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6 Jan 2010 : Column 431W—continued
Justice
Animal Welfare: Convictions
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many convictions for animal cruelty there have been in courts in East Sussex in each year since 1996. [309199]
Claire Ward: Information showing the number of defendants found guilty at all courts for offences involving animal cruelty, in the Sussex police force area from 1996 to 2007 (latest available) can be viewed in the table.
Court proceedings data are not available separately for East Sussex.
Data for 2008 are planned for publication on 28 January 2010.
| Number of offenders found guilty at all courts for animal cruelty offences( 1) , Sussex police force area, 1996 to 2007( 2,3) | |
| Number | |
| (1) The offences of animal cruelty are covered by the following acts; The Protection of Animals Act 1911, Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, Performing Animals (Regulations) Act 1926, Protection of Animals Act 1934, Docking and Nicking of Horses Act 1949, Pet Animals Act 1951, Cockfighting Act 1952, Protection of Animals (Amendment) Act 1954, Animal Health Act 1981, Slaughterhouses Act 1974, Abandonment of Animals Act 1960, Animal and Animal Products (Import and Export) Regulations 1998, Animals (Cruel Poisons ) Act 1962, Animal Boarding Establishments Act 1963, Riding Establishments Acts 1964 and 1970, Slaughter of Poultry Act 1967, Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1968, Badgers Act 1973, Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996, Protection of Animals (Amendment) Act 2000, the Fur Farming (Prohibition) Act 2000 and the Animal Welfare Act 2006. (2) The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services-Ministry of Justice | |
Corruption: Convictions
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many UK-registered companies have been prosecuted in the UK for bribery and corruption in the last five years. [307348]
Claire Ward: Information held centrally on the Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database for England and Wales does not identify where a company, proceeded against at magistrates courts, is registered.
Information for Scotland and Northern Ireland are matters for the Scottish Executive and Northern Ireland Office respectively.
Departmental Official Cars
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of providing official cars for the use of (a) Ministers and (b) officials in the last 12 months. [301173]
Mr. Straw: The provision of official cars for Ministers and the permanent secretary is the responsibility of the Government Car and Dispatch Agency (GCDA) managed by the Department for Transport. In July this year the Department for Transport published a written ministerial statement that lists the costs of providing each Government Department with ministerial cars and drivers for 2008-09. I refer the hon. Member to the written ministerial statement made by the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, my hon. Friend the Member for Gillingham (Paul Clark), on 16 July 2009, Official Report, column 80WS. That statement showed that the cost to the MoJ for ministerial cars in 2008-09 was £310,600.
Since 1 April 2009 the Ministry of Justice publishes on a quarterly basis the business costs for each Director General on the MoJ internet site. This includes the cost of the official car for the Permanent Secretary (which is also used by other senior officials). That information can be found at:
Driving Offences: Sentencing
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many convictions for (a) offences of drink driving and (b) each other motoring offence resulted in a custodial sentence in (i) Lewes constituency, (ii) Sussex and (iii) England in each of the last 10 years. [308564]
Claire Ward: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given on 2 December 2009, Official Report, column 790W.
Elections
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans he has to bring forward legislative proposals on (a) voting age, (b) a referendum on using the alternative vote for elections to the House of Commons and (c) voting rights for prisoners. [308326]
Mr. Wills: I can confirm that (a) the Government are considering the recommendations made by the Youth Citizenship Commission in relation to lowering the voting age but has no current plans to legislate, (b) the Prime Minister has set out our commitment to a referendum being held early in the next Parliament for the people to decide whether they want to move to the Alternative Vote system for elections to the House of Commons, for which legislation will be required and (c) the Government are carefully analysing the responses to the second stage consultation on the voting rights of prisoners detained in the UK and will consider the next steps once this has concluded.
Elections: Local Government
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many elections there were in each ward of Vale of Clwyd constituency in each year since 1996. [308415]
Mr. Wills: The following national elections have taken place in each ward of the Vale of Clwyd constituency since 1996:
(i) UK Parliamentary General Elections-1997, 2001 and 2005;
(ii) European Parliamentary Elections-1999, 2004 and 2009;
(iii) Welsh Assembly Elections-1999, 2003 and 2007.
In addition, full local government elections (County and Town/Community Councils) took place across each of the wards of the Vale of Clwyd constituency in 1999, 2004 and 2008.
Information regarding by-elections at county council level is not held centrally. While Denbighshire county council are unable to provide records of by-elections per ward pre 2000, we understand that the following Town/Community by-elections took place in the following wards since 2001:
| Ward | |
|
Denbigh Upper/Henllan (Henllan), Rhyl East, Rhyl South, St. Asaph East | |
| (1) Denotes an uncontested election (only one valid nomination received). | |
Denbighshire county council have also confirmed that county council by-elections took place in Rhyl South West in 2002 and Rhyl South East in 2003.
Housing: Sales
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many residential property transactions with a purchase price between £125,000 and £175,000 have been recorded by the Land Registry as having been completed since the implementation of the increase in the stamp duty threshold. [308702]
Mr. Wills: The number of residential property transactions with a purchase price between £125,000 and £175,000 recorded by the Land Registry in England and Wales between the implementation of the increase in the stamp duty threshold on 3 September 2008 and 30 November 2009 (which are the latest data for which figures are available) is 180,808.
Life Peers
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent representations he has received on proposals to allow life peers to renounce their peerage and stand for election to the House of Commons. [308846]
Mr. Wills: The Ministry of Justice has received a number of letters on the provisions in the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill on resigning from the House of Lords and on disclaiming the peerage.
Public Procurement
Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what information his Department holds for benchmarking purposes on how other EU member states are implementing article 45 of the 2004/EC/18 European Directive on Public Procurement, relating to mandatory exclusion. [307444]
Ian Pearson: I have been asked to reply.
HM Treasury does not hold information for benchmarking purposes on how other EU member states are implementing Article 45 of the 2004/18/EC European Directive on Public Procurement. However, the European Commission does collect data on the ways that EU member states are implementing Article 45.
International Development
Afghanistan: Reconstruction
Mr. Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department is taking to support and promote provincial and district level governance in Afghanistan outside the Kabul district. [309376]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: The Department for International Development (DFID) provides financial assistance to four programmes which support improved provincial and district level governance in Afghanistan. In Helmand, DFID is providing up to £9.8 million over four years alongside £14.5 million from the UK Stabilisation Aid Fund to improve local governance, including the setting up and working of community councils and an improved traditional justice service. DFID is also providing £2.4 million over two years for community management and development initiatives in the Lashkar Gah municipality of Helmand.
The two further programmes were approved in December 2009 and will provide support across the entire country. DFID will provide up to £23 million over five years for the Afghanistan Subnational Governance Programme to improve local government service delivery by training provincial and district governors, staffing up and restructuring their offices and building basic management systems nationwide. Furthermore, over four years DFID will provide up to £9.5 million for the Governors' Performance Improvement Programme which will provide a performance-based operational budget to all 34 provincial governors.
International Development: Mandatory Exclusions
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development which (a) organisations and (b) individuals are prohibited from working with his Department following allegations of involvement in fraudulent or corrupt activity; and if he will make a statement. [308853]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: The policy of the Department for International Development (DFID) is to exclude organisations or individuals from contract award where they have been convicted of fraudulent or corrupt activity, as required by the "Mandatory Exclusion" clause of the Public Sector and Utilities Procurement and EU directives.
Defence
Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many TALON bomb disposal robots the Army has in Afghanistan. [308628]
Mr. Quentin Davies: TALON is not yet deployed, but when it is deployed in the next few weeks it will be used in a route clearing role in support of Counter-Improvised Explosive Device (C-IED) operations. For reasons of operational security, I am unable to reveal how many of these pieces of equipment will be available. However, I can give an assurance that sufficient numbers will be available for operational purposes in theatre, and for pre-deployment training in the UK.
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many handheld bomb detectors the Army has in Afghanistan. [308632]
Mr. Quentin Davies: For reasons of operational security, I am unable to reveal how many handheld metal detectors the Army has in Afghanistan. However, I can give an assurance that the numbers available are sufficient to ensure that no foot patrol is conducted in theatre without them. We will continue to deliver new equipment to theatre, including handheld metal detectors, as quickly as possible.
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many civilian agency (a) medical, (b) nursing and (c) paramedical staff are employed at the hospital at Camp Bastion. [309013]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: As at 22 December 2009, there are eight nursing and one medical civilian agency staff employed at the UK hospital at Camp Bastion. There are currently no paramedical staff.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the replacement of the two CH-47 helicopters recently destroyed in Afghanistan will be funded from the Treasury Reserve. [309234]
Bill Rammell: I refer the hon. Member to the answer the Secretary of State for Defence gave during the oral statement on the Future Defence programme on 15 December 2009, Official Report, column 810, to the hon. Member for Newport, West (Paul Flynn).
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