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Departmental Policies (North-East Derbyshire)
Mr. Barnes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to the North- East Derbyshire constituency, the effect on North-East Derbyshire of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [150887]
Mr. Charles Clarke: The Home Office is working to build a safe, just and tolerant society in which the rights and responsibilities of individuals, families and communities are properly balanced, and the protection and security of the public are maintained. Detailed information on the impact of Home Office policies across the full range of responsibilities is set out in Home Office Annual Reports. A copy of the most recent report, Home Office Annual Report 1999-2000, is available in the Library. Information on recorded crime and policing is also published. 'Recorded Crime England and Wales, 12 months to September 2000' and 'Police Service Strength England and Wales, 30 September 2000' can be found in the Library. The recorded crime statistics include information on recorded crime by Basic Command Unit and Crime and Disorder partnerships.
The impact of Home Office policies and actions is not normally examined by constituency and the statistics which the Department collects, such as recorded crime, cannot be matched in the way requested although the following are examples relating to the North-East Derbyshire constituency or the immediate locality:
- Targeted Policing
- Two projects covering Derbyshire were awarded funding totalling £485,000 under the Targeted Policing Initiative: £317,000 to concentrate on mapping of drugs markets in the region and £168,000 to focus on distraction burglary.
- Closed Circuit Television (CCTV)
- Under the CCTV Initiative Steering Group a project in Clay Cross and Danesmoor received funding totalling £194,850. The project begun on 1 August 2000, and has extended the existing town centre system, with a view to reducing further, crime and fear of crime, in particular vehicle crime and burglary. Coverage has been increased to include main routes to residential areas, car parking, community facilities and business community areas.
- Reducing Burglary Initiative
- Two schemes have received funding in Derby City totalling £120,000. The areas of Peartree and City West have each received £60,000 to fund development of an anti-burglary task group, which will initiate local projects using a multi-agency approach.
- Youth Offending Teams (YOTs)
- The Derbyshire YOT is providing appropriate adult services for young people when interviewed by police and has dealt with 242 requests for their services between April and December 2000. The Derbyshire YOT is utilising the ASSET assessment system in order to ensure intervention work is effectively targeted at the personal, family, social, educational and health problems that contribute to the causes of a young person's offending behaviour. The health staff attached to the YOT are carrying out basic assessments of young offenders for substance misuse and, where appropriate, referring them on to specialist substance misuse services for young people.
- The police officers seconded to the Derbyshire and Derby City YOT have delivered 50 training sessions on the final warning scheme to over 1,200 police officers in order to ensure consistency of police assessment and referral to the YOTs. More
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- than 12 community reparation schemes have been established throughout Derbyshire in order to allow the YOTs to deliver victim-offender mediation services. There is a wide range of activities available to meet the needs of the young person and provide opportunities for further development through accredited training and skills.
- Derbyshire is benefiting from the Youth Justice Board's development fund which has awarded grants of approximately £613,000 over three years for two bail support schemes and two intervention programmes in the county.
- The Derbyshire YOT also received funding from the Youth Justice Board and the Home Office Crime Reduction Programme to run a Splash scheme during the Summer holidays in 2000. The scheme provided various activity schemes for young people most at risk of offending in four wards of Bolsover. This resulted in a marked reduction in nuisance calls and offending in the local area.
- The Derbyshire YOT is also benefiting from funding from the National Lottery to operate a community sports initiative in Clay Cross. The initiative is currently being implemented.
More generally, all of the policies of the Home Office will impact on the residents of North-East Derbyshire to a greater or lesser extent. For example:
- 376 Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships have been established;
racial harassment and racially motivated crimes have been made criminal offences by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998;
the asylum backlog has been cut from 103,495 at the end of January 2000 to 66,195 by the end of December 2000;
good progress is being made in reducing the incidence of fire deaths in England and Wales. They have dropped from 605 in 1997 to 534 in 1999.
Prisoners
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) male and (b) female foreign nationals were being held in prisons in England and Wales on 1 February. [150445]
Mr. Boateng: Provisional information shows that on 31 January 2001 there were 6,298 male and 627 female foreign nationals in prisons in England and Wales. This information is also available in successive volumes in 'Prison Statistics England and Wales' (Table 6.2 in the 1999 edition, CM 4805), copies of which are available in the Library.
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the age of the oldest (a) male and (b) female inmate being held in prison in England and Wales; for what offence they are being detained; and on what date and for how long they were sentenced. [150449]
Mr. Boateng: Provisional information shows that on 31 January 2001 the oldest male prisoner was 89 years old, sentenced on 25 May 2000 to 730 days for committing a sexual offence. The oldest female was 74 years old, sentenced on 31 January 1984 to life for committing murder.
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) male and (b) female prisoners
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have died in prisons in England and Wales from the effects of taking illegal drugs while in prison during the last 12 months. [150444]
Mr. Boateng: One prisoner--an adult male--has died since 1 January 2000 following the apparent use of illegal drugs while in prison custody; the coroner's inquest is awaited.
UK Passports
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many United Kingdom passports were issued in 2000. [150443]
Mrs. Roche: The number of United Kingdom passports issued by the Passport Agency in 2000 was 5,089,598.
Victim Support
Mr. Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the organisations to which he gave grants for the support of (a) murder victims and (b) victims of crime other than murder, and the amount per organisation, for each of the last three years for which figures are available. [150562]
Mr. Charles Clarke: In the past three years the Home Office has given grant to Support After Murder and Manslaughter (SAMM), which offers help to relatives and friends of homicide victims, and to Victim Support which, as part of its wider support services to victims of crime and witnesses, supports those bereaved by homicide. Grant details are given in the table.
| 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Support After Murder and Manslaughter (£ million) | 43,000 | 100,000 | 100.000 |
| Victim Support (£) | 12.682 | 17.500 | 18.600 |
Mr. Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the organisations to which he gave grants for the support of those killed in or as a result of road crashes, and the amount per organisation, for each of the last three years for which figures are available. [150563]
Mr. Charles Clarke: The Home Office has provided £23,000 per annum since 1999 to the road safety organisation BRAKE for the supply of the booklets "Coping with grief" and "Procedures following a death on the road in England and Wales" free of charge to all the police forces in England and Wales, for the families of those killed in road crashes.
From April 2001 the Home Office will pay BRAKE an additional £15,000 per annum for administration costs and training undertaken in connection with the use of the booklets.
Correspondence
Sir Teddy Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Rochford and Southend, East about Mr. Abdul Rastomi, reference R1019683/2, of 27 November 2000. [150450]
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Mrs. Roche: My noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, Lord Bassam, wrote to the hon. Member on my behalf on 15 January 2001.
Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he plans to reply to correspondence concerning Mrs. Brenda Williams dated 23 September 1999, reference IMPW25862 5(9) and PO18327/S8 and 16641/99. [147423]
Mrs. Roche: I wrote to the hon. Member on 15 February. I am sorry for the delay in replying. Unfortunately, the original letter did not reach my office.
Mr. Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the hon. Member for Manchester, Central's letter of 2 August 2000 regarding Mr. H. (Ref: S1020866). [149769]
Mrs. Roche [holding answer 15 February 2001]: I wrote to my hon. Friend on 22 February 2001. I am sorry that it was not possible to send an earlier reply.
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