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10 Nov 2008 : Column 806W—continued
Members: Correspondence
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when her Department plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Billericay of 11 July and 17 September 2008 on a constituent, Ms Agnes Mpofu. [231262]
Mr. Woolas: Lin Homer, Chief Executive of the UK Border Agency, wrote to the hon. Member on 29 October 2008 and an amended reply by Jonathan Sedgwick, Deputy Chief Executive was sent on 3 November 2008.
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when her Department plans to respond to the hon. Member for Billericay's letters of 18 August and 24 September 2008 on her constituent Mrs Wang Youmei He. [233181]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 4 November 2008]: The letters were responded to on 26 September 2008.
National DNA Database
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the written statement of 21 July 2008, Official Report, column 74WS, on the National DNA Database, when the Government plan to respond to the recommendations of the first annual report of the ethics group on the operation and practice of the National DNA Database. [233217]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The National DNA Database Strategy Board and the National Policing Improvement Agency are considering the recommendations of the Ethics Group Annual Report and will advise Ministers on the issues raised in the new year. The Government will publish its response early next year.
Overseas Students: Languages
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many inspections of institutions teaching English as a second language the UK Border Agency and its predecessors conducted in each of the last three years; and if she will make a statement. [232215]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 3 November 2008]: The UK Border Agency does not inspect specific courses within institutions in the way that Ofsted, for example, inspects schools and so does not have any figures for such inspections.
All colleges that want to recruit overseas students need to appear on the Department for Innovation, University and Skills (DIUS) register of education and training providers.
The UK Border Agency will only grant student visas to people intending to study at an institution on the register.
Passports: Interviews
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applicants have been refused a passport as a result of decisions consequent on an interview carried out at a passport interview centre. [231584]
Meg Hillier: Identity interviews were added to the passport process mainly to deter fraud by increasing the difficulties for impostors seeking to obtain passports in other people's identities. The interviews therefore also act as a protection for British citizens against one form of identity theft.
Extensive checks are carried out prior to interview and in a number of cases this will uncover issues which will mean that the passport application is withdrawn or refused. At the present time, no applicants have been refused a passport as a result of an interview at a passport interview office.
Police Cautions
Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many criminal cautions were issued between September 2007 and September 2008. [231701]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The Home Office collects data on the number of recorded offences detected by means of a caution. The latest data cover the financial year 2007-08 and show that there were 358,016 offences detected by means of a caution.
Statistics on the number of offenders who receive a caution are held by the Ministry of Justice.
Police Patrolling: Cambridgeshire
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many hours on average were spent on patrol by police officers in (a) Peterborough and (b) Cambridgeshire in the latest period for which figures are available. [232365]
Mr. Coaker: The information is not available centrally.
Police Patrolling: Hertfordshire
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many hours on average were spent on patrol by police officers in (a) Hemel Hempstead and (b) Hertfordshire in the latest period for which figures are available. [232594]
Mr. Coaker: The information is not available centrally.
Police: Body Searches
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidelines are given to the police about the use of strip searches and the account to be taken of (a) age, (b) gender, (c) seriousness of the alleged offence and (d) the risk of subsequent self harm when deciding to conduct a strip search. [231742]
Mr. Coaker [holding answer 30 October 2008]: A strip search is defined by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) and the PACE codes of practice as a search which involves the removal of more than an outer coat, jacket or gloves. The PACE codes of practice contain guidance on the strip searching of persons as part of a stop and search (code A) and at the police station (code C).
The Act and codes set out a range of safeguards to ensure that strip searches are carried out with courtesy, consideration and respect and with proper regard to the sensitivity and vulnerability of, and the risks posed to, the person being searched.
These include requirements that:
Every reasonable effort must be made to minimise embarrassment.
Strip searches must be conducted out of view of anyone whose presence is not necessary.
Strip searches are to be conducted by an officer of the same sex and no one of the opposite sex is to be present unless the person searched specifically requests it.
A strip search under a stop and search power involving exposure of intimate parts of the body is only to be carried out at a nearby police station or other nearby location (but not a police vehicle).
When a strip search of a detainee at a police station involves the exposure of intimate parts of the body, then unless there is a risk of serious harm, at least two people in addition to the detainee are to be present. If the detainee is a juvenile or mentally vulnerable, one person present must be the appropriate adult unless, in the case of a juvenile, the individual does not wish them to be present and the adult agrees.
The guidance “Safer Detention & Handling of Persons in Police Custody” published in 2006 by the Home Office, ACPO and Centrex states that officers need to be properly trained to take account of the risks that might arise when searches are carried out.
The PACE codes of practice and the guidance on the “Safer Detention & Handling of Persons in Police Custody” can be accessed on the Home Office web pages.
Proceeds of Crime
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the value is of assets recovered by the Serious and Organised Crime Agency since its establishment. [232894]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The Serious Organised Crime Agency has obtained asset recovery orders during the financial years 2006-07 and 2007-08 to the following values:
| £ million | ||
| (a.) Cash forfeiture order obtained | (b.) confiscation order obtained | |
Figures for the financial year 2008-09 are still subject to internal validation. The figures will be published at the end of financial year 2008-09.
SOCA has no responsibility for the enforcement of confiscation orders.
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will make it her policy to publish information on the value of assets seized by the Serious and Organised Crime Agency in the same format as that previously published by the Assets Recovery Agency. [232896]
Mr. Alan Campbell: Information on the application of civil recovery and taxation powers under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 will be published by the Serious Organised Crime Agency as part of its annual report. The presentation of this data will be aligned with SOCA's reporting on its existing asset recovery powers and as such will not make use of older formats. SOCA has not inherited all of the Asset Recovery Agency's asset recovery powers and, unlike ARA, SOCA will not be the sole agency exercising civil recovery powers. Any like-for-like comparisons with ARA's past achievements will therefore be inhibited.
Rape
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which police forces have established specialist rape investigation units; and what assessment she has made of their effectiveness in (a) reducing the number of rapes and (b) arresting suspected perpetrators of rape. [229977]
Mr. Alan Campbell: Dedicated rape investigation teams operate in Avon and Somerset, Bedfordshire, Derbyshire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, The Metropolitan Police Service, North Wales, Surrey, Thames Valley and West Yorkshire.
The Home Office is currently funding and monitoring a pilot of the dedicated team approach in Hampshire in order to explore further its benefits. Although no wider national assessment has been made of the effectiveness of the specialist units, police forces have indicated that they have more effectively addressed the needs of victims during the investigation process.
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