Terrorist Profiling

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he (a) has taken and (b) plans to take in response to the recommendation adopted at the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council in Brussels on 28–29 November 2002 in relation to terrorist profiling; and if he will make a statement. [113361]

The UK fully supported this Danish EU Presidency initiative and took an active part in a successful seminar on the subject held in Copenhagen in January. Although this project is still in its early stages, I understand that the seminar raised some interesting issues and the UK has volunteered to

Theft or unauthorised taking of a motor vehicle (including aggravated vehicle taking)¹—recorded crime, 1997 to 2001–02, and persons convicted 1997 to 2001, by police force area
	Recorded crime					Persons convicted²
Police force area	1997³	1998–99⁴	1999–2000	2000–01⁵	2001–02⁵	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
Avon and Somerset	12,636	11,257	10,953	10,430	12,181	298	277	342	337	345
Bedfordshire	4,486	4,280	4,531	4,114	3,872	200	174	194	196	171
Cambridgeshire	5,029	3,934	3,596	2,975	2,941	150	151	164	133	117
Cheshire	5,307	4,955	4,594	4,665	4,625	264	214	211	194	144
Cleveland	5,807	4,707	4,402	4,536	4,797	238	222	260	217	220
Cumbria	1,603	1,582	1,373	1,151	1,121	115	134	125	125	114
Derbyshire	6,903	6,298	5,472	4,177	3,832	235	237	197	184	179
Devon and Cornwall	5,275	4,864	4,366	3,807	3,392	243	258	294	202	201
Dorset	3,219	2,963	2,998	2,609	2,499	143	99	121	90	98
Durham	4,973	4,345	3,605	2,951	2,596	182	196	225	195	129
Essex	7,509	7,414	7,174	6,826	7,505	311	357	319	348	327
Gloucestershire	3,255	2,633	2,531	1,893	1,828	124	132	97	90	103
Greater Manchester	40,182	41,294	42,493	37,264	31,969	1,342	1,418	1,420	1,368	1,386
Hampshire	7,220	7,166	7,159	6,370	6,506	345	432	422	393	405
Hertfordshire	4,763	3,934	3,452	3,796	3,907	169	124	145	149	151
Humberside	9,607	8,109	6,812	6,033	6,469	306	310	354	266	229
Kent	11,604	10,335	8,248	8,261	7,237	387	404	342	338	336
Lancashire	8,160	7,350	6,504	6,151	6,154	461	496	437	475	407
Leicestershire	6,952	7,210	6,052	4,734	4,600	332	286	273	169	213
Lincolnshire	2,584	2,106	1,998	1,797	1,885	137	114	151	94	82
London, City of	171	139	212	252	381	16	14	8	22	36
Merseyside	14,830	15,306	16,775	16,157	15,081	605	498	497	532	568
Metropolitan Police	55,432	59,409	62,791	62,452	62,114	1,705	1,766	2,016	2,002	2,094
Norfolk	3,212	3,101	2,983	2,280	1,896	106	103	135	115	99
Northamptonshire	5,734	4,449	3,921	3,722	3,761	148	198	234	171	58
Northumbria	13,861	12,498	10,395	8,693	7,837	660	649	598	473	417
North Yorkshire	3,701	2,990	2,622	2,502	2,350	146	122	166	116	122
Nottinghamshire	11,232	8,510	7,035	7,135	7,706	416	311	296	248	250
South Yorkshire	15,631	13,855	11,918	8,939	8,294	489	446	489	414	327
Staffordshire⁶	7,128	7,153	6,003	5,484	5,642	250	267	273	227	233
Suffolk	1,768	1,893	1,742	1,765	1,693	206	202	209	131	120
Surrey	2,231	1,861	2,091	2,995	2,913	103	72	97	103	94
Sussex	6,979	7,076	7,721	6,940	5,442	214	193	234	230	234
Thames Valley	15,432	14,528	14,492	11,479	10,255	387	389	307	367	397
Warwickshire	3,513	2,628	2,519	2,246	2,118	104	108	82	86	88
West Mercia	5,631	4,871	4,690	4,079	3,374	214	218	246	241	205
West Midlands	36,044	34,390	33,230	27,762	25,385	1,081	1,125	1,088	1,032	1,079
West Yorkshire	19,893	23,619	21,197	20,171	23,767	789	891	937	799	829
Wiltshire	1,519	1,524	1,615	1,346	1,271	77	99	110	99	86
Dyfed Powys	869	983	868	861	843	109	119	95	96	100
Gwent	3,429	3,601	3,393	3,074	2,610	193	178	187	161	203

participate in a pilot group comprising experts from a number of EU member states and Europol with the aim of further developing this initiative.

Volume 405: debated on Tuesday 20 May 2003