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Statemented Children

Mrs. Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of children with statements have a transition plan. [85316]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The information requested is not available centrally.

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HOME DEPARTMENT

Extradition Appeals

Mr. Hawkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what categories of representation may properly be considered in extradition appeals. [87633]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth [holding answer 17 December 2002]: The Extradition Act 1989 contains a number of statutory safeguards against surrender of which a fugitive can seek to avail himself before the courts. If no legal challenge is made, or if any that are made are unsuccessful, it falls to my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary to decide, in the exercise of residual discretion, whether to order surrender. In so deciding, he has regard

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to all the circumstances of the case and to any grounds for concluding that it would be unjust or oppressive to order surrender. As part of that consideration, the fugitive has an opportunity to make such representations against surrender as he would wish to be taken into account.

Arson

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many under-18 year olds were convicted of arson in each year since 1992, broken down by constabulary. [86496]

Hilary Benn: The information requested is contained in the table.

Persons aged under 18 convicted at all courts of offences of arson, England and Wales 1992–2001, by police force area

Police force area	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
Avon and Somerset	8	9	13	8	8	4	4	5	9	8
Bedfordshire	5	9	2	—	2	3	2	2	8	6
Cambridgeshire	7	8	5	2	3	5	4	3	7	7
Cheshire	6	8	19	15	10	13	10	16	7	8
Cleveland	8	8	6	8	7	8	5	3	4	11
Cumbria	8	6	2	3	5	5	5	16	13	12
Derbyshire	12	21	8	14	11	6	11	6	9	13
Devon and Cornwall	7	4	12	11	14	13	8	13	15	14
Dorset	5	4	8	9	10	—	4	5	9	9
Durham	21	15	23	11	12	26	14	14	16	18
Essex	12	11	13	16	14	13	24	11	9	19
Gloucestershire	2	2	1	2	2	5	7	4	7	3
Greater Manchester	10	25	23	18	18	15	12	34	47	35
Hampshire	6	6	17	24	11	9	15	23	23	29
Hertfordshire	5	7	4	10	10	5	4	4	10	6
Humberside	20	14	21	28	19	7	10	5	15	16
Kent	7	2	9	5	9	12	8	23	11	12
Lancashire	9	9	22	15	16	20	15	13	34	25
Leicestershire	4	7	11	22	8	17	22	22	14	9
Lincolnshire	5	6	8	5	2	5	9	8	7	9
London, City of	—	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Merseyside	5	10	10	11	8	8	12	12	10	16
Metropolitan Police	19	11	15	14	7	15	17	19	31	17
Norfolk	5	8	4	9	3	5	3	3	6	6
Northamptonshire	5	3	8	4	7	2	1	6	6	3
Northumbria	27	26	31	24	26	16	15	26	23	30
North Yorkshire	4	5	8	4	5	1	6	3	6	8
Nottinghamshire	21	17	21	23	15	15	16	27	17	29
South Yorkshire	11	6	12	9	15	26	14	25	25	14
Staffordshire(2)	14	9	23	15	8	13	10	12	*	19
Suffolk	2	5	11	1	5	5	7	6	10	10
Surrey	4	4	1	4	2	4	2	9	5	5
Sussex	6	10	4	4	5	9	5	8	8	13
Thames Valley	9	5	9	22	18	3	11	8	25	14
Warwickshire		8	2	1	4	2	4	2	1	3
West Mercia	17	10	11	7	6	6	4	20	14	14
West Midlands	28	25	31	30	16	30	22	33	27	35
West Yorkshire	28	32	36	20	22	48	37	33	39	41
Wiltshire	6	8	6	3	7	6	7	5	14	7
Dyfed Powys	1	4	5	3	10	8	7	5	9	2
Gwent	7	5	17	6	9	59	11	10	14	11
North Wales	8	4	11	10	2	5	4	4	2	10
South Wales	12	7	14	12	20	21	24	16	20	25
England and Wales	406	404	517	462	411	498	432	522	586	601

⁽²⁾ Staffordshire Police Force were only able to submit sample data for persons convicted in the magistrates' courts in 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robust enough at a detailed level and have been excluded from the table.

Asylum Seekers

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of in-country asylum applicants made their claim within (a) three days, (b) seven days, (c) 14 days, (d) 28 days and (e) 56 days of arrival in the UK in the last year for which figures are available. [87916]

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Beverley Hughes: The length of time between the arrival of in-country asylum applicants in the UK and when they lodge their application for asylum is not available. The requested information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost by examination of individual case records.

Correspondence

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) when he will reply to the hon. Member for Woking's letters of 18 September, 24 October and 14 November concerning a constituent, Mr. Raja Munir, and his application for indefinite leave to remain in the UK; [85031]

(2) pursuant to his answer of 3 December, concerning Mr. Raja Munir, Ref 85031, by what date he expects to reply to the hon. Member for Woking's letters. [86892]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 16 December 2002]: My noble Friend Lord Filkin wrote to the hon. Member on 16 December 2002. I apologise for the considerable delay in replying.

Mr. Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when his Department intends to reply to the letters from the hon. Member for Manchester Central of (a) 3 May, regarding Mr.LB, reference PO10343/2, (b) 18 June, regarding Mrs.LE, reference PO12404/2, (c) 19 June, regarding Ms MB, reference PO12510/2, (d) 25 June, regarding Ms MG, reference PO13216/2, (e) 26 June, regarding Ms SR, reference PO13449/2, (f) 10 July, regarding Mrs.TK, reference PO14227/2, (g) 11 July, regarding Ms CL, reference PO14427/2, (h) 6 August, regarding Ms MM, reference PO16718/2, (i) 16 August, regarding Mr.AD, reference PO17226/2, (j) 12 September, regarding Mr.AHA, reference PO18834/2, (k) 17 September, regarding Mr.MAM, reference PO19319/2 and (l) 18 September, regarding Mrs.DAH, reference PO19223/2. [85240]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 5 December 2002]:

(a) PO 10343/2: I wrote to my hon. Friend on 18 December 2002.

(b) PO 12404/2: I apologise for the considerable delay in replying to this letter. My right hon. Friend the Minister for Policing, Crime Reduction and Community Safety wrote to my hon. Friend on 4 December 2002.

(c) PO 12510/2: I will write to my hon. Friend shortly. I am sorry for the delay in replying.

(d) PO 13216/2: I wrote to my hon. Friend on 18 December 2002.

(e) PO 13449/2: I wrote to my hon. Friend on 18 December 2002.

(f) PO 14227/2: I wrote to my hon. Friend on 18 December 2002.

(g) PO 14427/2: I wrote to my hon. Friend on 18 December 2002.

(h) PO 16718/2: I wrote to my hon. Friend on 3 December 2002.

(i) PO 17226/2: My noble Friend Lord Filkin wrote to my hon. Friend on 27 December 2002.

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(j) PO 18834/2: I wrote to my hon. Friend on 18 December 2002.

(k) PO 19319/2: I wrote to my hon. Friend on 8 October 2002.

(l) PO 19223/2: I shall write to my hon. Friend shortly. The Entry Clearance Officer in Jeddah was authorised by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate on 25 October to issue a visa in this case.

Mrs. Roe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the hon. Member for Broxbourne will receive a reply to her letters of 14 August, 11 September, 7 November and 5 December relating to her constituent, Mr. Mohamed Mady. [87006]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 16 December 2002]: I wrote to the hon. Member on 17 December 2002.

Criminal Records Bureau

Mr. Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the mean delay for checks on volunteers was under the old system of police checks in the last 12 months of its operation; and what the mean delay for such checks has been in relation to volunteers under the new arrangements instituted by the Criminal Records Bureau in the last 12 months. [83900]

Hilary Benn [holding answer 28 November 2002]: Information is not available in the form requested. Under the previous arrangements some volunteers were subject to police checks via local authorities and other organisations but separate statistics were not collected. A number of voluntary organisations accessed police checks through a body called the Voluntary Organisations Consultancy Service (VOCS), covering both volunteers and paid employees. Their last annual report covering the financial year 2001–2002 showed that they processed 13,535 police checks for voluntary organisations of which 6,595 were for paid employees and 6,940 were for volunteers. The average time for responses from the police was 30 days. VOCS' own handling time was additional.

As to the current arrangements, no distinction is made in relation to the profession or status of an applicant. As a result, the IT system is not able at present to extract this data from the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) database (although it is expected to be able to do so in future when the system is updated). They are all subject to the same level of service. However, access to checks by the voluntary sector has been greatly increased with the advent of the CRB and many more volunteers are now subject to such checks.

The average turnaround time for processing applications remains at about six weeks.

This is measured from the point at which a correctly completed application form is received by the CRB, accompanied by all pertinent supporting details, to issuing a Disclosure.

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much compensation has been paid by Capita to the Government under the terms of the contract relating to the Criminal Records Bureaux. [86720]

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Hilary Benn: There is provision under the terms of the contract between Capita and the Home Office for penalties for delay or poor performance. Capita has incurred liquidated damages for delay although the details remain commercial in confidence and cannot be divulged. The main priority is for the Criminal Records Bureau and Capita to collaborate in order to achieve further improvement in the quality of service.

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