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Asylum Accommodation Centres
Mr. Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he made of the implications of the existence of (a) a landfill site adjacent to and (b) a foot and mouth disease burial site on Throckmorton airfield when listing the airfield as a potential site for an asylum accommodation centre. [45559]
Angela Eagle: In making final decisions on preferred sites, we will take all the relevant factors into account including those to which the hon. Member refers. These assessments have not yet been made.
Criminal Cases Review Commission
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department by what means the processes of the Criminal Cases Review Commission are subject to continuous improvement. [45573]
Mr. Keith Bradley: Much of the commission's routine managerial effort is directed to continuous improvement of its processes. The Commission has an internal advisory Process Improvement Group (PIG) that is convened by the chairman whenever particular facets of the commission's processes require special review.
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Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the seven topics for special review that the Criminal Cases Review Commission's Process Improvement Group was convened to discuss during 2000–01. [45565]
Mr. Keith Bradley: The seven topics that were listed for special review were:
- Review cases;
Plan operations;
Manage finances;
Provide expert staff;
Provide Information Technology;
Provide physical facilities; and
Manage communications.
Mr. Keith Bradley: When corresponding with applicants, the Commission encourages applicants to seek legal advice. It has a list of legal representatives that it will provide without recommendation. It carries out a six monthly survey of the level of active legal representation, and gathers data on legal representation as submitted by applicants.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (a) what improvements are planned at the Criminal Cases Review Commission to increase the rate at which case accumulation will be reduced and (b) how this will be measured. [45566]
Mr. Keith Bradley: The case accumulation at Stage 1 is already negligible. The accumulation at Stage 2 screen will be minimised by 31 March 2002, or soon afterwards. The accumulation at Stages 2–3 will be progressively minimised during the period to 31 March 2005. The measures will include the numbers of cases in each tray and under review at each stage.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how the Criminal Cases Review Commission encourages its staff to improve their formal qualifications; and how this is measured. [45584]
Mr. Keith Bradley: The Commission encourages all staff to improve their formal qualifications. Training needs and opportunities for staff are discussed at regular personal development reviews. The Commission's personnel systems maintain information on the achievement of formal qualifications.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how the Criminal Cases Review Commission determines which cases justify the formal appointment of an external investigating officer. [45579]
Mr. Keith Bradley: It is a statutory provision of the Criminal Appeal Act 1995 that a committee of at least three or more Commission members determines whether or not a formal appointment of an external investigating officer should be made.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what aspects of (a) a legal background, (b) the criminal justice system, and (c) the
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skills for effective casework, the Criminal Cases Review Commission has identified as appropriate for acquisition by its staff during training. [45582]
Mr. Keith Bradley: The Commission continuously develops an integrated training programme, beginning from induction, and progressing through acquisition of the appropriate knowledge base and practical skills. For Commission members, case review managers and other case working staff, the emphasis is on legal background and other aspects of the criminal justice system, and the development of the skills necessary to carry out effective casework.
The training schedule that the Commission develops includes:
- Unsafe convictions;
New evidence;
Fair trials;
Sentencing;
Legal incompetence;
Disclosure;
Misconduct by investigators and witnesses;
Guilty pleas and
Identification procedures.
Mr. Keith Bradley: It is a statutory provision of the Criminal Appeal Act 1995 that any decision that a real possibility exists that a conviction, finding, verdict or sentence would not be upheld at appeal must be made by a committee of at least three Commission members. The Commission will generally be looking for arguments not raised, or evidence not adduced, in the proceedings that led to the conviction, verdict or finding.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the measures for casework best practice incorporated in the Criminal Cases Review Commission's training programme. [45583]
Mr. Keith Bradley: The Commission develops continuously an integrated training programme, beginning from induction, and progressing through acquisition of the appropriate knowledge base and practical skills. For example, for Commission members, case review managers and other caseworking staff, the emphasis is on legal background and other aspects of the criminal justice system, and development of the skills necessary to carry out effective casework. The training schedule includes: unsafe convictions; new evidence; fair trials; sentencing; legal incompetence; disclosure; misconduct by investigators and witnesses; guilty pleas and identification procedures.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how the Criminal Cases Review Commission determines if its policies are being optimised along its three dimensions of effectiveness, efficiency, and economy. [45575]
Mr. Keith Bradley: The Commission distinguishes between effectiveness (achieving high output standards), efficiency (maximising output from its human and
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physical resources) and economy (minimising the cost of those resources), and recognises that its processes must be optimised along all three dimensions. The Commission's annual business plan sets process goals along these dimensions, which should approach optimality.
Asylum Seekers
Mrs. Helen Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers and their dependants are supported by (a) NASS, (b) local authorities and (c) the mainstream welfare benefits system. [45773]
Angela Eagle: As at the end of December 2001, 65,630 asylum seekers (including dependants) were supported by the National Asylum Support Service (NASS).
From the grant claims sent to the Home Office by local authorities, as at September 2001, 25,370 single adult asylum seekers and 14,310 families were supported by local authorities. Figures including dependants are not available.
As at November 2001, Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) were supporting 12,000 asylum seekers. Figures including dependants are not available.
This is the latest available information on supported asylum seekers.
Figures for NASS supported asylum seekers and local authority supported asylum seekers are rounded to the nearest 10. Figures for DWP supported asylum seekers are rounded to the nearest 1,000.
Yarl's Wood Detention Centre
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many detainees were held in Yarl's Wood Detention Centre in each of the last 12 months; what the average time of detention was; and how many were subsequently removed from Britain. [48623]
Angela Eagle [holding answer 10 April 2002]: Yarl's Wood Removal Centre opened in November 2001. Internal management information, which has not been quality-assured, records that there were 112 detainees at Yarl's Wood at the end of November 2001; 252 detainees at the end of December 2001 and 308 detainees at the end of January 2002. There were 385 detainees at Yarl's Wood on 14 February 2002.
Information about the average time of detention and subsequent removals is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost by an examination of individual case files.
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