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27 Mar 2009 : Column 770W—continued
Glorification of Terrorism
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many charges relating to the glorification of terrorism have been brought in England since 2007. [265293]
Mr. Coaker: The information is not currently held.
The Home Office, Ministry of Justice and Attorney General's Office are currently working with the National Coordinator for Terrorist Investigations to improve the quality of data relating to those arrested, charged, convicted and imprisoned under terrorist legislation and under other legislation but considered terrorist related. As soon as this is complete a Statistical Bulletin covering this information will be published by the Home Office.
The bulletin will say how many individuals have been charged and convicted for encouragement of terrorism; however it will not break it down any further.
National DNA Database
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people of each (a) age group, (b) ethnicity, (c) gender and (d) religion had DNA profiles stored on the national DNA database at the latest date for which figures are available. [264765]
Mr. Alan Campbell:
The figures given in Table 1 show the number of profiles stored on the national DNA database (NDNAD) by police forces in England and Wales at 9 January 2009, broken down by age group. The age groups relate to an individual's age on 9 January 2009 rather than their age on the date when the profile was loaded onto the NDNAD. These figures do not
reflect the recent removal of all profiles of children under 10 from the NDNAD; following the Home Secretary's announcement on 16 December 2008 that all profiles belonging to children under 10 would be removed, there are no longer any such profiles on the NDNAD (as at 5 March 2009).
The figures given in Table 2 show the number of profiles stored on the NDNAD by police forces in England and Wales at 9 January 2009, broken down by ethnic appearance (Table 2). Ethnic appearance is based on the judgment of the police officer taking the sample as to which of six broad ethnic appearance categories the person is considered to belong. “Unknown” means that no ethnic appearance information was recorded by the officer taking the sample.
The figures given in Table 3 show the number of profiles stored on the NDNAD by police forces in England and Wales at 9 January 2009, broken down by gender. “Unassigned” means that the police officer who took the sample did not record the individual's gender.
Information on the religion of individuals whose profiles are stored on the NDNAD is not recorded.
The number of profiles is not the same as the number of individuals. This is because some of the profiles stored on the NDNAD are replicates. Replicate profiles arise when the same person has their profile loaded onto the NDNAD on more than one occasion (this may be because the person gave different names, or different versions of their name, on separate arrests, or because of upgrading of profiles). It is estimated that 13.3 per cent. of profiles held on the NDNAD are replicates and therefore the number of individuals on the NDNAD is approximately 13.3 per cent. less than the number of subject profiles; an estimate of the number of individuals in each category has been included in the tables. The presence of replicate profiles on the NDNAD does not impact on the effectiveness and integrity of the database.
| Table 1: England and Wales profiles broken down by age (at 9 January 2009) | ||
| Current age | Subject profiles | Estimated individuals |
| (1)Since these figures were obtained all profiles belonging to children aged under 10 have been deleted from the NDNAD (as at 5 March 2009). | ||
| Table 2: England and Wales profiles broken down by ethnic appearance (at 9 January 2009) | ||
| Ethnic appearance | Subject profiles | Estimated individuals |
| Table 3: England and Wales profiles broken down by gender (at 9 January 2009) | ||
| Gender | Subject profiles | Estimated individuals |
Olympic Games 2012: Security
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Defence on security arrangements for the London 2012 Olympics. [264328]
Mr. Coaker: The Home Office is working closely with the Ministry of Defence on security planning for the London 2012 games. The 2012 Olympic and Paralympic safety and security national concept of operations includes an expectation that the armed forces will provide some specialist support to the civilian authorities and we are proceeding on this basis
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will hold discussions with her international counterparts on security arrangements for athletes and officials from their national teams at the London 2012 Olympics. [265564]
Mr. Coaker: The Olympic and Paralympic Games are international events with over 200 competing nations. We are very aware of the need to brief and consult the governments and public authorities of the countries involved, to ensure that their security concerns are reflected in our planning and delivery, and that our security arrangements have their confidence and co-operation.
We plan a comprehensive programme to engage the other competing countries specifically on Games safety and security issues in the run-up to and during the 2012 Games. This will complement and build on the extensive dialogue which we already have with overseas partners on counter-terrorism, combating crime, and safety and security matters.
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent estimate she has made of the number of (a) police dog and handler teams and (b) specialist explosive search dogs which will be deployed to provide security for the London 2012 Olympics. [266418]
Mr. Coaker:
On 25 February the Government approved a 2012 Olympic and Paralympic safety and security strategy and also endorsed an outline 2012 Olympic and Paralympic safety and security national concept of operations which describes how the strategy will be delivered. The workstreams which flow from the strategy
and concept of operations have already highlighted the provision of police and search dogs and their handlers as an area in which demand will need to be managed carefully. Work to refine this requirement is ongoing.
Organised Crime
Mr. Dunne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans the Government has to improve the effectiveness of tackling organised crime operating across police force borders. [266255]
Mr. Alan Campbell: We intend to build on the significant developments already accomplished in improving the police response to protective services in the round through the tri-partite Protective Services Improvement Programme. Particular emphasis has been placed on serious organised crime and the focus of that work has been above the level of individual police forces. We are continuing to support the ten Regional Intelligence Units, set up in each region to analyse, assess and develop information and intelligence held by police forces and other law enforcement agencies on serious organised crime; we are continuing to fund the work of the office of the National Co-ordinator for Serious Organised Crime, whose role includes ensuring that there is a co-ordinated response to cross-border serious organised crime across the country and that improvements needed in tackling cross-border organised crime are identified and addressed; and we are continuing to support and fund the work of the East Midlands Special Operations Unit—a region highlighted by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in 2005 as having significant needs in addressing serious organised crime. In addition to maintaining these resources, in 2009-10 we are will be match-funding pilots in the West Midlands and North West regions to build multi-agency serious organised crime capability to strengthen the operational response and build on existing collaboration in those regions. £1 million in matched funding will also be used to target forces with specific gaps in organised crime.
Recognising the need to improve co-ordination we have established the Organised Crime Partnership Board (OCPB), attended by senior representatives from the relevant organised crime law enforcement agencies, to provide the necessary strategic direction and co-ordination for a joint response to organised crime across the law enforcement and criminal justice community. The OCPB has agreed a unified programme of work and is sponsored by a cross-Governmental Ministerial Advisory Group to ensure that good progress is made in this vital area.
As part of HMIC’s role as the explicit ‘guarantor of the public interest’, from 2009-10 it will continue to assess and review progress on improvements in all of the protective services and the inspectorate is separately conducting a review to identify the potential need and functionality of collaborative frameworks above force level for different policing functions such as organised crime.
Mr. Dunne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of each police authority in tackling organised crime operating across police force borders. [266256]
Mr. Alan Campbell: As part of an examination of each of the protective services policing areas, we have asked Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary to conduct a thematic review into each police force's capability and capacity for dealing with serious organised crime. Its report is expected to be published in redacted form shortly. Her Majesty's Inspectorate has also conducted a review into the planning undertaken by forces and authorities for identifying gaps and making improvements in protective services, which includes serious organised crime, and the report ‘Get Smart—Planning to Protect’ is available on the Inspectorate's website at the following address:
Mr. Dunne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what funding has been made available to each police authority to tackle organised crime operating across police force borders in each of the last 10 years. [266257]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The general police grant is provided to police authorities by the Home Office and allocated within each force to the different areas of policing. Serious organised crime is not funded separately. However central funding is provided to address this crime area above the force level. This includes running the Serious Organised Crime Agency for which funding has been £426 million in 2006-07, £445 million in 2007-08 and £474 million in 2008-09. £8 million of additional funding was also provided nationally in each of the years 2006-07 and 2007-08 to establish Regional Intelligence Units in each of the 10 ACPO regions in England and Wales and to strengthen the response to serious organised crime in the east midlands through the creation of a Special Operations Unit. In 2008-09 £5 million has been allocated for continuing support to the Regional Intelligence Units and £2 million to the east midlands Special Operations Unit. A number of protective services collaboration demonstrator projects, each involving more than one force area, have also received start-up funding since 2007-08 out of a £5 million budget, several of which include serious organised crime workstreams.
Passports
Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of passport applications approved by the Post Office check and send service were subsequently rejected by the Passport Office in the last 12 months. [264786]
Mr. Malik: The Identity and Passport Service (IPS) does not reject applications that are incomplete or incorrect.
In the 12 months commencing March 2008, IPS received 2,523,230 applications via the Check & Send service provided by Post Office Limited. Of these, 1.68 per cent. (42,324) were identified as incomplete or incorrect upon receipt by IPS and required further action to allow the application to progress.
Police Stations: Closures
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police stations closed permanently in (a) 2005-06, (b) 2006-07 and (c) 2007-08. [265891]
Mr. Coaker: The information requested is not held centrally. The management of the police estate and allocation of resources are matters for the police authority and chief constable for each force, who are responsible for assessing local needs.
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