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Written Answers to Questions
Monday 10 December 1990
ATTORNEY-GENERAL
Immigration Appeals
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Attorney-General what action he intends to take in order to improve facilities for immigration appeals in Leeds ; and if he will make a statement.
The Attorney-General : The Lord Chancellor's Department is actively considering increasing the number of hearing rooms available at Coronet house, Leeds for hearing immigration appeals, and a survey will shortly be undertaken with a view to improving the ventilation facilities there. The Lord Chancellor's Department is also keeping under review facilities and staffing levels at all hearing centres in light of the increasing number of appeals.
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Attorney-General if he will define the period of delay which is regarded as acceptable before immigration appeal hearings are heard ; and if he will make a statement.
The Attorney-General : It is impractical to identify any particular period as more or less acceptable because of the widely differing nature of individual appeals, appellants and their representatives. For example, in appeals from persons abroad, their representatives in the United Kingdom may need considerable time to obtain instructions from the appellants.
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The Lord Chancellor's Department, however, seeks to keep waiting times for hearings to the minimum that the procedural rules, volume of business and available resources permit.Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Attorney-General if he will list the number of hearing rooms, adjudicators and support staff available in order to process immigration appeals ; and if he will make a statement.
The Attorney-General : The number of hearing rooms, adjudicators and support staff are being kept under constant review by the Lord Chancellor's Department in light of the rising volume of immigration appeals. In 1989, additional resources were made available to the immigration appellate authorities (IAA) which resulted in a 50 per cent. increase in the number of cases disposed of. The figures requested were as follows on 1 December 1990 :
Adjudicators
1 Chief Adjudicator
11 Full-time Adjudicators
70 Part-Time Adjudicators
23 Hearing Rooms
Immigration Appeal Tribunal (IAT)
1 President
2 Vice-Presidents
2 Part-Time Chairmen
2 Hearing Rooms
Support Staff for Adjudicators and IAT
85 The IAA has been authorised to increase this figure to 96 , and the additional staff should be in post in early 1991.
Adjudicators are permanently based at Thanet House in London, Harmondsworth, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds but also hear appeals periodically at Edinburgh, Glasgow, Cardiff and Belfast.
At Thanet House in London.
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Attorney-General if he will quantify the ratio of immigration appeal personnel to immigration appeal cases on an annual basis for the last three years for which figures are available.
The Attorney-General : The information requested is set out in the table.
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<1> Excluding Judicial Personnel. <2> January to October 1990.
Birmingham Pub Bombings
Mr. Mullin : To ask the Attorney-General by whom the judges who will hear the appeal of the six men convicted of the Birmingham pub bombings will be selected.
The Attorney-General : The allocation of judges to the Court of Appeal criminal division is the responsibility of the Lord Chief Justice. The allocation of individual cases to those judges is the responsibility of the registrar of criminal appeals and his staff, subject to and in accordance with any directions given by the court.
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The Birmingham Six appeals will be heard by Lord Justice Lloyd, Lord Justice Mustill and Lord Justice Farquharson.Mr. Mullin : To ask the Attorney-General if discussions have taken place between the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Lord Chief Justice regarding the management of the case of the six men convicted of the Birmingham pub bombings.
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The Attorney-General : Any discussions which the Director of Public Prosecutions might have with the judiciary in his official capacity would be confidential and would not be disclosed.HOME DEPARTMENT
Football Matches
Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received regarding policing costs for football matches.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : We have received representations from the Football League, ACPO and the local authority associations as well as from right hon. and hon. Members on the terms of a proposed Home Office circular. The draft circular advises police authorities to recover as far as practicable the full cost of providing police officers inside football grounds.
We are now considering the comments received.
Fire Brigade Employees
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has any conveniently available figures for the number of employees of fire brigades who have left to take up positions in the middle east.
Mr. John Patten : The information requested is not held centrally.
Suicide
Mr. Maclennan : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if, in the light of the apparent suicide of Edwin Robinson in Brixton, he will now publish the report of Judge Tumim on Brixton prison.
Mrs. Rumbold : We hope to do so shortly.
Women Prisoners
Ms. Richardson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many women are in prison for (a) theft and handling stolen goods and (b) fraud and forgery ; and if he will provide a breakdown of the categories they fall into.
Mrs. Rumbold : The latest readily available information is given in the table.
Female sentenced prisoners<1> in Prison
Service establishments in
England and Wales on 30 June 1990: by
offence
Offence |Number<2>
--------------------------------------------
Theft of motor vehicle |-
Taking and driving away |1
Other thefts |161
Handling stolen goods |49
Frauds |44
Forgery |6
Other known offences |843
Offence not recorded |149
|-------
All offences |1,253
<1>Including those committed in default of
payment of a fine.
<2>Provisional figures.
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Wounding
Mr. Butcher : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offenders convicted of grievous wounding have committed the same offence after serving a prison sentence for the first conviction on that offence since 1985.
Mr. Kenneth Baker : Information is not available in the form requested. However, it has been estimated that of some 5,800 adult males discharged in 1986 from serving a prison sentence for a conviction of violence against the person, some 2,520 (44 per cent.) were reconvicted of a standard list offence within two years of release ; for some 670 the first such conviction was for an offence of violence against the person : that is, approximately 12 per cent. of the 5,800. More information on the reconvictions of persons released from prison service establishments can be found in "Prison Statistics, England and Wales", a copy of which is in the Library.
Prisoners
Mr. Rooker : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the length of time (a) the longest serving prisoner currently on remand and (b) the longest currently serving convicted prisoner has served.
Mrs. Rumbold : According to the records held centrally, which are approximate, the latest readily available information is as follows. The longest period a person had been held in custody on 30 September 1990 awaiting or during his trial was just over two years and seven months. The trial was completed on 1 November.
On 30 September 1990 the longest continuous period spent in prison service custody under sentence by a serving prisoner was just over 38 years and two months. One other serving prisoner who had been recalled following an earlier release on life sentence licence had spent a total of almost 40 years and 10 months in prison service establishments under sentence.
Domestic Servants
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his review of the arrangements for the admission to the United Kingdom of domestic servants accompanying their employer makes special reference to Kuwait ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The conclusions of the review which were announced in another place by my noble Friend Lord Ferrers on 24 July at columns 1449 -50 apply regardless of nationality to arrangements for overseas domestic servants to be admitted to the United Kingdom to continue working for an employer who comes here. Any application to enter or remain in the United Kingdom made as a result of the invasion of Kuwait will be carefully and sympathetically considered.
Isle of Wight Prisons
Mr. Janman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the timetable for a scheme to use locally manufactured refuse-derived fuel for a combined heat and power scheme for Isle of Wight prison complexes at Camphill, Albany and Parkhurst ; and if he will make it his policy to promote the rapid conclusion of such a scheme.
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Mr. Kenneth Baker : I understand that the Isle of Wight council is in negotiation with one of the electricity supply companies to construct a power station on the island capable of consuming the total output of refuse-derived fuels produced on the island. The Home Office study into using such fuel for its prisons on the island has therefore been suspended.Renewable Energy
Mr. Janman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his Department's policy on promoting the use of recycled materials and renewable energies where relevant to his Department's activities.
Mr. Kenneth Baker : The Department is investigating the use of refuse-derived fuel (RDF). At the present time one prison is utilising RDF as a replacement for coal on a long-term trial and three other prisons are being looked at to see if they are suitable to undertake similar trials.
Combined Heat and Power
Mr. Janman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is proposing to take to ensure that the prison service reaps the maximum financial and environmental benefits from combined heat and power schemes and that such schemes are given priority.
Mr. Kenneth Baker : The Department is currently appraising combined heat and power schemes but no decisions have yet been taken to install them in any of our establishments.
Alcohol Misuse
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the projects and centres to which his Department has contributed financially in respect of research into alcohol misuse, with the figure for each such project or centre in the present financial year.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : During the past three years the Home Office has commissioned or carried out the following projects :
A survey of drinking in England and Wales, conducted by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys ;
The Newport alcohol abuse and social disorder demonstration project ;
An evaluation of the effects of experimental byelaws to control public drinking in the central parts of various towns and cities, conducted by the Home Office crime prevention unit ;
An assessment of the role of economic models in understanding the links between alcohol and crime, conducted by the university of York centre for health economics ; and
A study of drinking and disorder in non-metropolitan areas, carried out by the Home Office research and planning unit.
In the current financial year the Home Office has spent £15,000 on research into alcohol misuse.
Data Protection
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his policy towards the use of data for computer matching to create personal computer profiles for commercial and mailing purposes.
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Mrs. Rumbold : We will carefully consider any recommendation the Data Protection Registrar may make when his consideration of the issue of computer matching is complete.
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has any proposals to increase the funding of the office of the Data Protection Registrar ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Rumbold : We have agreed a 1991-92 increase of 8.6 per cent. in cash terms on the previous year. Funding will continue to be determined in the light of expenditure bids and overall public spending constraints.
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement concerning the retention of data concerning acquittals on police computer records.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The recording of data on police force computers is a matter for individual chief officers. They are guided by the code of practice for police computer systems which has been prepared by the Association of Chief Police Officers. A copy of the code is in the Library. Prosecution information is not retained on the police national computer in the event of an acquittal.
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if there are any United Kingdom Government or European Community proposals to extend data protection legislation to manual files ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Rumbold : The Government have no present plans to extend data protection legislation to manual files. The draft directive on data protection, issued by the Commission of the European Communities on 13 September, covers structured collections of manual data. Negotiations on the draft are expected to start next year.
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions were initiated by the Data Protection Registrar in (a) 1987, (b) 1988, (c) 1989 and (d) 1990 to date ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Rumbold : The figures, collected by reference to the time when cases were brought to court, are as follows :
|Number
----------------------
1987 |1
1988 |4
1989 |19
<1>1990 |17
<1> To date.
Most of the prosecutions were for failure to register. Good practice in the handling of data is enforced primarily through discussions with data users or their representative bodies, supported where necessary by enforcement notices.
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has made within the European Community concerning the issuing of a directive on data protection ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Rumbold : None as yet. The Government are consulting United Kingdom organisations with an interest
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in data protection and will take their views into account in negotiations on the draft directive. We expect these to start next year.Charities
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has any proposals for the reform of the law affecting charities ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Kenneth Baker : The Government's proposals are set out in the White Paper, "Charities : A Framework for the Future", which was presented to Parliament on 16 May 1989.
Personal Advisers
Mr. Madden : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many personal advisers Ministers of his Department have ; if he will list them by name, showing the date of appointment, salary bands and areas of responsibility ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Kenneth Baker : One special adviser, Mr. Tony Kerpel, is employed in the Home Office. He was appointed with effect from 3 December 1990. He will provide advice on a wide range of Home Office subjects.
It is not the practice to disclose the salaries of individual advisers as they are negotiated individually in relation to previous outside earnings and are therefore confidential.
Durham Prison
Mr. Trotter : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what action he is taking following the criticism of the prison authorities made by Mr. Justice Potts in connection with the murder in Durham prison of 19-year-old Darren Brook ; and whether such action will seek to establish responsibility for what happened and seek to prevent its recurrence ;
(2) if he will call for a report on the circumstances in which Darren Brook was confined in a cell at Durham prison with a long-term prisoner, having been sentenced to a period of custody in a young offenders' institution ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Rumbold : A full investigation was carried out into the circumstances of Mr. Brook's tragic death as a matter of urgency by the governor at Durham prison in January of this year. This led to the implementation of revised and improved procedures on the young offender wing. The trial judge, Mr. Justice Potts, has expressed satisfaction at the steps taken at the prison to avoid a similar occurrence and I am similarly satisfied. A fellow young offender has recently been convicted of Mr. Brook's murder.
Local Government Finance
Mr. Nellist : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the analysis of returns from justices' clerks regarding the number of poll tax liability orders made by magistrates courts is now available ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Kenneth Baker : The analysis of returns from justices' clerks is not complete but responses are available from 89 per cent. of justices ' clerks. These show that by the end of September liability orders had been made against 344,307 people. We will continue to monitor the situation.
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Overseas Electors
Mr. Nellist : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the ministerial and departmental visits made overseas in 1990 in connection with the promotion of the changes in the rights of overseas electors ; what, in each case, was the cost to public funds ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Rumbold : Neither Home Office Ministers nor officials made visits overseas as part of the publicity arrangements for the extension of the overseas franchise under the Representation of the People Act 1989.
Police Complaints Procedure
Mr. Terry Fields : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report on the location of exhibits requested by Paul Malone, a constituent of Liverpool, Broadgreen, to allow him to proceed with action against certain police officers and on the reasons why they have not been released to him ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I understand that Mr. Malone has recently obtained summonses against three officers of the Cheshire constabulary. The supply of police documents to the courts is a matter for the chief officer of police.
Carriers' Liabilities Act
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what sums have been paid by each airline consequent upon the Immigration (Carriers' Liabilities) Act 1987 and by way of penalty for carrying non- visa holders from visa countries.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : It is not the practice to disclose information on the record of individual airlines under the Act. The total amount incurred by all carriers (that is, airlines and sea operators) to mid-November 1990 was £22.792 million, of which £8.135 million had been paid ; liabilities had been waived in respect of £1.142 million, leaving £13.515 million outstanding.
Separate information on the payments relating to the carriage of visa nationals without valid visas is not available.
TRANSPORT
Rear Lights
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he has any plans to limit the number and intensity of permitted red lights in car rear windows.
Mr. Chope : I have no plans to limit the number of red lights that may be fitted at the rear of cars or to introduce additional limits for intensity except that additional stop lamps fitted in rear windows on new cars sold after 1 April 1991 will be limited to half the intensity of standard stop lamps.
Buses
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what effective measures are available to promote the use of buses, as referred to in the White Paper "This Common Inheritance"; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Freeman : A variety of traffic management measures including with flow and contra-flow bus lanes, priority at traffic signals, exemptions from prohibited turns, bus stop clearways, and other types of waiting and loading restrictions are available to give buses an advantage over other traffic.My Department is examining current practice with a view to issuing further guidance for the benefit of local authorities, bus operators, and enforcement agencies.
Rail Freight
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what level of grant aid or subsidy was provided to rail freight for each year between 1979 and 1989.
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