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12 Jun 2003 : Column 1053W—continued
Asylum Centres
Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reason the number of performance points incurred under the contract for each asylum detention centre is commercially confidential. [118612]
Beverley Hughes: Commercial confidentially in contracts is designed to protect the integrity of the competitive process. It is not appropriate to release information which would undermine the policy.
Our contracts reserve the right for us to publish information about the performance of contractors in response to inquiries from Parliament, its Members and Officers.
In the light of this I am now able to release the following information concerning Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre.
| Performance points | |
|---|---|
| First year of operation: September 2001-August 2002 (operating schedule D) | 1 escape—500 points |
| Second year of operation: September 2002-May 2003 | 2 escapes—500 points x 2 |
| 2 failures to release—500 points x 2 |
Asylum Seekers
Mr. Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Immigration and Nationality Directorate staff have assisted in the deportation of asylum seekers living in the London Borough of Harrow in the last 12 months. [117924]
Beverley Hughes: It is not possible to say how many Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) staff have assisted in the removal of asylum seekers from the London Borough of Harrow. This is because neither IND or Immigration Service staff concentrate on the removal of asylum seekers living in specific boroughs or towns, but instead concentrate on the removal of asylum seekers from the geographical area that is covered by each Local Enforcement Office (LEO).
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British Overseas Territories
Mr. Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many British Overseas Territories citizens have applied for British citizen passports since 21May 2002. [117920]
Beverley Hughes: At the end of May 2003, 12,331 applications for British citizen passports had been received from British Overseas Territories citizens resident in Overseas Territories. No information is available on applications made outside the Territories.
Drugs
Mr. Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many criminal groups involved in supplying class A drugs to the UK have been dismantled each year since May 2000. [117918]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The numbers of groups involved in supplying class A drugs disrupted or dismantled each year since May 2000, are as follows:
| Numbers | |
|---|---|
| 1 April 2000—31 March 2001: | 306 |
| 1 April 2001—31 March 2002: | 343 |
| 1 April 2002—31 March 2003: | not yet available |
Cloned Number Plates
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what new action the Metropolitan police will take in respect of cloned number plates on vehicles; and if he will make a statement. [101214]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The introduction of congestion charging in the centre of London provides additional opportunities to identify vehicles with cloned number plates and for the Metropolitan police to take action against them. The Metropolitan police are currently considering how they can get the best crime reduction return from the investment of police resources in this work. But existing procedures already provide for cloned registration numbers to be entered on the Police National Computer and on the databases used by police Automatic Number Plate Reader operations. This increases the likelihood of cloned vehicles coming to police attention and appropriate action being taken.
Community Support Officers
Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the powers available to (a) community support officers and (b) accredited persons. [117889]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The following powers are available to both community support officers (CSOs) and accredited persons:
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Power to request a name and address for fixed penalty offences and offences that cause injury alarm and distress to another person or damage or loss of another's property.
Power to request the name and address of a person acting in an anti-social manner.
Power to request a person to stop drinking in a designated public area and to surrender open containers of alcohol.
Power to confiscate alcohol from Young Persons.
Power to confiscate cigarettes and tobacco products from young people.
Power to stop vehicles for testing.
Power to regulate traffic for the purpose of escorting abnormal loads.
Power to require the removal of abandoned vehicles.
- Power to detain a person for up to 30 minutes pending the arrival of a constable (or to accompany that person to a police station with the person's agreement).
Power to use reasonable force to detain a person or prevent him from making off.
Power of entry to save life or limb, or to prevent serious damage to property.
Power to maintain and enforce a cordoned area established under the Terrorism Act. Power to seize vehicles used to cause alarm and distress,
Power to stop vehicles for the purposes of a road check.
Power to, when accompanied by a constable, stop and search vehicles and pedestrians under the Terrorism Act.
- Being drunk on a highway, other public place or licensed premises.
Disorderly behaviour while drunk in a public place.
Throwing fireworks in a thoroughfare.
Knowingly giving false alarm to a fire brigade.
Trespassing on a railway.
Throwing stones etc. at trains and other things on railways.
Buying or attempting to buy alcohol for consumption in bar in licensed premises by a person under 18.
Wasting police time or giving false report.
Using public telecommunications systems for sending message known to be false in order to cause annoyance behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.
Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the results of the pilot projects being run to test the use of the power of detention by community support officers. [117891]
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Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Six forces are piloting the use of the power of detention by community support officers. Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary are evaluating the pilots and are due to report after 2 December 2004 on the operation of the power in its first two years. At this stage it is still too early to report on any findings from the evaluation.
Contingency Planning
Mr. Kenneth Clarke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many members of the emergency services in the East Midlands Region have been supplied with full protective equipment including respirators for use in responding to a nuclear, biological or chemical terrorist attack. [116479]
Mr. Blunkett [holding answer 3 June 2003]: On police protective equipment I refer the right hon. and learned Member to the answer I gave on specialist training on 9 June 2003, Official Report, column 663W.
On health service protective equipment I refer the right hon. Member to the answers my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary for Health (Mr. Lammy) gave on Ambulance Service and Accident and Emergency departments' equipment and training on 3 June 2003, Official Report, column 351W, 5 June 2003, Official Report, column 571W, and 9 June 2003, Official Report, column 693W.
On fire service protective equipment, full protective equipment is not purchased solely for the purpose of responding to a CBRN terrorist attack. It is used in the response to accidents and in other day-to-day operations.
The East Midlands Region has approximately 475 gas tight suits which are carried on conventional front line fire appliances and specialist vehicles—these are to be supplemented, in the short-term, by a further 40 suits which are being deployed imminently on two Interim Mass Decontamination Vehicles at appropriate locations within the region.
The deployment of this equipment during emergencies is not tied to geographical regions and, depending on the nature and scale of the incident and if necessary, the East Midlands may receive equipment from or supply equipment to other regions via Mutual Aid Agreements—this is the case for both CBRN incidents and day-to-day operations.
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