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Written Answers
Tuesday, 4th December 2001.
Asylum Seekers: Fingerprints
Lord Greaves asked Her Majesty's Government:
- When fingerprint records of asylum seekers are destroyed and removed from databases.[HL1630]
The Minister of State, Home Office (Lord Rooker): The current legislation provides that fingerprints taken from an asylum seeker should be destroyed as soon as reasonably practicable after they are granted indefinite leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom. Until the introduction of the computerised fingerprint system in December 2000, it was not practicable routinely to weed and destroy prints. We are now taking a power within the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Bill which will allow such prints to be retained for 10 years. New functionality in the computerised fingerprint system will make it possible to identify and destroy prints after 10 years.
Immigration and Asylum Act, Part III
Lord Hylton asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they have finished considering Part III of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999; when they will give effect to Part III; and why this has been delayed.[HL1677]
Lord Rooker: No final decisions have been taken on the implementation of Part III of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 and the position remains under review. In particular, the implementation of the legislation will need to be considered in the light of the Home Secretary's recent statement on asylum and immigration and we would expect to address the issue in the forthcoming White Paper.
Police Grant
Baroness Hilton of Eggardon asked Her Majesty's Government:
- When they will announce the allocations of police grant for police authorities in England and Wales for 2002–03.[HL1834]
Lord Rooker: We have today placed in the Library a copy of the proposals of my right honourable friend the Home Secretary for allocation of police grant for 2002–03. We intend to implement the proposals subject to consideration of any representations we receive about them and to the approval of the House of Commons.
We are taking the opportunity to outline the wider provision for support for the police service. This includes not only total standard spending (TSS), supported by police grant and revenue support grant,
but also provision for capital, specific initiatives (Crime Fighting Fund, rural policing, Airwave) and operational and administrative support directly provided by the Home Office.The total provision made in Spending Review 2000 for policing in 2002–03 is £9,010 million. The overall increase on provision for 2001–02 is 6.1 per cent. It builds on an increase in 2001–02 of 10.1 per cent.
The increase in provision directly available to police authorities for TSS, specific initiatives and capital grant and supplementary credit approvals is 5 per cent. In addition, there are increases in provision of services provided centrally for the police service—training, information technology, communications and scientific support.
We propose to distribute the settlement as follows:
| 2001–02 | 2002–03 | Change | ||
| £m | £m | £m | % | |
| Total SR2000 provision(1) | 8,495 | 9,010 | 515 | 6.1 |
| This comprises: | ||||
| 1. Direct funding for police authorities: | ||||
| Total standard spending(2> | 7,568 | 7,777 | 209 | 2.8 |
| Specific initiatives | 229 | 349 | 120 | 51.4 |
| Capital | 232 | 310 | 78 | 33.6 |
| 8,029 | 8,436 | 407 | 5.0 | |
| 2. Centrally provided services | 91 | 167 | 76 | 83.1 |
| 3. Central administration | 211 | 204 | 7 | 3.3 |
| 4. NCS/NCIS | 164 | 203 | 39 | 23.8 |
| Grand Total | 8,495 | 9,010 | 515 | 6.1 |
(1) Rounded to £ million.
(2) The original 2001–02 provision has been adjusted for National Crime Squad (NCS) and the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS).
Police funding proposals within the Local Government finance system are being announced today by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions. An announcement has also been made in the National Assembly for Wales. These proposals together would provide total standard spending on the police in England and Wales of £7,777.199 million, an increase of £209 million or 2.8 per cent on the adjusted TSS for 2001–02.
The National Crime Squad (NCS) and the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) perform a valuable role in the battle against serious crime as part of the overall policing service. The NCS brought together the previous regional crime squads into a single unit, providing direction and control and making it easier to deploy resources effectively to prevent and detect serious crime and tackle major criminals operating in one or more police force areas in England and Wales. The role of NCIS is to develop intelligence to combat serious and organised crime, providing both tactical and strategic intelligence and expertise for law enforcement, government and other relevant agencies at a national and international level. At present these services are financed mainly by a levy on police authorities set by my right honourable friend the Home Secretary. From 2002–03 the services will be
The increase in TSS is 2.8 per cent, but increases for individual authorities vary. The formula used to determine the distribution of grant standard spending assessment (SSA) is again unchanged. The main reasons for differences between authorities result from changes in the data applied from one year to the next. These include changes in population, unemployment, projected pensions' commitments and the area cost adjustment.
We propose that the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) should continue to receive additional funding in recognition of its distinct national and capital city functions. It has proved very difficult for the principal formula to take account of these special circumstances. As in previous years, a special payment of grant will be made to the MPS above that given through the principal grant formula. The amount has been set at £197 million, which is included in the total provision.
It is proposed to make a final year's special payment of grant to the following authorities for additional costs incurred as a result of changes in Metropolitan Police district boundaries in April 2002, as follows:
TSS allocations are a mechanism for distributing grant. Provisional grants for police authorities in 2002–03 compared with the adjusted figure for 2001–02 are given in Table 2. Protection has been given to authorities which would otherwise have received a low grant increase over 2001–02 by applying a Xfloor" or minimum increase of 2.3 per cent, in line with inflation. The associated TSS allocations are given in Table 3.
The following items are not part of the annual grant settlement but demonstrate the wider range of support provided to police authorities.
Special initiatives
The main items are:
Crime Fighting Fund (CFF): through the CFF resources are being provided for a programme of recruitment over and above forces previous plans.
The programme has so far lived up to expectations: £221 million is included in 2002–03 to continue funding around 6,000 recruits from 2000–01 to 2001–02 and to support a further 3,000 to be recruited in 2002–03.
Rural Policing Fund: as in 2001–02, £30 million is provided for the particular needs of more rural forces through the Rural Policing Fund.
Airwave: £65 million will be available for the start-up operational costs of authorities taking Airwave in 2002–03 and to enable those forces who have the Airwave service to purchase additional menu services from BT.
London and south east payments: £33 million in total is provided for funding of free train travel for all Metropolitan and City of London officers; funding of 75 per cent of the cost of the increase of £3,327 a year in London allowance paid to officers in the Metropolitan and City of London forces who were recruited on or after 1 September 1994 and who are not in receipt of housing emoluments, and an allowance for other forces in the south east.
Police authority capital
The main items are as follows:
We intend to increase provision of capital grant and supplementary credit approvals from £157.43 million in 2001–02 to £209.43 million in 2002–03. The increase is substantial, and police authorities will be asked to direct a significant proportion of the extra provision towards improvement of their estate, as well as providing for other capital assets such as vehicles and equipment.
Capital grants (up to £76 million) for introduction of Airwave will be made available to those authorities taking up the radio communications service in 2002–03. Similar arrangements were made for 2001–02 and will be made for 2003–04.
Centrally provided services
The main elements are CFF training costs
(£23 million); DNA expansion programme (£61 million); the Airwave contractor's core service charges
(£50 million); and the National Strategy for Police Information Systems (£27 million).
Central administration
These include Home Office costs attributable to policing such as the Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO) and national police training facilities.
Enhanced security since 11 September
Additional provision of £30 million has also been made through the pre-Budget review for the police response during the current year to events of
11 September in the United States of America. We are considering further any longer-term implications for policing.
The settlement continues to take account of our commitment to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the police service. Future grant allocations will be considered in the light of police authorities improving efficiency by 2 per cent, reprioritising use of resources in favour of front-line policing.
In addition to the resources which we have detailed specifically for policing, police forces share in and benefit from various wider programmes for crime reduction. For example, since April 1999, under the Crime Reduction Programme, over £390 million has been invested in the running and evaluation of over 1,450 crime-fighting projects. These will provide an
Notes
1. Rounded to the nearest £100,000. Grant as would be calculated under the Local Government Finance Report (England) and Local Government Finance Report (Wales). This includes the Metropolitan Police special payment, and the effects of floors and ceilings. Debt charges adjustments are added to the 2001–02 grant figures for England.
2. Figures for the City are excluded because these are allocated to the Common Council of the City of London as a whole in respect of all its functions. GLA is included but it includes all functions (eg fire).
3. Because of the transfer of responsibilities for NCIS/NCS, the total available for distribution has been adjusted for 2001–02 to ensure like-to-like comparison with 2002–03.
4. Special payments for transitional costs associated with changes to the boundaries of the Metropolitan Police District from 1 April 2000.
5. Capital Financing SSAs as would be calculated under the Local Government Finance Report (England) and Local Government Finance Report (Wales).
1. Rounded to the nearest £100,000. The allocation is the sum of: Police Grant, transitional grant, Police SSA and capital finance SSA. Figures for capital finance SSA are provisional.
2. Figures for the Metropolitan Police includes its special payment.
3. Figure for the City includes Police SSA and Police Grant only and excludes other SSAs (eg capital financing) and Central Support Protection Grant. These are allocated to the Common Council of the City of London as a whole in respect of all its functions.
4. Because of the transfer of responsibilities for NCIS/NCS, the total available for distribution has been adjusted for 2001–02 to ensure like-to-like comparison with 2002–03.
Hertfordshire £300,000
Surrey £800,000.
2001–02 2002–03 % change
Allocation(1) Allocation(1)
Police authority £m £m
English Shire forces
Avon & Somerset 148.3 152.4 2.7%
Bedfordshire 55.8 57.5 3.0%
Cambridgeshire 66.0 67.5 2.3%
Cheshire 96.4 98.9 2.6%
Cleveland 77.7 80.1 3.0%
Cumbria 54.1 55.6 2.8%
Derbyshire 91.3 95.0 4.0%
Devon & Cornwall 152.4 156.9 2.9%
Dorset 58.2 59.6 2.5%
Durham 75.7 77.7 2.7%
Essex 147.4 150.8 2.3%
Gloucestershire 53.9 55.3 2.5%
Hampshire 173.3 178.9 3.2%
Hertfordshire 96.0 98.6 2.7%
Humberside 103.4 105.8 2.3%
Kent 167.3 171.1 2.3%
Lancashire 163.7 168.5 2.9%
Leicestershire 92.0 94.6 2.8%
Lincolnshire 55.5 56.8 2.3%
Norfolk 74.2 76.8 3.5%
North Yorkshire 66.6 68.1 2.3%
Northamptonshire 57.8 59.1 2.3%
Nottinghamshire 115.6 118.3 2.3%
Staffordshire 100.0 102.6 2.5%
Suffolk 60.4 61.8 2.3%
Surrey 80.7 82.5 2.3%
Sussex 144.8 148.3 2.5%
Thames Valley 194.7 199.2 2.3%
Warwickshire 45.6 46.6 2.3%
West Mercia 98.7 101.0 2.3%
Wiltshire 55.4 56.6 2.3%
English Metropolitan forces
Greater Manchester 352.9 362.5 2.7%
Merseyside 223.6 228.7 2.3%
Northumbria 199.3 203.9 2.3%
South Yorkshire 160.1 163.8 2.3%
West Midlands 358.0 368.1 2.8%
West Yorkshire 268.8 275.6 2.5%
London forces
GLA—all functions(2) 1,882.5 1,943.0 3.2%
City of London(2)
English Total 6,468.1 6,648.2 2.8%
Welsh forces
Dyfed-Powys 45.6 47.0 3.0%
Gwent 63.6 65.9 3.6%
North Wales 67.6 69.2 2.3%
South Wales 150.4 156.2 3.9%
Welsh Total 327.2 338.3 3.4%
Total 6,795.3 6,986.5 2.8%
2001–02 2002–03 % change
Allocation(1) Allocation(1)
Police authority £m £m
English Shire forces
Avon & Somerset 177.5 182.8 3.0%
Bedfordshire 66.5 68.6 3.2%
Cambridgeshire 79.5 81.6 2.6%
Cheshire 116.0 119.3 2.9%
Cleveland 86.8 89.6 3.2%
Cumbria 63.4 65.3 3.0%
Derbyshire 108.6 113.3 4.3%
Devon & Cornwall 183.8 189.6 3.2%
Dorset 73.4 75.5 2.9%
Durham 85.6 88.0 2.8%
Essex 181.2 185.0 2.0%
Gloucestershire 65.5 67.3 2.8%
Hampshire 209.2 216.3 3.4%
Hertfordshire 120.2 123.4 2.6%
Humberside 118.5 121.1 2.2%
Kent 199.9 204.9 2.5%
Lancashire 188.8 194.8 3.1%
Leicestershire 108.3 111.6 3.0%
Lincolnshire 67.1 68.9 2.6%
Norfolk 89.5 92.7 3.7%
North Yorkshire 82.2 84.3 2.5%
Northamptonshire 69.4 71.1 2.5%
Nottinghamshire 133.2 136.4 2.4%
Staffordshire 119.0 122.3 2.8%
Suffolk 73.3 75.3 2.6%
Surrey 108.6 110.2 1.5%
Sussex 177.8 182.6 2.7%
Thames Valley 239.8 245.5 2.4%
Warwickshire 55.8 56.7 1.6%
West Mercia 121.6 124.3 2.2%
Wiltshire 67.9 69.2 1.9%
English Metropolitan forces
Greater Manchester 395.8 407.2 2.9%
Merseyside 247.2 253.0 2.3%
Northumbria 222.7 227.4 2.1%
South Yorkshire 180.8 184.6 2.2%
West Midlands 400.9 412.6 2.9%
West Yorkshire 304.0 312.4 2.8%
London forces
Metropolitan Police(2) 1,788.0 1,841.1 3.0%
City of London(2) 55.1 59.1 7.2%
English Total 7,232.3 7,434.7 2.8%
Welsh forces
Dyfed-Powys 55.1 56.9 3.3%
Gwent 73.5 76.2 3.7%
North Wales 80.5 82.1 2.0%
South Wales 172.3 179.1 4.0%
Welsh Total 381.4 394.4 3.4%
Total 7,613.7 7,829.0 2.8%
Notes
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