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Rural White Paper
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to her answer to the hon. Member for Stroud (Mr. Drew) of 27 November 2001, Official Report, columns 859–60W, on the rural White Paper, if she will make a statement on clarifying guidance on best and most versatile land. [20151]
Alun Michael: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Minister for Housing, Planning and Construction on 21 March 2001, Official Report, columns 253–55W. This included an amendment to guidance in Planning Policy Guidance note 7 (PPG7), "The Countryside—Environmental Quality and Economic and Social Development", on best and most versatile agricultural land. Decisions about the development or protection of such land are for local planning authorities to take in accordance with that guidance. The guidance is on DTLR's website at www.planning.dtlr.gov.uk/ policy.htm.
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to her answer to the hon. Member for Stroud (Mr. Drew) of 27 November 2001, Official Report, columns 859–60W, on the rural White Paper, what proportion has been allocated and which organisations have received funding from the community service grants schemes in 2001–02. [20140]
Alun Michael: The Countryside Agency has allocated £1.5 million for expenditure on Community Service grants for this financial year.
I have today deposited in the Library of the House a list of organisations that have received funding under the scheme.
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to her answer to the hon. Member for Stroud (Mr. Drew) of 27 November 2001, Official Report, columns 859–60W, on the rural White Paper, if she will outline the work done to date on the Countryside Agency's policy-maker's checklist and the extent of consultation during this process. [20155]
Alun Michael: The Policy Makers' Rural Proofing Checklist was published by the Countryside Agency on 24 April 2001. It followed consultation by the Countryside Agency with Government Departments and a number of other interested organisations, including the Local Government Association, the Country Land and Business Association and the Council for Protection of Rural England. The Checklist is available on the Countryside Agency's website at: www.countryside.gov.uk
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to her answer to the hon. Member for Stroud (Mr. Drew) of 27 November 2001, Official Report, columns 859–60W,
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on the rural White Paper, how many communities have received support from the parish plans fund in 2001–02; and what amount they have received. [20141]
Alun Michael: To date 243 parish and town councils have registered an interest to produce a plan. 72 have been made a formal offer of grant and 44 parishes have received funding. A list of those parishes has been deposited in the Library of the House today.
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to her answer to the hon. Member for Stroud (Mr. Drew), 27 November 2001, Official Report, columns 859–60W, on the rural White Paper, when the consultation paper on quality parish and town councils will be published. [20152]
Alun Michael: The consultation paper on quality town and parish councils was published on 7 November 2001. Copies of the consultation paper were placed in the Vote Office and I wrote to each Member of Parliament enclosing a copy of the consultation paper.
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to her answer to the hon. Member for Stroud (Mr. Drew) of 27 November 2001, Official Report, columns 859–60W, on the rural White Paper, which market towns have received funding from the regeneration programme in 2001–02. [20143]
Alun Michael: Regional development agencies and their partners have agreed 112 towns for inclusion in the market towns initiative and most of these will have received some degree of support in 2001–02 depending on the stage they have reached in the consultation, planning and implementation process. The agreed list of 112 market towns has been deposited in the Library of the House today.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Asylum Seekers
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many asylum applications have been granted in each of the past two years in Northern Ireland; and how many applications await adjudication; [18859]
(2) how many asylum seekers have sought refuge in Northern Ireland in the last two years broken down by (a) gender, (b) adult/child status, (c) country of origin and (d) country from which they entered the UK. [18858]
Angela Eagle: Information on asylum applications and decisions in Northern Ireland is unavailable. Asylum applications data are not available at regional level except by port of application. Corresponding information on initial decisions relating to regional applications is also unavailable. The requested information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost by examination of individual case records.
Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Bill
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will estimate the number of
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suspected terrorists who he expects to be detained under the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Bill; and if he will make a statement. [18850]
Mr. Blunkett: It would not be right for me to provide estimates at this stage but as the Prime Minister stated during oral questions on 14 November 2001, Official Report, column 854, our assessment is that the power will be required
- "only in a small number of cases".
Mr. Blunkett: No. Such advice falls within the category described in Part II, section 4(d) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information and will not be disclosed.
Suspicious Financial Transactions
Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many referrals relating to suspicious financial transactions have been referred to NCIS in each of the last three years; and how many prosecutions have resulted. [17916]
Mr. Blunkett [holding answer 27 November 2001]: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Truro and St. Austell (Matthew Taylor) on 23 October 2001, Official Report, column 203W.
Public Service Agreements
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on progress towards the public service agreement target for increasing the numbers of asylum decisions. [16923]
Angela Eagle: Increasing the number of asylum decisions was a public service agreement (PSA) target in the years 1999–2000 and 2000–01 but is not a PSA target in 2001–02. Outturn in 2000–01 was 132,840 against a target in the range 130,000 to 150,000.
Correspondence
Derek Conway: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will instruct the Integrated Casework Directorate of the Immigration and Nationality Department to acknowledge the letters from the hon. Member for Old Bexley and Sidcup dated 13 August, 2 October and 26 October concerning Yuliya Smirnova, his reference S.1042831. [16837]
Angela Eagle: My officials wrote to the hon. Member on 22 November. I am sorry for the delay in replying. The Integrated Casework Directorate (ICD) stopped automatically sending acknowledgements of receipt of Members' representations addressed to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) Board about 12 months ago. However, it is ICD's policy to acknowledge the receipt of applications and other casework-related correspondence where an acknowledgement is requested.
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Muslim Fundamentalism
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the level of support for Muslim fundamentalism within the United Kingdom. [16409]
Angela Eagle: The total Muslim population in the United Kingdom is estimated to be between one and one and a half million. The number of people supporting what might be described as a "Muslim fundamentalist" view is impossible to assess, as it will depend on precisely how the term is interpreted. But support within the Muslim community for what might be regarded as extreme Islamist views is commonly judged to be small.
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment his Department has made of the continuing threat of Muslim fundamentalist terrorism in Britain after the destruction of the bin Laden organisation in Afghanistan. [17029]
Mr. Blunkett: There have been a number of public threats made by bin Laden and his supporters against Western interests since 11 September.
While we do not comment on intelligence, we believe the overall level of threat to the United Kingdom has remained at the heightened level identified immediately post 11 September. We believe that attacks against the United States remain bin Laden's priority. We do of course keep these issues under review.
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