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16 Jul 2003 : Column 387W—continued
Higher Education
Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what aspects of the Higher Education White Paper will be extended to Northern Ireland; and what the timetable is for the implementation of its proposals. [125538]
Jane Kennedy: It is my intention to consider carefully the implications for Northern Ireland of the DfES White Paper on the future of Higher Education in England over the next few months; to take into consideration the outcomes of the consultation process in England and discussions with local stakeholders
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including the Northern Ireland Higher Education Council; and to bring forward recommendations on the way forward in Northern Ireland in due course.
Post-primary Education
Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the future of post-primary education in Northern Ireland. [125535]
Jane Kennedy: I have established a working group to provide advice and recommendations on options for future arrangements for post-primary education. The group has been asked to report by 31 October 2003. Decisions on future post-primary arrangements will not be taken until the group's advice has been considered.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Terrorism Act (Passenger Information)
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what steps the Government have taken to achieve international co-ordination of the passenger information required at ports of entry under section 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000; [124756]
- (2) what progress has been made by the Government in putting in place the IT and other systems necessary to achieve successful implementation at UK airports of the requirements of section 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000. [124757]
Mr. Blunkett: The Government has consulted a number of other countries, including the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and the EU countries, about the implementation of the Schedule 7 to the Terrorism Act 2000 (Information) Order 2002.
We are making good progress on implementation and the police are working closely with Her Majesty's Customs and Excise and the Immigration Service to ensure a cohesive approach to the collection of information at all ports.
Antisocial Behaviour Orders
Mr. Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what assessment he has made of the average time taken between an application for an antisocial behaviour order and its subsequent court hearing in (a) England and Wales and (b) the West Midlands; [122781]
- (2) what actions have been taken to reduce the length of time between application for antisocial behaviour orders and their subsequent hearing. [122782]
Ms Blears: Information on the length to time taken between an application for an Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) and its subsequent hearing is not routinely collected. However, since ASBOs became available in April 1999, the Government has identified that in some cases the time between an application for an ASBO being made and the order being granted was too long.
As such, we have taken a range of measures under the Police Reform Act 2002 to improve the effectiveness of ASBOs, enabling the courts to protect communities
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more quickly. Interim orders can be made at the same time as an ASBO application, orders on conviction and county court orders can avoid the need for a separate court hearing.
In addition, the Government is working with agencies to spread good practice, the Judicial Studies Board has produced training to improve the courts' understanding and implementation of ASBOs and the Home Office has issued guidance to enable practitions to implement the Police Reform Act 2002 changes more effectively.
Asylum Seekers
Mr. Best: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how long on average it took the Immigration and Nationality Directorate to process applications for (a) asylum, (b) indefinite leave to remain and (c) citizenship in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [125102]
The average time between an asylum application and initial decision was six months for initial decisions made in the financial year 2002–03, compared with 20 months for April 1997. This has been calculated using all cases for which data are available, including older cases decided as part of the reduction of the number of outstanding cases, as well as new cases decided as part of normal work in progress.
Information on the proportion of cases decided, up to and including final appeal, within six months, will be published in the Home Office's Annual Report in order to report on the Public Service Agreement (PSA) target 7 published in July 2002. Due to the nature of the target, performance data will not be available until more than six months following the relevant financial year. For example (subject to data quality) it is planned that performance against financial year 2003–04 will be reported at the end of November 2004, although provisional figures for applications made between April 2003 and September 2003 will be available earlier.
Provisional data show that 73 per cent. of applications received in the period April to December 2002 had initial decisions reached and served within two months. 42 per cent. of asylum appeals received by the Immigration Appellant Authority in the period April to December 2002 were determined within 17 weeks (including those appeals also dealt with by the second tier of the IAA).
Information on the proportion of new substantive applications with initial decisions made and served within two months, and information on the proportion of appeals received by the IAA which are dealt with within four months, is published in the quarterly asylum statistics, copies of which are available from the Library, published at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html
(b) Indefinite leave to remain (settlement)
There are no published data on decision times to determine applications for settlement. Our aim is to decide all straightforward applications within three weeks. Currently straightforward applications are being decided on initial consideration within three–four weeks on average. Most applications that cannot be decided
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on initial consideration are being decided within six months but because of the high intake there are some that are taking around 12 months to decide.
Information on the current waiting times for citizenship applications are available on the Immigration and Nationality Directorate website www.ind.homeoffice. gov.uk/default.asp?Pageld=16, and is periodically updated. As at July 2003 the average length of time for a citizenship application to be processed in nine months.
Civil Defence
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he is taking to ensure that the emergency services are prepared to deal with a terrorist attack in the UK. [124412]
Mr. Blunkett: The UK has the necessary plans in place in the interests of national security and the protection of the public. The Government's preparations include a series of classified contingency plans for responding to a wide range of terrorist threats. These plans are regularly tested, reviewed and updated in the light of changing circumstances; this ensures that all agencies involved are prepared to respond to a terroristincident.
The response to any terrorist incident relies upon a co-ordinated approach and the Government draws upon the resources and expertise of Government Departments, the security and intelligence agencies, the police, the military, the emergency services, local authorities and scientific and other specialist advice as necessary.
I set out further details of the steps we have taken in my written Ministerial Statements on 3 March 2003, Official Report, column 72WS, 20 March 2003, column 51WS, and 3 July 2003, Official Report, column 25WS.
My hon. Friend may also wish to refer to the generic guidance contained in the publication "Dealing with Disaster" which can be found on the UK Resilience website (www.ukresilience.info) and the Home Office website (www.homeoffice.gov.uk/terrorism).
Immigration
Mr. Best: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will change the immigration rules to allow those with leave to remain of more than one year to submit family re-union applications. [125106]
Beverley Hughes: There is provision within the Immigration Rules for the family members of those persons admitted to the UK for the purpose of studies, training or work experience or employment to accompany or join them here. There is no qualifying period for family reunion applications under the non-asylum categories of the Immigration Rules.
Family members of those recognised as refugees may apply immediately to join the sponsor in the UK. Family members of those granted Humanitarian Protection or Discretionary Leave can apply to join them once the sponsor has been granted indefinite leave to remain. Those granted Humanitarian Protection are eligible to apply for indefinite leave after three years, and
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most of those with Discretionary Leave after six years. However, applications for family reunion may be considered before the sponsor has been granted indefinite leave to remain in those cases where there are compelling, compassionate circumstances. There is no intention to reduce the time qualification period for family reunion applications.
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