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Mr. Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on recruitment and retention of prison officers and other staff at Long Lartin prison. [36767]
Beverley Hughes: As at January 2002 Long Lartin prison had a total number of 514.5 unified staff against a target of 517 and 140.5 non-unified staff against a target of 141.5. The small number of vacancies will be filled shortly.
Long Lartin is located in a low unemployment area and while housing costs are rising this has not caused any significant problems with recruitment. Equally there is no difficulty recruiting other members of staff, with the possible exception of civilian works staff.
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Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the time taken by police officers to complete the paperwork and processes necessary after arresting an individual; and what estimate he has made of the changes in that time associated with new (a) legislation, (b) regulations and (c) Government guidance since 1997. [36582]
Mr. Denham: On 1 November 2001, my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary published PA Consulting's study "Diary of a Police Officer" which had considered what more could be done to free police officers from unnecessary paperwork and other obstacles which prevent them from spending more time in public. The study found that officers were spending 43.1 per cent. of their time in the police station.
In the White Paper "Policing a New Century" (CM 5326), published on 5 December 2001, my right hon. Friend announced that he was setting up a task force, chaired by Sir David O'Dowd, to consider how to take forward the recommendations in this, and other, relevant reports, in order to reduce unnecessary administrative burdens on the police.
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individual arrests were carried out by police forces in England and Wales during each of the last three years for which records are available. [36581]
Mr. Denham: Information given in the table is for arrests for notifiable offences within the financial years 19992000 and 200001. Information for earlier years is not available on a consistent basis.
(53) Not available
(54) Estimated
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Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made following the announcement in January 2001 of a package to develop volunteering; and if he will make a statement. [36382]
Angela Eagle: As part of the 2000 spending review settlement, the Government announced an extra £300 million for volunteering initiatives over three years, 200102 to 200304. £60 million was available to other Government Departments for match funding in supporting the use of volunteers in public sector services. The funding is worth a total of £120 million over three years when matched. 24 proposals were approved and are currently on course to involve an additional 290,000 volunteers in public service delivery by the end of March 2004.
Proposals for a second round of funding will be taken forward shortly.
A Mentoring Programme has been established which is providing: funding to develop the mentoring infrastructure; more money for mentoring already going on in local communities; and seven one-stop-shops for mentoring to be known as Mentor Points.
In addition, the Experience Corps Company has been established which, with funding of some £20 million, has started the roll-out (in November 2001) of an initiative aimed at encouraging a quarter of a million people aged 50 and over to become or remain active in their communities.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases of work-related stress have been reported in his Department; how much compensation has been paid to employees; how many work days have been lost due to work-related stress, and at what cost; what procedures have been put in place to reduce work-related stress, and at what cost, in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [35929]
Angela Eagle: Information on sickness absence and compensation payments due to 'work-related' stress are not collected centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
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The Department, however, monitors through its staff surveys factors relating to work place stress including work load and working conditions. The Department has taken action to address some of the main identified factors, including improving communication arrangements and filling vacancies. The Home Office is committed to supporting staff in achieving a balance between their work and home responsibilities and has a range of flexible working patterns to help staff achieve this.
A welfare service is available and offers personal support for staff suffering from any form of stress. In addition, stress awareness workshops are available to staff and managers. Information on how to recognise stress and suggested coping strategies, is accessible via the Home Office Intranet; leaflets entitled "Stress and You", are also available.
The Department is aware of its obligations to provide a safe working environment and takes steps to ensure that it meets the requirements of health and safety legislation.
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department who inspects the functioning of youth offending teams; and if he will make a statement. [35532]
Beverley Hughes: The operation of youth offending teams and the programmes they run are subject to a range of independent evaluation and monitoring commissioned and operated by the Youth Justice Board. The Board is also developing a tool to help them measure the effectiveness of youth offending teams' services. Evaluation of the pilot youth offending teams and the new final warnings scheme has been published by Sheffield university, and are available in the Library. Evaluations of the new intervention programmes will be published this spring.
Two youth offending team inspections have been carried out by multi-disciplinary inspection teams. The Home Office, in consultation with the Youth Justice Board, is developing a strategy for new independent inspection arrangements.
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list those functions, engagements and events which Ministers, his officials and advisers have attended which have been sponsored, funded, promoted and hosted by the City of London Corporation since 1997. [35703]
Angela Eagle: The information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people, broken down by nationality, on (a) temporary admission and (b) temporary release, applied for leave to enter on the grounds of marriage in each year from 1995 to the latest convenient date in 2001; and how many such applications in each year were (i) granted and (ii) refused. [35548]
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Angela Eagle: The available information is given in the table.
The information relates to decisions on applications for leave to remain on the basis of marriage, by main nationality for 1995 to 2000, the latest year available.
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Data for 2001 are due to be published in the summer this year. It is not possible to identify how many of the decisions were made in cases were the applicant was on temporary admission or release.
(55) Excludes dependants of principal applicants, the outcome of appeals and withdrawn applications.
(56) Includes unmarried partners from 1997.
(57) Includes Czechoslovak passport holders.
(58) Includes Soviet Union passport holders.
(59) Includes holders of passports of the former Yugoslavia.
(60) The Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly known as Zaire.
Note:
Data rounded to the nearest 10 with
(61) = 5 or fewer
(62) not available
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Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many nationals of (a) India, (b) Pakistan, (c) Bangladesh, (d) Ghana, (e) Nigeria, (f) Malaysia, (g) Jamaica, (h) Zimbabwe and (j) Kenya, (i) applied for, (ii) were granted and (iii) were refused leave to remain in the UK on the ground of marriage in (A) 2000 and (B) 2001 to the latest convenient date; and how many people of each nationality applied (1) within
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their permitted leave and (2) after their leave had expired. [35547]
Angela Eagle: The available information is given in the table.
The information relates to decisions on applications for leave to remain in the United Kingdom on the basis of marriage. The latest available data are for the period January to December 2000.
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It is not possible to identify how many of the decisions were made in cases where that applicant did not have current leave to remain at the time of application.
Number of decisions | |||
---|---|---|---|
Grants | Refusals | Total | |
India | 1,640 | 40 | 1,680 |
Pakistan | 1,380 | 60 | 1,440 |
Bangladesh | 380 | 20 | 400 |
Ghana | 700 | 60 | 760 |
Nigeria | 1,520 | 300 | 1,820 |
Malaysia | 370 | 10 | 380 |
Jamaica | 2,200 | 130 | 2,330 |
Zimbabwe | 270 | 10 | 280 |
Kenya | 370 | 20 | 390 |
Total | 8,830 | 640 | 9,470 |
(63) Excludes dependants of principal applicants, the outcome of appeals and withdrawn applications.
(64) Includes unmarried partners.
Notes:
1. Totals may not sum due to rounding. This is because all calculations are based on unrounded figures to ensure accuracy.
2. Data rounded to nearest 10
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