Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 24 June 2009
International Development
Internally Displaced Persons: Sri Lanka
The formal military conflict between the Government of Sri Lanka and LTTE has now ended. The entire humanitarian caseload of 280,000 IDPs are now in camps under the control of the GoSL. The humanitarian response is moving from an emergency to a maintenance phase and basic living conditions are slowly improving. However, the lack of activity permitted such as freedom of movement remains of concern. Early return of the IDPs to their homes is vital.
Palestinian West Bank
In 2008, the Department for International Development (DFID) funded two conferences aimed at encouraging investment in Palestine. UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) is now working with various stakeholders on conference follow-up and will be supporting a scoping mission to the West Bank in October.
In partnership with the World Bank, we are also supporting the Palestinian private sector through the Facility for New Market Development (FNMD), which is currently helping 138 companies (115 in the West Bank) to develop new products and/or enter new markets. FNMD clients have already developed four new products and entered 13 new international markets.
Faith Organisations
During 2007-8, the Department for International Development channelled over £21 million through faith organisations to support their development efforts.
Faith organisations play a direct and vital role tackling poverty in poor countries, providing essential services and humanitarian assistance. They are able to undertake inward and outward advocacy, mobilising support and helping change attitudes and behaviour of members on issues such as HIV/AIDS, reproductive health and the role of women.
Refugee Camps: Algeria
The Department for International Development (DFID) supports Sahrawi refugees through its share of the budget of the European Community Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) and its £19 million contributions to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), for its work with refugees across the world. In 2008, ECHO committed to provide €10 million to support Sahrawi refugees, while UNHCR spent $3.1 million in their support.
Africa: Overseas Aid
I discussed these and other matters with my G8 development Minister counterparts in Rome on 11-12 June 2009. This meeting reaffirmed G8 commitments on Official Development Assistance (ODA) and international assistance confirmed at the G8 summit last year in Japan. The G8, under the presidency of Italy, is continuing its focus on Africa. Global health, including reducing the spread of infectious diseases, also remains a priority concern.
With less than three weeks until the G8 summit in July, discussions on the G8 development agenda, including meeting our commitments, are frequent and ongoing and taking place at ministerial and official level. They will be further discussed during the G8 Sherpa preparatory meetings scheduled for next week. The UK Government remain determined to meet their commitments to Africa and to fighting infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and polio and working towards the goal of universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. We are pressing our G8 colleagues to do likewise.
Rural Areas
The Department for International Development (DFID) has around 277 professional advisers posted in developing countries. The majority of our overseas staff are deliberately based in capitals, to facilitate our discussions with host governments, donors, and non-governmental organisations, including agricultural and rural sector reform. Staff regularly travel to rural areas, but we do not collate information on such visits.
Sudan: Overseas Aid
The UK Government do not transfer funds directly to the Government of National Unity (GNU) or the Government of South Sudan (GoSS). Most UK aid to Sudan is channelled through UN and World Bank managed multi-donor pooled funds, such as the Multi-Donor Trust Funds (MDTFs) in support of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, to which we have contributed £74.6 million since 2005 and through non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
Home Department
Antisocial Behaviour
I have been asked to reply.
No assessment has been carried out.
Crime
The Home Office does not centrally collect data on incidents of street drinking. You may wish to view the data on consumption within a Designated Public Place Order (DPPO) which is provided in the table.
Within a DPPO area it is not an offence to consume alcohol. The offence is committed when a person, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with a requirement of a police constable to refrain from consuming alcohol (Section 12 (4) of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001).
The number of PNDs issued for failure to comply with a requirement by a constable within a Designated Public Place Order are as follows:
485 in 2004, 712 in 2005, 1,061 in 2006 and 1,544 in 2007.
Data for 2008 will be available in autumn 2009.
Number of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts, found guilty, and issued with a level 2 fine1 at all courts for offences relating to the Police Reform Act 2002 Sch.4 Para.5 (Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 S.12). Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 in England and Wales, 2003-072,3,4Fine amount5Proceeded againstFound guiltyTotal finesFines up to £200Fines over £200 and up to £5002003108947372—2004122967878—200510176636212006101735959—20071139876751 1 A ‘level 2’ fine does not specify a minimum fine amount, only the statutory maximum for the given offence; therefore all fines in the above table could be classed as ‘level 2’ fines. There are a number of factors including the defendants’ ability to pay that will affect the courts’ decision to impose a fine and fine amounts should not solely be taken as an indication of the seriousness of the offence or offender.2 These data are on the principal offence basis.3 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.4 Includes the following statutes and corresponding offence descriptions:Police Reform Act 2002 Sch.4 Para.5 (Criminal Justice & Police Act 2001 S.12). Criminal Justice & Police Act 2001 S12.Contravene a community support officers’ requirement not to consume liquor.Penalty offence under S.1 Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001—alcohol consumption in designated public places.5 Following quality assurance checks, one fine amount in 2003 has been removed. This amount was greater than the maximum permissible fine. Therefore the number of fines and the fine amount totals in 2003 will not match each other.Source:OCJR—E & A: Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Evidence and Analysis Unit
DNA: Databases
As the National DNA Database does not hold data on whether those with records on it have been charged or convicted, the information requested is not available.
Entry Clearances
No visa applications were forwarded by entry clearance officers in Islamabad to the visa section in Abu Dhabi for assessment before 27 October 2008. Between 27 October 2008 and 31 May 2009, 18,036 of the applications that have been forwarded from Pakistan have been refused. These include applications from both Pakistani and Afghan nationals.
These figures do not constitute part of National Statistics as they are based on internal management information. The information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols, should be treated as provisional and is subject to change.
All entry clearance officers recruited for long-term postings undertake a mandatory three week training course from the central training team in the UK. In addition to the central training, newly recruited officers in both Pakistan and Abu Dhabi receive additional training and mentoring over a minimum three month basis from experienced officers and managers already at post. Locally engaged entry clearance officers remain on probation for this three month period. At the end of the three month period, officers are assessed against objective performance benchmarks to inform their future training and development needs.
Entry Clearances: Afghanistan
There is no visa application centre in Afghanistan, nor has there been one in the past five years.
Entry Clearances: Pakistan
All visa applications have been checked for fraud in the last five years.
Prior to 27 October 2008, Entry Clearance Officers in Pakistan conducted passport forgery checks in all cases that had been approved for issue and document verification teams augmented this by checking supporting documents. Since 27 October 2008 the passport forgery check has been extended to all applications and supporting document verification takes place in over 80 per cent. of applications.
As of 31 May 2009 there are 13 UK-based entry clearance officers working in Islamabad, all of whom are British nationals. None are locally engaged.
The number of visa applications for entry to the UK that have been lodged in Pakistan since 1 January 2004 are as follows:
Visa applications lodged in Pakistan 2004 188,855 2005 168,019 2006 204,049 2007 175,966 2008 (1 January to 26 October) 132,855 27 October 2008 to 31 May 2009 66,415
These figures do not constitute part of National Statistics as they are based on internal management information. The information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols, should be treated as provisional and is subject to change.
Entry Clearances: United Arab Emirates
As of 31 May 2009, there are 34 entry clearance officers based in Abu Dhabi, including seasonal relief staff. There are 11 permanent UK-based entry clearance officers and 10 locally engaged entry clearance officers.
Firearms: Crime
Available data relate to offences recorded in the period 1998-99 up to and including 2007-08, and are shown in the following table. Data for the period 2003-04 to 2007-08 by police force area were published in table 2.12 of “Homicides, Firearm Offences and Intimate Violence 2007-08”, an internet-only Home Office Statistical Bulletin available at:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs09/hosb0209.pdf
Firearms are taken to be involved in a crime if they are fired, used as a blunt instrument against a person, or used as a threat.
The National Crime Recording Standard was introduced on 1 April 2002. Data for the years up to and including 2001-02 are not directly comparable with those for later years.
Recorded crime Number of offences Police force area 1998-992 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-023 2002-034 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 North East Region Cleveland 20 26 16 24 18 45 37 41 19 15 Durham 13 40 18 19 16 15 21 18 14 45 Northumbria 76 107 99 86 103 169 182 137 111 78 North West Region Cheshire 32 22 44 50 31 44 61 71 41 59 Cumbria 11 5 13 9 13 11 26 18 21 18 Greater Manchester 647 875 935 1,361 1,240 1,275 1,268 1,200 993 1,160 Lancashire 50 78 59 103 66 58 259 372 364 349 Merseyside 286 240 278 299 318 483 491 485 410 398 Yorkshire and the Humber Region Humberside 76 61 69 63 68 68 174 108 117 58 North Yorkshire 11 8 9 28 18 23 13 15 14 17 South Yorkshire 75 114 129 170 153 127 185 301 211 202 West Yorkshire 193 191 335 332 333 269 318 355 319 332 East Midlands Region Derbyshire 52 65 72 58 73 75 149 109 83 70 Leicestershire 98 71 58 74 174 141 123 89 109 134 Lincolnshire 16 19 24 22 37 26 90 72 45 41 Northamptonshire 54 48 40 55 107 123 113 128 159 164 Nottinghamshire 112 173 157 204 264 233 303 277 196 240 West Midlands Region Staffordshire 23 53 108 116 131 108 144 128 94 123 Warwickshire 20 14 39 53 62 102 73 80 90 107 West Mercia 38 36 41 54 48 62 151 115 58 124 West Midlands 407 664 817 1,288 1,101 1,138 959 946 979 974 East of England Region Bedfordshire 46 56 48 82 86 89 94 103 86 83 Cambridgeshire 35 43 31 49 57 34 50 34 24 30 Essex 47 61 77 98 148 145 193 280 255 260 Hertfordshire 30 36 36 69 139 138 139 114 89 112 Norfolk 34 24 20 26 36 33 23 29 34 43 Suffolk 15 18 22 15 28 45 59 58 42 38 London Region5 2,034 2,945 3,036 4,199 4,202 3,891 3,697 3,884 3,331 3,399 South East Region Hampshire 38 52 49 58 97 130 148 85 122 100 Kent 76 109 108 60 64 65 100 142 92 82 Surrey 35 42 52 40 34 88 63 87 60 70 Sussex 115 119 110 155 136 82 67 85 84 69 Thames Valley 96 107 198 267 362 421 437 401 332 322 South West Region Avon and Somerset 71 103 100 131 119 123 196 167 138 116 Devon and Cornwall 75 81 64 52 36 84 189 174 132 111 Dorset 11 12 14 34 17 45 49 27 28 21 Gloucestershire 22 21 23 89 92 108 87 77 65 43 Wiltshire 19 10 13 26 60 53 49 43 69 49 Wales Dyfed-Powys 16 13 26 26 17 37 40 21 17 25 Gwent 26 19 11 18 52 74 85 53 33 47 North Wales 26 10 6 6 18 11 60 88 98 53 South Wales 31 52 67 56 74 47 104 71 67 84 England and Wales 5,209 6,843 7,471 10,024 10,248 10,338 11,069 11,088 9,645 9,865 England and Wales (excluding London region) 3,175 3,898 4,435 5,825 6,046 6,447 7,372 7,204 6,314 6,466 1 Firearms are taken to be involved in a crime if they are fired, used as a blunt instrument against a person or used as a threat. 2 There was a change in the counting rules for recorded crime on 1 April 1998. 3 Figures for some crime categories may have been inflated by some police forces implementing the principles of the National Crime Recording Standard before 1 April 2002. 4 The National Crime Recording Standard was introduced on 1 April 2002, which may have resulted in inflated figures for some crime categories. Figures before and after this date are not directly comparable. 5 City of London and Metropolitan police force areas.
Human Trafficking
It is not possible to break down the arrest and convictions for each of the last five years.
Figures from the UKHTC indicate that since the inception of the dedicated legislation, there have been a total of 568 arrests for human trafficking offences which have resulted in a total of 114 convictions. The figures for the number of arrests which are set out by force area below include 100 cases on which the outcome is not yet known.
Arrests Convictions Avon and Somerset 0 0 Bedfordshire 7 1 Cambridgeshire 23 0 Cheshire 2 1 Cleveland 3 0 Cumbria 1 0 Derbyshire 11 0 Devon and Cornwall 8 3 Dorset 3 1 Durham 1 1 Dyfed-Powys 2 0 Essex 11 0 Gloucestershire 7 0 Greater Manchester 63 8 Gwent 2 0 Hampshire 14 1 Hertfordshire 6 0 Humberside 1 0 Kent 7 4 Lancashire 18 6 Leicestershire 15 3 Lincolnshire 2 0 Metropolitan 129 43 City of London 0 0 Merseyside 0 0 Norfolk 5 0 Northamptonshire 11 0 Northumbria 7 1 North Wales 3 0 North Yorkshire 8 0 Nottinghamshire 17 0 South Wales 20 6 South Yorkshire 22 10 Staffordshire 4 0 Suffolk 9 0 Surrey 8 3 Sussex 27 0 Thames Valley 9 4 Warwickshire 5 5 West Mercia 9 3 West Midlands 44 5 West Yorkshire 14 5 Wiltshire 6 0 BTP 4 0
Human Trafficking: Prosecutions
Figures provided by the UK Human Trafficking Centre indicate as of 24 May there have been 16 prosecutions and seven convictions for trafficking for the purposes of forced labour.
Figures from the Crown Prosecution Service indicate a total of 267 people prosecuted under sections 57-59 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
In this total there have been 106 convictions plus three for conspiracy to traffick which have arisen from sexual exploitation cases.
Parenting Contracts
I have been asked to reply.
The Department collects and publishes data on the use by local authorities in England of education-related parenting contracts for poor behaviour and attendance at school. Data is collected directly from local authorities. Since data collection began in September 2004 to 31 August 2008, 55,107 parenting contracts for attendance have been issued to parents and 7,752 contracts have been issued for behaviour. Information on the number of parenting contracts issued to parents in each local authority can be found at:
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/behaviourandattendance/about/data.cfm
Data in relation to parenting contracts issued to parents following their child's criminal conduct or antisocial behaviour is collected and published by the Home Office for the voluntary Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership Survey. It can be found at:
http://www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/asbos/asbos02b.xls
Data is available by region only.
Police: Essex
These issues are a matter for the police authority in Essex, however individual chief police officers are responsible for the data held, managed and used by their respective forces. All chief officers in England and Wales are required to have regard for the statutory code of practice for the Management of Police Information, introduced in 2005, which requires forces to adopt practices for the management of information that ensure such information is used effectively for police purposes and in compliance with the law.
In addition, the Association of Chief Police Officers has a community security policy (CSP) which all forces are required to be compliant with by March 2010. This policy covers a set of wide ranging controls to ensure data is kept secure. Reporting on compliance with the CSP is managed through the Police Information Assurance Board (PIAB) and supported by the National Policing Improvement Agency.
Treasury
Banks: Regulation
Treasury Ministers and officials meet representatives of the British Bankers’ Association to discuss a wide range of issues as need arises and receive written representations on a wide variety of issues. It is not the Government’s practice to provide details of all such meetings or receive correspondence.
Capital Gains Tax
It is not possible to provide an estimate with the information available.
Child Benefit
The cost of child benefit in 2008-09 was £11,265 million.
Estimates of the proportion of expenditure allocated to families with gross incomes of over (a) £25,000, (b) £40,000 and (c) £60,000 per year are provided in the following table.
Percentage Families with gross incomes over: (a) £25,000 per year 55 (b) £40,000 per year 34 (c) £60,000 per year 16 Note: The numbers in this table are not mutually exclusive
The Family Resources Survey, on which these estimates are based, provides unreliable estimates for households with high incomes. An accurate estimate for (d) could therefore be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Corporation Tax: Business
I refer the hon. Member to Table 5 of the 2008 pre-Budget report: Tax ready reckoner and reliefs, which provides estimates of the effects of illustrative tax changes, and is available at:
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/pbr08_taxreadyreckoner_287.pdf
These figures exclude the behavioural impact of a reduction in the small company's rate, which is likely to lead to an increase in tax motivated incorporations.
Departmental Manpower
The Strategy Unit are not conducting any work related to the responsibilities of DECC. However, the Strategy Unit are examining questions relating to energy as part of a broader piece of work on the European Neighbourhood Policy.
PMDU have recently worked with DECC on delivery of home insulation commitments and on assessing progress of PSA 27 for which DECC are the lead Department.
Departmental Work Experience
No graduate internships have been awarded in the last six months. However, there have been a number of undergraduate placements arranged through various Government schemes this year.
Equitable Life Assurance Society
[holding answer 23 June 2009]: Sir John Chadwick has been appointed by the Government to review available information and consider a number of issues in relation to determining relative losses suffered by Equitable Life policyholders, and their impact. Sir John’s work will inform the establishment of an ex-gratia payments scheme.
Last week Sir John issued a document that set out his proposed approach and issues to be addressed in his work, alongside announcing his formal appointment of actuarial support and the launch of his website. The document gives interested parties an opportunity to comment on Sir John’s proposed approach and written comments are invited to be sent to Sir John’s office by 17 July 2009.
Sir John expects to make an interim report to Government later this summer, containing a definitive statement of his approach for determining relative losses and a definitive list of the specific issues he will address.
It is intended that a statement will be made to the House updating it on Sir John’s work and the establishment of the payments scheme before it rises on 21 July 2009.
Government Departments: Standards
Since their introduction in the 1998 comprehensive spending review (CSR), public service agreements (PSAs) have played a vital role in galvanising public service delivery and driving major improvements in outcomes. Department’s performance in the previous spending review period is always taken into consideration in any new spending review. The Prime Minister’s delivery unit was established in 2001, and while delivery of PSAs is ultimately the responsibility of individual Departments PMDU and HM Treasury work closely to support Departments to ensure delivery against these challenging commitments. Currently 70 per cent. of SR02 PSAs are assessed as met, met-ongoing or partly met, while 56 per cent. of SR04 PSAs are assessed as met, ahead or on course.
Kaupthing Bank: Compensation
[holding answer 9 June 2009]: On 8 October 2008, the FSA concluded that Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander Ltd. no longer met threshold conditions and was in default for the purposes of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The Treasury, using an order under the Banking (Special Provisions) Act 2008, transferred KSF’s deposit book of “Kaupthing Edge” accounts to ING Direct. The Government also committed to paying out in full FSCS eligible depositors whose accounts were not transferred.
The remainder of KSF’s business was subsequently placed into administration following due legal process. The administrators are responsible for managing the remainder of KSF’s business and loan book to maximise recovery for creditors. The administrators will continue to deal with the assets in compliance with insolvency law and the provisions of the transfer order (including those provisions of the transfer order which confer certain limited functions on the Treasury in relation to the assets of KSF). Those depositors that are ineligible for FSCS compensation will be creditors of the bank in the normal way and paid out in accordance with UK insolvency procedures.
Deposits with Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander (Isle of Man) (KSF IoM) will be subject to the Isle of Man deposit compensation scheme. This scheme is administered by the Isle of Man authorities.
National Insurance Contributions
I refer the hon. Member to Table 5 of the 2008 pre-Budget report: Tax ready reckoner and reliefs, which provides estimates of the effects of illustrative tax changes, and is available at:
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/pbr08_taxreadyreckoner_287.pdf
These figures exclude any estimate of behavioural response.
Public Expenditure
(2) what estimate his Department has made of the debt interest the Government will pay in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2012-13 and (d) 2013-14.
[holding answer 23 June 2009]: Projections for debt interest and annually managed expenditure (AME) for 2010-11 are shown in table C9 of the Budget 2009 document. Projections for total public sector current expenditure and public sector net investment to 2013-14 are shown in table C4 of the same document.
Total AME programmes to 2010-11 have been forecast consistent with the economic assumptions and policy decisions set out in Budget 2009.
Royal Bank of Scotland: Pay
UK Financial Investments Ltd. (UKFI) has been set up to manage the Government’s investments in financial institutions on a commercial basis and at arm’s length. As part of this work UKFI is monitoring the non-lending conditions, including remuneration, attached to recapitalisation and participation in the Asset Protection Scheme for the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). HM Treasury has regular discussions with UK Financial Investments and regularly monitors UKFI’s performance against its objectives.
UKFI has worked to ensure management incentivisation based on long-term, sustainable performance and no rewards for failure, in order to protect the interest of the taxpayer as a shareholder.
RBS has announced that there will be no bonuses or pay increases made to staff associated with the major losses suffered in 2008 and that board executive directors will receive no bonus for 2008 performance and no pay increase in 2009. No discretionary cash bonuses will be paid in 2009 for performance in 2008, and only legally binding guaranteed bonuses will be paid.
Social Security Benefits: Families
Estimates of the number of child trust fund accounts opened for children born on or before 5 April 2007, in each parliamentary constituency, are available at:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/ctf/cons-stats-oct08.pdf
Latest estimates of the average number of families benefiting from tax credits, as well as the average number of in-work families benefiting from the child care element in each Government office region, local authority and parliamentary constituency, based on final family circumstances and incomes, are available in the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) publication “Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics. Finalised annual awards. Geographical analyses 2006-07”. This publication is available at:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/cwtc-geog-stats.htm
HMRC do not produce these statistics separately for child tax credit and working tax credit. Information is not yet available for 2007-08 at parliamentary constituency level. Further information can be found at:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/tc-delay-07-08.htm
Latest estimates of the number of families who were claiming child benefit in the areas requested are provided in the HMRC annual publication “Child Benefit geographical statistics. August 2006”, available at:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/child_benefit/geog-aug06.pdf
Figures for August 2007 are not yet available.
Taxation: Telecommunications
British Telecom is assessed for business rates in the Central rating lists for England and Wales. Their rateable values are shown in the Central rating lists which are available on the Valuation Office Agency’s website at:
www.voa.gov.uk
It is not possible to disaggregate how much of the rateable value is attributable to fibre.
Fibre optic telecommunication networks are assessed for business rates, the majority, on local billing authority rating lists with a small number on the Central Lists for England and Wales. We do not hold information on the amount of rates collected by local authorities from fibre optic cable networks. The Valuation Office Agency does not collect business rates.
The Government intend to consult on the proposal for a general supplement on all fixed copper lines for a Next Generation Fund by September. The details of the Government's proposals will be set out in that consultation.
VAT: Training
Treasury Ministers and officials receive representations from a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such representations.
The VAT treatment of chef training is governed by the rules relating to the exemption from VAT for education. There are currently two categories of exemption: educational training supplied by an 'eligible body' and private tuition supplied by an individual (acting independently of an employer) in a subject ordinarily taught in a school or a university.
The list of eligible bodies was drawn up by the previous Government in 1994 to reflect the scope of the exemption laid down in the EU Directive, which is for supplies by public bodies and those with similar aims.
Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments
Information on the number of families with tax credits awards, including information on overpayments at UK level can be found in the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) publications, “Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics. Finalised Annual Awards. Supplement on Payments”, for the years 2003-04 to 2007-08 available at:
www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/cwtc-quarterly-stats.htm
Similar Information at country, regional, local authority and constituency level, can be found in the HMRC publications, “Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics; Finalised Annual Awards; Supplement on Payments and Geographical Analysis” for the years 2003-04 to 2006-07 at:
www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/cwtc-geog-stats.htm
Geographical information for 2007-08 is not yet available.
More details can be found at:
www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/tc-delav-07-08.htm
Working Tax Credit
Parents and people with a disability are eligible for Working Tax Credit if they work at least 16 hours per week, while other people, who face less of a barrier to work, are eligible if they work 30 hours per week. The working tax credit has helped improve work incentives for people on low incomes to ensure that work pays. The Government believe it is important to protect these achievements, and while it keeps all aspects of tax credits under review, it currently has no plans to change the hours rules.
However, to protect people affected by the economic downturn, the Government announced in the Budget that from 31 July anyone who ceases to be eligible for Working Tax Credit because of a fall in working hours will continue to receive support for four weeks. This support, worth up to £68 per week for a couple without children and £32 per week for a single person, will help households as they adjust to their new work situation.
Written Questions: Government Responses
I have replied to the hon. Member.
Defence
Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations
There are currently no UK military personnel embedded with Pakistani military units. As part of normal military relations, UK non-embedded military staff based at the British high commission in Islamabad provide a liaison and co-ordination function between the Pakistani military and UK and NATO operations in Afghanistan.
[holding answer 16 June 2009]: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The Ministry of Defence holds statistics on the number of casualties suffered by UK forces in Afghanistan since 2001, which are published on the Ministry of Defence website at:
http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/FactSheets/OperationsFactsheets/OperationsInAfghanistanBritishCasualties.htm
We do not comment on the casualties suffered by other nations, which are matters for the countries concerned.
The UK has commanded Regional Command (South) once, between May 2007 and February 2008, since it was established in 2006. In February 2007 the endorsed force level for British troops in Afghanistan was 7,700.
Armed Forces: Northern Ireland
The Defence Analytical Services and Advice (DASA) organisation produce these figures quarterly in Tri-Service Publication 10—“UK Regular Forces Stationed Location” report, which is available on the DASA website at the following address:
http://www.dasa.mod.uk/applications/newWeb/www/index.php?page=67&pubType=0&thiscontent=1800&date=2009-05-29
Defence
No date has been set for a defence review.
Departmental Food
A second report on the proportion of domestically produced food procured by Government Departments and also supplied to hospitals and prisons under contracts negotiated by NHS Supply Chain and HM Prison Service was published in November 2008, covering the year from 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008. This report and the first one covering the previous year can be found at:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/farm/policy/sustain/procurement/awareness.htm
The report gives details of the proportion of individual meat, fruit and vegetable categories purchased.
Although it is too early to show a trend, the report indicates that the amount of domestically produced food consumed by Government Departments in England is increasing. The proportion of domestically produced food procured by MOD has gone up from 43 per cent. in 2006-07 to 59 per cent. in 2007-08. A third report is expected to be published at the end of 2009.
Employment Tribunals Service
The number of employment related matters involving the Ministry of Defence in the last three financial years are provided in the following table.
Financial year 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 Scotland 13 14 3 Northern Ireland 7 6 4 England and Wales 99 139 111
The figures for Scotland and Northern Ireland represent the total number of cases brought against the MOD before employment tribunals or other courts in the past three financial years. The case categories for Scotland and Northern Ireland are set out in the following table.
In contrast the figures for England and Wales represent the number of cases opened by the Treasury Solicitors on behalf of the MOD in England and Wales in the financial years 2006-07 to 2008-09. Not all of the cases opened by the Treasury Solicitors have resulted in proceedings being started in an employment tribunal or other courts. To provide information on the number of cases brought to an employment tribunal in England and Wales could have been provided only at disproportionate cost. For the cases opened by Treasury Solicitors the case categories are provided as follows.
Case category Number of cases Age discrimination 21 Disability discrimination 48 Equal pay 21 Race discrimination 20 Religious discrimination 5 Sex/gender discrimination 49 Unfair/constructive dismissal 99 Breach of contract 15 Working time 4 Wages claim/unlawful deduction 12 Holiday/maternity pay claim 2 Redundancy 3 Transfer of undertakings 9 Other 41
In Scotland a total of 30 cases were brought in the financial years 2006-07 to 2008-09. 25 cases were brought to an employment tribunal, four other cases were brought in other courts or other specialist tribunals and one case was transferred to be dealt with in England and Wales. Not all of the cases brought to a tribunal or court went through the full tribunal or court procedure; several were settled or withdrawn. The case categories are set out as follows.
Case category Number of cases Age discrimination 2 Disability discrimination 3 Equal pay 1 Sex/gender discrimination 2 Breach of contract 4 Unfair/constructive dismissal 6 Wages claim/unlawful deductions 6 Reserve forces appeals tribunal 2 Other 2 Cases involving a combination of categories 2
In Northern Ireland a total of 17 cases were brought to an industrial tribunal or the Fair Employment Tribunal in the financial years 2006-07 to 2008-09. Not all of these cases would have gone through the full tribunal procedure; several were settled or withdrawn, some remain outstanding and one case was transferred to the Treasury Solicitors. The case categories are set out as follows.
Case category Number of cases Age discrimination 2 Disability discrimination 2 Equal pay 14 Race discrimination 3 Religious discrimination 2 Sex/gender discrimination 1 Unfair/constructive dismissal 3 1 This includes one part time equal pay claim which has been transferred from the Crown Solicitors Office to the Treasury Solicitors and which covers a total of 1,053 claimants.
Iraq: Peacekeeping Operations
Within Baghdad, the Senior British Military Representative and Deputy Commanding General Multi-National Forces-Iraq is under operational command of the UK's Chief of Joint Operations, working within the US command chain to fulfil the duties implicit in his coalition appointment. The Senior British Military Representative-Iraq has operational control of all UK staff officers embedded in the Multi-National Force-Iraq structure and delegate's tactical command of these individuals as appropriate.
A number of UK forces in Baghdad are assigned to the NATO Training Mission -Iraq, where fully embedded UK staff officers are under operational command of NATO and a UK infantry platoon providing force protection at the Iraqi Military Academy is under the operational control of the Senior British Military Representative Iraq and tactical command of NATO. All UK staff assigned to the NATO Training Mission are under administrative control of NATO for routine life support.
Within southern Iraq the UK currently has command of Coalition Task Force Iraqi Maritime which overseas the protection of the Iraqi offshore oil platforms and maintenance of the security of Iraqi Territorial Waters.
UK forces who remain on the Contingency Operating Base in Basra are under the operational control of the UK's Joint Force Logistics Commander, for the purposes of withdrawal. While no formal command and control relationships exist between these individuals and hosting US Forces, the US are responsible for their security and life support.
The Prime Minister set out our future plans for Iraq in the House on 15 June 2009, Official Report, column 22. Permissions for UK operational and training activities in Iraq expired on 31 May and we have paused in our support to the Iraqi military.
Nuclear Weapons
The 33rd meeting of the UK/US Stocktake was held in the Ministry of Defence, Main Building, Whitehall, London on Tuesday 9 June. The programme comprised discussions on nuclear threat reduction, warhead, and platform issues, together with a consideration of potential future exchanges.
I am withholding a copy of the programme for the purpose of safeguarding national security.
Nuclear Weapons: Public Opinion
[holding answer 22 June 2009]: Questions on the retention of the UK’s nuclear deterrent were included in the public poll on perceptions of the Ministry of Defence and UK armed forces conducted in December 2003.
The following figures were collated for the public opinion poll on whether the UK should keep its nuclear weapons:
8 per cent. strongly agreed
35 per cent. tended to agree
25 per cent. tended to disagree
9 per cent. strongly disagreed
Nuclear Weapons: Transport
The Fleet Protection Group Royal Marines element of the nuclear weapon convoy security escort provides specific capabilities to counter a no-notice terrorist attack.
Transport
A303
The Highways Agency carries out safety inspections every 28 days on trunk roads and the last one at this location was on 2 June 2009. No safety critical defects were identified in this inspection.
We are aware of minor defects to the road surface that do not pose an immediate danger to the travelling public, and overnight repairs are planned for the week commencing 22 June 2009 to deal with the most significant of these.
In a five year period the Countess Roundabout has had a recorded 32 accidents across all arms of the roundabout and the circulatory carriageway. None of the accidents had a poor or defective road surface listed as a contributing factor.
Annual Safety Statements concerning road safety are compiled by the Highways Agency across the entire trunk road network including Countess Roundabout. The most recent statement for this location was issued in October 2008.
Airports
“The Future of Air Transport” White Paper, which set out the strategic framework for the development of airport capacity in the United Kingdom to 2030, identified 30 major airports in the UK. The following table lists, in the right hand column, the major airports and in the left hand column the constituency or constituencies within which each airport is situated:
Constituency Airport England Blackpool, South Blackpool International Fylde Brigg and Goole Cleethorpes Humberside International Christchurch Bournemouth International Crawley London Gatwick Don Valley Robin Hood Doncaster Sheffield East Ham London City Poplar and Canning Town Eastleigh Southampton Southampton, Itchen Hayes and Harlington London Heathrow Leeds, North-West Leeds Bradford International Pudsey Liverpool, Garston Liverpool John Lennon Luton, South London Luton Meriden Birmingham International Mid Norfolk Norwich International Norwich, North Newcastle upon Tyne, North Newcastle International North Cornwall Newquay, Cornwall North West Leicestershire East Midlands Plymouth, Devonport Plymouth City Saffron Walden London Stansted Sedgefield Durham Tees Valley Stockton, South Tatton Manchester Wythenshawe and Sale, East Tiverton and Honiton Exeter Woodspring Bristol International Northern Ireland Belfast, East Belfast City South Antrim Belfast International Scotland Central Ayrshire Glasgow Prestwick Edinburgh, West Edinburgh Gordon Aberdeen Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey Inverness Paisley and Renfrewshire, North Glasgow Wales Vale of Glamorgan Cardiff International
Aviation: Fees and Charges
The Department for Transport has received some 130 letters about the carriage of oxygen. European Regulation 1107/2006 on the rights of disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility when travelling by air does not impose specific obligations on airlines to carry or provide oxygen in the cabin. Where air carriers do supply medical oxygen to passengers on request, it is possible to make a charge for this service. However, many airlines including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, EasyJet and Flybe allow passengers to use their own oxygen and their own Portable Oxygen Concentrator free of charge. It is important that passengers know airlines' charging policies before choosing which carrier to fly with.
Aviation: Noise
(2) what recent discussions he has had with the Civil Aviation Authority on its policy on the fitting of silencers to light aircraft; and if he will make a statement.
Aerodromes are expected to consider the environmental impact of their operations and apply measures designed to minimise the noise impact on the local population. To assist aerodromes in this task, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has published best practice guidance on noise considerations at general aviation aerodromes which is available on their website. This guidance also serves to provide members of the public with an explanation of the constraints and factors that must be considered by aerodrome operators when deciding on the noise mitigation measures that could be adopted.
In the UK, aircraft are required to comply with the Aircraft Noise standards recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and published in annex 16 to the Chicago Convention (annex 16, volume 1). The certification requirements place a maximum decibel limit on the noise level that an aircraft may produce, and are specific to the aircraft type concerned. The requirements do not specify how those noise limits should be met, e.g. through the use of silencers.
The Department for Transport has not had any recent discussions with the CAA about the fitting of silencers to light aircraft. The effective management of aircraft noise includes a number of elements, including action to address noise at source. While it is possible to fit silencers to some light aircraft, this can have an effect on engine power and consequently aircraft performance. The CAA must take these factors into account on a case by case basis when considering whether the installation of silencers on different types of light aircraft.
Birmingham Airport: Air Pollution
The Department for Transport only produces noise contours for the three London noise designated airports—Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted. Elsewhere the monitoring of aircraft noise falls to the local airport operator.
However in line with the EU Environmental Noise Directive 2002/49/EU (transposed by the Environmental Noise (England) Regulations (2006)), Birmingham International Airport—in common with other airports with 50,000 movements and above—is required to commence formal consultation on a Noise Action Plan by 1 July. These draft plans, which have been prepared in response to noise mapping contours produced in 2007, are required to be developed in consultation with the local community.
Bus Services: Concessions
The Department for Transport is not responsible for issuing passes and so do not maintain records of how many passes individual authorities have issued.
Chorley and Lancashire are part of the NoWcard scheme. The last information held by the Department is that; as of April 2008 the NoWcard scheme had received 280,200 applications from older and disabled people.
Departmental Conditions of Employment
The Department for Transport is considering standardisation of human resource processes and detailed work on initial key areas, such as developing e-recruitment, is under way.
The specific issues identified by the National Audit Office as needing addressing in the medium-term, including the approach to travel and subsistence claims and annual performance appraisals, are not yet planned in detail. Specific timetables to address these have not yet been scheduled.
Departmental Data Protection
Data on breaches of information security for the last five years for the Department for Transport and its agencies is not held centrally.
The Department and its agencies report all significant personal data security breaches to the Cabinet Office and the Information Commissioner’s Office. Information on personal data security breaches are published on an annual basis in the department’s annual resource accounts as was announced in the Data Handling Review published on 25 June 2008.
Additionally, all significant control weaknesses including other significant security breaches are included in the Statement of Internal Control which is published within the annual resource accounts.
Departmental Electricity
The Department for Transport reports its electricity derived from renewable sources figures through the annual Sustainable Development in Government (SDiG) report. The figures for 2006-07 and 2007-08 are as follows:
Renewable Electricity kWh Percentage of total electricity 2006-07 32,203,331 62.5 2007-08 29,713,276 55.3
The figures have fallen due to an increased use of Combined Heat and Power (CHP) and the over estimation of consumption in 2006-07, but the Department for Transport’s target to use electricity of which more than 10 per cent. has been derived from renewable sources has been exceeded.
Departmental Food
A second report on the proportion of domestically produced food used by Government Departments and also supplied to hospitals and prisons under contracts negotiated by NHS Supply Chain and HM Prison Service was published in November 2008, covering the year from 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008. This report and the first one covering the previous year can be found at:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/farm/policy/sustain/procurement/awareness.htm
The report gives details of the proportion of individual meat, fruit and vegetable categories purchased and shows that the proportion of domestically produced food procured by the Department for Transport in 2007-08 was 71 per cent.
A third report is expected to be published at the end of 2009.
Departmental Plants
The Department for Transport spent £87,401 on pot plants and £3,419 on cut flowers in 2008-09. This excludes spend incurred at the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency as the information requested can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Spend on pot plants includes provision, maintenance and replacement of plants.
All expenditure was incurred in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money and the Treasury handbook on Regularity and Propriety.
Disability Discrimination Act
The Public Service Vehicle Accessibility Regulations 2000 require all buses and coaches both old and new to comply with the provisions of Disability Discrimination Act 1995, from 2015 through to 2017 for buses, and from 2020 for coaches. Buses used on local services have been steadily becoming more accessible. In 2008 (the latest statistics available), around 62 per cent. of the bus fleet meet low floor and accessibility requirements.
Almost 5000 rail vehicles (including 42 per cent. of the national train fleet) are in service, having been built to modern access standards. Furthermore, almost all older rail vehicles have featured increased accessibility as they have undergone refurbishment.
Exhaust Emissions: Essex
The Department for Transport allocates integrated transport block funding to local transport authorities for capital investment in transport. Funding provided by the Department to local authorities is not generally ring-fenced and local authorities have discretion to spend their allocations in line with their priorities, such as the development of low-carbon transportation. The following table shows funding support the Department provided for Essex from 2004-05 to 2008-09.
£ million 2008-09 12.932 2007-08 12.518 2006-07 13.327 2005-06 13.800 2004-05 14.250
Revenue expenditure on transport is generally supported through the Department for Communities and Local Government's Formula Grant.
The Department has funded sustainable travel projects such as the 'Walking to School Initiative Grant scheme'—in 2008-09 Essex schools received £20,500. It has provided Essex county council with £10,000 for cycle training grants in 2008-09. The Department has also made the following funding available to Essex county council in the last five years for Rural Bus Subsidy and cycling ‘Links to School’:
Rural Bus Subsidy Links to School 2008-09 1.893 0.195 2007-08 1.847 0.076 2006-07 1.804 0.277 2005-06 1.761 0.235 2004-05 1.694 —
Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) has been reformed to link better with Government objectives, particularly on climate change. The previous link between BSOG and fuel duty has now been broken and only those bus operators who achieve a 6 per cent. improvement in their fuel efficiency compared with the previous one or two years will receive an increase of 3 per cent. in their BSOG from April 2010. In addition, operators will receive an additional 6p per kilometre on routes operated by low carbon emission buses from 1 April 2009.
Detailed policies and proposals for reducing carbon dioxide emissions will be published in the Department’s Carbon Reduction Strategy this summer.
Fishing Vessels
Further to my answer of 16 June 2009, Official Report, column 172W, concerning the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s (MCA) research into the stability criteria for small fishing vessels; the MCA plan to meet with research consultants during July to review their conclusions before the fishing industry Fishing Vessel Stability Working Group meets in August 2009. Following the working group meeting they plan to provide simple and practical guidance about stability of small fishing boats.
Humber Bridge: Tolls
We have now received and are considering the Inspector's report following the public inquiry on the Humber Bridge Board's toll review application. A decision will be made as soon as possible.
Maritime and Coastguard Agency: Pay
The information is not available in the format requested; however the amounts paid in bonuses by grade in each of the last five years is shown in the following table:
Total Grade 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 AA (Admin) 5,536 5,902 5,829 6,471 6,187 AA (Operational) 40,399 43,070 42,540 47,224 45,150 AO (Admin) 50,352 53,681 53,020 58,859 56,273 AO (Operational) 45,707 48,728 48,129 53,429 51,082 EO (Admin) 43,443 46,315 45,745 50,782 48,551 EO (Operational) 56,355 60,081 59,342 65,876 62,982 HEO (Admin) 40,668 43,356 42,822 47,538 45,450 HEO (Operational) 16,493 17,583 17,367 19,279 18,432 SEO (Admin) 38,023 40,536 40,038 44,446 42,494 SEO (Operational) 66,990 71,419 70,540 78,307 74,868 Grade 7 57,522 61,324 60,570 67,239 64,286 Grade 6 16,279 17,355 17,141 19,029 18,193 SCS Grade 5 3,183 3,394 3,352 3,721 3,558 SCS Grade 3 7,944 8,469 8,365 9,286 8,878 Grand Total 488,895 521,212 514,801 571,486 546,383
Public Transport: Hampshire
The Department for Transport allocates integrated transport block and highways maintenance funding to local transport authorities for capital investment in transport. Funding provided by the Department to local authorities is not generally ring-fenced and local authorities have discretion to spend their allocations in line with their priorities, such as the provision of public transport. Figures are not available at constituency level. The following table shows funding support for Hampshire and Southampton in 2009-10.
2009-10 (£ million) Hampshire 32.019 Southampton 4.408
Revenue expenditure on transport is generally supported through the Department for Communities and Local Government’s Formula Grant.
In 2008-09 and 2009-10 special grant funding is being provided by the Department for Transport to meet the additional cost of the new, England-wide concessionary bus travel. The allocations made for this purpose to Test Valley and Southampton for 2009-10 are shown in the following table.
2009-10 (£ million) Southampton 1.084 Test Valley 0.231
Public Transport: Peterborough
The Department for Transport allocates integrated transport block funding to local transport authorities for capital investment in transport. Funding provided by the Department to local authorities is not generally ring-fenced and local authorities have discretion to spend their allocations in line with their priorities, such as the provision of public transport. The Department provided £2.289 million to Peterborough in 2009-10.
Revenue expenditure on transport is generally supported through the Department for Communities and Local Government's formula grant.
The Department allocates money for rail projects in England but funding information is not available on the basis of local authority boundaries. The same applies for bus service operators grant, which is given direct to bus operators.
In 2008-09 and 2009-10 special grant funding is being provided by the Department for Transport to meet the additional cost of the new, England-wide concessionary bus travel—Peterborough's allocation in 2009-10 was £0.733 million. Peterborough has also been allocated £0.181 million in rural bus subsidy grant for 2009-10.
Royal Family: Travel
Decisions on air and rail travel arrangements for members of the royal family are taken by the royal travel office with regard to agreed criteria, including the need to achieve value for money and minimise the environmental impact.
The royal household seeks to contract in the most economic and efficient way for the supply of air and rail services, consistent with the safety and security of members of the royal family and other key requirements of royal travel. The royal household ensures it takes financial considerations fully into account when framing, reaching, or giving effect to decisions which bear upon the royal travel grant in aid budget.
Southern: Railway Stations
Overall the bidder proposes to spend at least £5.1 million on a deep clean and minor fault rectification package on stations within the Greater London Authority boundary and a further £2.7 million on a similar package outside London. This package of works however will generate additional revenues through enhanced station environments, and as such the net cost to Department for Transport of the package will be significantly below this.
Vehicle and Operator Services Agency: Consultants
The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency has spent the following amount on external consultants in each of the last five years:
£ million 2004-05 3.4 2005-06 1.4 2006-07 3.0 2007-08 3.7 2008-09 11.8 1 Figures for 2008-09 are draft as they are not yet audited and published.
Vehicle and Operator Services Agency: Manpower
The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency employed the following number of staff in the categories requested:
2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 (a) Directors 8 9 10 10 7 (b) Senior Managers 129 141 140 152 158 (c) Specialist/Del. Managers 311 318 325 341 371 (d) Exec/Admin Support 1,003 946 789 757 752
Figures as at 31 March of each year.
Vehicle and Operator Services Agency: Pay
The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) has paid the following amount in bonuses:
(a) Directors1 (b) Senior managers (c) Specialist and delivery managers (d) Ex and admin support 2004-05 5,000 4,410 4,750 5,565 2005-06 41,700 7,950 5,275 24,445 2006-07 30,900 6,150 4,900 18,345 2007-08 51,700 20,300 19,370 10,715 2008-092 37,100 8,800 5,200 4,000 Grand total 166,400 47,610 39,495 63,070 1 Directors’ bonuses include senior civil servants performance bonuses that are set centrally within the Department for Transport. 2 VOSA’s 2008 pay award has not been implemented yet. Note: Figures are based on special performance bonuses. To establish performance related pay (PRP) figures in the manner requested would result in disproportionate cost being incurred.
Justice
Arson: Greater London
The number of defendants found guilty at all courts for offences relating to arson in the Metropolitan and City of London police force areas for 2007 (latest available) is shown in the following table.
It is not possible to break down further the data to individual borough level, thus police force area data for Metropolitan and City of London police force areas have been provided in lieu.
These data are on the principal offence basis. The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offence for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences, the offence selected is the one 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.
Court proceedings data for 2008 will be available in the autumn of 2009.
Statute Offence description Metropolitan police force area City of London police force area Criminal Damage Act 1971 Sec.1(2) and (3) Arson endangering life 35 0 Criminal Damage Act 1971 Sec.1(1) and (3) Arson not endangering life 64 0 Total 99 0 1 The figures given in the table on court proceedings 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 it 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. 2 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Evidence and Analysis Unit—Office for Criminal Justice Reform, Ministry of Justice.
Community Legal Advice: Telephone Services
(2) how many calls have been made to the Community Legal Advice telephone service in each year since 2004.
The Community Legal Advice telephone service was launched on 14 July 2004. The total cost of expenditure on the Community Legal Advice telephone service in each year since 2004 is shown in the following table. All figures are inclusive of VAT.
Since 2006 all calls are routed through an initial triage service. The triage service diagnoses problems, assesses eligibility for legal aid and refers people onto alternative sources of help. This service costs approximately £6 per call. Only those eligible for legal aid are then passed through to specialist advisors. These providers won competitive tenders to carry out telephone work and their average hourly rate is approximately £46.
The service started from scratch in 2004 and has evolved since then (for example, family calls were dealt with for the first time in 2008). It is not possible to make meaningful comparisons between the cost per case in 2004 and that in 2009.
Total cost (£ million) 2004-05 3.5 2005-06 5.0 2006-07 8.5 2007-08 13.0 2008-09 14.5
The number of calls made to the Community Legal Advice telephone service since its inception is shown in the following table.
Number of calls made 2004-05 204,893 2005-06 273,157 2006-07 387,977 2007-08 411,954 2008-09 566,085
Departmental Energy
The tables show the quantity of electricity and gas used in the financial year April 2007 to March 2008, although the Ministry of Justice was created on 9 May 2007 and therefore the figures for the core estate provided include the energy consumption of the Department for Constitutional Affairs’ core estate between 1 April and 9 May. Similarly, the figures for the National Offender Management Service’s (NOMS) custodial property include the period from 1 April to 9 May when NOMS was part of the Home Office’s estate.
The Ministry of Justice is in the process of collating data for 2008-09. This will be made available in the Sustainable Development in Government Report later this year.
Energy type Annual consumption kWh Electricity 20179413 Natural Gas 7417634
Energy type Annual consumption kWh Electricity 143502717 Natural Gas 142798412
Energy type Annual consumption kWh Electricity 7487197 Natural Gas 741894
Energy type Annual consumption kWh Electricity 316055628 Natural Gas 810129566
Energy Type Annual consumption kWh Electricity 12477836 Natural Gas 7773972
Energy type Annual consumption kWh Electricity 20687222 Natural Gas 21252152
Departmental Land
(2) what the latest valuation is of each site of surplus land owned by his Department and its agencies.
The following table identifies surplus land and corresponding valuations within the Ministry of Justice for each year since its establishment in 2007.
Site Valuation (£) Her Majesty’s Prison Service 2007-08 Onley Sewage 185,000 Frankley Farm 1100,000 Stocken Farm Land Sale 120,000 Tudworth Lindlhome 11,020,000 Aldington 1105,000 Exeter Sale 1211,000 Miscellaneous Plots 18,000 Ley Hill,Gloucestershire 21,500,000 Portland, Dorset 2175,000 2008-09 Guys Marsh Sewage 15,000 Channings Wood 156,000 Shrewsbury 16,000 Full Sutton 110,000 Huntercombe 115,000 Gringley 15,300,000 Hindley 138,000 Wymot 275,000 Miscellaneous Plots 110,000 Ley Hill, Gloucestershire 21,500,000 Portland, Dorset 2175,000 Her Majesty’s Courts Service 2007-09 Ebbw Vale, Gwent 2255,000 New Mills, Derbyshire 2145,000 1 Sold for this amount. 2 Valued at this amount. Note: Both HMCS sites have been surplus since HMCS’s inception in 2005.
Driving Under Influence
(2) how many and what percentage of drivers have had at least one ban from driving due to drink-driving;
(3) what the average length of a driving ban for drink-driving was in (a) 1997 and (b) 2007.
The total number of driving licence holders in England, Wales, and Scotland, 1997 to 2007 can be viewed in table 1. From data held by the DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) it is not possible to separately identify of those holding Driving Licences those that were from either England, Wales, or Scotland
The total disqualifications imposed at all courts for ‘Driving etc., after consuming alcohol or taking drugs’, in England and Wales, 1997 to 2007 can be viewed in table 2.
The total number of driving disqualifications imposed and the period of disqualification imposed at all Courts in England and Wales, 1997 to 2007 (latest available) in England and Wales can be viewed in table 3.
From the information available to the Ministry of Justice it is not possible to identify those drivers who have received more than one driving disqualification during the period 1997 to 2007.
The average length of disqualification is not available as the court proceedings database held by the Ministry of Justice does not contain the exact length of disqualification for the requested offences.
Information on court proceedings in Scotland is a matter for the Scottish Executive.
2008 Ministry of Justice data will be available in the autumn of 2009.
Driving licence holders1 1997 37,285,116 1998 37,644,178 1999 38,071,154 2000 38,437,308 2001 38,508,972 2002 39,214,224 2003 39,791,629 2004 40,389,130 2005 41,077,900 2006 41,681,116 2007 42,345,445 1 Data provided by the DVLA. 2 From data held by the DVLA, it is not possible to separately identify of those holding driving licences those that were from either England, Wales, or Scotland. Source: DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency)
Total disqualifications imposed 1997 92,962 1998 86,191 1999 83,117 2000 80,285 2001 79,274 2002 84,887 2003 87,013 2004 90,308 2005 86,867 2006 87,190 2007 84,007 1 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. Source: OCJR E and A (Office for Criminal Justice Reform, Evidence and Analysis Unit), Ministry of Justice
Period of disqualification Total disqualifications imposed Until driving test passed Under 6 months 6 months Over 6 months and under 1 year 1 year Over 1 year and under 2 years 2 years and under 3 years 3 years Over 3 years and under 4 years 4 years and under 5 years 5 years and under 10 years 10 years and over. Less than life Life 1997 92,962 85 234 345 132 35,136 21,073 11,461 20,389 221 1,512 2,168 191 15 1998 86,191 160 291 291 120 30,709 19,001 13,494 18,372 235 1,275 2,024 188 31 1999 83,117 178 244 304 101 29,402 18,694 13,159 17,597 189 1,243 1,840 146 20 2000 80,285 135 246 279 79 27,272 18,708 14,002 16,578 146 1,247 1,481 103 9 2001 79,274 90 285 284 77 25,068 17,842 16,015 16,351 219 1,405 1,533 98 7 2002 84,887 88 330 304 75 26,185 19,500 17,129 17,644 206 1,656 1,623 137 10 2003 87,013 85 288 264 123 26,611 19,623 18,145 18,220 199 1,578 1,741 125 11 2004 90,308 123 327 304 134 27,133 26,391 13,371 18,793 230 1,716 1,670 103 13 2005 86,867 127 380 336 113 26,027 27,323 12,240 16,947 283 1,548 1,461 72 10 2006 87,190 130 408 301 91 25,311 28,261 13,009 16,497 242 1,433 1,417 85 5 2007 84,007 114 408 284 103 23,695 27,397 12,877 16,014 321 1,435 1,294 56 9 1 Included in “Total disqualifications imposed”. 2 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. Source: OCJR E and A (Office for Criminal Justice Reform, Evidence and Analysis Unit), Ministry of Justice
Electorate
Figures in relation to the number of people eligible to vote in the (a) 2009 elections to the European Parliament and (b) 2005 general election are not available. This is because the Office for National Statistics (ONS) does not hold data for the population eligible to vote in parliamentary elections, which includes British citizens resident overseas and excludes foreign citizens (from outside the British Commonwealth and Republic of Ireland) resident within England and Wales. Indeed, there is no central database that holds this information.
The ONS state that the closest available approximation to the number of people registered to vote in the 2009 European election is 45,226,650. This figure refers to the number of people who were registered in the UK to vote in the European election on 1 December 2008 and is based on a qualifying date of 15 October 2008. That was the most recent date for which data on the electorate are collated. The cut off date for registration, as enacted by the Electoral Administration Act 2006 is 11 days before the poll, so the actual number of people registered to vote in the 2009 European election may be different from this figure.
ONS figures show that the number of people who were registered to vote in the UK parliamentary elections for Westminster on 1 December 2004 was 44,180,464. This figure is based on a qualifying date of 15 October 2004 and is the closest available approximation to the number of people who were registered to vote in the 2005 general election when registration closed some six to eight weeks before the poll.
National Offender Management Information System
The cost of the C-NOMIS project from inception to December 2007 was £160.7 million (which excludes depreciation and cost of capital). On 8 January 2008, the C-NOMIS project was revised and became part of the new NOMIS Programme, which is delivering five projects. Expenditure on the NOMIS Programme to 31 March 2009 was £75 million. This sum includes costs incurred in financial year 2008-09 which are still subject to audit.
Prison Service: Pay
Information on the amount paid in Special Bonuses and non-consolidated performance payments to the staff specified is provided in the following tables.
Special Bonuses Recorded Grade 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 Directors (Senior Civil Service) 16,750 5,000 — 321,998 279,900 Senior Managers (A-D) 137,868 158,546 110,962 296,449 483,141 Specialist / Delivery Managers (Managers E-G) 214,282 282,713 234,667 482,388 875,545 Executive / Admin (AA, AO, EO) 98,340 108,899 86,197 110,937 203,956 Total 467,555,158 555,158 431,826 1,121,772 1,842,542
Non-consolidated performance payments Grade 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 Directors (Senior Civil Service) Data not available 202,483 160,648 231,000 273,162 Senior and Delivery managers1 As above 633,145 404,699 450,605 625,565 Executive Support/Admin As above 357,813 450,656 487,540 630,265 Total 1,193,444 1,016,003 1,169,145 1,428,992 1 It is not possible to separate payments to Senior Managers and Specialist and Delivery Managers without incurring disproportionate cost.
The two tables above are derived from different sources and the data for table 2 cannot be disaggregated. Special Bonuses are reported on Oracle HR and the Non-Consolidated Performance Payments information comes from payroll.
Non-consolidated performance payments and special bonuses Grade 2004-052 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 Directors (Senior Civil Service) 16,750,000 207,483 160,648 462,998 553,062 Senior and Delivery managers1 352,150,00 1,074,404 750,328 1,229,442 1,984,251 Executive Support/Admin 98,340,00 466,715 536,853 598,477 734,221 Total 467,240 1,748,602 1,447,829 2,290,917 3,271,534 1 Information on non-consolidated performance payments not available for 2004-05
Prisoners
The number of prisoners aged 70 and over in each prison establishment in England and Wales as at the end of April 2009 can be found in the following table:
70+ population Acklington 16 Albany 25 Altcourse 5 Ashfield 0 Ashwell 1 Askham Grange 0 Aylesbury 0 Bedford 2 Belmarsh 3 Birmingham 5 Blantyre House 2 Blundeston 1 Brinsford 0 Bristol 3 Brixton 2 Bronzefield 0 Buckley Hall 0 Bullingdon 6 Bullwood Hall 0 Camp Hill 1 Canterbury 1 Cardiff 2 Castington 0 Channings Wood 7 Chelmsford 3 Coldingley 0 Cookham Wood 0 Dartmoor 17 Deerbolt 0 Doncaster 5 Dorchester 1 Dovegate 6 Dover 0 Downview 1 Drake Hall 1 Durham 3 East Sutton Park 0 Eastwood Park 0 Edmunds Hill 1 Elmley 5 Erlestoke 3 Everthorpe 1 Exeter 6 Featherstone 1 Feltham 0 Ford 4 Forest Bank 3 Foston Hall 0 Frankland 8 Full Sutton 13 Garth 4 Gartree 3 Glen Parva 0 Gloucester 3 Grendon/Spring Hill 2 Guys Marsh 2 Haslar 0 Haverigg 1 Hewell 3 High Down 4 Highpoint 2 Hindley 0 Hollesley Bay 1 Holloway 1 Holme House 2 Hull 20 Huntercombe 0 Kennet 0 Kingston (Portsmouth) 4 Kirkham 0 Kirklevington Grange 0 Lancaster Castle 1 Lancaster Farms 0 Latchmere House 2 Leeds 7 Leicester 1 Lewes 3 Leyhill 13 Lincoln 5 Lindholme 1 Littlehey 32 Liverpool 4 Long Lartin 1 Low Newton 0 Lowdham Grange 0 Maidstone 14 Manchester 16 Moorland Closed 0 Moorland Open 0 Morton Hall 1 New Hall 0 North Sea Camp 1 Northallerton 0 Norwich 17 Nottingham 3 Onley 0 Pare 6 Parkhurst 8 Pentonville 0 Peterborough 7 Portland 0 Preston 2 Ranby 0 Reading 0 Risley 7 Rochester 0 Rye Hill 2 Send 1 Shepton Mallet 4 Shrewsbury 2 Stafford 5 Standford Hill 2 Stocken 0 Stoke Heath 0 Styal 0 Sudbury 1 Swaleside 3 Swansea 1 Swinfen Hall 0 The Mount 1 The Verne 0 The Wolds 0 Thom Cross 0 Usk/Prescoed 11 Wakefield 19 Wandsworth 20 Warren Hill 0 Warrington 0 Wayland 3 Wealstun 0 Wellingborough 2 Wetherby 0 Whatton 44 Whitemoor 1 Winchester 5 Woodhill 2 Wormwood Scrubs 7 Wymott 21 Total 525
The following table gives the number of sentenced prisoners aged 70 and over in prison establishments in England and Wales by offence group, as at 30 April 2009:
Number Violence against the person 84 Sexual offences 346 Robbery 4 Theft and handling 3 Fraud and forgery 7 Drug offences 22 Motoring offences 1 Other offences 23 All offences 489
These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
The requested information is shown in the following table.
Offence type 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2006 2008 2007 Violence against the person 8 5 10 11 8 11 10 7 7 7 10 Sexual Offences 49 64 43 62 72 67 60 82 85 88 81 Burglary 2 1 3 2 1 0 3 0 0 2 1 Robbery 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 Theft and handling stolen goods 9 8 11 8 15 4 10 7 10 6 4 Fraud and forgery 2 4 5 5 5 6 6 4 4 4 7 Criminal Damage 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 2 3 Drug Offences 5 5 2 8 3 4 3 6 3 9 7 Other (excluding motoring offences) 3 5 4 7 2 5 6 12 12 8 6 Indictable Motoring 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Summary non-motoring 12 12 4 5 6 6 12 14 9 14 13 Summary motoring 3 14 7 18 5 7 11 8 10 11 12 Total 94 119 89 126 118 112 122 141 141 161 147 Notes: 1. These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. 2. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Source: OMS Analytical Services, Ministry of Justice
The data shows the number of offenders aged 70 and over sentenced to immediate custody for each offence type, in the last 10 years. This data is presented on the principal offence basis, where an offender has been sentenced for more than one offence the principal offence is the one for which the heaviest sentence was imposed. Where the same sentence has been imposed for two or more offences the principal offence is the one for which the statutory maximum is most severe.
Prisoners Release: Reoffenders
I apologise to the hon. Member that the audit process has taken longer than anticipated. The data will be available before summer recess, when I will write to the hon. Member, placing a copy of the reply in the Library.
Prisoners: Offender Assessment System
(2) how many prisoners aged over 70 held in closed prisons have been assessed as suitable for open prison conditions.
During the period 1 April 2008 until 31 March 2009, 42 prisoners aged over 70 were assessed as presenting a high or very high risk of serious harm. The assessment of risk of serious harm was made through the Offender Assessment System (OASys). The OASys data are drawn from administrative IT systems and are subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale assessment and recording system.
The information regarding suitability for open prisons could be obtained only at disproportionate cost as it would involve contacting every prison which would then have to consult the records of individual prisoners. There has been no relaxation of security categorisation standards and public protection remains paramount when undertaking the categorisation process.
Prisons: West Lancashire
In early 2008, the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) commissioned site search agents to identify potential sites for “Titan” prisons in various parts of the country, including the North West.
Among the sites identified in the North-West was a 200 acre golf course at Southport Road, Scarisbrick, L40 8HB. This site was identified on 13 May 2008 by our site search agents but was considered unsuitable by them, an assessment that was subsequently endorsed by NOMS on 16 May 2008. The reason for this was that a golf course in a rural location did not meet the specific requirement for a site close to an urban conurbation with good transport links.
We do not hold information on the current owners of the site as it was rejected at a very early stage of the assessment process.
Probation
The total caseload of offenders supervised by the Probation Service in each region of England and Wales as at 31 December in each of the last three years was as follows:
2006 2007 2008 North East 12,906 13,872 14,122 North West 39,361 39,657 37,907 Yorkshire and Humberside 24,208 24,698 25,262 East Midlands 17,422 17,787 17,829 West Midlands 28,361 29,255 27,844 Eastern 18,833 19,967 20,194 London 41,338 41,998 43,811 South East 28,041 27,145 27,291 South West 13,919 14,536 14,839 Wales 13,169 13,807 14,335
The 2008 figures are provisional and were published on 30 April 2009 in the Ministry of Justice statistics bulletin Probation statistics quarterly brief October to December 2008, England and Wales.
These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
The total number of full time equivalent staff employed by the Probation Service as at 31 March from 2005 to 2007 (latest figures available) are shown in the following table:
2005 2006 2007 North West 3,213.91 3,347.94 3,248.13 North East 1,295.39 1,274.82 1,298.12 Yorkshire and Humberside 2,364.80 2,383.72 2,386.52 East Midlands 1,765.08 1,886.72 1,896.72 Wales 1,184.35 1,300.77 1,336.53 West Midlands 2,253.68 2,397.66 2,409.70 East of England 1,549.66 1,675.65 1,690.03 South West 1,507.73 1,626.15 1,628.38 South East 2,243.49 2,408.70 2,440.76 London 2,377.27 2,759.33 2,868.77 Total 19,755.36 21,061.45 21,203.66 Notes: 1. Figures provided are full time equivalent (FTE) and are as at 31 March for each year. 2. Information for 2008 is currently unavailable.
Probation
I am aware of the proposed merger of the Staffordshire and West Midlands probation areas. A first application is anticipated in July for Trust status, subject to further endorsement by the two separate boards.
I have made it clear that any proposals on future trust configurations should come from local areas and not be prescribed either regionally or nationally. Already within the West Midlands region, and on a national basis, areas with smaller budgets than West Mercia have applied for and achieved Trust status.
The West Mercia Probation Trust is a first wave trust but it is required to be reassessed in accordance with the new national requirements. It has made one unsuccessful application under the new arrangements and is intending to resubmit in November 2009. Once all areas in the West Midlands region have achieved trust status, whether in their present or merger form, they will be expected to work collaboratively as required to achieve best value in the delivery of their statutory duties.
The Director of Offender Management's office in the West Midlands is currently supporting the efforts of West Mercia Probation Trust to assist them in achieving re-alignment with second wave Trust status.
Probation: Databases
The Ministry of Justice’s Offender Management and Sentencing Analytical Service has indicated that, on average, the breakdown between types of case management systems is 112,000 (40 per cent.) of offender records held in Delius, 98,000 (35 per cent.) held in CRAMS and 70,000 (25 per cent.) held in other systems (ICMS, In Case and IIMS).
Probation: North Yorkshire
The number of persons found guilty at all courts for all
offences in the North Yorkshire Police Force Area, for the years 2003 to 2007 (latest available) is given in table 1.
These data are on the principal offence basis. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences, the offence selected is the one 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.
Court proceedings data for 2008 will be available in the autumn of 2009.
Found guilty 2003 13,652 2004 14,933 2005 14,572 2006 12,764 2007 14,974 1 The 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. 2 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. Source: Evidence and Analysis Unit - Office for Criminal Justice Reform, Ministry of Justice
Number 2004 2,099 2005 2,296 2006 2,311 2007 2,211 2008 2,274
Number 2006 4,355 2007 4,124 2008 4,053
Before 2006, the number of court reports written in North Yorkshire is not centrally available.
These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Probation: South Yorkshire
The resource budget allocations for the South Yorkshire probation area since 2001 are given in the table.
As a result of changes to the budget allocation methodology, plus Machinery of Government changes and accounting methodology changes, it is difficult to compare figures over a long period.
Area: South Yorkshire Revenue (£000) 2008-09 25,511 2007-08 24,282 2006-07 24,058 2005-06 23,041 2004-05 20,858 2003-04 20,381 2002-03 18,191 2001-02 16,153
The combined rate of all types of absence is not collected however the rate of absence resulting from ill-health (i.e. sickness absence) for South Yorkshire Probation Service staff in 2008-09 was 14.3 days per person. The total cost of sickness absence for South Yorkshire Probation Service, including on costs, for 2008-09 was £1,026,760. In order to address this South Yorkshire Probation Service have launched a sickness absence action plan which has made a significant impact on the incidence of sickness absence. Current levels of sickness absence are 8.2 days per employee.
Pupils: Absenteeism
I have been asked to reply
The Department has policy responsibility for school attendance. However, the Ministry of Justice collects and publishes data for England and Wales on prosecutions brought against parents under the Education Act 1996 for the offence under s444(1) of failing to secure their child's regular attendance at school; and for prosecutions under s444(1A), the aggravated offence of knowing that their child is failing to attend school regularly. It is possible, because of the way courts record data, that some section 444 data is also collected under the more general heading of various offences under the Education Act 1996.
The Ministry of Justice collects prosecution data on the basis of police force areas only and not constituency area. Information on the number of parents prosecuted in Essex for failing to secure their children's regular school attendance between 2006 to 2007 (latest available data) is detailed in the table below. Court proceedings data for 2008 will be available in the autumn of 2009.
Number 2006 86 2007 74 1 Includes the following: (a) Failure to secure regular attendance at school. (Education Act 1996 S.444 (1)(8)). (b) Parent knows that their child is failing to attend school regularly and fails without reasonable justification to cause him or her to attend school. (Education Act 1996 S.444(8)(1a)(8a) added by Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 S.72). 2 The 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. 3 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. Source: Evidence and Analysis Unit - Office for Criminal Justice Reform, Ministry of Justice
Remand in Custody: Children
The decision whether to grant bail or to remand a young person to the care of a local authority or to custody is a matter for the courts, which apply the statutory framework principally set out in the Bail Act 1976. The data in the tables have been supplied by the Youth Justice Board from administrative computer systems. Table A shows the number of remands to (prison) custody in each of the last five years and table B shows the number of remands to local authority care with a security requirement in each of the last five years. Statistics are available only by Youth Offending Team (YOT) area. Where the YOT covers more than one local authority area (as in Wessex, for example) it is not possible to indicate the young person’s home local authority.
Youth offending team 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Barking and Dagenham 41 30 46 23 31 Barnet 30 19 34 37 27 Barnsley 28 23 16 16 11 Bath and North East Somerset 12 9 11 12 11 Bedfordshire 36 32 17 23 32 Bexley 11 8 10 15 10 Birmingham 249 215 244 176 144 Blackburn with Darwen 24 17 14 16 13 Blackpool 21 20 21 26 30 Blaenau, Gwent and Caerphilly 17 8 31 9 9 Bolton 32 45 36 34 37 Bournemouth and Poole 24 28 16 13 8 Bracknell Forest 3 7 9 10 12 Bradford 63 58 52 68 76 Brent 30 33 42 44 58 Bridgend 15 15 11 13 12 Brighton and Hove 16 15 18 26 13 Bristol 53 35 55 61 76 Bromley 10 13 21 26 12 Buckinghamshire 15 7 12 5 10 Bury 13 8 15 15 9 Calderdale 26 19 7 24 24 Cambridgeshire 24 28 24 14 20 Camden 12 21 27 20 21 Cardiff 71 78 56 65 45 Carmarthenshire 10 14 23 13 18 Ceredigion1 n/a n/a 4 7 1 Cheshire 44 32 41 47 51 Conwy and Denbighshire 16 11 23 18 21 Cornwall 8 17 20 29 17 Coventry 65 64 48 38 32 Croydon 48 47 51 57 51 Cumbria 36 21 40 42 41 Darlington 13 8 9 8 4 Derby 38 47 29 33 39 Derbyshire 30 41 29 17 23 Devon 18 21 26 15 16 Doncaster 26 36 38 38 24 Dorset 6 15 4 10 5 Dudley 47 23 21 21 14 Durham 29 34 18 19 23 Ealing 17 21 50 68 58 East Riding of Yorkshire 2 5 12 9 9 East Sussex 18 25 18 28 22 Enfield 20 41 53 55 37 Essex 53 57 57 60 36 Flintshire 20 9 15 7 3 Gateshead 17 12 15 18 12 Gloucestershire 34 44 45 31 31 Greenwich 33 31 33 30 48 Gwynedd Mon 18 18 10 9 12 Hackney 51 57 57 75 69 Halton and Warrington 23 31 22 23 17 Hammersmith and Fulham 15 36 31 35 20 Haringey 57 50 55 58 50 Harrow 4 9 24 17 12 Hartlepool 4 6 11 8 16 Havering 1 7 20 20 24 Hertfordshire 63 47 56 36 41 Hillingdon 27 26 20 34 23 Hounslow 40 23 30 20 34 Islington 31 38 40 50 49 Kensington and Chelsea 22 10 10 21 19 Kent 72 71 85 51 80 Kingston-upon-Hull 61 65 68 83 49 Kingston-upon-Thames 1 6 12 8 11 Kirklees 42 42 34 25 25 Knowsley 29 17 16 20 18 Lambeth 42 56 79 77 83 Lancashire 74 97 91 89 68 Leeds 177 119 120 89 87 Leicester City 64 64 47 40 34 Leicestershire 48 28 31 22 24 Lewisham 46 45 55 36 45 Lincolnshire 32 17 26 26 14 Liverpool 96 89 71 65 64 Luton 35 27 22 15 15 Manchester 186 182 186 140 130 Medway 15 13 12 24 29 Merthyr Tydfil 7 10 17 14 8 Merton 12 16 18 15 16 Milton Keynes 9 23 21 20 17 Miscellaneous2 15 5 4 5 1 Monmouthshire and Torfaen 4 8 3 8 1 Neath Port Talbot 8 18 19 13 6 Newcastle-upon-Tyne 37 40 30 35 30 Newham 86 62 58 76 74 Newport 30 44 23 14 12 Norfolk 31 26 17 23 19 North East Lincolnshire 31 33 25 16 24 North Lincolnshire 22 12 27 20 18 North Somerset 10 4 2 3 9 North Tyneside 37 18 18 30 18 North Yorkshire 13 18 16 21 19 Northamptonshire 59 47 34 64 37 Northumberland 28 22 24 34 22 Nottingham 97 63 101 72 82 Nottinghamshire 33 29 31 31 22 Oldham 31 24 46 37 32 Oxfordshire 30 37 33 36 34 Pembrokeshire 1 2 6 2 11 Peterborough 31 25 20 28 26 Plymouth 23 16 19 34 17 Powys1 1 2 4 2 1 Reading3 23 24 22 14 20 Redbridge 28 24 40 41 27 Rhondda Cynon Taff 25 22 15 7 22 Richmond-upon-Thames 5 5 3 4 2 Rochdale 38 38 25 19 34 Rotherham 25 31 22 19 20 Salford 49 65 48 47 35 Sandwell 73 70 49 40 24 Sefton 9 18 30 15 29 Sheffield 59 45 50 61 76 Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin 15 14 14 14 21 Slough 9 10 15 19 15 Solihull 14 19 12 11 15 Somerset 19 22 16 15 17 South Gloucestershire 3 9 8 5 5 South Tees 38 38 43 29 35 South Tyneside 38 19 11 14 14 Southend-on-Sea 12 10 14 15 9 Southwark 48 61 65 61 68 St. Helens 17 11 7 4 6 Staffordshire 34 38 27 14 20 Stockport 23 22 29 15 16 Stockton-on-Tees 10 9 14 8 8 Stoke-on-Trent 36 38 34 28 23 Suffolk 31 37 18 19 30 Sunderland 35 36 26 36 14 Surrey 27 31 37 32 19 Sutton 11 18 11 8 13 Swansea 34 29 27 15 17 Swindon 14 17 8 10 9 Tameside 30 29 45 27 25 Thurrock 23 6 22 19 25 Torbay 4 3 3 9 5 Tower Hamlets and City of London 18 36 46 45 44 Trafford 36 39 31 31 23 Vale of Glamorgan 9 14 5 6 8 Wakefield 29 36 19 27 21 Walsall 23 30 29 27 21 Waltham Forest 30 32 38 38 32 Wandsworth 19 26 33 62 41 Warwickshire 18 24 31 28 10 Wessex 135 104 120 128 151 West Berkshire 1 5 7 4 5 West Sussex 50 55 43 52 53 Westminster 24 23 17 23 21 Wigan 29 23 28 18 19 Wiltshire 17 18 12 6 8 Windsor and Maidenhead 10 7 1 2 3 Wirral 44 26 17 33 17 Wokingham3 n/a n/a 0 4 6 Wolverhampton 33 36 30 24 16 Worcestershire and Herefordshire 70 55 34 23 30 Wrexham 0 0 2 17 18 York 25 26 24 22 32 Total 5,065 4,850 4,901 4,692 4,402
Youth offending team 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Barking and Dagenham 6 3 2 4 2 Barnet 3 3 7 2 2 Barnsley 1 0 2 1 1 Bath and North East Somerset 0 0 1 2 1 Bedfordshire 1 2 0 1 0 Bexley 2 6 1 0 1 Birmingham 34 29 28 26 16 Blackburn with Darwen 4 0 2 2 2 Blackpool 2 3 0 5 4 Blaenau, Gwent and Caerphilly 1 2 1 5 1 Bolton 3 9 5 8 3 Bournemouth and Poole 3 4 1 1 0 Bracknell Forest 0 0 2 0 0 Bradford 6 9 4 12 4 Brent 7 1 5 5 12 Bridgend 1 1 0 0 2 Brighton and Hove 3 3 2 5 6 Bristol 5 7 10 12 8 Bromley 3 5 5 0 6 Buckinghamshire 2 0 0 0 1 Bury 0 0 4 0 2 Calderdale 3 3 5 0 1 Cambridgeshire 0 0 2 1 1 Camden 3 2 1 7 2 Cardiff 7 3 5 10 1 Carmarthenshire 3 1 0 1 0 Ceredigion1 n/a n/a 0 0 0 Cheshire 8 9 5 4 2 Conwy and Denbighshire 1 5 3 2 0 Cornwall 1 3 0 0 1 Coventry 7 7 5 1 3 Croydon 2 4 8 6 3 Cumbria 6 4 2 5 4 Darlington 0 0 0 1 0 Derby 12 9 7 2 8 Derbyshire 2 6 4 3 1 Devon 2 3 4 0 4 Doncaster 3 5 6 2 0 Dorset 0 0 0 0 0 Dudley 5 3 3 1 0 Durham 3 4 2 2 4 Ealing 2 2 5 10 4 East Riding of Yorkshire 0 0 2 2 0 East Sussex 4 4 12 5 0 Enfield 3 4 6 1 3 Essex 4 3 10 7 3 Flintshire 0 0 0 0 0 Gateshead 3 3 5 5 6 Gloucestershire 8 10 7 0 2 Greenwich 7 6 1 5 7 Gwynedd Mon 0 1 0 1 0 Hackney 6 6 3 6 9 Halton and Warrington 2 1 4 2 4 Hammersmith and Fulham 4 1 3 13 5 Haringey 5 1 6 5 6 Harrow 1 4 3 4 2 Hartlepool 0 1 1 2 2 Havering 2 2 0 3 0 Hertfordshire 1 5 7 5 8 Hillingdon 0 4 2 3 5 Hounslow 3 3 1 1 3 Islington 3 2 8 9 10 Kensington and Chelsea 1 1 3 1 1 Kent 9 2 8 5 12 Kingston-upon-Hull 11 8 8 9 9 Kinston-upon-Thames 1 0 0 0 2 Kirklees 11 2 0 0 4 Knowsley 0 1 3 1 1 Lambeth 7 10 13 10 8 Lancashire 10 9 7 7 10 Leeds 36 7 5 12 11 Leicester City 10 4 3 3 5 Leicestershire 3 1 3 2 2 Lewisham 4 8 7 5 12 Lincolnshire 2 2 0 2 0 Liverpool 7 14 3 7 11 Luton 2 2 0 0 1 Manchester 24 33 42 40 16 Medway 2 3 2 3 3 Merthyr Tydfil 2 1 1 0 2 Merton 2 1 0 0 4 Milton Keynes 0 1 0 0 4 Miscellaneous2 0 0 0 0 0 Monmouthshire and Torfaen 1 1 1 1 1 Neath Port Talbot 2 1 0 5 4 Newcastle-upon-Tyne 0 10 5 5 5 Newham 9 11 11 11 10 Newport 3 3 4 0 2 Norfolk 1 1 3 2 5 North East Lincolnshire 8 5 4 5 5 North Lincolnshire 10 3 14 4 3 North Somerset 0 1 1 1 2 North Tyneside 2 11 2 3 2 North Yorkshire