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Census Records

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland in which years each of the 1851 to 1901 decennial censuses of population for Scotland were released for public inspection; and if he will make a statement on the timetable for release of the 1911 census records for Scotland. [153936]

Mrs. McGuire: The General Register Office for Scotland (GRO(S)), an associated department of the Scottish Executive, is responsible for carrying out periodic censuses of Scotland's population.

The Scottish Census returns for 1841–71 were opened to public inspection in 1923. The returns for 1881 and 1891 were opened to public inspection, though with some restrictions on copying, in 1955. The records for 1901 were opened to public inspection at the end of 2001.

I understand the returns for 1911 will not be opened to public inspection until 2011.

Civil Servants

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much space, expressed in square metres, the Office occupies for the offices of civil servants in (a) central London and (b) Greater London. [150278]

Mrs. McGuire: The Scotland Office occupies 1,857 sq m of Dover House in central London. The remaining space in the building is shared between a number of other Departments; the Scottish Executive: 320 sq m, Scottish Development International: 57 sq m and other parts of the Department for Constitutional Affairs: 111 sq m.

Ministerial Travel

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when he last used a train in connection with his ministerial duties. [155169]

Mrs. McGuire: The Secretary of State regularly travels by all modes of public transport. My right hon. Friend last travelled by train in connection with his ministerial duties on 2 February.

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All ministerial travel on official business is undertaken in accordance with the rules set out in "Travel by Ministers".

Security Passes

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many security passes have been reported (a) lost and (b) stolen by staff in his Department in the last 12 months. [147981]

Mrs. McGuire: Staff of the Scotland Office have reported one security pass as stolen and four as lost in the last 12 months.

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

Gift Aid

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what representations her Department has received from (a) the museum and (b) the heritage sectors in relation to introducing Gift Aid tax relief (i) in writing, (ii) in meetings and (iii) in any forms since 1997; and if she will make a statement. [156009]

Mr. Caborn: Such information as is available about the representations this Department has received from the museums and heritage sectors since 1997 in relation to Gift Aid tax relief is provided below. These relate to the changes to the Gift Aid Scheme announced in the Pre-Budget Report (Cm 6042).

Written representations have been received from The Charleston Trust, Chatham Historic Dockyard, Bronte Society and Dulwich Picture Gallery, Mr. G. Lovewell Blake and R. P. Heyworth.

In addition representatives from the following representative bodies and associations and DCMS sponsored bodies attended a recent meeting arranged by the Department with Inland Revenue officials to discuss the implementation of the proposed changes: Association of Independent Museums, Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, British Association of Leisure Parks, Piers and Attractions Ltd, Chatham Historic Dockyards Trust, ECSITE-UK, English Heritage, Historic Royal Palaces, Millennium Commission, Museums Association, National Maritime Museum, North of England Zoological Society, Visitor Attractions Forum, Zoological Society London.

The Government are consulting closely with charities that might be affected by changes to the Gift Aid legislation announced in the Pre-Budget Report, through their associations and representative bodies, on the detail of how the change may be best achieved.

Ministerial Visits

Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the ministerial visits (a) she and (b) her Ministers have made in the last 12 months. [145600]

Mr. Caborn: I am arranging for a list of visits made by DCMS Ministers in the past 12 months to be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

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Railway Carriages

Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what representations she received concerning the campaign to retain Wagon-Lits railway carriage 2757 in the UK prior to its purchase by Dutch interests; and when, and how, the matter was first raised with her Department. [155992]

Mr. Caborn [holding answer 23 February 2004]: My right hon Friend the Secretary of State did not receive any representations concerning the campaign to retain the Wagon-Lits railway carriage 2757 in the UK prior to its purchase by Dutch interests in November 2003. The first representation received by the Secretary of State was a letter from the hon. Member for East Surrey (Mr. Ainsworth), on behalf of a constituent.

Recruitment Advertising

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what her Department's expenditure on recruitment advertising was in each of the last three years, broken down by publication; and what proportion of such expenditure was (a) to advertise vacant posts and (b) in the form of other general recruitment advertising. [155518]

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Mr. Caborn: The department's expenditure on recruitment advertising in 2002–03 and 2003–04 to date is shown as follows. Equivalent information for 2001–02 is no longer available.

2002–03: £59,922

2003–04: £51,349.

All expenditure is linked to the advertising of vacant posts. A breakdown of expenditure by publication is not recorded. However the Department will typically advertise senior posts in the Guardian and/or Times, and, where appropriate, in specialist publications (e.g Accountancy Age, Museums Journal). More junior posts are advertised in the local press.

Tobacco Advertising

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent representations she has received from motorsport interests in connection with the cessation of tobacco advertising. [153036]

Tessa Jowell: I have received one representation from the motorsport industry relating to the ban, seeking clarification of the EU Directive. It is not a matter for DCMS and I have referred the query to the Department of Health.

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HOME DEPARTMENT

Asylum/Immigration

Ross Cranston: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether it is Home Office policy to resist applications for adjournments of asylum cases where applicants prima facie fall within the amnesty. [152464]

Beverley Hughes: Home Office policy, generally, is not to oppose applications for adjournments of asylum appeals when asked for a view by Adjudicators in cases where applicants may fall for consideration under the indefinite leave to remain exercise announced by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary on 24 October 2003.

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what plans he has to make provision for children who are not offered temporary residence but whose parents are; [144614]

(2) what factors underlay the decision to grant non-British citizens longer stays in the UK than their children. [144613]

Beverley Hughes: It is our usual policy to grant dependent children leave to enter or remain in line with that of other parents or carers. As all applications are considered on their individual merits, there may from time to time be cases where a different period of leave is granted. There is no category of temporary residence under the Immigration Rules and there are no plans to introduce one.

Mr. Tom Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers were resident in Glasgow in the last year for which figures are available. [153730]

Beverley Hughes: The information is not available in the form requested.

Statistics on the location of asylum seekers in the UK are linked to the available information on the support that the asylum seeker receives. Asylum seekers currently in the UK are either in receipt of support from the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) or from local authorities, or are supporting themselves. Statistics regarding the location of asylum seekers not in receipt of NASS support are unavailable.

The table gives quarterly data on the number of asylum seekers supported by NASS in Glasgow.

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	In NASS accommodation	In receipt of subsistence only support from NASS
December 2002	5,665	140
March 2003	6,070	140
June 2003	5,885	140
September 2003	5,730	125

Note:

Figures are rounded to the nearest five.

Jonathan Shaw: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how he intends to track the outcomes of unaccompanied children returned under the new pilots to ensure that the return is in the best interests of the child; and what he will do if the assessment of the child's circumstances suggests that removal places him or her at risk. [155401]

Beverley Hughes: The returns programme is still in the early stages of development. The programme will include a monitoring and evaluation strategy. A child/young person will only be returned under the programme after an individual assessment has been made on their suitability for return. This assessment will be made in partnership with local authority Social Service Departments and will include a judgment as to whether a return is in the child's best interests and whether the child/young person faces any risk on return.

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the current backlog of cases is at each directorate of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. [142926]

Beverley Hughes: At the end of December 2003, the latest date for which published data are available, the number of asylum cases awaiting an initial decision had continued to fall, to 24,500, the lowest level for a decade, and 40 per cent. lower than at the end of December 2002 (41,300). The number of initial decisions continues to exceed the level of applications. The speed of decision making is at record levels with initial decisions made and served within two months on 80 per cent. of applications ¹ received in April to September 2003.

In October 2001 my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary announced a package of measures to improve the asylum process. Part of this package was to reduce the number of outstanding asylum cases to a steady state of work in progress. In order to do this the Immigration Appellate Authority (IAA) and the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) expanded their capacity to process asylum appeals from 4,000 to 6,000 asylum appeals a month by November 2002. These increases, added to other successes in reducing the asylum intake, have meant that the number of outstanding asylum appeals is now reducing down to frictional levels.

A record 81,725 appeals were determined by adjudicators in 2003, more than a quarter (27 per cent.) higher than in 2002 (64,405). The number of appeals determined by adjudicators in Q4 2003 was 22 per cent. higher than Q4 2002 (from 16,615 to 20,285). As a result, the number of asylum appeals lodged with the Home Office which had not been sent to 12,000, 60 per cent. lower than at the end of December 2002 (30,000). A proportion of asylum appeals lodged do not result in appeal bundles being sent to the IAA.

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The available information on the number of cases dealt within is given in the Home Office Annual Report 2002–03, copies of which are available from the Library.

Information on the number of asylum cases awaiting an initial decision and on the number that had not been sent to the IAA is published quarterly on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate web site at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.

¹ excluding withdrawals and third country cases.

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many passports in the care of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate for the processing of applications have been (a) lost and (b) stolen in each of the last five years. [148498]

Beverley Hughes: Information dating back to 1998 for each of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate's (IND's) buildings is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. For the period 1 April 2003 to 31 January 2004, IND processed 451,974 applications. For the same period, 694 Loss of Passport Letters were issued. This represents 0.15 per cent. of applications received.

A range of measures including the setting up of secure handling areas and the early return of sponsors' passports have been put in place to improve IND's ability to find and return documents at the time of requests.

Mrs. Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the maximum length of time is that a child has been detained in (a) Dungavel, (b) Tinsley House and (c) Oakington. [151865]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 29 January 2004]: Information on the maximum length of stay of people resident in Immigration Service Removal Centres is not available and could be obtained only by examination of individual case-files at disproportionate cost.

Information on the number of people detained solely under Immigration Act powers at 27 December 2003 is due to be published on 24 February in the Asylum Statistics: 4th Quarter 2003 publication on the Home Office website: www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was imposed in fines on (a) airlines and (b) other carriers for transporting illegal immigrants in the last year for which figures are available. [155958]

Beverley Hughes: Separate records are not kept of charges relating to air carriers only.

During 2003 the total demanded of all carriers under the Immigration (Carriers' Liability) Act 1987 and under Section 40 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 was £7.55 million. These charges relate to persons arriving in the United Kingdom without the required documents. Such charges may arise where persons arrive with genuine passports but do not have the required visa, where they arrive with forged documents or impersonate the rightful holder of a document or where they arrive with no document. In the majority

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of cases the persons concerned are classified as inadequately documented passengers, rather than illegal entrants.

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