| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
18 May 2009 : Column 1153W—continued
Trade Unions
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 12 March 2009, Official Report, column 634W, on trade unions, what office facilities his Department provides for the exclusive use of each recognised trade union; and what the notional annual value of such provision is. [271932]
Gillian Merron: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) provides each recognised trade union representative with their own furnished office, networked computer with e-mail/internet access and a telephone. Trade union representatives have shared access to photocopiers, duplicating and printing services, file storage and fax machines. The FCO meets day-to-day running costs within the rules of public expenditure set out in FCO guidance. Such costs include: rents; building maintenance; stationery; office and IT equipment; telephone charges; official travel; security; corporate overheads; capital charges and depreciation.
Based on full economic cost figures (calculated in line with HM Treasury requirements) for the 2008-09 financial year, the notional annual value of this provision for each recognised trade union is:
| £ | |
In addition to trade union representatives, the FCO provides four full-time support posts in London for Trade Union Secretariat (TUS) work. These posts are held by members of FCO staff who are elected to their respective roles (with the exception of the TUS registry post which is filled using the normal FCO appointment process). Based on FY2008-09 figures, the total notional value of the Trade Union Secretariat posts is £161,800.
These arrangements comply with the facilities agreement between the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the trade unions which undertakes to:
“provide such resources as are reasonably necessary to enable Trade Union representatives to carry out their duties efficiently.”
UN World Conference against Racism
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the number of persons who walked out during the speech of the Iranian President at the UN Durban 2 anti-racism conference; and if he will make a statement. [272179]
Gillian Merron: The Government are aware that all EU delegations who attended the Durban review conference, and the representative of St. Kitts and Nevis, left the hall when the Iranian President made comments deemed to be offensive. A number of non-governmental organisation delegates also left the hall. Many delegates, including the UK’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, subsequently condemned the Iranian President’s remarks.
My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary issued a ministerial statement on the Durban review conference on 28 April 2009, Official Report, columns 41-42WS.
Zimbabwe: Politics and Government
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to have discussions with the President of South Africa on the political and human rights situation in Zimbabwe. [273147]
Gillian Merron: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary currently has no planned meetings with President elect Zuma to discuss Zimbabwe, although Zimbabwe will certainly be among the issues which Ministers will wish to discuss with the incoming South African Administration over the coming weeks. South Africa remains key to the power-sharing agreement, brokered by the Southern African Development Community.
Home Department
Gurkhas
12. Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent steps her Department has taken to reformulate its policy on settlement rights for Gurkhas. [275722]
Mr. Woolas: Following the debate on 29 April, the date for determining outstanding applications was brought forward to the end of May.
Based on this work, and recognising the strong feeling of the House, we will come forward with proposals for the next stage of our reform of the rules before the summer recess.
17. Martin Salter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the effect on the settlement rights of Gurkhas of the implementation of the points-based immigration system. [275727]
Mr. Woolas: The settlement rights of Gurkhas are entirely separate from the routes to enter the United Kingdom through the points-based system.
It will therefore have no effect on the implementation of the points-based immigration system.
DNA Database
13. Mr. Heathcoat-Amory: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the compatibility of her proposal on retention of the DNA profiles of persons arrested but not convicted with the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. [275723]
Mr. Coaker: Our proposals, set out in the public consultation paper “Keeping the Right People on the DNA database” published on 7 May 2009, were drawn up against the background of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the S and Marper case. They aim to implement the judgment in a way which continues to protect the public while safeguarding the rights of the individual.
Mr. David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the number of crimes detected using DNA profiles held on the national DNA database in the last 12 months. [275729]
Mr. Alan Campbell: In 2007-08, 33,034 crimes were detected in which a DNA match was available or played a part in solving the crime. They included 83 homicides and 184 rapes. Figures for the 2008-09 financial year will be available shortly.
Identity Cards
14. Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment she has made of progress on the introduction of identity cards. [275724]
23. Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her most recent assessment is of progress on the introduction of identity cards. [275733]
Mr. Woolas: Progress is well on track with identity cards for foreign nationals being introduced from November 2008 and identity cards being rolled out from autumn 2009 to British citizens resident in Manchester and also to airside workers at Manchester and London City airports.
Front-line Policing
15. Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her most recent estimate is of the proportion of police officers’ time spent on front-line policing. [275725]
Mr. Coaker: We estimate that at the end of March 2008, 64.9 per cent. of police officer time was spent on front-line duties. This information is no longer collected by the Home Office as part of work to reduce bureaucracy.
Having delivered the funding for record numbers in the work force it is important that the police service make the best possible use of their work force’s time. The effective deployment of officers and staff will enable them to be in the right place at the right time to deliver for the public when they most need the police’s help.
Nazi War Crimes
16. Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the number of UK residents who are suspected of having committed war crimes under the Nazi regime. [275726]
Mr. Woolas: The Home Office does not collate figures on the total numbers in the UK who are suspected of these crimes.
Any allegations received concerning crimes under the Nazi regime are referred to the Metropolitan police for investigation.
Antisocial Behaviour: Swindon
Anne Snelgrove: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps her Department is taking to tackle antisocial behaviour in Swindon. [275728]
Mr. Alan Campbell: We have given practitioners the tools and powers they need to do their job effectively. When I visited Swindon recently I met the local partnership including police and the local authority to both support and challenge them to do more to make communities across Wiltshire safer.
Human Trafficking
20. Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment she has made of progress in implementing the provisions of the Council of Europe convention on action against trafficking in human beings. [275730]
Mr. Alan Campbell: I am pleased to say that the convention entered into force in the UK on 1 April this year. A Home Office-led multi agency task force has been established to monitor its implementation and will report later this year.
Public Confidence: Police
21. Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of steps taken by police forces to increase public confidence in the police. [275731]
Mr. Coaker: Through the single confidence target, we expect the police, working with partners, to significantly increase public confidence that the issues that matter locally are being addressed. We will regularly monitor the performance of all forces and authorities against this target. HMIC will also consider the steps forces have taken to increase confidence.
Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs
Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the planned programme of work is of the (a) Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) and (b) Technical Committee of the ACMD for the next 12 months. [274642]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The information is as follows:
(a) The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), as an independent advisory body sets it own programme of work responding to both to requests for advice from the Home Office and other Government Departments and conducts work of its own choosing. However, the ACMD has indicated to the Home Department that in the coming 12 months they will be conducting work in the areas of ‘legal highs’ (including ‘Spice’), cognitive enhancers, poly-drug use, treatment effectiveness and development of an early warning system to provide timely information to Ministers of emerging/new drugs and associated risks.
(b) The ACMD Technical Committee supports the work of the ACMD. Therefore, the Home Department understand that its primary work will be supporting the working groups to address the areas identified above. The work of the ACMD Technical Committee will also include responses to priority requests for advice from Government Departments and considering issues of their own volition.
Antisocial Behaviour Orders: Wales
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many antisocial behaviour orders have been (a) imposed and (b) breached in each police force area in Wales in each year since they were introduced. [270664]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The latest available information on the number of ASBOs issued and breached in Wales goes up to 31 December 2006. The available information is shown in the following tables. The first table shows the number of orders issued (by year and by area) and the second the number of orders breached in each year by area. It is important to note, however, that an ASBO can be issued in one Criminal Justice System (CJS) area and breached in another. Therefore the two tables are not directly comparable.
| Table 1P: Number of antisocial behaviour orders issued at all courts, as reported to the Home Office by the Court Service, by CJS area and year, April 1999 to December 2006 | |||||||
| CJS area | Total issued | April 1999 to May 2000 | June to December 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
| 2005 | 2006 | |||||||||
| CJS area | January to March | April to June | July to September | October to December | Total | January to March | April to June | July to September | October to December | Total |
| Notes: 1. Previously issued data have been revised. 2. 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 courts. 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. 3. Prepared by OCJR. | ||||||||||
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |