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Correspondence

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letters from the hon. Member for Manchester, Central dated (a) 19 August 2003 re Mr. N. reference 0/985393 and (b) 28 August 2003 re: Mr. AA, reference PO 13028/3. [148510]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 19 January 2004]: The information is as follows:

(a) A reply was sent to my hon. Friend on 16 January 2004.

(b) I wrote to my hon. Friend on 26 January 2004.

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he intends to reply to the letter dated 8 December 2003 from the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan regarding asylum seekers in Scotland. [149777]

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Beverley Hughes: I wrote to the hon. Member on 23 January 2004.

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he intends to reply to the letter dated 31 October 2003 from the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan regarding his constituent, Mr. G Christie of Fordyce. [149779]

Beverley Hughes: I wrote to the hon. Member on the 22 January 2004.

Criminal Justice Board (Gloucestershire)

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the membership of the local Criminal Justice Board in Gloucestershire and indicate the bodies represented. [144017]

Paul Goggins: The members of the Gloucestershire Local Criminal Justice Board are:

Member	Body represented
Tim Brain	Chief Constable (Chair)
John Carter	Chief Officer, National Probation Service, Gloucestershire
Withiel Cole	Chief Crown Prosecutor
Alan Davies	Justices' Chief Executive, Magistrates Courts
David Gentry	Group Manager, the Court Service
Enid Castle	Representing Gloucestershire Police Authority
Phil Kendrick	Gloucestershire County Council Youth Services
David Chalmers	Her Majesty's Prison Service

Drug-related Crime

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the level of drug-related crime in (a) the North West, (b) Lancashire and (c) Chorley; and what the cost of drug-related crime was in each area in each of the last three years. [149966]

Caroline Flint: Recorded crime figures include statistics on drugs offences, such as possession, and on acquisitive crimes, such as burglary, but do not record whether the latter are related to an offender's drug habits.

The NEW-ADAM research programme of interviewing and drug testing those arrested by the police sheds some light on the links between drugs and crime, although the conclusions do not relate specifically to Lancashire and the North West region. Data from eight locations (1999–2000) indicated that more than three-fifths (by value) of acquisitive crime was committed by users of both heroin and cocaine/crack.

The total number of acquisitive crimes recorded by the police in Lancashire and the North West region in 2002–03 are set out in Table 1 as follows (data are not available for Chorley). Acquisitive crimes are burglary, theft, handling stolen goods and robbery.

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Table 1: Acquisitive crimes recorded by the police, 2003–03

	Number
Lancashire	89,993
North West	588,566

Source:

"Crime in England and Wales 2002–2003" Home Office Statistical Bulletin 07/03.

Estimates of the costs of drug-related crime are not available annually or broken down by region. However, a recent study published by the Home Office provides estimates of the total economic and social costs of Class A drug use and puts these in the range of £10.1 to £17.4 billion for the year 2000. These costs include the costs of drug-related crime, which are estimated to fall in the range £8.8 to £15.8 billion. The costs of drug-related crime include victim costs and those accruing to courts, prisons and other parts of the criminal justice system.

Entry Clearance

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many appeals against refusal of entry clearance from Pakistan by (a) spouses, (b) fiancées, (c) dependent children and (d) dependent elderly relatives are being processed by his Department; what the average time taken in the last 12 months was between receipt of papers from UK Visas and papers being sent to the Independent Appellate Authority; and if he will make a statement. [145402]

Beverley Hughes: I regret that the information on the number of appeals against refusal of entry clearance by nationality is not currently available in the form requested. Appeals against refusal of entry clearance are not sent to UK Visas but go directly to the Appeals Processing Centre (APC) and then to the Immigration Appellate Authority (IAA). Data on the average time taken between receipt of papers by the APC and being sent to the IAA are not currently available.

Statistics on the total numbers of refusals of entry clearance are published annually. The latest publication, Control of Immigration: Statistics United Kingdom 2002, is available on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.

Roma

Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the numbers of members of the Roma community who will migrate into the UK from Eastern Europe after enlargement of the EU on 1 May. [150821]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 26 January 2004]: Research conducted by University College London for the Home Office, published in June last year ("The impact of EU enlargement on migration flows", Home Office On-Line Report 25/03), estimates that the numbers of people expected to migrate to the UK from the new member states in the years following enlargement will not be significant. The research corroborates a number of other independent studies, which have been summarised in reports by the European Commission in 2000 and the former Department for Education and Employment in 1999. It is based in part

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on experience of previous EU enlargements, where the large increases in migration flows predicted before enlargement did not materialise.

None of this research has been able to predict exact numbers expected from specific countries or ethnic groups to the UK. However, Roma would have been included in the overall numbers.

Citizens of the new member states who come to the UK will work, contribute to the economy, and pay taxes. The Habitual Residence Test will ensure that no one can simply come here and claim benefits. Powers to deport are available where non-British EU citizens commit offences.

Enlargement should also improve the quality of life for all citizens in the new member states as their governments must enforce human rights and minority rights, including protection against racial discrimination, to EU standards before accession and subsequently. EU accession should also improve economic prospects in the new member states so reducing the incentive for economic migration.

If, contrary to the available evidence, there is a large influx of workers posing a real threat to UK jobs, we will be able to re-introduce restrictions. We will of course be monitoring the situation closely.

Fines

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the reasons for non-collection of fines. [150355]

Mr. Leslie: I have been asked to reply.

There are a number of reasons why, in the past, the collection of fines has not been as effective as it should have been. They include: imposing fines that do not reflect the ability to pay due to lack of information on offenders' income/expenditure; lack of information on offenders' current whereabouts; and a lack of an alternative for those who genuinely cannot pay.

This is being addressed through the seven point action plan I announced in June last year, the Courts Act 2003 measures, and the overall enforcement programme being taken forward by the Department for Constitutional Affairs. These are specifically designed to tackle the root causes of non-collection and secure sustained improvement in fine enforcement performance.

Immigration Appeals

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many presenting officers were in post on 1 October in each of the last four years. [143357]

Beverley Hughes: The number of presenting officers in post and available to present appeals at adjudicator hearings is shown in the following table:

	Number of officers in post
13 November 2000	202
1 October 2001	192
1 October 2002	233
1 October 2003	279

A recruitment exercise is currently under way and a further 65 presenting officers will be in post by mid March 2004.

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