Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 20 January 2009
Home Department
Anti-Semitism
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many anti-Semitic incidents or attacks have been reported in (a) England, (b) Chipping Barnet constituency and (c) the London Borough of Barnet in the last 14 days. [247156]
Mr. Alan Campbell [holding answer 14 January 2009]: The information requested is not collected centrally in the recorded crime statistics.
The recorded crime statistics only hold data for racially or religiously aggravated offences as defined by law. Specific details relating to the victim or alleged offender are not collected.
Antisocial Behaviour Orders: Glasgow
John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many anti-social behaviour orders were issued in Glasgow North West constituency in (a) 2007 and (b) 2008. [248539]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The information requested is not held by the Home Office.
Data on the number of ASBOs issued in Scotland are a matter for the Scottish Executive.
Community Policing
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the mechanism is for ensuring that neighbourhood policing teams spend at least 80 per cent. of their time visibly working on their patch. [247096]
Mr. Coaker: All police forces across England and Wales have now implemented the Policing Pledge. The Pledge gives the public a clear minimum standard of service and states that neighbourhood policing teams will spend at least 80 per cent. of their time visibly working on behalf of the public in their neighbourhood.
The Policing Green Paper explained the new relationship between the Government, police and public. The Home Office has now adopted a more strategic role allowing for grassroots accountability and an enhanced role for Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) in providing public assurance about the quality and standard of policing in all forces. Police authorities will wish to be satisfied that the Pledge is being delivered for local people and HMIC will validate the delivery of the Pledge through their inspection process.
Additionally, if the public do not feel the standards within the Pledge are being met they can raise it locally with the police themselves or through their police authority.
Crime: Maps
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police forces provide crime maps on their websites which plot individual crimes at street level. [247091]
Mr. Coaker: The Information Commissioner does not recommend plotting individual crimes at street level because of the potential identification of individuals and premises. All 43 forces in England and Wales therefore publish crime maps to, at least, ward level, with information on burglary, robbery, theft, vehicle crime, violent crime and antisocial behaviour incidents.
Legislation
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many new offences were created by Home Office-sponsored legislation between (a) 1979 and 1996 and (b) 1997 and 2008. [248639]
Mr. Coaker: The number of criminal offences created in Home Office sponsored legislation since 1979 is not held centrally, and could be produced only at disproportionate cost in time and resources.
Metropolitan Police: Disciplinary Proceedings
Mr. Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the monthly cost, including opportunity cost, of suspending a Metropolitan Police commander on full pay and expenses is. [247303]
Mr. Coaker: The information requested is not held centrally. This is an operational matter for the Metropolitan Police Authority and the Metropolitan Police Commissioner.
Metropolitan Police: Racial Discrimination
Mr. Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information her Department holds on the progress made in the investigation of complaints made by the Metropolitan Black Police Association against members of the Metropolitan Police Authority. [247681]
Mr. Coaker: The Home Office does not hold this information. This is a matter for the Metropolitan Police Authority.
Police: Disclosure of Information
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance her Department has issued on whistle blowing policy in relation to individuals working in child protection in police authorities; and if she will make a statement. [247813]
Mr. Coaker: The Home Office does not issue guidance on internal police policy; this is a matter for chief officers and their police authorities.
However, the general practice is for police officers working in a multi-agency team who have concerns about work practices or the conduct of colleagues within the team, to raise these concerns through their usual
management channels or with their Professional Standards Department, which they may contact through a confidential line if necessary.
If police officers suspect a fellow officer of acting in a way that could result in disciplinary or criminal proceedings, and feels unable to raise these concerns through usual procedures, they may raise their concerns within their force or directly to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, using their dedicated report line.
Police: Horses
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many mounted police there are in the Metropolitan Police. [247695]
Mr. Coaker: There were 145 full-time equivalent police officers whose primary function was listed as “mounted” in the Metropolitan Police Service as at 31 March 2008.
Police: Misconduct
Mr. Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what reasons the Metropolitan Police Authority gave to her Department for its decision not to conduct a full case review of Operation Helios. [247678]
Mr. Coaker: The implementation of the recommendations from the Morris Inquiry is a matter for the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), which commissioned the inquiry.
The Inquiry recommended that there should be an independent full case review of Operation Helios, to examine the issue of race discrimination. This coincided with an investigation conducted by Essex police, with Independent Police Complaints Commission oversight, into Operation Helios, which included in its terms of reference that “allegations of racism made by the complainants will be fully addressed”.
On receipt of the report from Essex police, the Metropolitan Police Authority considered that no further action was required to meet the Morris Inquiry recommendation.
Police: Road Traffic Control
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many traffic police officers are assigned to duties in each London borough. [247037]
Mr. Coaker: The Metropolitan police employed 612 officers (full-time equivalent) whose primary function was listed as traffic as at 31 March 2008. City of London police employed 26 such officers on the given date. The requested data are not collected by London borough.
Police: Romford
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police (a) officers, (b) constables, (c) sergeants and (d) community support officers were working in Romford constituency in (i) 2007 and (ii) 2008. [247692]
Mr. Coaker: Police strength data are not collected by parliamentary constituency areas. Data are collected at the basic command unit (BCU) level and at the force level. Romford is within the Havering BCU.
The information requested is published annually in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin “Police Service Strength, England and Wales” copies of which are available online and in the Library of the House.
BCU data are not collected by police rank and so data relating to Havering BCU for all officers and for PCSOs are given in the following links:
Data for the police ranks requested are collected at the force level and so data relating to the Metropolitan Police Service for each officer rank (Table 4) and for PCSOs (Table 10a) are given in the following links:
Police: Standards
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what costs she estimates would be incurred in holding elections for crime and policing representatives across England and Wales as proposed in the Policing Green Paper. [244188]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The Government have announced that they do not intend to proceed with their proposals for directly elected crime and policing representatives at this time.
Procedures Relating to Soham Murders Inquiry
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the next progress report on the implementation of the Bichard Inquiry recommendations will be published. [247212]
Mr. Coaker: The Government reported on the outstanding Bichard Inquiry recommendations as part of their full response to the Magee Review of Criminality Information, which was presented to Parliament on 4 December 2008.
Future updates on progress will be provided as part of reporting on the broader improvement agenda for criminality information recommended in the Magee Review.
Prostitution
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many arrests for offences in relation to brothels there were in each of the last five years. [248024]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The information requested is not available.
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, burglary, robbery and sexual offences. From these centrally reported data we are not able to identify specific offences from within the main offence groups.
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the Tackling the Demand for Prostitution Review of November 2008, what programmes have been carried out in order to raise awareness among sex-buyers about the extent of trafficking for sexual exploitation. [248038]
Mr. Alan Campbell: During the course of the Tackling Demand Review, a pilot marketing campaign, was conducted in Westminster and Nottingham. The experience of this campaign led to the Review's recommendation that the Government should consider running a marketing campaign aimed specifically at sex buyers to raise awareness about trafficking for sexual exploitation. The Government have accepted this recommendation and will run this campaign to support the implementation of the Review's other recommendations.
Terrorism: Detainees
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the date was of the most recent arrest under counter-terrorism legislation following which a suspect was held in pre-charge detention for over (a) 14 days and (b) 28 days. [247162]
Mr. Coaker [holding answer 14 January 2009]: The dates of arrest are as follows:
(a) Over 14 days: 30 June 2007
(b) 27-28 days: 23 August 2006
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the date of arrest was for each individual who has been held in pre-charge detention under anti-terrorism legislation for more than 14 days. [247164]
Mr. Coaker [holding answer 14 January 2009]: The dates of arrest are as follows:
Six individuals were arrested on 9 August 2006;
Three individuals were arrested on 10 August 2006;
One individual was arrested on 23 August 2006; and
One individual was arrested on 30 June 2007.
Terrorism: Stop and Search
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been stopped and searched under the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 since it came into force. [247688]
Mr. Coaker: There are no powers contained within the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 to stop and search. Stops and searches are conducted under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
Information on the number of these searches conducted from 2000-01 to 2006-07 (latest available) are provided in the table. Information for 2007-08 is due to be published in April 2009 and information for 2008-09 (when the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 came into force) is due to be published before the end of 2009-10.
| Searches of pedestrians, vehicles and occupants under sections 44(1) and 44(2) of the Terrorism Act 2000( 1) ) England and Wales , 2000-01 to 2006-07 | |
| Number | |
| Stops and searches in order to prevent acts of terrorism (Total searches) | |
| (1) Formerly sections 13A and 13B of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989 and repealed under the Terrorism Act 2000 (which came into force on 19 February 2001). (2) Figures updated since publication of the 2004-05 Bulletin. | |
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