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19 May 2003 : Column 641W—continued
Extradition Arrangements (Bosnia)
Mr. Wilshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals in Bosnia are involved in proceedings intended to extradite them to the UK. [113093]
Mr. Wilshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements are in place following the break up of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for the extradition from Bosnia of persons suspected by law enforcement agencies of criminal acts in the UK. [113094]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Extradition between the UK and Bosnia and Herzegovina is governed by the 1901 UK/Serbia bilateral extradition treaty, which was extended to include the territory for the former Yugoslavia in 1931.
Faith Communities Working Group
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the Sikh organisations that have been sent a questionnaire by the Home Office Working Group looking at the relationship between the Government and faith organisations; and what criteria were used in their selection. [114178]
Beverley Hughes [holding answer 16 May 2003]: My noble Friend Lord Filkin will write to the hon. Member with a list of the 38 national and local Sikh organisations which have been sent the questionnaire.
The list of organisations to receive the questionnaire was compiled from various authoritative sources. The only criterion for their inclusion was that they should make claim to represent the views of the Sikh community in its dealings with Government Departments.
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department why Sikh Gurdwaras were excluded from the mapping exercise to decide on the interface between the Government and faith communities. [114179]
Beverley Hughes [holding answer 16 May 2003]: The purpose of the mapping exercise is to determine the extent to which faith bodies with a national remit represent their respective faith communities, so that Government Departments can be confident that they are approaching the most appropriate organisations in future consultations. Organisations with a purely local remit have therefore generally been excluded.
However, a number of Councils of Sikh Gurdwaras from areas with large Sikh populations have been included, since we recognise that such Councils can often represent the views of the Sikh community at a national level. It would be helpful to have some idea of how they are constituted and operate.
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what criteria were used to select members for the Home Office Working Group looking at the relationship between the Government and faith communities; and what consultation with faith communities took place upon the selection. [114180]
19 May 2003 : Column 642W
Beverley Hughes [holding answer 16 May 2003]: Members of the working group were selected either as representatives of Government Departments with a particular interest in consulting the faith communities, or as individuals from the faith communities with significant personal experience of having been involved in such consultations by Government. The need to restrict the group to manageable size meant that only one such individual could be included from each of the five largest faith communities, as well as two further members to represent the Black-led Churches and the smaller faith communities.
All the faith community members of the group are members of the Inner Cities Religious Council or of organisations linked by the Inter Faith Network for the United Kingdom, or both. These highly experienced bodies are fully representative of the wide range of faith communities living in the United Kingdom. Both were consulted over the membership of the group, and both are themselves represented on it.
Firearms Amnesty
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his Department's total spending was on the advertising and promotion of the firearms amnesty between April 2002 and March 2003; and what proportion was spent on (a) television, (b) radio and (c) print media. [111255]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The firearms amnesty ran from 31 March to 30 April 2003.
Total spending on advertising and promotion for the amnesty during the period of April 2002 and March 2003 was £460,000. This included radio, press and online advertising.
- (a) Television: no advertising
(b) Radio: £230,000
(c) Press (national and regional): £190,000
Inspectorates (Pay Costs)
Mr. Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his answer of 5 March 2003, Official Report, column 1096W, on prison inspectors, what the total pay costs incurred by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons were in each year since 1997. [113386]
Paul Goggins: The total pay costs for Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons since 1997 were as follows:
| £ | |
|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 724,000 |
| 1998–99 | 740,502 |
| 1999–2000 | 886,247 |
| 2000–01 | 896,000 |
| 2001–02 | 1,270,989 |
| 2002–03 | 1,568,475 |
The jump in pay costs between 2000–01 and 2001–02 reflects the creation of a third inspection team which the Government funded to meet significant increased demands on the inspectorate.
19 May 2003 : Column 643W
Intermediate Supervision andSurveillance Programmes
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the aim of the intermediate supervision and surveillance programmes to reduce offending by 5 per cent. this year will be achieved; and if he will make a statement. [112937]
Paul Goggins: The Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme (ISSP) is the toughest community intervention for persistent young offenders. ISSP is being evaluated by Oxford University who will report in March 2004. It does not have a separate reconviction target but we do expect it to contribute to delivery of our new overall Public Service Agreement target of reducing juvenile re-offending by five per cent. by March 2006 compared to 2000.
Nadhmi Auchi
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the French extradition warrant in respect of Mr. Nadhmi Auchi was first received; what subsequent communications there were with the French Government; and if he will make a statement on the action taken between the receipt of the extradition warrant and March 2003. [112874]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The French Government first submitted a request for Mr. Auchi's extradition in December 2000. There followed a number of detailed but otherwise routine exchanges with French authorities about matters raised in the extradition request. The Secretary of State decided on 18 March to issue his authority to proceed in the case. Mr. Auchi was arrested on 31 March. He has since submitted himself voluntarily to the French courts.
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received from (a) Mr. Nadhmi Auchi and (b) others acting on his behalf (i) in respect of the extradition warrant and (ii) on other matters over the last two years. [112875]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Between September 2000 and October 2001, the Home Office received a number of representations on Mr. Auchi's behalf. In the main, these were to the effect that the Secretary of State should decline to issue his authority to proceed in respect of any extradition request he might receive.
Night Flights (Immigration/Customs Control)
Mr. Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to increase the monitoring of night time passenger arrivals at UK airports in respect of (a) immigration control and (b) customs. [113525]
Beverley Hughes: Immigration controls at all major UK airports are already staffed 24 hours a day. Local managers monitor flight schedules on a regular basis and adjust staffing rotas to ensure adequate coverage at all times.
19 May 2003 : Column 644W
The Immigration Service is notified of all passengers who are subject to immigration control arriving on flights at small airports not permanently staffed by immigration officers. Such passengers are examined in accordance with the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.
Nowadays the vast majority of Customs work is intelligence led and officers are deployed to meet the highest risk flights arriving or departing at any particular time to meet the Government's law enforcement priorities. Staffing levels throughout the day are commensurate with the assessed risk posed by the arriving or departing flights.
Police Pay
Mr. Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what reasons underlie his policy that officers of adjacent police forces carrying out the same duties and responsibilities may receive different levels of remuneration. [112437]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The Special Priority Payment (SPP) Scheme, under which extra rewards may be paid to officers in the most difficult and demanding posts, was agreed by all parties in the Police Negotiating Board (PNB) as part of a ground-breaking package of reforms to police pay and conditions of service. The parties in PNB include representatives of the Association of Chief Police Officers, of police authorities and of the Police Federations. PNB decided that posts might qualify for a SPP where they: carry a significantly higher responsibility level than the norm for the rank; or present particular difficulties in recruitment or retention; or have specially demanding working conditions or working environments.
PNB agreed that chief constables and police authorities should draw up a local scheme of payments in line with the national criteria. This was because PNB believed that the chief constable and police authority were best placed to decide locally which posts in their force met the national criteria. Consequently, the decision as to which posts in a given force qualify for a SPP is for the chief constable and the police authority, not for the Secretary of State. Where, therefore, a post qualifies for payment in one force but not in an adjacent force, it is due to the decision of the chief constables and police authorities of the forces concerned.
All federated ranks officers, regardless of whether they get a special priority payment, received an increase in basic pay of at least £402 from 1 April. This increase comes on top of the annual police pay award this September.
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