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15 Oct 2009 : Column 1052W—continued

Antisocial Behaviour

John Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent representations he has received on the use of Mosquito ultrasonic deterrent devices; and if he will make a statement. [292957]

Mr. Alan Campbell [holding answer 14 October 2009]: The Home Office has received the following representations about the use of the Mosquito ultrasonic dispersal device:

Six (letters) from MPs on behalf of their constituents;

19 PQs from seven different MPs;

14 letters from members of the public and local authorities.

Of these, six were concerned that the device might breach a person's human rights and three were concerned with the legality of the device. Other questions and correspondence received referred to the use of the device and whether the Home Office will ban the device or provide guidance.

The Home Office encourages local agencies to consider the full range of innovations, schemes and practices intended to reduce crime, the fear of crime and antisocial behaviour. It is for local agencies like the police and local authorities to decide on the most appropriate interventions to tackle antisocial behaviour based on their knowledge of what works best locally, adopting a tiered approach to tackling antisocial behaviour using a blend of measures to provide a proportionate response.

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The Home Office does not recommend or promote any commercial ultrasonic dispersal device or venture and at the present time does not have any plans to take further action on this matter.

Antisocial Behaviour Orders

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many antisocial behaviour orders have been issued in England in the last three years. [292226]

Mr. Alan Campbell [holding answer 14 October 2009]: Information on the number of Antisocial Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) issued is available up to 31 December 2007. The number of ASBOs issued at all courts in England during 2005 was 3,907, in 2006 2,507 and in 2007 2,136, making a total of 8,550.

Departmental Training

John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many external training courses were attended by staff of his Department in the last 12 months; and what the cost was of each course. [289604]

Mr. Woolas: The information requested is not held centrally and would be available only at disproportionate cost.

Entry Clearances: Pakistan

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the longest period has been between the (a) application for and (b) issue or refusal of a UK visa in Pakistan; and on what date the successful appeal against refusal of that visa was concluded. [292367]

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Mr. Woolas: The UK Border Agency (UKBA) holds records of visa applications dating back to 1992 but it is not possible to ascertain precisely the processing times for older cases. Therefore, the UKBA has examined applications made in Pakistan since January 2006.

The longest processing time from application to decision was 917 working days in respect of a family reunion application. The application was issued and hence there was no subsequent appeal.

Current processing times are advertised on the Visa Services website at:

www.ukvisas.gov.uk

Firearms

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many firearm offences, excluding those in which an air weapon was used, were recorded in each police force area in England and Wales in each year since 1998-99. [291776]

Alan Johnson: Available data relate to offences recorded in the period 1998-99 up to and including 2007-08, and are shown in the following table. Firearm statistics for 2008-09 are expected to be published in January 2010.

Firearms are taken to be involved in a crime if they are fired, used as a blunt instrument against a person, or used as a threat.

The National Crime Recording Standard was introduced on 1 April 2002. Data for the years up to and including 2001-02 are not directly comparable with those for later years.

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Crimes recorded by the police in which firearms (including air weapons) were reported to have been used( 1) by region and police force area: England and Wales, 1998-99 to 2007-08
Recorded crime
	Total number of offences
Police force area	1998-99( 2)	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02( 3)	2002-03( 4)	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
North East Region
Cleveland	20	26	16	24	18	45	37	41	19	15
Durham	13	40	18	19	16	15	21	18	14	45
Northumbria	76	107	99	86	103	169	182	137	111	78
North West Region
Cheshire	32	22	44	50	31	44	61	71	41	59
Cumbria	11	5	13	9	13	11	26	18	21	18
Greater Manchester	647	875	935	1,361	1,240	1,275	1,268	1,200	993	1,160
Lancashire	50	78	59	103	66	58	259	372	364	349
Merseyside	286	240	278	299	318	483	491	485	410	398
Yorkshire and the Humber Region
Humberside	76	61	69	63	68	68	174	108	117	58
North Yorkshire	11	8	9	28	18	23	13	15	14	17
South Yorkshire	75	114	129	170	153	127	185	301	211	202
West Yorkshire	193	191	335	332	333	269	318	355	319	332
East Midlands Region
Derbyshire	52	65	72	58	73	75	149	109	83	70
Leicestershire	98	71	58	74	174	141	123	89	109	134
Lincolnshire	16	19	24	22	37	26	90	72	45	41
Northamptonshire	54	48	40	55	107	123	113	128	159	164
Nottinghamshire	111	173	157	204	264	233	303	277	196	240
West Midlands Region
Staffordshire	23	53	108	116	131	108	144	128	94	123
Warwickshire	20	14	39	53	62	102	73	80	90	107
West Mercia	38	36	41	54	48	62	151	115	58	124
West Midlands	408	664	817	1,288	1,101	1,138	959	946	979	974
East of England Region
Bedfordshire	46	56	48	82	86	89	94	103	86	83
Cambridgeshire	35	43	31	49	57	34	50	34	24	30
Essex	47	61	77	98	148	145	193	280	255	260
Hertfordshire	30	36	36	69	139	138	139	114	89	112
Norfolk	34	24	20	26	36	33	23	29	34	43
Suffolk	15	18	22	15	28	45	59	58	42	38
London Region( 5)	2,034	2,945	3,036	4,199	4,202	3,891	3,697	3,884	3,331	3399
South East Region
Hampshire	38	52	49	58	97	130	148	85	122	100
Kent	76	109	108	60	64	65	100	142	92	82
Surrey	35	42	52	40	34	88	63	87	60	70
Sussex	115	119	110	155	136	82	67	85	84	69
Thames Valley	96	107	198	267	362	421	437	401	332	322
South West Region
Avon and Somerset	71	103	100	131	119	123	196	167	138	116
Devon and Cornwall	75	81	64	52	36	84	189	174	132	111
Dorset	11	12	14	34	17	45	49	27	28	21
Gloucestershire	22	21	23	89	92	108	87	77	65	43
Wiltshire	19	10	13	26	60	53	49	43	69	49
Wales
Dyfed Powys	16	13	26	26	17	37	40	21	17	25
Gwent	26	19	11	18	52	74	85	53	33	47
North Wales	27	10	6	6	18	11	60	88	98	53
South Wales	31	52	67	56	74	47	104	71	67	84
England and Wales	5,209	6,843	7,471	10,024	10,248	10,338	11,069	11,088	9,645	9,865
England and Wales	3,175	3,898	4,435	5,825	6,046	6,447	7,372	7,204	6,314	6,466
(excluding London Region)
(1) Firearms are taken to be involved in a crime if they are fired, used as a blunt instrument against a person or used as a threat. (2) There was a change in the counting rules for recorded crime on 1 April 1998. (3) Figures for some crime categories may have been inflated by some police forces implementing the principles of the National Crime Recording Standard before 1 April 2002. (4) The National Crime Recording Standard was introduced on 1 April 2002, which may have resulted in inflated figures for some crime categories. Figures before and after this date are not directly comparable. (5) City of London and Metropolitan police force areas.

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