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13 July 2009 : Column 138Wcontinued
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals have undergone (a) two, (b) three, (c) four and (c) five or more standard or enhanced Criminal Records Bureau checks in the last (i) three, (ii) six and (iii) 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [286096]
Mr. Hanson: The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) does not hold data to show the number of individuals who have been required to apply for more than one Disclosure.
It is ultimately for each recruiting organisation and not the CRB to decide whether a fresh Disclosure should be applied for. The recruiting organisation, using a full range of pre-recruitment checks, is best placed to assess whether a new Disclosure is required for a specific position, bearing in mind their legal and other responsibilities. Organisations can accept a previously issued Disclosure at their own risk but they must understand the limitations and risks of doing so.
Guidance can be found on the CRB website at:
but the overriding consideration must always be the safety of those whom the Disclosure Service is designed to protect.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions have been made consequent on investigations by the E-Crime Unit of the Serious Organised Crime Agency. [278434]
Alan Johnson: The mandate of SOCA's e-Crime Department is to reduce the harm caused to the UK by online crime. It is resourced to address the threat of technology-enabled crime, and in particular to degrade criminal capability to
use the Internet as an operational enabler or means of influence;
use the Internet to obtain information on serious organised crime in order to improve understanding of how those involved operate;
use the internet as a tool to assist in the disruption of criminal activity; and
help our citizens protect themselves from criminal activity on the internet.
From April 2006 until March 2009 the Serious Organised Crime Agency's e-Crime unit was involved in
(a) 22 prosecutions; and
(b) 21 convictions.
Prosecution is however only one of a number of tools available to help achieve harm reduction in line with the Home Secretary's priorities in this area. Resources are directed also to the development of new intervention techniques, to disrupt and deny criminal opportunities worldwide and to work with international partners. Similarly these techniques include work with internet protocol registrars and others involved in regulating the internet and the influencing of future legislation. The aim is not just to pursue the criminals involved, many of whom operate beyond the reach of our courts but also provide long-term solutions for harm reduction on the internet. The SOCA 2008-09 annual report recorded significant operational successes by the e-Crime unit, notably against DarkMarket and the Sumitomo Banking Corporation.
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre (CEOP) was involved over the same period in the investigation of offences of alleged child abuse where technology may have been a factor.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent progress has been made towards ratification of the European Convention on Cybercrime; and if he will make a statement. [283483]
Mr. Alan Campbell:
The Government are fully 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 had hoped to complete this process earlier in the year, but due to extended discussions with the devolved administrations and with legal advisors this has not been possible. We do not believe that further legislation will be necessary before we can proceed. We hope to complete the Parliamentary process shortly.
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost to his Department of employing press office staff other than press officers has been in each year since 1997. [283085]
Mr. Woolas: Staff employed in the Home Office press office other than press officers include staff in administrative and management roles. The following table which is based on our records provides the costs of these staff each year since 1997.
Cost (£) | |
(1 )Prison Service and Core Home Office Press Offices merged. (2 )Exact costs of management 2004-05 are not available-management costs included here are the same as 2003-04. |
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what changes have been made to his Department's (a) office equipment and (b) stationery purchasing policy in the last six months. [285314]
Mr. Woolas: The Department has made no changes to its (a) office equipment and (b) stationery purchasing policy in the last six months.
The Department participates in cross-government collaborative arrangements for office equipment and stationery that include built-in incremental benefits. Additionally, the Department regularly engages with the market to ensure that the objective of value for money is achieved.
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how much his Department has spent on staff training in health and safety procedures in each of the last five years; [278142]
(2) how much his Department has spent on health and safety training for its employees in each of the last two years. [284112]
Mr. Woolas: The information requested is not collated centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many new profiles have been added to the National DNA Database by each police force since 4 December 2008; and if he will make a statement. [285742]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The figures in Table 1 show the number of subject profiles added to the National DNA Database (NDNAD) by forces in England and Wales between 5 December 2008 and 8 July 2009, broken down by police forces.
The figures in Table 2 show the number of crime scene profiles added to the NDNAD by forces in England and Wales between 5 December 2008 and 8 July 2009, broken down by the police forces.
The number of subject profiles held on the NDNAD is not the same as the number of individuals. A proportion of DNA profiles held on the NDNAD are replicates, that is, a profile for a person has been loaded on more then one occasion (this may be because the person gave different names, or different versions of their name, on separate arrests, or because of upgrading of profiles). It is currently estimated that 13.5 per cent. of subject profiles held on the NDNAD are replicates. The replication rate of 13.5 per cent. should only be applied over the entire database however, as the replication rate for individual forces varies considerably. The presence of these replicate profiles on the NDNAD does not impact on the effectiveness and integrity of the database.
Table 1: Subject profiles added to the NDNAD between 5 December 2008 and 8 July 2009 | |
Force | Number |
Table 2: Crime scene profiles added to the NDNAD between 5 December 2008 and 8 July 2009 | |
Force | Number |
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