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Mr. Nick Tucker

Mr. Woolas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects the Criminal Cases Review Commission to report on the case of Mr. Nick Tucker. [137040]

Mr. Charles Clarke: I understand that an application for review of Nicholas Tucker's case was submitted to the Criminal Cases Review Commission in January 1999. The

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Commission has determined that the case will require an extensive review. Mr. Tucker's representatives have recently asked that his application should be given priority. The Commission will consider this request and let Mr. Tucker's representatives know the outcome. If the Commission found that there were no special factors that would justify giving it priority, Mr. Tucker's application would continue to await allocation to a caseworker, on the basis of date order of receipt, and the Commission would expect to begin the review by May 2001.

Mr. Woolas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received regarding the case of Mr. Nick Tucker; and if he will make a statement. [137043]

Mr. Charles Clarke: I have received various representations from Mr. Tucker's parents, from hon. Members, and from members of the public.

Entry Clearance

Ms Oona King: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many EU nationals were refused entry to the UK on grounds of (a) public policy, (b) public security and (c) public health during 1999. [137278]

Mrs. Roche: The available information relates to the total number of European Union nationals who were refused leave to enter in 1999. A total of 290 such persons were recorded in that year. There are no separate statistics for the individual categories requested.

Ms Oona King: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many non-EEA family members who arrived in possession of entry clearance holding an EEA family permit were refused entry by the immigration officer at a British port of entry during 1999. [137277]

Mrs. Roche: I regret the information requested is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Former FSB Officers

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the requests for political asylum made by former FSB officers. [137489]

Mr. Straw: All asylum applications are fully and carefully considered on their individual merits, by specially trained officers in the Integrated Casework Directorate of the Home Office. Details of individual cases are not disclosed to third parties for reasons of confidentiality.

Lieutenant-Colonel Litvinenko

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if former Lieutenant-Colonel Litvinenko (a) has been, (b) is being or (c) will be debriefed on security issues; [137492]

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(2) what guidance his Department has given to journalists in respect of the defection of former Lieutenant-Colonel Litvinenko. [137491]

Mr. Straw: It has been the long-standing policy of successive Governments not to comment on issues of national security. It is also an important principle that we do not ordinarily discuss an individual's immigration status. This has been explained to journalists by my Department's Press Office.

Immigration and Nationality Directorate

Mr. Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases are held in the Work in Progress Store of the Immigration and Nationality Department; and how many of these have been outstanding for (a) between six months and one year, (b) between one and two years and (c) more than two years. [136923]

Mrs. Roche: As at 3 November, there were 67,018 cases held in the Work in Progress Store. Of these, 6,022 have been outstanding for between six months and one year and 27,483 have been outstanding for between one and two years. The Work in Progress Store was set up at the end of 1998 and no cases have therefore been outstanding in the store for more than two years.

Asylum Seekers

Mr. Gapes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what proportion of asylum applicants since April have chosen to refuse the offer of accommodation in dispersal areas. [136791]

Mrs. Roche: The information requested is not available.

Mr. Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum cases have been dispersed under the terms of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999; and how many of these were (a) single adults and (b) couples without children. [136922]

Mrs. Roche: As at the end of October 2000, 5,600 ¹ asylum cases (not including dependants) were confirmed as having arrived in the accommodation allocated to them under the dispersal scheme. Of these, 4,600 ¹ were single adult asylum seekers, and 300 ¹ were adult asylum seekers with one dependant. Cases where there is only one dependant are not necessarily couples without children.

¹ Figures rounded to the nearest 100.

Private Psychiatric Hospitals (Prisoners)

Dr. Brand: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convicted prisoners were transferred to private psychiatric hospitals in each of the last five years. [137289]

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Mr. Boateng: The latest available information on the number of convicted prisoners transferred to private psychiatric hospitals under section 47 of the Mental Health Act 1983 between 1995 to 1999 is as follows:

Number of convicted prisoners transferred to the care of private psychiatric hospitals, 1995 to 1999

	Transfers(48) to private psychiatric hospitals	Total number of transfers(48)	Proportion transferred to private psychiatric hospitals (%)
1995	12	254	4.7
1996	23	268	8.6
1997	22	251	8.8
1998	15	258	5.8
1999	22	276	8.0

⁽⁴⁸⁾ Transfers from Prison Service Establishments under section 47 of the Mental Health Act 1983 including those subject to restrictions under section 49.

Residence Permits

Ms Oona King: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) passports and (b) identity documents purported to be issued by an EU member state presented by passengers on arrival in the UK were the subject of inquiries with the authorities of the member state to determine the document's genuineness, and whether issue to the holder was correct, during 1999. [137290]

Mrs. Roche: Statistics are not currently compiled for the number of inquiries made with other European Union/ European Economic Area (EU/EEA) member states regarding documents issued by them. The Immigration Service National Forgery Section is the nominated United Kingdom contact point for EU/EEA travel document inquiries. Other Immigration Service offices, however, also make certain unilateral inquiries directly with EU member states via established bilateral liaison contacts. Reference is normally made to these authorities only in a restricted number of cases; for instance, when it cannot be determined that the document is a forgery, or to clarify whether or not a document is a stolen blank whose details have not already been circulated via the nominated national contact point. A new system of recording details of the mutual exchange of such information is currently being put in place.

Comprehensive figures are, however, available for the number of cases of fraudulent passports and identity cards detected by the Immigration Service at United Kingdom ports of arrival during the course of 1999. There were 5,516 such detections, 3,018 of which were non-British EEA documents.

PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL

Volunteers

Mr. Flynn: To ask the President of the Council if she will mark next year's International Year of Volunteers by spending a day working as a volunteer. [137435]

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Mrs. Beckett: I fully support the aims of the International Year of Volunteers. I intend to take part in a voluntary activity during 2001.

The Privy Council Office fully supports the role that employers can play in the voluntary sector. A statement was made to all staff in June of this year confirming the Department's commitment to Volunteer Day and encouraging staff to become involved.

LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT

Criminal Injuries Compensation

Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what was the average period of time taken to settle claims dealt with by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority in each of the last three years. [135334]

Mr. Charles Clarke: I have been asked to reply.

There are no meaningful average times applicable to claims for criminal injuries compensation. Applications range from the very straightforward ones in which a decision may be issued within a few weeks, through to exceptionally complicated cases in which it may take a number of years for the injury to be fully assessed.

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority has, however, been able to provide some information about the percentage of cases settled within various time frames under both the current (tariff) scheme and the former (common law damages) scheme. This is summarised in the table.

Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme⁽⁴⁹⁾

1996 (Tariff) Scheme time period	Number	Percentage	Cumulative (Percentage)
1997-98
Up to 2 months	4,523	6	6
Over 2, under 4 months	9,933	14	21
Over 4, under 6 months	13,709	20	40
Over 6, under 8 months	15,844	23	63
Over 8, under 10 months	10,925	16	78
Over 10, under 12 months	7,021	10	88
Over 12 months	8,154	12	100
Total	70,109	100
1998-99
Up to 2 months	4,835	6	6
Over 2, under 4 months	11,983	15	21
Over 4, under 6 months	15,236	19	40
Over 6, under 8 months	16,013	20	60
Over 8, under 10 months	12,112	15	75
Over 10, under 12 months	7,157	9	84
Over 12 months	12,378	16	100
Total	79,714	100
1999-2000
Up to 2 months	6,812	9	9
Over 2, under 4 months	14,151	20	29
Over 4, under 6 months	16,040	22	52
Over 6, under 8 months	11,988	17	68
Over 8, under 10 months	7,416	10	79
Over 10, under 12 months	5,161	7	86
Over 12 months	10,171	14	100
Total	71,739	100

⁽⁴⁹⁾ Time taken to process applications (from receipt to issue of decision)

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1990 (Old) Scheme Time to resolve hearings (appeals)Percentage

	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000
Up to 12 months	21	6	4
Over 12 months	79	94	96

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