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8 Mar 2010 : Column 124W—continued


Immigrants: Detainees

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children under the age of (a) 10 and (b) five years old were being held in immigration removal centres on the latest date for which figures are available. [319775]

Alan Johnson: As at 31 December 2009, no children, defined as persons aged 17 or below, were detained in the UK solely under Immigration Act powers. This excludes children detained in Prison Service establishments' mother and baby units.

Immobilisation of Vehicles

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received from Birmingham City Council on the proposals in the Crime and Security Bill relating to vehicle immobilisation businesses; and if he will make a statement. [319519]

Mr. Alan Campbell: Birmingham city council's Public Protection Committee wrote to the Home Secretary on 11 February 2010 about the proposals in the Crime and Security Bill relating to vehicle immobilisation businesses.
8 Mar 2010 : Column 125W
The council also previously wrote to Home Office Ministers on three occasions since 20 December 2007 about the regulation of vehicle immobilisation business, including a response to our public consultation published in April 2009 on how best to regulate vehicle immobilisation (VI) businesses operating on private land.

Our proposals for the regulation of vehicle immobilisation business as set out in the Crime and Security Bill will make it mandatory for all wheel clamping businesses working on private land, as well as their employees, to be licensed by the SIA under the terms of a code of practice. The conditions of the code will include a cap on fines, time limits on towing cars unreasonably quickly after being clamped and clear instructions for putting up signs warning drivers that clamping takes place. In addition, the proposals include the setting up of an independent appeals process to enable motorists to appeal where they consider that the terms of the code have been breached.

The conditions of the code will have statutory force, and will be set out in regulations before the code is published. Failure to comply with the code, or operating without a business licence, will be a criminal offence and could result in prosecution.

We believe our proposals under the Bill will address the issues raised by Birmingham city council in their correspondence.

Members: Correspondence

Mr. Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to reply to the letter of 14 January 2010 from the hon. Member for Walsall North to the UK Border Agency regarding a resident in his constituency, reference T1146229. [320347]

Mr. Woolas: The Regional Director of the UK Border Agency wrote to my hon. Friend on 3 February 2010.

Personation: Essex

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how may offences involving the fraudulent use of personal information have been reported to (a) Essex and (b) Southend police in each year since 1997; and how many such reports led to a (i) prosecution and (ii) conviction. [320655]


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Mr. Alan Campbell: The information requested is not available centrally. Offences involving the fraudulent use of personal information would be recorded under the Home Office offence classification of 'Fraud by false representation'. However, it is not possible to separately identify those offences involving the fraudulent use of personal information from other fraud offences recorded under that classification. As a result, it is not possible to state how many offences led to prosecution and conviction.

Police: Complaints

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many complaints against the police were received in each year since 1997; [319524]

(2) what the 10 most common causes of complaint made against the police were in each year since 1997; and how many such complaints were made in each such year. [319779]

Alan Johnson: The Home Office collated and published annual statistical information for Police Complaints and Discipline for England and Wales, until 31 March 2004.

The totals of complaints about the police received for England and Wales in each year since 1997 are:

Complaints

1997-98

35,834

1998-99

31,653

1999-2000

30,807

2000-01

31,034

2001-02

26,701

2002-03

24,562

2003-04

25,376


The Home Office Statistical bulletins give numbers for substantiated complaints by reason. The 10 most common causes for such complaints, and their number in each year from 1997, are contained in the following table.

Since it came into existence on 1 April 2004, the Independent Police Complaints Commission has been responsible for the collection and analysis of police complaints statistical information.

Substantiated complaints by reason for complaint, England and Wales
Number of complaints
Reason for complaint 1997-98 1998-99 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04

Assault

125

126

98

112

101

98

99

Oppressive behaviour/harassment

53

42

62

54

56

59

46

Unlawful/unnecessary arrest/detention

67

55

36

67

49

42

54

Perjury/irregularity in evidence

27

22

17

24

24

38

26

Mishandling of property

33

22

12

22

22

17

25

Neglect of duty

237

205

228

320

325

349

372

Impropriety in connection with search of premises

33

28

21

17

19

21

26

Irregularity in procedure

153

131

138

154

156

140

158

Incivility

78

68

64

87

92

113

110

Other

27

30

15

15

28

41

28


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Police: Firearms

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) police-owned firearms and (b) confiscated firearms were lost or stolen from police forces in England and Wales in 2009. [320233]

Mr. Hanson: The information requested is not collected or held centrally by the Home Office.

Police: Manpower

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average length of service was for police officers serving in England and Wales between 1999 and 2009. [320232]

Mr. Hanson: The information requested cannot be calculated from the centrally collected data within the police personnel statistics series. Length of service data are only collected in a number of fixed time bands.

Police: Vehicles

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many accidents involving police vehicles there have been in (a) Essex and (b) Southend in each year since 1997. [320652]

Mr. Hanson: The available data are provided in the tables.

Figures from 2002-03 onwards for Essex Police Force have been provided based on data held centrally in the Home Office.

Figures for Essex county and Southend and Thurrock unitary authority for 1997 to 2008 have also been provided by the Department for Transport. These numbers do not include all police vehicles involved in accidents-only those that were involved in an accident where an individual was injured, and where the police vehicle can be matched against the DVLA records.

As these figures are based on different definitions, they are not comparable.

Road traffic collisions on public roads involving police vehicles, Essex, 2002-03 to 2008-09

Number

2002-03

414

2003-04

345

2004-05

327

2005-06

391

2006-07

607

2007-08

626

2008-09

509

Notes:
1. All data are unvalidated, subject to change and provided on a provisional basis only
2. Data are not available centrally for Southend.
3. Data are not available centrally prior to 2002-03.


8 Mar 2010 : Column 128W
Reported personal injury road accidents involving a police vehicle1( ,2) :1997-2008

Essex( 3) Southend

1997

68

7

1998

55

9

1999

50

6

2000

78

8

2001

63

12

2002

53

5

2003

50

3

2004

51

6

2005

41

5

2006

56

4

2007

57

3

2008

51

7

(1) Vehicle type is based on vehicle tax records held by DVLA. This will exclude vehicles which fall under different tax classes which may be used by the police e.g. privately hired/owned vehicles
(2) Vehicle model is assigned through matching the vehicle's registration mark (registration number) against DVLA records. These vehicles are only those with a high or probable match to DVLA records
(3) Essex county, including the unitary authorities of Southend and Thurrock

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