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Brixton Prison

Charlotte Atkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will announce the outcome of the market testing of the management of HMP Brixton. [73628]

Mr. Hilary Benn: The market test for the management of Brixton did not attract bids from the private sector, partly because of its poor physical condition and location. The in house bid, while being impressive, was not affordable. Therefore, instead of operating under a Service Level Agreement, the prison will continue to be run under existing management arrangements. However, a performance baseline will be set with challenging improvement targets, and progress will be closely monitored.

Asylum Seekers

Mr. Tom Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements exist for asylum seekers to submit material in support of their claim. [73629]

Beverley Hughes: Under existing procedures, an applicant who is not issued with a Statement of Evidence Form (SEF) to complete prior to their asylum interview is allowed five days after their substantive asylum interview to make further representations before a decision is taken on their asylum claim.

Those asylum applicants issued with an SEF prior to any substantive interview do not benefit from this arrangement. This is because applicants issued with an SEF form are given 10 working days to submit the completed form to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. We think this gives applicants a reasonable period to set out their claim and time to seek legal representation if they wish for the submission of further supporting evidence.

We have decided that asylum applicants who go through the induction centre process will no longer benefit from the five day period to make further representations. The induction centre process is designed to familiarise an asylum applicant with the asylum procedures, providing the asylum seeker with detailed briefings on different aspects of the asylum process and to explain to applicants what their obligations are. All asylum applicants who go through the induction centre process are told that all information relevant to their claim must be available by the time they are substantively interviewed because decisions on claims will be made shortly after the interview. The interview itself will be scheduled to take place two weeks after the applicant has gone through the induction process. We consider that this two week period offers the applicant sufficient time to prepare for the interview and gather any supporting information he considers necessary.

24 Jul 2002 : Column 1448W

This change is in keeping with our commitment to deliver fast asylum decisions, whilst at the same time ensuring that asylum seekers have a proper opportunity to establish their claims.

These arrangements do not apply to Oakington or any detained cases.

Road Traffic Penalties

Mr. Tom Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Government's response to the consultation paper on road traffic penalties will be published. [73630]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The Government's response to the consultation paper on the review of road traffic penalties is published today. Copies have been placed in the Library.

Campsfield House

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the future of the Campsfield House immigration removal centre. [73631]

Beverley Hughes: On 7 February, my right hon. Friend, the Home Secretary, announced that he had decided that the Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre would close by spring 2003. However, following the incident at The Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre in February and the consequent temporary reduction in Removal Centre capacity, I have decided to postpone the closure of Campsfield House until September 2004. This is in order to maintain Removal Centre capacity and thus support our commitment to increase the rate of removal of failed asylum seekers.

IND Complaints Committee

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on changes in the membership of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate's independent Complaints Audit Committee. [73632]

Beverley Hughes: Ms Catherine Tuitt has been appointed as a new Member of the Complaints Audit Committee to replace Mercy Jeyasingham, whose three-year term of tenure ends in July 2002. Ms Tuitt has worked in a variety of positions, both in the private and public sector, ranging from legal consultancy and public affairs, to chairing council committees. A local elected councillor until recently, Ms Tuitt has considerable experience in facilitating service provision. She is presently an advocate for a voluntary community organisation providing support and advice to refugees and children of refugees.

Careless Driving

Mrs. Mahon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drivers convicted of causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs caused crashes which resulted in multiple deaths in each of the past 10 years. [70969]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: I will write to the hon. Member.

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Mrs. Mahon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what percentage of the breath tests carried out by police officers proved (a) over the legal drink-drive limit and (b) positive, but not over the legal drink-drive limit, broken down by police force, in each of the last 10 years; [70954]

Mrs. Mahon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the average penalty given to (a) drivers convicted of causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs and (b) drivers convicted of multiple counts of causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs in each of the past 10 years. [70971]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: I will write to the hon. Member.

Mrs. Mahon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drivers charged with causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs were involved in crashes that resulted in multiple deaths in each of the past 10 years. [70968]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: I will write to the hon. Member

Mrs. Mahon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drivers were convicted of multiple counts of causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs in each of the past 10 years. [70970]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: I will write to the hon. Member.

24 Jul 2002 : Column 1450W

Mrs. Mahon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drivers were (a) charged with and (b) convicted of causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs in each of the past 10 years. [70967]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: I will write to the hon. Member

Mrs. Mahon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drivers convicted of multiple counts of causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs (a) served the whole of their sentences and (b) had their sentence reduced, in each of the past 10 years. [70973]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: I will write to the hon. Member.

Mrs. Mahon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drivers convicted of multiple counts of causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs (a) were given concurrent sentences and (b) were given consecutive sentences, in each of the past 10 years. [70974]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: I will write to the hon. Member

Breath Tests

Mrs. Mahon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what percentage of the breath tests carried out by police officers proved (a) over the legal drink-drive limit and (b) positive, but not over the legal drink-drive limit, broken down by police force, in each of the last 10 years. [70954]

(2) how many breath tests were carried out by police officers, broken down by police force, in each of the last 10 years. [70953]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Since 1992 police forces have been required to supply centrally the total number of screening tests and the sum of positive and refused tests as given in the tables.

Table A: Percentage of positive or refused screening breath tests, by police force area, 1992–2000

England and Wales									Percentages
Police force area	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998(85)	1999(85)	2000(85)
Avon and
Somerset	16	17	18	19	20	21	15	17	19
Bedfordshire	13	15	11	14	17	19	16	27	22
Cambridgeshire	11	8	8	8	8	7	7	8	9
Cheshire	15	16	26	15	11	7	7	8	16
Cleveland	9	9	6	4	4	3	3	3	4
Cumbria	19	13	13	11	9	8	8	8	10
Derbyshire	14	10	8	7	6	5	5	4	3
Devon and
Cornwall	38	36	32	29	22	11	14	18	20
Dorset	24	19	17	20	17	15	15	14	11
Durham	26	19	19	27	31	29	17	7	7
Essex	13	12	10	8	6	6	10	11	9
Gloucestershire	20	19	17	16	22	17	14	16	17
Greater Manchester	24	16	9	7	7	8	21	22	31
Hampshire	28	26	20	21	18	14	14	12	10
Hertfordshire	31	29	30	26	28	25	24	27	33
Humberside	18	19	20	17	14	17	18	15	13
Kent	12	12	13	17	18	15	11	11	9
Lancashire	33	27	23	16	12	13	9	10	10
Leicestershire	22	16	11	17	20	22	11	9	11
Lincolnshire	8	7	7	7	6	4	4	4	6
London, City of	15	19	19	16	16	16	14	17	23
Merseyside	49	28	16	16	17	17	13	12	17
Metropolitan	8	6	8	13	12	13	13	11	10
Norfolk	9	16	18	20	16	11	7	7	8
Northamptonshire	18	20	20	20	17	21	26	23	25
Northumbria	54	51	49	51	38	30	27	28	27
North Yorkshire	35	43	37	35	22	16	15	16	17
Nottinghamshire	32	40	40	43	29	25	27	29	28
South Yorkshire	29	22	21	18	16	14	13	12	11
Staffordshire	24	29	30	20	15	11	14	18	16
Suffolk	20	18	17	14	14	9	8	7	9
Surrey	17	19	19	16	15	13	11	14	13
Sussex	16	16	16	15	11	10	11	11	9
Thames Valley	12	10	11	12	14	17	15	16	17
Warwickshire	34	29	18	13	12	12	10	12	13
West Mercia	14	11	11	9	11	10	8	13	25
West Midlands	34	40	35	29	18	14	25	23	28
West Yorkshire	24	28	24	17	17	19	20	21	23
Wiltshire	15	16	17	15	21	17	15	15	15
Dyfed-Powys	17	16	17	15	14	9	12	10	11
Gwent	9	13	12	12	10	10	10	10	10
North Wales	11	11	10	12	12	12	10	10	11
South Wales	22	20	18	17	16	11	13	13	15
Total	16	15	14	13	13	12	13	12	13

⁽⁸⁵⁾ Since 1998 comparisons between the number of positive breath tests reported by each police force and the number of court proceedings for drink/driving related offences have indicated that there has been under-reporting in a number of forces. Appropriate adjustments have been made.

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Table B: Number of screening breath tests, by police force area, 1992–2000

England and Wales									Percentages
Police force area	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
Avon and
Somerset	5,400	4,000	3,800	6,700	15,100	16,000	19,700	19,200	15,800
Bedfordshire	6,000	4,900	8,200	6,100	6,400	6,000	5,300	2,900	3,300
Cambridgeshire	11,700	16,000	16,500	16,300	16,200	19,100	17,800	13,600	12,800
Cheshire	9,400	12,300	8,200	15,300	21,300	25,500	23,300	20,500	15,800
Cleveland	12,600	10,100	15,000	28,200	26,100	31,600	34,200	28,600	18,800
Cumbria	5,000	6,000	7,000	7,800	9,800	11,200	9,400	7,100	6,100
Derbyshire	9,100	14,700	17,000	20,500	28,600	34,500	35,700	49,200	52,000
Devon and
Cornwall	6,900	5,600	5,600	6,800	9,100	15,200	15,700	14,700	13,000
Dorset	4,600	5,800	6,800	5,800	7,400	9,100	10,100	9,200	12,300
Durham	5,800	6,700	6,900	4,500	4,100	4,300	7,400	12,700	15,300
Essex	21,500	28,000	38,200	27,700	32,400	28,700	28,400	24,100	27,200
Gloucestershire	3,700	2,700	4,200	5,200	7,000	9,400	9,300	8,300	8,200
Greater Manchester	27,700	47,700	78,500	102,400	100,400	95,600	31,200	21,500	27,300
Hampshire	9,900	10,200	14,100	17,000	18,200	25,000	27,300	31,600	35,200
Hertfordshire	5,500	5,700	7,100	6,400	5,900	7,400	8,100	7,000	6,000
Humberside	8,000	6,500	6,800	8,900	7,500	6,500	8,300	8,100	9,400
Kent	20,200	17,200	17,000	9,200	8,100	9,100	27,500	32,700	32,200
Lancashire	6,100	6,500	8,600	15,900	26,100	21,300	20,300	19,100	15,500
Leicestershire	6,300	10,300	15,500	11,700	10,300	10,200	20,200	21,100	18,600
Lincolnshire	12,600	12,600	11,600	15,600	15,800	20,200	25,900	21,000	12,100
London, City of	2,200	2,800	4,400	3,300	4,500	3,600	3,300	1,700	1,100
Merseyside	5,300	10,700	16,000	15,300	15,900	14,800	18,700	18,600	12,800
Metropolitan	132,300	143,000	141,600	123,300	123,000	137,900	111,400	99,800	93,800
Norfolk	7,700	3,900	3,500	4,200	5,500	9,200	12,400	11,600	9,100
Northamptonshire	5,000	6,400	6,000	5,100	7,400	7,100	4,700	5,300	5,800
Northumbria	4,600	5,500	6,100	5,800	8,400	11,900	12,200	12,500	12,700
North Yorkshire	4,300	3,900	4,500	4,800	7,800	10,500	9,900	8,100	6,700
Nottinghamshire	6,800	5,000	5,500	5,700	9,300	11,500	8,900	8,400	8,400
South Yorkshire	6,500	9,400	11,300	11,000	13,300	14,200	12,600	16,100	19,200
Staffordshire	6,800	4,600	5,300	6,300	9,700	13,800	15,400	10,100	7,700
Suffolk	5,900	6,300	5,900	7,500	8,200	12,300	15,600	15,100	9,200
Surrey	8,300	8,100	8,500	9,300	11,200	11,200	11,400	11,700	12,400
Sussex	10,900	15,800	16,000	15,900	24,300	26,100	17,400	17,900	20,800
Thames Valley	29,700	48,300	51,400	47,200	39,700	33,100	34,200	30,300	30,800
Warwickshire	2,300	2,700	6,100	8,200	9,200	8,700	8,700	8,600	7,100
West Mercia	17,500	18,500	18,400	19,900	18,100	18,300	19,100	12,300	8,900
West Midlands	13,700	15,400	14,800	9,100	19,500	22,600	24,100	21,300	16,200
West Yorkshire	14,500	10,600	11,800	15,800	19,500	23,300	22,900	18,800	18,300
Wiltshire	8,200	8,000	8,000	10,000	6,300	7,400	7,100	6,800	6,500
Dyfed-Powys	5,400	4,300	4,500	5,000	5,900	8,500	9,200	9,900	7,400
Gwent	6,800	6,000	5,600	4,900	9,300	12,200	11,200	10,600	10,100
North Wales	16,100	13,400	15,900	14,900	14,900	13,300	15,200	15,900	15,000
South Wales	12,400	13,400	10,400	12,200	14,900	23,100	24,900	20,700	17,800
Total	531,300	599,600	678,500	702,700	781,100	860,400	815,500	764,500	714,800

Source:

Home Office (RDS/CCJU) 19 July 2002.

24 Jul 2002 : Column 1453W

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