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Probation Programmes

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research he has evaluated on the completion rates on probation-accredited programmes where case management and programme work is integrated. [178798]

Paul Goggins [holding answer 21 June 2004]: The Home Office's Research, Development and Statistics Directorate (RDS) has evaluated one study that looked at the relationship between case management and accredited programme completion in the Probation Service. The research was conducted by Oxford University and it was managed and published by the National Probation Directorate in 2004. The published findings "Think First in the community: attendance, attrition and outcomes for participants" are available on the National Probation Service website (www.probation.homeoffice.gov.uk)

The research found that completion of the Think First programme was better when case management involved intense supervision before the start of the programme, frequent contact after completion, support with personal problems and help in using what had been learnt.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether approval for enhanced community punishment accredited programmes was given on the basis that case management and programme work were integrated. [178800]

Paul Goggins [holding answer 21 June 2004]: Enhanced Community Punishment (ECP) was provisionally accredited by the Correctional Services Accreditation Panel and rolled out throughout England
 
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and Wales in October 2003. All Community Punishment Orders are now delivered in the form of Enhanced Community Punishment. The order requires an offender to do unpaid work while maximising the scope for learning in order to change the offender's behaviour.

Integrated case management is a key feature of ECP. It requires there to be structured communication between the people involved in delivering the different components of an order. This structured liaison and integration has been approved by the Accreditation Panel.

Road Fund Licence

Mr. Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether constabularies in England and Wales have the authority to instigate prosecution against foreign nationals who are driving vehicles registered in another EU country that do not have a current road fund licence. [178948]

Caroline Flint: Foreign registered vehicles which are brought into the UK temporarily by overseas residents are usually exempt from UK licensing and registration.

As regards vehicles registered within the European Union, this exemption stems from Directive 83/182. This provides that a visitor may use a vehicle which is registered and fully tax paid in its home member state for up to six months in 12, without being subject to the domestic registration and taxation requirements of the host state.

To qualify for the exemption, visitors must have their normal residence outside the host state. It falls to vehicle keepers to satisfy the police or other enforcement authority that they are entitled to exemption from UK registration and licensing. Should they fail to do so, the normal prosecution process will follow.

Secure Training Centres

Dr. Vis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many times restraint has been used on children in each of the secure training centres in each of the last five years. [176784]

Paul Goggins: The table shows how many times restraint has been used in each secure training centre. The figures given cover the period since the centre opened, with the exception of Medway (which opened in September 1998), where data is available from January 2000. Hassockfield opened in September 1999 and Rainsbrook in July 1999.

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Medway	n/a	703	845	814	1611	702
Hassockfield	220	694	820	825	922	341
Rainsbrook	286	582	465	822	756	185

Only certified custody officers who have completed a course of instruction delivered by approved trainers may take part in restraints in Secure Training Centres. They are required to attend regular refresher courses to maintain their certification.
 
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Somalia

Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the rule 39 order made by the European Court of Human Rights to suspend removals from the Netherlands to Somalia pending determination of a challenge to such removals in application 15243/04; and if he will review his decision to commence removals of failed asylum seekers to Somalia. [179910]

Mr. Browne: The interim order made by the European Court of Human Rights to the Dutch Government under rule 39 applied only to the applicant in that specific case. The interim order means that the applicant cannot be removed to Somalia before the European Court of Human Rights has given a decision on the applicant's case.

As with applications from all nationalities, each asylum (and human rights) claim made by someone from Somalia is considered by the Home Office on its individual merits, in accordance with our obligations under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Individual asylum seekers found by both the Home Office and the Independent Appellate Authority, not to be at risk of persecution and not in need of humanitarian protection are considered for removal on a case-by-case basis. The Home Office will not return vulnerable groups and will only enforce the return of those Somalis it is satisfied are not in need of protection.

Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what reports he has received regarding the fate of Maxamed Yahye Ahmed following his removal to Mogadishu by the Danish authorities. [179912]

Mr. Browne: The Danish Immigration Service has informed us that Maxamed Yalye Ahmed was returned voluntarily to Yemen by the Danish authorities. It is not known whether he subsequently chose to travel to Somalia.

Special Branch

Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Special Branch officers were employed in each of the last five years, broken down by police force area. [177174]

Ms Blears: Published information on police strength by Police Force area is available for rank, gender and ethnicity but not function.

Figures on police strength are published in Home Office statistical bulletins, copies of which can be found in the Library or on the internet site www.homeoffice.gov.uk.

The latest published data on settlement in the United Kingdom are published in the Command Paper "Control of Immigration: Statistics United Kingdom 2002" (Cm6053), available from the Library and from the Home Office website http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/hobpubs1.html The 2003 edition is due to be published later this year.
 
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UK Passport Service Pilot Project

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reasons the UK Passport Service pilot project was postponed; whether an independent assessment of the project's results will be carried out; and what criteria will be used when assessing the project's results. [177926]

Mr. Browne: The start of the biometric enrolment trial was delayed by two months; it went live in April 2004. The delay was caused by the need to correct initial problems and then retest the equipment. The trial is now fully rolled out and functioning at its four fixed sites and is expected to run for around six months when United Kingdom Passport Service (UKPS) will have enrolled 10,000 people.

A mobile enrolment unit will also be deployed from the end of June.

UKPS has retained the services of an expert in the field of biometrics from the National Physical Laboratory as its independent assessor of the progress and outcomes of the trial.

The trial is testing the practical aspects of recording of biometrics and public reactions to the enrolment process. The results will be used to inform future designs of UKPS systems and processes

UK Settlement

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been admitted to the UK as (a) husbands and (b) wives in each year since 1979, broken down by country of origin. [177092]

Mr. Browne [holding answer 8 June 2004]: The latest available data relating to the number of passengers admitted to the UK as a husband or wife are shown in the following tables. The information available is broken down by the applicant's nationality, not the country of origin.

To provide data for the entire period requested would incur disproportionate cost.

A copy of the table has been placed in the House Library.

Historical data on immigration control can be found in the Command Papers "Control of Immigration: Statistics United Kingdom", copies of which are available from the Library of the House.

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