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Citizenship Applications

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average time taken for granting citizenship was in each of the last five years. [145713]

Mrs. Roche: The average time taken for granting citizenship in each of the last five years is shown in the table.

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Year	Average time(17)
1996	13.4
1997	14.3
1998	18.2
1999	18.8
2000	16.8

⁽¹⁷⁾ Months

As at the current date the average time taken for granting citizenship has been further reduced, and is now at 13.1 months.

Sewerage Costs (Home Office Estate)

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reason the sewerage costs on the Home Office Estate in Denbury, South Devon, have increased in 2000; and if he will make a statement. [146680]

Mr. Boateng: Prior to the current financial year (2000-01) a flat rate annual charge for sewerage costs was made which did not reflect the actual cost to the Prison Service of providing the service. The charge for this financial year is based on the rateable value of each property and is equivalent to the charge which would be made by the local water authority.

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Drugs

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the Police Foundation Inquiry's recommendations concerning the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. [147053]

Mr. Charles Clarke: Following the publication of the Police Foundation's report last year, the Home Office issued a statement rejecting the inquiry's recommendations for the reclassification of cannabis, cannabinols, Ecstasy or LSD. The report contains a large number of other recommendations and raises many issues. The United Kingdom anti-drugs co-ordinator, Keith Hellawell, was asked to chair a committee to consider these. The report of his committee's findings is currently with Ministers.

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions he has had with his US counterparts regarding UK domestic drug laws. [147054]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The only recent meeting with United States of America counterparts was in July 2000 when the Attorney-General, Janet Reno, visited London. She met with my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary and my hon. Friend the Minister of State, but domestic drug laws were not discussed.

Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority

Mr. Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children made application to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority in each of the last five years. [146766]

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Mr. Charles Clarke [holding answer 23 January 2001]: The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority advise that the number of applications in respect of persons aged under 18 years at the date of application was as follows:

Year	Number
1995-96	11,969
1996-97	11,187
1997-98	11,216
1998-99	10,454
1999-2000	10,583

Mr. Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was paid out in compensation by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (a) in total and (b) on average to each applicant (i) in 2000 and (ii) in 1995. [146765]

Mr. Charles Clarke [holding answer 23 January 2001]: In 1995-96, the total compensation paid was £179 million and the average award was £4,066. In 1999-2000, the total compensation paid was £206 million and the average award was £4,738.

Crime Rates

Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the monthly rates are of (a) property and (b) car crime (i) nationally and (ii) in the South Buckinghamshire District Council in the latest year for which figures are available. [146995]

Mr. Charles Clarke [holding answer 23 January 2001]: Details for the year ending September 2000 for property crime and vehicle crime are given in the table. Police force area figures, and therefore national figures, are collected quarterly, and these are compared with the equivalent South Buckinghamshire figures.

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Property and vehicle crime in South Buckinghamshire and England and WalesCrimes per 1,000 population

	Property crime		Vehicle crime
Quarter ending	South Buckinghamshire	England and Wales	South Buckinghamshire	England and Wales
December 1999	22.9	20.4	8.7	4.8
March 2000	26.2	21.3	12.2	5.0
June 2000	24.3	20.7	9.1	4.7
September 2000	25.4	19.6	8.7	4.4

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Property crime comprises burglary, theft and handling (including vehicle crime), fraud and forgery, and criminal damage. The vehicle crime figures relate to theft of vehicles and theft from vehicles.

Immigration Detainees

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his policy is on detaining people in prison for immigration irregularities; and if he will make a statement. [145165]

Mrs. Roche: As far as possible, people detained under powers set out in the Immigration Act 1971 are held in discrete accommodation in Immigration Service detention

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centres or designated prison accommodation. A number are also held in prisons for reasons of geography or security (or control). For example convicted prisoners subject to deportation action at the end of their sentence may be held in prison pending their removal. However, use of detention centres is preferable to prisons in the vast majority of cases and, in principle, the Government prefer to use detention centres.

In addition we are currently housing some immigration detainees in prisons on a short-term basis, to meet the shortfall in spaces in dedicated accommodation for immigration detainees. The Prison Service has made available up to 500 spaces for immigration detainees, pending the availability later this year of detention space in new immigration detention centres.

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Metropolitan Police

Miss Widdecombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many civilians were employed by the Metropolitan police Service in each year since 1995; and if he will make a statement. [144966]

Mr. Charles Clarke [holding answer 15 January 2001]: The data requested are in the table.

Number of civilian staff employed by the Metropolitan police

	Number
September 1995	14,138
September 1996	13,890
September 1997	12,902
September 1998	12,033
September 1999	10,935
September 2000	10,147

Note:

The decrease in the number of civilians in the Metropolitan police is at least in part a result of administrative work being outsourced.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Departmental Staff

Mr. Kilfoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many people within his Department work specifically on (a) science and technology matters, (b) competition and consumer offers, including energy, telecoms and environment, (c) trade and export, (d) manufacturing and (e) labour markets; and what is the total number of staff of his Department. [145209]

Dr. Howells: The total core Department of Trade and Industry staff as at 1 December 2000 is 6,736.

The further disaggregated information is not held centrally within the Department in the format requested. However, the following split identifies the number of staff in the DTI Groups:

Area	Number of DTI staff
Science and Technology	133
Competition and Markets Group	2,478
of which:
Consumer Affairs	88
Competition Policy	49
Energy Group	423
Business Competitiveness Group	679
of which:
Environment	45
Trade Policy Group	305
British Trade International	650
Enterprise and Innovation Group	796
Small Business Service	219
Legal Services Group	144
Resources and Services Group	804
Other staff (incl. Ministerial Parliamentary Support Team)	105
Total number of staff in core Department of Trade and Industry(18),(19)	6,736

Engineering Industry (Skills Shortage)

Mr. Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he is taking to address skill shortages in the engineering industry. [146232]

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Mrs. Liddell: The DTI, working in collaboration with the industry and with national training organisations such as EMTA, is supporting a number of initiatives to explore and address the skill needs of the engineering industry. For example, the Training Networks for Engineering Technicians Programme, worth £1 million, is bringing together networks of small firms to improve the technical and managerial skills of engineering technicians working in the manufacturing sector ranging across a wide variety of engineering areas, from automotive components to textiles to casting. Several activities are focused on tackling engineering skills shortages in IT, electronics and communications (ITEC) sectors. These include a work placement scheme for electronics engineering students, a project to look at the best way to train printed circuit board designers and a pilot programme to improve the skills of electronics teachers.

In addition, DTI is involved, with DfEE, in major reforms that will support vocational training and boost the supply of engineers, notably setting up the learning and skills councils; a £100 million drive to set up vocational centres of excellence in further education colleges; and the strengthening of modern apprenticeships and national training organisations.

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