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27 Oct 2008 : Column 686W—continued
Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 15 October 2008, Official Report, column 1272W, on police: disciplinary proceedings, from what date each officer had been on suspension, how much pay each officer was receiving while on suspension; what rank each was; and whether any were suspended due to allegations of racism. [229603]
Mr. Coaker: Five of the suspended officers were constables and the sixth was a sergeant.
Information requested on dates of suspension, pay whilst being suspended, and reasons for suspension are not centrally collected.
Police: Finance
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the budget is for each police authority in England and Wales in 2008-09. [229036]
Mr. Coaker: The information requested is set out in the following table.
| Police authority budgets, 2008-09 | |
| Police authority | Budget requirement 2008-09 (£) |
| Sources: English police authorities: DCLG Welsh police authorities: WAG | |
Police: Newham
Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which population figures are used to calculate the level of police precept in the London borough of Newham. [228826]
Mr. Coaker: The precept is calculated using the tax-setting tax base for Band D properties as reported by each London borough. Population figures are not used.
Police: Translation Services
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much police forces spent on interpretation and translation in (a) Lancashire and (b) England and Wales in each of the last five years. [230269]
Mr. Coaker: Funding for translation and interpretation services is not separately identified. Decisions on the distribution of resources are matters for the chief officer and the police authority.
Vetting
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will change the process of obtaining a Criminal Records Bureau check so that an individual in more than one relevant role need only apply for one check. [227500]
Meg Hillier: Disclosures are primarily designed to be used by an employer at the point of recruitment for a particular position. Ultimately it is for each employer, and not the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), to decide whether a new disclosure should be applied for, bearing in mind their legal and other responsibilities and subject to any statutory requirements.
There are a number of reasons why an employer may not wish to accept a disclosure that has been processed for a previous employment position, including:
The disclosure may not be at the right level (there are two different levels of CRB check: standard and enhanced);
The older a disclosure is the less reliant the information is because the information it contains may not be up to date;
Information revealed through a CRB check reflects the information that was available at the time of its issue—a person may have committed a crime in the intervening period;
The disclosure process may also include a search to establish whether an individual is subject to a direction under Section 142 of the Education Act 2002, or a check against the Protection of Children Act and Protection of Vulnerable Adults (PoCA and PoVA) lists;
Each disclosure is specific to the circumstances of a particular job application and any decision to disclose any non-conviction information held by individual police forces is unique to that position.
The introduction of the Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) may affect how employers behave. An initial application to the scheme can include, for eligible applicants, a CRB check at the same time. Once an individual is registered with the scheme, the employer will be advised of their registered status and a CRB disclosure will be issued.
Any further information arising on the individual will be referred to the Independent Safeguarding Authority for consideration, and employers will be updated with any change to the individual's registered status. It will be a matter for employers to decide when and whether a further CRB check is needed, except in those sectors where this is a separate legal requirement.
The scheme will increase portability of an individual's “barring status” (suitability) and the scope of role deemed “relevant” within certain sectors.
Northern Ireland
Emergency Services: Crimes of Violence
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many convictions there were in Northern Ireland in relation to assaults on (a) police officers, (b) ambulance personnel and (c) fire service officers in each of the last three years. [230363]
Paul Goggins:
The number of convictions for assaults on (a) police officers and (c) fire and rescue service officers are documented in the following table. Assaults on (b) ambulance personnel do not constitute a separate
offence under legislation: prosecutions for such assaults are instead taken forward under the normal range of offences against the person. As the backgrounds of the victims of such offences are not recorded on central databases, I regret it is not possible to give the numbers of such convictions which related to assaults on ambulance personnel.
Assault on fire and rescue officers became an offence on 1 July 2006 under the Fire and Rescue Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006.
Conviction data are collated on the principal offence rule; so only the most serious offence with which an offender is charged is included.
| Number of convictions for assaults on police officers and fire and rescue service officers. 2004 - 06 | |||
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | |
Police Service of Northern Ireland: Finance
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the effects of the shortfall in the policing budget of £88 million over the last three years identified by the Policing Board of Northern Ireland; what steps he plans to take to address those effects; and if he will make a statement. [227727]
Paul Goggins: The Northern Ireland Office secured a substantial level of funding for policing in Northern Ireland in the 2007 comprehensive spending review. We recognise, however, that within this generous settlement PSNI will need to prioritise their plans.
As the financial year progresses the Northern Ireland Office will continue to work closely with the PSNI and the Policing Board to identify ways that will enable PSNI to balance their budget over the CSR07 period.
Women and Equality
Departmental Older Workers
David Simpson: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality how many people aged over (a) 55 and (b) 60 years were recruited by her Department in 2007-08; and what percentage in each case this was of the number of new recruits. [228740]
Maria Eagle: The Government Equalities Office was established on 12 October 2007. Including those staff who came to us through machinery of government changes, we have recruited two staff over 55 years of age, representing 11 per cent. of new recruits, and one member of staff aged over 60 years, equivalent to 6 per cent. of new recruits in 2007-08.
Departmental Temporary Employment
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality which companies have been used by the Government Equalities Office for providing temporary staff since its establishment; and what the value of contracts with each such company has been. [229092]
Maria Eagle: Since its establishment on the 12 October 2007 the Government Equalities Office has used the following companies and made the following contract payments for the provision of temporary staff.
| Company | Contract v alue (£) |
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