House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 31 Jan 2008 (pt 0003)

31 Jan 2008 : Column 510W—continued

Northern Ireland

Departmental Advertising

Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what percentage of his Department’s expenditure was on advertising in each of the last 10 years. [182999]

Mr. Woodward: Expenditure for advertising in the Northern Ireland Office is held for the current financial year to date plus the previous five financial years.
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The following table provides details of the NIO’s advertising expenditure (excluding agencies and NDPBs) and shows this as a percentage of the Department’s total expenditure (excluding agencies and NDPBs) in each year since 2002-03.

	Advertising expenditure (£)	Percentage of advertising expenditure against departmental expenditure
2002-03	570,781	0.062
2003-04	353,114	0.040
2004-05	548,451	0.059
2005-06	159,146	0.015
2006-07	190,204	0.018
Total	1,821,696	0.037

Departmental Public Relations

Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many external contracts his Department held with public relations companies in each of the last 10 years; and what the total cost of those contracts was. [183193]

Mr. Woodward: The following table provides details of the Northern Ireland Office’s expenditure on external contracts with public relations companies (excluding agencies and NDPBs) in each of the last 10 years and the number of contracts held in that time. The information provided is not centrally located. To provide information prior to 2002-03 would be possible only at disproportionate cost.

	Number of public relations contracts	Value of contracts (£)
1998-99	n/a	n/a
1999-2000	n/a	n/a
2000-01	n/a	n/a
2001-02	n/a	n/a
2002-03	2	39,672
2003-04	4	160,397
2004-05	3	153,723
2005-06	2	91,858
2006-07	4	146,906
2007-08	3	121,504
Total	18	714,060
n/a = Not available

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Home Department

Crime

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps the Government has taken to reduce the number of crimes which involve bogus callers. [180078]

Mr. Coaker: Crimes involving bogus callers can have a devastating effect on an individual’s or even a whole community’s quality of life. This is particularly the case with older and more vulnerable victims. That is why we continue in our work to confront and tackle crime and have been involved in a number of campaigns and initiatives relating to distraction burglary.

The Government, working with third sector organisations, has produced a wide range of tools for practitioners (such as good practice guides) and information for potential victims, carers and those in regular contact with the vulnerable. This has focused on encouraging the reporting of bogus callers and promoting positive doorstep behaviour.

To enhance the police response to distraction burglary, we have worked with the Association of Chief Police Officers to establish a national distraction burglary database and intelligence network to facilitate the sharing of intelligence and support joint operations between forces and with other enforcement bodies including Trading Standards. We are currently working with the water industry to explore what can be done to tackle crimes involving bogus water officials.

Detection Rates

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of each category of crime was cleared up by police in England and Wales in each of the last five years. [180687]

Mr. McNulty: The information requested is given in the following table.

Percentage rates for both total detections and sanction detections have been provided for the 10 main offence groups.

The emphasis on sanction detections means that overall (total) detection figures are a less meaningful comparative measure of police performance. The numbers of non sanction detections more than halved in 2006-07. This is a continuation of the trend seen in recent years in the use of these methods of clear up following local policy decisions taken by many forces in order to reduce bureaucracy.

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Total detection rates and sanction detection rates by main offence group, England and Wales 2002-03 to 2006-07^{( 1,2)}
Percentage
	2002-03		2003-04		2004-05		2005-06		2006-07
Offence group	Total detection rate	Sanction detection rate	Total detection rate	Sanction detection rate	Total detection rate	Sanction detection rate	Total detection rate	Sanction detection rate	Total detection rate	Sanction detection rate
Violence against the person	54	36	50	33	53	36	54	42	51	46
Sexual offences⁽³⁾	39	32	36	30	34	28	35	31	32	30
Robbery	19	17	19	17	20	17	18	17	19	18
Burglary	12	11	13	12	13	12	14	13	14	14
Offences against vehicles	9	8	9	8	10	9	1.0	10	11	10
Other theft offences	21	19	20	18	20	18	22	20	23	22
Fraud and Forgery	26	23	26	23	26	24	29	27	28	27
Criminal damage	13	10	13	9	14	10	15	12	15	13
Drug offences	93	85	93	81	95	73	95	92	95	94
Other miscellaneous offences	76	70	73	68	70	65	71	68	70	68
Total recorded crime	23	19	23	19	26	20	27	24	27	26
⁽¹⁾ Total detection rates comprise sanction detections and non-sanction detections as a percentage of offences detected. ⁽²⁾ Sanction detections include offences which are cleared up through a formal sanction, i.e. by an offender being charged or summonsed; being cautioned, reprimanded or given final warning; having an offence taken into consideration; receiving a penalty notice for disorder; or receiving a warning for cannabis possession. Non-sanction detections comprise those where the offence is counted as cleared up but no further action is taken. The overall detection rate has been affected by forces limiting the usage of non-sanction-detections. ⁽³⁾ The classification and coverage of offences included in the sexual offences group changed from 1 May 2004 following the introduction of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. This added a number of new offences and the definitions of other offences were broadened and therefore will have effected the detection rates.

Immigration

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps the Government plan to take to make immigration law easier to understand. [180079]

Mr. Byrne: Following the review of the immigration system in July 2006, we made a commitment to strengthen and simplify immigration legislation—replacing existing laws in this area and establishing a clear, consistent and coherent legal framework which supports the control of our borders and the management of migration.

An initial consultation paper “Simplifying Immigration Law - An Initial Consultation” published on 6 June 2007, set out principles for simplification and invited views. An analysis of responses was published on 6 December 2007.

We will be consulting on more specific proposals for simplification shortly. We will then publish draft clauses for pre-legislative scrutiny.

Subject to the parliamentary timetable, this will allow us to introduce comprehensive new legislation in the next session.

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