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Referendum Campaigns
Mr. Evans:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the total cost to public funds of material issued by Her Majesty's Government during the recent referendum campaigns in (a) Wales, (b) Scotland, (c) Northern Ireland and (d) London. [115826]
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Mr. Mike O'Brien
[holding answer 22 March 2000]: The total amount spent by the Government on publicity in connection with each of the four referendum campaigns in 1997-98 is given in the table:
| £ | |
|---|---|
| Scotland | 1,274,706 |
| Wales | 608,774 |
| London | 1,600,000 |
| Northern Ireland | 569,600 |
Campsfield House
Dr. Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of detainees held at Campsfield House had been detained for longer than six months in each quarter since June 1996. [115374]
Mrs. Roche: The information requested is not collected but the following table, extracted from records at Campsfield House, shows the length of detention at that centre. The table does not take account of time that may have been spent in detention before arrival at Campsfield House.
(28) Not available
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Immigration and Nationality Directorate
Ms Oona King: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) for how many weeks the dedicated team in IND dealing with the backlog of general and settlement casework has been operating; and how many cases have been determined in each of these weeks; [115404]
- (2) how many staff have been allocated to the dedicated team tackling the backlog of general and settlement casework within IND. [115405]
Mrs. Roche: A dedicated team, The After-Entry Clearance Team (AECT), was set up in April 1999 specifically to tackle the backlog of general and settlement casework and consists of 12 staff. The available information on output is set out in the table which shows that since they were established they have completed over 17,650 cases.
| Month | Output |
|---|---|
| 1999 | |
| April | 541 |
| May | 1,996 |
| June | 1,662 |
| July | 1,526 |
| August | 1,459 |
| September | 2,198 |
| October | 1,841 |
| November | 1,784 |
| December | 1,404 |
| 2000 | |
| January | 1,722 |
| February | 1,523 |
Ms Oona King: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases are currently in the backlog of general and settlement casework; and what is the target date for clearing them. [115380]
Mrs. Roche: The backlog of general and settlement cases, which are in the Case Allocation Unit and the Work in Progress store awaiting action by caseworkers, is currently 29,000. We aim to clear this to fractional levels by the summer.
Angola
Ms Oona King:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been
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(a) removed and (b) deported to Angola in each of the last five years; and if it is his policy to return people to that country. [115350]
Mrs. Roche:
The only information available relates to the number of Angolans removed from the United Kingdom. To the nearest five, 130 Angolan nationals were removed in 1995, 140 in 1996, 180 in 1997 and 95 in 1998. Regrettably data for 1999 are not yet available. In addition, these removal figures may not include all dependants. Unfortunately, it is not possible to provide an accurate breakdown between the number of people removed and the number deported; similarly it is not possible to confirm how many of the people removed from the United Kingdom were returned to Angola. This information could be obtained only by examining individual case files.
Returns to Angola are considered on a case-by-case basis after a careful assessment of the risk to the individual, taking account of the information and advice about conditions in Angola which has been made available by a range of international and non-governmental organisations. No one is returned unless it is clear that it is safe to do so.
Mr. Field:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set out (a) baseline data for 1997 and (b) data for subsequent years for his Department's measurement of fear of crime among the elderly as included in the poverty audit, "Opportunity for All". [116025]
Mr. Charles Clarke:
The First Annual Report, "Opportunity for All: Tackling Poverty and Social Exclusion", was published in September 1999. The indicator for fear of crime and the elderly is the proportion of those aged 60 years or over whose lives are greatly affected by fear of crime. The 1998 British Crime Survey reported that 10 per cent. of people in that age group said that their own quality of life was greatly affected by fear of crime.
This estimate is based on a sample of adults within the age group living in private households in England and Wales. The responses are on a scale of one to 10, where one is no effect and 10 is total effect on the quality of their lives. The definition of "greatly affected" are those who give scores of eight, nine or 10 on the scale. The question is being repeated in the 2000 British Crime Survey.
Mr. Lidington:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many failed asylum seekers had (a) deportation and (b) enforcement action initiated against them in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and, of those, how many left the United Kingdom. [115972]
Mrs. Roche:
Information on enforcement action initiated, comprising action taken under illegal entry and deportation procedures, including figures showing the number of cases initiated against persons who had applied for asylum at some stage, can be found in the Command Paper, "Control of Immigration: Statistics, United Kingdom, 1998" (Table 7.1) for 1995 and Home Office Statistical Bulletin, "Control of Immigration: Statistics, United Kingdom, First Half 1999" (Table 5.1) for 1996
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to first half 1999. Copies of those publications are in the Library. It should be noted that the relevant figures therein are presented by the date that enforcement action was initiated. This date may be prior to, after, or the same as, the date of the asylum decision, where such a decision has been taken. Enforcement statistics do not include removal action initiated against failed port asylum applicants under port procedures.
Comprehensive data are not available on persons removed or departing voluntarily following the initiation of enforcement action against them by the date that such action was initiated. Additionally, it is not known how many persons have left the country voluntarily without notifying the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. Figures are not, therefore, available on the numbers of failed asylum seekers leaving the United Kingdom who had enforcement action initiated against them in the last five years.
Mr. Lidington:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many failed asylum seekers are unlawfully at large in the United Kingdom. [115975]
Mrs. Roche:
It is not known how many asylum applicants, in total, leave the country and it is not, therefore, possible to state how many failed asylum applicants remain unlawfully in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Lidington:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list, for each of the last five years for which figures are available, the criminal offences committed by (a) asylum seekers whose applications had not been determined and (b) failed asylum seekers, indicating the (i) maximum and (ii) average sentence passed in respect of each type of offence. [115987]
Mr. Charles Clarke:
The information is not available centrally.
The Home Office Court Proceedings Database does not hold information about the characteristics of individual cases apart from those that are evident from the description of the offence with which the defendant has been charged.
Mr. Lidington:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which local authorities have applied to his Department to be placed on the list of authorities which will not be required to accept further asylum seekers; which of those local authorities have had their applications accepted; and if he will make a statement. [115979]
Mrs. Roche:
There is no list of local authorities that will not be required to accept further asylum seekers. Some months ago local authorities were invited to inform the National Asylum Support Service if they felt they should be considered for exemption from accepting any further asylum seekers under the statutory interim arrangements should the Government decide to make regulations or make Directions specifying the maximum number of asylum seekers that any given local authority would need to support.
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In reply the following local authorities listed expressed the view that supporting further asylum seekers would cause them great difficulties.
Mr. Lidington:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what was the average waiting time for an initial decision in respect of claims for political asylum in (a) 1996, (b) 1997, (c) 1998, (d) 1999 and (e) 2000 to date; [116023]
Mrs. Roche:
The available information is given in the table. The figures were calculated by taking the mean length of time between the date that the asylum application was lodged and the date of the initial decision. The figures relate to asylum applications lodged by principal applicants only.
The information on appeals is not available in this format for the time period. The estimated waiting time for an appeal to be determined by an adjudicator was around 12 weeks at the end of February 2000 (this figure is based on an imputed calculation).
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Bedfordshire County Council
Bedford Borough Council
Blackpool Borough Council
Borough of Broxbourne
Canterbury City Council
Caradon District Council
Carrick District Council
Crawley Borough Council
The Government have noted the views of these Councils but have reached no conclusion about whether, were they to exercise the relevant powers, they should be exempted from accepting further asylum seekers.
London Borough of Hillingdon
Isle of Wight Council
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Lambeth Social Services
New Forest District Council
Norfolk County Council Social Services
Northampton Borough Council and other Districts in the Country of Northamptonshire
Oxford City Council
Oxfordshire County Council
London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames
Shepway District Council
Slough Borough Council
South Cambridgeshire District Council
Thurrock Council
City of Westminster
West Sussex County Council
Wycombe District Council.
(2) what was the average time taken, in each of the last three years, to determine (a) an initial application for asylum and (b) an appeal from asylum seekers to whom the special appeals procedure in paragraph 5 of Schedule 2 to the Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act 1993 was applied. [115985]
| Year | All applications | Applications lodged pre July 1993 | Applications lodged post July 1993 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 17 | 52 | 11 |
| 1997 | 22 | 64 | 14 |
| 1998 | 17 | 78 | 12 |
| 1999(32) | 35 | 91 | 16 |
(29) Excluding dependants
(30) Figures are estimates based on cases for which information is recorded
(31) The average length of time (in months) is calculated for date application is lodged to the date of initial decision, and relates to the year in which the decisions were made
(32) As at December 1999, excludes cases awaiting an initial decision.
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the amount (a) spent, (b) claimed and (c) allocated to each council in the United Kingdom in respect of expenditure on asylum seekers in (i) 1998-99 and (ii) 1999-2000. [115977]
Mrs. Roche: Payments to local authorities for the support of asylum seekers for the year 1998-99 were the responsibility of the Department of Health. Three grants were payable--one for supporting adults, one for supporting families and one for supporting unaccompanied asylum seeking children. The Department of Health is currently reconciling, in the light of the audit certificates now being provided, the amount claimed by authorities and the payments made to authorities. It is, therefore, not possible at the moment to give the full information requested as the amounts may be increased or reduced as a result of audit. I will write to the hon. Member with the fullest information as soon as possible.
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Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many appeals against asylum decisions were (a) lodged and (b) heard in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [115968]
Mrs. Roche:
Information regarding asylum appeals for each of the years 1994-98 is given in Table 8.1 of the Home Office statistical bulletins, "Asylum Statistics
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United Kingdom" 1995, 1996 and 1998, issues 9/96, 15/97 and 10/99, copies of which are available in the Library.
Information for 1999 will be published in the latest issue of the bulletin in June of this year.
Mr. Lidington:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers left the United Kingdom in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [115978]
Mrs. Roche:
Information is not recorded centrally on the numbers of in-country asylum applicants who depart voluntarily before enforcement action is initiated against them. Nor is it known how many asylum applicants leave the country voluntarily without notifying the Immigration and National Directorate of their departure. It is not, therefore, possible to give a total figure for asylum seekers leaving the United Kingdom.
| Year | Number |
|---|---|
| 1995 | 3,180 |
| 1996 | 4,840 |
| 1997 | 7,160 |
| 1998 | 6,900 |
| 1999(34) | 7,645 |
(33) For port asylum applicants, the data include persons departing voluntarily up to and including the point of notification of the decision on the asylum application and those persons who have had their asylum application refused and leave the country before they have exhausted their rights of appeal. For in-country applicants, the data exclude persons departing voluntarily before the initiation of enforcement action.
(34) 1999 data are provisional.
Note:
Data are rounded to 5.
Mr. Lidington:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the monthly cost of maintaining (a) adult asylum seekers, (b) child asylum seekers and (c) asylum seeking families (i) in detention, (ii) under the new support arrangements to be brought in from 3 April and (iii) under the interim arrangements made under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. [115973]
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Mrs. Roche:
The monthly direct cost of an available place in an immigration detention centre comes to just under £2,500. No differentiation is made between the cost of holding adults, children or families.
The total average cost to the immigration service of holding a detainee is slightly over £5,000 per month. This represents the full cost of immigration detention, including the cost of escorting detainees, the cost of holding people in police cells and secondary examination areas, and management and other overheads.
Unaccompanied children who claim asylum are not included in the interim arrangements made under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, nor are they included in the new support arrangements.
| Maximum amount of weekly voucher support including £10 cash voucher | |
|---|---|
| Single person aged 25 or over | 36.54 |
| Single person aged at least 18 but under 25 | 28.95 |
| Lone parent aged 18 or over | 36.54 |
| Qualifying couple | 57.37 |
| Person aged under 16 | 26.60 |
| Person aged at least 16 but under 18 (except a member of a qualifying couple) | 31.75 |
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