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30 Mar 2004 : Column 1341W—continued

New Deal

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much funding has been provided to New Deal task forces in each year since 1998. [158230]

Mr. Browne: The information requested is as follows.

New Deal for Young People—spending on the environmental task force (ETF)

	£ million
1997–98(7)	0
1998–99(8)	15
1999–2000	42
2000–01	42
2001–02	42
2002–03	31
2003–04(9)	31

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¹ New Deal for Young People (NDYP) started in January 1998. As participation in the NDYP Options normally commenced after a 4 month Gateway period, spend on the Options, including the ETF, was very small and has been rounded to zero. ² This corrects the figure that was given in my answer to the hon. Member for Havant (David Willetts), on 14 July 2003, Official Report, columns 78–79W. ³ Estimated outturn. ⁴ All figures are rounded to the nearest million. Source: Departmental Report 2003

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much money has so far been spent on each constituent element of the New Deal. [164042]

Mr. Browne [holding answer 26 March 2004]: The information is in the table.

£ million

	New Deal for Young People	New Deal25 plus	New Deal50 plus	New Deal for Lone Parents	New Deal for Disabled People	New Deal for Partners
1997–98	43	—	—	—	—	—
1998–99	260	34	—	18	1	1
1999–2000	370	97	3	39	22	5
2000–01	412	60	56	43	14	11
2001–02	308	213	87	46	10	8
2002–03	339	254	106	80	27	6
2003–04	340	255	56	82	27	11
Total	2,072	913	308	308	101	42

Notes:

1. All figures are outturn figures except; 2002–03 estimated outturn and, 2003–04 planned expenditure.

2. All figures are rounded to the nearest £ million

Source:

2003 DWP Departmental Report (Cm 5921)

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HOME DEPARTMENT

Asylum Seekers

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many asylum seekers are detained in Maghaberry Prison; and how many of those are (a) male, (b) female and (c) children; [162151]

(2) what the average length of stay was for an asylum seeker in the last two years at Maghaberry Prison. [162152]

Beverley Hughes: As at 27 December 2003—the latest available date for which data are available— 120 individuals recorded as having sought asylum were detained in prisons in the UK. Of these, less than five were detained at HMP Maghaberry, all of whom were adult males. Minors may not be held at HMP Maghaberry. Information on the number of people detained as at 27 March 2004 will be published on the Home Office website (www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html) on 25 May 2004.

Information on the length of detention of individual detainees held at HMP Maghaberry is not available.

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether asylum seekers detained at Maghaberry Prison are (a) subject to normal prison rules and (b) held separately from (i) sentenced and (ii) remand prisoners. [162168]

Beverley Hughes: Immigration detainees held at HMP Maghaberry are located on a separate landing in Mourne House and are separate from the main prison population. Detainees are subject to prison rules but are managed as untried prisoners, with a more favourable regime that is more akin to that of enhanced prisoners.

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for how long Maghaberry Prison will be used to detain asylum seekers. [162235]

Beverley Hughes: Individual detainees are held for no longer than is necessary and we seek to ensure that any period of detention is kept to the minimum. An individual detainee who initially elected to remain at HMP Maghaberry rather than be transferred to an Immigration Service removal centre in Great Britain may at any time request to be transferred to such a removal centre.

More generally, we have no plans at present to end the use of HMP Maghaberry for the very small numbers of immigration detainees who express a preference to remain in Northern Ireland rather than be transferred to an Immigration Service removal centre in Great Britain. The small numbers of individuals concerned, usually less than 10 at any one time, would not be sufficient to make a dedicated detention facility in Northern Ireland viable to establish or operate.

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of failed asylum seekers in the UK who are liable to be forcibly returned to Iraq. [162411]

Beverley Hughes: At present, removals to Iraq are on a voluntary basis, but on 24 February 2004 my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary announced that the UK was the first country to reach agreement with the

30 Mar 2004 : Column 1344W

Coalition Provisional Authority to begin enforced returns of failed Iraqi asylum seekers. The pilot scheme will begin in April and will allow 30 Iraqis per month to be returned initially; it will be linked to a package of assistance with accommodation and employment, and will operate alongside the voluntary returns programme.

Information on asylum applications is published quarterly. The next publication is due to be published on 25 May 2004 on the Home Office website at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many failed asylum seekers have been forcibly removed to Afghanistan in each of the last five years. [162418]

Beverley Hughes: Information on the number of Afghan nationals who had claimed asylum at some stage that were removed from the United Kingdom from 1998 to September 2003 (the latest date for which data are available) is shown in the table.

Removals and voluntary⁽⁷⁾ departures of principal asylum applicants (excluding dependants): January 1998 to September 2003^{(8) , (9) , (10)}

	Afghanistan
1998	15
1999	n/a
2000	n/a
2001	125
2002(11)	395
January to September 2003(11)	460

n/a = Information not available due to data quality issues on IND databases.

⁽⁷⁾ Including persons departing "voluntarily" after enforcement action had been initiated against them.

⁽⁸⁾ May include removals to a safe third country.

⁽⁹⁾ Data are rounded to nearest five with * denoting 1 or 2.

⁽¹⁰⁾ Data are estimated due to data quality issues on the databases.

⁽¹¹⁾ Provisional figures.

These figures include those persons who departed "voluntarily" after enforcement action had been initiated against them and persons leaving under the Assisted Voluntary Returns Programmes run by the International Organisation for Migration as well as those who were forcibly removed from the UK, however they are not separately identifiable. Information on the destination of those people who are removed is not available.

There were no enforced returns to Afghanistan prior to April 2003. A voluntary return programme, the Return to Afghanistan Programme (RAP) commenced on 20 August 2002. Enforced returns operate under the tripartite Agreement between the United Kingdom, United Nations High Commission for Refugees and Afghan Transitional Administration and flights to Kabul commenced on 28 April 2003.

Alcohol Misuse (Greater London)

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he plans to take to tackle alcohol misuse in Greater London. [163063]

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Ms Blears: On 15 March 2004 the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit published a "Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy for England". The Strategy sets out the Government plans to combat the range of problems caused by alcohol misuse in England. The majority of London Drug Action Teams (DATs) have already drawn up local alcohol misuse strategies, as part of their plans to tackle wider substance misuse. Officials are working with DATs and Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) to ensure that all London boroughs prioritise alcohol misuse in the next round of crime and drugs strategies.

Amphetamines

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the oral answer of 22 March 2004, Official Report, column 551, on amphetamines, what assessment he has made of the conversion of common cold, flu and hayfever tablets into amphetamines; and what discussions he has had on the volume of these over the counter medicines sold to individuals. [164189]

Caroline Flint [holding answer 29 March 2003]: The Forensic Science Service's data on seizures of illicit drugs shows no incidence in the United Kingdom in recent years of these over the counter medicines having been converted into amphetamines for misuse.

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