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Clergy (Housing)
Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners, what plans the Church Commissioners have to review the estimated value of the housing clergy receive. [94040]
Mr. Stuart Bell: The Archbishops' Council, in its annual report as central Stipends Authority, provides an assessment of the value of the amount clergy would have to earn if they were to have to provide and maintain domestic accommodation (excluding office space) for themselves and their families.
The clergy remuneration package (including the value of provided housing) will be considered by the group set up by the Archbishops' Council to review clergy stipends. The group will make a preliminary report to the Council in November 2000.
Mr. Ben Chapman:
To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners, what plans the Church Commissioners have for changing the housing situation of retired clergy as regards obtaining their own property. [94052]
Mr. Stuart Bell:
There are currently no plans to change the retirement provisions for clergy. The level of clergy pensions and retirement lump sums recognise the need for retired clergy to meet the cost of their housing.
The Church of England Pensions Board operates a scheme for assisting with the actual provision of retirement housing. Under the scheme, applicants with some resources can be granted value-linked mortgage loans to enable them to purchase a property. Those with very limited resources may occupy a property owned by the Board, for which they pay a maintenance contribution. Most of the finance for the scheme is provided by the Church Commissioners.
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Mr. Cummings:
To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners, what plans the Church Commissioners have for celebrating the millennium. [93653]
Mr. Stuart Bell:
The Church of England is working in close partnership with the other Christian Churches, with the overall goal of encouraging a wide range of activities and projects which seek to celebrate and explain the Christian faith. Hundreds of local congregations are also making plans for activities and events under the three themes of a New Start with God, a New Start at Home, and a New Start for the World's Poor. The Faith zone of the Millennium Dome will also celebrate the nation's Christian heritage. The Archbishop of Canterbury will lead the nation in prayer during the opening ceremony at the Dome on New Year's Eve and the Churches' Millennium Resolution, set to music by John Taverner, will be sung. Later in the year, the main focus of the Churches' celebrations will be Pentecost Sunday, June 11, when a large range of events have been planned.
Mr. Linton:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he intends to publish the final report of the Home Office Working Party on Electoral Procedures. [94816]
Mr. Straw:
I have today placed a copy of the Working Party's Report in the Library and it will also be published on the Home Office's internet website.
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Knowsley, North and Sefton, East (Mr. Howarth), now Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and all the members of his Working Party, on a report that will be a major landmark in this country's electoral history. The existing procedures have served us well but are now well over a hundred years old and do not fully reflect modern conditions of life and work. The Working Party has gone out of its way to ensure that the integrity and openness of our electoral system will still be maintained into the next century.
I am very pleased to see the cross-party consensus that was achieved within the Working Party as this is essential to any aspect of electoral legislation.
I commend the Working Party's report to the House. The majority of its recommendations will require primary legislation, and I shall be seeking the earliest practical opportunity for a Bill. I look forward to cross-party co-operation that will ensure a swift and smooth passage for this excellent set of proposals.
Mr. David Atkinson:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement of progress on the millennium readiness of his Department's computer systems, and those for which it is responsible in the provision of public services; if contingency plans are in place; and what slippage has occurred since the July Quarterly report to the House. [93564]
19 Oct 1999 : Column: 435
Mr. Straw:
Details of the Home Office and its agencies' progress in tackling the bug are set out in our quarterly monitoring returns. These are available in the Library and are published on the Internet.
In the latest published return, up to the end of August, out of 28 business critical Information Technology systems in the Home Office and its Agencies, 25 had been declared Year 2000 compliant. The remaining three systems completed their work during September. In the Home Office all Business Critical systems (Information Technology, Telecommunications and Embedded Systems) have now completed their Year 2000 work.
My department will complete work on all non-critical systems slightly later. 86 per cent. of non-critical Information Technology systems are complete, with full completion due during November. 80 per cent. of all non-critical embedded systems are compliant, with all work due to complete during December. Non-critical telecommunications work is scheduled to finish during this month. It should be noted that none of these non-critical systems affect the key services provided by my Department.
In Home Office Agencies, with the exception of one building management system, whose functions can be performed manually, all non-critical systems are compliant.
The results of the October monthly review of progress of Government departments and agencies in tackling the bug are to be announced shortly by the President of the Council.
The Home Office has policy responsibility for the police, fire, prison and probation services, the Police Information Technology Organisation and the Forensic Science Service. The results of the latest independent assessment of these sectors will be announced at the National Infrastructure Forum (NIF) on 21 October. This will show that good progress has been made since the previous NIF on 13 July, with all areas expected to report a Blue grading, meaning no material disruption is expected.
All key services provided by the Home Office will have business continuity plans in place by the end of October. 16 of the 19 services have already completed this work. My Department's Millennium Operating Regime will be completed by the end of this month and will be effective from November 1999.
Two Home Office business critical systems reported minor slippage during August, although these have since been declared compliant. The Forensic Science Service also reported that embedded systems at one site were not yet compliant. Negotiations are continuing with the landlords and the necessary compliance work is expected to be completed shortly.
Mr. Bercow:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will deposit in the Library a copy of the Commission recommendation concerning the UK application to join elements of Schengen. [94139]
19 Oct 1999 : Column: 436
Mrs. Roche:
The Opinion of the European Commission on the United Kingdom's application to participate in certain provisions of the Schengen acquis was deposited for Parliamentary scrutiny on 9 August 1999. At the same time a copy was placed in the Library.
Mr. Cohen:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many immigration posts have run-out of forms SAL1 and SAL2 in the last year; how many have been using form IS96 for the wrong purpose in the last year; what assessment he has made of the effects of this on (a) fraud and (b) inconvenience to asylum seekers; what plans he has to issue more consistency of supply; and if he will make a statement. [93732]
Mrs. Roche:
In the 12 months ending on 12 July 1999, because of printing problems, four immigration ports of entry exhausted their supplies of form SAL1 on various dates between 29 June and 12 July 1999 but no port of entry exhausted its supply of form SAL2. As a temporary measure, the Immigration Service, after liaising with the Benefits Agency, issued alternative confirmation that applicants who were not issued with form SAL1 had arrived in the United Kingdom and sought asylum on entry. There is no record that during the same period any port used form IS96 for the wrong purpose.
There are no indications that these measures had any bearing on fraud or that there was significant inconvenience to asylum seekers.
There are now adequate stocks of forms SAL1 and SAL2 available and future orders will be placed earlier.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the age distribution of individuals who commit drug-related crime on Merseyside. [94517]
Mr. Charles Clarke:
This information is not centrally collated. However, some research bearing on the Merseyside area, is currently being analysed as part of the New England and Wales Arrestee and Drug Abuse Monitoring (NEW-ADAM) programme for interviewing and drug testing arrestees. It is hoped to publish the next set of full results, including those for Merseyside, in the first half of next year.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what range of national initiatives Her Majesty's Government have employed to reduce drug-related crime since 1997. [94523]
Mr. Charles Clarke:
One of the four Key Aims of the Government's drug strategy is to protect communities from drug-related crime. National initiatives introduced since 1997 include the piloting of the new Drug Treatment and Testing Order, for which around £60 million has been earmarked for national roll-out next year, an additional £60 million for the provision of new treatment services in prison and up to £20 million over the next two years to assist in the development of arrest referral schemes to get drug misusing offenders into treatment.
19 Oct 1999 : Column: 437
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much expenditure has been committed to reducing drug-related crime on Merseyside, for each year since 1995. [94522]
Mr. Charles Clarke:
The total expenditure of the relevant agencies involved in tackling drug-related crime on Merseyside is not held centrally.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what range of initiatives have been taken by Her Majesty's Government since 1997 on Merseyside to reduce drug-related crime. [94516]
Mr. Charles Clarke:
The responsibility for local delivery on Merseyside of the Government's drugs strategy, including the key aim of protecting communities from drug-related crime, rests with the four Drug Action Teams in Liverpool, Sefton, St. Helens and Knowsley and Wirral. In addition, Liverpool is one of the three locations
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in the country where the new drug treatment and testing order is being piloted under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much expenditure has been committed to reducing drug- related crime within the United Kingdom in each year since 1995. [94521]
Mr. Charles Clarke:
It is not possible to identify separately the national expenditure on reducing drug-related crime. The total annual expenditure on tackling drug misuse has been estimated at £1.4 billion. An additional £217 million over three years was made available in 1998.
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