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CCTV

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what total funds were (a) allocated and (b) spent on new CCTV projects in the last financial year for which figures are available. [161011]

Mr. Charles Clarke: Under the Crime Reduction Programme Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) initiative, £4.2 million was allocated to new projects in the financial

11 May 2001 : Column: 418W

year 2001-02, and a further £108 million worth of schemes were given outline approval, pending consideration of final bids. In the same year, £23.4 million was spent on CCTV projects, including schemes that had been approved before the beginning of the financial year.

Special Constables

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many special constables there were in each police force in England and Wales on (a) 31 March 2000, (b) 30 September 2000 and (c) the most recent date for which figures are available. [161022]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The requested details are given in the table.

Special constable total strength, March 2000 to January 2001

Police force	March 2000	September 2000	January 2001
Avon and Somerset	459	416	402
Bedfordshire	151	134	128
Cambridgeshire	274	214	217
Cheshire	350	307	275
Cleveland	128	122	119
Cumbria	176	167	158
Derbyshire	282	286	287
Devon and Cornwall	870	836	834
Dorset	298	278	275
Durham	157	155	151
Essex	483	478	453
Gloucestershire	206	197	186
Greater Manchester	457	408	391
Hampshire	615	500	470
Hertfordshire	216	214	204
Humberside	246	198	196
Kent	436	416	409
Lancashire	382	362	356
Leicestershire	247	202	175
Lincolnshire	195	179	172
City of London	56	46	46
Merseyside	476	452	513
Metropolitan Police	758	754	762
Norfolk	285	270	257
Northamptonshire	199	195	189
Northumbria	332	323	310
North Yorkshire	217	189	186
Nottinghamshire	411	411	319
South Yorkshire	205	193	185
Staffordshire	482	461	424
Suffolk	391	376	374
Surrey	175	168	167
Sussex	352	317	313
Thames Valley	472	463	445
Warwickshire	260	260	212
West Mercia	476	443	406
West Midlands	680	662	636
West Yorkshire	484	452	411
Wiltshire	173	172	156
Dyfed Powys	202	193	194
Gwent	119	131	147
North Wales	247	233	250
South Wales	267	254	248
Total	14,347	13,487	13,008

Source:

Research Development and Statistics Directorate, Home Office.

Immigration, Gatwick

Dr. Marek: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average morning peak waiting time is for non-EU passengers waiting to clear immigration at Gatwick airport. [160858]

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Mrs. Roche: The information requested is not available. The length of time involved in assessing a passenger's eligibility for entry varies considerably depending on the particular situation and on factors such as the availability of interpreters and sponsors, which are outside the control of the Immigration Officer. Every effort is made to deal with each case at the earliest opportunity.

Asylum Seekers

Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers have been dispersed through local authorities; and if his Department plans to use local authorities for this purpose in respect of new asylum seekers. [160855]

Mrs. Roche: There is no information held centrally on the number of asylum seekers dispersed by local authorities under the interim dispersal scheme.

The National Asylum Support Service (NASS) has entered into contracts with a number of local authorities by which they supply accommodation for asylum seekers supported by NASS and the aim is to continue to do so.

Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what date and for what reasons private accommodation providers were brought in to the process of dispersing asylum seekers to cluster areas. [160854]

Mrs. Roche: Private sector accommodation providers have been part of the process since the beginning of the new arrangements. Their inclusion was necessary in order to meet demand and provide sufficient accommodation throughout the country.

Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his estimate is of the total number of asylum seekers to be dispersed over the next six months, broken down by region. [161070]

Mrs. Roche: No firm estimate is available on likely number of dispersals as this is dependant upon a number of factors including the number of applications for asylum and the number of those requesting accommodation as part of an application for support. The National Asylum Support Service has established a National Consultation Group of which every consortium is a member.

Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the costs per asylum seeker of dispersal through (a) local authorities and (b) private accommodation providers. [160856]

Mrs. Roche: Contracts with local authorities and private accommodation providers for the provision of accommodation for asylum seekers supported by the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) are negotiated by the NASS based on the current market rates and to achieve value for money.

Details of individual contracts cannot be given as they are commercially sensitive.

Ms Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers have been dispersed to Scotland in the last 12 months; and at what cost. [161018]

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Mrs. Roche: As at the end of March 2001, 2,860 ¹ asylum seekers (including dependants) were allocated accommodation in Scotland by the National Asylum Support Service (NASS).

NASS operates as a national system and does not have detailed records of costs involved in dispersal to individual areas.

¹ Figure rounded to the nearest 10.

Mr. Stinchcombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information he publishes on where asylum seekers live. [161025]

Mrs. Roche: The National Asylum Support Service has a duty of confidentiality to the asylum seekers it supports. Therefore it would be inappropriate to publish information about where asylum seekers live.

Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers entered at each port of entry in the latest available year. [159753]

Mrs. Roche: The following table details the breakdown of applications for asylum by port of entry. All data were taken from manual counts of asylum applications taken at port, which do not reconcile with the provisional monthly asylum statistics published on http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html

Total asylum claims at ports of entry, 2000-01⁽²⁵⁾

	Number
Heathrow	7,765
Dover East	4,835
Waterloo	4,810
Gatwick	2,870
Cheriton	1,300
Stansted	865
Harwich	240
Manchester	210
Hull	160
London City	155
Ashford	145
Portsmouth	130
Felixstowe	110
Tees Ports	95
Birmingham	70
Luton	65
Newcastle/North Shields	25
Dover Hoverport	15
Edinburgh	15
Poole	10
Aberdeen	10
Belfast	5
Bristol	5
Plymouth	5
Liverpool	5
Southampton	5
Swansea	5
Folkestone	5
Leeds Bradford	*
Norwich	*
Newhaven	*
East Midlands	*
Cardiff	*

⁽²⁵⁾ Data rounded to multiple of five, (*) = 1 or 2

Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers he intends to disperse to clusters in England. [160851]

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Mrs. Roche: No firm estimate is available on likely number of dispersals as this is dependant upon a number of factors including the number of applications for asylum and the number of those requesting accommodation as part of an application for support. The National Asylum Support Service has established a National Consultation Group of which every consortium is a member.

Police (Disclosure of Information)

Mr. Stinchcombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what procedures exist for members of the public to require police forces to disclose information held about them. [161028]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The Data Protection Act 1998 (which amended the Data Protection Act 1984) governs procedures in respect of the disclosure of information. Members of the public may exercise their right under this Act by applying to the main police station nearest to where they last lived in this country to make a subject access inquiry. When the application form is completed, this should be sent back to the police together with any accompanying documents that are required and a £10 fee for each category of information that they wish to access. The police are then under a legal requirement to respond to their inquiries within 40 days.

Currently, legislation relates to computer-based records only until the new Act takes effect from 24 October 2001 when structured manual files are also included. Applications to make a subject access request can be obtained from all major police stations or by contacting the relevant force's Data Protection Officer.

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