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HMSO (Privatisation)
Mr. Derek Foster: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1) if he will list the individuals and organisations he has consulted about the implications for the service provided to the House of the proposed privatisation of HMSO; and if he will make a statement; [5252]
(2) what further consultations he plans about the implications for the service provided to the House of the proposed privatisation of HMSO. [5253]
Mr. Freeman: I, my colleagues and officials have consulted management and staff at HMSO, including at the Parliamentary Press, my advisers Coopers and Lybrand and those responsible for the existing arrangements in the House and in the other place on this matter. In addition, I gave evidence on the proposed
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privatisation of HMSO to the Finance and Services Committee on 21 November.
Parliament is HMSO's most important customer and the Government attach great importance to ensuring that all its requirements would be fully met by privatisation. My intention is therefore that all of these consultations would continue throughout any sale process, and I have invited those responsible for the existing arrangements in the House and the other place to be involved in the privatisation, including advising me on the selection of the preferred bidder.
GP Forms
Ms Harman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many forms relating to general practice he plans to abolish in the next year; and how many of these have been introduced since 1979. [3119]
Mr. Malone: I have been asked to reply.
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Implementation of the "Patients not paper" recommendations for fewer, better forms will abolish 20 individual forms, of which three are new since 1979. General practitioners will have to complete about 15 million fewer forms a year as a result.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Data Protection Registrar
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications have been made by Government Departments to the Data Protection Registrar in the course of the last three years. [3306]
Mr. Sackville: I understand from the Data Protection Registrar that information about the number of applications for registration from Government Departments is not readily available. The registrar has, however, identified 802 register entries relating to Government Departments headed by members of the Cabinet or other Ministers. Registration is for a period of three years.
Asylum and Immigration
Mr. Spearing: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the actual or estimated number of (a) applicants for political asylum in the United Kingdom and (b) persons not applicants but dependent on them, broken down to show those currently residing in (i) Tower Hamlets, (ii) Hackney, (iii) other parts of London, (iv) the west midlands, (v) the west riding, (vi) the north-west, (vii) the north-east and (viii) elsewhere in England and Wales. [4605]
Mr. Kirkhope: As at 31 October 1995, 66,655 principal applicants were awaiting an initial decision on their asylum applications. It is estimated that these applicants have approximately 20,000 dependants.
Information on the places of residence of people currently seeking asylum is not held centrally.
Mr. Madden:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements he is making under his proposals in the Asylum and Immigration Bill to ensure he is regularly briefed on human rights and political conditions in overseas countries, with particular reference to those countries he designates as not giving rise to serious risks of persecutions; and what arrangements he is making to consider representations that certain countries should be (a) included and (b) excluded from such designation. [4610]
Miss Widdecombe:
Conditions in countries of origin are continuously monitored by the asylum division on the basis of information from a wide range of sources including the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and non-governmental organisations. We are always prepared to consider representations.
Mr. Madden:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make it his policy (a) to publish regularly reports which give profiles of human rights and political conditions prevailing in particular countries, (b) to list those countries on which home country reports are held, (c) to place all home country
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reports and revisions in the Library and (d) to ensure that the reports are available to immigration law practitioners and human rights organisations; and if he will make a statement. [4612]
Mr. Kirkhope:
Asylum applications will continue to be considered on the particular facts of each case. Summary background briefs on Ghana and Nigeria have been sent to the immigration appellate authorities, the Immigration Law Practitioners Association and other interested organisations.
The Nigeria brief is being updated; when this has been done, both briefs will be placed in the Library and any further such briefs will be made available in the same way.
Mr. Spearing:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list (a) the official statements and (b) documents other than those contained in the Asylum and Immigration Bill relating to the measures and methods that Her Majesty's Government intend to adopt in respect of current problems of asylum and immigration; and if he will list for each (i) change and (ii) innovation the information his Department has (1) obtained and (2) evaluated relating to its practicality and efficiency. [4745]
Miss Widdecombe:
We have made available to the House a list of background papers which are relevant to the Asylum and Immigration Bill.
Ms Hodge:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many representations he has received on the Asylum and Immigration Bill; and how many have been in whole or in part opposed to the Bill. [5272]
Miss Widdecombe:
We have received a substantial amount of correspondence about our asylum and immigration proposals expressing a wide range of views. To date, 43 representations have been received from members of the public in favour of the Asylum and Immigration Bill, and 38 against.
Mr. Madden:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many exclusion orders have been withdrawn since August 1994; and under what powers and against whom those exclusion orders were imposed. [4618]
Mr. Howard:
Forty-one exclusion orders have been revoked or allowed to lapse since 31 August 1994. Thirty-six orders remain in force. All these orders were made under the provisions of part II and schedule 2 of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989. It is not our practice to identify those excluded.
Mr. Madden:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list (a) the names of the individuals who are currently subject to exclusion orders, (b) their nationality, (c) the parts of the United Kingdom from which they are excluded and (d) under what powers the person was excluded; and if he will make a statement. [4617]
Mr. Howard:
It is not our practice to identify those excluded, but all those subject to exclusion orders under the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989 are believed to be citizens of this country or the
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Irish Republic or both. Thirty-two people are currently excluded from Great Britain under the Act, and four from the United Kingdom. None is excluded from Northern Ireland alone. These orders were made under part II and schedule 2 of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989.
Mr. Madden:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the parole board will conduct an oral hearing into the applications for release for Irish prisoners who had served 20 years of their sentences by July 1995. [4616]
Miss Widdecombe:
Discretionary lifer panels of the parole board will hear these cases on 12, 13 and 14 December 1995.
Dr. Lynne Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many persons who had defaulted on a fine were jailed in England and Wales during 1994; and what was the average sentence length; [3437]
(2) how many persons have been jailed in England and Wales following default of a fine to date during 1995. [3438]
Miss Widdecombe:
Responsibility for these matters has been delegated to the temporary Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
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