---

New Deal

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many 18 to 24 year-olds have started the New Deal scheme in Shrewsbury and Atcham, broken down by (a) employer, (b) full time education, (c) voluntary sector, (d) environment task force and (e) other; and if he will make a statement. [94247]

Ms Jowell: In the period to the end of July 1999, 278 young people had joined New Deal in Shrewsbury and Atcham parliamentary constituency.

26 Oct 1999 : Column: 813

The following table shows the destinations of all those who had left the Gateway by the end of July 1999.

	Number
Total number of leavers from Gateway	227
Immediate destination on leaving:
Unsubsidised employment	46
To a New Deal Option	123
of which:
Employment	14
Full-time education/training	34
Voluntary Sector	36
Environment Task Force	39
Other destinations:
Other benefits	11
Other known destination	12
Not known	35

HOME DEPARTMENT

Asylum Seekers

Mr. Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what telephone access to the Immigration Service is currently available to (a) asylum seekers and (b) local Benefit Agency sections on asylum seeker matters; what plans he has to improve the current level of telephone access; and if he will make a statement. [93984]

Mrs. Roche: Asylum seekers, in common with other members of the public, can telephone the Immigration and Nationality Enquiry Bureau to seek information on general immigration matters or to chase progress on applications. Major improvements have recently been made in telephone call handling with around 4,000 calls (75 per cent. of calls) now being answered each day. Further measures are planned with the aim of increasing this to 5,000 calls a day.

Arrangements have been made with the Benefits Agency that local offices should use a dedicated fax line to make inquiries about an asylum seeker's immigration status. Urgent inquiries will be dealt within three days. Inquiries from the Fraud Unit or in connection with terminally ill claimants can still be made by telephone.

Scout and Guiding Movement

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what estimate he has made of the amount of income that will be generated from fees paid by the Guide Association Movement in the UK arising from use of the proposed Criminal Records Bureau in the first three years of its operation; [93728]

(2) what estimate he has made of (a) the annual revenue raised from the Scout and Guiding Movement as a result of the charges for carrying out security checks on new volunteers, (b) the cost of administering each charge associated with security checks on people who work with children and (c) the number of individuals subject to such a charge per annum. [94703]

26 Oct 1999 : Column: 814

Mr. Charles Clarke: When the Criminal Records Bureau comes into operation, it will be expected to recover its costs through charges for the certificates it will issue, on application, to individual employees. The overall cost to the Scout and Guiding Movement will depend upon their decisions as to the circumstances in which its volunteers should apply for a certificate and whether to reimburse the cost. Until the Bureau's operating costs have been determined it will not be possible to fix the charges for certificates but our best early estimate is £10 for the most expensive certificate, the Enhanced Criminal Record Certificate. We have made clear our intention to keep the cost as low as possible.

Wildlife

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what initiatives his Department has launched to protect wildlife (a) in the UK and (b) on Merseyside. [94653]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: Government policy responsibility for wildlife conservation rests mainly with the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR). There are no initiatives on this in which the Home Office has the lead role.

The principal national initiative, overseen by the DETR, but to which the Home Office suscribes, is the Partnership for Action against Wildlife Crime (PAW), launched in 1995 and fully supported by this Government. It provides a forum for Government Departments, voluntary organisations and wildlife user groups to make a strategic contribution to the fight against wildlife crime. PAW supports a network of over 250 Police Wildlife Liaison Officers (PWLOs) in police forces across the United Kingdom, including the Merseyside Police. PAW also hosts an annual conference of PWLOs.

Enforcement responsibility for wildlife crime rests with the police and, in the case of illegal imports and exports, with Her Majesty's Customs and Excise. Local initiatives to combat wildlife crime are matters for chief police officers in the light of their overall policing priorities. Merseyside Police are active in this area, and have most recently been targeting unlawful collection of birds' eggs, with the result that prosecutions are pending. A number of persons in Merseyside have also been cautioned for wildlife offences this year.

To assist local enforcement efforts across the country, PAW has made a number of recommendations, including that the courts be given the option, at present unavailable to them, of imposing custodial sentences for wildlife offences. The Government will be implementing this as soon as a suitable legislative opportunity arises.

Eurodac

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress he has made with the implementation of the Eurodac Implementing Rules (8140/99); and if he will make a statement. [94131]

Mrs. Roche: The draft Eurodac implementing rules were drawn up in respect of the draft Eurodac Convention and associated draft Protocol, which were not adopted by the Council prior to the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam. A draft Eurodac Regulation is currently under discussion as a First Pillar measure. My right hon.

26 Oct 1999 : Column: 815

Friend the Home Secretary announced on 7 October that the United Kingdom was opting in to the draft Regulation. Implementing rules for the draft Regulation may need to be supplemented in the future in the light of technical developments.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had about the possible transfer to the Commission of competence for implementing the provisions of the Eurodac Regulation; and if he will make a statement. [94130]

Mrs. Roche: The Commission has proposed that competence for implementing provisions of the Eurodac Regulation should be transferred to the Commission by the Council in accordance with the terms of the first sentence of Article 202 of the Treaty Establishing the European Community. The Council will need to decide whether there are grounds in this instance for reserving that competence to itself in accordance with the third sentence of Article 202.

26 Oct 1999 : Column: 816

The Regulatory Procedure which the Commission has proposed for the implementing rules for the draft Eurodac Regulation would give the Member States considerable control over the Commission's exercise of delegated powers.

Prison Education Courses

Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set out the amounts of money available in each prison for education courses in each of the past 10 years at current prices and the percentage increase for each year. [94570]

Mr. Boateng: Information is not available in the form requested. The table sets out actual expenditure on certain separately identifiable areas of education spend covering payments to education service providers and purchase of education materials. These cover the financial years 1995-96 to 1998-99 and are at 1998-99 prices; information for earlier years is not readily available, neither is information on education costs at private sector prisons.

26 Oct 1999 : Column: 815

	1995-96 spend at 1998-99 prices	1996-97 spend at 1998-99 prices	1996-97 as % of 1995-96	1997-98 spend at 1998-99 prices	1997-98 as % of 1996-97	1998-99 spend	1998-99 as % of 1997-98
Establishment	£	£	%	£	%	£	%
Acklington	320,988	255,692	80	226,867	89	229,400	101
Albany	247,745	110,279	45	158,413	144	172,037	109
Aldington	167,464	130,183	78	135,247	104	131,333	97
Ashwell	372,115	336,886	91	341,547	101	359,680	105
Askham Grange	155,818	139,374	89	131,372	94	142,894	109
Aylesbury	388,924	321,477	83	424,991	132	522,455	123
Bedford	225,219	228,859	102	205,957	90	204,989	100
Belmarsh	390,367	367,166	94	426,554	116	440,854	103
Birmingham	299,945	213,254	71	203,980	96	199,999	98
Blantyre House	146,090	172,466	118	184,963	107	159,433	86
Blundeston	329,451	227,839	69	248,196	109	244,169	98
Brinsford	305,533	189,433	62	173,544	92	242,237	140
Bristol	219,098	154,292	70	167,307	108	153,388	92
Brixton	432,034	395,589	92	450,427	114	312,580	69
Brockhill	270,784	211,734	78	164,372	78	174,391	106
Bullingdon	929,823	545,194	59	497,006	91	512,312	103
Bullwood Hall	206,707	223,984	108	210,604	94	233,355	111
Camp Hill	351,260	368,614	105	367,815	100	352,129	96
Canterbury	212,128	178,896	84	154,277	86	134,907	87
Cardiff	215,605	192,010	89	187,714	98	212,610	113
Castington	256,500	211,643	83	247,594	117	256,167	103
Channings Wood	483,715	416,982	86	370,859	89	361,226	97
Chelmsford	205,243	182,372	89	170,633	94	185,244	109
Coldingley	221,893	180,317	81	164,441	91	191,468	116
Cookham Wood	155,655	140,222	90	136,257	97	131,159	96
Dartmoor	490,432	426,430	87	376,086	88	426,377	113
Deerbolt	393,771	346,360	88	334,390	97	422,119	126
Dorchester	267,942	221,926	83	100,197	45	130,048	130
Dover	189,120	141,074	75	154,973	110	157,403	102
Downview	230,174	233,426	101	225,186	96	206,700	92
Drake Hall	203,930	167,620	82	163,714	98	156,929	96
Durham	354,246	346,553	98	362,400	105	355,476	98
East Sutton Park	132,863	102,594	77	96,178	94	85,966	89
Eastwood Park	--	168,820	--	179,756	106	226,694	126
Elmley	475,773	305,430	64	261,960	86	391,782	150
Erlestoke	335,619	283,987	85	306,365	108	309,072	101
Everthorpe	337,331	431,628	128	448,623	104	443,146	99
Exeter	211,231	138,522	66	132,976	96	154,440	116
Featherstone	260,355	187,970	72	179,526	96	181,350	101
Feltham	398,644	420,368	105	479,126	114	592,115	124
Ford	269,577	286,046	106	282,219	99	260,074	92
Foston Hall	--	--	--	139,476	--	230,688	165
Frankland	313,636	253,805	81	279,530	110	350,257	125
Full Sutton	671,801	602,092	90	486,519	81	467,432	96
Garth	395,810	369,719	93	397,672	108	423,618	107
Gartree	280,660	241,692	86	221,795	92	208,846	94
Glen Parva	529,564	439,707	83	450,296	102	553,878	123
Gloucester	208,789	205,317	98	214,285	104	252,051	118
Grendon	416,997	362,016	87	356,722	99	393,318	110
Guys Marsh	248,305	306,353	123	265,237	87	359,457	136
Haslar	221,863	220,134	99	123,624	56	136,942	111
Hatfield	208,588	184,771	89	230,847	125	224,478	97
Haverigg	229,051	217,593	95	307,805	141	275,718	90
Hewell Grange	187,496	155,722	83	155,771	100	153,081	98
High Down	566,157	426,147	75	339,929	80	407,265	120
Highpoint	522,202	357,017	68	518,874	145	578,123	111
Hindley	399,586	714,789	179	745,775	104	624,206	84
Hollesley Bay Colony	518,083	431,767	83	364,023	84	359,530	99
Holloway	364,472	379,385	104	388,327	102	433,770	112
Holme House	425,669	486,164	114	586,511	121	382,409	65
Hull	372,511	384,935	103	348,541	91	375,372	108
Huntercombe	370,931	319,583	86	325,599	102	402,591	124
Kingston	131,829	112,263	85	91,701	82	106,748	116
Kirkham	260,166	221,003	85	237,869	108	242,505	102
Kirklevington Grange	94,276	40,942	43	56,656	138	36,554	65
Lancaster Castle	191,599	190,058	99	169,115	89	171,845	102
Lancaster Farms	355,794	428,832	121	469,904	110	564,437	120
Latchmere House	48,859	20,378	42	19,687	97	18,524	94
Leeds	362,199	410,932	113	433,803	106	551,235	127
Leicester	207,601	206,254	99	201,130	98	201,636	100
Lewes	333,143	325,761	98	280,200	86	276,099	99
Leyhill	256,715	260,851	102	251,993	97	241,674	96
Lincoln	378,992	353,502	93	228,668	65	220,840	97
Lindholme	456,410	434,242	95	431,289	99	445,630	103
Littlehey	589,391	456,617	77	432,097	95	395,780	92
Liverpool	304,672	310,245	102	340,917	110	365,870	107
Long Lartin	249,304	213,313	86	237,430	111	200,300	84
Low Newton	378,245	348,073	92	353,312	102	360,377	102
Maidstone	252,495	230,986	91	208,931	90	195,777	94
Manchester	577,197	508,335	88	480,993	95	557,039	116
Moorland	724,341	657,735	91	707,773	108	829,616	117
Morton Hall	240,870	211,571	88	193,058	91	191,851	99
Mount (The)	529,479	467,467	88	372,248	80	377,489	101
New Hall	316,980	359,568	113	309,448	86	376,651	122
North Sea Camp	136,350	134,421	99	130,866	97	126,023	96
Northallerton	250,127	242,067	97	242,156	100	279,352	115
Norwich	581,512	487,871	84	404,560	83	417,911	103
Nottingham	238,436	231,123	97	264,019	114	250,387	95
Onley	341,343	331,618	97	467,001	141	570,060	122
Parkhurst	177,353	203,573	115	228,680	112	253,595	111
Pentonville	318,807	249,295	78	271,258	109	318,295	117
Portland	458,136	476,653	104	455,097	95	500,700	110
Preston	216,330	202,751	94	245,151	121	265,367	108
Pucklechurch	145,948	277	--	--	--	--	--
Ranby	239,595	373,831	156	380,482	102	410,498	108
Reading	196,703	163,667	83	146,103	89	136,296	93
Risley	691,312	575,368	83	585,171	102	593,435	101
Rochester	361,227	274,862	76	152,095	55	190,179	125
Send	163,481	135,870	83	144,275	106	126,692	88
Shepton Mallet	261,070	229,425	88	210,478	92	184,749	88
Shrewsbury	167,624	135,534	81	117,589	87	121,260	103
Stafford	392,396	297,225	76	288,926	97	261,845	91
Standford Hill	230,451	208,939	91	200,701	96	204,993	102
Stocken	363,746	330,037	91	363,977	110	393,849	108
Stoke Heath	301,910	249,703	83	301,152	121	482,394	160
Styal	245,601	230,306	94	238,478	104	277,910	117
Sudbury	414,493	412,081	99	391,876	95	399,954	102
Swaleside	360,517	299,976	83	337,231	112	351,168	104
Swansea	234,158	180,318	77	146,683	81	130,088	89
Swinfen Hall	228,202	244,270	107	217,106	89	331,556	153
Thorn Cross	287,383	365,351	127	496,638	136	511,470	103
Usk/Prescoed	378,810	246,897	65	385,413	156	362,278	94
Verne (The)	272,071	411,824	151	224,120	54	211,964	95
Wakefield	381,573	362,875	95	349,726	96	359,617	103
Wandsworth	455,950	263,351	58	230,002	87	226,969	99
Wayland	489,750	401,023	82	434,827	108	413,968	95
Wealstun	424,943	444,615	105	382,561	86	343,721	90
Weare (The)	--	--	--	165,098	--	318,446	193
Wellingborough	288,771	209,685	73	227,193	108	227,327	100
Werrington	217,266	160,067	74	195,469	122	201,345	103
Wetherby	283,267	228,420	81	444,925	195	497,377	112
Whatton	379,617	312,413	82	311,847	100	298,068	96
Whitemoor	600,985	442,938	74	410,264	93	432,700	105
Winchester	303,629	308,643	102	314,370	102	323,249	103
Woodhill	551,458	508,685	92	503,416	99	486,963	97
Wormwood Scrubs	300,565	290,010	96	296,875	102	280,952	95
Wymott	208,603	359,781	172	415,976	116	399,012	96

26 Oct 1999 : Column: 819

26 Oct 1999 : Column: 819

Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set out the amount per head of population of each prison available for education courses for each of the past 10 years. [94571]

Mr. Boateng: Information is not available in the form requested. The tables set out actual annual expenditure on certain separately identifiable areas of education spend covering payments to education service providers and purchase of education materials divided by the average

26 Oct 1999 : Column: 820

population for each prison in that year. These cover the financial years 1995-96 to 1998-99; information for earlier years is not readily available, neither is information on education costs at private sector prisons. The figures are at current, 1998-99, prices.

The percentage of the population which would have been engaged in education will have varied from prison to prison and from year to year, so any conclusions drawn from these figures must be treated with caution.

26 Oct 1999 : Column: 819

£

Establishment	1995-96 spend per head at 1998-99 prices	1996-97 spend per head at 1998-99 prices	1997-98 spend per head at 1998-99 prices	Spend per head 1998-99
Acklington	503	395	347	356
Albany	587	256	369	399
Aldington	1,384	937	987	966
Ashwell	959	820	754	740
Askham Grange	1,528	1,124	1,034	1,143
Aylesbury	1,760	1,345	1,367	1,593
Bedford	734	646	541	548
Belmarsh	659	472	493	545
Birmingham	332	214	196	189
Blantyre House	1,446	1,500	1,541	1,340
Blundeston	860	571	617	712
Brinsford	663	387	333	482
Bristol	430	282	287	265
Brixton	741	662	753	474
Brockhill	2,036	1,667	1,274	1,246
Bullingdon	1,072	798	723	603
Bullwood Hall	1,708	1,821	1,608	1,716
Camp Hill	894	882	733	744
Canterbury	810	644	576	480
Cardiff	487	300	264	315
Castington	888	720	784	753
Channings Wood	868	706	613	611
Chelmsford	540	421	364	457
Coldingley	784	626	556	660
Cookham Wood	1,216	1,002	927	835
Dartmoor	859	731	600	657
Deerbolt	987	835	800	1,045
Dorchester	1,313	1,004	436	588
Dover	666	463	510	547
Downview	822	811	668	608
Drake Hall	1,030	665	613	599
Durham	545	400	389	402
East Sutton Park	1,444	1,127	1,002	966
Eastwood Park	--	1,384	1,145	837
Elmley	783	469	311	430
Erlestoke	1,271	1,064	998	1,020
Everthorpe	1,140	970	975	959
Exeter	533	309	290	344
Featherstone	471	333	301	304
Feltham	492	486	536	674
Ford	654	643	630	616
Foston Hall	--	--	1,134	1,709
Frankland	782	589	624	739
Full Sutton	1,226	1,158	973	841
Garth	781	710	645	660
Gartree	864	673	611	572
Glen Parva	684	507	516	671
Gloucester	892	808	760	849
Grendon	1,012	864	830	839
Guys Marsh	853	995	717	752
Haslar	1,608	1,487	877	925
Hatfield	1,363	1,155	1,529	1,477
Haverigg	574	455	560	542
Hewell Grange	1,172	815	807	797
High Down	918	650	488	523
Highpoint	808	584	747	846
Hindley	1,373	1,427	1,429	1,345
Hollesley Bay Colony	1,584	1,151	859	980
Holloway	671	659	745	839
Holme House	696	685	656	402
Hull	1,043	879	686	755
Huntercombe	1,438	1,310	1,252	1,160
Kingston	1,292	1,079	791	684
Kirkham	511	361	362	400
Kirklevington Grange	1,025	405	326	207
Lancaster Castle	855	880	783	792
Lancaster Farms	1,002	914	936	1,193
Latchmere House	370	130	110	108
Leeds	340	465	430	454
Leicester	643	610	581	579
Lewes	1,099	1,037	581	586
Leyhill	717	671	646	651
Lincoln	635	549	366	443
Lindholme	748	667	635	661
Littlehey	1,056	785	675	621
Liverpool	251	251	234	253
Long Lartin	700	580	623	574
Low Newton	1,411	1,226	1,186	1,209
Maidstone	507	430	374	351
Manchester	553	453	455	527
Moorland	1,191	1,017	1,050	1,089
Morton Hall	1,460	1,144	965	989
Mount (The)	1,055	777	600	614
New Hall	1,546	1,657	935	1,024
North Sea Camp	816	719	658	681
Northallerton	1,367	976	894	1,054
Norwich	1,638	857	560	605
Nottingham	1,152	1,090	679	592
Onley	702	644	808	938
Parkhurst	778	704	648	622
Pentonville	378	284	290	284
Portland	1,048	926	829	893
Preston	482	452	375	396
Pucklechurch	2,115	--	--	--
Ranby	690	726	678	588
Reading	1,137	737	641	603
Risley	937	750	671	684
Rochester	1,082	735	379	499
Send	1,229	944	659	1,526
Shepton Mallet	1,312	1,108	988	876
Shrewsbury	588	440	363	386
Stafford	678	489	465	422
Standford Hill	660	584	597	637
Stocken	923	791	795	745
Stoke Heath	1,048	793	672	793
Styal	1,032	921	877	985
Sudbury	1,006	875	796	810
Swaleside	720	577	569	569
Swansea	1,079	670	439	399
Swinfen Hall	1,240	1,075	1,080	1,188
Thorn Cross	1,661	1,752	2,247	2,357
Usk/ Prescoed	1,592	1,359	1,372	1,258
Verne (The)	507	440	393	371
Wakefield	534	580	575	614
Wandsworth	440	287	261	207
Wayland	919	697	675	649
Wealstun	961	793	647	559
Weare (The)	--	--	581	907
Wellingborough	947	833	708	695
Werrington	1,940	1,417	1,261	1,598
Wetherby	2,146	1,919	1,561	1,535
Whatton	1,791	1,427	1,368	1,173
Whitemoor	1,138	842	786	847
Winchester	575	554	519	542
Woodhill	1,096	814	732	700
Wormwood Scrubs	371	260	223	250
Wymott	493	488	522	501

26 Oct 1999 : Column: 823

26 Oct 1999 : Column: 823

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