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22 Oct 2009 : Column 1588W—continued
Police: Standards
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department against how many statutory performance indicators police forces are being assessed against in 2009-10. [294426]
Alan Johnson: Following the changes announced in the Policing Green Paper in 2008, indicators within APACS are no longer statutory, but are set for each year following consultation with the National Policing Board, which includes tripartite partners. For 2009-10, 36 performance indicators are in APACS, but the Home Office does not make any assessment of police forces against those with the exception of the remaining single top down target relating to public confidence.
Her Majesty's inspectorate of constabulary (HMIC) are now responsible for making assessments of police forces and publishing them, drawing on the APACS data set and other information as necessary.
Vetting
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether a Criminal Records Bureau check identifies whether the person in respect of which the check is being made has had children taken into care. [294640]
Meg Hillier [holding answer 20 October 2009]: Section 114 B (4) of Part V of the Police Act 1997 requires that in addition to criminal record information from the Police National Computer (PNC), Enhanced Disclosures should include any other information which a chief police officer holds and considers might be relevant to the job application in question and ought to be disclosed. This may include information concerning children taken into care.
This is usually non-conviction information deriving from local force records and is referred to as 'approved information'. Chief officers are obliged to provide such information for Enhanced Disclosures under the Act. Where disclosed, information of this nature is considered by the police to represent a factual record of previous events that an employer in the most sensitive type of occupation should be aware of in making an employment decision affecting the most vulnerable groups of people.
Vetting: Standards
Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his most recent estimate is of the average time for a Criminal Records Bureau check to be completed. [294297]
Meg Hillier: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer of 29 June 2009, Official Report, column 80W.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Air Pollution: Greater London
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on how many days air pollution recorded at each London air quality monitoring site exceeded EU legal limits for air pollution in each year since 2005. [291635]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Council Directive 2008/50/EC on Ambient Air Quality and Cleaner Air for Europe requires member states to assess ambient air for levels of a number of defined pollutants. The directive sets out limit values which member states are required to meet. The limit values specify both the level the pollutants must be kept below, and the time over which data should be averaged. Limit values with averaging times of less than or equal to 24 hours, and which have been or are being exceeded in London are detailed below:
NO2 hourly mean of 200 ug/m(3) (not to be exceeded more than 18 times per year)
24 hour mean (PM10 of 50 ug/m(3), (not be exceeded more than 35 times per year).
The following table indicates for monitoring sites in London the number of days per year where an exceedance of either of the above detailed limit values has occurred, for all years between 2005 and 2008 inclusive.
| Site Code | Site Name | Year | Days Exceedence of EU Limit Values |
The following should be noted in conjunction with the table.
The numbers presented represent a combination of both the above limit values.
If a single day occurred where there was an exceedance of both the above limit values, it has only been counted once, i.e. the total number of days per year exceeding at each site cannot exceed 365.
For the hourly mean N02 limit value, the number presented represents a single hour in the day above 200 microgrammes/m(3) (where the total number of hourly means in excess of 200 microgrammes/m(3) at that site was greater than 18 in the year). This counts as one day where an exceedance occurred, even though there may have been several hours above this concentration in the 24 hour period. Only hours in excess of the 18 allowed per year have been counted as contributing to the exceedance.
For the daily mean PM10 limit value, the total number of days represents the number of days where 24 hour mean concentrations were in excess of 50 microgrammes/m(3), with the first 35 allowed occurrences subtracted.
Therefore the days counted include only those which are above the 35 days per year allowed, or 18 hours per year allowed, as defined by the limit values.
Data have only been reported for sites with more than 90 per cent. data capture.
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what average annual concentration of nitrogen dioxide in micrograms per cubic metre was recorded at each London air quality monitoring site in each year since 2005. [291636]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Under EU legislation, the UK is required to assess ambient air for levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and to report to the European Commission on an annual basis. Detailed reports on the assessments are available from the Air Quality Archive (www.airquality.co.uk). Nitrogen dioxide monitoring is undertaken in London at a number of sites for this purpose in accordance with the criteria in the Council Directive 2008/50/EC on Ambient Air Quality and Cleaner Air for Europe.
Annual mean NO2 monitoring data are displayed in the table for sites within London for years since 2005. Data are only displayed for sites where data capture for that year was greater than 90 per cent.
| Site code | Site name | Year | Annual mean NO 2 ( microgrammes/m(-3) ) |
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