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HOME DEPARTMENT

Sunday Dancing

Mr. Grogan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to lay a deregulation order relating to Sunday dancing. [140242]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: I hope to lay a draft order shortly.

Policy Action Team 9

Mr. Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made in implementing the recommendations of the Policy Action Team 9 report on community self-help. [140321]

Mr. Boateng: The Policy Action Team 9 (PAT9) report on community self-help was one of 18 reports commissioned by the Social Exclusion Unit to come up with recommendations to tackle the unacceptable problems in England's poorest neighbourhoods. Since the publication of the PAT9 report in September 1999, we have made good progress in implementing many of the recommendations, some of which have been included as key ideas of the National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal. We have set out the key achievements in an annual report which also includes a look forward to the main action points for future work. A copy of the annual report will be placed in the Library.

Early Release

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many attacks on elderly people have been committed in the last year by convicted criminals who were on early release from prison at the time of the attack. [139811]

Mr. Charles Clarke: This information is not held centrally, and could be collected only at disproportionate cost. Central statistical databases do not hold information on the characteristics of the victims of crimes other than homicide and certain sexual offences.

Young Offenders

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what academic and vocational education and training is available to young people serving custodial sentences. [139321]

Mr. Boateng: I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Middlesbrough, South and Cleveland, East (Dr. Kumar) on 6 July 2000, Official Report, column 298W.

Freedom of Information Bill

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he plans to put

23 Nov 2000 : Column: 291W

in place to ensure that the discretionary release of exempt information under the Freedom of Information Bill will be in the public interest. [139391]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Bill provides that a public authority must disclose information if the public interest in maintaining the exemption in question does not outweigh the public interest in disclosure. This test applies to all but a small number of the exemptions contained in Part II of the Bill.

The Information Commissioner will oversee the operation of this test by public authorities and can order the disclosure of information in the public interest, subject to an appeal to the Information Tribunal, or in limited circumstances, the overriding opinion of a Cabinet Minister or Law Officer.

Extended Hours (Restaurants)

Mr. Grogan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to introduce a deregulation order relating to extended hours for restaurants. [140244]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: We hope to lay a draft deregulation order early in the new year, taking account of the comments made on the consultation document which we published earlier this year and of the outcome of proceedings on the Sunday dancing deregulation proposal, which raises some parallel issues.

Traffic Offences

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drivers have been (a) issued with a fixed penalty fine, (b) arrested or (c) charged with a traffic offence for driving too slowly in each of the past 10 years. [139810]

Mr. Charles Clarke: There is no specific offence under the Road Traffic Acts for driving too slowly, and any resultant charges cannot be identified in the statistics collected centrally because the circumstances of the offences are not collected.

Asylum

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for each month since 1 April 2000, (a) how many initial asylum decisions resulted in a refusal on the grounds that the applicant had failed to complete his statement of evidence form correctly or had failed to complete it within the 14 days allowed and (b) what proportion (i) of all refusals and (ii) of all refusals excluding those made as part of the backlog-clearance exercise, was accounted for by the decisions listed in (a); and if he will make a statement. [139800]

Mrs. Roche: The available information relates to total refusals of asylum on non-compliance grounds; comprising failure to provide further evidence as required and failure to respond to invitations to interview to establish identity as well as failure to complete a statement of evidence form correctly and within the time allowed. The information that is available is given in the table.

23 Nov 2000 : Column: 292W

Refusals of asylum on non-compliance grounds in the United Kingdom, excluding dependants, April-September 2000 ^(1),(2)

	Cases considered under normal procedures
Month	Total refused	Refused on non-compliance grounds	Percentage of total refusals
April	4,205	1,165	28
May	5,520	1,655	30
June	6,360	2,135	34
July	6,345	2,015	32
August	7,510	3,125	42
September	6,710	2.885	43

	Cases considered under normal procedures and backlog criteria(3)
Month	Total refused	Refused on non-compliance grounds(4)	Percentage of total refusals
April	4,205	1,165	28
May	5,780	1,910	33
June	6,740	2,515	37
July	6,575	2,245	34
August	7,680	3,295	43
September	6,785	2,950	44

⁽¹⁾ Provisional figures (other than percentages) rounded to the nearest 5

⁽²⁾ Information is of initial decision, excluding the outcome of appeals or other subsequent decisions

⁽³⁾ Includes cases decided under measures aimed at reducing the pre-1996 asylum application backlog

⁽⁴⁾ Includes some cases where the application has been refused on substantive grounds

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his Department spent on support for asylum seekers and their dependants in the financial years (a) 1997-98, (b) 1998-99 and (c) 1999-2000; and what his estimate is of such spending (i) for the year 2000-01 to date and (ii) over the whole of the current financial year. [139809]

Mrs. Roche: The Home Department assumed responsibility for asylum support costs on 1 April 1999 as a result of the comprehensive spending review. These costs were previously the responsibility of the Department of Social Security and Department of Health. Their combined direct expenditure for supporting asylum seekers in 1997-98 was £375 million and in 1998-99 was £475 million. These figures include costs for supporting unaccompanied asylum seeking children.

Expenditure by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate for asylum support from 1 April 2000 to 30 September 2000 was £317.4 million. For the financial year 2000-01, the Home Office has a provisional allocation of £604 million for supporting asylum seekers, excluding provision for supporting unaccompanied asylum seeking children.

The comparable cost in 1999-2000 to the Home Office budget of supporting asylum seekers in the United Kingdom was £537 million. The Department of Health incurred an additional cost of £52 million for supporting unaccompanied asylum seeking children, bringing the total cost in 1999-2000 for supporting asylum seekers to £590 million.

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Criminal Record Checks (Charging)

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will publish his assessment of the impact on voluntary organisations of the Government's plans to charge for criminal record checks. [139807]

Mr. Charles Clarke: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 20 November 2000, Official Report, column 87W.

Immigration

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in how many cases the civil penalty provisions of section 32 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 have been enforced. [139714]

Mrs. Roche: The Civil Penalty provisions of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 came into force in respect of vehicles on 3 April 2000. As at 20 November 2000, 617 penalty notices have been served in respect of vehicles containing 3,507 clandestine entrants. In financial terms this represents £7,014,000 in penalties.

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how the civil penalty provisions of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 are being implemented. [139716]

Mrs. Roche: The Civil Penalty provisions of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 came into force in respect of vehicles on 3 April 2000. The provisions were initially implemented at Dover and Coquelles but have been applied nationally since 3 July.

It is proposed to extend the Civil Penalty provisions to clandestine arrivals by rail freight early next year. The requisite consultation process has recently commenced.

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