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Exports Initiative
Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what role the Association of Chief Police Officers played in the (a) establishment and (b) management of the Home Office Export Initiative. [20022]
Mr. Michael: The then President of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) was asked in October 1995 if the Association wished to nominate a representative of the police service to help establish and manage the Home Office Exports Initiative. ACPO was duly represented on the ISG by a member of the Surrey Police.
Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which trade associations were involved in the (a) establishment and (b) management of the Home Office Exports Initiative. [20040]
Mr. Michael: Three trade associations were represented on the Home Office Exports Initiative Steering Group: the Association of Police and Public Security Suppliers (APPSS); the British Security Industry Association (BSIA); and the Police Information Technology and Communications Suppliers Association (PITACSA). All three were instrumental in establishing the Initiative, having met senior officials in the Home Office in September 1995 to determine its future strategy.
Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reasons he decided to end the Home Office Exports Initiative. [20041]
Mr. Michael: The decision to end the Home Office Exports Initiative was taken in the context of the Government's Comprehensive Spending Review. My right hon. Friend considered that the Initiative did not sit happily with the core functions of the Department, particularly when viewed against the substantial support for exporting given by the Department of Trade and Industry and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if goods and services supplied under the Home Office Exports Initiative were subject to normal Export Control procedures. [20021]
Mr. Michael:
Yes. Where the supply of the goods or services concerned were subject to control, a licence would have been required.
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Ann Clwyd:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the United Kingdom police forces which participated in the Home Office Exports Initiative. [20031]
Mr. Michael:
Police forces in England and Wales were represented on the Home Office Exports Initiative Steering Group by Surrey Police. In addition, officers from the Cambridgeshire Constabulary, Metropolitan Police, Surrey Police and Wiltshire Constabulary participated in overseas trade exhibitions sponsored by the Initiative.
Ann Clwyd:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which (a) police, (b) security and (c) paramilitary forces of foreign governments, were supplied with goods and services under the Home Office Exports Initiative; and what consideration was given to the human rights record of governments concerned.[20030]
Mr. Michael:
Information abut the goods and services exported by companies assisted by the Home Office Exports Initiative is not available. I am informed that where a licence was required for the supply of goods or services under the Initiative, it would have been issued only if that was consistent with the Government's policy at the time.
Ann Clwyd:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what basis companies were chosen to participate in the Home Office Exports Initiative; and if he will publish the criteria which were used to evaluate the suitability of companies to participate in the Initiative. [20020]
Mr. Michael:
I am informed that the services of the Home Office Export Promoter and activities sponsored by the Initiative were open to all companies in the policing and security sector.
Mr. Clappison:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convictions have been recorded under (a) section 4a and (b) section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 in the last year for which figures are available; [20300]
Mr. Michael:
In 1996, the number of convictions under sections 4a and 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 were 295 and 14,944 respectively.
Mr. Clappison:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many community service orders were imposed in respect of offenders (a) aged 15 to 17 years and (b) aged 17 to 21 years old in the last year for which figures are available. [20291]
Mr. Michael:
Community Service Orders and Combination Orders are available only for offenders aged 16 or over.
Information for 1996 is given in the table.
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(2) how many combination orders were imposed in respect of offenders (a) aged 15 to 17 years and (b) aged 17 to 21 years in the last year for which figures are available. [20292]
| Age-group | ||
|---|---|---|
| 16-17 | 18-21 | |
| Community Service Order | 3,719 | 1,312 |
| Combination Order | 11,569 | 4,796 |
Compensation Orders
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many compensation orders have been made in respect of (a) under 17-year-old, (b) 17 to 21 year old and (c) over 21-year-old offenders in the last year for which figures are available; [20297]
- (2) what assessment he has made of the use of compensation orders by the courts. [20298]
Mr. Michael: Ninety-four thousand eight hundred offenders were ordered to pay compensation orders in 1996, two per cent. more than in 1995 but fewer than the 1991 total of 112,800.
In 1996, of the 94,800 offenders ordered to pay compensation orders, 17,400 were aged 10 to 17, 17,900 were aged 18 to 20 and 59,500 were aged 21 and over.
Crime Concern
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the youth action groups promoted by Crime Concern. [20294]
Mr. Michael: This Government consider the Youth Action Initiative to be an excellent model of how to involve young people in dealing with issues of disorder and anti-social behaviour which this Government are determined to tackle. We strongly support the wider expansion of the initiatives.
Youth Action Group is encouraged to tackle problems of relevance to young people, such as graffiti, vandalism, bullying in schools, personal safety and substance abuse. The best of such Groups have an impact, not only on their schools, but on the wider community. Youth Action Groups provide young people with an opportunity to be part of the solution to crime and not just part of the problem. The remarkable achievements demonstrated by winners of the Prudential Youth Action Awards in recent years demonstrate the potential of young people when given that opportunity. I am very keen to ensure that the work of the Youth Action Groups is linked closely to that of the new statutory partnerships for preventing crime and disorder which will be established once the Crime and Disorder Bill takes effect. I am currently looking at ways in which this objective can be achieved.
Animal Experiments
Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to reduce the number of experiments on animals. [20137]
Mr. George Howarth:
We announced on 6 November that we had secured an end to the testing of finished cosmetic products; that we will be exploring a ban on the
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use of animals for testing ingredients intended for "vanity" products; and that we will be phasing out the use of ascitic animals in monoclonal antibody production.
The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 requires that the suffering of animals and the number of animals used in individual programmes of work be minimised. It does not provide a mechanism for guaranteeing a year-on-year reduction in the number of animals used. Reductions are best achieved by the development, validation and implementation of alternatives.
To this end, we are exploring ways to promote the development and greater use of alternatives. We are seeking advice from the Animal Procedures Committee, the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM) and others about the establishment of a database on alternative methods. We have also increased the budget, which we make available to the Animal Procedures Committee to sponsor research on alternatives, from £182,000 in 1997-98 to £259,000 in 1998-99.
We are encouraging regulators both in the United Kingdom and through Europe to review the need to use animals in regulatory safety testing.
Mr. Flight:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what initiatives he proposes to reduce crime in villages and small towns. [20136]
Mr. Michael:
The Government recognise that rural communities have very different needs to urban communities. Whilst they suffer from most of the same types of crime as urban areas, there are also those crimes which are particular to the countryside, such as theft of livestock and farm equipment.
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