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Prisons (Boards of Visitors)
Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has, over what time scale and at what cost, (i) to ensure that boards of visitors in the Prison Service are properly resourced and (ii) to provide the liaison section with its own premises. [37762]
Miss Widdecombe: As the hon. Member will be aware, recommendations about the resourcing of boards of visitors and moving the liaison section from the Prison Service to the Home Office were made by a review of the role of boards of visitors, whose report was published in May 1995. These recommendations were supported by the Learmont report, published in October 1995.
In accordance with the recommendations, the liaison section, which provides the central administration for boards, was moved from Prison Service headquarters to new offices in a Home Office building, Horseferry house, on 1 January and it formally joined the Home Office on 1 April. On the appointment of a national director for boards, as recommended by the review, the liaison section became the secretariat to the director.
The additional costs of providing the central administrative support necessary to implement the review were originally estimated in the review report as £270,000.
In accordance with the review, a management consultancy review of staffing in the liaison section was carried out between May and October 1995 to determine more exactly the levels and grades of staff required. Its staffing recommendations were implemented by May 1996.
The additional staffing costs required to implement the consultancy review with effect from the financial year 1996-97 in fact required an increase of £282,000 on the budgeted cost but an increase of only £126,000 on actual spend as compared with the outturn figures for financial year 1995-96, as some gradual increase in staffing support had already been endorsed by the Prison Service.
Local administrative support for boards is provided by the establishment to which each board is appointed. The level of support provided is subject to agreement between the governor and the chairman of the board. A survey is currently being carried out to determine the level of support provided and ensure that it meets the standards set out in the review. Details of the costs of such administrative support are not available centrally.
Mr. Parry:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the number of applications made for asylum by citizens born in Nigeria for each of the last three years up to the latest available date; how many applications have been (a) granted and (b) rejected; and if he will make a statement. [37478]
Mr. Kirkhope:
Information on asylum applications from nationals of Nigeria, and decisions on applications, for the first six months of 1996, is given in the table. Similar information for the years 1993 to 1995 is given
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in tables 4.2 to 4.4 of the Home Office statistical bulletin "Asylum Statistics United Kingdom 1995", issue 9/96, a copy of which is in the Library.
| January to June 1996 | |
|---|---|
| Asylum applications (8) | 1,815 |
| Decisions (8) (9) | 2,530 |
| Recognised as a refugee and granted asylum | 5 |
| Not recognised as a refugee but granted exceptional leave to remain (10) | 5 |
| Total refused | 2,520 |
| Refused asylum and ELR--after full consideration | 2,260 |
| Refused on non-compliance grounds(11) | 230 |
| Refused on safe third country grounds(12) | 30 |
(7) Provisional figures rounded to the nearest 5, with '
*' = 1 or 2 and '..' = not available.
(8) Figures exclude information on applications made overseas.
(9) Decisions do not necessarily relate to applications made in the same year.
(10) Usually granted for a year in the first instance, subject then to further review.
(11) Paragraph 340 (paragraph 180F prior to 1 October 1994 and paragraph 101 prior to 26 July 1993) of the Immigration Rules, for failure to provide evidence to support the asylum claim within a reasonable period, including failure to respond to invitations to interview to establish identity.
(12) Refused on the grounds that the applicant had arrived from a safe third country.
Mr. Parry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Deaprtment how many persons who have had their claims for asylum rejected are held in detention at the present time. [37518]
Mr. Kirkhope: As at 27 June, there were 586 asylum seekers held in detention after having their claims for asylum rejected.
Fraud
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what inquiries to detect fraud by cross-checking his Department's payroll with details of those claiming benefit he has undertaken; when these exercises took place; and how many staff were (a) suspended, (b) dismissed and (c) prosecuted as a result. [37702]
Mr. Howard: The Department responds to inquiries made by the Benefits Agency on the basis of its belief that there are reasonable grounds for suspicion that an individual may be involved in benefit fraud.
In the past five years, one member of staff has been dismissed following conviction for benefit fraud.
UK Passport Agency
Mr. Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the status of the UK Passport Agency's framework document following the decision to confirm the agency's status as an executive agency of the Home Office for a further period. [38419]
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Mr. Kirkhope: Following a "prior options" review, an announcement was made to Parliament in November 1994 that Ministers had agreed that the Passport Agency should retain its status as an executive agency for another five years. The agency's framework document has been revised and I am pleased to say that copies of the revised document have now been placed in the Library.
Forensic Science Service
Mr. Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will lay before Parliament the annual report for the Forensic Science Service. [38420]
Mr. Howard: I have today laid before Parliament copies of the Forensic Science Service's annual report and accounts for 1995-96.
The FSS met or exceeded all its targets in 1995-96. During 1996-97, I expect the service to continue to improve its efficiency and effectiveness. The financial targets for the year are recovery of full economic costs; and a cash unit cost target of £81.33 based on an efficiency gain of 3.6 per cent. on the audited 1995-96 results. In view of the merger of the FSS with the Metropolitan police forensic science laboratory on 1 April, this target has been calculated taking into account retrospective adjustment to 1995-96 as if the merged organisation had existed throughout 1995-96. From 1996-97 onwards, the cash unit cost measure has been translated into the cost per process output hour rather than as previously the chargeable output day. The service level targets are to meet 90 per cent. of delivery dates agreed with customers; to maintain accreditation to UKAS NAMAS M10 and BSI.QA ISO 9000 series standards; and the completion of a customer satisfaction survey.
Licences
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the licences issued by his Department; for what purpose they are issued; and what are the administrative costs involved for each. [37597]
Mr. Howard [holding answer 16 July 1996]: The Home Office is responsible for a large number of licensing regimes; in most cases, the licences themselves are issued not by the Department but by bodies such as the Gaming Board, licensing justices, local authorities and the police.
A list of Home Office issued licences and, where available, their administrative costs are as follows:
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(a) Possession of prohibited weapons authority. Details of administrative costs, which are shared with the police, are not available.
(b) Licences to regulate the supply, etcetera of controlled drugs and precursor chemicals. The total administrative cost to the Home Office for 1996-97 will be $481,000.
(c) Licences under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. The total annual cost of the administrative and licensing system is £2.3 million.
(d) Licences for the removal of human remains. Licences are administered free of charge and administrative costs are not available.
HEALTH
HIV Prevention (Prisons)
Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what measures are in place to monitor the allocation of HIV prevention money by health authorities for health promotion in prisons; [35439]
- (2) what proportion of the current HIV prevention budget has been allocated for HIV prevention initiatives in prisons. [35438]
Mr. Horam: Guidance issued to health authorities in EL(96)30 states that approximately 50 per cent. of the prevention allocation should be used to develop locally targeted HIV health promotion and prevention programmes. These programmes should be directed towards both the national target groups identified in the Government's HIV-AIDS health promotion strategy and any locally determined priorities. The latter may include the provision of HIV prevention programmes in prisons.
For 1996-97, health authorities have been asked to submit a mid-year report and a detailed outturn report on prevention spending. This will take the form of a breakdown of spend by national target group and by type of activity, but does not require spend on HIV health promotion work in prisons to be shown separately.
Copies of the guidance and the health promotion strategy are available in the Library.
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