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10 Mar 2010 : Column 382W—continued
Royal Household
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether the Garter Banner uniforms, decorations and other related artefacts of Kaiser Wilhelm II which relate to his honorary rank as United Kingdom Field Marshal and Honorary Colonel-in-Chief of United Kingdom regiments prior to 1914 are in the custody of the Royal Household; and if he will make a statement. [321126]
Mr. Wills: The Garter Banner and other insignia of Kaiser Wilhelm II were removed from St. George's Chapel, Windsor during the first world war. We have been unable to ascertain their location. The stall plates of Kaiser Wilhelm II are still in place in St. George's Chapel. The Royal Collection has confirmed that it holds the Robe and Garter dress of Kaiser Wilhelm II as well as two diamond Garter Stars and Badge of Kaiser Wilhelm II. No other uniforms, decorations or related artefacts are held.
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether the uniforms, decorations and other related artefacts of HM King George V which relate to his honorary rank as a German Field Marshall or as Honorary Colonel of German regiments prior to 1914 are still in the custody of the Royal Household; and if he will make a statement. [321127]
Mr. Wills: The Royal Collection holds a number of items relating to the honorary ranks held by HM King George V in the German armed forces. Records show that uniforms relating to the ranks of Admiral of the Imperial German Navy, Prussian Field Marshall, Colonel in Chief of the 1st Guard Dragoon Regiment and Colonel in Chief of the Kürassier Regiment Graf Getzler (Rhine) No. 8 are held. The Royal Collection also holds a number of decorations: Order of St. Hubert (Bavaria), Order of the Wendish Crown (Mecklenburg), Order of the Black Eagle (Prussia), Order of the Red Eagle (Prussia), Hohenzollern House Order (Prussia), Saxe Ernestine Order (Saxe Coburg), Order of the White Falcon (Saxe Weimar) and Order of the Rue Crown (Saxony).
Trade Unions
Mr. Syms: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many staff his Department and its agencies are seconded to trade unions; what facilities are made available to them; how many days other staff of his Department and its agencies spent on trade union activity in the latest year for which figures are available; and what recent estimate he has made of the annual cost to the public purse of such activity. [320611]
Mr. Wills: Currently the Ministry has two employees on secondment to the PCS Trade Union and their salaries are reimbursed by the union. No other facilities are made available to them as they work at Public and Commercial Services (PCS) Headquarters.
Facilities Agreements between the Ministry of Justice and the Trade Union Sides follow the provisions of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 and the ACAS Code of Practice "Time off for Trade Union Duties and Activities" available at:
The number of days that other staff spent on trade union activity within the last year, for which figures are available, is 43,208. The estimated annual total salary cost of such activity is £6.5 million.
Young Offenders: Rape
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many offenders of each age group were (a) convicted and (b) cautioned for (i) rape of a child under 13 and (ii) rape of a child under 16 in each of the last three years; [317738]
(2) how many offenders aged (a) 17 and under and (b) 18 and over were given a caution for rape in each of the last five years. [317739]
Mr. Straw: Information showing the number of offenders found guilty at all courts and cautioned for offences of rape of a child under 13 and under 16, by age group, England and Wales, from 2006 to 2008 (latest available) is shown in tables 1 and 2 as follows.
The number of offenders cautioned for rape, by age group, England and Wales, 2004 to 2008 (latest available) is shown in table 3 as follows.
Data for 2009 are planned for publication in the autumn, 2010.
Guidance on the use of simple cautions is clear that they should not be used for serious offences. In the vast majority of serious sexual offences a caution would not be appropriate and a prosecution would be in the public interest. The decision to caution an offender for an indictable-only offence such as rape will always be taken by the Crown Prosecution Service.
There will, however, always be exceptional cases in which it would not be in the interest of the victim or the public to prosecute, and in these circumstances administering a caution is considered to be preferable to taking no further action, and ensures that the offender is put on the sexual offenders' register and can be monitored. In some sexual offences cases, for example, it may be decided that the age, welfare or mental well-being of the victim or offender argues against putting them through a trial. In addition, children below the age of 13 cannot consent to sexual relations in law, and so such cases may be classified as rape even where the offence otherwise has the characteristics of a consenting sexual relationship.
| Table 2: The number of offenders cautioned( 1, 2) for rape( 3) of a child under 13 and under 16, by age group, England and Wales, 200 6- 08( 4) | |||
| Offence description | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
| (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 warnings. These figures have been included in the totals. (3 )Excludes attempted rape. (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. | |||
| Table 3: The number of offenders cautioned( 1, 2) for rape( 3) , England and Wales, 2004 - 08( 4) | |||||
| Age group | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
| (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 warnings. These figures have been included in the totals. (3 )Excludes attempted rape. (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. | |||||
Business, Innovation and Skills
Business
Tim Farron: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many and what proportion of businesses have employed (a) fewer than five people, (b) between five and 10 people, (c) between 10 and 20 people, (d) between 20 and 40 people, (e) between 40 and 70 people, (f) 70 people or more in (i) rural areas, (ii) urban areas and (iii) nationally in each year since 1997. [318297]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Estimates of the total number and percentage of businesses in the UK by employment band between 1997 and 2008 is shown in Table 1(1). Estimates broken down by rural and urban areas are not available for all UK businesses. However Table 2 shows estimates for businesses registered for either VAT and/or PAYE(2) between 2006 and 2008(3).
(1) Based on the start of the year and sourced from the publication 'Small and Medium Sized Enterprise Statistics for the UK and Regions', produced by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills. It is not possible to provide the information in the precise employee categories specified in the question.
(2) Based on the start of the year and information taken from the Office for National Statistics 'Inter Departmental Business Register' (IDBR).
(3) Data before 2006 is not available for businesses registered for either VAT and/or PAYE for urban and rural areas.
The number of UK businesses overall in all employee categories has increased by 1,076,000 (29 per cent.) between 1997 and 2008.
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