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26 Nov 2008 : Column 2254W—continued

Entry Clearances: Students

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether student visas remain valid if student status is given up before the expiry of the visa; how many hours of work are allowed for students on a student visa; and whose responsibility it is to monitor student status and hours of work for those granted a student visa. [234195]

Mr. Woolas: I will write to my hon. Friend.

Essex

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions she has visited Essex in the last 12 months. [204974]

Mr. Coaker: My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary visited Essex on 4 November 2008 as part of the Policing Pledge announcement. All ministerial travel is undertaken in accordance with the Ministerial Code.

Essex Police Authority

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when (a) she, (b) Ministers in her Department and (c) officials in her Department last visited Essex Police Authority; what issues were discussed; if she will place in the Library a copy of the report produced of each visit; and if she will make a statement. [217729]

Mr. Coaker: I will write to the hon. Member.


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Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she next plans to visit Essex Police Authority; and if she will make a statement. [217730]

Mr. Coaker: I will write to the hon. Member.

Fines

Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what categories of public official may (a) levy fines on and (b) issue fixed penalty notices to members of the public; and what the circumstances are in which this may lawfully be levied in each case; [224465]

(2) when she plans to answer Question 224465 tabled by the hon. Member for Billericay on 3 October 2008 on the categories of public officials who may levy fines and issue fixed penalty notices. [232509]

Mr. Coaker [holding answers 6 October 2008 and 3 November 2008]: I will write to the hon. Member.

Firearms

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many illegal guns have been seized by police in each of the last 10 years. [232298]

Mr. Alan Campbell: We do not collect this information centrally. However, the national firearms amnesty in April 2003, which ran for a month, saw 43,908 guns and over a million rounds of ammunition handed in.

Firearms: Arrests

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) gun crimes and (b) arrests relating to gun crime there were in (i) England and Wales and (ii) each police force area in each of the last five years. [234483]

Mr. Alan Campbell: I will write to the hon. Member.

Firearms: Crime

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) gun crimes and (b) arrests relating to gun crime there were (i) in England and Wales and (ii) in each police force area in each of the last five years. [230638]

Mr. Alan Campbell: Available data relate to offences involving firearms (excluding air weapons) from 2002-03 up to and including 2006-07 and are given in a table which will be placed in the Library. Firearms are taken to be involved in a crime if they are fired, used as a blunt instrument or used as a threat.

Data on arrests relating to gun crime cannot be provided by the Home Office since (a) the centrally held firearm offences database does not record detection or suspect data, and (b) offences involving firearms cannot be identified on the centrally held arrests database.


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Fixed Penalties

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the number of fixed penalty notices issued in each of the last three years. [239027]

Mr. Alan Campbell: Information on the number of fixed penalty notices for motoring offences as well as penalty notices for disorder offences issued from 2004 to 2006 (latest available) is provided in the following table.

Information for 2007 on penalty notices for disorder is due to be published in late November 2008 and information on fixed penalty notices for motoring offences is due to be published in early 2009.

Number of fixed penalty notices issued for motoring offences and penalty notices for disorder issued in England and Wales, 2004-06

Fixed penalty notices for motoring offences issued( 1) Fixed penalty notices for disorder offences issued

2004

(2)3,434,670

63,639

2005

3,203,018

146,481

2006

3,022,300

201,197

(1 )Includes fixed penalties paid where there is no further action. (2) Revised since original publication following amendments received from forces. Note: 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 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.

Forensic Science Service: Chorley

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will make a statement on the future of the Forensic Science Service laboratories in Chorley. [220591]

Mr. Alan Campbell: I will write to my hon. Friend.

Gamma-butyrolactone

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if she will commission research into (a) the profiles of people buying gamma-butyrolactone and (b) the purposes for which they obtained that drug; and if she will make a statement; [227751]

(2) how many reports have been made to the police involving the possible use of gamma-butyrolactone as a date rape drug; [227752]

(3) what research she has commissioned into the use of gamma butyrolactone as a date rape drug; [227753]

(4) what representations she has received from the Council on the Misuse of Drugs on the use of gamma-butyrolactone as a date rape drug; and if she will make a statement; [227816]

(5) what assessment she has made of the risk to victims of the use of gamma-butyrolactone as a date rape drug; and if she will make a statement. [227817]

Mr. Alan Campbell: [holding answers 22 and 23 October 2008]: I will write to the hon. Member.


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Genetics: Databases

Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what procedures are in place to ensure the security of personal information and DNA samples that (a) are waiting to be processed into a DNA profile and (b) have been loaded onto the national DNA database; and if she will make a statement; [197314]

(2) what estimate her Department has made of the number of incidents where personal information and DNA samples which (a) are to be loaded on to the National DNA database and (b) have been loaded on to the National DNA database, have been lost; and if she will make a statement. [197987]

Mr. Alan Campbell: DNA samples taken by police forces are sent to accredited forensic suppliers for processing, to produce a profile for loading on the National DNA Database. On behalf of the NDNAD Strategy Board, the Custodian sets the technical and procedural standards to which the laboratories must adhere and monitors their performance against these standards. These standards are all contained within the Custodian's quality management system and shared with the laboratories. Security measures on the NDNAD itself are also managed by the Custodian.

Direct access to information on the NDNAD is restricted to a limited number of designated personnel under the control of the Custodian, either directly, or under a contract awarded by the Home Office to the Forensic Science Service (FSS) for operation and maintenance of the NDNAD and development of its IT systems. Throughout the lifetime of the contract, the FSS are required to demonstrate compliance with specified security requirements.

Police and law enforcement personnel do not have access to the information on the NDNAD, but receive reports from the Custodian's staff of matches between DNA taken from crime scenes and that taken from individuals.

There has been one incident affecting DNA profiles which were to be loaded onto the NDNAD. This was the recent occasion when a disc containing profiles taken from crime scenes in the Netherlands was mislaid and subsequently recovered, though it never left the secure premises of the Crown Prosecution Service. The disc did not contain any personal information, as the DNA profiles were left by unknown persons at crime scenes in the Netherlands.

There have been no incidents when data loaded onto the NDNAD has been lost.

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what procedures are in place to protect personal information on the national DNA database; and if she will make a statement; [225489]

(2) how many profiles were (a) lost and (b) stolen from the national DNA database in each year since it was established. [225490]

Meg Hillier: I will write to the hon. Member.

Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the Answer of 10th September 2008, Official Report, columns 1767-8W, on genetics: databases, of the 14,000 offences linked to
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DNA profiles retained since 2001, how many were detected crimes in which an offender was brought to justice. [227220]

Mr. Alan Campbell: I will write to the hon. and learned Member.

Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were added to the National DNA Database in each year since its inception; and how many of these had no conviction, caution, formal warning or reprimand recorded on the police national computer. [234322]

Jacqui Smith: In relation to the number of people added to the National DNA Database (NDNAD) in each year since its inception, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 2 June 2008, Official Report, column 731W.

In relation to the number of people on the NDNAD with no conviction, caution, formal warning or reprimand recorded on the Police National Computer, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 14 October 2008, Official Report, column 1074W.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will bring forward proposals to remove from the national DNA database profiles of people who have not been convicted of an offence. [239518]

Mr. Alan Campbell: It has not proved possible to respond to my hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation.

Government Departments: Data Protection

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 10 July 2008, Official Report, column 1768W, on Government Departments: data protection, which military databases are highly protected. [219794]

Meg Hillier: All military databases are afforded a level of security appropriate to the information they hold.

It is not possible to give details of specific military databases as this may compromise the personal security of serving members of the armed services.

Government House

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 19 May 2008, Official Report, column 104W, on Government House, what the timetable for the sale of the property is. [218285]

Mr. Woolas: The property is currently on the market.

Hatton Cross Tribunals

Mr. Benyon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will estimate the percentage of immigration cases heard in the Hatton Cross Tribunals in the next six months at which a Home Office Presenting Officer will represent the Government's case. [226752]

Mr. Woolas: I will write to the hon. Member.


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Human Trafficking

Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offences of human trafficking were reported in (a) Northamptonshire and (b) the UK in each of the last five years; and how many of them led to a prosecution. [223628]

Mr. Alan Campbell [holding answer 11 September 2008]: The number of reported offences and prosecutions by force area is not held centrally by the Home Office.

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions relating to the trafficking of human beings were brought in (a) 2007 and (b) 1997. [229031]

Mr. Alan Campbell: I will write to my right hon. Friend.

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were prosecuted for offences relating to the trafficking of human beings for (a) the sex trade and (b) illegal labour in (i) 1997 and (ii) 2007. [229032]

Mr. Alan Campbell: I will write to my right hon. Friend.

Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment she has made of individual police forces' ability to tackle human trafficking in their areas; and if she will make a statement. [229288]

Mr. Alan Campbell: I will write to the hon. Member.

Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many victims of human trafficking were identified during police operations in each of the last five years. [232948]

Jacqui Smith: I will write to the hon. and learned Member.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the number of people who have been trafficked who are (a) in the UK and (b) working as prostitutes; on what research her estimate is based; and if she will place in the Library a copy of the research. [240042]

Mr. Alan Campbell: It has not proved possible to respond to my hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation.


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