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Asylum and Immigration Bill
Mr. Alton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will give the cost in man-hours and money for promoting the Asylum and Immigration Bill in the current Session. [4075]
Miss Widdecombe: At a rough estimate, work on the Bill is likely to take up 8,000 man-hours in the Home Office, at a cost of £210,000. This does not include work on the Bill by other interested Departments.
Correspondence
Mr. Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the hon. Member for Walsall, North will receive a reply to this letter of 6 November, ref. 20807/95. [4110]
Mr. Kirkhope: I have written to the hon. Member today.
Crime Prevention Agency
Mr. Merchant: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the new Crime Prevention Agency announced in his speech of 12 October. [4677]
Mr. Maclean: My right hon. and learned Friend announced the details of the new Crime Prevention Agency on 22 November. The agency will subsume the National Board for Crime Prevention, the Home Office crime prevention unit and the Home Office crime prevention centre.
The work of the agency will be overseen by an agency board which will be an advisory non-departmental public body. I will chair the agency board.
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Other members of the agency board are:
The board is appointed by my right hon. and learned Friend and will:
Mr. Congdon:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he intends to announce a further closed circuit television challenge competition. [4678]
Mr. Maclean:
My right hon. and learned Friend announced a new closed circuit television challenge competition on 22 November. A total of £15 million has been made available in the financial year 1996-97 to fund CCTV schemes in England and Wales. Partnerships are invited to bid for a share of this money. A copy of the bidding guidance, which gives information on how to
5 Dec 1995 : Column: 215
make a bid and details of the criteria by which the bids will be assessed, has been placed in the Library. Copies have also been sent to chief constables, local authorities, police authorities and others who have expressed an interest. The closing date for bids is 29 March 1996.
Mr. Flynn:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will introduce fixed-time appointments for asylum applicants attending interviews at the asylum screening unit; what is the average waiting time for persons attending for interviews at the asylum screening unit; and what proportion of them have to wait more than (a) one hour, (b) two hours, (c) three hours and (d) four hours. [3270]
Mr. Kirkhope
[holding answer 4 December 1995]: There are no plans to introduce fixed-time appointments for asylum applicants attending interviews at the asylum screening unit. Information about average waiting times is not available.
Mr. Alton:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information he has collected on those countries which operate white lists of countries excluded for the purpose of asylum seekers and refugee status; if he will publish details of the lists operated by other EC countries; what discussions he has held with his EC counterparts about the effectiveness of such lists and their harmonisation throughout the EC; what parliamentary procedures he intends to use to allow debate and decision on deletion from and addition to such lists; and if he will make a statement. [3683]
Miss Widdecombe
[holding answer 4 December 1995]: Comprehensive information is not available, but our understanding is that Denmark, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands are among the European Union countries which operate procedures based on designation of countries of origin in which there is, in general terms, no serious risk of persecution. Our regular contacts with counterparts from these countries support our view that a designation power would improve our asylum procedures. There are no proposals to harmonise designation lists in the European Union.
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Under clause 1 of the Asylum and Immigration Bill, designation orders would be laid before Parliament under the negative resolution procedure. The list of designated countries would be subject to amendment by the same procedure.
Mr. Blunkett:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (i) cases were lodged with the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board in each of the last three years and (ii) staff were employed by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board during each of the last three years; and what was (a) the average time taken to complete each case and (b) the average time taken to respond to an initial application. [3740]
Mr. Maclean
[holding answer 4 December 1995]: The latest published figures are given in the board's third annual report, Cm 2849, copies of which are held in the Library. Paragraph 3.1 shows that 61,400 applications were received in 1991-92, 65,977 in 1992-93 and 73,473 in 1993-94. Paragraph 3.12 gives information about the time taken to resolve cases and shows, by way of example, that 49 per cent., 57 per cent., and 70 per cent. of cases were resolved within 12 months in the three years respectively. Similar data for 1994-95 will be published shortly.
The average staff complement in the three years was 380, 387 and 430, and currently stands at 480. The board advises that historical data on the time taken to acknowledge initial applications is not available, but the current average is six days.
Mr. Key:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what further discussions his Department has had with the Department of Transport on extending the jurisdiction of the British Transport police; what conclusions were reached; and if he will make a statement. [2887]
Mr. Maclean
[holding answer 29 November 1995]: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport on 29 November 1995, Official Report, column 787.
5 Dec 1995 : Column: 215
The terms of reference of the agency board are as follows:
Jack Acton: Director, Home Office Crime Prevention Centre
Peter Batchelor: Chair, Vehicle Crime Prevention Group; formerly Executive Director Sales and Marketing, Vauxhall Motors
Ken Pease: Professor of Criminology, University of Huddersfield
David Quarmby: Chair, Retail Action Group for Crime Prevention; Joint Managing Director J. Sainsbury plc
Nick Ross: Broadcaster and journalist
John Stevens: Chief Constable, Northumbria Police: Chair, Association of Chief Police Officers Crime Prevention Sub-Committee
Anthony Tisdale: Councillor and Chair, Surrey Police Authority
Nigel Whiskin: Chief Executive, Crime Concern.
(i) act as the managing board for the Home Office crime prevention unit and the Home Office crime prevention centre;
(ii) co-ordinate the activities of all the key players in crime prevention by:
ensuring their representation on the board; developing stronger links between each other; and maintaining links with other organisations;
(iii) initiate, develop and promote innovative ideas to help prevent crime and reduce the fear of crime by:
following up new research;
identifying good practice; and
ensuring guidance and advice is available;
(iv) work with the police, local authorities, business, industry, the voluntary sector, the community and other to target specific types of crime or crime situations by:
setting up groups to examine specific issues, such as the retail group and the vehicle crime group,
supporting other groups with similar aims;
(v) ensure that all sections of the community have the opportunity to be involved in crime prevention by:
encouraging the spread of partnerships such as neighbourhood watch, street watch, etc;
promoting youth involvement; and
publicising effective community activity;
(vi) offer advice to Ministers on the major strategic and policy implications relating to these issues and on other effective crime prevention strategies.