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29 Jan 2010 : Column 1124W—continued
Streatham
Keith Hill: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will set out, with statistical evidence relating as closely as possible to Streatham constituency, the effects on Streatham constituency of changes to his Department's policies since 1997. [313393]
Mr. Wills: The Ministry of Justice's work spans criminal, civil and family justice, democracy, rights and the constitution. Every year around nine million people use our services in 900 locations across the United Kingdom, including 650 courts and tribunals and 139 prisons in England and Wales.
The range of the Department's policies and actions is wide and the statistical information relating to it is not normally collected on a constituency basis. Consequently, some of the information requested in the question cannot be provided in the form requested except at a disproportionate cost.
Although data on sentencing for the period are not available for the constituency of Streatham, it is available for London. These shows an increase in the total number of offenders sentenced annually from 202,478 in 1997 to 226,891 in 2007, the latest period for which such information is available.
Likewise, the number of offences brought to justice for the London area increased from 122,500 in 2001-02 (the earliest period since which such data have has been compiled) to 230,000 in 2007-08.
With regard to prosecutions, data are not available for the constituency of Streatham. However, the total number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts by the Metropolitan police increased from 260,328 in 1997 to 265,709 in 2007.
Although data on reoffending are not available for the constituency of Streatham, it is available for the borough of Lambeth The latest data, which cover reoffending in the period 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009, showed that the three month reoffending rate for offenders on the probation caseload in Lambeth was 8.05 per cent. After controlling for changes in the characteristics of offenders on the probation caseload, there was a reduction in reoffending of 6.88 per cent compared to the 2007-08 baseline. Data are not available prior to 2007 on this basis.
The number of persons commencing supervision by the Probation Service in London was 16,019 in 1997 and 22,233 in 2008.
158,440 civil non-family proceedings were started in the county courts of London Civil and Family HM Courts Service (HMCS) area in 2008, compared to 263,305 in 1998, the first year for which these figures are available. In respect of family law, there were also 15,512 private law applications and 870 public law applications made in the county or High Courts of this HMCS area in 2008-09, compared to 11,684 and 1,095 respectively in 2003-04, the first annual period for which these figures are available.
In addition, at a national level:
local communities are being better engaged in criminal justice by giving them a say in the types of Community Payback projects offenders carry out and allowing them to see justice being done, for example through the use of high visibility jackets. Offenders have now worked more than 14 million hours, with an estimated value to the taxpayer of over £80 million.
Major constitutional reforms have been delivered, including devolution, the Human Rights Act, Freedom of Information, Lords Reform, and a new Supreme Court for the UK.
Written Questions: Government Responses
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he plans to answer Question 300893, on departmental pay, tabled on 18 November 2009. [313137]
Mr. Straw: I replied to the hon. Member on 25 January 2010, Official Report, columns 692-94W. I apologise for the delay.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Horses: Animal Welfare
Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) when he next plans to raise in the Council of Ministers the subject of long distance transportation of horses to slaughter; [314055]
(2) if he will seek to secure agreement at EU level on a journey limit of between nine and 12 hours for the long distance transportation of horses to slaughter. [314056]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The review of Council Regulation 1/2005 on the welfare of animals during transport, which was brought forward from the deadline of 2011, was postponed by the European Commission in October last year because of a lack of internal agreement on the draft proposals. We expect to see fresh proposals within the next year. The Secretary of State's call for improved enforcement and finite times for journeys to slaughter made at Agriculture Council in September last year still stands.
Photography: Environment Agency
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the effects on the photography industry of non-remunerated photography contracts issued by the Environment Agency; and if he will make a statement. [314169]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Environment Agency has not issued any non-remunerated photography contracts and currently has four contracts in place with professional photographers. Each of these suppliers has gone through the tender process which is evaluated on both cost and quality.
Any photographer employed by the Environment Agency will be paid in full for their work. The Environment Agency has strict criteria on working with suppliers and takes its responsibilities seriously when it comes to paying people the right rate, on time, and getting good value for the taxpayer.
Rodents: Sewers
Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with reference to the answer of 16 June 2009, Official Report, column 156W, on rodents, whether his Department has reviewed the revised sewer protocols between Thames Water and Yorkshire Water and their relevant local authorities; and if he will make a statement. [314243]
Huw Irranca-Davies: No. I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave him on 2 Dec 2009, Official Report, column 732W.
Sewers: Private Sector
Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what his most recent assessment is of progress in the transfer of private drains to water companies in 2011; and if he will make a statement. [314262]
Huw Irranca-Davies: On 15 December 2008, the Government announced that the transfer of all private sewers and lateral drains linked to the public sewerage system to water company ownership would take place from 2011. Transfer is the only comprehensive solution to the range of problems presented by private sewers.
I anticipate consulting early this year on the content of regulations to effect transfer, prior to them being presented to Parliament for approval.
Prime Minister
Departmental Written Questions
David Simpson: To ask the Prime Minister what average time he took to answer questions for (a) ordinary written answer and (b) written answer on a named day in the last 12 months. [313674]
The Prime Minister: My office aims to answer all ordinary written parliamentary questions within five working days, and named day written parliamentary questions on the day named.
This information is a matter of public record and can be found in the Official Report.
President of the European Council
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Prime Minister what matters were (a) discussed and (b) agreed upon in his meeting on 19 January with the President of the Council of the European Union. [313544]
The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the press notice issued by my office on 19 January 2010. A copy is available on the Number 10 website:
President of the European Council and PM discuss strategy for growth
The Prime Minister has said that members of the EU must raise the level of ambition for Europe's future growth and employment.
The UK Government has published a compact designed to "reinvigorate" EU economies and build "strong, sustainable and balanced" growth.
Gordon Brown welcomed the new President of the European Council, Herman van Rompuy, to Downing Street this morning to discuss the priorities for Europe including action on the economy, climate change and security.
They also discussed the situation in Haiti following last week's devastating earthquake. Mr van Rompuy said the EU has responded swiftly to the situation, with EU members already pledging €400 million, including €30 million from the UK. The EU is committed to helping Haiti with longer term reconstruction, Mr van Rompuy said.
On the economy, Mr Brown said EU countries must agree co-ordinated measures that will build a strong recovery.
President van Rompuy and I are agreed that at this critical point in Europe's history, we must now more than ever, raise our level of ambition for Europe's future growth and employment.
The European Union, despite the challenge of Asia and the rest of the world, remains the world's largest trading block.
We are the biggest export market in the world, we are the largest internal market in the world and we have to forge a new economic strategy for our future following the economic crisis.
Gordon Brown said measures to improve growth and job prospects include investment in the low-carbon economy, open markets, the completion of the single market, and more flexible labour markets.
Mr van Rompuy said he has called an informal meeting of the European Council in February to look at formulating a new economic strategy for the region.
WMD Intelligence Review Committee
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Prime Minister which recommendations made by the report of the committee investigating the use of intelligence on Iraq chaired by Lord Butler accepted by the Government have been implemented; and when each other recommendation accepted by the Government will be implemented. [312691]
The Prime Minister: The Government accepted and implemented all of Lord Butler's recommendations, following his review in 2004. We continue to look to improve the quality of analysis of intelligence across Government.
Home Department
Anti-Semitism
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects his Department to publish figures on occurrences of anti-Semitic incidents. [306341]
Alan Johnson: The Home Office intends to publish figures on occurrences of anti-Semitic incidents in April 2010.
Assaults on Police
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers have been assaulted in each of the last 10 years. [306394]
Alan Johnson: Data for the numbers of assaults on police officers in 2004-05 and years previous to this can be found in the HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary Annual Reports, available in the Library of the House. A weblink to the 2004-05 report is provided for the member's convenience:
Data for the numbers of assaults on police officers for 2005-06 onwards can be found in the supplementary tables of the Home Office Statistical Bulletin "Police Service Strength, England and Wales", available in the Library of the House. A weblink for the 2008-09 data is again provided for the member's convenience:
Earlier data from HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary reports and later data from Home Office supplementary tables are not comparable with each other as HMIC data were taken from Crime Recording Systems and Home Office data were taken from self-reported HR systems.
In the 10-year period, the number of police officers has increased by 14 per cent. (from 123,841 in 1998-99 to 141,647 in 2008-09). The number of assaults relates to only a very small proportion of these police officers-in 2008-09 there were an average of 0.07 assaults per officer.
Asylum: Costs
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the estimated amount was of (a) support costs, (b) administration costs, (c) housing costs, (d) legal costs, (e) deportation costs and (f) other costs of the asylum system in each year since 1997. [305999]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 10 December 2009]: It is not possible to provide an accurate estimate of the full costs of the specific breakdown of costs for each of the years requested except at disproportionate cost as the information was not recorded in the required format.
Borders: Personal Records
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) original planned and (b) current estimated budget is of the e-Borders Programme; and if he will make a statement. [306315]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 14 December 2009]: The original planned expenditure for e-Borders from award of the contract to Trusted Borders in November 2007 through to November 2017 was £1.2 billion.
The current forecast of expenditure for this period, including contingency, is £1.2 billion.
Crime: Computers
Chris Huhne:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps an individual who has
been subject to (a) a phishing attack, (b) installation of malware or adware and (c) other interference with their computer activities should take to report the incident for criminal investigation; how many such incidents were reported in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [306544]
Alan Johnson: Any individual who believes that they have been the subject of such attacks or interference on their computer should report the matter to the police, who can then investigate the complaint.
The offences mentioned would in most cases appear to be covered by the Computer Misuse Act 1990. However, the Home Office does not collect statistics centrally on reports of these offences, and therefore I am unable to provide the hon. Member with the figures requested.
Departmental Carbon Emissions
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether (a) his Department and (b) its agencies plan to sign up to the 10:10 campaign to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in 2010. [313043]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 25 January 2010]: The Secretary of State welcomes the 10:10 campaign and has signed up in a personal capacity. Staff have also been encouraged to take part. The Department and its agencies plan to sign up to the 10:10 campaign to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in 2010-11 against a 2009-10 baseline.
The Department and its agencies have had targets to reduce emissions since 1999 stretching to 2020 and carbon budgets which set out the Department's carbon emission reduction requirements to 2050. Performance against carbon emissions is published annually, the most recent data for the Home Office showed a 23.8 per cent. reduction against baseline.
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