HC Deb 28 March 2000 vol 347 cc84-5W
Miss Widdecombe

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what proportion of the £100 million for modernising policing across the UK referred to in paragraph 5.75 of Budget 2000 (HC 346) will be spent on DNA technology; if this funding is in addition to the £34 million for the DNA database announced in Home Office Press Release 299/99; how the money will be spent; and if he will make a statement; [116256]

(2) what proportion of the £100 million for modernising policing across the UK referred to in paragraph 5.75 of Budget 2000 (HC 346) will be spent on accelerating recruitment under the Crime Fighting Fund; by how much recruitment will be accelerated; whether this funding is in addition to the funding for 5,000 additional recruits announced in Home Office Press Release 304/99; if this funding means that more than 5,000 recruits will be recruited over the next three years using money from the Crime Fighting Fund; and if he will make a statement; [116258]

(3) if he will list the capital modernisation projects that have been approved for criminal justice agencies, referred to in Paragraph 5.75 of Budget 2000 (HC 346); [116260]

(4) how the £100 million for modernising policing across the UK referred to in paragraph 5.75 of Budget 2000 (HC 346) is to be spent; and if he will make a statement; [116255]

(5) what proportion of the £100 million for modernising policing across the UK referred to in paragraph 5.75 of Budget 2000 (HC 346) will be spent on police radios; whether this funding is in addition to the £50 million of central funding announced for the Public Safety Radio Communications Project in Home Office Press Release 3033/99; and if he will make a statement.[116257]

Mr. Straw

[holding answers 24 March 2000]: I refer the right hon. Member to the replies I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Coventry, South (Mr. Cunningham) on 27 March 2000, Official Report, columns 1-3W.