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Asylum Seekers

Mr. David Marshall: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the local authorities in Scotland with whom NASS has a contract for accommodation to be provided for asylum seekers; and how many places there are in each such contract. [90495]

Beverley Hughes: The National Asylum Support Service (NASS) has one contract with Glasgow City Council. Under the terms of the contract the Council is contracted to provide up to 2,500 properties.

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children seeking asylum are in detention. [90659]

Beverley Hughes: Information on the age of individual detainees is not available except by examination of individual casefiles at disproportionate cost.

Children are detained in two limited circumstances: either as part of a family group whose detention is considered appropriate; or, exceptionally, as unaccompanied minors while alternative arrangements are made for their care and normally just overnight.

Child Curfew Orders

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many child curfew orders have been issued in England and Wales, broken down by local authority area. [89480]

Mr. Denham: No applications have yet been received to establish a local child curfew scheme under section 14 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. Some local authorities and police forces have considered the possibility, but concluded that other measures should be taken to tackle specific local problems.

Correspondence

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Walsall, North of 27 November 2002, regarding a constituent, ref 24789/2. [90260]

Mr. Denham [holding answer 13 January2003]: I replied to my hon. Friend on 10 January 2003.

Deportation

Jonathan Shaw: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his answer of 7 January

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2003, Official Report, ref 88368, what criteria his Department uses to assess whether it is satisfied that suitable arrangements are in place for reception and care when removing unaccompanied minors to their country of origin. [90448]

Beverley Hughes: Prior to return reception arrangements are considered on a case-by-case basis and possible arrangements are investigated before return is made. The most suitable arrangements are for the unaccompanied minor to be returned to his/her parents or other immediate family members willing to take responsibility for the child.

Door Security Personnel

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures have been put in place to ensure high standards among door security personnel working for nightclubs and other entertainment venues. [89478]

Mr. Denham: The Private Security Industry Act 2001 provides for the establishment of a Security Industry Authority (SIA), which will have responsibility for licensing individuals, employed in designated sectors of the private security industry, including door supervisors. There will be two checks on people applying for licences—the first will be a criminal record check, the second will be a check on professional competencies. It is expected that the licensing of door supervisors will begin at the end of 2003 or early 2004.

The Act also contains provision for the SIA to approve contractors in the industry.

I am confident that the introduction of the SIA will, over time, contribute to the reduction of criminality in the private security industry, and help to raise standards of skills, training and supervision within the industry.

Drug Users Treatment

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the expansion of services to refer drug users to treatment via the criminal justice system will start. [90331]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The Government's Updated Drug Strategy, launched on 3 December 2002, described the introduction, from 2003–04, of a comprehensive new programme of criminal justice interventions aimed at getting drug misusers out of crime into effective treatment. This programme includes, amongst other initiatives, the enhancement of existing arrest referral schemes, doubling the availability of Drug Treatment and Testing Orders, building on the current Drug Testing projects and extending the approach more widely and piloting a presumption against bail for those who refuse to access treatment. The programme will be backed up by improvements in treatment capacity and local delivery.

Some elements of the new programme, such as enhanced arrest referral, will apply across England and Wales from year one; others will be introduced on a phased basis, with the initial focus on those areas with the highest levels of acquisitive crime.

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Drugs Crime

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many teenagers he estimates have tried class A drugs in the (a) Twickenham constituency, (b) London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and (c) London; and if he will make a statement. [88825]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth [holding answer 13 January 2003]: The 2001/02 British Crime Survey estimates that 9 per cent. of 16 to 19 year-olds in London have at some time tried a class A drug. The equivalent estimate for the whole of England and Wales is 11 per cent. The difference between the England and Wales estimate and the London estimate is not statistically significant. These data are not available at constituency or borough level.

The XDrug use, smoking and drinking among young people in England in 2001" survey estimates that 6 per cent. of school children aged between 11 and 15 years old have tried a class A drug. No geographical breakdown is available for this age group.

Drugs Education Campaign

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the new education campaign on the risks of drug misuse will start; and whether it will be standardised throughout the United Kingdom. [90330]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Due to launch spring 2003, the campaign is jointly funded by the Home Office and the Department of Health, working closely with the Department for Education and Skills. The campaign will run in England and it will build on previous awareness raising campaigns. The campaign will comprise a national framework which will be sufficiently flexible to enable it to be supported at a community level in order to respond to local priorities and needs.

European Reception Policies

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the research on the reception policies of Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany has been published; and if he will make a statement. [90447]

Beverley Hughes: The research on the reception policies and practice of Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany has not yet been published. Publication was provisionally scheduled for end 2002. The Home Office now anticipates publishing the results of the above research in spring 2003, subject to the usual Research Development and Statistics (RDS) publication procedures, including peer review.

Fireworks

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make the use of fireworks at certain times of the night a criminal offence. [90560]

Mr. Denham: We are aware of the noise and nuisance caused by fireworks. There is already legislative provision through the Noise Act 1996 to deal with noise

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nuisance, including fireworks, between 11 pm and 7 am. This legislation is adoptive. We are considering how best to encourage local authorities to make greater use of it.

We are also considering as part of the development of the Anti-Social Behaviour White Paper what more needs to be done to tackle this nuisance which is blighting so many neighbourhoods.

Gun Crime

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) arrests and (b) cautions for gun possession were recorded in (i) 2002 and (ii) each of the previous five years in (A) Lancashire, (B) the North West of England and (C) Wales. [90739]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The information contained in the table, which has been placed in the Library, gives the number of defendants proceeded against and cautioned for various offences of possession of firearms, 1997 to 2001.

Arrest data are not collect centrally at the level of detail requested.

Statistics for 2002 will be published in the autumn.

Illegal Immigration

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his policy is in relation to the return of penalties paid by road hauliers for carrying illegal immigrants; what his policy is concerning unpaid penalties; and if he will make a statement. [91110]

Beverley Hughes: The Government's position on the reimbursement of penalties paid under the previous civil penalty regime is clear. We are under no obligation to return any of the money paid against penalties imposed in cases which were not party to the Roth litigation. The previous legislation was not found to be unlawful. Theoretically, unpaid penalties could have been enforced but, in the light of the Court of Appeal's findings in Roth, we considered it appropriate not to take enforcement action in respect of outstanding penalties.

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