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Asylum Support

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been in receipt of National Asylum Support Service support in each year since its inception. [177090]

Mr. Browne [holding answer 8 June 2004]: The National Asylum Support Service (NASS) assumed responsibility for the support of asylum seekers on 3 April 2000. The following table shows the number of asylum seekers (including dependants) that have been in receipt of National Asylum Support Service support as at the end of each year since its inception. Information in respect of the number of persons supported by NASS during a given year is not available.

Information on the number of asylum seekers supported by NASS is published in the quarterly web pages and in the annual statistical bulletin Asylum Statistics United Kingdom, available from the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate web site at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.
Asylum seekers supported by NASS 1,2 by type of support

As at the end	In receipt of subsistence only support	Supported in NASS accommodation
December 2000	8,870	13,530
December 2001	25,310	40,325
December 2002	37,815	54,045
December 2003	30,360	49,760
March 2004 (Quarter 1, 2004)	27,635	48,610

⁽³⁷⁾ Including dependants.
⁽³⁸⁾ All figures are rounded to the nearest 5.

Becket House Reporting Centre, Bermondsey

Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what compensation for costs of travel will be available to reportees living in Thurrock consequent on the decision to require them to report at Beckett House, Bermondsey; and if he will make a statement. [177748]

Mr. Browne: In my answer to the Member for Thurrock's separate but related question (177749), I have clarified that the requirement on people living in Thurrock to report to Becket House was an
 
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administrative error, which has now been rectified. In view of this, the issue of compensating them for costs of travel to Becket House does not arise.

Commission for Racial Equality

Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will make a decision on the grant aid to be given to the Commission for Racial Equality. [174827]

Fiona Mactaggart: The Home Office formally delegated the Commission for Racial Equality's budget for 2004–05 on 28 April 2004.

Computer File Formats

Mr. Allan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his Department's policy is in respect of the computer file formats used for the (a) distribution and (b) archiving of publicly available documents. [173358]

Fiona Mactaggart: The Home Office is keen to ensure that published documents are fully accessible to all members of the public who wish to use them. We make use of standard electronic formats that should meet the requirements of most document users.

(a) Distribution

The computer files and formats used for the distribution of Home Office material are Word/ Excel based documents, which are standard and widely compatible both internally and with external suppliers.

(b) Archiving

Material placed on the web site for access by the public is at present stored in mixture of Portable Document Format (PDF) and Hypertext Mark Up Language (HTML). The Home Office Communication Directorate is actively considering the benefits of storage of future material in Extensible Mark-Up Language (XML).

CPS

Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the extent of his responsibility for the Crown Prosecution Service. [159300]

The Solicitor-General: I have been asked to reply.

The Director of Public Prosecutions is the head of the Crown Prosecution Service and he discharges his functions under the superintendence of the Attorney-General.

Credit Card Purchases

Judy Mallaber: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of individuals who have had their credit card facilities withdrawn by the issuing bank after court convictions for using the card to purchase child pornography images. [173056]

Paul Goggins: A consideration as to whether an individual has their credit card facilities withdrawn by
 
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an issuing bank or other card supplier following a conviction for an offence relating to the purchase of child abuse images is a matter for each individual card issuer to decide, dependent upon the terms and conditions associated with the card. There is no centrally held record of the number of instances of such an action taking place.

Government, the credit card industry, and law enforcement are actively considering what action can be taken in respect of individuals convicted of an offence which has involved the purchase of child abuse images using any payment mechanisms. More widely work remains ongoing to proactively identifying sites selling child abuse images, seeking the removal of payment facilities from these sites and appropriate action taken by law enforcement.

Judy Mallaber: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with the credit card industry about action to prevent the use of credit card facilities to fund the purchase of (a) child pornography images and (b) illegal websites. [173057]

Paul Goggins: Extensive work has been undertaken on the issue of preventing credit cards and other payment mechanisms from being used to purchase child abuse images online. The Association of Payment Clearing Services (APACS), the UK Trade Association for Payments, the Internet Watch Foundation, and the Children's Charities' Coalition for Internet Safety, have all worked actively to prevent such activity and have developed close working relationships over the last few years. This resulted in a joint announcement by them in March 2003.

The arrangements now in place have made it possible for law enforcement agencies to become more effective in investigating detecting and taking action against those sites that use specific payment services to sell child abuse images. The relevant card companies will also seek to trace the banks and the billing companies involved in processing payments and to cease the use of their cards for such activity. Units such as the National Hi Tech Crime Unit through their industry outreach programme, have been particularly successful in working closely with industry on intelligence and target hardening to design out hi-tech crime.

It is clear that co-ordinated action by the major credit card schemes in conjunction with other relevant organisations can have a major impact on the commercial trade in child abuse images. We welcome the efforts that have been made so far and will continue to work with them to make this as effective as possible, involving as many different payment mechanisms as is possible.

While much of the focus of preventing the use of credit cards to facilitate illegal activities has to date focused on their association with child abuse images, work has also been undertaken to prevent credit cards and other payment mechanisms from being used to prevent a wider range of illegal activities on line.

Gender Pay Gap

Mr. Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the
 
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pay gap between men and women employed by his Department and its agencies in (a) Southampton, (b) Eastleigh, (c) Winchester and (d) Romsey. [171632]

Fiona Mactaggart: None. The Department has undertaken a number of equal pay reviews, but data have not been analysed by individual locations.

Immigration and Nationality Directorate

Mr. Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects the Immigration and Nationality Directorate to return the passports belonging to Mrs. Maliheh Sadeghi Boroujerdi and Mr. Mohsen Dastmaldi, which were sent to the Directorate on 4 July 2003. [178080]

 
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Mr. Browne [holding answer 10 June 2004]: The passports of Mrs. Maliheh Sadeghi Boroujerdi and Mr. Mohsen Dastmaldi were returned to their legal representatives, Halliday Reeves Solicitors, on 8 June.

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