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Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 2 December 1997
HOME DEPARTMENT
Asylum Seekers
Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the consultation procedures for the inter-departmental review of asylum; which organisations have been invited to comment; and which organisations or individuals have made submissions. [17418]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: When the Comprehensive Review of asylum was announced, those interested were invited to comment direct to the Study Team. The following individuals and organisations have made submissions:
- London Borough of Merton
- Westminster City Council
- The Progressive League
- The Central London Interfaith Refugee Network
- Praxis
- Michael Symth Esq.
- The Churches Commission for Racial Justice
- The Housing Associations Charitable Trust
- Hackney Community Law Centre
- UNLEASH (Church Action on Homelessness in London)
- The Disability Alliance
- Newham Council Anti-Poverty and Welfare Rights Unit
- The London Advice Services Alliance
- The Hackney Refugee Training Consortium
- Turkish Speaking People's Culture Centre
- The Independent Immigration Support Agency
- The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Housing and Social Services Department.
In addition, the Team has held discussions with:
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Mr. Paice:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the future ownership of the National Stud. [18141]
Mr. George Howarth:
The National Stud is the responsibility of the Horserace Betting Levy Board. There are no current plans to change its ownership.
Ms Jenny Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will assess the advantages of instigating a publicity campaign to raise public awareness of the benefits of installing smoke alarms in homes. [18483]
Mr. George Howarth:
I am well aware that publicity campaigns offer the potential for achieving wider installation of smoke alarms in homes. The Community Fire Safety Task Force have recently reported with a strategy and recommendations to secure significant reductions in the number of fires, deaths and casualties in homes. We are consulting widely on their proposals and will assess carefully the responses we receive.
Mr. Vaz:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of illegal immigrants who have been smuggled into Britain by criminal gangs in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [18819]
Mr. Mike O'Brien:
No reliable estimate can be made of the number of illegal immigrants smuggled into Britain by criminal gangs.
Mr. Coaker:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will announce the allocations of police grant for individual police authorities in 1998-99. [19097]
Mr. Straw:
I have today put a copy of my proposals for the allocation of police grant for 1998-99 in the Library. I intend to implement these proposals subject to consideration of any representations I receive about them.
The police service has indicated its support in principle for the continued distribution of police grant in accordance with a needs-based formula, and I am therefore proposing to continue to allocate the greater part of police grant according to the police funding formula.
I am however proposing several changes to the formula to reflect the latest data now available, and in response to the representations I have received. The principle changes I propose are: to reduce from 30 per cent. to 20 per cent. the share of funding allocated on the basis of forces' past establishments: and to increase from 12.9 per cent. to 13.2 per cent. the proportion of funding allocated on the basis of forces' pensions commitments.
I have also set the amount of the special payment to the Metropolitan Police, in recognition of its national and capital city functions, at £151 million in 1998-99.
An additional £40 million of police grant has been made available in 1998-99. This allocation is to ensure that police authorities and the Receiver for the Metropolitan Police District have funds available which
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would allow them to increase spending on meeting the key objectives for the police in 1998-99 over and above that available through the principal formula.
Refugee Legal Centre
Refugee Council
Association of London Government
Refugee Action
Immigration Appeals Authority
Hammersmith Social Services Department
Housing Corporation
Australian High Commission
Local Government Association
Amnesty International
Justice
Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture
Immigration Law Practitioners' Association Centrepoint
Commission for Racial Equality
Camden Social Services
Refugee Arrivals Project
The Churches Interfaith Refugee Network
The International Organisation on Migration.
(1) Rounded to the nearest £100,000. Funding is the sum of all police grant, SSAs and damping grant.
(2) Figure for the Metropolitan Police does not include funding allocated to the Receiver under the Other Services Block SSA for school crossing patrols, Magistrates' Courts and the Probation Service.
(3) Figure for the City includes Police SSA and Grant, but excludes other SSAs e.g. Capital Financing which are allocated to the Common Council of the City of London as a whole in respect of all its functions.
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Youth Justice
Mr. Shaw: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish the advice he received from the Task Force on Youth Justice and the responses to his consultation papers on youth justice. [19126]
Mr. Straw: Yes. Copies of the two reports submitted by the Task Force on Youth Justice, in August and October, have been placed in the Library.
Several hundred responses have been received to my consultation paper on youth justice and these are currently being assessed. We will provide Parliament with a report as soon as practicable.
Low Pay
Mr. Chidgey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list, by regions defined by the boundaries of the regional government offices, the lowest hourly rate paid by his Department to (a) full-time employees, (b) part-time employees, (c) persons employed under personal contract and (d) persons employed by firms undertaking contracted-out services for central government offices, defining the job title in each case. [18113]
Mr. Straw: Information in respect of (a), (b) and (c) is given in the attached table and covers the Home Office and its agencies. Information in respect of (d) is not available; figures could be provided only if all our contractors were prepared to waive commercial confidentiality considerations so as to allow disclosure.
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