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2 Mar 2004 : Column 918W—continued
Gun Crime
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much Government funding, broken down by local authority area, is given to community groups working to combat gun crime. [149787]
Caroline Flint: In the current financial year, the Government are providing £1.5 million from recovered criminal assets specifically to support community action to help tackle gun crime and gun culture. £300,000 of this has been allocated to Disarm Trust, an independent organisation that raises money and provides support for community groups working to reduce gun crime, supports victims of gun crime and provides help for witnesses. The remainder is being distributed by eight of the Government Offices for the Regions to support community action. The funding is not broken down by local authority areas. The allocations to the eight Government Offices are set out as follows.
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| Government Office | £ |
|---|---|
| London | 400,000 |
| West Midlands | 200,000 |
| South West | 75,000 |
| Yorkshire and Humberside | 75,000 |
| South East | 100,000 |
| North West | 200,000 |
| East Midlands | 75,000 |
| East of England | 75,000 |
In addition, we are providing funding for community-based programmes to tackle gun crime through the Street Crime Initiative in a number of areas. This money is in addition to other funding provided through the Government Offices, for example, to support regeneration and to tackle deprivation and social exclusion, which help to address the factors that can give rise to criminality, including gun crime.
Health Tourism
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what measures are (a) in place and (b) being researched or considered by his Department to combat health tourism. [156091]
Beverley Hughes: Immigration Rules (HC 395 as amended) provide for anyone to be refused entry clearance or leave to enter to the United Kingdom who seeks entry for a purpose not covered by the Rules. The Rules provide for entry for the purpose of private medical treatment but not for NHS treatment. They further provide for an Immigration Office to take account of a Medical Inspector's assessment of the likely course of treatment in deciding whether a person seeking entry for private medical treatment has sufficient means at his disposal.
Immigrants who seek NHS treatment after entry to the United Kingdom may be liable to charges for such treatment in accordance with the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 1989 (S.I. 1989 No.306) as amended. My right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Health has recently announced proposals to amend these Regulations to remove certain loopholes that have been exploited by health tourists. In particular anyone who has no legal basis to remain in the United Kingdom will be liable to be charged for NHS treatment, except for emergencies or conditions for which they were already receiving treatment before the final determination of their status.
The Government have been undertaking a comprehensive interdepartmental review of the issues surrounding immigration and healthcare. The review is ongoing and final decisions remain to be taken.
As announced by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, Official Report, 23 February 2004, columns 23–25), from 1 May the Government will be requiring workers from the European Union (EU) accession countries (except Malta and Cyprus) to register with the Home Office. In accordance with EU Regulations, any resident of an EU member state will be entitled to receive free of charge treatment for which the need arises during a visit to the United Kingdom—the cost is met by their home country. But to be fully exempt from charges for routine hospital treatment for a pre-existing condition, patients from elsewhere in the EU
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will need to prove—just as for any other overseas visitor—that they meet one of the exemption criteria in the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations, for example the exemption for those employed in the United Kingdom. This will apply to registered workers from the accession states. The Government will continue to take every step to ensure that our benefit and healthcare system is not open to abuse.
Local Authority Asylum Costs
Mr. Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) when the audit of Kent county council's claim relating to asylum seeker costs will be completed; and if he will make a statement on its delay; [155027]
- (2) when his Department will publish the grant rules for asylum costs for the current year; [155028]
(3) what asylum costs were paid by (a) his Department and (b) Kent county council; and if he will make a statement. [155029]
Beverley Hughes [holding answer 23 February 2004]: The audit of Kent county council's claims relating to asylum support costs is the responsibility of the District Auditor. Audit work on the claim for 2002–03 was delayed initially by work required to finalise the lists of asylum seekers eligible for support during the year. The due date for the completion of the 2002–03 audit has been set at 31 March 2004. At present the council are also investigating the exact amount of the outstanding balance for 2002–03 and this may also delay the completion of the audit.
The instructions for 2003–04 relating to Adults and Families were published in June 2003. The instructions for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeker Children (UASC) were published in January 2004.
The Home Office reimburses local councils for asylum support costs via a series of interim payments during the year. Kent county council submitted four interim claims in 2002–03 and three for the year to date in 2003–04. These have all been paid. The outstanding balance for 2002–03 is subject to investigation as mentioned above. If it is agreed that a significant amount has not been covered by the interim claims in 2002–03 then the Home Office is prepared to make a further payment against the final audited claim.
Malawi (Work Permits)
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many work permits have been issued to health workers from Malawi since January 2003. [156186]
Beverley Hughes: The number of work permits issued to Malawi health workers in the calendar year 2003 was 142.
Mr. T. Umbalan
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what grounds he is considering a further application from Mr.T Umabalan of Epsom, Surrey, to remain in the UK; and if he will make a
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further statement on the contents of his letter to the hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell on 10 June 2002 in relation to this case. [156181]
Beverley Hughes: Mr Umabalan has applied for settlement based on his long residence in the United Kingdom and for leave to remain on Human Rights grounds.
Removals
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons were removed from the UK in each year since 1997. [156095]
Beverley Hughes: The number of people removed from the United Kingdom in each year from 1997 to 2002 (the latest available year) is shown in the table.
| Total persons removed(46) | |
|---|---|
| 1997 | 31,145 |
| 1998 | 34,920 |
| 1999 | 37,780 |
| 2000 | 46,645 |
| 2001 | 49,135 |
| 2002(47) | 65,460 |
(45) Under sections 3(5), 3(6) of the Immigration Act 1971, or under section 10 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.
(46) Including persons departing "voluntarily" after enforcement action
had been initiated against them.
(47) Provisonal figures.
Information on the total number of people removed each year from the United Kingdom is published annually in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin "Control of Immigration: Statistics United Kingdom" and in the Command Publication of the same name. These are available from the Home Office website: www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html and from the Library. Information on the total number of people removed from the United Kingdom in 2003 is due to be published in the aforementioned statistical bulletin on the Home Office website towards the end of August 2004.
Speed Cameras
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much money was raised in fines from speed cameras in each year since their inception in the Lancashire police force area. [156498]
Caroline Flint: Information on the revenue raised from speed offences detected by camera is not available.
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Available information on the number of fixed penalties and court fines ordered to be paid for offence of 'speeding detected by camera' in the calendar years 1997 to 2001 is shown in the table for the Lancashire police force area.
Information for 2002 will be available in the spring.
Not all fines and fixed penalties will have been paid.
| Fixed penalties | Court Proceedings(50) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Offenceand year | Number of tickets | Estimated revenue (£) | Number of fines | Total amount of fine (£) | Average fine(51) |
| 1997 | 5,600 | 224,800 | 480 | 37,100 | 78 |
| 1998 | 14,700 | 588,900 | 880 | 96,000 | 109 |
| 1999 | 22,300 | 892,600 | 1,200 | 120,200 | 101 |
| 2000 | 18,400 | 796,100 | 930 | 79,800 | 86 |
| 2001 | 21,400 | 1,283,500 | 1,400 | 90,800 | 65 |
(48) Automatic cameras until 1998, all camera types from 1999.
(49) Offences under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and The Motor Vehicles (Speed Limits on Motorways) Regulations 1973.
(50) Includes cases where fixed penalty notices were originally issued but not paid and subsequently referred to court.
(51) Estimate based on £40 fixed penalty charge to October 2000. From November 2000 the penalty was raised to 60.
Note:
Reliable data only available from 1997 onwards for speeding offences detected by camera.
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