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21 Apr 2009 : Column 604W—continued
Passports: Security
Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what international obligations apply to the implementation by her Department of measures to ensure the security of passports. [269314]
Mr. Woolas: Travel document standards, including those relating to the minimum security features of such documents are set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in their Document 9303. The United Kingdom passport complies fully with the ICAO standards, both in relation to the travel document specifications and the security features. In relation to the latter, the UK passport surpasses the minimum standard required.
The EU Council Regulation (EC 2252/2004) on standards for security features and biometrics in EU citizens’ passports requires Schengen states to issue passports that comply with a minimum level of security features, including biometric identifiers. The UK is excluded from this regulation (as it is a Schengen building measure). Nevertheless the UK complies with the measure in relation to security features and the inclusion of the facial image biometric, and intends to comply with the requirement to include fingerprints in passports.
The UK also complies with the EU Council Common Position on the exchange of certain data with Interpol in relation to reporting lost and stolen passports.
Police
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many of the recommendations of the Flanagan review have been implemented; [254819]
(2) what progress has been made in implementing each of the recommendations of the Flanagan report; [255045]
(3) pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 23 February 2009, Official Report, column 7WS, on policing: publication of reports by Sir David Normington and Jan Berry, which of the 19 recommendations made by Sir Ronnie Flanagan have been implemented. [262396]
Jacqui Smith: There has been significant progress in implementing the recommendations from Sir Ronnie Flanagan's Independent Review of Policing in England and Wales. The 59 recommendations made by Sir Ronnie Flanagan (covering both his interim and final reports) required fundamental change to the police service's management and culture. Nevertheless a substantial number of the recommendations have already been implemented and we are working in close partnership with National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) and Jan Berry, the new independent Reducing Bureaucracy Advocate to implement all of the recommendations by early 2010.
Police: Bureaucracy
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the answer of 10 December 2007, Official Report, column 91W, on police: bureaucracy, how much time (a) police officers and (b) patrol officers spent on (i) incident-related paperwork, (ii) non-incident-related paperwork, (iii) all paperwork and (iv) patrol in 2007-08. [262365]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 10 March 2009]: Following the review by Sir Ronnie Flanagan, the Government have cut the amount of unnecessary bureaucracy to allow the police to focus on local priorities, including:
Scrapping the foot-long stop and account form;
Extending a pilot that reduces crime recording by 80 per cent. for 80 per cent. of crimes; and
Removing all but one national top-down target, to improve public confidence.
In order to reduce the bureaucracy on officers still further the Government have also abolished the need for police officers to complete the annual police activity analysis form, which asked them to account for their activity for each 15-minute working period of their shifts over a two week period—a step which alone frees up the equivalent of 150 extra officers and staff. Therefore the figures requested will not be produced in the future, as to request them would take police officers away from the front line. The information requested is in the following table.
| Table A: All officers 2007-08 | ||||
| Percentage | ||||
| Year( 1) | Time spent on incident-related paperwork | Time spent on non incident-related paperwork | Total time spent on p aperwork | Time spent on patrol( 2) |
| Table B: Patrol officers 2007-08 | ||||
| Percentage | ||||
| Year( 1) | Time spent on incident-related paperwork | Time spent on non incident-related paperwork | Total time spent on p aperwork | Time spent on patrol |
| (1) The information is taken from activity analysis, which is collected by all forces over a two-week period in each year and provides a snapshot of how officers are deployed. (2) Includes officers on foot/car/beat patrol, CID and traffic officers. (3) Excluding Staffordshire. | ||||
It should be noted that the front-line policing measure offers the fullest picture of police officer activity. It measures time spent by police on core policing duties such as patrol, responding to 999 calls as well as activities of CID and specialist officers. In 2007-08 the front-line policing measure was 64.9 per cent. for police officers and 64.4 per cent. for patrol officers.
This data are normally used for management information only and are not subject to the detailed checks that apply for National Statistics publications. The data are provisional and may be subject to change.
Police: Cameras
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much funding her Department provided for the use of police head-cameras in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09. [269234]
Jacqui Smith: Over the financial year 2007-08, the Home Office provided £3 million to police forces for the purchase and use of head-cameras.
Police: Standards
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to page 29 of the Policing Green Paper “Policing Our Communities Together”, which police forces had met the standards in the Policing Pledge prior to the introduction of the Pledge. [269225]
Jacqui Smith: The Policing Pledge builds on best practice and sets new, consistent standards for the police service for visibility, accessibility, responsiveness and providing information to the public. While many forces previously had their own standards these were not consistent and they have not previously been commonly made public.
Following implementation of the Pledge nationally, the public now know the minimum standard of service they can expect to receive from the police everywhere in England and Wales and have a greater say over the issues that they would like the police to prioritise in their local areas.
The Home Office does not keep central records on delivery of the standards in the Policing Pledge. HMIC will validate the delivery of the Pledge through their inspection process and police authorities will also wish to be satisfied that the Pledge is being delivered for local people.
Sexual Assault Referral Centres
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many sexual assault referral centres were operating in each police force area in each of the last five years; how many were in (a) rural and (b) urban areas; and how many employed a forensic nurse. [260928]
Jacqui Smith: The information requested is contained in the following table.
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