asked Her Majesty's Government:

How much it will cost per month to provide police protection for Raymond Horne, following his recent deportation from Australia for sexual offences. [HL2778]

This is an operational matter for the police service.

asked Her Majesty’s Government:

How many people are currently on the sex offenders register. [HL2780]

According to the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements annual reports, as of 31 March 2007 the total number of registered sex offenders in England and Wales was 30,416.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

In light of the deportation of Raymond Horne from Australia to Britain, whether they support the creation of an international sex offenders register. [HL2937]

The UK authorities were aware of the arrival of Horne in advance and took steps to deal with this. An international register would not have affected the response in this case. However, increasing the exchange between countries of information on sex offenders is one of our key public protection aims. In November 2006, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Republic of Ireland on the exchange of information on sex offenders and are hoping to develop similar arrangements with other states. We have raised the issue of exchanging information on sex offenders in EU discussions and are exploring other opportunities to engage in discussions on this issue with other states.