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MI5

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what records relating to the activities of MI5 after 1918 are planned to be released to the Public Record Office; what years these records will cover; when these records will be released; and if he will make a statement. [46798]

Mr. Straw: The Security Service has started work on a review of its files relating to the Second World War. I hope that it will be possible to release some, but not all, of these files by the end of this year. Consideration will then be given to reviewing the records surviving from the inter-war period. As I announced in the House on

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25 February 1998, Official Report, column 346. I hope to make a statement before the summer recess on files held by the Security Service.

Traffic Police

Ms Hewitt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which police forces have required traffic officers to undertake non-traffic duties. [46936]

Mr. Michael: Traffic officers in all police forces in England and Wales undertake non-traffic policing duties. Road traffic offences and general criminal offences do not arise in clearly separate ways which can be independently enforced. It is an important part of the British policing

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system that traffic officers deal with all crimes which occur on the roads and that police officers on general duties can take action against breaches of road traffic law.

Ms Hewitt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what percentage of police officers worked on traffic duties in each of the past 20 years, in each police force. [46926]

Mr. Michael: The allocation of resources to particular functions and the deployment of officers are operational matters for individual chief constables. Road traffic offences do not necessarily occur separately. A large part of traffic officers' time is spent dealing with ordinary crime, or carrying out ordinary police duties. Conversely, officers on general beat duties are able to take prompt action against breaches of road traffic law. Any figures must be interpreted with care against that background.

It is possible to provide figures only since 1990. These are set out in the tables which I have placed in the Library. Information for 1997-98 is not yet available.

Departmental Reviews

Mr. Allan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list, for each of the last four years, all departmental inquiries and reviews instigated by ministers which have been chaired by individuals outside his Department; and in each case if he will give the date of establishment and the name of the chairman. [46834]

Mr. Straw: The information requested is as follows:

Committee	Established	Chairman
Inquiry into the escape of IRA Prisoners from Whitemoor gaol	September 1994	Sir John Woodcock
Inquiry into Prison Security	December 1994	Sir John Learmont
Inquiry into Legislation against Terrorism	December 1995	Lord Lloyd of Berwick
Assessment and implications of centrifuge contamination in the Trace Explosive Section of the Forensic Explosives Laboratory at Fort Halstead	May 1996	Professor Brian Caddy
Scrutiny of evidence relating to the Hillsborough Disaster	June 1997	Lord Justice Stuart-Smith
Inquiry under the Police Act 1996 into matters arising from the death of Stephen Lawrence	August 1997	Sir William Macpherson of Cluny
Independent Commission on the Voting System	December 1997	Lord Jenkins of Hillhead
Review of Financial Regulation in the Crown Dependencies	January 1998	Mr. Andrew Edwards

Victims of Crime

Mr. Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he had made of the merits of allowing victims of crime to present a statement to the police on the impact of the crime on their lives; and if he will make a statement on pilot schemes which have involved victims' statements. [46750]

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Mr. Michael: Pilot schemes testing the use of 'victim statements' have been running in six police force areas since the end of 1996. Evaluation of the pilots is currently in hand, though a final report is not expected before the end of the summer. An assessment of the merits of the scheme will be made in the light of that report.

Electronic Tagging

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 15 June 1998, Official Report, column 71, in respect of the offender who circumvented the strap of the equipment provided by the Digital Products Corporation, which company was responsible for monitoring the electronic tag; what plans he has for the same or similar equipment to be used in future; and what assessment he has made of whether other straps are susceptible to similar attempts at circumvention. [46986]

Ms Quin: Securicor Custodial Services was responsible for monitoring the offender who circumvented the tag. The type of equipment in question made use of first generation technology and I understand that Securicor has no plans to use such equipment again. All electronic monitoring equipment in England and Wales is tested, prior to its authorisation for use, against the technical criteria specified by the Home Office, which includes an assessment of the susceptibility of the equipment to tampering.

Witness Support

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on arrangements for supporting witnesses in magistrates' courts. [47009]

Mr. Michael: We are committed to providing a more co-ordinated service to witnesses through the implementation locally of 'National Standards of Witness Care in the Criminal Justice System'.

Schemes supporting witnesses and other users of magistrates courts already exist in many parts of the country. Some are run by National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders, some by Victim Support, while others have been established as a result of local initiatives. The possibility of improving support for users of magistrates courts is currently under consideration against the backdrop of the Government's Comprehensive Spending Review. We hope it will be possible to announce the outcome of this consideration later in the year.

Firearms

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the total number of firearms that have been handed in under the Firearms Amendment Act 1997. [46976]

Mr. Michael: The prohibition of large-calibre handguns under the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997 came into effect on 1 July 1997 and owners of such handguns were required to dispose of them lawfully by 30 September 1997. By the end of that period, 116,644 large-calibre handguns had been surrendered to the police. In addition, although at that time they had yet to be prohibited, 26,371 small-calibre pistols were surrendered

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voluntarily by their owners to the police under the terms of the Government's ex gratia payment scheme. A further 19,183 small-calibre pistols were surrendered to the police between 1 and 28 February 1998 following the implementation of the Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act

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1997, which extended the original prohibition to small-calibre pistols. As a result, the total number of handguns surrendered to the police in England, Wales and Scotland was 162,198. The table shows the number of handguns surrendered by police force area.

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Handguns surrendered under the Firearms Acts 1997

	1997 Act			1997 (No. 2) Act
Constabulary/police	Large calibre	Small calibre (ex gratia)	Total	Small calibre	Combined total
	England and Wales
Avon and Somerset	3,227	566	3,793	702	4,495
Bedfordshire	992	232	1,224	150	1,374
City of London	73	30	103	30	133
Cambridgeshire	1,176	365	1,541	253	1,794
Cheshire	2,250	361	2,611	367	2,978
Cleveland	700	242	942	123	1,065
Cumbria	863	150	1,013	274	1,287
Derbyshire	1,791	476	2,267	287	2,554
Devon and Cornwall	3,625	573	4,198	892	5,090
Dorset	2,207	545	2,752	348	3,100
Durham	1,020	313	1,333	108	1,441
Dyfed Powys	1,320	234	1,554	239	1,793
Essex	4,840	1,268	6,108	658	6,766
Gloucestershire	1,102	280	1,382	318	1,700
Greater Manchester	3,834	1,093	4,927	595	5,522
Gwent	1,112	289	1,401	163	1,564
Hampshire	3,757	766	4,523	649	5,172
Hertfordshire	1,998	435	2,433	241	2,674
Humberside	1,169	352	1,521	216	1,737
Kent	3,745	822	4,567	603	5,170
Lancashire	2,280	671	2,951	340	3,291
Leicestershire	2,515	377	2,892	202	3,094
Lincolnshire	1,308	338	1,646	162	1,808
Merseyside	2,907	650	3,557	408	3,965
Metropolitan Area 1	699	177	876	89	965
Metropolitan Area 2	2,852	629	3,481	499	3,980
Metropolitan Area 3	3,264	749	4,013	473	4,486
Metropolitan Area 4	4,176	868	5,044	820	5,864
Metropolitan Area 5	3,324	573	3,897	631	4,528
Norfolk	2,224	554	2,778	350	3,128
Northamptonshire	1,048	333	1,381	226	1,607
Northumbria	1,823	459	2,282	279	2,561
North Wales	1,267	287	1,554	263	1,817
North Yorkshire	3,105	794	3,899	126	4,025
Nottinghamshire	3,571	555	4,126	628	4,754
South Wales	2,862	784	3,646	337	3,983
South Yorkshire	2,125	663	2,788	219	3,007
Staffordshire	2,942	641	3,583	364	3,947
Suffolk	1,598	527	2,125	216	2,341
Surrey	3,114	668	3,782	680	4,462
Sussex	3,286	502	3,788	530	4,318
Thames Valley	3,806	807	4,613	1,013	5,626
Warwickshire	832	215	1,047	176	1,223
West Mercia	2,588	608	3,196	491	3,687
West Midlands	5,011	825	5,836	640	6,476
West Yorkshire	3,702	654	4,356	588	4,944
Wiltshire	1,352	320	1,672	204	1,876
Sub total for England and Wales	110,382	24,620	135,002	18,170	153,172
Scotland
Central Scotland	289	103	392	17	409
Dumfries and Galloway	236	83	319	33	352
Fife	293	76	369	61	430
Grampian	657	149	806	85	891
Lothian and Borders	1,253	245	1,498	194	1,692
Northern	958	307	1,265	173	1,438
Strathclyde	1,922	633	2,555	378	2,933
Tayside	654	155	809	72	881
Sub total for Scotland	6,262	1,751	8,013	1,013	9,026
Overall total for England, Wales and Scotland	116,644	26,371	143,015	19,183	162,198

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