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4 Nov 2009 : Column 1050W—continued
Home Department
Borders: Personal Records
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what data other than those contained on a passport are requested of carriers as part of the e-borders scheme. [296791]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 2 November 2009]: In addition to the data contained on a passport (travel document information), carriers are required to provide other passenger information (OPI) to e-Borders, but only to the extent that it is known to the carrier.
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department by what date he expects the e-borders scheme to be implemented in respect of each mode of transport used to enter the UK. [296793]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 2 November 2009]: e-Borders implementation for aviation has already started and maritime and rail will commence in 2010.
Community Policing
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much the Neighbourhood Policing Fund was in each year since 2002-03; and what proportion of funding from the Fund was allocated for police community support officers in each of those years. [296358]
Mr. Hanson: Neighbourhood policing is central to improving public confidence in the police dealing with crime and antisocial behaviour that matters locally. Since 2002 we have invested heavily to ensure that there is now a neighbourhood policing team in every neighbourhood, including in total more than 13,500 officers and 16,000 PCSOs. We launched the Neighbourhood Policing Fund (NPF) during 2004-05 to incorporate a series of earlier PCSO funding rounds and significantly increase investment in PCSOs and the wider aspects of neighbourhood policing. The table shows the amount of funding allocated to neighbourhood policing and the proportion allocated specifically for PCSOs. This table includes the funding streams prior to the introduction of the NPF.
| Total (£ million) | Percentage allocated for PCSOs | |
| (1) Pre-NPF community support officer grant. (2) Since 2006 we have allocated a proportion of the fund for discretionary spending within the authority's neighbourhood policing budget. | ||
Funding is made available to police authorities, and it is for each police authority and each police force to allocate resources within the local force area. This funding provides a substantial proportion of each police authority's salary costs of its allocated share of the 16,000 PCSOs. The terms of the grant require that each authority employ at least that allocated number.
Crime: Children
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crimes of each type have been committed by children aged (a) under 10 and (b) between 11 and 14 years old in the Milton Keynes area in the last five years. [296138]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The information requested is not collected centrally. From the recorded crime statistics collected by the Home Office it is not possible to identify the age of the alleged offender.
Crime: Norwich
Chloe Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crimes were reported in (a) 1997, (b) 2007 and (c) 2008 in Norwich North constituency and how many of them resulted in convictions in each of those years. [296018]
Mr. Alan Campbell: Information is not available in the form requested as it is not possible to track individual offences through to their outcome at court.
In addition, data specifically for the Norwich North constituency are not collected centrally in either the police recorded crime data or the court proceedings data collected by the Ministry of Justice.
The available recorded crime data are for the Norwich Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership area. There were 17,890 offences recorded in 2007-08 and 16,176 in 2008-09, a fall of 10 per cent. Data for 1997 are not available.
Demonstrations: Parliament Square
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what discussions he has had with (a) the House authorities and (b) the former Speaker, Lord Martin in the last 12 months on legislation to restrict the extended use of amplified noise in Parliament Square; and if he will make a statement; [297129]
(2) whether the provisions of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill will enable restrictions to be placed on (a) (i) the establishment and (ii) the continuation of existing permanent demonstrations in Parliament Square and (b) the use of amplified noise for long periods in the Square. [297130]
Mr. Hanson [holding answer 2 November 2009]: My predecessor my hon. Friend the Member for Gedling (Mr. Coaker) met the former Speaker, the noble Lord Martin, in May to discuss a number of issues concerning Government proposals to repeal sections 132 to 138 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act. Ministers have discussed and will continue to discuss these proposals with the House authorities. I met the Serjeant at Arms in October.
The provisions in part 4 of the Constitutional Renewal and Governance Bill repeal sections 132 to 138 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 and provide the police with new powers to maintain access to Parliament.
The police will be able to place conditions on demonstrations only to the extent that they are necessary in order to prevent a march or assembly from blocking access to Parliament or, as currently under the Public Order Act, where they are necessary to prevent serious public disorder, serious disruption to the life of the community or serious damage to property.
Hakluyt
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what contacts his Department has had with Hakluyt and Co. Ltd. since 1 January 2009. [296747]
Mr. Hanson: The Home Office cannot find any record of any contact between the Home Office and Hakluyt and Co. Ltd.
Illegal Immigrants
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many illegal migrants have been found to be working in (a) the UK Border Agency and (b) the Immigration and Passport Service in each of the last five years. [288551]
Alan Johnson: In 2006 a total of nine contract cleaners, working in the then Immigration and Nationality Department of the Home Office, were found not to have valid leave to remain in the UK. Following that the Home Office's procedures for checking its own employees were tightened and the Home Office worked with its contractors to ensure that they fulfilled their responsibilities for pre-employment checking of their employees. Since 2006 we know of only one other case (in 2008) where an employee of a contractor had invalid leave to remain.
Immigration: Pakistan and Abu Dhabi
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department from whom entry clearance officers in his Department's visa hub in (a) Pakistan and (b) Abu Dhabi received instructions not to carry out telephone interviews with visa applicants; and in what form such instructions were given. [294287]
Alan Johnson: No instruction has been issued to entry clearance officers (ECOs) overseas, including those working in Pakistan and Abu Dhabi, not to interview visa applicants.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether visa processing work carried out at his Department's (a) Pakistan and (b) Abu Dhabi visa hub has been transferred to other visa processing centres. [294288]
Alan Johnson: Decision-making on visa applications submitted in Pakistan has been transferred in stages since October 2008 from Islamabad to Abu Dhabi (non-settlement applications) and London (settlement applications). No Pakistan work has been sent elsewhere.
Party Conferences
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether any of his Department's non-departmental public bodies sent representatives to attend one or more political party conferences in 2009. [293474]
Mr. Hanson: In respect of Home Office non-departmental public bodies, three representatives of the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) attended fringe events at the Labour and Conservative political party conferences in 2009, as observers.
Police Community Support Officers
Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what powers police community support officers have in relation to the use of speed detection devices. [293763]
Mr. Hanson [holding answer 22 October 2009]: No legal powers are required in order to operate a speed detection device. Police community support officers (PCSO) may use them. However, police community support officers have no power to issue a fixed penalty notice for a speeding offence. A police officer may issue a fixed penalty notice for speeding on the basis of evidence obtained by a PCSO.
Police: Pay
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) pay and (b) pay-related cost of employment of a full-time police officer was in the most recent period for which figures are available. [295387]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 26 October 2009]: The information is as follows:
(a) Pay scales for police officers in England and Wales from 1 September 2009 are shown in the following table.
(b) Based on published information, the average cost of employment (including salaries, National Insurance, pension costs and superannuation) of a police officer in 2008-09 was £54,300 per full-time officer(1, 2).
(1) Source: Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) 2008-09 (Provisional Actual data).
(2) Home Office Statistical Bulletin on Police Service Strength in England and Wales published in March 2009 - Police Numbers.
| Pay scales for police officers in England and Wales from one September 2009 | |
| Rank | Pay scale |
| (1)( )Including equivalent of London ranks. | |
Proceeds of Crime
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much each police authority recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 in each of the last five years. [296427]
Mr. Hanson:
Information on the value of cash forfeiture orders and confiscation orders obtained by police forces under the Proceeds and Crime Act 2002, and earlier
legislation, is set out in the following tables. The police can obtain forfeiture orders in the magistrates courts following the seizure of cash which they have reasonable grounds for suspecting is the proceeds of crime or intended for use in crime. Confiscation orders are made in the Crown court. The enforcement of confiscation orders is essentially a matter for HM Courts Service.
| Asset recovery performance by police forces in England and Wales, 2004-05 to 2008-09 | ||
| Table 1: Cash forfeitures and confiscation orders obtained in 2004-05 | ||
| £ | ||
| Cash forfeitures | Confiscation | |
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