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2 Feb 2004 : Column 703W—continued
Asylum Seekers (Children)
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what extra resources will be given to local authorities to support the children of failed asylum seekers. [151443]
Beverley Hughes: The Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants etc.) Bill provides that families whose asylum claims have failed would no longer be entitled to support at the expense of the taxpayer if they refuse opportunities to leave the country. If parents fail to take these opportunities to leave and put their children at risk, it would be for the local authority to decide how the interests of the children should be protected under the existing child protection legislation that applies to all children. We do not believe that many, if any, parents would put their children in this position. If this were to happen, the costs would be met by central Government.
Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children are held in detention centres for asylum seekers. [149822]
Beverley Hughes: The latest available information shows that at the end of September 2003 1,575 people were detained solely under the Immigration Act, of whom 1,270 had sought asylum at some stage. Information on the number of these who were detained as part of a family group is unavailable.
However, the Immigration and Nationality Directorate internal management information indicates that on 8 December 38 children were in detention. This information also indicates that the average time for which children are detained in UK removal centres is about 10 days, although the majority would be in detention for periods less than this.
Bribery
Mr. Simon Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many allegations of overseas bribery involving UK companies his Department has received from the US Administration since February 1999; on what dates; and what action his Department took on each allegation. [151384]
Paul Goggins: The US Administration has not referred any such allegations to the Home Office. The investigation of allegations of crime is a matter for law enforcement agencies.
Civil Servants
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much space, expressed in square metres, the Department occupies for the offices of civil servants in (a) central London and (b) Greater London. [150282]
Fiona Mactaggart: Home Office civil servants occupy (a) 114,885 square metres of office space in Central London and (b) 252, 548 square metres in Greater London. Home Office sponsored Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs) occupy a further 30,858 square metres of office space in Central London and 34,628 square metres in Greater London. The figures exclude support offices provided within prisons and other specialised facilities.
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Detainees
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether (a) Mr. Anwar al Aulaki (aka al Aulaqi), (b) Mr. Yasser Tawfik el-Serri and (c) Mr. Hani Yusef al Sebai are (i) detained and (ii) on remand; and if he will make a statement. [151135]
Beverley Hughes: None of the three people mentioned in the question is either (i) detained, or (ii) on remand in the United Kingdom.
Driving Offences
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convictions for (a) driving without due care and attention, (b) failing to have proper control of a vehicle, (c) careless and inconsiderate driving and (d) dangerous driving have been secured as a result of evidence from speed cameras. [151419]
Ms Blears: Speed camera evidence can only be used for prosecutions and the issue of fixed penalties for excess speed.
Identity Theft
Brian White: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to prevent the issuing of passports to people with false identities. [148597]
Beverley Hughes: As indicated in its 2003–08 Corporate and Business Plan, the UK Passport Service is taking forward a range of initiatives to reduce passport fraud through improved fraud detection and prevention. These include:
- Continuing work to eliminate fraudulent applications for passports in identities of deceased infants and prosecution of those perpetrating this type of fraud;
- The establishment in December 2003 of a new more comprehensive database for the recording and dissemination of lost, stolen and recovered passport information;
- Exploring the benefits of using private sector and other government databases in establishing identity;
- Developing the training of passport examiners to an accredited standard to ensure that knowledge and competency are regularly tested;
- Introducing secure delivery for the despatch of all passports to eliminate thefts and losses in the post;
- Increasing the professionalism of its fraud investigation capability through the creation of fraud and intelligence units in each of its offices, and strengthening training and support for these units;
- Developing its IT systems to undertake more automatic checks; to better link passport records to an individual; and to identify passport fraud;
- Developing the use of facial recognition biometrics to check new applications against images of known fraudsters and to implement more secure passports incorporating biometric identifiers;
- Changing the law to align the penalty associated with fraudulently obtaining a driving licence with that for fraudulently obtaining a passport and making these offences arrestable; and by creating a new offence relating to being in possession or control of false identity documents, without reasonable cause; and
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- Actively working with law enforcement agencies to apprehend, disrupt and dismantle the activities of those involved in passport fraud.
These initiatives build on the successful implementation of a number of anti-fraud measures including the strengthening of the counter signatory requirement for passport applications and the prevention of fraudulent applications using the identity of dead children.
In the context of the latter initiative the United Kingdom Passport Service (UKPS) have used data provided by the office of National Statistics to stop 408 passport applications in the identities of dead children and have identified over 1000 cases in which this route was used to obtain passports fraudulently in the past. In all more than 120 people have been arrested as a result of this work and the details of the remainder have been circulated to law enforcement agencies at home and abroad.
Illegal Immigrants (Northern Ireland)
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many illegal immigrants were detected at Northern Ireland's (a) ports and (b) airports in the last five years for which figures are available. [150673]
Ms Blears: The number of people against whom illegal entry action was initiated in each of the last five years for which information is available is shown in the table. Information on whether these persons were detected at port or later in-country is unavailable and would be available only by examination of individual case-files at disproportionate cost.
| Number of persons | |
|---|---|
| 1998 | 16,500 |
| 1999 | 21,165 |
| 2000 | 47,325 |
| 2001 | 69,875 |
| 2002(44) | 48,050 |
(44) Provisional figures.
Illegal entry action is initiated against those people who are detected entering, or having entered the country clandestinely or by means of deception, either verbal or documentary.
This information and other statistics on the immigration and asylum system are published annually in the Command publication "Control of Immigration: Statistics United Kingdom" a copy of which is in the House Library and can be found on the Home Office website: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html
Immigration
Mr. Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate his Department has made of the number of citizens of EU accession states likely to settle in the UK during the first year of those states' membership. [150081]
Beverley Hughes: Research conducted by University College London for the Home Office, published in June last year ("The impact of EU enlargement on migration
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flows", Home Office On-Line Report 25/03), estimates that the number 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. The estimates for those expected to migrate cover those coming to the UK for at least a year.
We will monitor the situation and the UK has the right to reintroduce restrictions on workers in the event of an unexpected impact on the standard of living or level of employment in a particular region or occupation.
Mr. Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what records will be kept of numbers of citizens of EU accession states entering the UK and intending to settle here after 1 May. [150082]
Beverley Hughes: From accession, nationals from new member states will be EU nationals and will be treated in the same way as current EU/EEA nationals. They will be admitted to the UK on production of a valid passport or identity card.
EU/EEA nationals can obtain settled status (permanent residence) in the UK only by demonstrating that they have been exercising treaty rights for a period of four years and have a residence permit. The Home Office keeps a record of both the number of residence permits granted and those who are granted permanent residence.
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