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RAF Coverall Contract
Mrs. Browning: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he intends to reply to the letter of 15 January from the hon. Member for Tiverton and Honiton concerning John Heathcoat and Co. Ltd., and the RAF Coverall contract. [84381]
Mr. Spellar: I have written to the hon. Member today.
Balkans (UK Forces)
Mr. Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the cost of the deployment of UK forces in the Balkans since 18 April. [83984]
Mr. George Robertson: As at the end of April, £37 million of additional expenditure has fallen to my Department as a direct consequence of the UK's military response to the Kosovo crisis. This figure does not include the costs of replenishing stocks of expended ordnance or the costs of the UK's ongoing contribution to SFOR in Bosnia.
Territorial Army
Mr. Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what arrangements are in place to fund locums when general medical practitioners who are officers in the TA are required to serve. [84124]
Mr. Doug Henderson:
The Reserve Forces (Call-out and Recall) (Financial Assistance) Regulations 1997 (SI 1997/309) set out a scheme for providing financial assistance to reservists and employers who suffer financial loss as a result of the call-out or recall of individuals for permanent service in the armed forces. A claim for
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financial assistance in respect of the net additional costs of employing a locum doctor can be made under this scheme.
Counterfeit Offences (Yugoslav Nationals)
Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia who have entered the United Kingdom en route to North America are being held for the offences of (a) possession of a false instrument contrary to section 3 of the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981 and (b) attempting to obtain services by deception contrary to section 1 of the Criminal Attempts Act 1981. [83800]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The information requested is not recorded centrally and could only be obtained through examination of individual case records at disproportionate cost. In any event, it would be impossible to ascertain precisely how many of those convicted were citizens of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia because the nationality of those holding falsified travel documents is essentially in doubt.
Prison incidents
Mr. Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list for (i) HMP Wolds and (ii) HMP Buckley Hall the number of incidents that have occurred during each of the last three financial years of the respective contracts in respect of (a) assaults on staff, (b) assaults by prisoners on other prisoners, (c) self harm, (d) class A drug finds, (e) other drug finds, (f) items smuggled into the prison, (g) delayed request replies, (h) failure to use agreed reporting procedures, (i) failure to achieve 95 per cent. occupancy of employment places, (j) key/lock compromises, (k) attempted escapes, (l) temporary release failures and (m) recapture and surrender. [83919]
Mr. George Howarth:
The information requested is given in the table. The information requested about Buckley Hall on items smuggled into prison, failure to use agreed reporting procedures and failure to achieve 95 per cent. occupancy of employment places is not available because there is no contractual obligation for such information to be collected. The figures requested regarding recapture and surrender are not available because prisoners may surrender to another prison.
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Mr. Beith:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 28 April 1999, Official Report, column 162, on private prisons, what measures are being taken by the Prison Service to improve performance against the contract at (a) HMP Lowdham Grange and (b) HMP Parc. [83914]
Mr. George Howarth:
The performance of both prisons has steadily improved since they opened and their present performance is regarded as satisfactory. The performance of the prisons is subject to contract management by the contractor and by the Prison Service through monitoring by the appointed controller of each prison, the area manager and the contracts and competition group of Prison Service headquarters.
Mr. Cox:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action his Department has taken against international crime organisations which have been involved in the smuggling of women immigrants into the United Kingdom to work in the sex industry. [83913]
Mr. Straw:
The National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) and Immigration Service are committed to the development and dissemination of the intelligence needed to maximise disruption of these criminal enterprises and to secure arrest in as many cases as possible. During the past 12 months, a number of successful operations have been jointly undertaken targeting the racketeers which have resulted in the arrest and conviction of those involved. In addition, profiling and increased awareness have led to the interception of several groups at ports of arrival and to tighter controls over the issue of visas at British missions abroad. Trafficking in human beings is high on the agenda of the European Union; the G8; and the United Nations. My Department is represented on all the relevant working groups.
Mr. Cox:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) men and (b) women are electronically tagged by the police in England and Wales. [83909]
Mr. George Howarth:
The electronic monitoring of offenders is performed by private sector contractors working to Home Office guidelines. On 5 May, 2,139 men and 219 women were being electronically monitored under a number of schemes.
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Mr. Cox:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) male and (b) female sentenced prisoners were over the age of 70 years on 30 April. [83911]
Mr. George Howarth:
Provisional information for 30 April 1999 shows that there were 120 sentenced males and 3 sentenced females aged over 70 years in Prison Service establishments in England and Wales.
Mr. Allan:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many whole-time equivalent staff were committed to the processing of asylum applications at the Immigration and Nationality Directorate on 1 April (a) 1994, (b) 1995, (c) 1996, (d) 1997, (e) 1998 and (f) 1999. [83620]
Mr. Mike O'Brien
[holding answer 10 May 1999]: The Home Office Annual Report 1997 gives the following numbers for asylum determination staff in AA-SEO grades, excluding travel documents, appeals support management and policy staff in the years up to April 1997:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Calendar year | |
| 1994 outturn | 412 |
| 1995 outturn | 426 |
| Financial year | |
| 1996-97 estimated outturn | 514 |
More recent comparisons are very difficult because of the re-organisation of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) since December 1998. Asylum applications were previously handled in a dedicated Asylum Directorate; they are not dealt with in integrated teams which also deal with a variety of other immigration casework.
Figures for 1997-98 have not yet been published, but the figures relating to the former Asylum Directorate show 451 staff in the AA to SEO grades. The new Integrated Casework Directorate currently has 236 members of staff who are trained to deal with asylum applications; they are supported by a further 239 staff members, who also provide support on other immigration casework.
Mr. Clappison:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the average number of (a) callers, (b) calls and (c) calls answered per day to the telephone caller unit in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in (i) March and (ii) April. [83951]
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Mr. Mike O'Brien:
Figures for calls made during normal working hours in March and April were as follows:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| March | |
| (a) Average number of callers per day | 5,000 |
| (b) Average number of calls per day | 42,627 |
| (c) Average number of calls answered per day | 1,637 |
| April | |
| (a) Average number of callers per day | 4,380 |
| (b) Average number of calls per day | 30,151 |
| (c) Average number of calls answered per day | 1,883 |
Note:
Many calls are repeat calls and, therefore, these statistics must be approached with caution
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the unit cost of caseworking in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in (a) each of the last six months for which figures are available and (b) May 1997. [83950]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The direct cost of a standard unit of caseworking is routinely monitored under the terms of the contract with Siemens Business Services. Those costs, which exclude some overheads, were:
| Month | Unit cost (£) |
|---|---|
| May 1997 | 45.16 |
| October 1998 | 33.19 |
| November 1998 | 40.44 |
| December 1998 | 78.00 |
| January 1999 | 71.57 |
| February 1999 | 62.58 |
| March 1999 | 50.57 |
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