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Dangerous Driving

Mrs. Brinton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to provide a more severe penalty for those convicted of causing death by negligent driving. [95109]

Mr. Charles Clarke: There is no offence of causing death by negligent driving. Grossly negligent driving which results in a death could be charged as manslaughter, which attracts a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

25 Oct 1999 : Column: 685

The Road Traffic Act 1988 contains two offences of causing death. Causing death by dangerous driving and causing death by careless driving while under the influence of drink or drugs both attract a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment. The Government have no current plans to increase these penalties.

Mrs. Brinton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to change the charge of careless driving to a charge that recognises the culpability of the driver. [95108]

Mr. Charles Clarke: We have no current plans to change the definition of the offence of "careless driving" under section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. Research is, however, currently being conducted into the way in which cases involving "bad" driving proceed through the criminal justice system. The results of that research will help to establish whether any changes in the law are desirable.

Royal Parks (Demonstrations)

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his policy towards the enforcement of byelaws against demonstrating in the royal parks. [95649]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The enforcement of the byelaws is a matter for the Metropolitan Police and for the Royal Parks Police.

Crime and Disorder Act 1998

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many reparation orders under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 have been granted by the courts to date in each of the five pilot areas; how many of those orders have been breached; and if he will make a statement; [94957]

(2) how many applications he has received from local authorities for local child curfews under the provisions of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998; [94961]

(3) how many parenting orders have been granted to date by the courts under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 in each of the nine pilot areas; how many of those orders have been breached; and if he will make a statement; [94955]

(4) how many child safety orders have been granted by the courts under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 in each of the nine pilot areas; [94958]

(5) how many action plan orders under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 have to date been made by the courts in each of the four pilot areas; how many of these orders have been breached; how many have been revoked; and if he will make a statement. [94960]

Mr. Charles Clarke: By 30 September 1999, the latest date for which this information is readily available, the following orders had been made in the pilot areas: 122 Parenting Orders, 829 Reparation Orders, one Child Safety Order and 490 Action Plan Orders. Applying for a local child curfew is an option for local authorities to consider in light of the wider crime and disorder strategies they are developing under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. No applications have yet been received.

25 Oct 1999 : Column: 686

We do not currently have breach figures, but I will write to the hon. Member as soon as they are available.

The youth justice pilots are designed to allow us to assess the operation and costs and savings of the new youth justice measures. They will inform decisions about full implementation. Subject to the evaluation, we intend to implement the new court orders in 2000-2001.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many anti-social behaviour orders have been made by the courts to date under the provisions of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. [94954]

Mr. Charles Clarke: Information on the number of Orders made is not held centrally but we are aware of six Orders made since 1 April 1999.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Sex Offender Orders have been made by the courts to date under the provisions of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. [94956]

Mr. Charles Clarke: Information on the numbers of Sex Offender Orders made is not currently held centrally.

We are, however, aware of 14 such orders having been granted.

Chinese Presidential Visit (Policing)

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what meetings took place between his Department and the Metropolitan Police about the public order implications of the state visit by the President of China; [95646]

(2) what representations his Department made to the Metropolitan Police about the public order implications of the state visit of the President of China. [95648]

Mr. Charles Clarke: No such meetings or representations took place.

Immigration and Nationality Directorate

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the backlog of (a) immigration and asylum cases and (b) nationality cases in the Integrated Casework Directorate of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in each month since 30 June. [94972]

Mrs. Roche: The backlog of immigration and asylum cases, and, separately, nationality cases at the end of July, August and September is set out:

Immigration and asylum

Month	Number of cases
July	104,464
August	123,454
September	149,013

Nationality

Month	Number of cases
July	97,900
August	99,500
September	97,900

25 Oct 1999 : Column: 687

We have recruited 340 staff and are planning to recruit another 250 to fill vacancies and expand the Integrated Casework Directorate in order to keep pace with the intake of new cases and eliminate backlogs.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the average daily number (a) of telephone callers to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate, (b) of calls made to that directorate and (c) of calls answered by the Telephone Caller Unit, in (i) July, (ii) August and (iii) September. [94965]

Mrs. Roche: The figures relating to telephone calls to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate are provided each month by British Telecom and are actuals rather than estimates. Daily averages, by month, are set out in the table:

	Number of callers	Number of calls	Calls answered
July	4,307	51,925	1,795
August	4,133	53,352	1,867
September	4,741	37,503	3,668

Since July a number of measures have been introduced to improve the service offered by the Immigration and Nationality Enquiry Bureau (INEB). Significant numbers of new staff are now available to answer calls, a support team undertakes follow-up work generated by calls, and there have been improvements in training staff in call handling techniques and the mentoring of new and existing staff. In recent weeks the service provided by INEB has improved substantially with around 4,000 calls a day being answered (75 per cent. of incoming calls). Further changes are being considered to improve performance.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases are now held in the Central Work in Progress Store of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate; and how many of those cases have been outstanding for more than (a) six months, (b) one year and (c) two years. [94968]

Mrs. Roche: There are 83,796 cases held in the Work in Progress Store of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. This is a reduction of over 26,000 cases since July. Of the cases held in the Work in Progress Store, 12,654 have been outstanding for more than six months, 32,206 have been outstanding for more than one year, and 38,936 have been outstanding for more than two years. A number of measures have been taken to tackle the backlog, including the creation of the After Entry Clearance Team, which has had a major impact on the backlog of the after entry case backlog.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the average daily number of personal callers to each public inquiry office of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in each month since 30 June. [94963]

Mrs. Roche: The average daily number of callers to each public inquiry office in July, August and September is set out in the table:

25 Oct 1999 : Column: 688

	July	August	September
Public Caller Unit Croydon	887	882	903
Asylum Screening Unit Croydon	248	309	327
Midlands Public Enquiry Office	141	133	190
Liverpool Public Enquiry Office	60	46	51
Glasgow Public Enquiry Office	51	52	55
Belfast Public Enquiry Office	33	30	26

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of letters to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate from (a) hon. Members and (b) members of the public are currently replied to within the target times set by Ministers. [94969]

Mrs. Roche: The Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) defines and monitors public correspondence as set out in the Six Whitehall Standards. The Standards specifically exclude applications and casework related correspondence, that is the majority of correspondence received in IND.

The latest position is that 12 per cent. of letters from hon. Members and 89 per cent. of letters from members of the public to which the Standard applies, met it.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the current backlog of cases at the Liverpool Office of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate; and how many of these cases have been outstanding for over (a) six months, (b) 12 months and (c) two years. [94966]

Mrs. Roche: At 30 September 1999, the current estimated backlog of cases in the Liverpool Office stands at 97,900. 72,500 cases have been outstanding for six months; 46,900 have been outstanding for 12 months and 3,500 for two years.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the earliest date of unopened travel documents applications held by the Travel Documents Case Management Unit of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. [94970]

Mrs. Roche: The earliest date is 28 July 1999.

In the past few months, the number of staff allocated to travel documents work has doubled and is set to increase still further in the next few weeks. This combined with streamlined working practices, has resulted in dramatic increases in output from averages of 120 per week during August to well over 700 last week.

In addition, all applications received since 6 September have been opened within 24 hours of arrival in the section, and the majority processed within a matter of days.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the average waiting time for nationality cases in (a) July, (b) August and (c) September. [94964]

Mrs. Roche: The average waiting time for nationality cases in July, August and September are listed in the table:

			Months
Month	Naturalisation	Registration	Overall
(a) July 1999	20.3	5.0	17.6
(b) August 1999	20.3	7.2	18.5
(c) September 1999	20.6	8.4	19.1

25 Oct 1999 : Column: 689

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his plans now are for the implementation of the integrated information technology system in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. [94971]

Mrs. Roche: As was made clear in reply to the hon. Member's Question on 26 July 1999, Official Report, column 63, from the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, my hon. Friend the Member for North Warwickshire (Mr. O'Brien), the system is currently being tested and that process is not expected to be completed before December. Plans for implementation will be prepared in the light of the information obtained during testing as to the business benefits conferred by the different components of the system.

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