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5 Jun 2008 : Column 1120W—continued
Alcohol Disorder Zones
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Government expects the first alcohol disorder zone to be implemented. [192829]
Jacqui Smith: The regulations in respect of alcohol disorder zones (ADZs) have passed through both Houses of Parliament and we expect that they will be commenced in June 2008. It is a matter for local authorities and the police to decide if and when an ADZ is implemented.
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many local authorities have submitted an application to establish an alcohol disorder zone. [198637]
Jacqui Smith: None. Alcohol disorder zones have not yet been commenced. They have passed through both Houses of Parliament, and we expect that they will be commenced in June 2008.
Antisocial Behaviour Orders
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reasons data on antisocial behaviour orders for 2006 have not been published; and if she will make a statement. [204408]
Jacqui Smith: Data on antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) up to 31 December 2006 were published on 8 May. Copies of the data are available at the House of Commons Library and on the Crime Reduction website.
Crime: Business
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions the Government have had with local authorities and police forces on tackling crime against businesses. [208860]
Mr. Coaker: The Government's crime strategy for 2008-11, published in July 2007, encourages local authorities and police to work more closely with businesses in tackling local problems of crime and disorder.
The crime strategy gives local partners more flexibility to respond to the crime and antisocial behaviour that matters to the public in their areas, with fewer types of crime being mandated as priorities from the centre.
Public Service Agreement 23 “Make Communities Safer” raises the profile of business crime, to encourage CDRPs to consult and engage with the business community. Publication of “Delivering Safer Communities: A guide to effective partnership working” in September 2007 for CDRP partners, includes good practice examples of partnerships working with the business community.
Neighbourhood policing has been introduced across England and Wales to deal with low-level crime and antisocial behaviour. In some communities this will include, for example, police community support officers working in partnership with local businesses. The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) is working to produce a guidance document for police forces on how to engage with local businesses.
Crime: Small Businesses
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent steps the Government have taken to reduce the incidence of crime against small businesses. [208859]
Mr. Coaker: Between 2004 and 2007 the Home Office provided more than £1 million of funding to the Action Against Business Crime group (AABC) to set up 120 business crime reduction partnerships in towns and cities across England and Wales. It also, in partnership with stakeholders, produced a booklet to enable businesses to undertake a crime prevention survey of their premises. More than 200,000 copies of this booklet have so far been printed and distributed.
The Home Office has also provided funding to the Perpetuity Group to develop a tool for small and medium-sized retailers to design out crime in their stores and reduce the opportunities for shop thieves to operate. In addition to this, we have provided funding to the Nottinghamshire Business Crime Initiative to develop a model for reducing crime against small and medium-sized businesses on industrial estates and parks.
The Government are working in partnership with retail organisations to tackle retail crime. As part of this work we have set up a National Retail Crime Steering Group to provide a forum to discuss and devise strategies for tackling crimes of concern to retailers.
We are committed to raising the profile of crimes against all businesses, making provisions for better information about them and producing guidance to support local partnerships in their efforts to tackle the crimes which affect them.
Crime: Statistics
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many records of offences (a) in total, (b) of violence against the person, (c) sexual offences, (d) of robbery, (e) of burglary, (f) of theft of a vehicle and (g) of theft from a vehicle recorded by the police in 2002-03 can be attributed to the effect of the National Crime Recording Standard. [202897]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 1 May 2008]: An online report entitled “National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS): an analysis of the impact on recorded crime”, published in July 2003, evaluated the impact of NCRS on recorded crime figures. The report stated that the national picture for total crime (2001-02: 5,525,024; 2002-03: 5,974,960) demonstrated an overall NCRS impact of 10 per cent. on the recorded crime statistics for 2002-03.
Estimates of the percentage impact of the NCRS on recorded crime in 2002-03 varied considerably between offence types:
Violence against the person: 23 per cent. impact
(2001-02: 650,326; 2002-03: 845,078)
Robbery: 3 per cent. impact
(2001/02: 121,359; 2002/03: 110,271)
Burglary: 3 per cent. impact
(2001-02: 878,509; 2002-03: 890,099)
Equivalent estimates of the impact of the NCRS on sexual offences, theft of a vehicle and theft from a vehicle recorded are unavailable.
It is thought that there was some continuing impact of the NCRS on the number of recorded crimes in the three-year period following its introduction as a result of audits to further improve recording.
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of crime recorded by the police in (a) 2002-03, (b) 2003-04, (c) 2004-05, (d) 2005-06 and (e) 2006-07 would not have been counted prior to the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard. [202898]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 1 May 2008]: An online report entitled “National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS): an analysis of the impact on recorded crime”, published in July 2003, evaluated the impact of NCRS on record crime figures. The report stated that the national picture demonstrated an overall NCRS impact of 10 per cent. on the recorded crime statistics for 2002-03. The total recorded crime figure was 5,525,024 in 2001-02 and 5,974,960 in 2002-03.
This analysis of the impact of the NCRS on recorded crime has not been replicated since it was originally carried out in 2003 so equivalent estimates are unavailable for 2003-04 through to 2006-07. It is, however, thought that there was some continuing impact of the NCRS on the number of recorded crimes in the three year period following its introduction as a result of audits to further improve recording.
Criminal Records: Databases
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what proportion of records held by the Criminal Records Bureau she estimates contain incorrect information, broken down by police force area. [205115]
Jacqui Smith: The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) is not the data owner of the records that it searches. These records are held, owned and maintained by the police service, the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Department of Health. The CRB is not responsible for the accuracy of the information these records contain.
Domestic Violence
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which domestic violence (a) projects and (b) organisations for (i) perpetrators and (ii) victims of domestic violence are being funded by her Department in 2008-09. [208434]
Mr. Coaker:
The Home Office has allocated funding to support a range of domestic violence projects and
organisations during 2008-09. Details of these organisations are outlined in the following table.
Drugs: Crime
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of the drug interdictions set out in the Serious Organised Crime Agency Annual Report 2007-08 were the result of UK-based operations. [207018]
Jacqui Smith: Serious Organised Crime Agency operations are carried out both in the UK and overseas. Since lead intelligence may be obtained both at home and abroad, it is not possible to indicate what proportion of 2007-08 drug seizures were the result of solely UK-based operations.
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of the drug interdictions listed in the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) Annual Report 2007-08 were seized directly by SOCA officers, rather than its partners. [207019]
Jacqui Smith: The Serious Organised Crime Agency has no powers to seize drugs outside the UK. Interdictions overseas referred to in its Annual Report, therefore, involved SOCA providing key intelligence and/or operational support, not undertaking the physical act of seizure. At home, SOCA works collaboratively with UK police forces and with HMRC and the UK Border Agency. Decisions on the interdiction phases of such joint operational activity are made according to local or operational imperatives, including to protect the use of sensitive intelligence sources. In all the seizures reported, SOCA was involved from the start, whether or not it carried out the actual seizure itself.
Drugs: Fines
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many fines issued for the unlawful possession of drugs were for (a) £50 or less, (b) £51 to £100, (c) £101 to £500 and (d) £500 or more in each of the last 10 years. [200526]
Jacqui Smith: The number of fines issued for unlawful possession of drugs, in each of the last 10 years, in the four categories described are outlined in the following table.
| Offenders fined for drugs offences( 1, 2) at all courts | |||||
| £101 to £500 | £51 to £100 | less than £50 | over £500 | Grand total | |
| (1) Principal offence. (2 )Having possession of a controlled drug and having possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply. | |||||
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