Written Answers to Questions
Thursday 19 June 2008
Home Department
Alcohol: Young People
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many underage young people were (a) tried at magistrates courts and (b) convicted of buying alcohol illegally in each of the last five years. [188261]
Mr. Coaker [holding answer 22 February 2008]: The number of youths tried at magistrates courts and convicted for offences related to buying alcohol illegally in each of the last five years in England and Wales can be viewed in the table.
In addition the police can issue a £50 fixed penalty for the offence of “Buying or attempting to buy alcohol by a person under 18” under section 149(1) of the Licensing Act 2003 (c.17).The number of PNDs issued to youths aged 16 to 17 years were 0 in 2004, 17 in 2005 and 62 in 2006.
| The number of persons who were proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for offences relating to purchase of alcohol by a person aged under 18 years in England and Wales, 2002 to 2006( 1,2,3) | ||
| Proceeded against | Found guilty | |
| (1) Data are on the principal offence basis. (2) Data include the following statutes and corresponding offence descriptions : Licensing (Occasional Permissions) Act 1983 Schedule (Sec 3) para 4(2). Licensing Act 1964 Sec 169(2). Person under 18 buying or attempting to buy or consuming intoxicating liquor. Person under 18 buying or consuming intoxicating liquor in Licensed premises. Licensing Act 2003 S. 149(l)(7a) Purchase of alcohol by an individual under 18. (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts, other agencies, and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Court proceedings data held by CJEA—Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Ministry of Justice | ||
Asylum: Children
Mr. Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she is taking to manage the costs of former unaccompanied asylum-seeking children following the recent transfer of that responsibility to her Department. [204255]
Jacqui Smith: The UK Border Agency is working to deliver faster conclusions for unaccompanied asylum seeking children—integration or removal by age 18—and consequently reduce calls on leaving care support. Alongside this, discussions are underway with local authorities about the level and management of payments for the support of former unaccompanied asylum seeking children as part of the wider implementation of "Better Outcomes: The Way Forward. Improving the Care of Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children" (a copy of which is in the Library, DEP2008-0274).
Departmental Accountancy
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 26 March 2008, Official Report, column 623W, on departmental accountancy, what the heading is of each data line her Department uploaded to HM Treasury's Combined On-line Information System in January 2008. [206071]
Jacqui Smith: Data lines are uploaded to COINS with codings rather than headings. These codes identify the different categories and types of spend to the COINS system.
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 31 March 2008, Official Report, column 602W, on departmental accountancy, what assessment she has made of the cost to her Department of providing the data for departmental budget lines to HM Treasury. [206576]
Jacqui Smith: These costs are not separately identified, and cannot be determined without incurring excessive costs.
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 6 May 2008 , Official Report, column 861W, on departmental accountancy, what estimate she has made of the cost of providing the requested information. [206577]
Jacqui Smith: The cost of providing the requested information was estimated as being in excess of the current limit of £700.
All budgetary data are required to be uploaded at a high level of detail to the Treasury's Combined Online Information System (COINS), in a format that is coded to be compatible with it. This allows subsequent analysis (via COINS) across the budgets, estimates, accounts and national accounts, for publication (at aggregated level) in the national accounts, departmental report, supplementary budgetary information tables, and estimates.
These raw data were designed to be analysed by COINS, and as such are of no value without the means to decode them. The complex analysis that was requested in the original question required decoding and analysis of the raw data by a means other than COINS. It would require a range of data sources to be used, to obtain both the estimate line and departmental report heading codes and related information, to allow the level of analysis required by the question.
Staff investigated the most efficient way of providing this analysis, and then tested the viability of providing a full decoding and analysis of the uploaded data. This
demonstrated that the extent of the work required to complete the full analysis would exceed the cost limit set for PQs. At that point, work stopped on the PQ.
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 31 March 2008, Official Report, column 602W, on Departmental accountancy, what estimate she has made of the monthly cost to her Department of providing the data for 385 departmental budget lines to HM Treasury. [209860]
Jacqui Smith: Providing the monthly data is an important requirement placed on all Departments by the Treasury. No estimate of the costs has been made.
Departmental Manpower
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) UK citizens born in the UK, (b) UK citizens born abroad and (c) foreign nationals were employed as staff by her Department and its agencies in each of the last five years. [206543]
Jacqui Smith: All candidates for posts within the Home Office and its agencies (the UK Border Agency, Identity and Passport Service and Criminal Records Bureau) are subject to the same pre-appointment checks regardless of nationality. Our pre-appointment checks ensure that we only select those that pass eligibility in accordance with the Cabinet Office nationality requirements:
Information on whether UK citizens employed by the Home Office and its agencies were born in the UK or abroad, and on the number of foreign nationals employed is not recorded centrally, and could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.
Domestic Violence
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people in England were convicted of assault in which the victim was (a) a female partner, (b) a male partner, (c) a child and (d) one of their own children in each of the last three years. [211334]
Mr. Coaker: This information is not collected centrally.
Driving Offences: Insurance
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convictions were secured for the offence of driving without insurance in each of the last five years in London, broken down by borough. [211603]
Mr. Coaker: Information held by the Ministry of Justice relates to the offence of using a motor vehicle whilst uninsured against third party risks, it is available at police force level only. The latest year for which figures are held is 2006.
Information relating to the Metropolitan and City of London police force areas is in the following table. Information for 2007 should be available later in 2008.
| Findings of guilt at magistrates courts for the offence of using a motor vehicle uninsured against third party risks( 1) , within London, 2002-06 | |||
| Number of offences | |||
| Police force area | |||
| City of London police | Metropolitan police | Total London | |
| (1) Offences under the Road Traffic Act 1988 s. 143 (2). Notes: l. It is known that for some police force areas, the reporting of court proceedings in particular those relating to summary motoring offences, may be less than complete. 2. Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their limitations are taken into account when those data are used. | |||
Firearms: Licensing
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many (a) firearm certificates and (b) shotgun certificates were (i) issued, (ii) revoked and (iii) renewed in each police force area in each of the last 10 years; [206481]
(2) how many (a) firearm certificates, (b) shotgun certificates, (c) firearms covered by certificates and (d) shotguns covered by certificates there were in each police force area in each of the last 10 years. [206484]
Jacqui Smith: The requested information, relating to1995 up to and including 2005-06, is given in the tables placed in the House Library .
Fraud: Banks
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whom the police classify as the victim of a crime when someone who has had money fraudulently taken from their bank account has been reimbursed by the bank; and if she will make a statement. [211230]
Mr. Coaker: The National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) and Home Office Counting Rules for Recorded Crime (HOCR) provide guidance to police forces on how they should record and classify crimes. These are public documents available online at:
The Counting Rules include guidance issued to both police and financial institutions relating to fraud by false representation for cheque, plastic card and online bank accounts This guidance was agreed with the Association of Chief Police Officers and the UK Payments Association and implemented on 1 April 2007. It is clear that the financial institution is to be treated as the victim except where they have refused to refund losses to an account holder. Where an account holder is the financial loser they are to be treated as the victim for crime recording purposes.
Genetics: Databases
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) in how many prosecutions DNA samples from the national DNA database was used in evidence since the database was created; [191173]
(2) in how many cases where convictions have been secured DNA from the national DNA database was used in evidence since the database was created. [191199]
Jacqui Smith: Information on the number of prosecutions in which DNA samples from the National DNA Database have been used in evidence and on any subsequent convictions is not collected centrally. Information is available on the number of crimes detected in which a DNA match was available and a suspect identified and I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to my hon. Friend, the Member for Leicester East (Keith Vaz), on 30 April 2008, Official Report, column 488W.
Members: Correspondence
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she plans to reply to the letter of 7 February 2008 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton on Mrs Rabia Begum. [206968]
Jacqui Smith: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 10 March 2008. This was unfortunately incorrectly addressed. A copy of this letter was sent on 19 May 2008.
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she plans to answer the letter of 28 April from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton, on Mr. S. Shah. [210192]
Jacqui Smith: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 12 June 2008.
Passports: Interviews
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what the cost has been of establishing each passport interview office, broken down by (a) capital costs, (b) staffing costs and (c) other operational costs; [202246]
(2) what has been spent on establishing and operating the network of passport interview offices. [202247]
Jacqui Smith: Staffing and operational costs per interview office are unavailable at this time as the network of offices is only just reaching full operational status. In due course it is our intention to publish the staffing and operational costs for 2008-09, the first full year of operations.
However, the monthly cost of operating the interview office network during 2008-09, including office rental, security, IT systems, administrative overheads and staff is estimated at £2.50 million. This excludes the cost of depreciation of relevant capital expenditure.
Subject to year-end adjustments for 2007-08, the total capital expenditure to date to establish the network of interview offices has been £49.9 million. Within this total, the capital costs to establish each office are as follows:
| Cost centre | Fit-out costs (£) |
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