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HOME DEPARTMENT
Asylum Accommodation Centres
Mr. Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what area of land is required to construct each of the proposed asylum accommodation centres. [45558]
Beverley Hughes: I apologise for the delay in answering this question due to an administrative oversight in my Department. It is envisaged that in order to provide a full range of on-site services for a total of 750 asylum seekers, a site of around 20 to 25 acres will be required.
Mr. Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the impact on local (a) labour markets and (b) small businesses of the establishment of asylum accommodation centres in remote rural locations; and if he will make a statement. [59273]
Beverley Hughes: These assessments are being made as part of the planning process.
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer of 10 June 2002, Official Report, column 803W, on RAF Turnhouse, for what reasons his Department has not reached a final decision on the suitability of RAF Turnhouse for an asylum seeker accommodation centre. [62063]
Beverley Hughes: Immediate priority has been given to the three sites for which it has been decided to submit planning notifications. A final decision on the sites still under consideration, including the Royal Air Force (RAF) Turnhouse, has not been reached simply because further work on evaluation is still in progress. As I have stated previously, we will reach a decision as soon as possible on the suitability of RAF Turnhouse.
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer of 10 June 2002, Official Report, column 803W, on RAF Turnhouse, which of the criteria listed (a) Killingholme and (b) Hooton Park failed to meet. [62178]
Beverley Hughes: We do not consider there to be any genuine public interest in disclosing the reasons why sites have been found to be unsuitable for the development of accommodation centres.
Special Advisers
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many times special advisers have accompanied Ministers on overseas visits in each of the last five years; which countries were visited; and what the total cost of each individual visit was. [47140]
Mr. Blunkett [holding answer 10 April 2002]: All travel by special advisers is undertaken in accordance with the rules set out in the Ministerial Code and the Civil Service Management Code.
Between 1 April 2000 and 31 March 2002, special advisers have accompanied the Home Secretary abroad on six occasions at an average total cost of £2,030.02 for all involved in the trip. the countries visited were Spain,
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France and Belgium. Information for the period 2 May 1997 to 31 March 2000 is already in the public domain.
Digital Television
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the number of subscriptions to (a) digital terrestrial, (b) digital satellite and (c) digital cable television held by his Department for services in any departmental building from which Ministers work, stating for each subscription its (i) cost and (ii) purpose. [48357]
Beverley Hughes [holding answer 10 April 2002]: The Home Department does not pay any subscription to (a) digital terrestrial and (b) digital satellite television. The Department does pay subscriptions to (c) digital cable television used in a departmental building from which Ministers work. Use of these services is limited to Ministers' private offices, the Legal Advisers Branch and the Communications Directorate. Details of cost and purpose are as follows:
- Subscription: 37 digital cable subscriptions £420.00.
Cost per year: £15,540.00.
Purpose: To monitor upcoming and breaking news, and parliamentary news to brief Ministers.
Ministerial Salaries
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the annual cost was of ministerial salaries in his Department in (a) 1997–98 and (b) 2001–02. [60938]
Mr. Blunkett: The level of ministerial salaries are recommended by the Senior Salaries Review Body.
During the period May 1997 to March 1998, in this Department there was one Cabinet Minister, at an annual salary of £43,991; two Ministers of State, at an annual salary of £31,125; and three Parliamentary Under- Secretaries of State, one in the Lords at an annual salary of £43,632 and two in the Commons at an annual salary of £23,623.
From June 2001, there was one Cabinet Minister, at an annual salary of £68,157; three Ministers of State, two in the Commons at an annual salary of £35,356 and one in the Lords at an annual salary of £68,283; and three Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State, at an annual salary of £26,835.
Departmental Expenditure Limit
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much and what proportion of the departmental expenditure limit for 2002–03 will be accounted for by staff costs; what the figures were for 2001–02; and if he will make a statement. [61022]
Beverley Hughes: The information requested is provided in the following table.
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| 2001–02 | 2002–03 | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual departmental expenditure limit (DEL) (£ million) | 10,731 | 10,230 |
| Staff costs (£ million) | 1,477 | 1,688 |
| Staff costs as proportion of annual DEL (Percentage) | 13.8 | 16.5 |
The 2001–02 DEL includes £826 million from the DEL Reserve, voted in the Spring Supplementary Estimates, mainly to fund asylum expenditure. If this is discounted, the staff costs for 2001–02 constitute 16.1 per cent. of the DEL.
Asylum Seekers
Mr. Joyce: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers living in Falkirk, West constituency are awaiting (a) the outcome of their asylum applications and (b) the outcome of appeals against decisions made in respect of their asylum applications. [63380]
Beverley Hughes: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Cathcart (Mr. Harris) on 11 June 2002, Official Report, column 1231W.
Mr. David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what level of in-kind support is available to asylum seekers in NASS accommodation. [66873]
Beverley Hughes [holding answer 4 July 2002]: The National Asylum Support Service (NASS) accommodation is fully furnished including items such as crockery and kitchen utensils. The costs of accommodation including associated utility bills and council tax are met centrally.
Access to Information
Tony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the administrative manuals and internal guidance which his Department has made public as required by Part 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information; and which of these were first made available after May 1997. [45400]
Mr. Blunkett: Since the Home Office publishes considerable amounts of information, it is not possible to identify all that falls in this category without disproportionate diversion of resources and further delay. However, as work proceeds on the development of a publication scheme under the Freedom of Information Act, we intend to increase the volume of such material in accordance with recommended practice. The publication scheme will be operational in November this year and will set out the classes of information that the Home Office will publish routinely. We aim to include information from administrative manuals and internal guidance.
Firearms
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many deaths were attributable to firearms in the last year in Portsmouth, South; how many of these were with licensed firearms; and if he will make a statement. [64725]
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Mr. Bob Ainsworth: There were no deaths attributable to firearms, recorded by the police in Hampshire for 2000–01 (year ending March).
The Home Office firearms database does not hold figures for locations below police force area. Information relating to the number of licensed firearms is recorded on a calendar basis, figures for 2001 are not currently available.
Drug Arrests
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drug arrests there were in the Portsmouth, South constituency in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [64588]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Information on the number of persons arrested for notifiable offences is collected by police force area only. Available data on the number of persons arrested for drugs offences within the Hampshire police force area are given in the table for the years 1999–2000 and 2000–01. Statistics for 2001–02 will be available in the autumn.
| Number of persons | |
|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 3,768 |
| 2000–01 | 3,059 |
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