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Police Standards Unit

Mr. Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Police Standards Unit was established; how much it cost in 2001; how many staff it employs; and what its remit is. [62347]

Mr. Denham [holding answer 17 July 2002]: The first members of the Police Standards Unit started in post on 9 July 2001. The staffing compliment of the Unit is 29. To date £709,000 has been spent on the Unit.

The Unit's terms of reference, as set out in the White Paper 'Policing a New Century: a blueprint for reform' are as follows:

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The Standards Unit exists to deliver the Government's commitment to raise standards and improve operational performance in the police and in crime reduction generally in order to maintain and enhance public satisfaction with policing in their area.

Its core objective will be to identify and disseminate best practice in the prevention, detection and apprehension of crime in all forces in order to reduce crime and disorder as well as the fear of crime.

The Unit will:

Work with forces and Basic Command Units (BCUs) to ensure the most effective use of intelligence, detection and successful prosecution procedures;


Identify BCUs or forces performing below their best based on Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) reports, statistical information, or particular cases of concern;


Engage directly with the BCU or force to establish the nature of the problems, the extent to which best practice may be lacking, and the remedial action required;


Engage similarly with other local agencies where it is apparent that they are contributing significantly to the causes of poor performance;


Identify where, in exceptional circumstances, combined cross-cutting measures engaging other agencies are required to focus on and achieve early change within a specific geographic area or BCU boundary;


Draw validated best practice from HMIC, National Police Training, the Crime Reduction College and other agencies, spread its use through local engagement, and identify for professional evaluation any new examples or techniques it comes across;


Have a capacity to provide short-term funding to support the remedial action it has identified and which could not otherwise be undertaken;


Identify cases in which the Home Secretary should consider the use of powers under the Police Act (1996), the Local Government Act (1999), or other relevant legislation;


Identify issues which raise policy, technical or legal questions for the Home Office to address.

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the work carried out to date by Dr Kevin Bond in respect of the Police Standards Unit. [61181]

Mr. Denham [holding answer 13 June 2002]: Dr. Kevin Bond took up post on 7 January 2002. Under his leadership, the Police Standards Unit (PSU) is now developing a number of projects related to police performance management and the identification and dissemination of good practice in key areas.

Parliamentary Questions

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many staff were involved in each of the last three years in preparing draft answers to written parliamentary questions; [49136]

(2) what the cost was to his Department of answering written parliamentary questions in 2001; and how that cost was calculated. [49094]

Beverley Hughes: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him by my right hon. Friend, Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. Cook) on 17 April 2002, Official Report, column 929W. The Home Office answered 4,067 written questions in 2001, at an approximate cost of £516,195.

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Imported Labour

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many documented cases his Department have received from the Professional Contractors Group relating to employers in the technology sector importing labour from abroad in an effort to reduce employment costs; and what steps are being taken by his Department to ensure that the work permit system is not abused in this way. [66015]

Beverley Hughes: In March 2002, the Professional Contractors Group (PCG) provided Work Permits UK (WPUK) Allegations team a dossier of 85 cases (relating to 61 separate employers) specifically relating to the replacement of United Kingdom Information Technology contractors with lower paid employees from overseas.

Most of the cases are complaints about employment policies of employers, rather than specific allegations of abuse of the work permit arrangements, and as such it does not warrant any further action by Work Permits (UK). 12 cases contained specific information about abuse of the work permit arrangements, and these are being pursued by WPUK. A list has been returned to PCG setting out whether cases continue to be investigated.

The overall aim of the work permit arrangements is to strike the right balance between enabling employers to recruit or transfer skilled people from abroad while safeguarding the interests of the resident work force. However, the arrangements cover only those vacancies which are to be filled by an employee working on a PAYE basis, and as such, there are safeguards to ensure that resident workers willing to work on such a basis are not disadvantaged.

In the cases provided by the PCG, it is apparent that the majority refer to a 'contractor' being replaced by an incoming 'employee' (under PAYE). It is a commercial decision by the employer whether they offer employment terms on a self-employment, contractual or direct PAYE basis.

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many work permit applications have been (a) granted and (b) refused by Work Permits UK on the grounds of shortage occupations criteria in each month since June 2001; [66014]

(2) how many permit applications Work Permits UK have approved on the grounds of shortage occupations criteria when the specific skills possessed have been described as IT skills. [66012]

Beverley Hughes: Work Permits UK currently operates shortage occupation lists in respect of the Information Technology (IT), health care and engineering sectors and a fourth list in respect of other miscellaneous shortage occupations, which currently includes actuaries, Civil Aviation Authority licensed aircraft engineers, teachers and veterinary surgeons.

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The following table sets out the number of work permits approved and refused in each month in the period between I June 2001 and 30 June 2002 under shortage occupations criteria and those approved specifically under shortage occupations criteria in the IT sector in the same period:

	Work permit applications under shortage occupation criteria (all)		Work permit applications under shortage occupation criteria (IT sector)
	Approved	Refused	Approved	Refused
2001
June	4,381	72	1,139	30
July	4,979	120	1,126	27
August	4,420	99	1,197	32
September	3,617	117	1,142	55
October	4,428	97	1,315	40
November	3,975	95	1,188	28
December	3,393	142	926	33
2002
January	4,392	211	1,476	72
February	4,082	303	1,543	99
March	4,617	321	1,596	148
April	4,439	253	1,270	149
May	4,606	255	1,136	122
June	3,916	150	834	71
Total	55,245	2,235	15,888	906

Civil Contingencies Secretariat

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 10 June 2002, Official Report, column 619W, on the Civil Contingencies Secretariat, if he will list (a) the members of the civil contingencies committee and (b) what reports it has made in the last five years; and if he will place the reports in the Library. [66064]

Mr. Blunkett: The only standing member of the Civil Contingencies Committee is the Chairman, the (Home Secretary). Others, including Her Majesty's Treasury and the devolved Administrations, are invited to attend, depending on the contingency.

The Terms of Reference of the Civil Contingencies Committee are:

"to co-ordinate the preparation of plans for ensuring in an emergency the supplies and services essential to the life of the community; to keep these plans under regular review; and to supervise their prompt and effective implementation in specific emergencies".

The Civil Contingencies Committee has therefore made no reports in the last five years. However, I did update parliamentary colleagues by letter on this work on 1 November last year.

Correspondence

Mr. Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he intends to reply to the letter to him dated 30 April from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton to Mrs. Vida Obiri. [66210]

Mr. Blunkett: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 12 July 2002.

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