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15 May 2003 : Column 433W—continued
Oakington Reception Centre
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to improve the directional signing to the Immigration Reception Centre, Oakington, from the A14. [112421]
Beverley Hughes: The Home Office will give consideration to the issue of additional directional signage to ensure that the apparent confusion over access to the Reception Centre is minimised. We will also take steps to ensure that all staff and visitors are aware of the most appropriate access to the Reception Centre to avoid the use of less suitable approaches to the Centre.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects no longer to require the use of the barracks at Oakington, Cambridgeshire, as an immigration reception centre. [112422]
Beverley Hughes: The use of the Oakington Reception Centre remains under consideration and I will write to the hon. Member when a final decision has been taken.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he intends to change the legal status of the Immigration Reception Centre at Oakington. [112423]
Beverley Hughes: There are no plans to change the legal status of the Immigration Reception Centre at Oakington.
Mr. Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he has taken to protect staff and residents at the Immigration Reception Centre, Oakington, from the risk of transmission of the SARS virus from newly-arrived asylum applicants. [112426]
Beverley Hughes: We place great importance on the health and well-being of staff, process stakeholders and detainees at Oakington.
Guidance from the World Health Organisation and the Public Health Laboratory Service in relation to SARS has been applied across the Immigration and Nationality Directorate as a whole, with managers carrying out additional local risk assessments. An
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additional risk assessment has been undertaken at Oakington. Any person displaying symptoms of SARS would not be detained there. In addition, persons who have travelled directly from Hong Kong or China, or who have otherwise been in Hong King or China in the last 14 days are not accepted.
The situation in respect of SARS is being closely monitored in the light of advice from the Public Health Laboratory Service, and the risk assessment regularly reviewed and updated.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his answer of 8 May, Ref 112425, what plans he has to increase expenditure on security at Oakington Immigration Reception Centre. [113576]
Beverley Hughes: I will carefully consider any recommendations made by the Immigration Security advisors, to increase security at the Oakington Immigration Reception Centre.
Passport Agency
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what advice his Department gives to members of the public on posting passports to the Passport Agency. [113033]
Beverley Hughes: Passport applicants have the choice of using the guaranteed services available at the Passport Service's public counters, handing in their application to one of the Service's partners offering the Check and Send service, or using the addressed envelope supplied with application forms, which is large enough to contain passports. No advice on how to post passports is given.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many claims for lost passports the Passport Agency has received in each of the last five years. [113034]
Beverley Hughes: The UK Passport Service records information on passports reported missing after being posted by the Service. The information recorded for each of the last five years is shown in the table:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| 1998 | not available |
| 1999 | 2,359 |
| 2000 | 3,851 |
| 2001 | 2,541 |
| 2002 | 2,982 |
Police
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his answer of 28 April 2003, Official Report, column 202W, on the police, what the total expenditure by the Metropolitan Police on rental vehicles was in each of the last five years and for each month from April 2002 to March 2003. [112109]
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Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The information requested is set out in the tables, provided by the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. Due to changes in financial recording systems, the information for 1998–99 could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
| Total (£000) | |
|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 4,188 |
| 2000–01 | 6,199 |
| 2001–02 | 7,042 |
| 2002–03 | 7,525 |
| Total (£000) | |
|---|---|
| April 2002 | 120 |
| May 2002 | 311 |
| June 2002 | 514 |
| July 2002 | 659 |
| August 2002 | 616 |
| September 2002 | 542 |
| October 2002 | 583 |
| November 2002 | 592 |
| December 2002 | 384 |
| January 2003 | 750 |
| February 2003 | 527 |
| March 2003 | 1,927 |
| Total | 7,525 |
Stolen Goods
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he is taking to reduce the market in stolen goods. [112132]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Under the Targeted Policing Initiative (part of the Crime Reduction Programme), which ran from 1999 to 2003, the Home Office provided funding totalling around £1.4 million to three market reduction projects in Stockport, Kent and West Mercia.
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We have also funded research into the impact of local legislation intended to regulate second-hand traders (particularly the Kent and Medway Acts 2001, but also other existing local legislation).
The research undertaken on these market reduction projects is in the process of being completed. When the final results are available, we intend to convene a working group to consider the most effective way of reducing the market for stolen goods nationally (including the possibility of national legislation) and advise on the best way of disseminating the emerging good practice.
The "Immobilise Phone Crime" campaign was launched on Tuesday 4 March. The industry can now stop stolen and lost phones being used on any network. The Mobile Telephones (Re-programming) Act 2002, came into force on 4 October 2002. The new legislation means up to five years in prison and/or unlimited fines for those reprogramming the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number on mobile phones, and those possessing, supplying or offering to supply equipment for that purpose.
The barring of mobile phones reported as stolen across all UK networks should remove much of the incentive for stealing mobile phones.
LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT
Land Registration
Mark Tami: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how much (a) agricultural and (b) other categories of land are not registered in the United Kingdom. [113020]
Ms Rosie Winterton: This information is not currently collected centrally.
One of the Land Registry's strategic objectives is to create a register with comprehensive content and national coverage of England and Wales by 2012. Currently, 19 million titles are registered and it has been estimated that in excess of 4 million titles could still remain to be registered throughout England and Wales.