. Figures prior to these dates were not compiled in the same way and it is therefore not possible to provide data in a comparable form.
The allocation of the DSP grant by airport is not disclosed since to do so could prejudice border security by revealing how Special Branch officers are deployed for counter terrorism purposes. Moreover, chief constables are responsible for the deployment of
Special Branch officers at airports within their force area, and deployment patterns may change during the year for operational reasons.
Police: Bureaucracy
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the average proportion of police officers’ time spent on patrol per day in each of the last 10 years. [200388]
Mr. McNulty: I refer the hon. Member to my response of 10 December 2007, Official Report, column 91W.
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of time on average (a) all police officers and (b) patrol officers spent on (i) incident-related paperwork, (ii) non-incident related paperwork, (iii) all paperwork and (iv) on patrol in each year since 2003-04. [200389]
Mr. McNulty: The information requested is not held centrally.
Sir Ronnie Flanagan’s Review of Policing, published in February this year, addressed the issue of police-related bureaucracy. The review made a number of recommendations on this subject, including a review of police operational codes of practice, the expansion of mobile data, a more in-depth analysis of risk (and how this in turn may impact on bureaucratic tendencies in the service), and the further streamlining of criminal justice processes. My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has endorsed Sir Ronnie’s report and expects his recommendations to form the next drive against unnecessary bureaucracy in the police service.
Police: Databases
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crime scene marks are outstanding on police databases. [202012]
Mr. McNulty: As at 25 April 2008, the IDENT1 database contained 1, 696,286 unidentified crime scene marks—these being a combination of palm and finger marks. This represents the accumulation of such marks over the years from the various systems that migrated into NAFIS in 1999, which was then superseded by IDENT1 in 2005.
Police: Dismissal
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) male and (b) female police officers of each age group (i) resigned and (ii) were dismissed by Essex police in each year since 1997; and for what reasons in each case. [201954]
Mr. McNulty: The requested data on age breakdowns and reasons for resignation/dismissal are not collected centrally. The available data have been collected since 2002-03 and are given in the following table.
| Police officer leavers (FTE)( 1) for Essex police force from 2002-03 to 2006-07( 2) | ||||
| Resignations | Dismissals | |||
| Female | Male | Female | Male | |
| n/a = data not available (1) 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. Data have not previously been previously published in this format therefore totals may not match totals found in the published data. (2) Financial year runs 1 April to 31 March inclusive. Comparable data are not available prior to 2002-03. (3) Excludes quarters 1, 2 and 3, data not available. | ||||
Police: Early Retirement
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers in Essex constabulary of each sex took early retirement in each year since 1997. [201953]
Mr. McNulty: The information requested is a matter for the Essex constabulary.
Police: Expenditure
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 14 January 2008, Official Report, columns 1065-66W, on police: expenditure, if she will update the information in the Answer with the most recent figures. [201601]
Mr. McNulty: The answer I gave to the hon. Gentleman on 14 January 2008, Official Report, columns 1065-66W contains the most current data available.
Police: Finance
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions she has had with HM Treasury on the use of activity-based costing data to determine police grant funding levels; and if she will make a statement. [200341]
Mr. McNulty: My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary holds discussions with HM Treasury on a range of police issues.
Police: Manpower
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff were employed by North Wales police in (a) 2006 and (b) 2007, broken down by function. [203530]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 6 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 Service strength (FTE)( 1) for North Wales police as at 31 March 2006 and 2007 | ||
| 31 March 2006 | 31 March 2007 | |
| (1) 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. | ||
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers there were per 100,000 population in each police force area in each of the last five years, ranked in order of highest to lowest ratio. [204644]
Mr. McNulty: The available data are taken from the Home Office Statistical Bulletin series “Police Service Strength, England and Wales” and are given in the following table.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |