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3 Dec 2002 : Column 714W—continued
Grants
Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the grants funded by his
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Department for which individual members of the public and organisations may apply; and if he will make a statement as to (a) the total of such funding in the last financial year, (b) the total number of awards and (c) their administrative costs. [82186]
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Beverley Hughes: The Home Office has funded grants in 2001–02 for which individual members of the public and organisations may apply as follows:
| Description of grant | Expenditure (£) |
|---|---|
| Refugee community development fund, 66 organisations awarded | 350,000 |
| Refugee integration challenge fund, 20 projects | 500,000 |
| European refugee fund (in calendar year 2000), approximately | 5,400,000 |
| (For funding: voluntary return measures, reception of asylum seekers, and integration of refugees) 44 projects awarded in 2002. Purposeful activity for asylum seekers 35 awards | 500,000 |
| Active Community Units | |
| Capital modernisation grants (1 year only) 42 awards | 7,800,000 |
| (To voluntary organisations for information technology and building projects; relocation or co-location (i.e. bringing various organisations under one roof) Mentoring project grants (£3.5 million over three years)) 38 awards | 1,160,000 |
| Mentoring capital grants (one year only) 30 awards | 500,000 |
| Active community grants (£5.1 million over three years) 34 awards | 1,700,000 |
| Family support grant 90 grants | 5,300,000 |
| The recovered assets fund, 2 awards | 250,000 |
| Race Equality Unit | |
| Connecting communities, 75 awards | 4,151,467 |
| Easter schemes (community cohesion activity schemes), 9 awards | 267,107 |
| Reduction of racial disadvantage grants, 12 awards | 572,473 |
| Summer schemes (community cohesion activity schemes) 208 awards | 7,000,000 |
| Drugs prevention advisory service, 155 awards | 1,721,937 |
| Total costs | 37,172,984 |
Information about associated administration costs is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Immigration
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will estimate the average time it will take to determine applications for leave to remain in the UK on the basis of marriage for non-fast track cases for applications made in October; and what the average time taken was in each of the last five years. [83772]
Beverley Hughes: At present those marriage applications that cannot be dealt with on initial consideration can take approximately 12 months to decide. It is not possible to provide waiting times over the last five years, as records have not been kept. There have been exceptionally high numbers of applications throughout 2001 and continuing this year.
Efforts are being made to reduce the 12 months taken to decide all applications (including marriage cases) and we are confident that the delays will be reduced to nine months in the New Year. This will be achieved by making use of additional resources in Sheffield where we have trained up to 40 caseworkers to decide marriage applications.
Immigration Removal and Detention Centres
Mr. Humfrey Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what reports he has received during the last 12 months from the Chief Inspector of Prisons about immigration removal and detention centres; when he intends to respond to them; and if he will publish the reports and his responses. [85030]
Beverley Hughes: We have not received any reports during the last 12 months from the Chief Inspector of Prisons about immigration removal centres.
Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons (HMCIP) has, over the last few months, visited a number of immigration removal centres. However, no reports of these visits have yet been published or received.
Leave to Remain Applicants
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what advice applicants for leave to remain in the UK on the basis of marriage whose applications cannot be fast-tracked are given on how long their cases will take to determine; and what the basis is for this advice. [84091]
Beverley Hughes: A letter is sent to all applicants whose applications cannot be decided on initial consideration. It gives an estimate of how long they can expect to wait for a decision. This is based on the current waiting time for such cases and an estimate of what it is expected to be in future.
Offences on Bail
Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offences have been committed by defendants on (a) police bail and (b) bail from the court in each of the last three years. [82089]
Mr. Denham: The information requested is not available centrally.
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Passport Agency/Criminal Records Bureau
Mr. Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if it is his policy to allow the same person to be, at the same time, the chief executive of the Passport Agency and of the Criminal Records Bureau. [83899]
Hilary Benn [holding answer 28 November 2002]: On the 15 February 1999 the then Home Secretary (Mr. Straw), stated, in answer to a parliamentary question, that the Criminal Records Bureau would be established in Merseyside under the management of the United Kingdom Passport Agency.
On 30 March 2001 the then Home Secretary confirmed, in answer to a further parliamentary question, that the combined organisation was to be established as the Passport and Records Agency and the new agency framework document was placed in the Library.
Police Training
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of new recruits who started the training course at the Hendon Police Training School completed that course satisfactorily in 2001; how many are still serving police officers one year after completion and what the figures were in 1997. [82491]
Mr. Denham [holding answer 25 November 2002]: The Commissioner for the Metropolitan police informs me that the proportion of new recruits who satisfactorily completed their training at Hendon in 2001 was 90 per cent.; (a) of 1,625 officers who were recruited in 2001, 1,465 completed their training and 1,386 are still serving; (b) in 1997 the number of officers recruited was 1,035, of which 992 officers completed one years service.
Prisons
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what plans he has for the construction of new prisons over the next seven years, with reference to the latest population projection; [84305]
- (2) how many prisoners are held in police cells; and what action is being taken to reduce this number. [84298]
Hilary Benn [holding answer 2 December 2002]: The numbers held in police cells (under Operation Safeguard) peaked at 448 on the night of 29 October 2002. Since then, new prison accommodation has been brought into use and this, combined with a fall in prisoner numbers during November 2002, has enabled the Prison Service to reduce its use of police cells. By the night of 26 November 2002, the number of prisoners being held in police cells had fallen to 160.
The Government have recently approved Prison Service plans for two new prisons, which will provide 1,290 places by 2004–05. The first is scheduled to open in the summer of 2004 at Ashford (near Heathrow), and will be a female prison of 450 places. An 840-place prison for 360 female and 480 male prisoners is scheduled to open at Peterborough in Cambridgeshire in the summer of 2005.
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In addition, the Government have recently announced that £60 million will be made available to provide 740 prison places at existing prisons by March 2004. This is in addition to funding from the 2002 Budget to provide an extra 2,320 places within existing prisons by the end of this financial year.
Probation
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many probation service areas will (a) receive an increase in real terms in their budget for the next financial year, (b) receive the same budget as this year and (c) receive a reduction in their budget. [84304]
Hilary Benn [holding answer 2 December 2002]: All 24 Local Probation Boards will receive an increase in real terms in their budget for the next financial year.
Sussex Police
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what proportion of the total Sussex police force are from ethnic minorities working as (a) working time equivalents and (b) civilian support staff; and what plans he has to increase this number. [83313]
Mr. Denham [holding answer 25 November 2002]: On 31 March 2002, the latest date for which figures are available there were 30 minority ethnic police officers in Sussex police. This represents 1.0 per cent. of the force's officer strength.
On the same date there were 27 minority ethnic civilian support staff, 1.3 per cent. of support staff strength.
Under the dismantling barriers initiative, each police force has a 10-year target indicating the size of the minority ethnic communities in their area and setting a figure for the overall increase in representation required given the current size of the force in order that the force is representative of the community it serves. The target for Sussex police by 2009 is 2.4 per cent.
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