| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
9 Jun 2009 : Column 812W—continued
Crime: Firearms
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) fatal and (b) non-fatal firearm offences in respect of which legal proceedings have been completed have been committed within 100 yards of the entrance to a prison in England and Wales in each of the last 12 years for which figures are available; how many of the victims or intended victims of such offences had been visiting or were about to visit the prison in question; and if she will make a statement. [275243]
Mr. Alan Campbell [holding answer 13 May 2009]: I am afraid that the information requested is not held centrally.
Departmental Manpower
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many staff based at his Department's Abu Dhabi hub are allocated to reviewing visa applications from Pakistan; [272746]
(2) how many staff based at the Abu Dhabi visa hub are allocated to reviewing visa applications from Pakistan. [272990]
Alan Johnson: There are 33 entry clearance officers and nine entry clearance managers working in the hub in Abu Dhabi. They are processing work from Pakistan, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain. Staff are transferable between all three work streams in the hub and are allocated duties according to workloads.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many visa entry clearance officers are employed at (a) Lahore and (b) Karachi; and how many were employed at each post in each of the last five years. [272750]
Alan Johnson: There are no visa sections in Karachi or Lahore. The visa section in Karachi was closed in September 2007 and work was transferred to the visa section in Islamabad at that time. At the time of closure, the visa section in Karachi employed one entry clearance manager, eight (and a half) entry clearance officers and one risk assessment officer. The visa section in Lahore closed over five years ago (shortly after 9/11).
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many staff are employed at the Abu Dhabi visa hub; [272989]
(2) how many staff are employed in the visa hub in Abu Dhabi. [272745]
Alan Johnson: On 12 May 2009 there are 101 staff working in the Abu Dhabi hub.
Entry Clearances: Pakistan
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many visa applications were received in (a) Karachi and (b) Lahore consulate in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [272743]
Alan Johnson: During the financial year 2008-09, the UK Visa Application Centres in Karachi and Lahore received 26,364 and 53,189 visa applications, respectively.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of visa applications from Pakistani nationals are checked for fraud by entry clearance officers at (a) Karachi and (b) Lahore. [272751]
Alan Johnson: There are no entry clearance officers posted to Karachi or Lahore. All applications submitted in Pakistan are dealt with in Islamabad, Abu Dhabi or London. Fraud checks are carried out in Islamabad on 100 per cent. of applications submitted in Pakistan.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many visa applications were (a) reviewed by entry clearance officers in Pakistan and (b) processed by the visa hub in Abu Dhabi between the entry into service of the Abu Dhabi visa hub and 1 March 2009. [272988]
Alan Johnson: All applications lodged in Pakistan are seen by an entry clearance officer based in Islamabad so that a travel document forgery check can be carried out irrespective of where the decision is being made. Between the Abu Dhabi hub coming into service on 27 October 2008 and 1 March 2009 19,995 applications have been sent to Islamabad for a decision and a total of 19,497 applications have been sent to the hub in Abu Dhabi for a decision.
European Arrest Warrants
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people brought to jurisdictions in the UK under the provisions of a European arrest warrant have subsequently been convicted of an offence; what the name and nationality of each offender was; for what offence each was convicted; in which court and on what date in each case; what sentence each received; and from which member state each was removed to the UK. [265787]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 24 March 2009]: The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) (for Scotland) are the designated authorities for the receipt and transmission of European Arrest Warrants (EAWs) in the UK. In the UK, EAWs can only be issued by appropriately designated judicial authorities.
SOCA’s involvement in EAW cases ceases at the point of surrender to the UK and does not include recording the outcome of criminal cases in the UK.
To retrieve this information would entail liaising with all the UK’s prosecuting authorities and courts and would incur disproportionate cost.
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many European warrants for the arrest of (a) British citizens and (b) non-British citizens have been received from other EU member states; and how many people have been removed under such warrants since January 2008, broken down by (i) category of offence and (ii) member state of destination. [265788]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 24 March 2009]: SOCA and COPFS (for Scotland) are the designated authorities for the receipt and transmission for European arrest warrants (EAWs) in the UK. The number of EAWs issued to the UK (excluding Scotland) since 1 January 2006 is:
| Total | ||
| EAWs issued to UK | EAW surrenders | |
| (1) Several member states will issue EAWs to more than one member state if the person’s exact whereabouts are not known. A large number of EAWs received by SOCA therefore turn out to have no connection with the UK. (2) There may be occasions where logistics dictate that the surrender of a person arrested in Scotland takes place in England and is effected by SOCA. | ||
It is not possible from current systems to provide data broken down by nationality, category of offence or member state of destination. This would require a manual examination of all files and incur disproportionate cost.
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many European warrants for the arrest of (a) British citizens and (b) non-British citizens her Department has issued; and how many people have been removed to the UK under such warrants since January 2008, broken down by (i) category of offence and (ii) member state to which the warrant was issued. [265789]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 24 March 2009]: In 2008 SOCA transmitted 218 European arrest warrants (EAWs) to other member states and between January and April 2009, SOCA transmitted 86 EAWs.
The Home Office does not issue EAWs. They are issued by designated judicial authorities such as the Crown Prosecution Service and COPFS for Scotland. These are then transmitted by SOCA or COPFS to the relevant member state for execution.
In 2008, 96 individuals for whom SOCA had transmitted an EAW, either during 2008 or earlier were returned to the UK. Between January and April 2009 27 individuals were returned under the EAW procedure.
It is not possible from current systems to provide data broken down by nationality, category of offence or member state to which the warrant was sent. This would require a manual examination of all files and hence disproportionate cost.
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many European warrants his Department has issued for the arrest of (a) UK nationals and (b) non-UK nationals who have escaped from prison; how many people have been removed to the UK as a result; with what offences they were charged; and to which member states each warrant was issued. [265844]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 24 March 2009]: EAWs are issued by the appropriately designated judicial authority and transmitted by the Serious Organised Crime Agency.
To retrieve this information would entail liaising with all the UK’s prosecuting authorities and courts and would incur disproportionate cost.
Members: Correspondence
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he plans to reply to the letters to him of 20 January and 16 February 2009 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regards to Mrs H Jebably. [268025]
Alan Johnson: My right hon. Friend the former Home Secretary (Jacqui Smith), wrote to my right hon. Friend on 20 April 2009.
Organised Crime: International Cooperation
Damian Green:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much the Serious and
Organised Crime Agency spent on work undertaken in co-operation with (a) Europol and (b) Interpol in the last period for which figures are available. [276563]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The information is as follows:
| Spent on work undertaken (£) | |
These figures are subject to final audit. SOCA is the UK gateway for both Europol and Interpol and the subscription costs are for UK law enforcement as a whole.
Many SOCA operations and projects involve collaboration with Europol, Interpol and other partners, but this work is not costed separately.
Police: Surveillance
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 24 February 2009, Official Report, column 688W, on police: surveillance, whether he has completed his consideration of the publication of a non-restricted version of the guidance on the lawful and effective use of covert techniques. [278462]
Mr. Hanson: Guidance on the Lawful and Effective Use of Covert Techniques programme, which includes an overarching guidance manual and a more recent guidance manual aimed at officers investigating local volume crime and disorder, contains details of covert techniques and as such is classified as restricted. It therefore cannot be placed in the Library.
Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005
David Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent representations he has received from (a) the Association of Electricity Producers and (b) Drax Power Limited on the use of powers under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005. [276537]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 20 May 2009]: The Home Office has not received recently any direct representations on this matter from the organisations the hon. Member mentions, but is aware of the issues both have raised with the Joint Committee on Human Rights.
Sexual Offences: Essex
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many sex offenders have been subject to multi-agency public protection arrangements in (a) Essex and (b) Castle Point in each of the last three years. [274244]
Mr. Alan Campbell: Data on MAPPA management and on the number of registered sexual offenders in England and Wales are available in the annual published MAPPA reports
Data on MAPPA management are not broken down below area level. However, for Essex, the number of registered sexual offenders managed via MAPPA meetings between 1 April and 31 March is as follows:
| Number of registered sexual offenders | |
The increase in the 2007-08 figure was due to a review of the MAPPA level of cases being managed rather than an increase in the number of sexual offenders in Essex. This is fully explained in the 2007-08 Essex MAPPA report which is available on
http://www.probation.homeoffice.gov.uk/files/pdf/Essex%2 0MAPPA%202008%20Report.pdf
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals have been prosecuted for offences relating to sexual exploitation under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in (a) Essex and (b) Castle Point. [277193]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The number of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts for selected offences under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in Essex from 2004 to 2007 (latest available) are given in the table.
Data are given in the table for Essex police force area. It is not possible to further break down data to constituency level (i.e. Castle Point) as this level of detail is not held centrally.
Data for 2008 will be available in the autumn of 2009.
| Number of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts for selected offences under the Sexual Offences Act 2003( 1) , in Essex, 2004( 2) - 07( 3,4) | |
| Essex police force area | |
| Number | |
| (1) Includes the following statutes: sections 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8(1)(2)(3), 9(a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(1)(a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(2)(3), 10(1)(a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(2)(3), 11(1)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii), 12(1)(a)(b)(c)(i)(ii), 13, 14, 15, 16(1)(a)(b)(c)(e)(i)(ii)(2)(3)(4)(5),17(1)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(i)(ii)(2)(3)(4)(5), 18(1)(a)(b) (c)(d)(e)(f)(i)(ii)(2)(3)(4)(5), 19(1 )(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f)(i)(ii)(2)(3)(4)(5), 25(1)(a)(b)(c)(d) (e)(i)(ii)(4)(a)(b)(5)(6), 26(1)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(i)(ii)(4)(a)(b)(5)(6), 47(1)(a)(b)(c)(i)(ii) (3)(4)(a)(b)(5)(6), 48(1)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(2), 49(1)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(2), 50(1)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(2), 52, 53, 57, 58, 59; (2) The Sexual Offences Act 2003 came into force on 1 May 2004. (3) The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offence for which they were dealt with. For example, when a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence 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. (4) 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: Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Evidence and Analysis Unit | |
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |