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Enforcement Removal Costs
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his target for the unit cost of an enforcement removal; and what is the current actual unit cost. [107773]
Mrs. Roche: A target for the unit cost of an enforcement removal has not yet been established. However, work is continuing to enable actual costs to be ascertained.
Immigration and Nationality Directorate
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many projects has the Immigration and Nationality Directorate initiated against organised crime during 1999-2000 to date; and what proportion of all such projects commenced by the Directorate are now being completed within 12 months. [107782]
Mrs. Roche: The Immigration Service is currently conducting 27 projects against organised crime, six of which have been initiated since April 1999. It is anticipated that 40 per cent. of all such projects will reach conclusion within 12 months.
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases of marriage abuse, unscrupulous representatives or illegal employment the Immigration and Nationality Directorate has prepared for prosecution so far during 1999-2000. [107774]
Mrs. Roche: Since April 1999, the Immigration Service has prepared 229 cases for possible prosecution and passed them to the Crown Prosecution Service for consideration. Of the total, 180 cases were prepared against facilitators and 49 involved other forms of abuse of the immigration law. Information is not held centrally that would enable us to break down these figures further.
Airline Liaison Officers
Mr. Lidington:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many airline liaison officers are now in post. [107767]
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Mrs. Roche:
On 31 January, a total of 18 airline liaison officers were in post. By March we anticipate that the network will have expanded to a total of 20 posts.
Mr. Lidington:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many major and medium enforcement operations the Immigration and Nationality Directorate has initiated so far during the year 1999-2000. [107764]
Mrs. Roche:
Since April 1999, 17 upper tier and 55 middle tier operations have been carried out by the Immigration Service. (Major and medium enforcement operations are now referred to as upper and middle tier operations).
Mr. Lidington:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the current average waiting time for a decision on an application for British citizenship. [107777]
Mrs. Roche:
The average waiting time for applications decided in December 1999 was 19 months.
Mr. Dismore:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assistance his Department offers to applicants for driving licences whose identification documents are (a) held by or (b) have not been issued by Immigration and Nationality Department ; and if he will make a statement. [106681]
Mrs. Roche:
Where a request is made for the return of an applicant's identity documents for identification purposes, including applying for a driving licence, arrangements are made to return the documents as soon as possible, usually within five working days.
Asylum seekers who have no formal immigration status here and require their identity documents, for example, for obtaining a driving licence from the Driving and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), have hitherto been asked to send them back within 48 hours. However, as the DVLA are unable to process their applications within this timescale, this requirement has now been relaxed.
Where asylum seekers have no identity documents they are issued with a Standard Acknowledgement Letter (SAL) which confirms that an asylum application has been made and bears the holder's photograph. However, this document is only an acknowledgement that they have an outstanding asylum claim. We understand that the DVLA do not accept this document as a proof of identity but we are not able to issue any form of identity documents unless and until the asylum application has been favourably determined.
Mr. Baker:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what account he took of the impact on BSkyB in making his decision on whether to allow Mr. Mike Tyson into the UK. [106652]
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Mr. Straw:
In reaching my decision to admit Mr. Tyson one of the factors which weighed most heavily with me was the lack of consistency in the application of this Immigration Rule, as well as the likely effect of cancellation of the fight on those who had already purchased tickets and smaller enterprises and individuals who were probably least able to beat any losses. The situation of the latter had been drawn to my attention in the representations submitted by Mr. Frank Warren, the promoter of the event, who also referred to the investment in the promotion by television networks including "Showtime" in the United States of America and "BSkyB" in this country. Although I considered these factors I did not regard them as relevant to the decision I took.
Mr. Paul Marsden:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will investigate the impact on rural communities of the change in the number of rural branches of banks in the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [107250]
Miss Melanie Johnson:
The recent Treasury Policy Action Team (PAT 14) report on "Access to Financial Services" found that the relationship between bank branch closures and financial exclusion is far from straightforward. The general theme of the report is that tackling financial exclusion requires the development of new products and new ways to access them. Different techniques may suit different circumstances. These may help financially excluded people across the whole community, not just in deprived neighbourhoods.
Mr. Maclean:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what (a) number and (b) percentage of the population suffered the most prevalent forms of cancer in (i) 1970 and (ii) 1998, indicating the proportion of each group who were likely to make a recovery in each of those years. [107487]
Miss Melanie Johnson:
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.
(21) Number of newly diagnosed cases.
(22) Directly age-standardised to the European standard population.
(23) Latest available data for Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma are for 1994.
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