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National Family and Parenting Institute

Ms Kelly: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much has been spent on establishing the National Family and Parenting Institute; what is its estimated annual budget; and if he will make a statement on the planned impact of the Institute. [122532]

Mr. Boateng [holding answer 17 May 2000]: I understand that the National Family and Parenting Institute, which is an independent charity, launched in November 1999, had the assistance of a grant from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation of £120,000. They have not published their budget for 2000-01, but they are receiving over £2 million over the next three years from central government.

Working in partnership with other professional and voluntary family support organisations, the Institute aims to be a centre of expertise, ensuring readily accessible and reliable support for families and parents.

Kosovan Refugees

Mr. Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what financial support is being made available to Kosovan refugees returning from the United Kingdom to their home country; and if he will make a statement. [122727]

Mrs. Roche: The current voluntary return programme from the United Kingdom began on 26 July 1999 and will end on 25 June 2000. For humanitarian and economic reasons it was decided to give a relocation grant of 720 Deutschmarks per person (approximately £250), payable on arrival in Kosovo, to all those who chose to go back under the return programme. That grant was increased to 1,300 Deutschmarks per person (approximately £400) with effect from the flight on 5 May. Arrangements have also been made to transport larger possessions overland to Kosovo. This will enable Kosovans to take back, for example, household goods and building materials, which they have bought or been given, and which they cannot take on an aeroplane.

In order to benefit from the grant and the overland transport of goods, Kosovans must register for return by 10 June and leave the United Kingdom on one of the organised voluntary return flights by 25 June.

Mr. Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what financial support is available to Kosovan refugees who have applied for asylum after the expiry of their 12 months' sanctuary in the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement. [122730]

Mrs. Roche: Under the new support arrangements that we began phasing in on 3 April all new destitute asylum seekers who claim asylum in Scotland or Northern Ireland and additionally, since 17 April, all new asylum applicants in Kent will be supported by the National Asylum Support Service.

In all other cases, support will fall to local authorities who may provide essential living needs under the provisions of the Asylum Support (Interim Provisions) Regulations 1999.

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Mr. Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if it is his policy to allow Kosovan refugees receiving medical treatment from the NHS to remain in the United Kingdom pending completion of treatment in cases where treatment is not available in Kosovo. [122728]

Mrs. Roche: Every request by a Kosovan to remain here longer on medical grounds will be considered carefully on its individual merits.

Mr. Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his policy on ordering the return home of Kosovan refugees; how many Kosovan refugees have been required to return home against their will in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [122731]

Mrs. Roche: Kosovan Albanians who were evacuated to the United Kingdom under the Humanitarian Evacuation Programme (HEP) between 25 April and 25 June 1999 were granted 12 months' leave to enter. As agreed with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) at the outset of the evacuation process, protection was afforded on a temporary basis only. It was made clear at the time and subsequently that the leave of the evacuated Kosovans would not be extended and that they would be expected to return to Kosovo as soon as it was safe to do so.

The UNHCR judge that it is now safe for the majority of Kosovan Albanians to return to Kosovo and this has been exemplified by the one million Kosovans who have voluntarily chosen to return since July 1999.

The Government have given every assistance to Kosovan Albanians who wish to return to Kosovo permanently by funding two voluntary assisted return programmes and giving each returning person a relocation grant. The current programme and grant will run until 25 June. If, at the end of the 12-month period, people do not choose to return voluntarily and there are no protection or other humanitarian reasons to prevent them from doing so, I regret that consideration will be given to enforcing their return. It is the Government's hope that the generosity of this country in affording protection to the Kosovan Albanians in their hour of need will not be overlooked in this way and that such action does not have to be taken.

There have been no enforced removals to Kosovo in the last 12 months.

Mr. Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many refugees from Kosovo have returned home from the United Kingdom in each of the last 12 months. [122733]

Mrs. Roche: The current voluntary return programme from the United Kingdom began on 26 July 1999 and will end on 25 June. The programme is open both to those Kosovans who arrived in the United Kingdom under the Humanitarian Evacuation Programme (HEP) and to independent arrivals. As of 10 May, 1,280 Kosovans who arrived in the United Kingdom under the HEP and 370 independent arrivals had returned permanently to Kosovo under the voluntary programme. The table shows the number of Kosovans returning permanently by month since the programme started.

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Month	Humanitarian evacuation programme	Independent arrivals
July 1999	148	1
August 1999	460	32
September 1999	303	115
October 1999	79	48
November 1999	60	29
December 1999	28	43
January 2000	16	26
February 2000	4	14
March 2000	35	18
April 2000	57	22
May 2000	90	22
Total	1,280	370

In addition, a further 423 Kosovans benefited from the "explore and prepare" programme which operated between 2 December 1999 and 20 April. This programme enabled heads of Kosovan Albanian households, or community leaders who wished to assess the situation in Kosovo, to visit and make the necessary preparations for the permanent return of their families or communities.

Civil Servants

Dr. David Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the average percentage increase in salaries of non-industrial civil servants, excluding members of the senior civil service, in his Department for 1999-2000; and to what extent the pay awards were staged. [121648]

Mr. Straw: The headline pay settlement in the core Home Office was 2 per cent. on the pay bill and, together with the additional funds from staff turnover, staff in post received performance related increases averaging 4.0 per cent. The increases were not staged. In our agencies, staff received average performance related increases as follows:

	Percentage
Forensic Science Service	3.67
Prison Service	4
United Kingdom Passport Agency	4.1

None of these awards were staged.

In the Fire Service College, pay negotiations have not been concluded and the information is therefore not yet available.

Open Government

Dr. David Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for information he received under the Open Government: Code of Practice on Access to Government Information in the last parliamentary session; and how many were granted. [121854]

Mr. Straw: The annual Monitoring Report on the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information contains information regarding the operation of the Code during the calendar year, including statistics on the number of requests received under the Code. These statistics are broken down by Department. (Government

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Departments all submit returns for inclusion in the report.) The statistics relate to the calendar year: it is not possible to break these down into parliamentary sessions.

The 1998 Monitoring Report was published in July 1999 and contains statistics for that calendar year. The total number of requests received in 1998 was 23,754, of which a total of 22,009 were granted. The breakdown of these requests into individual departments is contained in Appendix 1. Copies of the 1998 report are in the Library. I hope to be able to publish the 1999 Monitoring Report on the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information shortly.

Demonstrations

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures have been taken to ensure the protection of (a) private and (b) public property during demonstrations involving anarchist groups in (i) London and (ii) elsewhere. [122614]

Mr. Charles Clarke: Protection of property during demonstrations is an operational matter for the police service and for the owners or agencies responsible for the property.

I understand that during the recent demonstrations in London, discussions were held between the Metropolitan Police, the Royal Parks Agency and English Heritage about the best ways to protect property of public importance.

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