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18 Nov 2003 : Column 833W—continued
National Asylum Support Service
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what date Mr. Digby Griffith was appointed to the team which undertook the independent review of the National Asylum Support Service; on what date he was offered his current position at NASS; and on what date he took up that post. [133965]
Beverley Hughes: The independent team established to review the operation of the National Asylum Support Service submitted its report on 30 May 2003.
Mr. Digby Griffith was appointed as Secretary to the independent NASS Review Team during the first week in March 2003 and took up post on 10 March. Following a national open competition he was offered the post of Head of Accommodation in NASS on 24 April. He took up post on 30 June.
Crime Statistics
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offences recorded by the police resulted in no further action being taken in each year since 1997. [138499]
Ms Blears: The percentage rates of offences detected and described as 'No further action', are available from 1997 to 2002–03, and are given in the table.
| Percentage of all offencesdetected with 'No further action'taking place: | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Percentage of offences detected (All methods) | Interview of convicted prisoner: (Percentage) | Other (Percentage) | |
| 1997(25) | 28 | 4 | 4 | |
| 1997–98(26) | 28 | 4 | 4 | |
| 1998–99(27) | 29 | 2 | 5 | |
| 1999–2000(29) | 25 | (29)— | (28)4 | |
| 2000–01 | 24 | (29)— | (28)4 | |
| 2001–02(30) | 23 | (29)— | 4 | |
| 2002–03(30) | 24 | (29)— | 4 | |
(25) Crime-related statistics were published on a calendar year basis until 1997, and on a financial year basis thereafter.
(26) Excluding offences of 'other criminal damage' of value £20 and under prior to March 1998.
(27) Percentage detected using the figures derived from the expanded coverage and revised counting rules for recorded crime which came into effect on 1 April 1998, and hence may not be comparable with previous years.
(28) Estimates based on returns from 42 (of the 43) police
forces.
(29) Revised detections guidance was implemented on 1 April 1999, and hence detection rates are not comparable with previous years. The new instructions provide more precise and rigorous criteria for recording a detection, with the underlying emphasis on the successful result of a police investigation. Therefore detections obtained by the interview of a convicted prisoner were no longer collected.
(30) The National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) was implemented by some police forces in advance of it's national implementation on 1 April 2002, and as a result of this, figures are not directly comparable with previous years
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MI5
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the undertaking of activities by MI5 which require authorisation by warrant but which have been carried out without such authorisation in place. [138584]
Mr. Blunkett: It is the longstanding policy of successive governments neither to confirm nor deny allegations concerning the activities of the Security Service. We have maintained this policy irrespective of the accuracy or inaccuracy of the allegations made. The intelligence and security agencies each operate under a strict statutory framework. The agencies are overseen by Ministers and by independent Commissioners who hold, or have held, high judicial office. There is no question of the agencies, or anyone else, being above the law.
Passports
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many passports have been lost by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in Liverpool in 2003. [133481]
Beverley Hughes: The information is as follows:
- (1) 78 passports have been recorded as lost by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in Liverpool during 2003.
(2) The incidence of lost passports amounts to 0.04 per cent. set against the number of applications handled. Current processes do not allow the movement of passports to be tracked through each stage of case consideration.
(3) I have instituted new arrangements to ensure the security and return of passports by IND.
Beverley Hughes [holding answer 6 November 2003]: The fees are calculated under Treasury Rules to recover the full administrative cost entailed in considering applications and no more. This is calculated by taking the overall costs of processing the applications divided by the number of decisions we expect to make.
The fee is £155 for a postal application and £250 for personal callers who wish to apply at one of the four Public Enquiry Offices. The charges will ensure we are able to meet the cost of providing for the service and will ensure that we are able to meet the higher standards of service we have set for the Immigration and Nationality Directorate.
Fees were introduced at a time when we were confident that we had in place the service improvements, which were the necessary precursors to charging.
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The principle behind charging is to ensure that those who use the service pay for it rather than the general taxpayer.
Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many complaints he has received in relation to the introduction of fees for (a) applications for variation of leave and (b) endorsing passports. [136961]
Beverley Hughes: I have received a number of letters; particularly those representing the education sector such as UKCOSA, Universities UK and various universities to which I have already responded.
A number of letters, phone calls and emails have also been received from members of the public, including students with regard to both the introduction of charging and the level of the fee. My Officials at Croydon continue to deal with these.
The charges will ensure we are able to meet the cost of providing for the high service standards-service and will ensure that we are able to meet the tighter performance targets we have set for IND. Postal applications should be dealt within 13 weeks from when they are received in IND. We aim to complete 70 per cent. of postal applications within three weeks of receipt in IND. The premium service will enable callers to have their case considered on the same day as long as the application is complete and further enquiries are not required. We have recently invested heavily to ensure that the improved service standards we publish are achievable and sustainable.
The principle behind charging is to ensure that those who use the service pay for it rather than the general taxpayer.
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what proportion of the adult population of the United Kingdom does not have a passport. [138694]
Beverley Hughes: Out of the adult population of 45.5 million residents, approximately 10 million, or 22 per cent. do not have a passport.
People Trafficking
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what penalties are in place to punish those convicted of people trafficking; and what measures are in place to deter people traffickers. [139658]
Beverley Hughes: In the White Paper "Secure Border Safe Haven" the Government promised to introduce legislation on trafficking for both labour and sexual exploitation.
The Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act introduced a new offence of trafficking for the purpose of controlling in prostitution with a maximum penalty of 14 years. This offence came into force 10 February 2003.
More wide-ranging offences covering trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation were included in the Sexual Offences Bill. The offence of trafficking for sexual exploitation carries a tough maximum penalty of 14 years. In addition to this, the Sexual Offences Bill also introduces a new offence of Commercial Sexual
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Exploitation of a child, which will protect children up to 18. It covers a range of offences, including buying the sexual services of a child, (for which the penalty ranges from seven years to life depending on the age of the child); and causing, facilitating or controlling the commercial sexual exploitation of a child in prostitution or pornography, for which the maximum penalty will be 14 years imprisonment.
An offence of trafficking for labour exploitation is under development and will be introduced when parliamentary time permits. This will carry the same 14 year penalty, which is the maximum determinate penalty available to the courts.
In addition to these penalties, the Government are taking action against immigration crime bosses to ensure that they do not profit from their crimes. To dismantle these criminal networks, the Government are trebling funding for Reflex with £20 million in this financial year and a further £20 million each year for the following two years.
Reflex is focused on tackling organised immigration crime at source, in transit and in the United Kingdom through intelligence led enforcement action and overseas co-operation. Since April 2003, 20 organised criminal gangs have been disrupted and 16 facilitators have been convicted. Under Reflex successful partnerships have or are being established in a variety of countries such as Romania, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Bulgaria.
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