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3 Jun 2009 : Column 572W—continued


Police: Bureaucracy

Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 18 May 2009, Official Report, column 1204, what the evidential basis was for her statement that the hon. Member for Wellingborough was wrong about time police officers spend on the beat in Northamptonshire; and if she will make a statement. [277469]

Mr. Coaker [holding answer 1 June 2009]: The hon. Member for Wellingborough stated that in his county the amount of time spent on the beat was down to 10 per cent. In fact, the amount of time officers in his county spend patrolling and involved in no other activity is 10 per cent; the total amount of time they spend on the beat will be considerably greater than this.

Police: Official Visits

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police stations she has visited on official business in the last 12 months. [247690]

Mr. Coaker: My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary regularly goes out to visit front line police officers and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), both in police stations and as part of neighbourhood policing visits.

For example, in February this year my right hon. Friend visited a police station in Southampton, and has met front line police officers and PCSOs in their communities on many occasions in the last 12 months, including undertaking visits to Basildon, West Yorkshire, Luton, Northampton, South Yorkshire and Cardiff.


3 Jun 2009 : Column 573W

Proof of Identity: Fraud

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people under 18 years old have been prosecuted for fraud for possessing a faked or doctored form of identification in (a) Herefordshire, (b) the West Mercia Constabulary area and (c) the West Midlands in the latest period for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement. [277693]

Mr. Alan Campbell: Information provided by the Ministry of Justice on the number of persons aged 10 to 17 years proceeded against at magistrates courts, for offences contrary to the Fraud Act 2006, Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981, and the Identity Cards Act 2006, in relation to possession of faked or doctored form of identification in West Mercia and west midlands police force area for 2007 can be viewed in the following table.

It is not possible to further break down data to county level (i.e. Herefordshire), as Herefordshire forms part of West Mercia police force area, data for West Mercia police force area has thus been provided in lieu.

Section 25 of the Identity Cards Act, commenced on 7 June 2006.

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.


3 Jun 2009 : Column 574W
The number of persons aged 10 to 17 years proceeded against at magistrates courts for offences relating to certain sections of the Fraud Act 2006, Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981, and the Identity Cards Act 2006, in West Mercia and West Midlands Police Force Area, 2007( 1,2,3)
Statute Offence description West Mercia police force area West midlands police force area

Fraud Act 2006 s.1(2a)(3)(4), 2(la)(b)

Dishonestly makes a false representation to make a gain for himself or another or to cause loss to another or to expose another to a risk.

4

9

Fraud Act 2006 s.6

Possession etc. of articles for use in frauds.

1

2

Fraud Act 2006 s.7

Make, adapt, supply or offer to supply any article knowing that it is designed or adapted for use in the course of or in connection with fraud, or intending it to be used to commit or facilitate fraud.

—

—

Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981 secs 3, 4

Using a false instrument etc in respect of scheduled drug.

—

—

Identity Cards Act 2006 s.25(l)(2)(6)

With intent knowingly possess false/improperly obtained/another's ID document.

—

2

Identity Cards Act 2006 s.25(3)(4)(6)

With intent make/possess/have under your control apparatus/article/material designed/adapted for making false ID documents.

—

—

Identity Cards Act 2006 s.25(5)(7)

Possess/control a false/improperly obtained ID card or which relates to another or apparatus etc for making ID documents.

—

—

(1) These data are on the principal offence basis.
(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 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.
(3) Section 25 of the Identity Cards Act, commenced on 7 June 2006.
Source:
Evidence and Analysis Unit—Office for Criminal Justice Reform, Ministry of Justice

Serious Organised Crime Agency: Manpower

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff there were in the (a) Intervention Directorate, (b) Enforcement Directorate, (c) Corporate Services Directorate and (d) Intelligence Directorate of the Serious and Organised Crime Agency on the latest date for which figures are available. [274002]

Mr. Alan Campbell: As of 30 April, the Serious Organised Crime Agency had 3,989 full-time equivalent staff. These were as follows:

Full-time equivalent staff

(a) Intervention Directorate

934

(b) Enforcement Directorate

1,212

(c) Corporate Services Directorate

562

(d) Intelligence Directorate

1,094

(e) Legal, Corporate Assurance and Executive Co-ordination

87


In addition, the Child Exploitation and On-line Protection centre has 100 full-time equivalent SOCA funded staff (including secondees in and those on SOCA contracts).

Sexual Offences: Registration

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many sex offenders are (a) required to register with the police and (b) registered with the police; and how many sex offenders have breached their registration requirements in the last 12 months. [274075]

Mr. Alan Campbell: Data on the number of registered sexual offenders in England and Wales is available in the annual published multi agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA) reports:


3 Jun 2009 : Column 575W

Each police force monitors all registered sex offenders in their area and knows which of these offenders is currently compliant with the notification requirements. Offenders in breach of their notification requirements have committed a criminal offence and are liable to a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment.

Special Constables: Working Hours

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many hours on average a
3 Jun 2009 : Column 576W
special constable worked in each police force area in each year since 1997. [273528]

Mr. Coaker: The available data are given in the tables.

The Government have increased the funding for special constables to ensure that there will be an extra 6,000 officers by 2011.

This information is not complete as some forces have not provided data, and the information was not collected before 2002-03.

In order to reduce bureaucracy still further, it will no longer be collected by the Home Office in the future.

Hours worked by special constables( 1)
2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08

Avon and Somerset

48,578

61,485

n/a

77,974

96,021

80,981

Bedfordshire

17,888

25,000

42,107

46,972

57,393

45,000

Cambridgeshire

n/a

n/a

n/a

37,451

44,799

46,545

Cheshire

28,588

22,268

30,421

52,516

66,045

59,683

Cleveland

11,950

13,028

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Cumbria

13,816

9,356

22,231

32,694

32,061

30,462

Derbyshire

n/a

n/a

n/a

59,758

50,639

43,227

Devon and Cornwall

79,620

68,484

44,212

n/a

n/a

n/a

Dorset

38,349

35,307

35,960

45,658

60,991

54,054

Durham

n/a

n/a

n/a

18,887

20,914

n/a

Dyfed-Powys

5,251

5,033

4,276

14,075

18,349

14,136

Essex

82,940

83,638

95,593

118,175

119,018

145,477

Gloucestershire

20,800

12,455

17,101

20,484

18,741

14,228

Greater Manchester

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Gwent

19,451

15,242

25,623

12,606

14,028

12,222

Hampshire

78,036

81,354

80,677

90,300

103,276

83,864

Hertfordshire

54,853

67,258

74,021

74,437

81,437

89,010

Humberside

27,499

n/a

n/a

63,624

82,469

80,095

Kent

98,680

83,962

90,244

84,206

81,018

82,600

Lancashire

n/a

n/a

72,592

82,866

88,300

n/a

Leicestershire

16,589

18,512

n/a

36,342

48,085

46,865

Lincolnshire

24,336

26,692

26,843

25,823

25,616

19,056

London, City of

7,954

10,312

9,719

8,615

6,629

11,508

Merseyside

80,723

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Metropolitan Police

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Norfolk

59,208

32,879

21,102

59,500

58,000

64,140

Northamptonshire

38,304

36,651

59,691

52,167

42,496

25,509

Northumbria

26,842

23,269

23,150

21,723

8,287

5,524

North Wales

n/a

n/a

n/a

14,568

17,362

26,316

North Yorkshire

n/a

n/a

n/a

26,892

30,912

29,612

Nottinghamshire

n/a

n/a

n/a

29,706

50,455

53,196

South Wales

29,346

54,870

n/a

53,629

35,583

27,720

South Yorkshire

34,005

27,145

28,617

52,383

48,014

53,837

Staffordshire

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

77,168

Suffolk

53,487

50,681

n/a

37,437

59,551

64,524

Surrey

n/a

n/a

47,245

66,867

70,290

n/a

Sussex

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

55,148

Thames Valley

58,690

62,108

n/a

52,358

n/a

n/a

Warwickshire

50,208

45,107

51,227

49,629

34,192

25,523

West Mercia

51,985

41,000

42,128

n/a

n/a

44,588

West Midlands

n/a

n/a

n/a

176,630

158,350

131,127

West Yorkshire

69,517

62,016

60,641

64,395

63,731

55,374

Wiltshire

29,664

33,739

43,480

39,619

29,815

n/a

n/a = Data unavailable.
(1) The data are unvalidated and therefore provided on a provisional basis only
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