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Mr. Darling : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his best estimate as to how many applications for (a) adult registration with entitlement, (b) naturalisation and (c) registration of minors his Department (i) will receive and (ii) expects to grant in 1989- 90.
Mr. Renton : Information is not available in the form requested. We estimate that in the financial year 1989-90 we will receive the following applications :
|Numbers
---------------------------------------
Registration of adults |3,000
Registration of minors |12,000
Naturalisation |32,000
In the same period we expect to grant about 103,000 registrations of all kinds and about 28,000 naturalisations.
Mr. Darling : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the average length of time taken to process applications for (a) registration and (b) naturalisation ; and how long those applying in both of those categories in December 1988 can expect to wait.
Mr. Renton : The average time taken to complete applications for citizenship granted in June 1989 was 18 months for registrations and 23 months for naturalisations.
It is not possible to estimate how long, on average, it will be before decisions will be reached on applications received during December 1988. But I expect decisions to be reached on the last of the transitional registrations no later than January 1990, and from then onwards the use of the resources of the Liverpool nationality office to process naturalisations should result in a steady improvement in the time taken to complete those cases.
Mr. Darling : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) men, (b) women and (c) children, were waiting in each queue at each post in the Indian sub-continent on 31 March 1989.
Mr. Renton : Information on the estimated total numbers in each queue is given in the following table ; separate information on men, women and children is not available centrally.
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Estimated numbers of applicants in the Indian sub-continent on 31 March 1989
awaiting their first interview for entry to the United Kingdom
Number of persons
Post Category<1>
|Queue 1|Queue 2|Queue 3|Queue 4|Queue 5
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dhaka |150 |1,100 |170 |1,800 |-
New Delhi<2> |- |250 |270 |80 |260
Bombay |40 |490 |460 |80 |30
Calcutta |- |- |- |- |-
Madras |<3>- |20 |10 |- |10
Islamabad |1,100 |1,700 |1,900 |860 |n/a
Karachi |10 |120 |40 |<3>- |40
|--- |--- |--- |--- |---
Total Indian sub-continent |1,300 |3,600 |2,800 |2,800 |n/a
<1> Queue 1: Persons with a claim to the right of abode, dependent relatives
over 70 years old, and special compassionate cases (first-time applicants
for settlement.
Queue 2: Spouses, and children under 18 years old (first-time applicants for
settlement).
Queue 3: Fiance(e)s, and other applicants (first-time applicants for
settlement).
Queue 4: Re-applicants for settlement.
Queue 5: Other applicants (not for settlement).
<2> Date exclude Afghans seeking political asylum in the United Kingdom.
<3>=five or fewer.
n/a=Not available.
Mr. Darling : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for entry clearance as working holiday makers have been (a) received, (b) granted and (c) refused in (i) India, (ii) Bangladesh, (iii) Australia and (iv) Canada during 1988 and 1989.
Mr. Renton : The information requested is not available centrally.
Mr. Darling : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were waiting for special quota vouchers in (i) India and (ii) East Africa in
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(a) May 1988 and (b) December 1988 ; when those issued with vouchers on those dates had applied ; how many vouchers were issued in (i) India and (ii) East Africa in (a) 1988 and (b) the first quarter of 1989 ; when those applying can now expect to receive vouchers ; and how many applicants there were for vouchers in (i) India and (ii) East Africa in (a) 1988 and (b) the first half of 1989.Mr. Renton : I shall write to the hon. Member and deposit a copy of the reply in the Library.
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Crime (Screening)
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis as to what proportion of crimes (a) in London and (b) in Leyton are screened out after the initial investigation.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I understand from the commissioner that a recent survey of eight representative police stations indicated that following initial investigation, an average of 30 per cent. of all crimes are allocated for further investigation, but there are variations between areas and according to the seriousness of offences.
More detailed figures for London as a whole and individual areas are not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Wakefield Prison
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list each occasion since April 1988 on which staffing levels at Her Majesty's prison Wakefield have been at or below the minimum staffing levels agreed at the commencement of fresh start.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The information requested is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The governor always aims to operate at least at minimum staffing levels.
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if prisoners at Her Majesty's prison Wakefield are being searched with the frequency required by his Department's security manual for Her Majesty's prison service.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Searches are in most cases carried out at the discretion of local management and take account of internal instructions and guidelines.
Drugs
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers are principally deployed on drugs work in each police force and regional crime squad, and what was the comparable number in 1979.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The information for police forces, as at 31 December 1988, and for regional crime squads, as at 31 January 1989 is set out in the table. Information on deployment in 1979 is not held centrally.
Police officers deployed in police
force drugs squads and regional
crime squads drugs wings
Police force drugs squads as at 31
December 1988
|Numbers
-----------------------------------
Avon and Somerset |27
Bedfordshire |11
Cambridgeshire |11
Cheshire |17
Cleveland |11
Cumbria |9
Derbyshire |13
Devon and Cornwall |24
Dorset |20
Durham |8
Dyfed-Powys |14
Essex |13
Gloucestershire |13
Greater Manchester |34
Gwent |7
Hampshire |26
Hertfordshire |11
Humberside |22
Kent |27
Lancashire |38
Leicestershire |17
Lincolnshire |9
Merseyside |40
Norfolk |15
Northamptonshire |11
Northumbria |16
North Wales |10
North Yorkshire |10
Nottinghamshire |13
South Wales |24
South Yorkshire |26
Staffodshire |11
Suffolk |16
Surrey |11
Sussex |22
Thames Valley |24
Warwickshire |27
West Mercia |34
West Midlands |52
West Yorkshire |42
Wiltshire |7
City of London<1> |0
Metropolitan |220
<1> City of London do not have a
drugs squad. Drugs investigations
are undertaken by CID officers.
Regional crime squads drugs
ings as at 31 January 1989
|Numbers
----------------------------
No. 1 squad |42
No. 2 squad |27
No. 3 squad |27
No. 4 squad |40
No. 5 squad |27
No. 6 squad |27
No. 7 squad |27
No. 8 squad |14
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his Department's estimate of the current number of drug users and the equivalent figure for each preceding year for which such estimates have been made.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, in its report "Aids and Drug Misuse Part 1" (page 13) pointed to the difficulties--inherent in the clandestine nature of drug misuse--in obtaining a reliable estimate of the number of drug misusers. Its best guess was that in 1986 there might have been between 75,000 and 150,000 misusers of notifiable drugs (essentially the most powerful narcotics and cocaine), plus perhaps as many again (excluding cannabis users) who were using non-notifiable drugs (such as amphetamine). Those figures remain the current broad estimate of the prevalence of drug misuse in England, Scotland and Wales.
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the total number of prosecutions for drug offences in 1979 and each succeeding year.
Mr. John Patten : Information held centrally for 1979 to 1987 is given in the table. Data for 1988 are not yet available.
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Number of prosecutions
for Drug Offences 1979
to 1987 England and
Wales
|Numbers
------------------------
1979 |12,627
1980 |16,030
1981 |16,235
1982 |18,187
1983 |20,305
1984 |20,399
1985 |21,448
1986 |18,276
1987 |18,757
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the total number of registered drug addicts in 1979 and each succeeding year.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Information on the total number of addicts notified to the Home Office in the years 1979 to 1988 is published in table 1 of Home Office statistical bulletin issue 13/89, "Statistics of Drug Addicts Notified to the Home Office, United Kingdom, 1988", a copy of which is in the Library.
War Crimes
Mr. Stanbrook : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give details of the court experience of the members of the war crimes inquiry.
Mr. John Patten : The authors of the report have each had extensive legal experience. They were asked to undertake this inquiry in view in particular of Sir Thomas Hetherington's service as Director of Public Prosecutions from 1977 to 1987, and Mr. Chalmers' service as Crown Agent for Scotland from 1974 to 1984.
Mr. Stanbrook : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if, pursuant to his statement about the report of the war crimes inquiry on 24 July, Official Report, columns 731-32, he will make a statement regarding the facilities available to the three persons named in the second unpublished report as recommended for prosecution to visit Soviet Russia with a view to preparing their defence.
Mr. John Patten : Any person charged with war crimes in this country --if Parliament does decide on a change in the law that would enable such prosecutions to be brought--would be able to apply for legal aid in the normal way.
Mr. Stanbrook : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what amendments to the existing criminal law and the existing law of evidence would be required if the recommendations of the report of the war crimes inquiry were adopted.
Mr. John Patten : The inquiry recommended legislation to give British courts jurisdiction over acts of murder and manslaughter committed as war crimes in Germany or German occupied territory during the second world war, by persons who are now British citizens or resident in the United Kingdom.
In addition, it recommended certain procedural changes, of which the main elements would be provisions :
to allow for the admissibility of evidence on video ;
to enable war crimes proceedings in England and Wales to be transferred to the Crown court without prior committal proceedings (as is already possible in serious fraud cases) ;
to implement, and extend to other parts of the United Kingdom, the provisions in the Criminal Justice Act 1988 for evidence to be given by live television links from witnesses abroad ; and
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to enable evidence to be taken on commission for use in proceedings in Scotland ;to enable recorded statements of persons now dead to be admissible in evidence in Scotland (the Criminal Justice Act 1988 makes provision in regard to such statements in England and Wales).
Mr. Stanbrook : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he proposes to take to ensure that the three persons named in the unpublished part of the report of the war crimes inquiry are not identified by the media.
Mr. John Patten : The Government have not published material about individual cases ; nor will we engage in speculation about individuals.
Holloway Prison (Health Care Manager)
Mr. Corbyn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what period of time the post of health care manager at Her Majesty's prison, Holloway, has been vacant ; what is the complement of staff for the medical units ; how many times agency nurses have been used in the past year ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The post of health care manager was filled on 1 May 1989. The approved complement of staff in the medical units is as follows :
1 Principal Medical Officer
1 Senior Medical Officer
3 Medical Officers
84 Nurses
Agency staff have been used for some years as a consequence of recruitment difficulties in London. In the 12 months ended 30 June 1989 the number of agency nurses employed during the day varied between 10 and 18. A drive to recruit additional nurses is well advanced, and Holloway is one of the priority establishments for the deployment of newly recruited hospital officers with suitable nursing qualifications.
Sportsman Club (Parking)
Mr. Corbyn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis as to what action is being taken by the Metropolitan police to prevent illegal parking outside the Sportsman club, Tottenham Court road, WC1.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I am satisfied that the Metropolitan police are aware of, and take proper action to prevent, the problems caused by illegal parking in this area.
Guildford Four
Mr. Corbyn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to move the Guildford Four to prisons nearer to London; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : There are no plans at present.
Disasters
Mr. Corbyn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many disasters and where they occurred, in each of the last five years, have required reference to the Home Office unit dealing with those disasters.
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Mr. John Patten : The Home Office acted as lead Department during the storms of October 1987 and during the re-entry of the nuclear-powered satellite Cosmos 1900 in the autumn of 1988.
Mr. Corbyn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what resources are allocated to civil disaster planning in the United Kingdom.
Mr. John Patten : The information requested is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Terrorism
Mr. McNamara : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons in England and Wales were charged with terrorist-type offences relating to Northern Ireland in 1989; how many of those charged were released on bail; and what was the average period between remand and trial for prisoners refused bail relating to such charges in Britain in the current year.
Mr. Hurd : The available information relates to those charged having been detained under the prevention of terrorism legislation in connection with Northern Irish terrorism and is published quarterly for Great Britain in Home Office statistical bulletins which are placed in the Library. The latest, issue 26/89, gives in table 1 information up to the second quarter of 1989. Of the seven persons so charged in England and Wales in the first half of 1989, six were dealt with at court on the same or next day. One person charged on 13 February was remanded in custody and is currently awaiting trial.
Mr. McNamara : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the average number of days spent on remand by those remanded in custody for terrorist-type offences in the first half of 1989, with regard to cases now completed in England and Wales and the number of bail applications refused, respectively.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The only information which is readily available relates to prisoners who are now in prison custody in category A and does not cover prisoners who have been released or downgraded. During this period one such prisoner was received into custody (on 14 February). He remains in custody awaiting trial. Our records show that he has made no application for bail.
Strip Searches
Mr. McNamara : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will give details of the number of body searches, cell searches and cell changes and strip searches carried out on each of the female category A prisoners being held at Her Majesty's prison, Winchester, in September and October 1988, indicating the number of times each person was searched, if any prison contraband, smuggled item or illegal correspondence was discovered in any search, indicating which items ; in how many cases prisoners refused to be searched and had to be restrained while the search was being conducted ; and what were the reasons for the search ;
(2) if he will give details of the number of body searches, cell searches and cell changes and strip searches carried out on each of the female category A prisoners
Column 1070
being held at Her Majesty's prison, Durham, monthly, since February 1969, indicating the number of times each person was searched, if any prison contraband, smuggled item or illegal correspondence was discovered in any search, indicating which items ; in how many cases prisoners refused to be searched and had to be restrained while the search was being conducted ; and what were the reasons for the search.Mr. Peter Lloyd : Records are not kept of the occasions when rub down searching or "frisking" is carried out in prisons and it is not the practice to disclose detailed information about security arrangements such as that requested about the frequency of cell searches and cell changes.
Establishments are not required to record all strip searches. However, since August 1986 comprehensive records of strip searches are available in respect of category A women prisoners only, of whom there was one at Winchester prison between 27 September and 31 October. During that time the prisoner was strip searched on 30 occasions. On no occasion did the prisoner refuse to be strip searched. No unauthorised article was found.
There were four category A prisoners held at Durham between August 1986 and March 1987 ; three from April 1987 to September 1988 and four from October 1988 to date. They were strip searched on the following number of occasions :
Prisoner
|A|B|C|D|E
----------------------
1986
August |4|1|3|-|3
September |3|6|3|-|1
October |2|5|3|-|4
November |7|2|5|-|5
December |4|4|2|-|1
1987
January |6|2|5|-|2
February |2|7|3|-|2
March |5|2|4|-|3
April |3|2|4|-|-
May |7|5|3|-|-
June |2|5|3|-|-
July |2|3|1|-|-
August |3|3|2|-|-
September |3|4|4|-|-
October |2|4|3|-|-
November |3|3|2|-|-
December |5|7|5|-|-
1988
January |3|3|3|-|-
February |1|1|2|-|-
March |3|4|3|-|-
April |5|5|2|-|-
May |3|1|3|-|-
June |4|2|4|-|-
July |-|1|-|-|-
August |5|2|5|-|-
September |2|7|4|-|-
October |3|6|2|1|-
November |4|5|4|4|-
December |4|6|3|4|-
1989
January |1|-|1|1|-
February |5|2|1|2|-
March |3|2|2|3|-
April |1|5|4|4|-
May |3|7|1|1|-
June |1|1|2|5|-
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No unauthorised article was found. On no occasion did the prisoners refuse to be strip searched.Strip searching is a routine security measure to which all inmates--male and female--are subject, both for its deterrent effort and as a means of discovering unauthorised articles.
Deaths and Injuries (Northern Ireland)
Mr. McNamara : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the number of deaths and injuries which have occurred in Great Britain and mainland western Europe in 1988 and the first six months of 1989 connected with present civil unrest in Northern Ireland.
Mr. Hurd : The information is given in the table.
Deaths and Injuries in Great Britain and Western Europe
Attributable to Northern Irish Terrorism, 1 January 1988-30 June
1989
Date of Incident |Place of Incident |Deaths |Injuries
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6 March 1988 |Gibraltar |3 |-
1 May 1988 |Roermond, Holland |1 |2
1 May 1988 |Nieuwbergen, Holland |2 |1
|Glamorgan Barracks,
13 July 1988 |Duisburg, West Germany |- |9
|Inglis Barracks, Mill Hill,
1 August 1988 |London |1 |9
12 August 1988 |Ostend, Belgium |1 |-
20 December 1988 |Battersea, London |- |1
|Clive Barracks, Tern Hill
20 February 1989 |Shropshire |- |1
19 June 1989 |Quebec Barracks, Osnabruck West Germany|- |1
Female Prisoners
Mr. McNamara : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the average length of custodial sentence of female prisoners in England and Wales in 1988 and in the first six months of 1989.
Mr. John Patten : Information for 1988 and 1989 is not yet available. Information prior to 1988 can be found in tables 7.19 and 7.20 of the Command Paper "Criminal Statistics England and Wales 1987", a copy of which can be found in the Library.
Phoenix House Trust
Mr. Michael J. Martin : To ask the Secretary of State for Home Department what public funds have been given to the Phoenix House trust in each of the years from 1985 to 1989 by his Department.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The Home Office provides funding to the Phoenix House trust under the voluntary after-care accommodation grant scheme. Under this scheme grants are made to voluntary organisations in England and Wales providing accommodation for offenders. The grants are a contribution towards meeting revenue deficits. The information requested is set out in the table :
Column 1071
Hostel |1984-85 |1985-86 |1986-87 |1987-88 |1988-89 |1989-90
|£ |£ |£ |£ |£ |£
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Featherstone Lodge, London |28,500 |29,498 |31,000 |32,550 |33,852 |<1>-
Battle Cottage, London |13,512 |13,370 |11,000 |10,210 |14,469 |<1>-
Waldram Park Road, London |Not open|4,072 |8,055 |9,000 |9,360 |<1>-
Priory Road, South Yorkshire |7,042 |13,548 |14,000 |14,700 |20,919 |<1>-
Phoenix House (North), Northumbria |Not open|Not open|Not open|Not open|7,200 |<1>-
|------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |-------
|49,054 |60,488 |64,055 |66,460 |85,800 |94,553
<1> With effect from 1 April 1989 grants are made to the organisations running hostels and not to
the individual hostels.
Phoenix House trust has also received small amounts for capital purposes during the period.
Drivers (Northern Ireland)
Mr. Beggs : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for reports from the chief constables in England and Wales as to the practice of their forces in detaining overnight drivers from Northern Ireland in connection with minor road traffic offences ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : No. The responsibility for the enforcement of road traffic law rests with chief officers of police, but if the hon. Member has a particular case in mind I should be glad to look into it.
Free Television Licences
Mr. Roy Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is now considering introducing free television licences for pensioners.
Column 1072
Animal (Experiments)
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many experiments were recorded by his Department of contractors working on behalf of the Ministry of Defence in each year since 1985 ; and which animals were involved.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : No information in this form is available in the Home Office.
Crimes (Screening)
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will call for a report from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis as to how many reported crimes were screened out by the Metropolitan police in the most recently completed 12-month period ;
(2) if he will call for a report from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis as to what percentage of reported crimes were screened out by the Metropolitan police in each of the past five years.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : A formal system of crime screening was introduced throughout the Metropolitan police only
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in April 1988. A recent survey of eight representative police stations indicated that following initial investigation, an average of 30 per cent. of all crimes are allocated for further investigation. This figure varies between areas and according to the seriousness of offences.Crowd Control Equipment
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what new crowd control equipment is currently the subject of investigation by his Department.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : As my hon. Friend the Member for Grantham (Mr. Hogg) said in reply to a question from the right hon. and learned Member for Warley, West (Mr. Archer) on 13 April at columns 707-8 we are considering possible replacements for the authorised plastic baton round equipment. No other equipment for dealing with public disorder is being evaluated.
Badgers
Mr. Cryer : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will introduce legislation to amend the Badgers Act 1973 by protecting badger setts from unlicensed damage or destruction and providing courts with power to disqualify convicted badger diggers from the custody of dogs.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I shall write to the hon. Member and place a copy of the answer in the Library.
Prisoners (Northern Ireland)
Mr. McNamara : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many prisoners in British gaols, who give as their domicile Northern Ireland, have been returned to Northern Ireland to serve the whole or part of their sentences in the first six months of 1989 ; and how many of these prisoners were serving sentences for terrorist-type offences ;
(2) how many prisoners were transferred from (a) England and Wales to Northern Ireland and (b) from Northern Ireland to England and Wales in the first six months of 1989 ; and under which section of the Criminal Justice Act 1961 such transfers were carried out.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Six inmates were transferred from England and Wales to Northern Ireland under section 26 of the Criminal Justice Act 1961, one of whom was convicted of terrorist-type offences, and one under section 27. All were either domiciled in Northern Ireland or had close family links with the Province. One inmate was transferred from Northern Ireland to England and Wales under section 28 of the Act.
Mr. McNamara : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners giving as their domicile either (a) the Republic of Ireland and (b) Northern Ireland have been permitted to return home to the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland on parole for humanitarian reasons in the first six months of the current year.
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