Asked by: Elfyn Llwyd (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time taken to forensically examine a computer is from the point of seizure by the police in England and Wales in the last five years.
Answered by Mike Penning
This is not data that is stored centrally by the Home Office. The time taken to forensically examine either a mobile telephone or computer will vary considerably dependant on the material being examined. The resourcing of
forensic examination is something that is determined locally by forces.
Asked by: Elfyn Llwyd (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has any plans to introduce a register for serial stalkers.
Answered by Norman Baker
Convicted stalkers are already captured on the Police National Computer. We need to make better use of existing databases and improve connectivity and information sharing rather than creating new databases or registers for each and every offence. We are working with the police and Crown Prosecution Service to raise awareness and improve professional knowledge. Since October 2012 the College of Policing training package on investigating stalking effectively has been completed over 56,000 times by police. Over 1,500 Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) staff have completed training in stalking.
In addition, the Home Secretary has established a National Oversight Group to ensure recommendations from HMIC’s Review into domestic abuse are acted upon. This includes work to improve data collection and data sharing on serial abusers.
Asked by: Elfyn Llwyd (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of police staff in each police area in England and Wales have received training in sections 2A and 4A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.
Answered by Mike Penning
The College of Policing sets standards and provides relevant training products and services to police forces. This includes a College of Policing training package on stalking which has been completed 56,748 times between October 2012 and 30 September 2014 by police officers and staff in England and Wales.
The Home Office does not hold information which breaks this figure down by police officers and staff for each police area in England and Wales.
Asked by: Elfyn Llwyd (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will introduce a new protective order to place a positive obligation on stalkers.
Answered by Norman Baker
The Coalition Government is committed to protecting victims of stalking, which is why we introduced two new stalking offences in 2012. While we have no current plans to legislate further on this issue, we will continue to keep the legal framework under review.