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1 Dec 2009 : Column 689W—continued
Sexual Assault Referral Centres
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many new sexual assault referral centres he expects to be opened in the period to April 2011. [301805]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The recently published strategy entitled "Together We Can End Violence Against Women and Girls" sets out the Government's commitment to have a SARC operational in every police force area by April 2011.
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what qualitative and quantitative data on people referred to sexual assault referral centres such centres are required to report to his Department. [301790]
Mr. Alan Campbell: SARCs are not required to report data to the Home Office on victims referred to SARCs. However, as set out in the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy published on 25 November, accurate and comparable data are essential to enable local areas to plan, implement and monitor services for victims of violence against women and girls. As such, SARCs should seek to share appropriate data with local partners as necessary to inform assessments of service need. The recently published "A Resource for Developing Sexual Assault Referral Centres" sets out appropriate data collection procedures for SARCs.
Sexual Offences: Alcoholic Drinks
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information his Department holds on the number of victims of sexual violence referred to sexual assault referral centres who were intoxicated by alcohol at the time of the alleged assault in the last 12 months. [301811]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The information requested is not available.
Terrorism
David Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department by what mechanisms the (a) National Public Order Intelligence Unit, (b) National Extremism Tactical Co-ordination Unit and (c) National Domestic Extremism Team are accountable; and if he will make a statement. [300231]
Mr. Hanson: The National Public Order Intelligence Unit, the National Extremism Tactical Co-ordination Unit and the National Domestic Extremism Team report to the ACPO National Co-ordinator for Domestic Extremism, who is in turn accountable to the ACPO Committee for Terrorism and Allied Matters. The accounts of ACPO, as a registered company, are subject to audit.
Following the publication on 25 November 2009 of the report by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary, "Adapting to Protest", the Government will act on the report's recommendations to review the governance and accountability structures of the national domestic extremism units to ensure they are sufficiently transparent and clear.
Victim Support Schemes
James Brokenshire:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department by what performance measures the effectiveness of (a) each independent sexual violence adviser, (b) each sexual assault referral centre
and (c) the Sexual Violence National Support Team will be assessed; and if he will make a statement. [301807]
Mr. Alan Campbell: Individual Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs) are not currently assessed by the Home Office. However, 'Rape: the Victim Experience Review', published on 25 November by Sara Payne and informing the development of the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, highlights the important role of ISVAs in providing support to victims of sexual violence. The Review recommended that ISVAs should be professionally trained and accredited to put them on a par with other professional roles. As a result, we have committed to providing centrally funded and properly accredited training for ISVAs, including CPD, networking and best practice support.
Each Sexual Assault Referral Centre is assessed against performance measures which are based on local commissioning and service specifications. There is not a single national set of performance measures, although the recently published 'A Resource for Sexual Assault Referral Centres' sets out minimum elements that providers are expected to adopt.
The Response to Sexual Violence National Support Team offers free consultancy style tailored improvement support to all police forces and their local area partners across England and Wales providing them with the tools, techniques and information required to enable them to set up Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARC) to the standard set out in the national service guidelines published in October 2009. The value and impact of the team to local areas will be evaluated in 2010-11 as part of a wider evaluation of the NST programme.
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many victims of sexual violence have been referred to each Sexual Assault Referral Centre for (a) examination and (b) support in the last 12 months. [301808]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The information requested is not available.
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his latest estimate is of the proportion of referrals to a Sexual Assault Referral Centre for (a) examination and (b) support which have resulted in criminal charges. [301809]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The information requested is not available.
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what support his Department makes available to post-pubertal adolescent victims reporting sexual violence within a week of an alleged assault. [301810]
Mr. Alan Campbell:
Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) are one-stop locations where victims of recent sexual assault can receive medical care and counselling quickly and empathetically, and which allow for the collection of forensic evidence for potential prosecutions. Young people can access the full range of examination and support services from the majority of SARCs which
offer specific services for young people. This includes some SARCs who have a dedicated young persons Independent Sexual Violence Adviser (ISVA). We are encouraging all SARCs to ensure that they are able to offer the full range of quality services to children and young people. The Home Office has provided capital and resource funding to expand the number and quality of SARCs since 2003-04.
The Home Office has also provided just over £3 million to support ISVAs since they were piloted in 2006. ISVAs provide independent support and advocacy to victims of sexual violence and abuse throughout and beyond the criminal justice process. There are a number of ISVAs who work specifically with children and young people who have experienced sexual violence.
Victim Support Schemes: Finance
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what funding his Department (a) made available in 2009-10 and (b) plans to make available in 2010-11 to support (i) independent sexual violence advisers and (ii) independent domestic violence advisers; and if he will make a statement. [301802]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The Home Office made £860,000 available to support the expansion of ISVAs in 2009-10 and expects to do so in 2010-11. The Home Office also allocated £3.5 million in 2009-10 and expects to do so in 2010-11 to the regional Government offices to contribute to funding of both ISVAs and multi agency risk assessment conferences.
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what funding his Department expects to provide to support the operation of existing sexual assault referral centres in 2010-11. [301803]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The recently published strategy entitled "Together We Can End Violence Against Women and Girls" sets out the Government's commitment to double central investment in Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) in 2010-11 making £3.2 million of funding available. We expect the majority of this funding to be used to support existing SARCs.
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much funding his Department (a) has provided in the last 12 months and (b) intends to provide in the next 12 months for the establishment and operation of the Sexual Violence National Support Team. [301806]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The Department of Health provided £0.7 million to fund the National Support Team on Response to Sexual Violence in 2009-10 and has committed a further £0.7 million for 2010-11.
Yvonne Fletcher
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information his Department has obtained from the Metropolitan Police on the name of the principal suspect in the case of the shooting of WPC Yvonne Fletcher. [302204]
Mr. Hanson: The investigation into the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher, as with the investigation of any crime in the UK, is an operational matter for the police. It is not for the Home Office to intervene in particular criminal investigations.
Cabinet Office
Caparo Group
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether her Department holds contracts with each company of the Caparo Group. [303108]
Angela E. Smith: The Cabinet Office does not currently hold any contracts with the Caparo Group.
Charities: Fundraising
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many charities were found to be raising money for a purpose outside their charitable objectives in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [302141]
Angela E. Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Charity Commission. I have asked the commission to reply.
Letter from Andrew Hind, dated 26 November 2009:
As the Chief Executive of the Charity Commission, I have been asked to respond to your written Parliamentary Question (302141) on how many charities were found to be raising money for a purpose outside their charitable objectives in the last 12 months for which figures are available.
Your question is very broad and covers a number of potential situations. Therefore it is difficult to answer comprehensively. However we have analysed the information we hold on closed cases in our compliance function (which deals with the most serious concerns about charities), and found that between 26 November 2008 and 25 November 2009 there were 33 cases which involved charities acting outside their objects or misapplying charitable funds. I should stress that this figure excludes any cases which remain ongoing, or instances which have not merited our regulatory action but have been dealt with through giving advice and guidance to the charity concerned to ensure this does not happen again.
We recently published a report, Back on Track, on the work of our Compliance function over the last financial year, and this gives a breakdown of all investigations closed during 2008-09 by the issues involved. A copy has been placed in the Library of the House.
I hope this is helpful and would very happy to discuss this issue further with you.
Charity Commission
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) how much was paid in (a) expenses, (b) moneys to compensate for tax liability and (c) other remuneration paid to each commissioner of the Charity Commission in the last year for which information is available; [301627]
(2) what declarations of political activity have been made by each (a) commissioner and (b) executive director of the Charity Commission. [301626]
Angela E. Smith: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 October 2009, Official Report, columns 1290-92W.
Charity Commission: Public Relations
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what payments the Charity Commission has made to Mandate Communications/AS Biss in the last 12 months; at what cost; for what purposes; and if she will place in the Library a copy of each of the contracts under which such payments have been made. [302211]
Angela E. Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Charity Commission. I have asked the Commission to reply.
Letter from Andrew Hind, dated 26 November 2009:
As the Chief Executive of the Charity Commission, I have been asked to respond to your written Parliamentary Question (302211) on what payments the Charity Commission has made to Mandate Communications/AS Biss in the last 12 months; at what cost; for what purpose; and whether we can place in the Library a copy of the contracts under which such payments have been made.
We made no payments to Mandate between 24 November 2008 and 24 November 2009. However, in September 2008 we made a payment of £4,406.25 to them for the purpose of providing training. It is not appropriate to place a copy of the relevant contract in the Library of the House, for reasons of commercial confidentiality.
I hope this is helpful.
Childbirth: Poverty
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what estimate has been made of the number of people who were born into poverty in (a) the UK, (b) England, (c) the North East and (d) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency in each year since 1997. [301817]
Helen Goodman: I have been asked to reply.
Information on the number of children born into families in relative poverty is not available for any period.
This is because the main source of income data, the Family Resources Survey, is a snap-shot survey, capturing a household's situation at the time of interview. This means that the sample size for households with very young children will be small. It may also be the case that the response rate from families with very young children will be lower than usual and therefore may not be representative.
Departmental Internet
Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many (a) page hits and (b) visitors her Department's website received in 2008-09. [301858]
Angela E. Smith: During April 2008 through to March 2009 the Cabinet Office website, www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk, has received 11,760,880 page views and 1,144,236 unique visitors.
Mr. Heald:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) what the cost was of maintaining her Department's website in the 2008-09 financial year; and what the
forecast cost is of maintaining websites within the Cabinet Office's responsibility in the 2009-10 financial year; [302410]
(2) what the cost was of maintaining (a) the Cabinet Office and (b) the No. 10 website in the 2008-09 financial year; and what the forecast cost is of maintaining that website in the 2009-10 financial year. [302421]
Tessa Jowell: It is not possible to provide a single figure for the running costs of the Cabinet Office website as they are contained within the overall costs of the Cabinet Office e-media team, which is also responsible for all forms of digital communication. It should be noted that Cabinet Office does not supply forecast figures, only audited figures.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by the Prime Minister on 26 November 2008, Official Report, column 1482W, which explained that as a result of accounting changes it is not possible to provide a single comparable figure for the running costs of the No. 10 website.
Departmental Scientists
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many (a) scientific advisers and (b) civil servants in scientific posts there are in her Department. [301929]
Angela E. Smith: Cabinet Office does not have any posts designated as "scientific advisors" or scientific posts. However, there are a range of posts across the Department that require scientific knowledge or experience, depending on the nature of the role.
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