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Asylum Seekers

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps the Government are
 
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taking to improve the removals process and to ensure that it is transparent and fair. [151474]

Mr. Browne: The Government are committed to identifying and removing those who have no right to be here by ensuring a transparent and fair system where all applicants are treated humanely and fairly and only seeking to return those who have no legal basis of stay in the UK. This is done by having an internal complaints procedure and an independent appeal system established by Parliament to resolve disputes between the Home Office and applicants who feel that their applications for leave to remain or asylum have not been properly assessed or the correct decision reached.

We are constantly striving to improve the way this process works by continually monitoring and reviewing internal procedures and practices.

Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was spent on the removal of failed asylum seekers; and how many asylum seekers were removed, in each year since 1997. [173676]

Mr. Browne [holding answer 18 May 2004]: The information is as follows:

(a) The cost of the removal of failed asylum seekers is not disaggregated from the overall costs of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) and therefore not readily available. Any attempt to calculate the cost of removal of failed asylum seekers would need to take into account a large number of factors and this could be done only at disproportionate cost. However the total public spending for IND is set out in the published Home Office report.

(b) The number of asylum seekers who were removed in each year since 1997 is shown in the table.
Removals and voluntary departures(25) of asylum applicants, excluding dependants, 1997 to 2003

Principal applicantsDependants(26)Total(26)
19977,165n/an/a
19986,990n/an/a
19997,665n/an/a
20008,980n/an/a
20019,2851,49510,780
2002(27)10,7403,17013,910
2003(27)12,4904,55017,040




n/a = Not available.
(25) Includes persons departing 'Voluntarily' after enforcement action had been initiated against them, persons leaving under Assisted Voluntary Return Programmes run by the International Organisation for Migration, and removals on safe third country
grounds.
(26) Data on dependants removed have only been collected since April 2001.
(27) Provisional figures.
Note:
Figures rounded to the nearest five, with* = one or two, and may not sum due to rounding.




 
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Church Yards

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for closure of church yards have been refused in the past five years. [174282]

Paul Goggins: The Home Office does not keep a record of this information. However, the majority of applications that fail do so because they do not fall within the main criteria for closure as agreed by the Home Office, local authority representatives and representatives of the Church of England:

Correspondence

Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter to him dated 27 April from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr. Ihsan Mehrobi and Ms Bethan Galliers. [178946]

Mr. Blunkett: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 10 June 2004.

Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter to him dated 22 April from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr. N. Sibanda. [178947]

Mr. Blunkett: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 10 June 2004.

Court Attendance (Merseyside)

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to reduce the non-attendance of witnesses and defendants in Merseyside. [170534]

Paul Goggins: The Government's Criminal Case Management Programme will reduce the non-attendance of defendants and witnesses. It is made up of three complementary strands: ensuring that charges are
 
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more appropriately brought; providing victims and witnesses with proper care and attention; and ensuring that trials are effectively managed.

Witness care units are currently at the planning stage in Merseyside and will be introduced for Crown courts towards the end of this year and in the magistrates courts in 2005. As part of its delivery plan to improve public confidence in the criminal justice system, Merseyside Criminal Justice Board carried out a survey examining reasons for witness non-attendance. The results will be used as part of the planning process for the introduction of witness care units. For example, one petty sessional area found that if witnesses were contacted by telephone shortly before they were due to appear, attendance increased, and consequently, this practice is being rolled out across Merseyside.

The Effective Trial Management Programme will be implemented in Merseyside in November. It includes specific measures to improve defendant attendance at court hearings through the early communication of the benefits of co-operating with the process and the potential consequences of non-attendance, as well as improved enforcement procedures for non-attendance.

There are a number of warrant enforcement initiatives in place in Merseyside to ensure that defendants are brought to justice for failing to appear in court. Bench warrants in Merseyside are circulated on the Police National Computer as soon as they are received from the courts, with priority given to persistent offender and street crime offences. Merseyside police have also run Operation 'Cardsharp' in which defendants were sent letters following their failure to appear, informing them that a warrant had been issued and advising them to surrender to the court or face police visits. This initiative proved to be a success, with defendants surrendering themselves to the court after receiving the letter, and over 1,000 warrants executed in the month the operation was running. It is continuing to operate successfully in Merseyside, and has now been recognised as best practice nationally.

Drug Offences (London)

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) arrests have been made, (b) convictions have been obtained and (c) cautions have been issued in (i) Greater London and (ii) each London borough for offences relating to (A) possession and (B) dealing in (1) Class A, (2) Class B and (3) Class C drugs in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [177180]

Ms Blears: Information collected centrally on arrests is broken down only into the main offence groups. Within the "drug offences" group we are unable to identify different classes of drugs or different kinds of offences.

The information contained in the tables relates to persons found guilty of possession of, or dealing in Class A, B and C drugs, 1998 to 2002, in each borough in outer London and each magistrates court in inner London (it
 
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is not possible from the statistics collected centrally to identify boroughs in inner London). The figures include persons found guilty at the Crown court when committed for trial or sentence from the courts/boroughs shown. Caution data cannot be broken down
 
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beyond police force area in the statistics collected centrally, and is given as a total for the Metropolitan Police and City of London Police Force area.

Statistics on court proceedings and cautions for 2003 will be published in the autumn.
Number(28) of persons cautioned by the Metropolitan or City of London Police, or found guilty of certain drug offences in Greater London(29) by magistrates court/London Borough: 2002(28)

Possession
Class A drug
Class B drug
Class C drug
CautionedFound guiltyCautionedFound guiltyCautionedFound guilty
Inner London magistrates courts(29)
City of London Police
Guildhall Justice Rooms(30)23(30)54(30)(30)
Total City of London Police3123448541(30)
Metropolitan police
Bow Street(30)206(30)286(30)3
Camberwell Green/Tower Bridge(30)227(30)338(30)1
Greenwich/Woolwich(30)105(30)333(30)(30)
Highbury Corner(30)164(30)314(30)1
Horseferry Road(30)121(30)266(30)(30)
Marylebone(30)(30)4(30)(30)
South Western(30)75(30)312(30)(30)
Thames(30)205(30)448(30)(30)
West London(30)124(30)435(30)1
Outer London boroughs
Metropolitan Police
Barking and Dagenham(30)51(30)185(30)(30)
Barnet(30)21(30)145(30)(30)
Bexley(30)31(30)84(30)(30)
Brent(30)97(30)237(30)(30)
Bromley(30)33(30)117(30)(30)
Croydon(30)51(30)236(30)(30)
Ealing(30)131(30)212(30)(30)
Enfield(30)42(30)142(30)(30)
Haringey(30)104(30)348(30)2
Harrow(30)37(30)80(30)(30)
Havering(30)107(30)88(30)(30)
Hillingdon(30)55(30)182(30)(30)
Hounslow(30)76(30)166(30)(30)
Kingston-upon-Thames(30)66(30)71(30)(30)
Merton(30)15(30)79(30)(30)
Newham(30)92(30)271(30)(30)
Redbridge(30)26(30)99(30)(30)
Richmond-upon-Thames(30)17(30)95(30)(30)
Sutton(30)15(30)61(30)(30)
Waltham Forest(30)50(30)156(30)1
Total Metropolitan Police5952,34410,6125,790319
Total Greater London6262,36711,0605,844329

Dealing
Class A drug
Class B drug
Class C drug
CautionedFound guiltyCautionedFound guiltyCautionedFound guilty
Inner London magistrates courts(29)
City of London Police
Guildhall Justice Rooms(30)12(30)5(30)(30)
Total City of London Police5951210,612531(30)
Metropolitan police
Bow Street(30)20(30)16(30)2
Camberwell Green/Tower Bridge(30)104(30)52(30)(30)
Greenwich/Woolwich(30)74(30)38(30)(30)
Highbury Corner(30)97(30)41(30)(30)
Horseferry Road(30)58(30)26(30)(30)
Marylebone(30)(30)(30)1(30)(30)
South Western(30)24(30)17(30)(30)
Thames(30)104(30)33(30)(30)
West London(30)47(30)23(30)1
Outer London boroughs
Metropolitan Police
Barking and Dagenham(30)4(30)11(30)(30)
Barnet(30)18(30)14(30)(30)
Bexley(30)6(30)12(30)(30)
Brent(30)24(30)22(30)(30)
Bromley(30)8(30)8(30)(30)
Croydon(30)34(30)23(30)(30)
Ealing(30)36(30)15(30)(30)
Enfield(30)1(30)3(30)(30)
Haringey(30)24(30)27(30)(30)
Harrow(30)10(30)8(30)(30)
Havering(30)8(30)6(30)(30)
Hillingdon(30)548(30)197(30)3
Hounslow(30)13(30)15(30)(30)
Kingston-upon-Thames(30)11(30)10(30)(30)
Merton(30)4(30)8(30)(30)
Newham(30)33(30)23(30)(30)
Redbridge(30)12(30)11(30)(30)
Richmond-upon-Thames(30)5(30)12(30)(30)
Sutton(30)13(30)4(30)(30)
Waltham Forest(30)12(30)12(30)(30)
Total Metropolitan Police331,352179688(30)6
Total Greater London6281,36410,791693316


(28) These data are on the principal offence basis
(29) Information held centrally does not allow a breakdown of cases by borough in the inner London area
(30) Not available



 
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