Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 30 January 2008
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Flood Control: Planning Permission
I have been asked to reply.
There are no proposals to amend the Environment Agency's powers to influence planning decisions on sites at risk of flooding. On 1 October 2006 we made the agency a statutory consultee for development proposals in flood risk areas1. On 1 January 2007 we introduced a planning direction2, which prohibits a local authority from granting permission for major development in a flood risk area, to which the agency maintains an objection, without first sending details to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, to consider whether it should be called-in for decision. We believe that these two measures provide the agency with sufficient powers to influence planning decisions on sites at risk of flooding. We will keep under review how these arrangements are working.
1 The Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) (Amendment) (No.2) (England) Order 2006.
2 The Town and Country Planning (Flooding) (England) Direction 2007.
Sustainable Development
Waste prevention and reuse are key parts of DEFRA’s Waste Strategy for England 2007. The Government are committed to achieving the target in the Strategy of reducing household waste not re-used, recycled or composted from over 22.2 million tonnes in 2000 by 29 per cent. to 15.8 million tonnes in 2010 with an aspiration to reduce it to 12.2 million tonnes in 2020—a reduction of 45 per cent. This is a challenging target, but we are confident that it can be met through measures planned and already in place.
In 2004-05 we had the first ever fall in the overall amount of municipal waste created. In the two years since then, we have seen only a 0.5 per cent. growth—far lower than historic trends.
Waste Disposal: Hazardous Substances
[holding answer 29 January 2008]: The table shown gives the tonnages of hazardous waste produced in the UK in 2006 (the most recent period for which figures are available), broken down by primary source.
This information is available from the Environment Agency’s website using the free online ‘hazardous waste interrogator’ web-tool.
Source Tonnage Mining and Minerals 38,281 Agricultural and Food Production 1,350 Wood and Paper Production 3,790 Leather and Textile Production 2,551 Petrol, Gas and Coal Refining/Treatment 27,368 Inorganic Chemical Processes 128,767 Organic Chemical Processes 2,093,000 MFSU Paints, Varnish, Adhesive and Inks 117,886 Photographic Industry 20,495 Thermal Process Waste (inorganic) 156,189 Metal Treatment and Coating Processes 134,325 Shaping/Treatment of Metals and Plastics 72,784 Oil and Oil/Water Mixtures 879,961 Solvents 24,035 Packaging, Cloths, Filter materials 61,108 Not otherwise specified 557,287 C and D Waste and Asbestos 705,307 Healthcare 142,305 Waste/Water Treatment and Water Industry 654,939 Municipal and Similar Commercial Wastes 215,339 Unclassified — Total 6,037,068
Wales
Aviation
No first-class flights have been taken by the Secretary of State since 28 June 2007.
In November 2007 standard return flights were taken from Cardiff to Belfast, at a total cost of £254.02. One official accompanied the Secretary of State.
Carbon Trust's Carbon Management Programme
My Department has not adopted the Carbon Trust's Carbon Management Programme.
As a small Department we have taken full advantage of the Carbon Trust's small and medium sized Business Toolkit. This resulted in a full Carbon Trust survey and follow up action plan in 2006. All actions points raised have been implemented together
with the introduction of a robust recycling programme.
My Department offset 307.70 tonnes of emissions, through PURE, the Clean Planet Trust, in 2006-07.
The Wales Office is currently establishing a sustainable development strategy to further assist in further reducing emissions.
Departmental Information Officers
In each year since it’s creation in July 1999, the Wales Office has employed three press and communications officers.
Departmental Recycling
The Wales Office is currently establishing a sustainable development strategy to ensure targets are met.
We already have a robust recycling programme for white paper, mixed paper, cans, glass, plastic, cardboard and shredding. This amounts to 5,913 kgs from April to September 2007.
A system is being implemented to record the weight of rubbish disposed of by the office, to enable the percentage recycled to be calculated. This will enable us to determine whether the target is being met, or whether more needs to be done to ensure that it is.
Official Engagements
(2) what his official engagements were in December 2007.
Ministers and civil servants meet many people as part of the process of policy development and advice. It is not normal practice to disclose details of such meetings.
Renewable Energy
The Wales Office receives 100 per cent. of its electricity from renewables.
Olympics
Olympic Games 2012: Aldershot
The Home Secretary is responsible for a safe and secure London 2012 Games. The multi-agency Olympic Security Directorate, headed by the Security Coordinator AC Ghaffur, is coordinating national cross-agency operational safety and security planning.
Security of the Olympic Village during the construction period, including the costs, is the responsibility of the private sector developer and is being fully co-ordinated within the overall security approach. The private sector developer's security costs are a matter for them.
During the operational period of the games LOCOG, working with the Olympic Security Directorate on planning, is responsible for ensuring security of the village and meeting the core costs of delivering this out of its £2 billion privately funded budget.
Members of the Great Britain London 2012 squad, and their support staff, based at Aldershot Garrison in the run-up to the Games, will benefit from the high levels of security inherent in a military site. Additional on-site security measures will be met by the British Olympic Association. The scale of charges that the BOA will pay is a matter for them.
Olympic Games 2012: Consultants
To date the total cost incurred for consultants employed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in preparation for the 2012 Olympics is £2,400,115. The total expenditure on consultants by the former Olympic Programme Support Unit (OPSU) is £1,167,447. The functions of OPSU were transferred to the DCMS on 14 September 2007.
In my previous answer to the hon. Member for Faversham and Mid-Kent, (Hugh Robertson) dated 16 October 2007, Official Report, column 977W, I stated that £50,494,000 had been spent on consultancies providing core services by the Olympic Delivery Authority in 2006-07. In the financial year 2007-08, to date, a further £94,272,290 has been spent on similar work, central to the delivery of facilities and infrastructure for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This reflects the increasing pace of the project.
Around £100 million of the total figure relates to contracts with three companies (EDAW, Ove Arup and Atkins) which have been integral in the start-up and development of the ODA, and in delivering the key milestones around planning and preparing the park to enable the programme to be on track and hitting milestones. They have therefore been important partners in the delivery programme.
All ODA expenditure on consultants is within the baseline budget announced in December 2007. This budget was subject to a process of rigorous review to ensure that it was fully aligned with scope, programme and risks, and is subject to monthly monitoring by the Government Olympic Executive.
Olympic Games 2012: Pay
The following table shows the 2007-08 salaries of the 10 highest paid staff working directly on the preparations for the 2012 Olympics in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and paid from the public purse. It does not include staff employed by the ODA's Delivery Partner, and the ODA's contractors.
Position/organisation 1Salary (£) Chief Executive, ODA 372,600 Director of Construction, ODA 258,750 Director of Finance and Corporate Services, ODA 253,624 Director General, Government Olympic Executive 220,000 Director of Design and Regeneration, ODA 207,000 Director of Transport, ODA 207,000 Director of Property, ODA 207,000 Director of Infrastructure and Utilities, ODA 207,000 Director of Build and Finance, Government Olympic Executive 180,000 Director of Communications, ODA 175,950 1 The figures are for basic salary only, and do not include for any performance related bonuses, taxable benefits and pension contributions. These additional benefits will be calculated at the financial year-end and detailed in the annual reports and accounts of the Department and the ODA which are laid before the House.
Olympics 2012
Decisions on the long-term ownership and management arrangements for the Olympic Park will be taken during 2008. In the meantime, the London Development Agency is acting as interim legacy client for the Park.
Northern Ireland
Crimes of Violence: Belfast
I have been advised by the PSNI that no persons have as yet been arrested in connection with this incident and inquiries into this matter continue. An assessment as to the possibility of paramilitary involvement is still being considered. All acts of criminality should be dealt with through the proper authorities and the criminal justice system and I urge anyone with information in relation to this incident to contact the PSNI.
Police Service of Northern Ireland: Emergency Calls
As the PSNI does not record average response times for emergency and non-emergency calls for each DCU, the information requested is not available.
The Northern Ireland Policing Board target is for the PSNI to record the percentage of emergency calls responded to within a 15 minute baseline target.
As at the 18 January 2008 for the financial year to date, the number of emergency response calls where arrival time was available, responded to within 15 minutes, was 79.5 per cent.
The Northern Ireland Policing Board is committed to working with the PSNI to improve response times to emergency calls—the 2007-10 Policing Plan contains a target to increase the percentage of emergency calls responded to within 15 minutes by 2 per cent. points.
An important aspect of improving performance in this area will be the development of an automated system utilising the Barracuda Radio System to streamline the recording of arrival on site for both emergency and non-emergency calls and work is currently ongoing.
Public Expenditure
The Department of Finance and Personnel published their Draft Regional Economic Strategy for Northern Ireland in January 2007. That document contains estimates of the fiscal deficit for Northern Ireland and can be found at:
http://www.dfpni.gov.uk/res_final_draft_january_2007.pdf
No centrally collated data is available for the fiscal balances for Northern Ireland.
Rape
The following table gives the number convicted of rape or attempted rape broken down by age group.
Data cover the calendar years 1996 to 2005 (the latest available years) and are collated on the principal offence rule; so only the most serious offence with which an offender is charged is included.
Age group 10-17 18-24 25-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60 and over Missing1 Total 1996 0 3 2 1 4 4 0 1 15 1997 0 2 3 9 4 3 0 0 21 1998 1 2 2 5 4 3 1 0 18 1999 0 1 2 2 2 0 1 0 8 2000 0 0 1 2 4 2 1 0 10 2001 0 3 1 4 3 5 1 0 17 2002 0 2 2 3 2 1 0 0 10 2003 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 0 10 2004 0 1 3 3 3 5 3 0 18 2005 1 0 0 1 3 1 2 0 8 1 Missing data relate to those offenders for whom age information is not available.
Culture, Media and Sport
Departmental ICT
86 people in my Department are currently issued with personal digital assistant devices. Of these, 36 are female and 50 are male. We do not hold this information broken down by year.
Of the 86 people issued with personal digital devices, 14 are based in the Government Olympic Executive, of which five are female and nine are male.
Departmental Travel
The travel and subsistence costs within and outside UK incurred by the Department’s officials in each of the last 10 years is set out in the table.
The costs are expressed as a percentage of the Department’s gross administration cost.
Financial year Officials’ UK travel and subsistence costs (£) Percentage of gross administration cost Officials’ overseas travel and subsistence costs (£) Percentage of gross administration cost 2006-07 193,620.21 0.37 297,832.07 0.57 2005-06 293,203.28 0.60 287,546.56 0.58 2004-05 166,500.58 0.39 279,710.59 0.66 2003-04 194,638.95 0.47 235,210.16 0.57 2002-03 248,802.18 0.68 195,442.41 0.54 2001-02 246,203.14 0.42 129,164.75 0.22 2000-01 147,239.27 0.37 188,337.76 0.48 1999-2000 141,325.38 0.36 193,742.97 0.50 1998-99 80,852.42 0.23 151,307.28 0.43 1997-98 67,874.95 0.32 175,061.96 0.82
Departmental Visits Abroad
The Department’s management information systems does not routinely collect information about the number of overseas visits and countries visited by officials. The data relating to these can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
The overseas travel and subsistence costs incurred by the Department’s officials in each of the last 10 years is set out in the table.
Financial year Officials’ overseas travel and subsistence costs (£) 2006-07 297,832.07 2005-06 287,546.56 2004-05 279,710.59 2003-04 235,210.16 2002-03 195,442.41 2001-02 129,164.75 2000-01 188,337.76 1999-2000 193,742.97 1998-99 151,307.28 1997-98 175,061.96
Intimidation
There have been no cases of bullying reported in DCMS or The Royal Parks Agency within the last 12 months.
Licensed Premises
The Department does not hold detailed information on the licensed hours of the 177,200 licences and certificates that were in force in England and Wales on 31 March 2007. The actual closing times of a premises may, in any case, be earlier than the terminal hours granted on its licence. Data from the on-licensed trade suggest that 60 per cent. of outlets stop selling alcohol by 11 pm and that, on average across all on-licensed premises, closing times have increased by approximately 20 minutes since the Licensing Act 2003 came into effect.
Olympic Games 2012: Finance
The Department and UK Sport are currently in discussion with Fast Track about the contractual arrangements for the project to raise £100 million from the private sector.
We do not expect that public funding will be used to pay for this project.
Planning Permission: Playing Fields
[holding answer 28 January 2008]: Sport England will be providing more extensive and revised information about planning applications for 2005-06 and retrospectively (2003-04 and 2004-05). The figures were not fully validated and finalised in time for publication last year as originally intended. We intend to publish these figures shortly. It is currently expected that figures for 2006-07 will be published later in the year.
House of Commons Commission
Departmental Travel
(2) how much was spent on travel by officials of the House (a) within and (b) outside the UK in each of the last 10 years; and what percentage of the House’s overall expenditure was spent on such travel in each such year.
House of Commons staff travel within the UK and abroad chiefly when accompanying groups of Members on select committee visits, on delegations to international assemblies, on bilateral visits or for conferences. The cost of the staff element of official travel with Members cannot be disaggregated from the total, which amounted to some £2.65 million for UK and overseas visits in 2006-07. There have also been a small number of overseas visits by individual officials, mainly for the purpose of strengthening democratic institutions in other countries.
Scotland
Departmental ICT
The Scotland Office is an integral part of the IT systems of the Scottish Executive and does not undertake separate IT projects.
Power Stations
Information on individual power station output is not held in the form requested.
Hunterston B Power Station has an installed capacity of 1190 MW. According to publicly available information from its operators, British Energy, the station is currently operating at a reduced level of 70 per cent. of full output, but on average generates sufficient electricity to supply almost half the households in Scotland.
The recent announcement that its life will be extended by five years to at least 2016 is very welcome, given its continued importance to Scotland's energy supply mix.
Defence
Afghanistan: Military Decorations
The Operational Service Medal (OSM)—Afghanistan was instituted to recognise service in Afghanistan and in support of operations in that country from 11 September 2001. The qualifying criteria were initially published in Command Paper 5939 in September 2003 and amended in Command Paper 6935 in October 2006. Copies were placed in the Library of the House.
Subsequently, NATO offered their ISAF medal to coalition troops taking part in NATO operations in Afghanistan from 1 June 2003. Qualification for the medal is completion of at least 30 days continuous or accumulated service.
One of the key principles laid down by the Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals is that permission will not be given for UK citizens to accept a foreign award if they have received, or are expected to receive, a UK award for the same service.
As the NATO medal now covers the same service as the national OSM—Afghanistan and thereby contravenes the ‘double medalling’ rule. UK personnel who are given the medal may retain it, but may not wear it.
Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations
The six Danish Merlin helicopters will increase the operational capability that can be delivered by our Merlin fleet. Merlin helicopters are currently deployed in Iraq. We are currently examining the balance of our helicopter force levels across theatres, including the deployment of Merlin helicopters to Afghanistan, subject to operational requirements.
Armed Forces: Asthma
(2) if he will take steps to ensure that people with asthma are not automatically rejected upon application to the armed forces.
[holding answer 17 January 2008]: It is essential that all recruits to the armed forces are operationally effective, and the medical tests that they undergo on recruitment are designed to ensure this. Examining medical officers will consider each applicant on his or her own merit and apply their clinical judgement individually. Because of its potentially adverse effect on performance and respiratory fitness, and because of the requirement for long term access to respiratory medication, and possible associated medical care, candidates who have a current wheezing condition will in almost all cases be rejected. Candidates who have been free from symptoms and off all treatment for a period of at least four years may be considered for employment, subject to further assessment of their respiratory function.
We do review the medical standards for entry to the armed forces on a regular basis, and update them as appropriate. The guidance on respiratory conditions was last reviewed and updated in September 2006.
Armed Forces: Inquests
A coroner's inquest is a non-adversarial fact-finding inquiry and in the majority of inquests MOD does not instruct a legal team. However, MOD as an interested person, does, in a minority of cases consider it would be of assistance to have Counsel present, particularly where deaths have occurred in complex and unusual circumstances and to assist the coroner in undertaking his statutory function.
The amount spent by the Department on legal representation for military inquests in the UK and overseas each year since 2003 is as follows:
£ 2003 9,357.12 2004 61,841.16 2005 76,265.40 2006 276,589.91 2007 736,228.07
These figures include external legal advice on inquest related matters as well as costs for representation at inquests. The increase in costs in 2006 and 2007 reflect the increased volume of inquests held in Oxfordshire following the provision of additional resources to clear the backlog of inquests into operational deaths overseas.
Armed Forces: Manpower
The following table provides the information requested.
2R Welsh 4 Rifles 1RHA 1IG Peace Establishment prior to deployment 760 670 559 633 Strength on Deployment 522 587 388 409 Level of reinforcement from Regular Army 45 0 0 0 Level of reinforcement from Reg. Reserves 1 0 0 0 Level of reinforcement from Territorial Army 36 2 27 0 Unit personnel left behind on recruiting duties 27 21 8 0 Unit personnel physically unfit to deploy 21 20 30 23 Rear Party Strength1 79 95 102 93 1 Figures for Rear Party strength exclude those personnel listed as physically unfit to deploy or on recruiting duties.
With regard to Battlefield Casualty Replacement policy I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 7 January 2008, Official Report, column 50W, which applies across the Army.
Armed Forces: Pay
The spend on longer separation allowance (LSA) for financial year 2006-07 was £119 million. For financial year 2007-08 this is forecast to be around £105 million.
LSA forecasted spend is dependent on the circumstances of individuals deploying (i.e. precise time spent deployed, marital status).
Armed Forces: Qualifications
The majority of personnel, when not on operations or leave, are engaged in some form of military-related training, much of which is accredited for delivering civilian qualifications, but the information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The following table sets out the take-up of non-military related courses, expressed as a percentage of service strength, by personnel undertaking personal development using financial support provided through the armed forces learning credits schemes. Data on course completions are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
FY Royal Navy Army Royal Air Force Total 2002-03 6.8 17.1 12.0 13.7 2003-04 6.6 21.7 12.7 16.3 2004-05 7.3 22.3 15.6 17.6 2005-06 8.2 23.6 16.1 18.6 2006-07 9.1 24.5 11.7 18.2 Note: All years include the use of Standard Learning Credit, FY/05 onwards also includes the use of Enhanced Learning Credits introduced with effect from 1 April 2004.
Armed Forces: Schools
We have established a cross-UK Service Children’s Education Forum that brings together the MOD, the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the devolved administration education authorities. The forum first met in April 2007 and meets twice a year to consider key issues facing service children, particularly relating to their movement around the UK and between UK and overseas as part of the service community.
I have written to the hon. Member in response to him raising this matter during the Armed Forces Personnel debate on 10 January 2008, Official Report, column 617. A copy of the letter has been placed in the Library of the House.
Armed Forces: Training
The types of fixed and rotary wing aircraft from which British service personnel have made airborne jumps while completing service training or display activities in the last five years are shown in the following list. Records for British service personnel, who have completed jumps from foreign military aircraft, are not held.
Fixed Wing
Hercules C130 all marks
Islander
Skyvan
CASA 212
Cessna 206
Cessna Caravan
De Havilland Twin Otter DHC-6
Douglas DC3 Dakota
PAC 750
Pilatus Porter
Rotary Wing
Agusta A109
Bell 212
Chinook HC2/2a
Lynx HAS3/8
Lynx AH7/9
Puma HC1
Sea King HC4
Sea King HAS6CR
Departmental Official Hospitality
[holding answer 7 January 2008]: Ministers, members of the senior civil service and commanding officers are required to keep Hospitality Books in which are recorded details of all hospitality offered to themselves or members of their staffer unit and whether an offer of hospitality has been accepted or declined.
Detailed departmental rules governing the way in which Crown servants are to react to offers of gifts, reward, or hospitality from outside organisations are set out in a statement of civilian and service personnel policy. Hospitality Books are audited by senior officials and military officers.
Departmental Property
The information requested is not held centrally and it will take time to determine what information could be provided without incurring disproportionate cost.
I will write to my hon. Friend at the earliest opportunity.
Iraq: Peacekeeping Operations
For use in routine transfusions, deployed UK military hospitals maintain stocks of blood sourced from UK National Blood Service (NBS) donor centres, which screen and test their donors according to nationally mandated standards. For most patients, this licensed blood is all that is used for their trauma care.
However, in circumstances when standard blood stocks might not be appropriate where the properties of whole fresh blood are needed, an emergency blood transfusion from donors at a field hospital on or near the battlefield can be the only way of saving lives of gravely wounded UK personnel.
To enable blood to be obtained in such an emergency, UK field hospitals have an Emergency Donor Panel (EDP), consisting of a group of pre-screened volunteer donors who are available to donate blood at short notice. The volunteer donors will have been screened for suitability in accordance with UK NBS guidelines prior to deployment. Prior to donating at an EDP, a further check is made through use of a health questionnaire and an examination of the veins. Blood samples are taken to confirm the blood group, and for retrospective testing by the UK NBS to confirm that the blood transfused remained free from Transfusion Transmitted Infections.
Coalition partners in both Iraq and Afghanistan have their own procedures in place for pre- and post-screening of blood obtained from their equivalent of an EDP. If a seriously-injured UK casualty is being treated in a coalition medical facility, they may be given a life-saving transfusion of such blood for the same reasons as apply in a UK field hospital, and using the same procedures as would be used to treat one of their own nationals. We co-operate closely with coalition partners in developing world-class life-saving combat medical care work, and in reviewing procedures where appropriate.
Transport
Birmingham New Street Station
Costs are subject to ongoing commercial negotiations by Birmingham city council and Network Rail. However, £128 million of Network Rail funding has already been committed in their Strategic Business Plan. Birmingham city council has bid for a £160 million contribution from the Department for Transport through the regional funding allocation. A separate bid for £100 million has been made by Advantage West Midlands to the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. Centro has pledged a further £10 million. The total cost includes several contributions from the private sector.
Additional train capacity at New Street, and across the network, will be provided via longer trains. The Department has already committed to provide the extra carriages required.
Additional passenger handling capacity at New Street will be provided by improvements to the station, proposals for which are being led by Birmingham city council and Network Rail.
These improvements will deal with passenger growth at New Street for the foreseeable future without the need for new or longer platforms. Proposals for New Street also provide improved station access, environment, interchange and wider regeneration benefits.
Departmental Data Protection
The guiding principle used by the Department and its agencies for access to data is that of ‘Need to know’, consistent with the Cabinet Office Manual of Protective Security.
The Department and its agencies make use of both physical and electronic controls to restrict access to sensitive data including user identification, password protection and access restrictions based on user roles.
In addition to the basic checks performed for all personnel, a number of roles require users to have been security cleared to the appropriate level, consistent with the sensitivity of the data to which they require access.
The Department takes data security extremely seriously and is actively participating in the Cabinet Secretary’s review of this matter.
Departmental ICT
The following figures represent the number of personal digital assistants (PDAs) issued to male and female staff in the Department for Transport and Agencies for each year since the Department was set up in 2003:-
M F M F M F M F M F DfT(C) 0 0 0 0 0 0 46 23 132 52 PDAs only officially issued from 2006 onwards DVLA 3 8 0 8 0 Cannot split between male and female as allocated to teams rather than individuals. HA 44 5 81 11 0 0 8 2 0 0 Figures are PDA current distribution - initial allocations not recorded DSA 15 3 0 0 0 0 3 2 2 0 MCA n/a n/a 3 3 27 4 88 13 109 16 Figures are the position at the end of the year, which may vary from those originally issued, due to PDAs changing users. VOSA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 VGA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 GCDA 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 2 0 0 All now withdrawn for policy review. Totals (excludes DVLA) 59 8 84 14 27 4 157 42 243 68 Grand total = 706 plus 19 unallocated.
DfT policy is to provide personal digital assistants (PDAs) to appropriate staff where there are clear business benefits.
Driving Standards Agency
The Driving Standards Agency has identified that the following factors are influences on practical test pass rates:
The age/gender of the test candidate—in general, younger candidates have a higher pass rate, and males have a higher pass rate than females.
The socio economic background of the test candidate—likely to be linked to more money available to invest in driving lessons and greater opportunities for private driving practice, such as access to a family vehicle etc.
The prevalence of these factors varies between individual test centres, resulting in pass rate variances.
Driving Under Influence
No work is being undertaken in the Department for Transport to assess an appropriate minimum blood alcohol concentration level for drivers. Controls over drinking and driving are based on the “prescribed limit” for drivers which represents the maximum permissible alcohol concentration for motorists.
The most recent assessment of the possible effect of a change in the legal alcohol limit was included in the 1998 consultation paper “Combating Drink Driving: Next Steps”.
We explained in the report of the second three-yearly review of our Road Safety Strategy (February 2007) that we will keep the alcohol limit under review. But our first priority is to ensure effective enforcement of the current limit so as to tackle those who are the most seriously impaired.
Copies of the 1998 consultation document and the 2007 review report are in the Library of the House.
Durham Green Developments Ltd.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to his question on 22 January 2008, Official Report, column 819W, in respect of Durham Green Business Park. There have been no other representations.
Eurostar: Waterloo Station
It is primarily the railway infrastructure outside Waterloo that limits the number of trains that can use the station rather than the number of platforms. Therefore the need is to run longer trains rather than more trains. So we are planning a large scheme to make all the platforms long enough to accommodate 10 and 12 car trains and to modify the junction layout on the approaches to the station. Such a scheme would allow the use of up to 50 per cent. longer trains than currently use the short platforms and would result in a large increase in capacity. The scheme is likely to require the use of all five platforms at Waterloo International. The scheme also presents opportunities at Waterloo International to reconfigure the passenger circulation space and the interchange with other transport modes, and to better integrate the station into the surrounding area. Such an ambitious scheme requires very detailed planning to make the most of this unique opportunity.
In order to make the best use of the facility in the meantime, the Department is working closely with Network Rail and Stagecoach South Western Trains to finalise the design and costs of the partial conversion of Waterloo International to accommodate some domestic services. Therefore some services could use platform 20 of Waterloo International from the timetable change date in December 2008.
First Great Western: Complaints
In the last 12 months Ministers and officials at the Department for Transport have received several hundred e-mails, letters and phone calls regarding various aspects of First Greater Western operations.
Motor Vehicles: Excise Duties
(2) how many vehicles have free historic vehicle tax discs.
The numbers of licensed vehicles over 25 years of age at the end of 2006 and registered in Great Britain were as follows:
Number of licensed vehicles (thousand) All vehicles 723 Exempt from vehicle excise duty—historic vehicle 307 Exempt from vehicle excise duty—other reasons 232 Not exempt from vehicle excise duty 183
The data given above include vehicles where the year of manufacture is not known.
Network Rail
(2) what steps she has taken to use her powers of determination or enforcement under the binding commitment between her and Network Rail referred to in paragraph 1.4.10 of the White Paper The Future of Rail, Cm 6233, dated 15 July 2004.
The July 2004 White Paper proposed a binding arrangement between the Secretary of State and Network Rail. This would combine existing regulatory requirements, imposed, monitored and enforced by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR), together with a new Department for Transport (DFT)—Network Rail Reporting Requirement setting out their working relationship.
Under the binding arrangement, at the outset of a periodic or interim review, the Secretary of State has the sole responsibility for specifying the high level outputs that she wants the railway to deliver in England and Wales, and the Government funds available for their delivery. The independent ORR assesses whether the two are consistent and determines the outputs required of Network Rail, and the funding necessary to deliver them in the most efficient way. The ORR then monitors Network Rail to ensure it is delivering the Secretary of State’s requirements.
The DFT—Network Rail Reporting Requirement was drawn up in conjunction with the ORR and published in November 2005. It sets out the arrangements for effective communication between Network Rail and the Secretary of State; and aims to ensure that the Department is kept properly informed of Network Rail’s progress in delivering the agreed high level outputs. It falls to Network Rail to deliver within this strategic framework; and for the ORR to continue to have sole responsibility for enforcement in the event of non-compliance.
The West Coast Project Board is an advisory panel that has no powers of binding determination and enforcement. Constituted of cross-industry senior level representation, its purpose is to address industry barriers that threaten the delivery of planned timetable improvements on the West Coast from December 2008.
Railway Stations
Adoption of the stations code, an industry initiative to improve the complex contractual arrangements at stations, is a matter for Network Rail and the individual train operating companies involved. An industry working group is working towards facilitating implementation of the stations code including agreeing a timetable for implementation on a phased geographical basis.
Railways: Accidents
The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) has provided the following statistics on train accidents due to road vehicle incursions:
Trains colliding with road vehicles not at level crossings Trains colliding with road vehicles at level crossings Trains running into fallen debris (bridge parapet etc.) following a road traffic accident 2002 6 16 0 2003 1 30 1 2004 5 20 0 2005 6 21 1 2006 11 14 2
A rail infrastructure manager, such as Network Rail, could seek damages against a motorist who caused an accident.
Railways: Birmingham
The Government have no power to intervene in Network Rail’s operations. However, the Secretary of State met with Iain Coucher, chief executive of Network Rail, on 3 January to inform him that the disruption to rail services from the engineering over-runs over the Christmas/new year period, particularly on the West Coast Main Line at Rugby, was unacceptable; and to seek his assurance that such delays would not be repeated and that lessons will be learned.
Railways: Subsidies
The Department does not hold the information in the form requested. However, details of subsidy paid, and premiums received split between each passenger franchise to a subsidy or premium per passenger kilometre level are available in National Rail Trends which is published by the Office of Rail Regulation. Copies of this document are available in the Library of the House.
Railways: Theft
This information is not held by the Department for Transport but by the British Transport police who can be contacted at: British Transport police, 25 Camden road, London NW1 9LN, e-mail: mail to:
parliament@btp.pnn.police.uk
Road Works
In 2006, local transport plans produced by local authorities outside London were assessed to determine how authorities performed in each category of the network management duty.
The assessment found that the average mark across these authorities for the Works Management category was “Fair” but the average for all categories was “Good”.
The full assessment can be found on the Department for Transport's website at the following address:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/tpm/tmaportal/tmafeatures/tmapart2/assessnmdltp
The Department has recently commissioned a three year evaluation contract which aims to determine the effectiveness in mitigating congestion and disruption of different parts of the Traffic Management Act including Network Management and works in the highway. The conclusions will become available towards the end of the contract period.
Roads: Safety
Department for Transport officials have begun preliminary discussions with key road safety interests about the new road safety strategy, with a view to wider public consultation later this year.
Shipping: Safety
The incident involving the sinking of the Flying Phantom is being investigated by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency will consider any recommendations published in the MAIB’s final report.
Home Department
Animal Experiments: Cosmetics
The Government secured a voluntary ban on testing cosmetic finished products and ingredients on animals in the United Kingdom in November 1997 and this position has been maintained. The ban was pursued because we believe that there is inadequate justification for the use of animals given the benefits of these products and the alternative tests available.
Antisocial Behaviour Orders
Data on antisocial behaviour orders on conviction broken down by constabulary area are not yet available but are due to be published in the spring. Police forces devise their own application forms for antisocial behaviour orders and no assessment has been made of the variation in their procedures. It is therefore not possible to say how long the forms are.
Bail
[holding answer 25 January 2008]: The data collected by the Ministry of Justice on arrests are broken down by offence group and therefore do not specifically identify arrests for breach of bail conditions.
Cocaine
The official published figures are released on an annual basis as follows:
2003-04: 94 ‘crack house’ closure orders
2004-05: 286 ‘crack house’ closure orders
2005-06: 342 ‘crack house’ closure orders
The Antisocial Behaviour Act 2003 introduced the power for courts to issue orders for the closure of premises where Class A drugs and serious nuisance and disorder are a problem. The provision commenced on 20 January 2004.
The data for 2006-07 will be published spring 2008.
Crime
[holding answer 25 January 2008]: Information at police force area level is published annually for the following offence groups: violence against the person, sexual offences, robbery, burglary, theft and handling stolen goods, fraud and forgery, criminal damage and drug offences.
Figures for 1997 to 2006-07 are provided in the individual volumes of the annual publication “Crime Statistics, England and Wales”.
Statistics for theft from the person, thefts from shops and thefts of and from vehicles are published annually for individual police force areas from 1997 to 2000-01 in table 3.1 of “Criminal Statistics, England and Wales, Supplementary Volume 3”.
Statistics for these four offences from 2001-02 onwards are given in the following tables.
Copies of all the publications referred to above should be available in the Library.
The Home Office does not receive recorded crime data at the detailed geographic level as defined by the Rural and Urban Area Classification.
2001-02 2002-031 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 Avon and Somerset 2,120 2,554 2,149 1,657 1,540 2,282 Bedfordshire 111 1,094 1,311 1,214 1,601 1,298 British Transport Police n/a 13,096 12,112 10,543 9,953 9,943 Cambridgeshire 689 1,087 976 892 846 930 Cheshire 500 861 947 869 1,499 1,498 Cleveland 606 932 1,023 1,057 1,129 1,148 Cumbria 126 188 210 179 215 161 Derbyshire 1,835 2,301 2,180 1,885 1,785 1,668 Devon and Cornwall 735 1,712 1,677 1,676 1,583 1,688 Dorset 629 1,063 945 825 814 767 Durham 436 404 387 277 399 492 Dyfed-Powys 29 24 75 148 122 128 Essex 1,449 1,810 1,783 1,420 1,272 716 Gloucestershire 772 925 942 837 882 823 Greater Manchester 7,475 8,809 7,610 5,304 5,305 5,262 Gwent 195 375 409 465 449 535 Hampshire 1,039 1,699 2,396 2,135 2,085 2,059 Hertfordshire 1,146 2,185 2,298 2,767 2,882 2,417 Humberside 1,478 1,817 1,890 1,440 1,768 1,632 Kent 841 1,217 1,163 1,212 1,626 1,303 Lancashire 2,067 1,566 1,802 1,688 1,670 1,525 Leicestershire 1,455 1,799 1,784 1,676 1,765 1,820 Lincolnshire 296 506 536 487 470 392 London, City of 256 295 266 293 323 438 Merseyside 2,191 3,885 3,659 3,800 3,751 3,274 Metropolitan Police 48,510 51,876 46,217 42,047 42,677 37,969 Norfolk 477 750 725 626 607 753 Northamptonshire 692 937 987 1,029 1,190 1,105 Northumbria 1,615 2,965 2,648 2,299 1,863 1,275 North Wales 535 561 463 377 280 262 North Yorkshire 864 1,341 1,448 1,030 1,058 807 Nottinghamshire 3,744 3,924 3,420 2,663 2,526 2,595 South Wales 814 2,536 2,802 2,614 2,405 2,296 South Yorkshire 1,904 2,681 2,326 2,284 2,560 2,699 Staffordshire 1,382 1,478 1,348 1,260 1,322 1,229 Suffolk 477 575 632 773 779 698 Surrey 609 805 829 576 582 466 Sussex 2,481 2,830 2,923 2,902 3,650 3,339 Thames valley 3,683 5,018 4,425 4,266 4,148 4,178 Warwickshire 342 394 359 416 439 408 West Mercia 972 1,125 990 721 723 757 West Midlands 8,202 6,287 5,319 3,674 3,348 2,949 West Yorkshire 7,954 9,470 8,082 7,036 7,248 6,165 Wiltshire 449 731 681 742 728 716 England and Wales 114,848 148,488 137,154 122,081 123,867 114,865
2001-02 2002-031 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 Avon and Somerset 9,106 8,410 8,658 8,087 8,655 9,423 Bedfordshire 3,663 3,724 3,708 3,384 3,741 3,617 British Transport Police n/a 1,543 1,439 1,382 1,594 1,545 Cambridgeshire 4,024 4,420 4,165 3,630 3,760 3,845 Cheshire 4,599 5,542 5,638 5,132 6,267 6,554 Cleveland 6,916 6,207 5,039 4,344 4,924 4,652 Cumbria 2,795 2,571 2,505 2,507 2,686 2,271 Derbyshire 5,022 5,455 4,852 3,810 3,550 3,246 Devon and Cornwall 5,853 7,126 6,730 7,214 7,431 7,416 Dorset 3,180 3,480 3,238 3,308 3,543 3,530 Durham 3,575 2,996 2,709 2,392 2,565 2,339 Dyfed-Powys 1,427 1,390 1,533 1,513 1,455 1,444 Essex 7,149 8,336 8,306 8,489 9,607 9,329 Gloucestershire 3,670 3,816 3,854 3,108 3,354 3,347 Greater Manchester 16,648 16,399 15,489 13,343 14,396 14,827 Gwent 3,085 2,878 2,970 2,806 2,960 2,894 Hampshire 9,311 9,784 11,276 11,195 11,670 11,693 Hertfordshire 4,421 5,474 5,536 5,960 6,101 6,587 Humberside 8,111 8,114 7,676 6,643 6,112 6,762 Kent 7,943 8,394 8,411 8,495 9,991 10,164 Lancashire 8,050 7,781 8,579 8,254 8,655 8,564 Leicestershire 4,846 4,778 4,497 4,428 4,871 5,067 Lincolnshire 3,504 3,517 3,091 3,098 3,390 3,263 London, City of 755 939 982 836 737 770 Merseyside 9,777 9,710 8,662 8,340 9,327 9,623 Metropolitan Police 42,522 41,999 40,116 39,764 41,040 36,944 Norfolk 3,440 3,730 3,877 3,668 3,814 4,122 Northamptonshire 3,451 3,948 3,983 3,747 3,676 3,527 Northumbria 10,565 10,911 9,577 8,775 8,364 9,378 North Wales 3,669 4,020 3,739 3,051 3,111 3,401 North Yorkshire 4,303 4,604 4,966 3,607 3,725 3,629 Nottinghamshire 10,129 9,578 9,421 7,648 7,129 6,907 South Wales 6,726 6,988 7,114 6,586 6,971 6,757 South Yorkshire 7,638 8,214 7,607 6,591 8,028 7,588 Staffordshire 6,411 5,889 5,531 5,064 5,664 5,951 Suffolk 3,072 3,289 3,150 2,856 3,101 2,681 Surrey 3,665 3,680 3,827 3,622 3,416 3,702 Sussex 8,157 6,988 7,077 7,738 8,403 8,229 Thames valley 11,191 11,350 11,175 10,897 10,923 11,542 Warwickshire 2,464 2,235 2,307 1,918 2,009 2,030 West Mercia 6,433 5,895 6,211 5,745 5,457 5,706 West Midlands 20,053 18,352 17,524 14,344 15,464 14,918 West Yorkshire 12,735 13,858 13,974 11,368 11,782 11,935 Wiltshire 2,542 2,569 2,516 2,440 2,580 2,585 England and Wales 306,596 310,881 303,235 281,127 295,999 294,304
2001-02 2002-031 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 Avon and Somerset 12,181 11,983 8,705 7,070 6,280 6,108 Bedfordshire 3,873 3,111 2,834 1,965 2,185 1,882 British Transport Police n/a 1,357 1,201 811 541 457 Cambridgeshire 2,941 3,638 3,307 2,720 2,265 2,347 Cheshire 4,625 4,503 3,994 3,599 3,503 2,935 Cleveland 4,797 4,468 4,463 3,616 2,901 2,256 Cumbria 1,115 1,244 1,060 1,101 1,087 948 Derbyshire 3,832 4,062 3,571 2,785 2,693 2,525 Devon and Cornwall 3,392 3,907 3,396 3,256 3,058 3,025 Dorset 2,499 2,276 2,199 1,767 1,499 1,395 Durham 2,712 2,423 2,369 2,088 2,134 1,889 Dyfed-Powys 841 833 795 727 619 588 Essex 7,505 7,664 7,283 6,419 6,253 5,629 Gloucestershire 1,828 1,977 2,264 1,949 1,706 1,451 Greater Manchester 31,969 26,252 21,870 18,794 17,001 14,877 Gwent 2,610 3,046 3,507 3,189 2,694 2,633 Hampshire 6,506 6,278 5,822 4,871 4,394 4,726 Hertfordshire 3,810 4,287 4,323 3,445 3,361 2,821 Humberside 6,501 7,607 7,619 6,096 4,857 4,067 Kent 7,237 7,138 6,749 6,181 6,438 5,650 Lancashire 6,154 5,585 5,231 4,514 3,849 3,738 Leicestershire 4,604 4,576 3,986 3,506 2,566 2,772 Lincolnshire 1,885 2,101 1,932 1,833 1,690 1,608 London, City of 380 334 226 97 74 75 Merseyside 15,081 13,081 11,403 9,354 7,161 6,198 Metropolitan Police 62,112 58,405 55,158 48,026 43,463 37,599 Norfolk 1,888 2,288 2,173 1,851 1,577 1,468 Northamptonshire 3,758 3,817 3,642 3,415 2,896 2,731 Northumbria 7,837 6,981 6,445 5,189 4,748 3,883 North Wales 1,949 2,087 2,038 1,740 1,486 1,607 North Yorkshire 2,349 2,623 2,672 2,097 2,154 1,585 Nottinghamshire 7,714 8,782 8,014 6,284 4,798 4,609 South Wales 11,557 11,844 9,793 7,336 6,896 6,484 South Yorkshire 8,294 10,241 9,621 8,005 7,648 7,481 Staffordshire 5,637 4,463 4,209 3,470 3,411 3,235 Suffolk 1,693 1,606 1,459 1,645 1,264 1,408 Surrey 2,881 3,110 2,947 2,413 2,229 2,205 Sussex 5,442 5,992 5,313 4,379 3,626 3,353 Thames valley 10,255 9,111 8,753 7,651 6,829 6,384 Warwickshire 2,118 2,282 2,125 1,919 1,751 1,696 West Mercia 3,336 3,371 3,432 3,179 2,629 2,340 West Midlands 25,385 23,598 23,217 17,091 14,482 12,249 West Yorkshire 23,765 22,867 19,473 13,961 10,455 9,469 Wiltshire 1,267 1,308 1,265 1,328 1,031 1,024 England and Wales 328,115 318,507 291,858 242,732 214,182 193,410
2001-02 2002-031 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 Avon and Somerset 28,610 24,266 20,303 16,936 15,629 15,942 Bedfordshire 8,852 8,323 7,337 6,448 6,735 6,949 British Transport Police n/a 4,982 4,742 4,070 4,100 3,884 Cambridgeshire 9,804 9,707 7,365 6,449 6,080 6,429 Cheshire 8,820 9,400 8,850 8,011 8,181 7,370 Cleveland 9,454 9,826 8,030 6,510 6,035 5,598 Cumbria 3,368 3,509 3,054 2,840 2,091 1,897 Derbyshire 12,471 12,730 10,787 7,418 7,174 7,490 Devon and Cornwall 14,157 15,470 13,205 11,734 10,786 10,380 Dorset 7,310 7,141 6,404 4,813 5,144 3,863 Durham 5,086 5,023 4,704 3,415 3,952 4,240 Dyfed-Powys 1,209 1,195 1,530 1,604 1,250 1,417 Essex 13,356 13,906 13,757 12,334 13,781 12,736 Gloucestershire 6,312 5,763 6,143 4,810 3,992 3,812 Greater Manchester 42,806 41,022 37,414 31,178 35,802 39,189 Gwent 4,406 5,286 5,416 5,394 5,656 4,972 Hampshire 15,353 15,985 14,947 11,668 13,446 15,140 Hertfordshire 10,453 12,315 11,916 9,664 9,145 8,376 Humberside 14,843 14,881 13,810 11,187 10,748 9,694 Kent 13,361 13,676 12,492 11,713 12,387 11,772 Lancashire 14,861 13,289 11,468 10,822 10,521 10,458 Leicestershire 11,749 11,410 10,030 7,868 7,413 7,748 Lincolnshire 4,897 5,756 4,571 4,074 4,115 3,810 London, City of 511 360 357 156 178 156 Merseyside 14,901 14,973 14,961 13,893 14,997 12,806 Metropolitan Police 112,146 114,987 103,899 88,164 94,309 92,137 Norfolk 7,909 8,451 6,223 4,440 3,812 4,030 Northamptonshire 7,577 8,051 9,069 7,161 6,267 6,356 Northumbria 12,573 13,283 11,644 10,836 10,846 9,545 North Wales 5,712 6,006 5,575 3,609 2,671 2,697 North Yorkshire 5,822 6,947 6,844 4,379 4,589 4,635 Nottinghamshire 20,818 22,227 20,303 16,476 17,741 15,965 South Wales 14,324 18,579 17,289 15,456 16,538 16,221 South Yorkshire 20,427 20,948 19,573 16,199 17,962 17,704 Staffordshire 12,314 10,094 9,576 7,800 7,646 7,682 Suffolk 5,222 4,676 4,323 3,818 4,017 3,990 Surrey 6,513 6,879 6,973 6,830 6,793 7,385 Sussex 15,798 15,116 13,463 10,787 9,856 9,220 Thames valley 31,525 28,518 26,710 23,385 22,426 22,119 Warwickshire 5,899 6,195 5,131 4,725 4,520 5,200 West Mercia 9,725 9,705 8,702 7,764 7,123 6,525 West Midlands 38,239 37,240 33,894 25,380 24,910 27,082 West Yorkshire 41,671 41,340 36,287 24,525 22,557 24,566 Wiltshire 3,997 4,243 4,185 3,617 3,318 3,676 England and Wales 655,161 663,679 603,256 500,360 507,239 502,663 n/a = Not available. 1 The National Crime Recording standard was introduced in April 2002. Figures before and after that date are not directly comparable.
Crime: Fraud
[holding answer 25 January 2008]: From 15 January 2007 a revised system of recording plastic card fraud was introduced with agreement from the Association of Payment Clearing Services, Association of Chief Police Officers and police forces. The first stage was the introduction of a less bureaucratic method of recording crimes based on the numbers of accounts defrauded as opposed to the number of individual fraudulent transactions on an account; this also reflecting the fact that in most cases the financial institution where the account is held stands the financial loss rather than the separate parties to individual transactions.
The 2nd stage introduced from 1 April 2007 was to give financial institutions a network of single points of contact within each police force where they can report cheque and plastic card fraud which will appear in local police statistics.
Where individual account holders or traders are not refunded moneys lost through fraud on plastic cards by their financial institution, they can also report the matter to police, where it must appear in local police statistics on crime based on the number of accounts defrauded.
Full guidance issued to both police and financial institutions is contained within the Home Office Counting Rules for Recorded Crime (which is a public document available online at:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/countrules.html
under Classification 53C.
Crime: Victims
The National Crime Recording Standard and Home Office Counting Rules provide guidance to forces on how they record and classify crimes. There is no requirement under either of these policies for police to require the ethnic origin of victims of crime before crime numbers can be issued.
Crimes of Violence: Females
The Respect Task Force has not undertaken any research (nor planned any future research) which specifically relates to violence against women.
Criminal Records Bureau
Data concerning the average time taken by the Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) to complete a Disclosure by police force area are not collated by the bureau.
The CRB operates to a set of published service standards (PSS) which include to issue 90 per cent. of Standard Disclosures within 10 days and 90 per cent. of Enhanced Disclosures within 28 days. The CRB has exceeded the PSS for Standard Disclosures for several years and has exceeded the PSS for Enhanced Disclosures since April 2007.
Forces performance can be affected by a number of factors; the volume of cases sent to a force to process in any given month, the number of staff available to process the checks and the IT resources on hand to forces. With these variables, performance can fluctuate within individual forces from one month to the next.
The CRB has been supporting those forces that have encountered problems in meeting their targets by a range of measures including the provision of additional resources, monitoring performance, providing demand forecasting data and assistance in introducing new IT initiatives.
A revised service level agreement came into effect in April 2006 between the CRB and the 43 police forces of England and Wales. This new agreement, which was agreed by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) places an additional focus on delivery and the responsibilities of chief officers and ACPO to ensure that the obligations within the service level agreement are met. Monthly performance figures for each of the police forces for their part of the disclosure service are now published on the CRB website at:
www.crb.gov.uk
Domestic Violence: Asians
The Home Office does not routinely collect this data. However, the Government is aware of the specific issues faced by black and minority ethnic victims of domestic violence (including forced marriage, female genital mutilation and honour based violence), and is currently developing a cross-Government work plan (in conjunction with the Association of Chief Police Officers) to take forward work in this area.
Forced Marriage
The Forced Marriage Unit was established in 2005 as the Government's one stop shop for dealing with domestic and international aspects of forced marriage casework, policy and projects. Recognising the need to prevent forced marriages from taking place in the UK, in 2007 the Unit issued specific guidelines for registrars.
The Forced Marriage Unit received 5,000 enquiries and handled approximately 400 cases in 2007, 167 of which involved repatriation to the UK. We do not collate statistics on where forced marriages take place, but a new system to capture data on cases is being implemented this year.
Identity Cards
[holding answer 29 November 2007]: There have been a number of Gateway reviews on identity cards, the National Identity Scheme and/or specific projects within the scheme.
The Identity and Passport Service has no current plans to publish the reports on the Gateway reviews.
National Identity Register
The National Audit Office has full access to all Identity and Passport Service data as our external auditors. The type of data required to routinely audit Identity and Passport Service accounts however, is unlikely to specifically include National Identity Register data.
Once the National Identity Register is established, the Identity and Passport Service and the National Audit Office will agree what data may be required for audit purposes.
Passports: Lost Property
The figures given in the answer of 10 December 2007, Official Report, column 90W, on passports: lost property, for passports reported lost are drawn from reporting arrangements introduced in December 2003, which allow passport holders to advise us of passport losses and thefts. It is not possible to identify the number lost in the post from this data.
The numbers of passports lost while on delivery from IPS for the last five years are as follows:
Number 2001 2,541 2002 2,982 2003 3,593 2004 (February 2004 to January 2005) 601 2005 (February 2005 to January 2006) 1,018 2006 (February 2006 to January 2007) 727 2007 (February 2007 to October 2007) 586
Prior to 2004 new passports were delivered by Royal Mail (standard first class mail) but February 2004 saw the introduction of Secure Delivery, with the delivery of passports undertaken by Secure Mail Services, a courier service. All losses are added to the database of lost or stolen passports, and further measurers are in hand to reduce losses still further.
Police
[holding answer 10 December 2007]: The available data which have been collected from 2002-03, are for police officers who leave the force from 2002-03 onwards, and are given in the following table.
Headcount 2002-03 25 and under 743 26 to 40 2,889 41 to 55 3,877 Over 55 279 2003-04 25 and under 740 26 to 40 2,720 41 to 55 3,440 Over 55 301 2004/052 25 and under 570 26 to 40 2,430 41 to 55 4,012 Over 55 319 2005-06 25 and under 551 26 to 40 2,629 41 to 55 5,333 Over 55 320 2006-07 25 and under 475 26 to 40 2,548 41 to 55 4,962 Over 55 322 1 Number of officers who leave during the reporting period. Period runs from 1 April to 31 March. 2 Data are not available for Leicestershire for 2004-05. Note: The majority of the these police officers leave due to retirement.
Police officer age is collected within specific age bands only, and the available data are given in the table as follows.
25 and under 26 to 40 41 to 55 Over 55 Avon and Somerset 251 1865 1,358 14 Bedfordshire 138 643 434 8 Cambridgeshire 104 764 548 5 Cheshire 165 1,283 811 3 Cleveland 130 918 708 2 Cumbria 88 635 572 4 Derbyshire 143 1,050 879 10 Devon and Cornwall 188 1,843 1,544 18 Dorset 99 829 621 9 Durham 76 932 707 6 Dyfed-Powys 50 664 496 2 Essex 517 1,592 1,267 21 Gloucestershire 96 690 559 5 Greater Manchester 606 4,283 3,144 20 Gwent 86 838 575 13 Hampshire 322 2,151 1,463 15 Hertfordshire 287 1,243 702 4 Humberside 169 1,104 989 15 Kent 451 2,078 1,218 29 Lancashire 258 2,039 1,366 3 Leicestershire 178 1,240 855 8 Lincolnshire 73 599 572 9 London, City of 46 433 385 7 Merseyside 387 2,055 2,022 17 Metropolitan police 2,503 16,872 11,943 208 Norfolk 90 852 663 4 Northamptonshire 93 707 538 1 Northumbria 196 2,131 1,691 6 North Wales 88 832 700 2 North Yorkshire 144 895 652 0 Nottinghamshire 172 1,334 959 14 South Wales 151 1,905 1,295 17 South Yorkshire 204 1,767 1,344 13 Staffordshire 169 1,297 877 15 Suffolk 103 743 534 4 Surrey 155 1,106 732 o Sussex 339 1,751 1,066 13 Thames Valley 441 2,264 1,599 23 Warwickshire 104 554 412 1 West Mercia 163 1,244 1,034 11 West Midlands 755 4,731 2,862 40 West Yorkshire 591 2,995 2,180 23 Wiltshire 66 645 557 4 1 Headcount figures; full-time and part-time officers are counted individually as one officer. This differs from the main officer count which is on a full-time equivalent basis. The figures include officers on career breaks and maternity/paternity leave.
Police Stations
Information on the number of police stations opened and closed in England and Wales has been collected centrally from police authorities via a yearly survey. Due to the changes in the use of police buildings it has proved to be difficult to obtain comprehensive information as to the number of police stations in use and of the number opening and closing in any year.
The information requested is as follows.
(a) Information on police numbers is published annually in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin series “Police Service Strength, England and Wales.” The bulletins are available in the Library of the House, and can be downloaded from the publications link within the Research Development and Statistics directorate website located at:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/index.html
The available data are at the police force level and are given in the table.
(b) The management of the police estate and allocation of resources are matters for each police authority and the chief officer, who are responsible for assessing local needs. The Home Office does not have reliable data submitted by all forces on the total number of police stations.
Police force 31 March 19973 31 March 20014 31 March 20055 31 March 20065 Avon and Somerset 2,989 2,994 3,384 3,389 Bedfordshire 1,094 1,036 1,215 1,198 Cambridgeshire 1,302 1,296 1,402 1,430 Cheshire 2,046 2,002 2,186 2,174 Cleveland 1,459 1,407 1,676 1,677 Cumbria 1,144 1,048 1,232 1,230 Derbyshire 1,791 1,823 2,070 2,046 Devon and Cornwall 2,865 2,934 3,369 3,493 Dorset 1,284 1,354 1,450 1,485 Durham 1,461 1,595 1,718 1,699 Essex 2,961 2,897 3,190 3,279 Gloucestershire 1,133 1,173 1,291 1,289 Greater Manchester 6,922 6,909 8,041 7,959 Hampshire 3,452 3,438 3,725 3,707 Hertfordshire 1,759 1,922 2,104 2,126 Humberside 2,045 1,917 2,230 2,224 Kent 3,260 3,319 3,586 3,599 Lancashire 3,248 3,255 3.551 3,583 Leicestershire 1,949 2,032 2,283 2,250 Lincolnshire 1,196 1,202 1,221 1,213 London, City of 859 703 876 869 Merseyside 4,230 4,081 4,317 4,269 Metropolitan Police 26,677 24,878 30,710 30,536 Norfolk 1,432 1,420 1,544 1,557 Northamptonshire 1,177 1,157 1,267 1,317 Northumbria 3,677 3,857 4,048 3,983 North Yorkshire 1,338 1,305 1,543 1,636 Nottinghamshire 2,323 2,275 2,502 2,477 South Yorkshire 3,159 3,197 3,265 3,255 Staffordshire 2,211 2,129 2,280 2,272 Suffolk 1,174 1,133 1,313 1,300 Surrey 1,620 2,066 1,915 1,922 Sussex 3,085 2,855 3,044 3,092 Thames Valley 3,695 3,703 4,114 4,229 Warwickshire 926 926 1,011 1,032 West Mercia 2,040 1,951 2,367 2,351 West Midlands 7,113 7,423 8,056 8,097 West Yorkshire 5,209 4,815 5,631 5,644 Wiltshire 1,154 1,120 1,222 1,219 Dyfed-Powys 1,005 1,055 1,174 1,182 Gwent 1,243 1,274 1,438 1,467 North Wales 1,369 1,444 1,652 1,617 South Wales 2,976 3,154 3,281 3,263 1 This table contains full-time equivalent figures that have been rounded to the nearest whole number. Because of rounding, there may be an apparent discrepancy between totals and the sums of the constituent items. 2 Full-time equivalent excludes those on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave. 3 Boundary changes on 1 April 1996 transferred resources for the policing of the Rhmney Valley from South Wales police to Gwent police. 4 Boundary changes on 1 April 2000 transferred some resources from the Metropolitan police to Essex, Hertfordshire and Surrey police forces. 5 Comparable strength (excludes those on career breaks, or maternity/paternity leave). The Police Numbers Task Force (2001) recommended that a clear presentation was made of the numbers of staff employed by police forces including those seconded into the force and those on any type of long or short term absence. These new calculations were first used in 2003, and are not comparable with data prior to March 2003. The data from 2003 onwards used here are termed comparable because they have been calculated on the old basis to allow comparison.
Police: Firearms
Data on crimes recorded by the police in which a police officer on duty was injured by a firearm (excluding air weapons) from 1997-98 up to and including 2005-06 and are given in the table.
Police force area Total injuries 1997-98 London Region 2 Northamptonshire 1 Nottinghamshire 1 West Midlands 2 England and Wales total 6 1998-99 1 Devon and Cornwall 2 Greater Manchester 3 Leicestershire 1 London Region 5 England and Wales total 11 1999-2000 Avon and Somerset 1 Cheshire 1 London City of 1 Staffordshire 1 West Midlands 4 England and Wales total 10 2000-01 2 Greater Manchester 5 London Region 1 South Yorkshire 2 England and Wales total 8 2001-02 London Region 1 Staffordshire 1 Warwickshire 3 West Midlands 5 England and Wales total 10 2002-03 3 Gloucestershire 1 London Region 6 Northamptonshire 2 West Midlands 3 England and Wales total 12 2003-04 Cheshire 1 Devon and Cornwall 1 London Region 7 Nottinghamshire 1 West Midlands 2 West Yorkshire 2 England and Wales total 14 2004-05 Avon and Somerset 2 Devon and Cornwall 1 Greater Manchester 7 Hampshire 1 Humberside 1 London Region 9 West Midlands 2 England and Wales total 23 1 There was a change in counting rules for recorded crime on 1 April 1998. 2 Numbers of some recorded crimes may have been inflated by some police forces implementing the principles of the National Crime Recording Standard before 1 April 2002. 3 The national Crime Recording Standard was introduced on 1 April 2002. Figures for some crime categories may have been inflated by this.
Police: Industrial Action
It is unlawful for the police to call for industrial action among officers.
Police: Interpreters
Guidance is contained in the “National Agreement on arrangements for the use of interpreters, translators and language service professionals in investigations and proceedings within the criminal justice system”. Annex C and D of the National Agreement give detailed guidance on how to source the appropriate language service professionals when a registered one is not available and how to identify the right mode of communication with a person who has a hearing impairment. Copies of the National Agreement have been placed in the Library. Additional guidance is issued in individual force areas at the discretion of the chief officer.
Police: Training
It is currently estimated that a total of 5,455 new recruits will undertake police officer training in England between 2007 and 2008. The Metropolitan Police Service also plans to recruit 1,072 additional police officers during the same period, although this figure is variable. Such estimates are dependent on a number of factors based on funding, the number of applicants meeting the strict selection criteria and the capacity of forces to recruit and develop individuals.
Security Industry Authority
(2) how the Security Industry Authority (SIA) validates information supplied by applicants for an SIA licence who have been resident in the UK for less than 12 months; and how many applications for an SIA licence from such applicants have been refused because information supplied proved inaccurate since the SIA was established.
Information on the procedure to establish previous addresses and other information provided in licence applications can be found on the website of the Security Industry Authority (SIA) and in the SIA’s booklets “Get Licensed” and “SIA Licence Application Form Guidance Notes”. Both documents are available on the SIA website at:
http://www.the-sia.org.uk/home/about_sia/publications/publications_licensing.htm
All applicants for the SIA licence must provide an address history with no gaps and include overseas addresses (where appropriate) covering a five year address history for the purposes of a Criminal Record Bureau check. In addition applicants must provide identification documents. At least one document must show a current address, at least one must show the applicant’s date of birth and at least one must include photo ID.
If the applicant has lived overseas or they have spent six continuous months or more outside the UK, they must provide evidence of a criminal record check from the relevant country or countries which is subject to checks by the SIA.
If applicants do not provide a full five-year address history the SIA will return the application form to them. If this information is not forthcoming a licence will not be issued to the applicant.
The SIA does not keep information on the numbers of refused applications for an SIA licence from applicants who have not been resident in the UK for more than 12 months.
Violent Crime Action Plan
We currently plan to publish the tackling violence action plan during February.
The tackling violence action plan will contain a wide range of proposals to tackle violent crime. It is possible that some may involve legislation but no final decisions have yet been made.
Duchy of Lancaster
Tony Blair
The Ministerial Code sets out the rules in relation to the clearance of memoirs and access to official papers. As has been the practice under successive administrations, any discussions between former Ministers and the Cabinet Secretary, including requests for access to papers, are undertaken on an in-confidence basis.
Innovation, Universities and Skills
Education: Prisoners
The information requested is not collected centrally.
Specialised Diplomas
My colleagues in the Department for Children, Schools and Families are providing a nationwide programme of free training and support to prepare staff in schools and further education (FE) colleges to teach the first five Diplomas and functional skills.
This work is being delivered through eight partner organizations from the school and FE sectors. These are the national college of School Leadership (NCSL), the Centre for Excellence in Leadership (CEL), the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA), Lifelong Learning UK (LLUK), the Quality Improvement Agency (QIA), the Specialist Schools and Academies trust (SSAT), the National Assessment Agency (NAA) and the Secondary National Strategies (SNS).
To prepare teachers and lecturers to deliver Diplomas, QIA and SSAT offer a three-day training package to all Diploma practitioners, which covers the Diploma model, employer engagement, and is developed in conjunction with Sector Skills Councils. The training events are delivered in a range of venues with at least one of the days delivered on site in a relevant occupational setting. The face-to-face training is supplemented by a range of electronic and hard copy materials and access to local teacher development networks.
We are also working closely with the awarding bodies that will be offering diploma qualifications to ensure that their offer of support to schools and colleges complements this range of training.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Afghanistan: Capital Punishment
The Government were concerned to hear about the case of Sayed Parwez. We are opposed to the death penalty for any crime. We fully support the right to freedom of expression and the right to a fair trial. We are pursuing the matter in Afghanistan through the EU and UN. The office of the UN Special Representative in Afghanistan has already called publicly for a review of the case.
Afghanistan: Civil Service
The Government are funding a number of projects to train Afghan civil servants to develop the necessary skills to support a stable and functioning administration in Afghanistan. Some attend courses in the UK, although the majority receive training in Afghanistan. Programmes under way with Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) funding include the following:
in 2005-06 the Chevening programme spent £83,156 on seven Chevening scholars from Afghanistan (two part-funded by co-sponsors), of whom at least three were civil servants. The FCO also spent approximately £100,000 funding five Chevening fellows of whom three were civil servants. In 2006-07 the FCO spent £148,402 funding 10 scholars (two part-funded by co-sponsors), of whom five were civil servants. In 2007-08 the FCO has committed £330,788 for 13 scholars (one part-funded), of whom six are civil servants;
in 2008 the joint FCO-Department for International Development-Ministry of Defence Stabilisation Aid Fund has proposed a programme for 20 Afghan civil servants at the UK National School for Government. The fund has provisionally allocated £176,000 for this and related follow-up activities; and
the Helmand Provincial Reconstruction Team, led by the UK, has funded the pilot establishment of a civil service training centre in Lashkar Gah. £60,000 was provided for the first six-month period (August—February 2008) from the UK Quick Impact Projects Scheme, and 60 Afghan civil servants have so far received training there.
United States training is a matter for the authorities in the United States.
Afghanistan: Detainees
My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has not discussed the case of Omar Khadr, who is a Canadian citizen, with the Canadian Government.
British Overseas Territories: Wildlife
There are no wildlife species native to Her Majesty's Overseas Territories that exist solely in captivity.
Christmas
Statistics on the purchase and postage costs of Christmas cards are not collected and could not be collated without incurring disproportionate cost.
Departmental ICT
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is running a wide range of information technology-enabled projects. Some are managed centrally, while others are initiated and managed by the holders of devolved budgets both in the UK or at posts overseas. For those centrally managed projects, and groups of projects marshalled together as programmes around a significant business change, the requested details are shown in the following table.
Current information technology projects > £2 million Start date Original planned completion date Expected completion date Originally planned costs (£ million) Estimated costs (£ million) Future Firecrest (AIM)1 February 2005 February 2012 February 2012 332.0 347.0 FCONet 32 March 2006 June 2007 February 2008 3.5 < 3.5 EDRM (eRecords/iRecords)3 September 2004 March 2010 March 2010 26.5 12.4 FCO Web Platform4 July 2005 November 2008 November 2008 13.5 9.7 Secure Video Conferencing April 2007 March 2008 March 2008 2.5 2.5 Managed Reporting Service January 2007 January 2008 January 2008 2.5 2.4 FTN (FCO Telecommunications Network) private finance initiative implementation and service 2000-105 May 2000 May 2010 May 2010 180.0 240.0 Ocean (Telecommunications reprocurement)6 October 2007 May 2010 May 2010 > 72 — UKvisas Biometrics May 2005 December 2007 March 2008 121.7 45.5 1 The cost of Future Firecrest has been increased by the obligation to implement central Government security policies instituted after the Future Firecrest contract had been agreed. 2 Exact final project costs are being calculated, and are known to be less than the £3.5 million budget, but are not available at the time of writing. 3 The scope of iRecords has been reduced in the light of financial constraints. 4 The scope, and hence costs, were reduced on examination of the full business case. 5 FTN is a service, chargeable by usage. The additional cost reflects a demand that has increased significantly since the original estimates of traffic volumes were drawn up in 2000. Unit costs have been reduced, but this is obscured in the headline figure. 6 The scope, and hence the cost, of Ocean will be determined shortly; the cost of the procurement is likely to exceed £2 million. 7 To be determined. Note: Implementation of the Prism system, reported on in previous answers, was completed in May 2006, two months later than originally planned, and the implementation programme was closed at the end of March 2007 following the recommendation of an Office of Government Commerce Gateway Review.
Foreign Relations
To compile a schedule of projected Ministerial and senior official travel for 2008 would be disproportionately costly.
Iran: Bahai Sect
We regularly raise our concerns about the treatment of Baha’is with the Iranian authorities, both bilaterally and through the EU. Most recently, the EU presidency raised concerns about the treatment of Baha’is in a meeting with the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 22 January. The presidency specifically raised the case of a group of Baha’is recently arrested in Shiraz, including three individuals who were at the time imprisoned in the detention centre of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security. We understand that this group has since been sentenced for “anti-regime propaganda”.
The UN General Assembly passed a resolution about the human rights situation in Iran in December last year, expressing very serious concern about increasing discrimination against religious and other minorities in Iran, including in particular “attacks on Baha’is and their faith in state-sponsored media, increasing evidence of efforts by the state to identify and monitor Baha’is and prevention of the Baha’i faith from attending university and from sustaining themselves economically”. The UK, through the EU, co-sponsored this resolution.
The Government continue to press the Iranian authorities to take seriously their international human rights obligations, uphold the right to freedom of religion and belief, as described in Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and address the discrimination suffered by Iranian Baha’is.
Iran: Religious Freedom
We continue to be very concerned by the treatment of religious minorities in Iran, including Baha’is.
The Baha’i faith is not recognised under the Iranian constitution and as a result Baha’is routinely face discrimination and persecution. In recent years Baha’is have been subject to arbitrary arrests, confiscation of property and restrictions on employment. Denial of access to higher education has been a long-term problem for Baha’i students. We are also concerned about reports that Iranian newspapers, including hard-line Keyhan, have been carrying out a propaganda campaign against the Baha’i community.
We are concerned by the recent sentencing of 54 Baha’is for “anti-regime propaganda”. The EU presidency raised concerns about the treatment of Baha’is in a meeting with the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 22 January. They specifically raised the case of this group and requested the Iranian government to abandon all proceedings against them.
The Government continue to press the Iranian authorities to take seriously their international human rights obligations, uphold the right to freedom of religion and belief, as described in Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and address the discrimination suffered by Iranian Baha’is. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and raise our concerns about the treatment of Baha’is with the Iranian authorities, both bilaterally and through the EU.
Iraq: Weapons
(2) further to the decision of the Information Tribunal of 22 January 2008, if he will reconsider his Department’s decision not to release documents relating to the Iraq dossier passed to and from the Coalition Information Centre in 2002 requested by the hon. Member for Billericay.
We continue to consider the information which the hon. Member requested to be exempt from disclosure for the reasons given to him in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s reply to his request of 13 September 2007.
USA: Iraq
We are in close contact with the US and Iraq as they formulate their views on the detail and structure of their long-term relationship following the US/Iraqi declaration of principles. As my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister said in his statement to the House on 8 October 2007, Official Report, column 23, a decision on the next phase of our military presence will be taken in Spring 2008. We will ensure that future civilian assistance, and any future military assistance, to Iraq is based on a sound legal and political footing.
Uzbekistan: Human Rights
The overall human rights situation in Uzbekistan remains bleak, although there have been some positive steps over the last 12 months. On 1 January 2008, Uzbekistan abolished the death penalty and introduced a limited form of ‘habeas corpus’. The EU and Uzbekistan have established a human rights dialogue. These developments are outweighed, however, by continuing concerns in other areas. We continue to receive reports of violations of freedom of expression, religious freedom and the right to a fair trial. Civil society and the media remain under strict control. At least 14 human rights defenders are in prison; others suffer harassment and pressure that has forced some to leave Uzbekistan, or cease their activities. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s 2008 Annual Human Rights Report contains a fuller analysis of the human rights situation in Uzbekistan.
We repeatedly and regularly register our concerns about individual cases and the human rights situation in general with the Uzbek authorities, both bilaterally and with EU partners. In Tashkent, the EU discussed a range of human rights issues with senior representatives of the Uzbek Government at the first session of the EU-Uzbekistan Human Rights Dialogue in May 2007. In October 2007, EU Foreign Ministers called on Uzbekistan to demonstrate progress in key areas of human rights by May 2008. There will be another session of the dialogue in 2008 and a seminar on media freedom. The EU special representative for Central Asia, Pierre Morel, visits Uzbekistan regularly and raises human rights concerns with the Uzbek Government.
Our embassy in Tashkent also maintains regular contact with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and activists throughout Uzbekistan. We have helped hon. Members to make contact with NGOs in Uzbekistan to work on human rights issues and have helped to develop the capacity of NGOs, including to report on human rights violations. We will continue to monitor the human rights situation in Uzbekistan and make our concerns clear through a critical, but constructive, dialogue with the authorities. In November 2007, we funded an NGO to attend the UN Committee on Torture’s examination of Uzbekistan.
Visas: Entry Clearances
As the information requested is lengthy I will arrange for it to be sent to the hon. Member and for copies to be placed in the Library of the House. The hon. Member will also wish to note that we are only able to provide figures for the years 2006 and 2007, as figures for previous years are not available.
Leader of the House
Departmental Information Officers
(2) how much her Office paid in bonuses to press and communication officers in each of the last 10 years; and what the (a) highest and (b) lowest such bonus was in each of those years.
Press office services are provided by the Cabinet Office Communication Group.
I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office (Mr. Watson) on 29 January 2008, Official Report, column 248W.
Members: Pay
The cost of publishing the report of the Review Body on Senior Salaries on its review of parliamentary pay, pensions and allowances 2007 was £14,804.
Treasury
Child Benefit: Easington
The information requested is not available. The child benefit system does not keep up to date information on whether a recipient is a single parent or part of a couple as it does not affect entitlement.