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Immigration and Nationality Directorate
Mr. Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost was in each of the last five years of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. [147790]
Beverley Hughes: The expenditure of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) excluding capital and cost of capital charges is as follows:
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 1998–99 | 684 |
| 1999–2000 | 846 |
| 2000–01 | 1,166 |
| 2001–02 | 1,580 |
| 2002–03 | (45)— |
(45) The actuals for 2002–03 are yet to be audited and published.
Migrant's Surcharge
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether a migrant who applies for a work permit, a study permit and for indefinite leave to remain will be required to incur the migrant's surcharge for each application. [143714]
Beverley Hughes: In line with the current fee structure an applicant who made three separate applications would be charged an additional over cost fee for each individual application.
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No decisions have been made regarding the level of any additional fee, this will only be done after wide consultation with other Government Departments and key stakeholders. It is felt that it is only fair that migrants who want to come and live in the UK should make a contribution in return for the considerable benefits they receive.
Open Prisons
Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many days prisoners who absconded served at (a) Sudbury open prison and (b) other open prisons before they absconded in (i) 2002–03 and (ii) 2003–04. [148877]
Paul Goggins: The information that the hon. Member has requested on days served before abscond cannot be obtained except at disproportionate cost.
Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the prisoners who absconded from (a) Sudbury open prison and (b) other open prisons in 2003–04 and who are still unlawfully at large are serving sentences for (i) murder, (ii) grievous bodily harm and (iii) sex offences. [148879]
Paul Goggins: Of those prisoners who have absconded from Sudbury in 2003–04, up to 15 January 2004, one was serving a sentence for murder. None of the remainder were serving sentences for grievous bodily harm or sex offences. The information in respect of other open prisons is not immediately available. I will write to the hon. Member as soon as possible to provide a full answer.
Passports
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) who will have responsibility for the retention and disposal of passports required to be photocopied by UK carriers abroad; and what assessment he has made of the implications for such a requirement of the Data Protection Act 1998 and EU Directives on data protection; [148390]
- (2) if his Department will resist a requirement on UK-registered airlines operating flights to the UK to photocopy passengers' passports; [148391]
(3) if he will list the overseas airports his Department intends to designate as departure points requiring carriers to photocopy passports for passengers travelling to the UK; [148392]
(4) how his Department will consult airline carriers before requiring them to photocopy passports at a foreign airport; [148393]
(5) what plans his Department has to obtain approval and clearance from the relevant foreign government or authority before requiring airlines to photocopy passports for passengers travelling to the UK at airports located in that country; [148394]
(6) what estimate he has made of the (a) cost to the airlines of photocopying passports in terms of equipment and staff and (b) length of time required to photocopy passports; [148395]
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(7) if he will set out the procedures that will apply in the event that passengers refuse to allow their documents to be copied. [148396]
Beverley Hughes: The new clause brought forward by way of Government amendment to the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill will allow an Immigration Officer to require a carrier (UK or overseas based) to provide either a full or partial copy of any document relating to a passenger and containing information about that passenger. A carrier would only have to provide copies of documents on written request. This will help deal with the significant number of asylum seekers who deliberately destroy their travel documents.
Consultation with carriers began on 27 October 2003 and continues through correspondence and meetings. The Home Office has received a range of cost estimates from a number of carriers. There are currently joint discussions over the practical details of a trial to provide a more precise estimate of the costs involved and to test the process.
This power will not be implemented unless the trial has demonstrated that this is practical and cost-effective. This power would not be applied universally but would be deployed on selected routes as and when there was a problem with undocumented arrivals. The power will be capable of being invoked in respect of any ship or aircraft which has arrived/is expected to arrive in the UK or which has departed/is expected to depart from the UK, regardless of which port that ship or aircraft arrived/will arrive at or will depart/has departed from. It is, therefore, not necessary to designate or list departure points for the purposes of the use of the power.
The proposal is for the criminal offence in section 27(b) (iv) of the Immigration Act 1971 to apply in respect of the new power. The offence in section 27(b) (iv) of the Immigration Act 1971 is not committed if the carrier has a "reasonable excuse" for failing to comply with the request. This means that it would be a criminal offence, punishable on summary conviction with a fine of not more than level five on the standard scale or with a maximum of six months imprisonment, or with both, for a carrier to fail to comply with a request to copy documents, without reasonable excuse. It is anticipated that a carrier would decline to carry any passenger who refused to allow their document to be carried.
The Home Office will be responsible for the retention and disposal of any copies. All data processed would be done so in compliance with the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998. The Act imposes a number of obligations on a data controller, one of which pertains to the retention and disposal of data.
Personal data processed for any purpose or purposes will not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes.
Foreign governments will be approached only when a need for the power at a specific location has been identified.
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Penal Affairs Consortium
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the work of the Penal Affairs Consortium. [148896]
Paul Goggins: The Penal Affairs Consortium is a body that marshals the views of a wide range of organisations that campaign on criminal justice issues or represent those working in the criminal justice field. We recognise the expertise they have and appreciate the contribution to the debate on penal affairs that they make.
Police Funding
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to (a) identify and (b) match project-specific funding within each police area in the United Kingdom. [141859]
Ms Blears: We have continued this year with a £20 million Premises Improvement Fund to improve the working conditions police staff by modernising the police estate and communication technology. This year police authorities were able to submit up to two bids, each for a maximum of £0.5 million, and had to match funding from their own resources. Cleveland had one successful bid for £500,000 in matched funding for a range of accommodation improvements across the police estate. We have no plans to identify and match other project-specific funding.
Prisoners on Release
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners in the most recent year for which figures are available, gave no fixed abode as their address; how many convicted paedophiles were released form gaol within this period; and how many convicted paedophiles gave no fixed abode as their address within this period. [149520]
Paul Goggins: The Prison Service undertook a large-scale survey in March and April 2003 of sentenced prisoners nearing release. 29 per cent. said they did not have accommodation arranged on release, compared to 33 per cent. in a similar survey undertaken in November and December 2001. These surveys did not look separately at prisoners convicted of sex offences.
The latest Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) Annual Reports were published in September 2003. Copies are in the Library. They showed there were 21,413 registered sex offenders in the community. MAPPA provides a framework within which different agencies work together to manage the risks posed by these offenders, including those arising from the absence of stable accommodation. The resettlement of sex offenders posing a serious risk of harm to the public is jointly managed by the police and the National Probation Service within these arrangements.
Provisions in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 will formalise this multi-agency engagement by imposing a duty to co-operate with the MAPPA on a number of agencies, including local housing authorities and relevant registered social landlords.
Registered sex offenders are also subject to the notification requirements of the Sex Offenders Act 1997. They are required to provide the police with their home
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address within three days of their release from prison. Where an offender does not have a home address (which is his sole or main residence in the UK), he is required to provide the police with an address of premises in the UK that he regularly visits.
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