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8 Dec 2009 : Column 214W—continued
Antisocial Behaviour: Alcoholic Drinks
Mr. Touhig: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make an assessment of the likely effects on the level of anti-social behaviour of a minimum unit price for alcohol. [304206]
Mr. Alan Campbell: We understand that there is a real concern about the possible links between cheap alcohol and antisocial behaviour. However, the evidence is inconclusive as to whether the introduction of a minimum unit price would reduce alcohol related crime and disorder. While there is evidence that cheap alcohol is linked to people drinking more and subsequent harm to their health, it is important that any Government interventions reduce harm without impacting unduly on the majority of responsible drinkers. We will look to develop further the evidence base in this area with a view to identifying concrete proposals for action which reduce irresponsible, harmful and/or binge drinking without impacting unduly on the majority of responsible drinkers.
Asylum
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department from which 50 parliamentary constituencies the UK Border Agency received the highest number of enquiries regarding asylum cases that are (a) legacy cases, (b) non-legacy cases and (c) out-of-country visa applications ranked from highest to lowest in each of the last four years. [302097]
Mr. Woolas: The information requested is not available in the format required and could be obtained only by the detailed examination of individual records at disproportionate cost.
British Nationality: Assessments
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much the administration of the citizenship tests has cost since the inception of such tests. [303110]
Mr. Woolas: UKBA have a commercial contract with the Ufi (formerly University for industry) to provide the Life in the UK test. Candidates taking the Life in the UK test pay a fee of £34 to the test centre. There is no limit on how many times a candidate may take the test and the fee is payable each time a test is taken. The fee is set at a level to meet the costs of delivering the overall testing service, there are no costs incurred by UKBA.
Burglary
Mr. Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many burglaries were recorded by police in (a) England and (b) North East Cambridgeshire in each of the last 10 years. [303641]
Mr. Alan Campbell: Information on the number of burglaries recorded by the police in England is given in the following tables. Data for North East Cambridgeshire are not collected centrally.
| Table 1: Offences of burglary recorded by the police in England-2000-01 and 2001-02 | |
| Number of offences | |
| Table 2: Offences of burglary recorded by the police in England-2002-03 to 2008-09( 1) | |
| Number of offences | |
| (1) The National Crime Recording Standard was introduced in 2002/03 and data before and after that date are not directly comparable. | |
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many reports of burglary were received by the police in (a) Ashford constituency and (b) Kent in each year since 2005. [304924]
Mr. Alan Campbell: Information on reports of burglary received by the police is not available centrally. The available information relates to offences of burglary recorded by the police in the Ashford local authority area and the Kent police force area and is given in the following table.
| Offences of burglary recorded by the police in the Ashford local authority area and the Kent police force area | ||
| Number of offences | ||
| Ashford | Kent | |
Crime and Disorder Act 1988
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people under the age of 16 years have been convicted of an offence under section 1(10) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1988 in each of the last five years. [301794]
Mr. Alan Campbell: Information is provided by the Ministry of Justice on how many people under the age of 16 years have been convicted of an offence under section 1(10) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1988 in each of the last five years.
Centrally collected data on breaches of antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) are currently available for ASBOs issued between 1 June 2000 and 31 December 2007. The available published data show that during that period 3,853 persons aged between 10 and 17 were convicted of breaching their ASBO on at least one occasion. No breakdown by year is available.
Crime: Offensive Weapons
Mr. Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crimes involving the use of a knife were recorded by police in (a) England and (b) North East Cambridgeshire constituency in each of the last 10 years. [303187]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The Home Office has collected data on knife and sharp instrument offences since April 2007 via a special additional data collection. Data are therefore only available for two years. The data are collected at force level only, so data for North East Cambridgeshire are not available.
In 2007-08, the data collection covered the following offences: attempted murder, GBH and robbery. The total number of offences involving the use of a knife/sharp instrument recorded by the police in England in 2007-08 was close to 24,000.
In 2008-09, the collection was expanded to include threats to kill, ABH, rape and sexual assaults. Therefore, the figures between the two years are not comparable. The total number of offences involving the use of a knife or sharp instrument recorded by the police in England in 2008-09 was close to 35,000.
There is a further reason why the figures are not fully comparable. Some forces in 2007-08 included, for technical reasons, a number of 'unbroken' bottle offences, which is outside the defined scope of the collection. For 2008-09,
the majority of forces within England could supply data excluding unbroken bottles, with four Home Office forces still unable to remove them from their returns.
These figures do not include homicide, as these are collected from the separate Homicide Index. In 2007-08, there were 259 knife or sharp instrument homicides in England. Figures for 2008-09 are pre-announced to be published on the 21 January 2010.
DNA: Databases
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) whether any Government Ministers have a record on the National DNA Database; [304025]
(2) how many (a) hon. Members, (b) police officers, (c) children, (d) old age pensioners, (e) members of the House of Lords and (f) judges have records on the National DNA Database. [304026]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The National DNA Database (NDNAD) is an intelligence database which matches DNA found at crime scenes with DNA profiles of individuals. It also provides police with potential leads on the identity of an offender. An individual may have their DNA profile loaded onto the NDNAD if they have been arrested for a recordable offence or if they have volunteered their DNA to assist in a criminal investigation and also provided separate written consent for the resulting profile to be loaded onto the NDNAD.
The NDNAD stores only limited personal information about the identity of those with a profile held on it. Only an individual's name, date of birth, gender and ethnic appearance are recorded. Details of occupation are not held therefore it is not possible to say how many Government Ministers, hon. Members, Members of the House of Lords or judges have a DNA profile held on the NDNAD.
As with the other occupations listed in the question, it is not possible to give the number of police officers with a profile held on the NDNAD. A police officer may have voluntarily given a DNA sample for the NDNAD, or, like any other citizen, a police officer arrested for a recordable offence may have a DNA sample taken as a result.
However, there is also a separate DNA database known as the Police Elimination Database (PED) which holds the DNA profiles of serving police officers, who are potentially capable of leaving DNA at a crime scene in the course of their duties. PED searches are carried out only if a senior investigating officer requests a comparison of DNA profiles from a specified officer or officers with a DNA profile from a specified crime, unlike NDNAD searches which compare all profiles from crime scenes with all profiles from known individuals. Since 1 August 2002, all new recruits to the police service have been required to give a DNA sample as a condition of employment. As at 30 September 2009 there were 118,699 records held on the PED for England and Wales police forces. However, as the PED also holds the profiles of certain police staff such as scenes of crime officers and vehicle examiners and does not contain the details of people's professions, we are not able to state how many of these records relate to police officers.
As the date of birth of an individual is recorded alongside their profile it is possible to provide information on the number of profiles belonging to children and over 65s held on the NDNAD. This information (for England and Wales police forces only) is provided in the table and reflects the individual's age on 16 October 2009.
The number of profiles is not the same as the number of individuals. This is because some of the profiles held on the NDNAD are replicates, that is, an individual may have more than one profile held on the NDNAD. This may happen if, for example, an individual gives a different name on different arrest occasions. The existence of replicates does not affect the integrity or effectiveness of the NDNAD. The current replication rate across the entire NDNAD is 13.8 per cent.
The data presented are based on a snapshot of the NDNAD as at 16 October 2009. The data on the NDNAD are constantly changing as records are added and removed, hence the figures are a snapshot of the records at a single point in time. The data are management information and have not been formally assessed for compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.
| Table showing number of profiles belonging to children aged under 18 and adults aged 65 and over held on the NDNAD at 16 October 2009 (England and Wales forces only) | |
| Age | Number of profiles( 1) |
| (1) Due to replication on the NDNAD the number of profiles is not the same as the number of individuals. The replication rate across the whole NDNAD (all forces) is estimated at 13.8 per cent. Source: National DNA Database, NPIA, as at 16 October 2009 | |
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the report of the Human Genetics Commission entitled Nothing to hide, nothing to fear, whether he has received evidence of people being arrested for the purposes of adding their DNA samples to the National DNA Database; and if he will make a statement. [304027]
Mr. Alan Campbell: There is no objective evidence to suggest that the police are arresting people for the purpose of obtaining their DNA. The taking of a person's liberty by arresting them is not undertaken lightly. That is why the power of arrest is subject to a test of necessity, set out in section 24 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE). Police officers are also required to have regard to the statutory guidance in the exercise of the power of arrest, which is set out in Code of Practice G, one of the codes of practice issued under PACE.
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of (a) black, (b) Asian and (c) white males aged between 18 and 35 years have records on the National DNA Database. [304060]
Mr. Alan Campbell:
It is not possible at present to calculate accurately the proportion of members of ethnic groups in the population as a whole who are on the NDNAD. This is because the data held on the NDNAD
are not directly comparable with census population data. The NDNAD does not hold self-reported ethnicity data on arrested persons who have a DNA sample taken, but on their 'ethnic appearance'. The ethnic appearance data is based on the judgment of the police officer and is recorded for police intelligence purposes to assist in subsequent identification. It uses six broad ethnic categories (plus 'unknown') whereas census data are based on 16 ethnic groups self-reported by individuals.
Estimates of the proportion of different ethnic groups on the NDNAD calculated by simply dividing the number of profiles by the population data will give an inaccurate estimate as a number of other factors also need to be taken into account. Examples of these factors are the number of profiles from persons of mixed race, the number of profiles of unknown ethnicity, the number of replicate profiles and the use of comparable up-to-date population data. The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) is working to produce an estimate which is as accurate and robust as possible.
Data are available on the number of DNA profiles from people with black, asian or white ethnic appearance aged between 18 and 35 years on the NDNAD. The following table displays the number of subject profiles retained on the NDNAD as at 16 October 2009 for males aged 18-35 inclusive (based on current age as at 16 October 2009) for England and Wales police forces, including the British Transport Police (BTP). The figures cover all subject profiles.
The number of profiles is not the same as the number of individuals. This is because some of the profiles held on the NDNAD are replicates, that is, an individual may have more than one profile held on the NDNAD. This may happen if, for example, an individual gives a different name on different arrest occasions. The existence of replicates does not affect the integrity or effectiveness of the NDNAD. The current replication rate across the entire NDNAD is 13.8 per cent.
The data presented are based on a snapshot of the NDNAD as at 16 October 2009. The data on the NDNAD are constantly changing as records are added and removed, hence the figures are a snapshot of the records at a single point in time. The data are management information and have not been formally assessed for compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.
| Table showing the number of DNA subject profiles from black, asian and white males aged 18-35 inclusive (based on current age as at 16 October 2009) on the national DNA database (England and Wales forces only, including BTP). | |
| Ethnic appearance category | Number of DNA profiles |
| Source: National DNA Database, NPIA, as at 16 October 2009 | |
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