here - United Kingdom Parliament

1235W
Written Answers
6 JUNE 2013
Written Answers
1236W
The UK is also actively supporting Project Haven,
Europol’s initiative against travelling sex offenders, launched
in November 2010, which aims to disrupt sexual offences
against children perpetrated by EU citizens abroad
(intra or extra EU).
The UK has one of the most robust systems of
managing sexual offenders in the world. We will continue
to work with international policing and law enforcement
agencies to ensure that the right powers are available for
the authorities to tackle serious sexual crimes and to
bring perpetrators to justice.
Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for the
Home Department if she will publish in full the data on
which table 3.2, Number of sexual offences recorded by
the police, 2005-06 to 2011-12 in An Overview of Sexual
Offending in England and Wales, published on 10 January
2013, was based. [158393]
Mr Jeremy Browne: The data were an extract from
Table A4 in the ONS Bulletin Crime in England and
Wales—Quarterly First Release, March 2012. It is not
possible to break down the offence codes any further.
The police recorded crime open data published at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/police-recordedcrime-open-data-tables
provide a breakdown of the number of crimes by detailed
offence codes (including sexual offences) recorded by
the police by police force area and by community safety
partnership by quarter.
Social Networking: Incitement
Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the
Home Department what recent discussions she has
held with (a) Twitter, (b) Facebook and (c) other
social media providers on measures to remove hate
speech from their platforms; and what steps (i) her
Department and (ii) social media providers have taken
as a consequence of those discussions. [157836]
Mr Jeremy Browne: Tackling hate crime is an issue
that the Government takes very seriously and we already
have in place one of the strongest legislative frameworks
in the world to protect communities from hostility,
violence and bigotry. These laws apply equally to online
material.
If a website publishes illegal content the relevant
internet service provider will remove it. If content which
is not illegal but which is offensive is published, it may
infringe the service provider’s ″acceptable use policy″
and can be removed.
The Government is working with leading social media
providers and other industry representatives to improve
the response to offensive and criminal online material.
Theft: Agricultural Machinery
Andy Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for the
Home Department what steps she is taking to reduce
cross-border crime consisting of the theft of agricultural
vehicles and equipment. [158051]
Mr Jeremy Browne: Tackling the theft of construction
and agricultural equipment is primarily a matter for
police forces, working with the Plant and Agricultural
National Intelligence Unit (PANIU). PANIU is a specialist
police unit whose primary aim is to reduce plant and
agricultural theft across the United Kingdom. It monitors
machinery theft from both the construction and farming
industries, researches trends and threats, and helps individual
police forces to identify stolen equipment and tackle the
criminals responsible.
The National Crime Agency will also ensure that
partners across the law enforcement community with a
role in countering cross-border theft of agricultural
vehicles and equipment benefit from its coordination,
tasking and intelligence arrangements, in particular
where this links to serious and organised crime, as well
as being able to access its specialist capabilities where
appropriate.
Violence against Women and Girls Ministerial Group
Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for the
Home Department with reference to the answer of
15 April 2013, Official Report, column 154W, on Violence
Against Women and Girls Ministerial Group, what the
ministerial level or civil service grade is of each attendee
from each Department at each of that Group’s last five
meetings. [158384]
Mr Jeremy Browne: I refer the hon. Member to the
answer I gave on 3 June 2013, Official Report, columns
920-21W.
TREASURY
Air Passenger Duty
Mr MacNeil: To ask the Chancellor of the
Exchequer on what dates he met representatives of (a)
Flybe and (b) EasyJet in each of the last 12 months at
which the issue of air passenger duty was discussed.
[158436]
Sajid Javid: Treasury Ministers and officials have
meetings and discussions with a wide variety of
organisations as part of the process of policy development
and delivery.
The Treasury publishes a list of ministerial meetings
with external organisations, available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-treasury/
series/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseastravel
Business: Finance
Mr Umunna: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer
what grants and investments have been made under the
Business Finance Partnership to date; and of these
what funds have been (a) allocated and (b) drawn
down to date. [158440]
Sajid Javid: Budget 2013 confirmed that the Business
Finance Partnership has invested £700 million and raised
another £1 billion from the private sector to create five
new funds that will lend to mid-sized companies. These
funds are now making their first loans to businesses and
further aggregate data on these investments will be
published in the coming months.