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Carers

Mr. Swinney: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the cost of (a) doubling the carers premium and (b) raising the level of Income Support by (i) five per cent. and (ii) 10 per cent. for carers aged under 25 years in (A) Scotland and (B) the UK. [128176]

Mr. Bayley: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available in the tables.

Cost for Scotland, 2001-02

	£ million
Cost of doubling carer premium	20
Cost of increasing IS personal allowance by 5 per cent. for carers aged under 25	0.4
Cost of increasing IS personal allowance by 10 per cent. for carers aged under 25	0.7

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Cost for GB, 2001-02

	£ million
Cost of doubling carer premium	180
Cost of increasing IS personal allowance by 5 per cent. for carers aged under 25	3.5
Cost of increasing IS personal allowance by 10 per cent. for carers aged under 25	6.5

Notes:

1. The estimates for doubling the carer premium assume that the carer premium will be raised to £28.30 for all recipients (presently £14.15 per week).

2. Costs are presented in cash prices. Costs of doubling the carer premium are rounded to the nearest £5 million. Costs of increasing current IS personal allowance for carers in receipt of the carer premium who are under the age of 25 is rounded to the nearest £100,000.

3. Costs are adjusted using administrative data and include Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit costs.

4. Information for Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

Source:

Costs are derived from the April 2000 Policy Simulation Model which is based on the 1997-8 Family Resources Survey (FRS).

Euro 2000

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many cases arising from people travelling to the Euro 2000 Football Championship are being investigated by the Benefits Agency and have had benefits withdrawn as a result of travelling to the Euro 2000 Football Championship; and what benefits were withdrawn. [128532]

Mr. Rooker: Nearly 1,000 names of those expelled from Belgium during Euro 2000 have been checked against departmental records of those receiving benefits. As a result, the cases of over 50 individuals have been referred for further detailed investigation by Benefits Agency investigators.

Of the 50 cases, 31 relate to Jobseeker's Allowance, 10 to Income Support (in lieu of Incapacity Benefit), seven to Incapacity Benefit and two to Disability Living Allowance.

LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT

Freemasons

Mr. Winnick: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many forms were sent to (a) judges and (b) magistrates asking if they are freemasons; how many replies stated they (i) are and (ii) are not freemasons; and how many declined to answer. [129108]

Mr. Lock: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Mr. Kidney) on 14 February 2000, Official Report, column 455W.

Judges (Conflicts of Interest)

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will put a copy of the final version of his advice to judges on avoiding conflicts of interest in the Library; and if he will make a statement. [128930]

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Mr. Lock: Copies of the revised guidance for judges on outside activities and interests were placed in the Libraries of both Houses on 15 June 2000. I refer my hon. Friend to the written answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Oldham, East and Saddleworth (Mr. Woolas) on 15 June 2000, Official Report, column 724W.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Correspondence

Sir Brian Mawhinney: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the right hon. Member for North-West Cambridgeshire will receive a reply to his letter of 15 May on behalf of his constituent Mr. Sheeks. [127378]

Mr. Straw [holding answer 23 June 2000]: I wrote to the right hon. Member on 29 June 2000.

Immigration and Nationality Directorate

Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) individual documents, (b) immigration case files and (c) passports were lost by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in each year since 1992. [127974]

Mrs. Roche: The information requested is not available.

Since its expansion last October, the Integrated Casework Directorate's (ICD's) Return of Passport Unit has received 11,687 requests for the return of documents and, of those, a total of 147 lost passport letters have been issued. Lost passport letters are issued in respect of items which cannot be traced at the time a request for them is made, but which may subsequently be found.

The number of principal files recorded as lost on the Immigration and Nationality Directorate's file tracking system each year since 1993 (when the system was introduced) is as follows: 1993--97; 1994--368; 1995--534; 1996--1,160; 1997--1,599; 1998--2,095; 1999--2,567; and 2000--2,054. There are currently 8,440 files still recorded as lost.

A number of measures have been taken to prevent the loss of passports and other documents, including the introduction last autumn of new document handling processes and an expanded Return of Passport Unit in the ICD. Work is in progress on clearing the backlog of general and settlement casework and returning applicants' documents to them.

All valuable documents are now returned to applicants by recorded delivery post and new processes are being developed for dealing with packages which are returned undelivered.

Written Questions

Mr. Maclennan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many written parliamentary questions were tabled to his Department between 19 October 1999 and 20 April; and how many have not received substantive answers, citing disproportionate cost as the reason. [128018]

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Mr. Straw: My Department answered a total of 2,751 written parliamentary questions between 19 October 1999-20 April 2000, of which 23 were not given a substantive answer because to do so would have incurred disproportionate cost.

Asylum Seekers

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the current cost of maintaining an asylum seeker, whose court case is under review, for one month; what is the current average time for reviewing asylum claims from the moment of first claim to final resolution; and if he will make a statement. [128237]

Mrs. Roche: The available information is that in 1999-2000 the total cost of supporting asylum seekers was £590 million.

Information on the average decision time from initial claim to final resolution and on the cost of supporting an asylum seeker for one month is not currently available.

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average length of the decision process was for each category of asylum seeker in the last 12 months. [128565]

Mrs. Roche: Information on the average decision time from initial claim to final resolution for each category of asylum seeker is not currently available.

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what restrictions apply to asylum seekers undertaking voluntary activity; what plans he has to review these restrictions; and if he will make a statement. [128567]

Mrs. Roche: There are no restrictions on asylum seekers participating in genuine voluntary work. Difficulties may arise however where a person seeks to perform voluntary work but where there is some form of remuneration such as "expenses" or remuneration in kind. It is then much more difficult to determine whether the work is genuinely voluntary or whether there is an element of employment involved.

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of his Department's staff have been involved in asylum casework in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [128566]

Mrs. Roche: The Department does not hold records prior to 1996 and for later years the information does not exist in the form requested. The only readily available information, set out in the table, is for the numbers of staff employed in the Asylum Directorate between 1996 and 1998.

As at 1 April	Number of staff
1996	(18)782.4
1997	(18)689.0
1998	(18)524.4
1999	Not readily available
2000	702

(18) Full-time equivalents

The numbers for 1996 to 1998 include those who support and manage the staff who make the decisions, as well as the decision makers. Comparisons between 1996 to 1998 figures and those for 1999 and 2000 are difficult because of the reorganisation of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in December 1998. Asylum applications were previously handled in a dedicated asylum directorate. In 1999 they were dealt with in integrated teams which also dealt with a variety of other immigration issues, and thus a separate figure is not available. Currently, asylum applications are dealt with in dedicated teams.

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