Hansard - United Kingdom Parliament

7W
Written Answers
20 JUNE 2011
Written Answers
8W
Damian Green: The content of the consultation document
was agreed collectively by interested Ministers prior to
publication. The UK Border Agency continues to discuss
the proposals with other Government Departments.
Police: Bureaucracy
David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for the
Home Department what recent discussions she has had
on proposals to provide greater powers to policy community
support officers; and if she will make a statement.
[60208]
Nick Herbert: The Government recognise and value
the role that police community support officers (PCSOs)
play in neighbourhood policing and have committed to
supporting neighbourhood policing teams and PCSOs
through the dedicated neighbourhood policing fund
until 2012-13. After this, it will be for the directly
elected police and crime commissioners, together with
their chief constables, to determine local staff resourcing
and allocation.
PCSOs have 20 standard powers and a range of
discretionary additional powers which may be granted
by the local chief constable should he or she believe that
they are required. There are no current plans to extend
these powers.
Scotland
Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for the
Home Department what proportion of contracts
issued by (a) her Department and (b) agencies for
which she is responsible were awarded to small and
medium-sized enterprises in (i) Scotland, (ii) South
Lanarkshire and (iii) Rutherglen and Hamilton West
constituency in the latest period for which figures are
available. [60196]
Damian Green: The Home Department awarded two
contracts to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
in Scotland in 2006 and 2008, neither of which were in
South Lanarkshire or Rutherglen and Hamilton West
constituency. Both of these contracts expired in 2009.
In recognition of the important contribution all small
to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make to the economy,
the Home Department has published its plans to meet
the Government’s commitment to allow SMEs to compete
more fairly for governmental contracts on its commercial
website:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/about-us/procurement/
The Department is continuing with further work to
evaluate its procurement activity to establish areas of
goods and services which can be delivered by SMEs.
This evaluation will inform our procurement approach
and ensure we maximise opportunities for such enterprises.
Sexual Offences: Registration
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the
Home Department what recent estimate she has made
of the number of non-registered sex offenders. [60891]
Lynne Featherstone: The data are not collected in the
format requested and could be collated only at
disproportionate cost.
Stalking: Crime Prevention
Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for the
Home Department if she will bring forward legislative
proposals to give police in England and Wales additional
powers to seize electronic evidence from individuals
being investigated for stalking or harassment. [59937]
Lynne Featherstone: We are working with the Police
and the Crown Prosecution Service to review the impact
of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. We are
also working with the police and others to examine the
need for additional police powers to enable them to
investigate these offences effectively.
WOMEN AND EQUALITIES
Departmental Regulation
Gordon Banks: To ask the Minister for Women and
Equalities (1) what the name is of each regulatory
measure revoked by the Government Equalities Office
between 1 March and 31 May 2011; and what estimate
she has made of the potential annual saving to those
affected by each revocation; [60502]
(2) what regulations the Government Equalities
office introduced between 1 March 2011 and 31 May
2011; and what the estimated costs of implementation
were for those affected in each case. [60324]
Lynne Featherstone: This Government are committed
to reducing regulatory burdens. Between 1 March 2011
and 31 May 2011 the Government Equalities Office
repealed the three separate public sector equality duties
on race, disability and gender and supporting regulations
imposing specific duties for each, with different timescales
and reporting requirements. On 5 April 2011 the
Government brought into force the new single Equality
Duty contained in the Equality Act 2010. This brought
together the previous equality duties and extended to
cover age, gender reassignment in full, religion or belief
and sexual orientation.
On 6 April the Government Equalities Office brought
into force the positive action provisions contained in
section 159 of the Equality Act 2010. These measures
are voluntary and do not impose any regulatory burden.
The following table provides information on the
legislation and codes of practice repealed and introduced
between 1 March and 31 May 2011.
We estimate replacing the three previous public sector
equality duties with the new Equality Duty and the
underlying specific duties (which will be laid before
Parliament shortly) will result in a net benefit to the
public sector of between £4 million and £18 million
(mid-point estimate £11 million) in year one, and a net
benefit of between £14 million and £25 million (mid-point
estimate £19 million) from year two onwards compared
to the cost of complying with the three separate duties.
Over a 10-year period the net benefit is expected to be in
the region of around £110 million to £205 million (net
present value terms) compared to the cost of the previous
duties.
There are no implementation costs relating to the
positive action measures as these are voluntary.