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27 Feb 2009 : Column 1153W—continued
Identity Cards: Freedom of Information
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Identity Cards Gateway Review will be published under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. [258828]
Angela Eagle: I have been asked to reply.
On 19 February 2009 the Information Tribunal ordered Office of Government Commerce to disclose two Gate 0 reports, dated June 2003 and January 2004, on the Identity Cards Programme. OGC, in consultation with Ministers, officials at the Home Office and MoJ, are currently considering the detail of the decision. OGC has until 19 March 2009 to disclose the reports or to appeal further.
Justice
Crimes of Violence: Winchester
Mr. Oaten:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many cases of (a) rape, (b) grievous bodily harm,
(c) actual bodily harm and (d) burglary were recorded in Winchester in each of the last five years; and how many (i) prosecutions and (ii) convictions there were in relation to such offences in each category in each of those years. [258227]
Maria Eagle: Information on the number of recorded offences of rape and burglary in the Winchester Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership area has been provided by the Home Office and is shown in the following table 1. However, there are no statistics currently available relating specifically to offences of grievous bodily harm or actual bodily harm. Such offences would be included in the Home Office classifications of ‘more serious wounding' or ‘less serious wounding' as appropriate and cannot be separately identified from other offences within those classifications.
From data held by the Ministry of Justice, the number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for offences relating to rape, grievous bodily harm, actual bodily harm, and burglary in Hampshire police force area can be viewed in Table 2 as follows.
Court proceedings data are not available at constituency level. Therefore Hampshire police force area data have been provided in lieu.
These data are on the principal offence basis. The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offence for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences, the offence selected is the one 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.
Court proceedings data for 2008 will be available in the autumn of 2009.
Recorded crime and court proceedings statistics are from two different databases and recorded in quite different ways. Recorded crime data are provided on a financial year basis and counts offences whereas court proceedings data are on a calendar year basis and count offenders. Therefore, these two separate data-sets are not directly comparable.
| Table 1: Offences of rape and burglary recorded by the police in the Winchester Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership area—2003-04 to 2007-08 | ||
| Number of offences | ||
| Rape | Burglary | |
| Source: Home Office Statistics (Policing) | ||
Debt Collection
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will place in the Library a copy of each guidance document produced by (a) his Department and its predecessor and (b) HM Courts Service on the use of bailiffs’ powers of forced entry under the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004. [258066]
Bridget Prentice: Only one set of guidance has been published by my Department, and its predecessor, on the use of bailiffs’ powers of forced entry under the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004.
A copy of HMCS’s Search and Entry Powers (Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004) Guidance to Civilian Enforcement Officers and Approved Enforcement Agents was placed in the Libraries of the House in January. The guidance contains a number of redactions for reasons of public interest and on health and safety grounds.
Departmental NDPBs: Empty Property
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the estimated cost in empty property business rates for the vacant properties recorded on the e-PIMS database owned by the (a) Land Registry, (b) National Probation Directorate and (c) HM Courts Service is in 2008-09. [258535]
Mr. Wills: The estimated cost in empty property business rates for the vacant properties recorded on the e-PIMS database in 2008-09 owned by the (a) Land Registry is £14,900 and (b) National Probation Directorate is £53,650. NPD also maintain their own database which is updated more regularly and which shows a figure of £170,000 for the same period. (c) HM Courts Service is £349,570.
Departmental Travel
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what expenditure his Department has incurred in providing transport for Ministers between Parliament and departmental premises in each year since his Department was established. [251872]
Maria Eagle: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport on 26 January 2009, Official Report, column 6W. All ministerial travel is undertaken in accordance with the ‘Ministerial Code’.
Discrimination: Legal Aid
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much legal aid has been granted to claimants in cases relating to alleged discrimination of each type in (a) goods and services and (b) employment in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [258355]
Mr. Malik: The Legal Services Commission (LSC) does not hold data on claims in relation to alleged discrimination in the supply of goods and services as this is not a recognised category of legal aid work. Any relevant funding may have been granted under other categories of work such as “public law” or “consumer”.
In the “employment” category, where legal help is available and civil representation in certain cases, the LSC does not record which of those cases involve discrimination issues.
Personal Records: Data Protection
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what discussions he has had with Ministerial colleagues on provisions in the Coroners and Justice Bill to facilitate data sharing between public authorities and private sector firms. [258384]
Mr. Straw: I have regular meetings with ministerial colleagues on a wide range of issues, including on the Coroners and Justice Bill, which have covered data sharing between public authorities and private sector firms.
Political Parties: Finance
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Chichester of 12 January 2009, Official Report, column 519W, on political parties: finance, which public authority will decide whether an hon. Member's expenditure was triggered as a result of breaching the rules on the communications allowance. [258580]
Mr. Straw: Potential breaches of the rules on the use of parliamentary allowances, including the communications allowance, are investigated by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, which reports to the Commons Standards and Privileges Committee.
However, it is not for the Commissioner to rule on whether that expenditure should then be regarded as a candidate election expense under the Representation of the People Act 1983 (“the 1983 Act”). Rather, as with any other potential item of election expenditure, responsibility lies with the candidate and agent to consider whether expenditure meets the definition of election expenditure used by the 1983 Act and, if so, to ensure
that the expenditure in question is recorded on the candidate spending return as required under section 81 of the 1983 Act. This states that such a return must include a statement of all election expenses incurred by or on behalf of a candidate. Section 82 of the 1983 Act requires that this return be accompanied by declarations by the candidate and election agent which verify the return. It is a corrupt practice knowingly to make a false declaration under section 82. It is an illegal practice to fail to comply with the requirements of section 81 or section 82.
Breaches of the 1983 Act are pursued through the courts.
Illegal practices in the 1983 Act are triable summarily. Corrupt practices in the 1983 Act are triable summarily or on indictment. It would therefore ultimately be a matter for the relevant court to decide whether a particular item of expenditure was knowingly excluded from a candidate's expenditure return where it should clearly have been recorded. In reaching its decision, the court could well take into account any judgment from the Commissioner of Standards in relation to expenditure which breached the rules on the use of parliamentary allowances, should the court consider this relevant.
Prisons: Fires
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many fires there have been in each prison in each of the last five years. [258285]
Mr. Malik: All fires recorded range from a simple piece of paper lit and thrown out of a cell window to fires resulting in damage to cells, which are less frequent. During the last year we have invested £20 million in fire safety systems in the refurbishment of the prison estate. It should be noted that deaths from fires in prisons are rare and there have been two in the last five years.
The following table shows data of fires in prison establishments by establishment over the last recorded five years.
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