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25 Feb 2010 : Column 708W—continued
Passports: Older People
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make an assessment of the merits of advancing the fee exemption date for passport applications for persons born before 2 September 1929 by one year each year. [319216]
Meg Hillier: There are no plans to extend the free passport scheme as it is not a simple age-related concession. It was introduced in 2004 by the then Home Secretary as a concession for veterans of the Second World War who were attending 60th Anniversary Commemorative Events. It was decided to extend the initial scheme to cover everyone who was 16 or older by the end of the war and so may have contributed to the war effort in a military or civilian capacity.
Police: Finance
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what (a) the average budget for all police forces in England and (b) the budget of Dorset Police was in each of the last five years. [318201]
Mr. Hanson [holding answer 24 February 2010]: Setting of budgets is a matter for individual police authorities.
The information requested is provided in the table:
| £ | ||
| England police average budget | Dorset police authority budget | |
| Source: Data are taken from the Budget Requirement (BR) forms submitted annually by all billing and precepting authorities in England to the Department for Communities and Local Government. The England police average includes that part of the Greater London Authority that relates solely to the Metropolitan police. | ||
Police: Manpower
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers there were in (a) Dorset and (b) Bournemouth in each of the last five years. [318202]
Mr. Hanson [holding answer 24 February 2010]: The available data are provided in the table.
This and other related data are published annually as part of the annual Police Service Strength Home Office Statistical Bulletin. The latest bulletin can be found at:
and bulletins for this and previous years are deposited in the Library of the House.
Prosecutions: EU Action
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his policy is on the establishment of an Office of the European Public Prosecutor; and what discussions he has had with his European counterparts on such an office in the last three months. [317972]
Meg Hillier: The Government have consistently opposed the creation of a European Public Prosecutor (EPP).
Were such a proposal to emerge, it would have to be agreed by unanimity of all participating member states. The UK would also have the choice of whether or not to participate by virtue of our Protocol to the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, which says that we are opted out of any proposals in this area unless we choose to opt-in. So the UK could not be bound to accept any such measure.
The Home Secretary has not held dedicated discussions on this issue with any European counterparts. But within the context of negotiations on the new JHA work programme (the Stockholm Programme) there were wider discussions among EU member states on the future establishment of a European Public Prosecutor (EPP). As part of those discussions, the UK argued against the need for an EPP. The Stockholm Programme makes reference to the EPP as one possibility to further develop EUROJUST (the EU judicial cooperation agency) following an evaluation of its effectiveness during the next five-year period.
Rape: Children
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many cases in which a person suspected of having raped a child was issued with a caution the decision to issue a caution was taken on grounds of the inability of the alleged victim to give evidence in the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [317725]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The number of offenders cautioned in England and Wales for rape of a person aged under 16 years, from 2004 to 2008 (latest available) can be viewed in the following table.
Data for 2009 are expected to be published in the autumn, 2010.
The Home Office does not hold information concerning the issuing of a caution for each individual case.
A caution for rape of a child must be sanctioned by the CPS and should only be used by the police in the most exceptional circumstances. It is a function of the police to consider cautions and it is a statutory duty of a Crown Prosecutor to consider whether a prosecution
should proceed, taking into account the requirement for a reasonable prospect of conviction and the public interest in the particular prosecution in question.
| Number of offenders cautioned( 1,2) for rape of a person aged under 16 years( 3) , England and Wales 2004 to 2008( 4) | |
| Number | |
| (1) The cautions statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been cautioned for two or more offences at the same time the principal offence is the more serious offence. (2) From 1 June 2000 the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 came into force nationally and removed the use of cautions for persons under 18 and replaced them with reprimands and final warnings. These figures have been included in the totals. (3 )Sexual Offences Act 2003 came into force on 1 May 2004. (4) 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 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. (Ref: IOS 073-10) | |
Tetra: Health Hazards
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received from organisations representing police officers on reports of ill health among police officers assigned to duties near Tetra masts. [318165]
Mr. Hanson: Since the rollout of Airwave radio in 2001, the Government have funded research into the safety of Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) technology. None of the research to date has produced any evidence that Airwave terminals or masts are harmful to the health of police officers or the public.
The Police Federation of England and Wales and the Scottish Police Federation support the view that Airwave TETRA radio is an effective communications tool that enhances officer safety. They maintain a strong interest in the short and long-term health effects of Airwave.
Theft: Motor Vehicles
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many thefts of cars facilitated through the theft of car keys there have been in each London borough in each month of the last five years. [315924]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The requested information is not available at borough level.
Figures on this matter are collected on a quarterly basis at police force area level only in England and Wales. A national level summary of these data is published in the annual Statistical Bulletin "Crime in England and Wales" for 2007-08 and 2008-09 respectively; copies of which are available in the Library.
Vetting
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 1 February 2010, Official Report, column 90W, on the Independent Safeguarding Authority, what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of people likely to be subject to Independent Safeguarding Authority registration in the first 12 months of its operation. [318319]
Meg Hillier: For the period July 2010 to 30 June 2011 we currently forecast that approximately 1,770,000 individuals will apply to become ISA-registered through the Criminal Records Bureau. This represents approximately 3 per cent. of the total population (56.2 million) of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Communities and Local Government
Council Housing: Property Transfer
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which local authorities (a) have transferred and (b) have plans to transfer assets under the (i) Asset Transfer Fund and (ii) Advancing Assets programme to date. [318537]
Barbara Follett: With reference to the Asset Transfer Fund, I assume my hon. Friend is referring to the Community Assets Fund which is now known as the Community Assets Programme. The following table shows the local authorities that have been awarded funding through (i) the Community Assets Programme towards renovating assets for transfer; and (ii) those that have been supported through the Advancing Assets for Communities Demonstration Programme in each of the three years since 2007 to enable them to advance specific asset transfer projects.
The Community Assets Programme is designated as 'CAP' in the table and Advancing Assets for Communities is designated as 'AA' followed by the year in which they were supported by the programme:
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