House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 25 Nov 1999 (pt 6)

Fireworks

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many prosecutions there have been in each of the last five years for the sale of fireworks to children; and if he will make a statement; [99293]

Mr. Charles Clarke: Information held centrally on the Home Office Court Proceedings Database does not identify separately the offence of "selling of gunpowder to children" under section 31 of the Explosives Act 1875 from other summary offences under the Explosives Acts.

The Database shows no defendants proceeded against for the triable either-way offence of selling unsafe fireworks (section 32 Explosives Act 1875--Sale of gunpowder to be in closed packages labelled) from 1994 to 1998 inclusive.

Police Funding

Mr. Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what plans he has to implement the recommendations resulting from his Department's research into the cost of policing in rural areas; and if he will make a statement; [99224]

(3) what was the cost of his Department's research into the sparsity element of the police funding formula; [99226]

(4) what were the main conclusions of the recent research into the cost of policing in rural areas. [99225]

Mr. Charles Clarke: I refer the right hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary to the right hon. Member for East Devon (Sir Peter Emery) on 2 November 1999, Official Report, column 118W.

The needs of police forces with sparsely populated rural areas are already taken into account in the current police funding formula. The research study found that there were additional costs involved in the policing of sparsely populated rural areas and recommended that the police funding formula should be changed to reflect these costs.

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The report's findings were considered by a Home Office-chaired Working Group, which included representatives of police forces and police authorities. There was no single view within the Working Group on the conclusions of the research report.

There was general agreement that a sparsity factor had been detected, but less agreement about how to include it appropriately in the police funding formula.

I understand the wishes of rural police forces to see the research findings implemented. Before doing so, the Government will need to be satisfied that the research has provided a final answer to this question which is beyond dispute or challenge.

For 2000-01, we propose to set considerable store by stability in the grant system to help police authorities plan ahead. In the July 1998 White Paper, "Modern Local Government--In Touch With the People", my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions said we would not expect to make fresh changes to the method of calculation of Standard Spending Assessments (SSAs). This applies equally to the method of calculation of police grant, as a common formula is used for distribution of police grant and SSA.

Our present intention is that, subject to consultation and approval by the House, we shall not make any changes to the method of police grant distribution, or revenue support grant distribution, generally for 2000-01. We do not therefore propose to make any substantive changes to the operation of the police funding formula for next year.

We shall be announcing shortly the proposed funding allocations for police authorities in England and Wales for 2000-01.

The cost of the research study was around £72,000.

European Council (Judicial Decisions)

Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which bodies have been consulted concerning relevant draft legislative proposals on mutual recognition of judicial decisions; what will be the purpose of the measures in the programme proposed by the European Council relating to this subject; and if he will list the purpose of each measure of primary legislation, and its title, required to put the programme into effect. [99410]

Mr. Charles Clarke: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to him by my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Home Office on 3 November 1999, Official Report, column 194W.

PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL

Millennium Compliance

Ms Moran: To ask the President of the Council if she will make a statement on progress in dealing with the Millennium bug. [99724]

Mrs. Beckett: I am pleased to update Members with the results of the November monthly review of progress in tackling the Millennium bug across Government. The completed questionnaires will all be placed in the Libraries of the House and published on the internet as

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normal. This report follows on from my statement to the House on 28 October. I am also reporting on preparedness across the national infrastructure, including key services delivered by the wider public sector.

Central Government

I am delighted to report that work on business critical systems is now complete in all Government Departments and Agencies with one exception. This means that systems have been fixed, tested and successfully put back into operation.

The MOD has completed over 99 per cent. of work on its critical systems. Although there has been a small slippage within part of MOD's complex programme, this has been offset by progress elsewhere, and its critical systems are now predicted to be completed by the end of November. In any event robust and tested contingency plans are in place to maintain defence capability.

Business Continuity Plans (BCPs) and Millennium Operating Regimes (MORs) are essential safeguards against the impact of unforseen bug failures and the other particular pressures of the Millennium holiday period. I am pleased to say that all Departments and Agencies now have robust and tested BCPs and MORs in place.

I reported, in my last statement, that as part of the Central Government MOR, Government and the key infrastructure providers would be testing proposed information flows. Exercise Herald took place on 26 October and showed that the structures being put in place are robust. The exercise also identified some areas for further development. These lessons are being factored into the Central Government MOR.

The Wider National Infrastructure

Independent assessments of the readiness of the national infrastructure with respect to Y2K compliance and business continuity planning have been undertaken as part of the National Infrastructure assessment project run by Action 2000. Organisations within the programme are also required to have millennium operating regimes in place.

In my last statement to the House, I reported that all but a very few areas of the national infrastructure were rated as 100 per cent. blue--this means that independent assessors have not identified any risk of material disruption as a result of their full assessment, and that the public can expect a normal service. These sectors included utilities such as electricity and water, as well as police, fire, telecommunications and healthcare. I am pleased to report that those few organisations which were not then blue have now achieved blue status. This included various local authorities in Northern Ireland, gas shippers and suppliers, Scottish Islands transport, seven medium- impact financial institutions, Housing Associations in England, and Manchester Metrolink light railway. The UK infrastructure is therefore now 100 per cent. blue.

International

While the UK remains one of the world leaders in tackling the Millennium bug, the Government has also been proactive in offering financial and technical assistance to other countries, both bilaterally and through international organisations such as the World Bank Info Dev fund and the International Year 2000 Co-operation Centre (IY2KCC). The £10 million we gave to the Info Dev fund to assist Year 2000 work in-less developed