Written Answers to Questions
Thursday 6 November 2008
Solicitor-General
Shoplifting
5. Miss McIntosh: To ask the Solicitor-General how many prosecutions the Crown Prosecution Service has successfully brought for shoplifting in each of the last three years. [233483]
The Solicitor-General: While Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) records include details of proceedings for theft, they provide no discrete count of offences of shoplifting. The figures in the following table, provided by the Office of Criminal Justice Reform, relate to persons for whom stealing from shops and stalls was recorded as the principle offence.
| Number | |
Working Practices: De Grazia Report
6. Mr. Mackay: To ask the Solicitor-General what steps the Serious Fraud Office is taking in response to the recommendations of the De Grazia report on its working practices. [233484]
The Solicitor-General: Since the publication of the report in June, the Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has made a number of changes designed to strengthen the leadership team, improve staff training and to shorten the time it takes to get SFO cases into court.
CPS: Diversity and Equality
7. Mr. Sharma: To ask the Solicitor-General what steps she is taking to improve diversity and equality in the staffing of the Crown Prosecution Service. [233485]
The Solicitor-General: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is implementing a comprehensive set of actions to further improve diversity and equality in employment, building on existing progress. Actions are underway in key areas of staff representation, staff engagement, policy development, staff development and support for staff networks.
Vexatious Claims
8. Richard Ottaway: To ask the Solicitor-General what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Justice on the level of vexatious claims. [233486]
The Solicitor-General: No assessment is made of the level of vexatious litigation in general. But when vexatious claims are made there are various orders the courts can make to restrain such litigation. Among them are orders under section 42 of the Supreme Court Act 1981 for which the Attorney-General alone may apply after the referral of potential cases to her by judges and other interested parties.
Corruption
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Solicitor-General what assessment she has made of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's recent report on the UK's progress towards meeting its anti-bribery recommendations; and if she will make a statement. [233479]
The Solicitor-General: We value the OECD Working Group’s report and will take their comments into account as we continue with our ongoing work to reform our laws and enhance our mechanisms for tackling overseas corruption.
Courts: Northamptonshire
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Solicitor-General what assessment she has made of the effects of staff shortages in the Northamptonshire Courts Service on the progress made in the prosecution of cases in those courts. [233679]
The Solicitor-General: My contact with the local Crown Prosecution Service suggests that there is no impact on their work as a result of any staff shortages there may be in the Northamptonshire Court Service.
Olympics
Departmental Liability
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Minister for the Olympics on what dates in each of the last five years she has informed the House of the creation of contingent liabilities relating to her responsibilities or those of non-departmental public bodies for which she is responsible. [232724]
Tessa Jowell: Details of the Interim Olympic Delivery Authority's (iODA) expenditure and contingent liabilities for 2005-06 are contained in the DCMS 2005-06 resource accounts which were laid in the House Library on 24 July 2006.
Details of the Olympic Delivery Authority's (ODA) contingent liabilities are contained in the ODA's 2006-07 and 2007-08 resource accounts, which were laid in the House Library on 19 July 2007 and 21 July 2008 respectively.
Electoral Commission Committee
Liberal Democrats: Finance
Mr. Maude: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission pursuant to the answer of 4 March 2008, Official Report, column 2242W, on Liberal Democrats: finance: what developments there have been in relation to the investigation since that Answer. [233634]
Sir Peter Viggers: The Electoral Commission informs me that the position remains as stated in the answer I gave my hon. Friend the Member for North-East Hertfordshire (Mr. Heald) on 16 May 2007, Official Report, column 748W.
Home Department
Alcoholic Drinks: Crime
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) cautions and (b) arrests were recorded for alcohol-related offences in (i) the St Austell and Truro district, (ii) Cornwall and (iii) England in the last eight quarters for which records are available. [231207]
Mr. Alan Campbell:
The information requested covering offences of (a) drunkenness, (b) drunkenness with
aggravation, (c) offences against the licensing acts, (d) other offences against intoxicating liquor laws, (e) selected motoring offences is provided in the table. The Office for Criminal Justice Reform is unable to provide data for the St. Austell and Truro district or for Cornwall, as the data are not collected at the level required.
The arrests collection held by the Home Office covers arrests for recorded crime (notifiable offences) only, broken down at a main offence group level, covering categories such as violence against the person and robbery.
Information on arrests for the offences presented in the table is not collected centrally as they are not notifiable offences and do not form part of the arrests collection.
With the exception of these offences, it is not possible to separately identify whether arrests and prosecutions for other offences were alcohol related from the data reported to the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice.
| Number of offenders cautioned( 1) for alcohol related offences( 2) and issued with penalty notices for disorder (PNDs)( 3) in the Devon and Cornwall police force area and England, broken down by quarter, 2005 - 06( 4,)( )( 5) | ||||||||
| 2005 | 2006 | |||||||
| Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | |
| (1) From 1 June 2000 the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 came into force nationally and removed the use of cautions for persons under 18 and replaced them with reprimands and final warnings. These figures have been included in the totals. 2. Includes offences of: (a) Drunkenness simple. (b) Drunkenness with aggravation simple. (c) Offences by licensed person. (d) Other offences against intoxicating liquor laws. (e) Driving after consuming alcohol or taking drugs. (3) Includes all alcohol related penalty notices for disorder: Drunk and disorderly Selling alcohol to person under 18 Selling alcohol to a person who is drunk Supplying alcohol to a person under 18 Purchasing alcohol for person under 18 in licensed premises Purchasing alcohol for person under 18 for consumption in a bar in licensed premises Delivering alcohol to person under 18 or allowing such delivery Being drunk in a highway, other public place or licensed premises Consuming alcohol in designated public place Consuming alcohol by person under 18 in licensed premises Allowing consumption of alcohol by person under 18 in licensed premises Purchase of alcohol by a person under 18 (4) The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence 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. (5) 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 inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. | ||||||||
Alcoholic Drinks: Young People
Mr. Touhig: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many arrests were made for underage drinking in Islwyn constituency in each of the last five years. [231611]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The information requested on arrests is not collected centrally.
The arrests collection held by the Home Office covers arrests for recorded crime (notifiable offences) only, broken down at a main offence group level, covering categories such as violence against the person and robbery.
Offences in relation to underage drinking are not notifiable offences and do not form part of the arrests collection.
Assaults on Police
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many assaults on police officers were recorded in each of the last five years; and how many prosecutions there were for such assaults in each year. [228963]
Mr. Coaker
[holding answer 21 October 2008]: The available information is given in the following tables. Figures for the number of assaults without injury on a
constable are taken from the police recorded crime statistics collected by the Home Office and relate to offences recorded. These figures are on a financial year basis. Assaults without injury are categories which apply specifically to the recorded crime data. If an assault on a police officer results in injury then the offence will be recorded under the appropriate wounding classification (i.e. more or less serious wounding).
Prosecutions data come from the Office for Criminal Justice Reform and relate to defendants. These figures are on a calendar year basis. The data refer to prosecutions for assault on a constable which may include cases where an officer receives an injury (unlike the recorded crime data). Because of this and the fact that one dataset looks at offences and the other at defendants, the figures in the two tables are not directly comparable.
| Table 1. Recorded offences of assault without injury on a constable | |
| Number of offences | |
| Table 2. Defendants proceeded against for offences of assault on a constable( 1) | |
| Number proceeded against | |
| (1 )May include injury. | |
Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of crime and disorder reduction partnerships. [232300]
Mr. Alan Campbell: Following a review of the partnerships provisions of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, the duties to produce three yearly audits and to report annually to the Secretary of State on a partnership's work and progress were repealed in 2007. They were replaced by new statutory requirements in 2007 to introduce minimum standards for partnership working based on six hallmarks of effective practice, providing clear statements of the core functions of CDRPs and CSPs.
Since the introduction of the minimum standards we have been focusing on gaining an understanding of how well partnerships are addressing the minimum standards. In order to continue to ensure CDRPs/CSPs are effective in delivering community safety outcomes for the public, we are in the process of analysing how partnerships have been progressing with implementing the minimum standards.
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