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Immigration and Nationality Directorate

(Lost Passports)

Mr. Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many passports were lost by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in (a) 1999, (b) 2000 and (c) 2001. [34618]

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Angela Eagle: The information requested is not held centrally and could not be obtained without disproportionate cost. However, the Integrated Casework Directorate's (ICD's) Return of Passport Unit, which was set up in October 1999, issued 97 lost passport letters in the year 2000 and 103 in 2001.

Leicestershire Police

Mr. Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many members there are in the Leicestershire Constabulary, broken down by rank; and how many are (a) women, (b) black and (c) Asian. [34619]

Mr. Denham: The information in the tables has been provided by the Chief Constable and reflects the position in the Leicestershire Constabulary on 8 February 2002.

Male (full-time equivalents)

Rank	White	Black Caribbean	Black African	Black other	Chinese	Pakistani	Indian	Other	Total
Chief Constable	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Deputy Chief Constable	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Assistant Chief Constable	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Chief Superintendent	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	8
Superintendent	6	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	7
Chief Inspector	17	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	18
Inspector	80	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	83
Sergeant	239	1	0	0	0	0	8	1	249
Constable	1,294.3	11	3	7	1	8	22	13	1,359.3
Total	1,647.3	14	3	8	1	8	31	15	1,727.3

Female (full-time equivalents)

Rank	White	Black Caribbean	Black African	Black other	Chinese	Pakistani	Indian	Other	Total
Chief Constable	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Deputy Chief Constable	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Assistant Chief Constable	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Chief Superintendent	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Superintendent	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
Chief Inspector	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
Inspector	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4
Sergeant	20.8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	20.8
Constable	299.6	1	0	3	0	2	5	3	313.6
Total	329.5	1	0	3	0	2	5	3	343.5

Total (full-time equivalents)

Rank	White	Black Caribbean	Black African	Black other	Chinese	Pakistani	Indian	Other	Total
Chief Constable	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Deputy Chief Constable	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Assistant Chief Constable	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
Chief Superintendent	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	8
Superintendent	8	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	9
Chief Inspector	19	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	20
Inspector	84	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	87
Sergeant	259.8	1	0	0	0	0	8	1	269.8
Constable	1,593.9	12	3	10	1	10	27	16	1,672.9
Total	1,976.8	15	3	11	1	10	36	18	2,070.8

Asylum Seekers

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will (a) list the sites which are being considered by his Department to build accommodation centres for asylum seekers and (b) list sites which have already been considered and have been deemed unsuitable. [32515]

Angela Eagle: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Mid-Worcestershire (Mr. Luff) on 11 February 2002, Official Report, column 57W.

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So far, none has been deemed unsuitable.

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what criteria the Government have set for selecting sites for accommodation centres to house asylum seekers within the UK; and which of these criteria have been met by RAF Turnhouse in Edinburgh. [32519]

Angela Eagle: The criteria are set out in the answer I gave the hon. Member for Mid-Worcestershire (Mr. Luff) on 7 February 2002, Official Report, column 1134W. The Royal Air Force (RAF) Turnhouse site appears to meet these initial criteria.

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people seeking asylum have been located in the Portsmouth, South constituency since the introduction of the Government's dispersal policy; and if he will make a statement. [35444]

Angela Eagle: Figures are not available by constituency for those asylum seekers accommodated by the National Asylum Support Service (NASS).

Statistics from NASS for the end of September 2001, show that 150 ^{1 , 2} asylum seekers (including dependants) were being supported in NASS accommodation in Portsmouth.

¹ Figure rounded to the nearest 10.

² Cases where support has been ceased are excluded from this figure.

Essex Police Authority

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the complement is for Essex Police Authority; and how many officers were in post at 31 December 2001. [29757]

Mr. Denham: The chief constable of Essex Police informs me that the full time equivalent strength at 31 December 2001 was 2,978.

Essex police continue to recruit strongly. Force strength rose by 119 officers (4.2 per cent.) to 2,937 in the year to 30 September 2001 and the information provided by the chief constable shows a further strength increase.

Arthur Andersen

Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions he has had with Arthur Andersen about terminating contracts. [33092]

Angela Eagle: The Home Department does not currently hold any contracts with Arthur Andersen and therefore no discussions on termination have taken place.

Parliamentary Questions

Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 16 November 2001, Official Report, columns 963–64W, on police resignations; if he will make a statement reconciling the figures for resignations in 1996–97 with the figures given in a previous answer to my Friend the right hon. Member for Maidstone and The Weald (Miss Widdecombe) of 11 December 2000, Official Report, column 64W (UIN: 41401). [17257]

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Mr. Denham: The figures for total police wastage and police resignations given in the answer to the right hon. Member for Maidstone and The Weald (Miss Widdecombe) of 11 December 2000, Official Report, column 64W, were those collected by the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate (RDS) and published as Police Personnel Statistics. For the purpose of these statistics, wastage is collected on a headcount basis (ie the number of persons) in the following categories: retirements, resignations and other. Other wastage includes officers transferring to forces outside England and Wales, but not those transferring to forces within England and Wales.

In addition to the information collected by RDS, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) collects information annually about wastage from the police service broken down into the following categories:

Dismissals from force (including requirements to resign)


Voluntary resignations


Medical retirements


Ordinary retirements


Transfers from force


Deaths.

Forces are asked to provide these figures on a full-time equivalent basis, not on a headcount basis. The HMIC category "Transfers from force" includes transfers to any other force.

There is no specific category of resignation for medical reasons. If an officer is permanently disabled for police duties there is provision for retirement on ill-health grounds. The number of such medical retirements is recorded in the HMIC statistics. In the circumstances the answer of 16 November 2001, Official Report, column 963W showed the number of medical retirements and the number of officers who left the police service for other reasons—ordinary retirements, dismissals including requirements to resign, and voluntary resignations.

As the two sets of statistics collected by RDS and HMIC are gathered on a different basis, they cannot be reconciled directly with one another. We are aware of the inconsistent basis between the two sets of figures and established a task force to consider these issues. The task force report was issued for consultation on 18 December 2001. The report of the task force proposes a comprehensive revision to the current requirements on police personnel statistics. Following consultation with the police service we will implement the necessary changes from September 2002.

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