David Ruffley

David Ruffley MP has today given a cautious welcome to new figures which suggest the safety record on the A14 in Suffolk is improving.

New figures, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, reveal that in 2008, the latest year for which figures are available, there were no deaths on the A14 in Suffolk- something that has not occurred in the last 10 years.

David said:

David Ruffley MP has welcomed the announcement by National Air Traffic Services (NATS) that their second consultation on air traffic routes over Suffolk has been put back until at least September 2010- but he cautions against believing that this is a permanent reprieve for his constituents affected by the proposals to stack aircraft over some of the most tranquil villages in his constituency.

The number of registered sexual offenders in Swansea has increased by 25 in the past year, official figures show.

There are now 175 offenders - who have to notify police of their name, address and changes to their personal details - in the city.

The latest figure was published yesterday by Mappa, the multi-agency teams that manage serious offenders in the community.

The overall number of registered sex offenders in the South Wales Police force area has fallen since last year, from 801 to 786.

The number of sex offenders under supervision in West Yorkshire has increased to 1,467.

Police and probation teams are monitoring an extra 41 sex offenders in the region this year, compared to last year.

As of March 31 there were 189 registered sex offenders in Leeds North West, 172 in Leeds North East, 164 in City and Holbeck, 287 in Kirklees and 217 in Wakefield.

Freed violent criminals and sex offenders who "pose a risk of serious harm" are monitored under Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA).

More than 400 sex convicts on the streets in North Wales are being monitored by a specialist agency, a government report has revealed.

Police and probation workers were keeping tabs on 418 offenders in the region - 137 by the central division, 101 in the west division, and the remaining 180 in the east. The regional figure shows an increase of four on last year.

The figures were contained in the annual report of the Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements, known as MAPPA, which is made up of police, prison and probation services.

David Ruffley MP said:-

'I very much welcome the detailed independent scrutiny that Sir Thomas Legg has undertaken over the summer of every MP's ACA expenses from 2004-5 to 2008-9. He wrote to every MP on 12 October 2009. Whilst he requested many other MPs to answer further queries or make repayments, in his letter to me Sir Thomas stated:

The number of sex offenders has increased by almost 50 per cent in five years raising concerns that they cannot all be adequately monitored.

In some parts of the country the number of sex offenders the police have to keep track of has almost doubled, according to figures obtained by the Tories.

The Government will today publish its own figures on how many serious sex offenders or violent offenders are closely monitored under Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (Mappa).

The number of paedophiles, rapists and sex attackers rated a danger to the public has increased by half in only five years, it emerged last night.

The big rise in the number of convicts placed on the Sex Offenders Register - which now stands at 31,392 - came amid allegations that ministers are concealing the extent of their reoffending.

Some rapes and killings by supervised criminals are being excluded from official figures.

Hardened career criminals are dramatically on the rise, it was revealed today.

The number of prolific repeat offenders has increased by almost 50 per cent over the last four years.

And in some parts of the country it has more than doubled.

The figures include the hard core of thugs and yobs who commit thousands of crimes a year — bringing misery to communities up and down the country.

VIOLENT crime is costing households more than £1,100 a year, a study has shown.

The total burden - £25.6billion last year - has more than doubled under Labour, the report by the Tories said.

The sum was calculated by adding up the cost of violent offences to the police, the courts, the NHS and victims' services. It also included the expense of security and insurance administration and the effects of victims' taking time off work to recover.

The report calculated that each violent incident costs £11,848.