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Police (Length of Service)

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average length of service is per police officer (a) per force and (b) for England as a whole; and if he will make a statement. [98175]

Mr. Charles Clarke: This information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Police (Staff Costs)

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the total (a) budget and (b) expenditure were for police staff costs for the Metropolitan police in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [98172]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The Receiver for the Metropolitan police district tells me that the budget and expenditure figures for police staff costs within the Metropolitan police over the last five years are as follows:

£ million

YearBudget police staffingOutturn police staffing
1994-95949.105947.697
1995-96953.906953.116
1996-97960.911953.352
1997-98950.294954.126
1998-99968.503969.985

Commission for Racial Equality

Mr. Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 1 November 1999, Official Report, column 64, if he will detail the settlements made with the five employees of the Commission for Racial Equality with regard to their claims of racial discrimination against the Commission. [98369]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: Details of individual settlements are confidential between the parties involved.

Farouk Sarraj

Sir Teddy Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when his office received passports from Mr. Farouk Sarraj and his wife Haj Fadel of 5a Camper Road, Southend-on-Sea SS1 2YR with the request that they have printed on them the permanent right of residence granted by his Department in its letter dated 10 September 1973 (reference F95293), and when he intends to respond to the request. [98127]

Mrs. Roche: Mrs. Haj Fadel's passport was received in the Integrated Casework Directorate on 24 July 1999. We have asked for the recorded delivery details of a second package containing Mr. Farouk Sarraj's passport and we are trying to trace the record of receipt.

Once both passports and supporting documents have been traced they will be passed to a caseworker for urgent consideration and a decision will then be made as quickly as possible.

11 Nov 1999 : Column: 800

Siemens Contract

Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the Government received all payments and compensation owing from Siemens for computer work at the Immigration Department before Siemens was allowed to bid for the Vehicle Inspectorate system. [98242]

Mrs. Roche: Yes. Under the terms of the contract between the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) and Siemens Business Services (SBS), the financial risk for the late delivery of elements of the IND Casework Programme is borne by SBS. In September 1998 a package of changes to the contractual payment terms--in part to compensate for expenditure wasted as a result of the delays in delivering the Information Technology application--was negotiated with SBS and all agreed compensation payments have been received when due. Details of this package are commercially confidential and disclosure would place us in breach of contract.

Special Constabulary

Mr. Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people served in the special constabulary of each police force in each of the past five years for which figures are available. [89552]

Mr. Charles Clarke [pursuant to the reply, 5 July 1999, c.330-31]: The table setting out the number of special constables in post in each police force in England and Wales for the past five years has been revised to take account of some typographical errors in the figures given in the columns for 1996 and 1997. The figures have been further revised to take account of corrections which forces have made in their returns for 1996.

The revised table is as follows:

Force19951996199719981999
Avon and Somerset651688759621547
Bedfordshire189189182186154
Cambridgeshire279275303320310
Cheshire321274475459407
City of London8377867664
Cleveland212195160164126
Cumbria241201189198204
Derbyshire434413428380317
Devon and Cornwall1,1421,1021,1481,024918
Dorset221254289315305
Durham200187184144159
Dyfed-Powys302314283254237
Essex674608634638544
Gloucestershire320330297276233
Greater Manchester768746685598523
Gwent126136157119113
Hampshire598564611698760
Hertfordshire320315297306238
Humberside427391340324269
Kent569555589592526
Lancashire608531483489449
Leicestershire356360415406316
Lincolnshire322299271260216
Merseyside384333401419458
Metropolitan Police1,5501,8501,7141,2821,138
Norfolk345319402337336
Northamptonshire303289316288230
Northumbria506471533400342
North Wales288332341358400
North Yorkshire381360362358276
Nottinghamshire552537620558461
South Wales477461361366338
South Yorkshire452381308281246
Staffordshire725702685595468
Suffolk409407379397420
Surrey238260297235224
Sussex527511472442393
Thames Valley679744656609569
Warwickshire352340381345261
West Mercia582613582512515
West Midlands818897945889731
West Yorkshire777709690589559
Wiltshire318233154149184
Total20,02619,75319,86418,25616,484

11 Nov 1999 : Column: 801

The figures for 1995 have been supplied by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary. Those for 1996-99 have been supplied by the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate.

Qualified Majority Voting

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list those areas of extension of qualified majority voting agreed at Tampere; and if he will list those areas where he has declared he will veto any extension. [96573]

Mr. Vaz: I have been asked to reply.

No extension of qualified majority voting was agreed at Tampere. For a statement of the Government's position on qualified majority voting I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister gave him on 9 November 1999, Official Report, column 486.

SOCIAL SECURITY

Pensioners (Income Support)

Mr. Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the estimated cost of income support for pensioners in (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01 and (c) 2001-02; and what levels of take-up are assumed, as a percentage of beneficiaries and potential expenditure. [97554]

Mr. Rooker: The current forecasts of expenditure on income support for pensioners is given in the table. I shall make an announcement on our plans for a national programme to encourage take-up of the minimum income guarantee in due course.

£ million
1999-20004,033
2000-014,196
2001-024,407

Note:

These figures are consistent with the pre Budget Report 1999


Social Fund

Mr. Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many benefit claimants received a social fund (a) grant or (b) loan in each of the last five years in (i) Greater London, (ii) Leaside district and

11 Nov 1999 : Column: 802

(iii) Edmonton constituency; what was the total amount of (A) grant and (B) loan in (i), (ii), and (iii); and if he will make a statement. [98056]

Angela Eagle: The administration of the Social Fund is a matter for Peter Mathison, the Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to my hon. Friend.

Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Andrew Love, dated 10 November 1999:



    Although the Benefits Agency (BA) does not collate information in exactly the format you have requested, the figures available are included in the attached appendix.


    The number of loans and grants awarded does not correspond to individual benefit customers, as some will have received an award more than once. We do not have information on the latter.


    Data is held at district office level. BA districts do not correspond to the boroughs within Greater London. In order to answer your question, the following BA districts have been used:



    Barking and Havering, Ealing, Bankside, Euston, Neasden, Newham, Thames Valley, South Circular, City East, Barnet, Leaside, Thameside, Palace, Hackney, Harrow & Hillingdon, SW Thames


    Leaside district consists of Edmonton, Tottenham and Wood Green offices. Information at a sub-district or constituency level is not available and therefore, I am unable to provide information on the Edmonton area in isolation.


    I hope this is helpful.


    Appendix

Table 1: Number of loans and grants in Greater London

Financial yearLoansGrants
1995-96195,25230,410
1996-97187,04227,865
1997-98192,74226,907
1998-99195,37627,576
1999-2000(28)119,70015,916

Table 2: Total amount spent on loans and grants in Greater London

£
Financial yearLoansGrants
1995-9641,637,468.9012,015,099.65
1996-9747,755,587.8612,116,068.11
1997-9854,245,234.6612,565,912.12
1998-9957,774,958.3812,825,380.17
1999-2000(28)36,496,136.567,516,206.48

Table 3: Number of loans and grants awards in Leaside BA district

Financial yearloansgrants
1995-9610,8001,572
1996-9711,4481,584
1997-9813,3221,495
1998-9913,5951,683
1999-2000(28)7,722850


11 Nov 1999 : Column: 803

Table 4: Total amount spent on loans and grants in Leaside BA district

£
Financial yearLoansGrants
1995-963,173,645.26629,846.43
1996-973,629,703.96628,870.05
1997-984,050,184.48633,391.42
1998-994,035,156.27661,875.32
1999-2000(28)2,841,128.38358,111.86

(28) Figures for 1999-2000 cover the period from April to October 1999

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