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Ms Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what were the response rates to all telephone inquiries to the inquiry line and Child Support Agency centres serving the west midlands within the last 12 months.
Mr. Burt : The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Ros Hepplewhite, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Ros Hepplewhite to Ms Joan Walley, dated 26 May 1994 :
I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about telephone enquiries to the Child Support Agency.
I am afraid that the Agency does not keep statistics in the form that you have requested. However, I can tell you that between 12 April 1993 and 8 April 1994, the Agency received a total of 676,018 calls on the National Enquiry Line, 97,887 of which were dealt with at the Agency's Centre in Dudley. On average, Dudley Centre also dealt with approximately 140,000 calls a month which were dialled to the Centre switchboard.
The first year of the Agency's operations has stimulated a great deal of activity and I am aware of the difficulties experienced by some clients in contacting the Agency by telephone. We have already examined ways in which this service can be improved, and are now making some changes.
From the end of June, new National Enquiry Line arrangements will be put into effect involving some 60-80 staff the majority of whom will already be experienced in dealing with telephone enquiries and who will be suitably trained in Agency business. These staff will be centrally located, rather than as now
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spread throughout the Agency's Centres, with the aim of providing a more dedicated core service. Additionally, from the end of June the Agency will begin implementing a new system whereby each Centre will centralise its handling of telephone enquiries.Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how much extra money has gone to the Treasury since the Child Support Agency started operations ;
(2) how much extra money has gone to the children of families with an absent parent since the Child Support Agency started operations.
Mr. Burt : The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Ros Hepplewhite, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Ros Hepplewhite to Mr. Tony Worthington, dated 26 May 1994 :
I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Questions to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the amount of money which has gone to the Treasury and the amount to the children of families with an absent parent since the Child Support Agency started operations.
At the end of March the Agency had recorded £335 million in benefit savings in 1993-94. This does not represent the total savings as some will be recorded retrospectively.
Where maintenance is paid direct from one parent to the other, and the collection service provided by the Agency is not used, the Agency would not as a matter of course receive information on the amount or frequency of maintenance payments made. Records are therefore not available of the total sums paid.
I hope this reply is helpful.
Mr. Hoon : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer of 16 May, Official Report , column 353 if he will explain the method used by his Department to calculate the number of cases taken on by the Child Support Agency where people were not already paying maintenance ; and for what reason these figures are given as an estimate.
Mr. Burt : The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for Ros Hepplewhite, the chief executive. She will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Ros Hepplewhite to Mr. Geoffrey Hoon, dated 26 May 1994 :
I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about cases taken on by the Child Support Agency.
The number of cases taken on by the Child Support Agency where people were not already paying maintenance is calculated from the number of cases of different types taken on by the Agency and the proportion of cases of each type in which maintenance was not already in payment.
Whilst information is available on the number of cases of each type taken on, actual data on the proportions in which maintenance was not already in payment is not collected for all case types. These figures are therefore based on estimates which, for new and repeat income support cases, represent the proportion of cases with maintenance already in payment prior to Agency involvement and are derived from the Department's Annual Statistical Enquiry. For Family Credit cases a similar estimate is derived from the Departmental Family Credit Statistics.
Pension Schemes
Mr. Trend : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish the results of the consultation exercise on the possible introduction of a minimum solvency requirement for pension schemes.
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Mr. Hague : We received completed questionnaires on nearly 500 schemes showing their on-going funding level and solvency level calculated using a valuation method on the lines of that proposed by the Pension Law Review Committee. Those figures were compared with those obtained using a modified valuation method developed in the light of concerns expressed about the working of the original proposal. The findings will be of great help in the further development of an appropriate minimum solvency requirement and I am grateful to all who participated in the exercise. Results of the exercise are published today. Copies have been placed in the Library.
Social Fund
Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what has been the social fund budget for his Department's offices within the London borough of Wandsworth in each of the last three years ; and what was the amount of loans made in each of those years.
Mr. Scott : The administration of the social fund is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Michael Bichard to Mr. Tom Cox, dated 26 May 1994 : The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about Social Fund budgets for offices within the London Borough of Wandsworth.
Statistical information is recorded by Benefits Agency District, the boundaries of which are not necessarily the same as Borough or constituency boundaries. I have, therefore, provided information for the South West Thames District which deals with the Borough of Wandsworth in addition to other Boroughs.
Details of Social Fund budget allocations (grants and loans), and loan expenditure for the South West Thames District for the years 1991-92, 1992- 93 and 1993-94 are shown in the table at Annex A. I hope you find this reply helpful.
Annex A
Social Fund budgets and loan expenditure for the south west
thames
district for each of the last three financial years
|Grant |Loan |Loan
|allocation |allocation |expenditure
|£ |£ |£
------------------------------------------------------------
1991-92 |819,740 |1,877,056 |1,877,055
1992-93 |998,614 |2,239,296 |2,239,298
1993-94 |1,046,985 |2,551,123 |2,551,120
HOME DEPARTMENT
Jury Service
Mrs. Helen Jackson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he will take to equalise the treatment of unemployed people or jury service with those who are in employment with regard to payment of expenses and national insurance contributions.
Mr. John M. Taylor : I have been asked to reply.
The regulations governing allowances for jurors' expenses, including national insurance contributions, have applied to those on jury service who are unemployed on the same basis as those in employment since they came into operation on 1 January 1979.
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Police Dogs
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what proposals he has for the use of police dogs to aid in the identification of suspects on parades ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) if he will commission research into the use of dogs in other countries for the purposes of identifying criminals at identification parades ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Charles Wardle : Any results obtained from using police dogs to identify suspects at identification parades would be of doubtful evidential value and I have no plans to encourage further work in this area.
Prisoners (Transfer)
Mr. Hume : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will make a statement on the extent to which the recommendations and undertakings made in the then Minister of State's statement of 23 November 1992, Official Report, columns 481-82, regarding temporary transfers of Irish prisoners to prisons in Northern Ireland have not yet been implemented, and the reasons for this ;
(2) if he will make a statement on the reasons why prisoners' requests lodged with the Home Office since November 1992 for transfer to prison establishments in Northern Ireland have yet to be decided ;
(3) how many requests for transfers to prisons in Northern Ireland have been lodged with the Home Office in each of the last five years ; and how many have been granted, refused or are undecided.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : On 23 November 1992, the Government accepted the recommendation made by an interdepartmental working group on the transfer of prisoners that prisoners refused a permanent transfer to another United Kingdom jurisdiction should be considered for a extended temporary transfer. Implementation of this recommendation has been delayed because of subsequent concerns about the legal position.
The information requested on the number of requests made by prisoners to transfer to Northern Ireland and the outcome of these is given in the table.
Requests made by prisoners to transfer to Northern Ireland
|1989 |1990 |1991 |1992 |<1>1993
------------------------------------------------------------------
Requests received |55 |59 |80 |68 |33
Granted |15 |3 |18 |13 |5
Refused |40 |36 |30 |24 |9
Withdrawn |3 |6 |14 |11 |5
Note:
Requests made in any given year may have been decided in a later
year.
<1>Total number of requests undetermined at the end of 1993=69.
Prison Births
Ms Ruddock : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) male foreign nationals and (b) female foreign nationals were born in prison in England and Wales at the latest available date.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
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Letter from A. J. Butler to Ms Joan Ruddock, dated 26 May 1994 : The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question about the numbers of (a) male foreign nationals and (b) female foreign nationals born in prison in England at the latest available date. As you will know from the Director General's letter to you of 4 May, it is not usual for women serving a sentence of imprisonment to give birth in prison. Of 691 births to women who were serving a prison sentence in the last ten years only six were born in prison. I am afraid that we do not keep records of the nationality of children born to imprisoned mothers. I understand that those born before 1 January 1983 in this country would have been British by their birth here but after that time their nationality would depend on the nationality of their mother or father and/or their parents' immigration status at the time of the birth.Prison Visits
Ms Ruddock : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what is the average distance travelled by relatives visiting inmates in training prisons at the latest available date ; (2) what is the average distance travelled by relatives visiting inmates in women's prisons at the latest available date for which figures are available ;
(3) what is the average distance travelled by relatives visiting inmates in closed young offender institutions at the latest available date.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Responsibility for these matters has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from A. J. Butler to Ms Joan Ruddock, dated 26 May 1994 : The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Questions about the average distances travelled by relatives visiting inmates in closed young offender institutions ; women's prisons ; and training prisons.
No information is held centrally on the distances travelled by relatives visiting inmates in these establishments. However, the National Prison Survey conducted in January and February 1991, asked prisoners who had received a visit from family or friends in the three months before interview, how far their most important visitor had had to travel to visit them. The average distance travelled by all most important visitors who were relatives visiting inmates in :
|Miles
--------------------------------------------------
Closed young offender institutions<1> |75
Women's prisons |62
Training prisons<1> |82
<1> Includes visitors to both male and female
prisoners.
Drug Offences
Ms Ruddock : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of (a) male foreign nationals and (b) female foreign nationals in prison were convicted of drug offences at the latest available date.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
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Letter from A. J. Butler to Ms Joan Ruddock, dated 26 May 1994 : The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question asking what percentage of male foreign nationals and female foreign nationals in prison were convicted of drug offences at the latest available date. On 31 March 1994 in Prison Service establishments in England and Wales 30 per cent. of sentenced male foreign nationals (excluding fine defaulters) were recorded centrally as being under sentence for drugs offences. The equivalent female percentage was 69 per cent.Immigration
Mr. Dalyell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department why Mr. Ghazanfar Ali Raja, IMP A3 6383 4/6, PO 24915/93, currently in Germany, has been told by a letter from Her Majesty's consulate general in Du"sseldorf that no decision on his application to join his wife, Mrs. Carde Raja, a British citizen, of 145 High street, Linlithgow, can be made before a period of six to 12 months has elapsed.
Mr. Charles Wardle : I will write to the hon. Member.
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how his Department will assess whether the marriage of an European economic area national is one of convenience ; and how an European economic area national whose marriage is alleged to be one of convenience will be able to challenge or appeal against that assessment.
Mr. Charles Wardle : Where there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that a marriage between a European Economic Area national and a non-EEA national is one of convenience for immigration purposes, further inquiries will be made before deciding the application. The determining factor will be the intention of the couple to live permanently together as man and wife in a settled and genuine relationship.
An EEA national has a right of appeal against refusal of a residence permit.
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications either for entry clearance or for leave to remain have been received in respect of the third country national family members of British citizens who have exercised rights under articles 48, 52 and 59 of the EC treaty in another EU member state in each year since the decision of the European Court of Justice in the case of Surinder Singh.
Mr. Charles Wardle : Since the judgment of the European Court of Justice in the case of Surinder Singh (C370/90) in July 1992, a total of 29 entry clearance applications have been made, at British diplomatic posts abroad, by persons who are not European Economic Area nationals and who have sought entry as family members of British citizens who have exercised treaty rights in another member state. Of these applications, eight were made in 1992 ; 19 were made in 1993 ; and two have been made so far in 1994.
Information is not available on the number of applications made for leave to remain by such persons.
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in what circumstances he departs from
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recommendations from immigration adjudicators ; whether there is any variation in practice in relation to recommendations from appeals against deportation with a restricted appeal right ; and if he will make a statement.Mr. Charles Wardle : It is the normal policy to accept adjudicators' recommendations unless to do so would be unreasonable or inconsistent, or would undermine general policy. There is no variation in the application of this policy as between one type of appeal and another.
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether non-visa, non-European Economic Area national family members of European economic area nationals established in the United Kingdom will be required to hold European Economic Area family permits to be granted entry.
Mr. Charles Wardle : Under the Immigration (European Economic Area) Order 1994, family members of a European Economic Area national who are not themselves EEA nationals and who seek admission to install themselves in the United Kingdom on a permanent or semi-permanent basis with the EEA national will need to hold an EEA family permit.
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many citizens of the Union have exercised their rights under articles 48, 52 and 59 of the EC treaty in each of the last five years to apply for entry clearance or leave to remain for their third country national spouses and other family members to join or remain with them in the United Kingdom ; and how many of these applicants have been interviewed about the circumstances of their marriage or other family relationship in each year.
Mr. Charles Wardle : Information is not available in the form requested. However, since March 1993 a total of 1,965 after entry applications were received--1,275 in 1993, 690 so far in 1994--from non- European Economic Area nationals for residence documents of both limited and unlimited validity as the spouse, or other family member, of an EEA national exercising a treaty right in the United Kingdom. In 39 applications involving marriage--23 in 1993, 16 so far in 1994--an interview was carried out.
Yemen
Mr. Miller : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans Her Majesty's Government has to offer sanctuary to non-Yemeni nationals resident in the Yemen who are forced to flee due to the civil war but whose travel documents do not confer a right of settlement elsewhere.
Mr. Charles Wardle : None, but we are keeping the situation in the Yemen under review.
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of applications for leave to remain or entry clearance have been refused to the third country national family members of citizens of the Union exercising free movement rights in the United Kingdom in accordance with the treaties in each of the past five years.
Mr. Charles Wardle : Information is not available in the form requested. However of 1,251 applications received since March 1993 from non -European Economic Area nationals for residence documents of limited validity as the family member of an EEA national, 44 have been refused.
Column 255
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what measures have been put in place or are being put in place to give effect to the right under article 52 of the European Community treaty of companies and other legal persons to establish themselves in business in the United Kingdom deploying such staff as the company considers best able to fulfil its requirements irrespective of the nationality of the staff ;
(2) how the Government have discharged their obligations under article 54(3)(f) of the EC treaty and the abolition of restrictions on freedom of establishment both as regards the conditions for setting up agencies, branches or subsidiaries in the United Kingdom and as regards the conditions governing the entry of personnel, including personnel not holding the citizenship of a member state or an European economic area state, belonging to the main establishment into managerial or supervisory posts in such agencies, branches or subsidiaries.
Mr. Charles Wardle : Following completion of the single market and implementation of the European Economic Area agreement, EEA nationals or companies may establish themselves here for business purposes including setting up agencies, branches or subsidiaries, under the same terms as United Kingdom businesses. EEA nationals have the right to enter the United Kingdom simply on production of a valid EEA passport or identity card and to work here in any capacity. Non-EEA nationals who wish to take up employment in the United Kingdom must satisfy the requirements of the immigration rules.
Prisoners (Mental Health)
Ms Ruddock : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners in England and Wales received some form of mental health care in each of the last five years.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from A. J. Butler to Ms Joan Ruddock, dated 26 May 1994 : The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question about how many prisoners in England and Wales received some form of mental health care in each of the last five years.
This information is not available in the form requested. However, Prison Service medical officers carry out medical monitoring at regular intervals within their establishments. The most up to date information held centrally is for February 1994 and is set out in the table below with comparative figures for the two previous years.
|February|February|February
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Mentally disordered prisoners |136 |123 |92
awaiting transfer to hospital
Mentally disordered prisoners |802 |415 |671
being treated in prison health
care centres
Other prisoners requiring mental |1,766 |2,343 |1,515
health care
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Electoral Procedures
Mr. Rooker : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received from electoral administrators about the rules requiring verification of unused ballot papers at a count ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : My officials have received two representations from electoral administrators on this matter since June 1990. But my right hon. and learned Friend has at present no plans to propose a change to the rules.
Prisons (Listener Schemes)
Ms Ruddock : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in which prisons in England and Wales listener schemes are in operation.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from A. J. Butler to Ms Joan Ruddock, dated 26 May 1994 : The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question asking in which prisons in England and Wales listener schemes are in operation.
There are fifty prisons in which such schemes are in operation, as follows :
Albany
Ashwell
Aylesbury
Belmarsh
Blantyre House
Bristol
Brixton
Bullingdon
Cardiff
Castington
Chelmsford
Dartmoor
Deerbolt
Dorchester
Downview
Durham
Elmley
Exeter
Ford
Gartree
Gloucester
High Down
Holloway
Hull
Lancaster Farms
Leeds
Leicester
Leyhill
Lincoln
Lindholme
Long Lartin
Morton Hall
The Mount
Norwich
Nottingham
Pentonville
Portland
Prescoed
Ranby
Rudgate
Send
Shepton Mallet
Stocken
Styal
Swaleside
Swansea
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