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22 July 2008 : Column 1320W—continued
Home Department
Abandoned Vehicles
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what figures police forces collect on numbers of abandoned cars. [219066]
Mr. McNulty: The police do not collect this information.
Animal Experiments
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many animals were used for the purposes of marine biotoxins testing in 2006 for (i) PSP toxins and (ii) DSP toxins; what plans she has to replace the use of animals for these purposes; and what plans she has to revoke all existing licences for animal tests for these purposes. [218603]
Meg Hillier: We do not hold separate figures for testing for paralytic shellfish poison (PSP) and diarrheic shellfish poison (DSP). However, Table 9 of the Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals: Great Britain for 2006 records the use of 7,346 mice for the safety evaluation of other foodstuffs. All of these animals were used for marine biotoxin testing.
Section 5.4 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 requires the Secretary of State to weigh the likely adverse effects on the animals concerned against the benefits likely to accrue as a result of the programme to be specified in the licence. In the case of testing for the presence of marine biotoxins, the benefits of such testing are the protection of public health by ensuring that consumers are not exposed to biotoxins present in molluscan shellfish. In view of this, we have no plan to revoke or amend any project licences that have been granted authorising marine biotoxins testing. However, the Home Office is committed to the replacement of both the PSP and DSP bioassays. To this end, Home Office officials are working closely with the Food Standards Agency, as competent authority for food safety, and those contracted by them to perform routine monitoring for shellfish toxins, to progress replacements.
Antisocial Behaviour Act 2003
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions under the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 there have been for (a) noise, (b) graffiti and fly posting and (c) waste and litter in (i) each local authority and (ii) each police authority, broken down by basic command unit, in each region of England and Wales since January 2008. [219164]
Maria Eagle: I have been asked to respond.
The information requested covering the number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts for noise, waste offences and littering in England and Wales for 2006 by police force area and region, are shown in the following tables. Offences of graffiti and fly posting are not separately identifiable from other criminal damage offences (for example vandalism and damaging property) from the information reported to the Ministry of Justice.
It is not possible to separately identify prosecutions taking place in (i) local authority area and (ii) basic command units within police force areas in England and Wales from the information reported to the Ministry of Justice.
These data are on the principal offence basis. The figures given in the table on court proceedings 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.
Court proceedings data for 2007 will be available in the winter of 2008.
Court proceedings data for 2008 will be available in the winter of 2009.
| N umber of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts for waste disposal offences, littering and noise offences, by region, and police force area in England and Wales for 2006( 1, 2) | |||||
| Proceeded against | |||||
| Offence code | 9115 | 9116 | 9137 | 16882 | 16897 |
| Statute | Environmental Protection Act 1990 Sec.33(8) | Environmental Protection Act 1990 Sec.33(9) | Environmental Protection Act 1990 Sec.33 (6) | Environmental Protection Act 1990 Sec.87 | Noise Act 1996 |
| Offence description | Depositing, causing the deposition or permitting the deposition, treating, keeping or disposing of controlled (but not special) waste in or on land without a licence. | Depositing, causing the deposition or permitting the deposition of controlled special waste in or on land without a licence. | Contravening conditions of a waste management licence. | Depositing litter. | Noise exceeds permitted level after service of notice and other summary offences. |
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