§ Mr. RosindellTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many malicious fires and incidents of abandoned vehicles there were in(a) London Borough of Havering and (b) Romford in (i) 1997, (ii) 2000 and (iii) 2001; and what steps he is taking to effectively tackle these problems. [47314]
§ Dr. WhiteheadData on malicious fires are only available at Fire Brigade level. In 1997 the London Fire Brigade reported 6,388 malicious fires, of which 2,971 (47 per cent.) occurred in road vehicles. Provisional figures for 2000, the most recent year for which data are available, show there were 9,419 malicious fires of which 6,098 (65 per cent.) occurred in road vehicles.
Information obtained form the London Borough of Havering shows that in 2000 the Borough reported 2,995 abandoned vehicles; the number for 2001 was 4,505. No information is available for 1997.
No information on abandoned vehicles is available for Romford.
The problem of abandoned cars is one part of a more general problem——the existence of a hard core of more than a million cars in the United Kingdom that are unlicensed and for which it is difficult to trace an owner. Not only are these vehicles at the heart of the problem of abandoned vehicles: they are untaxed, uninsured, have no MOT certificate, and in many cases it is not possible to trace their current owners when they are involved in accidents, parking and motoring offences and wider crime.
Regulations made by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to reduce the notice periods after which local authorities can remove abandoned cars to 24 hours in many cases came into effect on 9 April. Furthermore, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced a package of related measures on 10 April which will enable local authorities, the police and Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to tackle the problem of abandoned cars more effectively.