§ Jon TrickettTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many(a) anti-social behaviour orders and (b) curfew orders have been made in the Hemsworth constituency since the commencement of the scheme. [109902]
§ Mr. Bob AinsworthAnti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) were introduced from 1 April 1999. Information held centrally up to 31 May 2000 is for the number of ASBOs issued within England and Wales by police force area only.
From 1 June 2000 official statistics on the number of ASBOs issued within England and Wales are based on quarterly returns from Magistrates' Courts Committees (MCCs). From copies of the orders we have been able to identify local authority areas involved. The number of notifications received by the Home Office of ASBOs issued in the West Yorkshire MCC, from 1 April 1999 to 30 November 2002 (latest available) is 25. From 1 June 2000 to 30 November 2002 no notifications have been received of ASBOs issued within the Wakefield metropolitan district council area (in which the Hemsworth constituency is situated).
We are aware that the numbers of ASBOs made nationally have been consistently under reported in returns made by magistrates' courts and are considering how reporting can be improved.
The table shows the number of Curfew Orders with electronic monitoring made in the Hemsworth constituency from 1999 up to March 2003.
No applications have yet been received to establish a local child curfew scheme under section 14 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. Some local authorities and police forces have considered the possibility but concluded that other measures should be taken to tackle relevant local problems.
751W
Number of curfew orders imposed in the Hemsworth constituency 1999–20031 Adult Juvenile Total 1999 111 0 111 2000 133 0 133 2001 136 14 150 2002 180 11 191 20031 49 8 57 Total 609 33 642 1Up to March 2003
§ Jon TrickettTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers additional to the complement on 1st May 1997 were appointed to the Hemsworth constabulary in each year since 1997. [109905]
§ Mr. Bob AinsworthHemsworth is part of the Wakefield Division of West Yorkshire Police force. Deployment of resources between divisions and other units of West Yorkshire Police is an operational matter for the Chief Constable (Mr. Colin Cramphorn).
Information has not been collected centrally on a regular basis about the number of officers deployed to particular Divisions or to areas within those divisions. However, I refer my hon. Friend to the reply of 2 December 2002 by my right hon. Friend, the Member for Southampton Itchen (John Denham) to the hon. Member for North Southwark and Bermondsey (Mr. Simon Hughes), Official Report, column 589W, setting out police strength for each Basic Command Unit for each force in England and Wales as at 31 March 2002.
In total West Yorkshire Police had 5,209 police officers and 2,234 civilian support staff on 31 March 1997. The number of police officers fell to 4,815 at 31 March 2001, since then it has been rising, reaching 4,999 at 30 September 2002. At 31 March 1997 West Yorkshire Police had 2,234 civilian support staff. By 31 March 2002, the latest available figures, this had risen to 2,364.
Police officer strength nationally fell after March 1997, before rising to the record number of 131,548 at 30 September 2002. The fall in West Yorkshire was much more marked than that which occurred nationally, despite the force having done a little better than the national average in terms of resources. This will have been a reflection of local decisions by West Yorkshire's chief officers and its police authority about the mix between precept increases, balances of officer and civilian numbers and other expenditure.
§ Jon TrickettTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what assessment his Department has made of the number of illegal firearms in circulation in the Hemsworth constituency; and if he will make a statement; [109907]
(2) how many deaths by firearms have occurred in each of the last five years in (a) the Hemsworth constituency and (b) England; [109909]
(3) how many firearms have been handed in to police over the past five years in (a) the Hemsworth constituency and (b) England; [109920]
(4) how many crimes involving firearms have occurred in each of the last five years in (a) the Hemsworth constituency and (b) England. [109908]
§ Mr. Bob AinsworthDetails of the number of illegal firearms in circulation are not collected centrally.
Details of firearms offences are not collected by parliamentary constituency. Available published data on the total number of recorded crimes in which firearms (including air weapons) were reported to have been used in West Yorkshire and England are given in the table. 752W
Number of recorded crimes involving firearms West Yorkshire England 1997 974 11,816 1998–99 1,041 13,283 1999–2000 1,235 16,234 2000–01 1,544 17,083 Numbers of firearms offences were published on a calendar year basis up to 1997, and on a financial year basis thereafter.
There was a change of counting rules for recorded crime on 1 April 1998, which will have the effect of increasing the number of crimes counted. Numbers of recorded crimes before and after this date are therefore not directly comparable. As a result of some police forces' adopting the principles of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) in advance of its official introduction across England and Wales on 1 April 2002, numbers of offences recorded in 1999–2000 and 2000–01 for England may have been inflated. West Yorkshire adopted the Standard on 1 April 2002, therefore their figures will not have been affected.
Information on the number of firearms that have been handed in to police are not routinely collected centrally.
Available published data on the number of recorded homicide offences in which firearms were reported to have been used are given in the table.
Number of homicide offences involving firearms West Yorkshire England 1997 1 57 1998–99 4 49 1999–2000 1 62 2000–01 3 72
§ Jon TrickettTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many juveniles were arrested for(a) robbery and (b) other offences defined as street crime in (a) England, (b) London and (c) the Hemsworth constituency, in each of the last five years. [109979]
§ Mr. Bob AinsworthStatistics are collected on arrests for notifiable offences, by offence group and police force area (pfa), and are published on a financial year basis. The table shows data for the notifiable offence group of robbery, for the years 1999–2000 to 2001–02. Information for earlier years is not available on a consistent basis.
Data for 2002–03 will be published in the autumn.
Street crime is generally referred to as the offences of robbery and snatch theft. Snatch thefts are not separately identifiable from other offences covered under the theft and handling stolen goods offence group. 753W
The number of persons aged 10–17 arrested for robbery, by police force area (pfa) and for England, 1999–2000 to 2001–02 Area 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 England (estimated) 12,700 14,300 15,700 Pfa Metropolitan Police 14,700 15,684 25,956 West Yorkshire3 244 566 776 1Excludes City of London as arrests data not available. 2 Includes City of London 3 Pfa in which the constituency of Hemsworth is located.