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Cemeteries

Andrew Bennett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) when the research on burial space and the state of cemeteries will be published; and what follow-up action will be taken; [60809]

(2) if he will make a statement on the work of the Burial and Cemeteries Advisory Group; who is on it; what its terms of reference are; how many times it has met; when it will next meet; what it has discussed; what it has done; and when it will have completed its work; [60808]

(3) when the Government will publish the public consultation on burial legislation. [60810]

Hilary Benn: Details of the membership of the Burial and Cemeteries Advisory Group are listed. The Group has met three times, and has the following terms of reference:

To provide good practice advice on the provision, management, and maintenance of burial grounds; and


To produce advice on good burial practice and procedures, and to make recommendations for any appropriate policy and legislative change.

The agreed minutes of the Group's meetings will be published, and I will arrange for copies to be sent to the hon. Member. Consultation on burial legislation and related matters depends on approval of a draft document to be considered at the next meeting at the end of September. The Group is committed to reporting progress to Ministers by December 2002.

The research work was completed earlier this year. The report will be published shortly following peer review, and its findings will be used to inform further work. In addition, planning for the survey of burial grounds is well advanced, with a pilot exercise expected later this summer.

Burial and Cemeteries Advisory Group Membership

Association of Burial Authorities

Association of Private Crematoria and Cemeteries

Board of Deputies of British Jews

Cemetery Research Group, University of York

Churches Funerals Group

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Confederation of Burial Authorities

Council for the Care of Churches

Cremation Society of Great Britain

Cruse Bereavement Care

Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions

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Department for Culture, Media and Sport

English Heritage

English Nature

Federation of British Cremation Authorities

Health and Safety Executive

Home Office

Institute of Burial and Cremation Administration

Local Government Association

Muslim Council of Great Britain

National Assembly for Wales

National Association of Local Councils

National Association of Memorial Masons

National Federation of Cemetery Friends

Society of Local Council Clerks

Welsh Local Government Association.

Immigration and Nationality Directorate

Mr. Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have made complaints about IND since 1 January. [60570]

Beverley Hughes: The Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) hold a central record of written complaints about staff conduct and since 1 January 2002 have received a total of 180 formal complaints concerning individual members of staff. The Directorate does not currently keep records of complaints made about operational matters. However, IND is in the process of setting up a single point of contact for all written and e-mailed complaints as part of a drive to improve the accessibility of information to customers generally. This will enable complaints to be accurately recorded, monitored closely and improvements made to the level of service provided, as a result.

Mr. Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer of 14 May 2002, Official Report, column 604W, on appeals, how many cases were sent from IND to the Immigration Appellate Authority in 2001. [60613]

Beverley Hughes: Data from the Immigration Appellate Authority (IAA) show that the IAA received 58,285 immigration and asylum appeals from the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in 2001. The majority (47,905) was asylum appeals.

Haslar Detention Centre

Mr. Viggers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many detainees have been allocated to Haslar Detention Centre in the last year; how many have been granted political asylum; how many have been given exceptional leave to remain; and how many have been deported. [60397]

Beverley Hughes: The latest available information on the number of persons detained under Immigration Act powers relates to 30 March 2002. As at that date, 135 persons (to the nearest five) were being detained at Haslar Immigration Removal Centre.

I regret that statistics showing the total number of detainees allocated to Haslar Immigration Removal Centre in the last year, and the requested information on

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the outcome of their cases could be obtained only at disproportionate cost by examination of individual case records.

Information on Immigration Act detainees as at 29 June 2002 will be published on 30 August 2002 on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/ immigration1.html.

Age Discrimination

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list for each NDPB or agency sponsored by his Department, whether they have a policy of not considering applications for employment by persons over a particular age, and that age. [59334]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 10 June 2002]: It is for individual non-departmental public bodies (NDPB's) to determine their own policies about age-limits of those they employ, in accordance with existing equal opportunities legislation and good practice guidelines, but no Home Office NDPB operates a restrictive policy on considering applicants for employment below retirement age.

Agencies are bound by the provisions of the Civil Service Management Code, section 2.1, which states

"Civil Service equal opportunities policy provides that all eligible people must have equality of opportunity for employment and advancement on the basis of age, disability, gender, martial status, sexual orientation, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, or (in Northern Ireland) community background".

Correspondence

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the several letters from the hon. Member for Woking on DANGA, born 9 November 1973, ref. D1009062 and B554916. [60515]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 10 June 2002]: I wrote to the hon. Member on 10 June 2002.

Criminal Justice System

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the inter-departmental steering group working on the review of statistics on administration of criminal justice is expected to report; what the group's membership is; and what the members' sponsoring authorities are. [59339]

Hilary Benn [holding answer 12 June 2002]: The report from the review of statistics on the administration of criminal justice in England and Wales is due to be published as a consultation document on the National Statistics website shortly.

The review is being conducted by Denis Allnutt, and is steered by a trilateral project board chaired by Andy Maultby (Lord Chancellor's Department). The project board includes officials from the Home Office (Research, Development and Statistics Directorate, Criminal Justice Joint Planning Unit, and Criminal Justice Information Technology Directorate), the Crown Prosecution Service, the Court Service, and an independent member—Professor Ken Pease (Huddersfield University).

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The funding authority for the review is the Home Office.

Counter-terrorism

Mr. Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the allocation to West Mercia constabulary for police activity on counter-terrorism measures of the extra funding announced on 10 June. [61282]

Mr. Denham: Forces in the West Midlands, including West Mercia police, received funding allocations based on careful assessments of their current requirements and commitments to provide an enhanced counter-terrorist capability. The overall level of funding allocated to police forces in the West Midlands region for counter terrorism purposes has been made public but to break this down further in public announcements could compromise security.

Fylingdales

Mr. Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much of the funds he is allocating to police forces in Yorkshire for counter-terrorism measures will be given to North Yorkshire police in respect of the policing of Fylingdales. [61306]

Mr. Denham: Forces in Yorkshire, including North Yorkshire police, have received additional funding based on detailed assessments of their current requirements to provide an enhanced counter-terrorist capability. The overall level of funding allocated to police forces in Yorkshire for counter-terrorism purposes has been made public but to give specific information about resources for the policing of specific sites such as the Fylingdales could potentially compromise security.

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