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20 July 2009 : Column 936W—continued


National Public Order Intelligence Unit

David Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much his Department has allocated to the National Public Order Intelligence Unit in each year since its establishment; and how many staff the unit employed in each such year. [284134]

Mr. Hanson: The Home Office does not provide funding directly to the National Public Order Intelligence Unit. Funding is provided by top-slice of the police grant and a contribution from the Metropolitan Police Service.

We do not disclose details of grants provided to individual units on security grounds. Nor do we disclose details of the numbers of staff employed by individual units.

Offences Against Children

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police cautions were given for the (a) possession of and (b) creation of pornographic images of children in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [282745]

Mr. Alan Campbell [holding answer 29 June 2009]: Information provided by the Ministry of Justice showing the number of offenders cautioned for the possession, taking, distributing or publishing of indecent photographs or pseudo photographs of children in England and Wales, from 1998 to 2007 can be viewed in the following table.

Number of offenders cautioned( 1) for possessing, taking, distributing or publishing indecent photographs or pseudo photographs of children, in England and Wales, 1998 to 2007( 2, 3)
Offence Statute 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Possession of an indecent photograph or pseudo- photograph(3)

Criminal Justice Act 1988 Sec. 160 as amended by the criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000, and Criminal Justice Act 1988 Sec 160 as amended by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, Secs.84(4) and 86(1)

19

34

25

32

53

205

162

151

147

142

Take, permit to be taken, or to make distribute or publish indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children

Protection of Children Act 1978 Section 1 as amended by Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, Sec 84 and Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 S.41(1).

26

31

35

38

63

239

201

195

168

185

(1 )From 1 June 2000 the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 came into force nationally and removed the use of cautions for persons under 18 and replaced them with reprimands and warnings. These figures have been included in the totals.
(2 )The cautions statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been cautioned for two or more offences at the same time the principal offence is the more serious offence.
(3 )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 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:
Evidence & Analysis Unit-Office for Criminal Justice Reform

20 July 2009 : Column 937W

Offenders: Foreigners

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign national prisoners were on bail on 28 February 2009. [263214]

Mr. Woolas: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the letter of 7 July 2009 from the Chief Executive of the UK Border Agency to the Home Affairs Select Committee which is available in the House Library.

Office of Cyber Security: Cyber Security Operations Centre

Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) budget and (b) number of staff of the (i) Office of Cyber Security and (ii) Cyber Security Operations Centre in Cheltenham is in 2009-10; and if he will make a statement. [286486]

Mr. Hanson: The Office of Cyber Security (OCS) will be established in September 2009 to provide strategic leadership for and coherence across Government, and to establish a cross-Government programme to address priority areas in pursuit of the UK's strategic cyber security objectives. The exact staffing and budgetary arrangements are currently being determined.

The Cyber Security Operations Centre (CSOC) will be established at the same time to bring together existing multi-agency efforts to provide situational awareness, analysis and incident response co-ordination in the cyber security field, making sure that new and existing resources are used to best effect in the areas where they are needed the most. The exact staffing and budgetary arrangements are currently being determined.

The additional resources for the Government's overall cyber security programme will be reported to the House in the autumn.

Official Residences

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much has been paid to Westminster City Council in council tax on the empty property of 62 South Eaton Place in each month since the right hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside vacated the Ministerial residence there. [273466]

Mr. Woolas: The following annual council tax payments have been made:

£

2006-07

1,271

2007-08

825

2008-09

824


Discount for empty property was claimed for 2007-08 and 2008-09.

Passports: Fraud

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many biometric passports issued to applicants had subsequently been withdrawn on the basis of (a) fraud and (b) ineligibility of the applicant on the latest date for which figures are available. [276828]

Alan Johnson: In terms of fraud recording, the Identity and Passport Service does not yet differentiate between biometric and non-biometric passports.


20 July 2009 : Column 938W

Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many fraudulent passport applications were detected in each year since 1997; and how many instances of passport fraud his Department estimates were undetected in each such year. [285925]

Alan Johnson: The Identity and Passport Service (IPS) figures for passport frauds detected in each year since 1997 are shown in table 1:

Table 1

Number

1997(1)

1,880

1998(1)

1,368

1999(1)

1,535

January to March 2000(1)

362

2000-01

1,484

2001-02

2,419

2002-03

1,973

2003-04

2,651

2004-05

1,497

2005-06

6,497

2006-07

6,108

2007-08

9,382

2008-09

9,254

(1) Calendar years were used until April 2000

The estimated number of fraudulent passport applications which go undetected, for years in which figures are available, is set out in table 2

Table 2

Estimated proportion of fraudulent applications (percentage)( 1) Estimated number of undetected frauds( 1)

1997

-

-

1998

-

-

1999

-

-

January to March 2000

-

-

2000-01

-

-

2001-02

-

-

2002-03

0.09

2,974

2003-04

-

-

2004-05

-

-

2005-06

0.25

10,058

2006-07

0.25

9,672

2007-08

0.25

5,372

2008-09

0.26

4,410

(1) Figures do not include cases in which a false declaration has been made by a passport applicant but identity and eligibility for a passport are not in doubt.

The process IPS uses to estimate the number of fraudulent applications it receives is based on sampling and statistical extrapolation.

The estimate of the number of fraudulent applications which evade IPS controls is derived from a simple arithmetical calculation in which the number of frauds identified and prevented is deducted from the estimated number of fraudulent applications received.

IPS first conducted an exercise to establish an estimate of the number of fraudulent applications in 2002 and details of its findings were made available to Parliament in response to questions.


20 July 2009 : Column 939W

In 2006 IPS introduced a more refined and robust sampling process drawing on the experience of 2002 and its increased understanding of the nature and pattern of fraud. This increased understanding of the nature and pattern of fraud has also enabled IPS to refine the way it records fraud and to identify fraudulent applications which had been stopped by routine controls but which had not been previously recorded as fraud.

Passports: Interviews

Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what proportion of
20 July 2009 : Column 940W
first-time passport applicants have been interviewed in each month since the interview system was established. [285794]

Alan Johnson: The proportion of first time adult passport applicants who have received passports and who had been interviewed in each month since the interview system was established in 2007 is approximately 90 per cent.

See following table:

Total first time adult interviews conducted Total first time adult passports issued Percentage of first time adults being interviewed

October 2007

2,259

26,132

9

November 2007

5,207

25,778

20

December 2007

9,031

17,293

52

January 2008

10,373

16,680

62

February 2008

23,537

25,660

92

March 2008

32,054

36605

88

April 2008

29,979

32,405

93

May 2008

31,341

34,253

91

June 2008

40,348

43,624

92

July 2008

26,606

29,974

89

August 2008

30,187

33,633

90

September 2008

19,765

21,815

91

October 2008

16,022

18,539

86

November 2008

19,533

21,798

90

December 2008

12,794

15,190

84

January 2009

13,947

14,165

98

February 2009

20,821

22,587

92

March 2009

31,466

33,928

93

April 2009

24,210

25,607

95

May 2009

30,818

33,220

93

June 2009

18,955

19,948

95

Total

432,756

479,631

90


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