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18 May 2009 : Column 1158W—continued
| Table 7: ASBOs proven in court to have been breached for the first time within the periods shown( 1) by CJS area( 2) from 1 June 2000 to 31 December 2006 | ||||||
| CJS area | 2000 - 02( 3) | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 6 | 2006 | Total |
| (1) ASBOs may be breached more than once and in more than one year. In this table ASBOs are counted once only within the period when they were first breached. (2 )ASBOs may be issued in one area and breached in another. Breaches are counted in this table by area of issue. (3 )From 1 June 2000. Note: 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 and police forces. 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. Source: OCJR Court Proceedings Database. | ||||||
Asylum
Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps her Department has taken to increase the speed with which asylum applications are handled. [275719]
Mr. Woolas: We are succeeding in our goal of handling applications faster than ever before.
60 per cent. of new cases were concluded within six months by the end of last year. We are committed to conclude 90 per cent. of new asylum cases within six months by 2011.
Carnage UK
Mrs. Betty Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent representations she has received on the activities of Carnage UK. [274635]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The Home Office has received no formal representations on the activities of Carnage UK.
Community Relations
Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on (a) the long-term aims and (b) the involvement of the Muslim community in the implementation of the revised Contest strategy; and if she will make a statement. [274423]
Mr. Coaker [holding answer 11 May 2009]: Discussions were held with all Government Departments involved in countering terrorism. The long-term aim of the Contest strategy is to reduce the risk to the UK and its interests overseas from international terrorism, so that people can go about their lives freely and with confidence. All communities continue to play a role in helping to ensure the success of the strategy by rejecting violent extremism and challenging it. Strong and empowered communities are better equipped to effectively reject the ideology of violent extremism, isolate apologists for terrorism and provide support to vulnerable individuals and institutions.
Crime and Disorder Partnerships
Alun Michael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions she has had with police commanders on the effectiveness of local crime and disorder partnerships. [275710]
Mr. Coaker: Significant reductions in crime since 1997 have been delivered by local agencies working together in Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships and Community Safety Partnerships. Last week the Home Secretary met local partners from across the country, including the ACPO partnership lead, to discuss the role of effective partnerships in increasing public confidence.
Crime Prevention
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what expenditure under what budgetary headings was incurred by her Department in relation to the Crime Prevention Summit held on 4 February 2009; and what topics were discussed at the summit. [270564]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The Home Office incurred £328.76 from the programme budget in relation to the Real Help in Hard Times crime prevention summit on 4 February. The summit discussed how the Government and partners from the statutory, voluntary and private sectors can best work together to stay on the front foot to keep burglary down and reassure the public in more challenging economic circumstances. The actions identified at the summit were announced as the Securing Homes: Action Against Burglary initiative on 7 April.
Criminal Records: EU Nationals
Mr. Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what protocols her Department has established with each EU member state on monitoring the movement of known criminals. [273617]
Mr. Alan Campbell:
There is no agreement between all member states of the European Union to monitor the movements of known criminals within the EU but the UK does contribute to the Europol Information System (EIS), a database where each member state can input details of any known criminal that it wishes to
share with other European States. If a person is wanted in any member state, that country can also issue a European arrest warrant which will ensure that if the person comes to the notice of the law enforcement authorities in any member state they can be arrested and returned to the country that issued the European arrest warrant. In addition, SOCA has been appointed to operate the UK Sirene Bureau which will have access to the European wide Schengen Information System. This contains details of all wanted persons throughout the European Union. It is planned that the Sirene Bureau will go live in 2010.
The Interpol Notice system also provides a monitoring facility. Green Notices are used to provide warnings and criminal intelligence about persons who have committed criminal offences, and are likely to repeat those offences in other countries. A Green Notice is often issued by the UK for known travelling sex offenders. The Notice system is not limited to Europe and 187 states have access to it.
The United Kingdom has a Memorandum of Understanding with Ireland to ensure that information is shared between the two countries regarding sex offenders travelling between the two.
Cybercrime
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what further steps are required for ratification by the UK of the European Convention on Cybercrime; and when she expects ratification to be completed. [274071]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The Government are committed to ratifying the Council of Europe cybercrime convention. We are currently working through the formal UK process of ratification, during which we will lay the required explanatory memorandum before Parliament to obtain approval for ratification. If Parliament agrees to ratification, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office will then commence the formal ratification process with the Council of Europe.
The Government hope to complete the parliamentary process by the summer recess and the Council of Europe process within two months of that.
DNA: Databases
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what proportion of profiles of children aged under 10 years-old have been removed from the national DNA database (a) in total and (b) in each police force area; and if she will make a statement. [271104]
Mr. Alan Campbell: On 16 December 2008 the Home Secretary announced that all DNA profiles belonging to children aged under 10 would be removed from the National DNA Database (NDNAD). All such profiles loaded by England and Wales forces have been removed and the profiles of under 10s are no longer retained on the NDNAD.
The following table shows the number of profiles of children aged under 10 removed from the NDNAD since 16 December 2008, broken down by police force area.
Gamma Butyrolactone
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what estimate she has made of the volume of sales of liquid gamma butyrolactone for (a) illicit and (b) non-industrial use in each of the last three years; [272887]
(2) what the legal status of liquid gamma butyrolactone in the UK is; and if she will make a statement; [272888]
(3) what advice she received from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs on the classification of liquid gamma butyrolactone in (a) 2006, (b) 2007, (c) 2008 and (d) 2009; and if she will make a statement. [272889]
Mr. Alan Campbell [holding answer 7 May 2009]: Gamma butyrolactone (GBL) is a precursor chemical. It is not a controlled drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) provided advice on the classification of GBL in its 2008 report ‘GBL & 1,4-BD: Assessment of Risk to the Individual and Communities in the UK’. This advice can be found at:
This advice followed the ACMD's earlier 2007 report on ‘Drug Facilitated Sexual Assault’ in which the ACMD undertook to provide further advice on GBL This report can be found at:
No advice on GBL was received from the ACMD in either 2006 or in 2009 to date.
The Government will shortly be publishing a three-month public consultation which brings forward options to control GBL and its like precursor chemical, 1,4-butanediol. Consultation will look to elicit a better understanding of the scale and scope of the availability for misuse of GBL and 1,4- butanediol in the UK.
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