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5 May 2004 : Column 1541W—continued

Asylum and Immigration

Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what he estimates the cost to central Government Departments of the medical inspection of immigrant service is in 2003–04. [156836]

Miss Melanie Johnson: I have been asked to reply.

I refer the hon. Member to the response I gave to him today.

Brain Fingerprinting

Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what evaluation he has made of brain fingerprinting technologies that monitor the involuntary electrical waves emitted by the brain. [169294]

Ms Blears: None.

Car Crime

Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the impact of remote immobiliser technologies on reducing car crime. [166845]

Ms Blears: It is too early to make an assessment because the introduction of these technologies by the industry has been delayed until there is resolution of liability issues.
 
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It is suggested that these legal liabilities include, liability for technology or system malfunction and who would take responsibility for vehicles that are remotely immobilised and subsequently causes an accident.

Charitable Status

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to withdraw charitable status from groups that are raising money in the UK and channelling it to extremist and terrorist groups in India. [158060]

Fiona Mactaggart: This is a matter for the Charity Commission as the Government Department responsible for the regulation of charities in England and Wales. The Director of Operations will write to the hon. Member and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Library.

Clamping Companies

Mr. Alan Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects the Security Industry Authority to introduce regulations to control the activities of clamping companies. [170964]

Ms Blears: On current plans the Security Industry Authority expects to commence regulation of vehicle immobilisers by the end of 2004.

Criminal Records Bureau

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what estimate he has made of the number of existing home care staff who will require Criminal Records Bureau checks; [166008]

(2) how many existing care home staff had enhanced level Criminal Records Bureau checks processed by 29 February; what percentage this constitutes of the total number of existing care home staff; and if he will make a statement. [166018]

Ms Blears: As at 29 February, a total of 85,062 Disclosure applications from existing care home staff had been processed by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB). This figure is made up of 80,327 Enhanced Disclosures and 4,735 Standard Disclosures. As at 21 April, the number of applications processed had risen to 105,765 out of a total received of 115,532.

There are no reliable figures to indicate what percentage of overall existing staff this represents, because initial estimates from the Department of Health were that checks would need to be carried out on 250,000 existing staff. However discussions with the care sector suggest that there is a high turnover of staff in this sector, and as a result the actual figure could be at least 20–40 per cent. lower.

In September 2003, the Department of Health issued its schedule to employers and owners in the care sector on the reintroduction of the previously postponed checks on existing care home staff. Initially, employers were asked to send application forms to the CRB by 31 December 2003. Because the number of applications received by that date were low and following discussion
 
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between the Criminal Records Bureau, the Home Office and the Department of Health, this date was extended to 29 February 2004.

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have (a) one, (b) two, (c) three, (d) four, (e) five and (f) more than five registrations with the Criminal Records Bureau. [167975]

Ms Blears [holding answer 23 April 2004]: I believe that the question refers to the number of people who have applied for more than one Disclosure from the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB). I am unable to provide an answer, because the CRB's computer system does not hold this information centrally.
 
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Custodial Sentences

Mrs. Ann Cryer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many women were given a custodial sentence by courts in London in each month since January 2003. [168780]

Paul Goggins: Statistics on court proceedings for 2003 will be published in the autumn.

Departmental Contracts

Mrs. Helen Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what contracts have been awarded to the company Mitie by his Department since 2000; and what arrangements were put in place for collective bargaining. [166595]

Fiona Mactaggart: The available information held by the Home Office on the contracts awarded to MITIE since 2000 is as set out in the following table:

Unit	Description of Contract
(FSS) Forensic Science Service	Facilities Management—Lambeth 1/7/02–1/6/05 with an option to extend the contract for a further period of 24 months.
(UKPA) United Kingdom Passport Agency	Building Work.
	Counter/Reception refurbishment in Glasgow.
(HMPS) Her Majesty's Prison Service	Cleaning contract at HMP Long Lartin until 2004.
	Staff mess catering contract at HMP Long Lartin 30/4/01–29/4/04.
	Catering framework agreement under Phase 2 Project for Staff Messes and Visits Halls.
	Roofing contract at HMP Parkhurst.
	Roofing contract at HMP Leicester.
	Cameron House conversion contract at HMP Norwich.
	Works contract at HMP Ranby.
	Works contract at HMP Hindley.
	Roofing contract at HMP Hindley.
	Refurbishment contract at HMP Lewes.
	Installation of call system contract at HMP Exeter.
(NPD) National Probation Directorate	Facilities Management Services—National Probation Service (NPS) North Division Estate commencing 1/1/03.
	Facilities Management NPS West Division Estate commencing 1/4/03.
	Both contracts fixed for three years with options to extend both by four times, six month periods to a maximum of five years each

Departmental Staffing

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of his Department's work force are non-civil servants, separately identifying (a) consultants and contractors, (b) secondees from other Government bodies and (c) temporary agency staff. [163631]

Fiona Mactaggart [holding answer 31 March 2004]: Contributions have been received from areas of the Home Department, including agencies, as follows:

	Agency staff (including non-civil servant inward secondees)	Total staff	Percentage
Immigration and Nationality Department	1,298	14,240	9.1
United Kingdom Passport Service	47	2,627	1.8
Centrally managed core Home Office	300	4,208	7.1
Forensic Science Service	90	2,615	3.4
Prison Service Agency	300	47,427	0.6

Note:
Inward Seconded staff who are civil servants are counted against normal staff counts; staffing returns for the Home Office Annual Report excludes agency staff.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost to his Department of contracted professional services was in each of the last five years. [163633]

Fiona Mactaggart [holding answer 31 March 2004]: The cost for contracted professional services for the Core Home Office in each of the last five years is as follows:

	£
1999	15,132,974
2000	33,130,017
2001	47,177,217
2002	58,509,500
2003	73,762,761

 
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The Stage 2 RAB Resource DEL for the Home Office over the same period was:

	£
1999–2000	7,076,102,000
2000–01	8,398,131,000
2001–02	10,261,856,000
2002–03	11,088,502,000
2003–04	11,836,009,000

Expenditure expressed as a percentage of the Home Office DEL during the last five years was as follows:

	Percentage
1999–2000	0.21
2000–01	0.39
2001–02	0.46
2002–03	0.53
2003–04	0.63

The Immigration and Nationality Directorate accounted for around half of the cost for each financial year.

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