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Entry Clearance
Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the conclusions were of the ministerial review of family visit appeals conducted between 20 November 2000 and 11 January 2001; and if he will place a report of the review team's findings in the Library. [149534]
Mrs. Roche: I refer the hon. Member to the reply my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Brent, North (Mr. Gardiner) on 11 January 2001, Official Report, column 609W. The
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ministerial review was completed in January and resulted in the reduction of the fees for appealing against a decision to refuse a visit visa as a family visitor to £125 and £50 from £500 and £150. A team of officials will continue to review other aspects of these appeals. A copy of their terms of reference will be placed in the Library.
Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the net income from fees for family visit appeals since 2 October 2000; and what proportion of this net income relates to appeals which are outstanding. [149535]
Mrs. Roche: The current figures for net income from fees for family visitor appeals in the period 2 October to 31 December 2000 is £16,800. Of this, 31 per cent. related to appeals which are currently outstanding and which may result in further refunds.
Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the total cost to his Department of administering family visit appeal fees since 2 October 2000. [149536]
Mrs. Roche: Payments are administered by diplomatic posts overseas. The Home Office reimburses the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for refunds following successful appeals. The small administrative costs of doing so are contained within existing resources.
Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the anticipated net annual income is from family visit appeal fees. [149537]
Mrs. Roche: On the basis of our current planning assumptions, the anticipated net income (gross income minus refund payments) from family visitor appeal fees in a full year is around £560,000.
Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the anticipated cost is to his and other Departments of collecting and refunding family visit appeal fees. [149538]
Mrs. Roche: The process of collection and refunding family visitor appeal fees is administered by diplomatic posts overseas. These costs are minimal and will be met through efficiency savings. Since the Court Service is not involved in the collection process, it has no significant costs to meet. The Home Office reimburses the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for refunds made following successful appeals. The small administrative costs of doing so are contained within existing resources. The only other cost involved is that of the refund payments themselves. We estimate that this will settle at around £370,000 for a full year.
Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons have exercised a human rights appeal under section 65 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 against decisions refusing entry clearance; and, of that number, how many applied for entry as a family visitor. [149529]
Mrs. Roche: To obtain this information, we would have to examine individual case files. It is available, therefore, only at disproportionate cost.
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Police (Avon and Somerset)
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the impact of recent changes in the number of places in police houses in the Avon and Somerset area on his policy on police recruitment; and if he will make a statement. [148737]
Mr. Charles Clarke: Changes to the number of police houses in a police force area are matters for the police authority and chief constable to decide. We expect police authorities and chief constables to achieve best value in the use of the capital resources available to them and to make decisions about those resources in the light of all relevant considerations.
Avon and Somerset constabulary recruited 89 officers in the six months to 30 September 2000 and continues to recruit successfully. The force has been allocated 195 recruits from the crime fighting fund (CFF) over the three years 2000-01 to 2002-03 and it expects to recruit its full allocation of 67 crime fighting fund recruits in 2000-01, over and above previously planned recruitment.
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will estimate the number of officers (a) recruited by, (b) resigning from and (c) retiring from the Avon and Somerset police force in each year since 1978-79. [148740]
Mr. Charles Clarke: It is not possible to provide information on recruitment and wastage on an individual force basis before the computerisation of the police number database in 1991-92, because of the way in which information on police numbers was previously collected and stored by the Department.
The information in the table is for each year since 1991.
| Year | Number of officers recruited | Number of officers who resigned | Number of officers who retired |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991(18) | 133 | 30 | 88 |
| 1992(18) | 95 | 15 | 94 |
| 1993(18) | 123 | 20 | 129 |
| 1994-95(19) | 154 | 17 | 184 |
| 1995-96 | 55 | 8 | 97 |
| 1996-97 | 174 | 12 | 132 |
| 1997-98 | 138 | 22 | 124 |
| 1998-99 | 142 | 14 | 80 |
| 1999-2000 | 104 | 21 | 104 |
| 2000-01(20) | 89 | 8 | 49 |
(18) Prior to 1995-96 police numbers were collected on a calender year basis rather than a financial year basis
(19) Figures for 1994-95 cover the period 1 January 1994 to 31 March 1995
(20) Figures for 2000-01 are for the period 1 April to 30 September 2000
Prisoners (Medical Services)
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of prisoners who suffer from mental health problems; what services are available to help them; what funding is provided for their treatment; and if he will make a statement. [149681]
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Mr. Boateng: A survey of psychiatric morbidity among prisoners in England and Wales, undertaken in 1997 by the Office for National Statistics for the Department of Health, showed that around 90 per cent. of prisoners sampled displayed evidence of at least one of the five disorders (personality disorder, psychosis, neurosis, alcohol misuse and drug dependence) considered in the survey.
Prisoners who need in-patient treatment for mental disorder may be transferred to psychiatric hospitals. The care and treatment of prisoners who do not need to be admitted to hospital is generally undertaken by prison health care staff under the supervision of national health service specialists.
The Government's programme of reform for prison health care was set out in "The Future Organisation of Prison Healthcare" (March 1999). All prisons and the health authorities in which they are situated are required by March 2001, jointly to assess prisoners' health needs and to identify appropriate services to meet them. These services should include the development, over time, of in-reach into prisons by community mental health services as part of the broader development of mental health services as set out in the national service framework for mental health. Under the Government's NHS Plan an additional 300 staff will be employed by 2004 to provide such in-reach services to prisoners.
Crime Statistics
Mr. Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on crime figures for the Vale of Clwyd in the last 12 months. [149790]
Mr. Charles Clarke: Recorded crime figures are not held on a constituency basis. The nearest available figures are for the Denbighshire crime and disorder reduction partnership area. The latest centrally available figures, for the year ending September 2000, are as follows:
| Number of offences | Offences per 1,000 population | |
|---|---|---|
| Violence against the person | 1,047 | 12.3 |
| Sexual Offences | 44 | 0.5 |
| Robbery | 32 | 0.4 |
| Burglary of a dwelling | 489 | 5.8 |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 348 | 4.1 |
| Theft from a vehicle | 535 | 7.3 |
CCTV
Mr. Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what grants his Department has made towards CCTV coverage in the Vale of Clwyd in each of the last four years. [149789]
Mr. Charles Clarke: In the last four years, two grants have been made towards closed circuit television (CCTV)
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coverage in the Vale of Clwyd. In March 1997, £95,000 was awarded towards a scheme in Prestatyn under round 3 of the CCTV challenge competition, and in January 2000, £159,000 was awarded towards improving security in Rhyl under round 1 of the CCTV initiative.
Denbighshire county council has submitted three proposals for further cameras to cover towns in the Vale of Clwyd under round 2 of the CCTV initiative. These are currently under consideration.
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