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Written Answers

Wednesday 6 October 2010

Alcohol

Questions

Asked by Baroness Coussins

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (a) prosecutions, and (b) convictions, there have been in each of the last five years of persons for persistently selling alcohol to children, in the (a) on-trade, and (b) off-trade.[HL1920]

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (a) prosecutions, and (b) convictions, there have been in each of the last five years against people under 18 for attempting to purchase alcohol in the (a) on-trade, and (b) off-trade.[HL1923]

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (a) prosecutions, and (b) convictions, there have been in each of the past five years of people selling alcohol to customers who were drunk.[HL1924]

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (a) prosecutions, and (b) convictions, there have been in each of the past five years of people for making or attempting to purchase alcohol on behalf of a child.[HL1925]

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The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Neville-Jones): Data showing the number of cautions, prosecutions and convictions for various alcohol offences from 2005-08 are provided in the attached table. Data for persistent sales of alcohol to children are shown under offence code 14398, for purchasing alcohol underage under offence codes 14382 and 14316, for alcohol sales to a drunk under offence codes 14374 and 14375 and for making/attempting to purchase alcohol on behalf of a child under offence codes 14383 and 14317. The data for the persistent sales offence came into effect in 2008. Court proceedings data for 2009 are planned for publication in October 2010.

The court proceedings database holds information on defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences, the statutes under which proceedings are brought or the circumstances of each case. It is not possible to identify from this centrally available information whether the offence proceeded against involving selling alcohol was on-trade or off-trade.

Additionally, penalty notices for disorder (PNDs) are also available for these offences and the information is provided in the attached table 2.1.

Copies of these tables will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

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The number of offenders cautioned and defendants proceeded against at magistrates' courts and found guilty at all courts for selected offences, England and Wales,2005 to 2008(1)(2)(3)(4)(5)
	Cautioned				Proceeded against				Found guilty
Offence code / description	2005	2006	2007	2008	2005	2006	2007	2008	2005	2006	2007	2008
Underage Sales
14384 Individual aged under 18 knowingly consuming alcohol	-	2	1	1	-	1	3	-	-	1	1	-
14379 Sale of alcohol to person under 18	1	36	33	28	29	440	620	401	21	317	479	320
14398 Persistently selling alcohol to children	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8	-	-	-	7
14203 Selling etc intoxicating liquor to person under 18 for consumption on the premises.	97	22	7	1	1,044	741	63	31	742	526	40	23
14380 Allowing sale of alcohol to person under 18.	-	-	2	1	-	17	10	19	-	11	6	16
14352 Wholesaler selling intoxicating liquor to a person under 18.	4	3	-	-	11	1	-	-	9	-	-	-
Other Underage Offences
14382 Purchase of alcohol by an individual under 18	3	9	23	15	-	3	6	6	-	3	5	4
14383 Buying or attempting to buy alcohol on behalf of an individual under 18	2	13	14	19	-	18	16	42	-	14	14	28
14317 Buying, attempting to buy, intoxicating liquor for consumption by person under 18	12	11	3	5	29	14	5	1	24	12	4	-
14385 Knowingly allowing consumption of alcohol by individual aged under 18	-	2	1	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	-
14316 Person under 18 buying or attempting to buy or consuming intoxicating liquor in licensed premises.	21	3	8	7	21	12	4	3	15	10	2	1
Sales to a drunken person
14374 Sale of alcohol to a person who is drunk	1	-	5	-	-	2	7	17	-	1	1	7
14375 Obtaining alcohol for a person who is drunk	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-
Drunk and Disorderly
14001 Being found drunk in a highway or other public place, whether a building or not, or a licensed premises	591	495	402	515	1,392	1,170	1,126	1,076	1,261	1,056	1,026	984
14101 Being guilty while drunk of disorderly behaviour	7,672	4,982	5,306	6,904	16,342	16,143	17,911	19,447	14,138	13,939	15,741	17,245
Habitual Drunk Offences
14306 Purchasing or obtaining intoxicating liquor at licensed premises or registered club within three years after conviction for habitual drunkenness	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	-	1	1	-	-
14202 Licence holder selling or supplying intoxicating liquor to a habitual drunkard within three years after conviction for habitual drunkenness	-	-	-	-	1	-	2	-	1	-	1	-
14318 Officer of a registered club selling or supplying liquor to a habitual drunkard within three years after conviction for habitual drunkenness	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	-	-
Public Place/other
19508 Failure to stop a vehicle when required to do so by a constable in the exercise of his powers under this section of the Act [Criminal Justice & Public Order Act 1994, S.60]	1	2	-	-	8	3	3	4	4	3	-	3
14011 Alcohol consumption in designated public places	12	13	15	18	101	101	113	153	76	73	98	123
19615 Contravention of a direction given by a constable under Section 30(4) [dispersal of groups and removal of persons under 16 to their place of residence]	280	137	209	108	620	538	522	433	406	303	329	299
14102 Being drunk while in charge on any highway or other public place of any carriage, horse, cattle, steam engine or pedal cycle	12	12	30	28	65	67	40	64	60	51	31	51
14376 Failure to leave licensed premises etc.	-	6	5	1	1	11	20	9	1	6	13	7
10433 Resisting or obstructing a constable in execution of duty	1,228	1,674	1,984	2,011	7,689	7,358	7,982	7,258	5,712	5,541	6,243	5,749
Licensable activity
14371 Carrying on or attempting to carry on or knowingly allowing a licensable activity on or from any premises otherwise than under and in accordance with an authorisation	1	33	12	17	-	159	300	346	-	87	229	257
14291 Allowing disorderly conduct on licensed premises	2	-	-	-	-	-	1	2	-	-	-	1
14391 Knowingly keeping premises open in contravention of closure order (identified relevant premises - 24 hrs max)	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	-	-
Total	9,928	7,444	8,057	9,675	27,325	26,790	28,753	29,321	22,447	21,945	24,262	25,125
Key totals
Sales to underage	102	61	42	30	1,084	1,199	693	459	772	854	525	366
Sales to a drunken person	1	0	5	0	0	2	7	18	0	1	1	7
Purchase by underage	24	12	31	22	21	15	10	9	15	13	7	5
Drunk and Disorderly	8,263	5,477	5,708	7,419	17,734	17,313	19,037	20,523	15,399	14,995	16,767	18,229

(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) The court proceedings statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.

(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 the courts and 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.

(5) Excludes data for Cardiff magistrates' court for April, July and August 2008

Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services-Ministry of Justice

[Ref: IOS 359-10]

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Table 2.1-Number of Penalty Notices for Disorder issued to offenders aged 16 and above by offence, 2004-08
England and Wales
	All Ages					Aged 16-17					Aged 18+
Offence	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Wasting police time	1,171	2,525	3,933	3,966	3,443	69	215	353	327	254	1,102	2,310	3,580	3,639	3,189
Misuse of public telecommunications system	117	405	909	1,193	888	6	24	79	106	88	111	381	830	1,087	800
Giving false alarm to fire and rescue authority	44	92	106	96	77	8	6	15	15	7	36	86	91	81	70
Causing Harassment, alarm or distress	28,790	64,007	82,235	77,827	57,773	1,968	5,846	8,122	7,068	4,673	26,822	58,161	74,113	70,759	53,100
Throwing fireworks(1)	177	642	682	649	531	20	90	101	102	82	157	552	581	547	449
Drunk and disorderly(2)	26,609	37,038	43,556	46,996	44,411	1,328	2,354	3,009	2,941	2,538	25,281	34,684	40,547	44,055	41,873
Criminal Damage (under £500)(3)	1,190	12,168	20,620	19,946	13,427	103	1,408	2,866	2,796	1,815	1,087	10,760	17,754	17,150	11,612
Theft (retail under £200)(3)	2,072	21,997	38,772	45,146	45,616	167	1,806	3,861	4,474	4,040	1,905	20,191	34,911	40,672	41,576
Breach of fireworks curfew(4)	12	33	53	39	23	-	4	7	3	3	12	29	46	36	20
Possession of category 4 firework(4)	12	13	28	22	23	3	2	6	5	6	9	11	22	17	17
Possession by a person under 18 of adult firework(4)	20	47	76	106	67	18	42	69	106	57	2	5	7	-	10
Sale of alcohol to drunken person(5)	*	32	47	81	66	-	2	1	1	2	-	30	46	80	64
Supply of alcohol to a person under 18	-	3	60	54	83	-	-	5	1	2	-	3	55	53	81
Sale of alcohol to a person under 18(3)	113	2,058	3,195	3,583	2,824	6	79	91	77	42	107	1,979	3,104	3,506	2,782
Purchasing alcohol for a person under 18(3)	84	170	407	555	524	7	20	45	51	33	77	150	362	504	491
Purchasing alcohol for a person under 18 for consumption on the premises	-	83	60	64	50	-	21	17	13	10	-	62	43	51	40
Delivery of alcohol to a person under 18 or allowing such delivery(3)	20	209	297	431	286	1	20	24	36	23	19	189	273	395	263
Lower Tier Offences (£50)
Trespassing on a railway	96	220	1,042	1,527	1,468	17	73	256	291	257	79	147	786	1,236	1,211
Throwing stones at a train / railway	66	20	15	25	27	2	5	4	10	8	64	15	11	15	19
Drunk in a highway	2,497	3,138	2,712	2,066	1,438	31	103	149	106	57	2,466	3,035	2,563	1,960	1,381
Consumption of alcohol in a designated public place	485	712	1,061	1,544	1,761	20	56	136	172	126	465	656	925	1,372	1,635
Depositing and leaving litter(3)	51	737	1,169	1,374	1,202	11	185	253	301	241	40	552	916	1,073	961
Consumption of alcohol by a person under 18 on relevant premises(3)	7	84	75	85	36	7	74	67	85	31	-	10	8	-	5
Allowing consumption of alcohol by a person under 18 on relevant premises(3)	6	27	14	11	6	1	2	-	1	2	5	25	14	10	4
Buying or Attempting to buy alcohol by a person under 18(5)	*	21	73	158	114	-	17	62	158	100		4	11	-	14
Totals
Total Higher Tier Offences	60,431	141,522	195,036	200,754	170,112	3,704	11,939	18,671	18,122	13,675	56,727	129,583	176,365	182,632	156,437
Total Lower Tier Offences	3,208	4,959	6,161	6,790	6,052	89	515	927	1,124	822	3,119	4,444	5,234	5,666	5,230
Total all offences	63,639	146,481	201,197	207,544	176,164	3,793	12,454	19,598	19,246	14,497	59,846	134,027	181,599	188,298	161,667

(1) Offence moved from the lower tier (£50) to the upper tier (£80) on 5 March 2004.

(2) Offence moved from the lower tier (£50) to the upper tier (£80) on 1 November 2004.

(3) Offence added with effect from 1 November 2004.

(4) Offence added with effect from 11 October 2004.

(5) Offence added with effect from 4 April 2005.

Anti-Semitism

Question

Asked by Lord Patten

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have made, or intend to make, an assessment of the incidence of anti-Semitism in the United Kingdom.[HL2030]

The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Neville-Jones): The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) National Community Tension Team (NCTT) monitors anti-Semitic incidents and provides information to local police forces if there is anything that they need to be aware of. In addition, the Community Security Trust (CST) runs its own reporting centre for victims of anti-Semitism who are not comfortable with reporting to the police. The CST has a good relationship with the NCTT and other police forces.

The combined work of the NCTT and the CST provides a comprehensive breakdown of the anti-Semitic incidents that have taken place across the country.

Bovine Tuberculosis

Questions

Asked by Lord Krebs

To ask Her Majesty's Government what advice they have received from the Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir John Beddington, on the proposal to cull badgers as a means of controlling tuberculosis in cattle. [HL2186]

To ask Her Majesty's Government what advice they have received from the Chief Scientific Adviser in Defra, Professor Robert Watson, on the proposal to cull badgers as a means of controlling tuberculosis in cattle.[HL2187]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Henley): Professor Watson, Defra's Chief Scientific Adviser, and officials from his office have regular meetings with officials from Defra's bovine TB programme and have provided input on the scientific advice including at meetings with the Secretary of State and the Minister of State during the development of proposals and the consultation. Professor Watson discussed the evidence and requested views from Defra's TB Science Advisory Body on a scientific paper by Jenkins et al. (2010), which presents results of the monitoring activity that has continued in proactively culled and survey-only areas since the end of the Randomised Badger Control Trial (RBCT). Professor Watson's suggestions and comments were included in developing the consultation and associated documents. Professor Watson continues to be involved in consideration of the proposal outlined in the consultation and has also asked a joint group of representatives from the TB Science Advisory Body and Defra's Science Advisory Council to provide advice on the proposal in the consultation.

Sir John Beddington, the government Chief Scientific Adviser, and his officials discussed the evidence around bovine TB and badgers with Professor Watson and Defra officials when the proposals were in development. Sir John's advice was discussed with Ministers in preparing the consultation and associated documents. Defra officials continue to be in regular contact with colleagues from Sir John's office.

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Coastal Access

Questions

Asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress has been made in the development of the coastal access pathway.[HL2095]

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether finance for the development of the coastal access pathway has been reduced or withdrawn as a result of cutbacks in public funding.[HL2096]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Henley): We are aiming to open the first stretch of new coastal access at Weymouth, where the Olympic sailing events are being staged, in time for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012. Natural England has been asked to identify five additional lead areas where the coastal path can be rolled out, taking into account the views of local people and the tourism and economic benefits that improvements to access to the coast are expected to bring. Rollout in those areas will begin in 2011 following initial discussions that Natural England will need to have with the relevant local authorities in the areas.

The availability of future funding for a wider rollout of coastal access, in addition to Weymouth and the five lead areas, is being considered as part of the comprehensive spending review.

Council for the Registration of Forensic Practitioners

Question

Asked by Lord Laird

To ask Her Majesty's Government why they withdrew funding for the Council for the Registration of Forensic Practitioners.[HL1896]

The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Neville-Jones): The original ministerial announcement of funding to the Council for the Regulation of Forensic Practitioners (CRFP) in 1999 was expressly subject to the CRFP's performance, particularly the condition that it became self-financing through registrants' fees and there should not be a long-term reliance on grant.

By the time the CRFP closed, this goal of a self-funding independent accreditation body had not been achieved and the company was facing a long-term shortfall of funding, because the registration income did not match the expenditure and would not have matched it, irrespective of whether the government grant had been continued or not. This was likely to become considerably worse because of the withdrawal of support for the registration process by police forces and the long planned ending of grant in aid in 2010.

The grant was latterly provided by the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), which in 2008 jointly commissioned with the CRFP an independent analysis of the CRFP's finances. Following this, the CRFP's financial situation, as detailed above, was

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clear and further commitment of public money to the CRFP would have amounted to a long-term commitment to funding the company without full public control, which would not have been a justifiable or sustainable approach. The NPIA decision to cease grant in aid in 2009 was agreed with Ministers.

Crime: Fraud

Question

Asked by Lord Tebbit

To ask Her Majesty's Government how they take account of fraudulent insurance claims in their crime statistics.[HL1835]

The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Neville-Jones): The police recorded crime statistics are based on an aggregate count of offences. Those crimes relating to fraudulent insurance claims would be recorded under the offence of "other fraud" and cannot be separately identified from the offences recorded within that classification.

Energy: Electricity

Questions

Asked by Lord Tebbit

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they anticipate that the 2 GW capacity of the electricity interconnector between the United Kingdom and France will be adequate to meet the expected shortfall of domestic power supply.[HL2103]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Lord Marland): The interconnector helps us meet peak demand greenly and cost-effectively. Our mix of electricity generation technologies ensures security of supply and we do not envisage a shortfall in the domestic power supply.

Asked by Lord Tebbit

To ask Her Majesty's Government how much electric power has been (a) exported and (b) imported through the electricity interconnector with France in each of the past 10 years.[HL2104]

Lord Marland: The table below shows electricity imported from, and exported, to France, by the United Kingdom in each of the past 10 years.

	Imports from France (GWh)	Exports to France (GWh)
2000	14,267	1
2001	10,563	193
2002	9,042	621
2003	5,000	2,873
2004	10,027	728
2005	11,159	765
2006	10,592	861
2007	8,562	2,016
2008	12,142	898
2009	6,524	3,296

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Asked by Lord Ashcroft

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the forecast retail price of electricity for each of the next 10 years.[HL2126]

Lord Marland: The Department of Energy and Climate Change does not publish retail energy price forecasts. It publishes oil, gas and coal price assumptions for the period till 2030, which are used in the department's analytical work. Wholesale electricity prices are an important driver of retail prices, and as part of DECC's updated energy and emissions projections, DECC produces wholesale electricity price projections which arise from the fossil fuel price assumptions.

Health: Dentistry

Question

Asked by Lord Colwyn

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many patients acquired transmissible diseases from dental treatment during the past 10 years.[HL2134]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Earl Howe): The main risks of cross-infection in primary dental care arise from transmission from patient to patient by reusable instruments of blood-borne viruses (BBV), particularly hepatitis B, hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The Spongiform Encephalitis Advisory Committee (SEAC) has also raised concerns about the potential for the creation of more cases of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease related to primary dental care. We do not collect data on these risks because the incubation periods of BBV diseases are so long, and the number of dental treatments so frequent, that it would be impossible to relate an individual infection to a specific course of treatment. However, it is estimated that in the United Kingdom there are about 83,000 people with HIV, over a quarter of whom are unaware of their infection, 180,000 with chronic hepatitis B (the level of undiagnosed infections is unknown), and 250,000 people with chronic hepatitis C infection, about a half of whom are unaware that they are infected.

Asked by Lord Colwyn

To ask Her Majesty's Government what forecast they have made of the cost per dental surgery of compliance with the Health Technical Memorandum 01-05: Decontamination in primary care dental practices.[HL2135]

Earl Howe: Currently we are only requiring compliance with the essential quality requirements in the health technical memorandum. These add little to the advice sheet on infection control in dentistry issued by the British Dental Association with the support of the department in 2002.

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Health: Needs Assessments

Questions

Asked by Baroness Cumberlege

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they expect all primary care trusts to complete and update all pharmaceutical needs assessments prior to their abolition.[HL2106]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Earl Howe): Yes. Under Regulation 3C(1) of the NHS (Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 1995 (as amended), which came into force in May 2010, primary care trusts have a statutory duty to complete and publish their pharmaceutical needs assessments by 1 February 2011.

Asked by Baroness Cumberlege

To ask Her Majesty's Government where responsibility for completing and maintaining pharmaceutical needs assessments will sit following the abolition of primary care trusts.[HL2107]

Earl Howe: We expect the requirement to complete and publish pharmaceutical needs assessments to continue in the new architecture and are considering where best responsibility will sit. Responses to the consultation on the White Paper Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS and supporting consultations will help inform our thinking.

Health: Ophthalmology

Question

Asked by Lord Wills

To ask Her Majesty's Government what they estimate the costs to the National Health Service to be of failures to diagnose giant cell arteritis sufficiently early to prevent loss of vision for those afflicted. [HL2159]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Earl Howe): The department has made no estimate of the cost to the National Health Service of treating vision loss in those whose giant cell arteritis was not diagnosed early.

Health: Rheumatology

Question

Asked by Lord Wills

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to promote among general practitioners knowledge and understanding of the guidelines issued by the British Society for Rheumatology, British Health Professionals in Rheumatology and the Royal College of Physicians for the management of giant cell arteritis and polymyalgia rheumatica. [HL2158]

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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Earl Howe): All healthcare professionals are accountable, through their professional regulator, for keeping up to date with the professional guidance relevant to their area of clinical practice. The guidelines published by the British Society for Rheumatology and partner organisations on the management of giant cell arteritis and polymyalgia rheumatica are available on the society's website, and I understand that the society is sending copies of the quick reference guide relating to the guideline on giant cell arteritis to all primary medical care practices.

Houses of Parliament: Works of Art

Question

Asked by Lord Sheldon

To ask the Chairman of Committees how many paintings and sculptures of Members of Parliament there are in the parliamentary buildings.[HL2026]

The Chairman of Committees (Lord Brabazon of Tara): The works of art inventory is not categorised in this way, so it is not possible to provide the figures requested. The Curator of Works of Art may be able to answer any more specific queries.

People Trafficking

Question

Asked by Lord Hylton

To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they have taken since May 2010 to prevent trafficking of persons into and within the United Kingdom for sexual or labour exploitation, in particular in relation to the eight prevention points in the October 2009 "Update to UK Action Plan" and to better cooperation within the European Union.[HL2062]

The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Neville-Jones): Work to prevent trafficking of persons into the United Kingdom is ongoing. Since May 2010 a new estimate of trafficking for sexual exploitation has been published by the Association of Chief Police Officers. The report will improve our understanding of the nature and scale of trafficking in England and Wales. Also, the Government have designated 18 October as Anti-Slavery Day. This will provide a focus for the efforts of non-governmental organisations to raise awareness.

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Police: Crime Statistics

Question

Asked by Lord Laird

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will investigate the crime figures in each of the past three years by South Wales Police which fall into the categories of "cuffing", "stitching", "skewing", and "nodding", as outlined in the PhD thesis of Detective Chief Inspector Roger Patrick of West Midlands Police and reported in the Sunday Times on 6 December 2009.[HL1942]

The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Neville-Jones): The Audit Commission and the Wales Audit Office published a report in 2007 on police data quality in England and Wales. The report noted that there had been a sustained improvement in crime data quality since the introduction of the national crime recording standard in 2002. South Wales Police was rated as "fair" for crime data quality.

Policing and Crime

Question

Asked by Lord Corbett of Castle Vale

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the cost of electing police and crime commissioners in each of the 43 police forces in England and Wales; and whether those costs will be met directly by the Home Office.[HL1880]

The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Neville-Jones): The Government will publish estimates of the cost of the elections and other aspects of the police and crime commissioners policy in due course.

Schools: Standard Assessment Tests

Question

Asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to reform the standard assessment tests.[HL1071]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools (Lord Hill of Oareford): We will review how the key stage 2 national curriculum tests should operate in future. We want to improve and strengthen the tests and ensure they are working in the best interests of schools, children, parents and the public.

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