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6 Oct 2008 : Column 150W—continued
Police: Greater London
Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidents requiring police attendance were recorded in (a) the London borough of Newham, (b) the London borough of Hackney, (c) the London borough of Tower Hamlets and (d) London in each of the last five years. [223529]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 11 September 2008]: The information requested is not collected centrally. This is a matter for the commissioner of the Metropolitan police.
Rape
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many rapes were reported to police in England and Wales in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available; and how many of these cases were recorded as involving excessive alcohol consumption by the victim or perpetrator. [223348]
Mr. Coaker [holding answer 10 September 2008]: The available information relates to the number of rape offences recorded by the police in England and Wales and are given in the tables.
Recorded crime statistics collected by the Home Office deal solely with the numbers of offences recorded and detected by the police. Details on the circumstances of individual offences are not collected and it is therefore not possible to determine whether excessive alcohol consumption was a contributing factor.
The following findings on ‘intimate violence’ were taken from the British Crime Survey. The definition of serious sexual assault is defined within the survey as rape or assault by penetration, including attempts:
Victims of serious sexual assault were asked whether they thought the person who assaulted them (where there was one offender) was under the influence of drink or drugs during the incident. 35 per cent. of victims of serious sexual assault thought the sole offender was under the influence of drink and 10 per cent. thought the offender was under the influence of drugs.
Those who had experienced serious sexual assault since the age of 16 were also asked if they themselves had been under the influence of drink or drugs on the most recent occasion of serious sexual assault. Around one-quarter said that they were under the influence of alcohol at the time of the last incident (26 per cent.) and 16 per cent. said that they had been unconscious or asleep when the incident took place. 5 per cent. of victims reported having been drugged by the offender during the incident.
| Table 1: Number of rape offences recorded in England and Wales, 1998-99 to 2001-02 | ||||
| Offence | 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 |
| Notes: 1. The coverage was extended and counting rules revised from 1998-99. Figures from that date are not directly comparable with those for earlier years. 2. The data in this table is prior to the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS). These figures are not directly comparable with those for later years. | ||||
| Table 2: Number of rape offences recorded in England and Wales, 2002-03 to 2007-08 | ||||||
| Offence | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 |
| Notes: 1. The data in this table takes account of the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002. These figures are not directly comparable with those for earlier years. 2. The Sexual Offences Act 2003, introduced in May 2004, altered the definition and coverage of sexual offences. 3. Includes British Transport Police data from 2002-03 onwards. | ||||||
Registration of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Civil Partnerships
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will ensure that the hospital records of all patients who die in NHS hospitals are supplied to registrars before death certificates are issued. [222315]
Meg Hillier: Before a death can be registered the registrar for births and deaths must receive a medical certificate of cause of death (MCCD) completed and signed by the medical practitioner who attended the patient during their final illness. (If there is none, the death is reported to the coroner). The MCCD records the cause of death, the underlying causes and any other diseases, injuries etc. that contributed to the death.
The Government have announced a major reform of arrangements for death certification in England and Wales. The reforms will improve the quality and accuracy of death certification, introduce a single system of effective medical scrutiny applicable to all deaths that are not reportable to the coroner and provide improved information on cause of death to strengthen local clinical governance and public health surveillance.
At the heart of the reformed system will be a new role of medical examiner. As well as the obvious task of scrutinising MCCDs and authorising burial or cremation, the medical examiner will also support the training of junior doctors in completion of MCCDs and provide feedback on accuracy of certification locally.
Tobacco: Young People
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) confectioners and tobacconists and (b) other retailers have been found to be selling tobacco products to those under the age of 16 years in each year since 1997; how many offences of selling tobacco products to those under the age of 16 years have been recorded in each such year; how many (i) fines and (ii) cautions were issued in respect of such offences in each year; and what the average fine imposed was in each year. [223524]
Mr. Coaker [holding answer 11 September 2008]: Information on the number of recorded offences of retailers selling tobacco products to those aged under 16 years is not collected centrally. This is a summary offence and is not included in the police recorded crime statistics.
Statistics on the number of police cautions issued, the number of fines imposed and the average fines have been provided by the Ministry of Justice and are given in the table for 1997-2006. No information is collected centrally to distinguish between confectioners, tobacconists and other retailers.
| Offenders( 1) cautioned and fined for selling tobacco etc to persons under 16( 2) | |||
| Number of police cautions issued | Number of fines imposed | Average fine amount (£) | |
| (1) These data are on a principal offence basis. (2) Children and Young Persons Act 1933 sec. 7 as amended by the Children and Young Persons (Protection from Tobacco) Act 1991 sec. 1. Note: These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. | |||
Justice
Approved Premises
Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) whether he plans to establish new bail hostels in Wimbledon constituency; [221806]
(2) what discussions he had with the local authority before deciding to site a bail hostel in Wimbledon; [221807]
(3) how many bail hostels are managed by ClearSprings; [221808]
(4) how many bail hostels previously operated by ClearSprings have been closed; [221809]
(5) if he will take steps to ensure that local constituency hon. Members are consulted before decisions are taken regarding the siting of bail hostels in their constituencies. [222791]
Mr. Hanson: No bail hostels are being established in the constituency of Wimbledon. The Bail Accommodation and Support Service provides private, rented accommodation in small houses and flats with up to five people sharing, not hostels. The Director of Offender Management for London has identified a need for one three bedroom property in Merton and ClearSprings is seeking an appropriate property. When properties are identified ClearSprings consults the police, probation and local authority before proceeding. In Merton it has have consulted in relation to a property that was considered but not proceeded with and has held meetings with council officials and councillors. It is my practice to write to the relevant Member of Parliament when first a property is being readied for use in his/her constituency. At 29 September ClearSprings was providing 161 properties in England and Wales.
Bail: Warley
Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice in how many cases before Warley magistrates bail applications were opposed by the police but granted by the court in each of the last three years. [222519]
Maria Eagle: Data on bail applications collected centrally by my Department do not include information on whether an application for bail was opposed by the police or other parties to the proceedings. This information would have to be retrieved by inspecting individual court records which could only be achieved at disproportionate cost.
Bailiwick of Jersey
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what meetings he has held with representatives of the Bailiwick of Jersey in the last 12 months. [222964]
Mr. Wills: The Secretary of State has held no meetings with representatives of the Bailiwick of Jersey in the last 12 months, but I, as Minister responsible for the Crown Dependencies, met the Chief Minister and chief executive of Jersey on 3 December 2007.
British Constitution
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what his policy is on the retrospective applicability of legislation of constitutional significance, with particular reference to the application of provisions in a statute retrospectively from the date of the relevant Bill’s Second Reading; and if he will make a statement. [221394]
Mr. Wills:
In general, legislation (including constitutional legislation) does not have retrospective effect. Provisions in Acts normally come into force following the making of a commencement order bringing them into force,
unless earlier commencement is provided for in the Act itself. In a limited number of cases, a specific provision may have retrospective effect, for example, to correct an anomaly in the law which, if uncorrected, may adversely and unfairly affect individuals. Where legislative provisions are to have retrospective effect, they may depending on the circumstances, come into effect from the date on which notice of the measure is first given publicly (for example, certain tax provisions) or, in other cases, on a later date, such as the date on which the relevant Bill receives its Second Reading.
Building Democracy
Mrs. Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the annual cost of the Building Democracy grant scheme. [223829]
Mr. Wills: The estimated cost in 2008-09 of the Innovation Fund grant scheme promoted through the Building Democracy website is £150,000 (incl. VAT). Grants up to a value of £15,000 will be awarded through the scheme. The scheme will be subject to evaluation and no decisions have been made about possible funding in future years.
Community Orders
Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether offenders' travelling time to and from community payback is counted within the number of hours set out in their community sentence. [223632]
Mr. Straw: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Justice (Mr. Hanson) to the hon. Member for Enfield, Southgate (Mr. Burrowes) on 21 July 2008, Official Report, column 900W.
In general, offenders are expected to travel to unpaid work appointments in their own time. If, however, they live in a location that requires them to spend more than 30 minutes travelling in each direction, the time over 30 minutes is currently credited against their sentence, but the total amount of time credited in this way must not exceed 10 per cent. of their sentence. Once they have reported for work, any time spent travelling to, or between, work sites, is counted as part of their sentence. I am reviewing these arrangements.
Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people have breached community payback or unpaid work equivalent conditions in each of the last three years; and of these how many received a (a) variation of their existing community sentence, (b) fine, (c) further community sentence, (d) custodial sentence of less than a month, (e) custodial sentence of between one to six months, (f) custodial sentence of between six months and one year and (g) custodial sentence of over one year. [223633]
Mr. Straw:
Information to provide a complete answer is not gathered or kept centrally. However, information is available for the last three years on how many cases a community order with an unpaid work requirement or equivalent(1) was revoked for failure to comply; and what
proportion that was of all such orders that terminated in that period. No information is available about resentencing in those cases.
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