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24 Jun 2004 : Column 1524W—continued
CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS
Immigration Appeals
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many appeals were determined by (a) the Immigration Appellate Authority and (b) the Immigration Appeals Tribunal in each year since 1997; and at what cost. [180113]
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Mr. Lammy: Information requested relating to the total number of appeal disposals, and the joint operational running costs, for the Immigration Adjudicators, and the Immigration Appeal Tribunal (IAT), is provided in the following table:
| Financial year | IAA Adjudicator appeal disposals | IAT appeal disposal | Operational running cost (£ million) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 35,486 | 2,435 | 12.6 |
| 1998–99 | 39,743 | 1,900 | 14.0 |
| 1999–2000 | 24,440 | 3,176 | 16.1 |
| 2000–01 | 34,226 | 3,118 | 35.4 |
| 2001–02 | 61,816 | 4,396 | 51.2 |
| 2002–03 | 92,941 | 7,189 | 92.9 |
| 2003–04 | 110,223 | 11,171 | 90.2 |
WORK AND PENSIONS
Benefit Sanctions
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what evaluation his Department has made of the effect of benefit sanctions. [177545]
Mr. Pond: I refer the hon. Member to the written statement I gave on 5 February 2004, Official Report, column 44WS.
Community Service Orders
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people have lost benefit as a result of breaching their community service orders; and what the average loss of benefit has been, broken down by claimants of (a) income support, (b) jobseeker's allowance and (c) training allowances. [177537]
Mr. Pond: In the period 15 October 2001 to 15 May 2004, 1,789 individuals have been sanctioned as a result of the court finding them in breach of their community order.
1,007 offenders have received a 100 per cent. sanction on jobseeker's allowance with an estimated average weekly loss of benefit at 20 February 2004 of £31.17 per person.
743 people have received a sanction on income support with a 40 per cent. reduction and 39 have received a sanction on income support with a 20 per cent. reduction. The average weekly loss of benefit for the IS claimants at 20 February 2004 was £17.31 per person.
None of these claimants were in receipt of training allowance.
Notes:
1. The figures presented regarding loss of benefit in monetary terms have been estimated using information from the Departmental Central Index (DCI). It is not possible to determine the actual reduction in all cases.
2. The average loss of benefit should therefore be used as a guide to loss of benefit for individual offenders only.
Source:
Information Centre—IAD, DWP
Lone Parents (Benefits)
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many lone parents are in receipt of income support; and how many of these lone parents are also in receipt of a disability benefit in respect of (a) themselves and (b) their children. [178862]
Mr. Pond: At November 2003, there were 934,400 single parents in receipt of income support; of these, 62,200 also received disability living allowance (DLA) to help with the extra costs associated with their disability, and 60,900 received DLA in respect of a child's disability.
Notes:
1. Figures are based on a 5 per cent. sample and are therefore subject to sampling variation.
2. Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred and quoted in thousands.
3. A single parent is defined as a single person aged under 60 with dependants aged 0–18.
4. DLA includes both DLA care and mobility.
Source:
IAD Information Centre, 5 per cent. sample Client Group Analysis.
Sure Start Maternity Grant
Mrs. Fitzsimons: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many mothers in the parliamentary constituency of Rochdale have taken up the Sure Start maternity grant; and what percentage of those were of Asian origin. [178535]
Mr. Pond: The information is not available in the format requested, the available information in the tables.
| Applications | Awards | |
|---|---|---|
| 2000–01 | 1,807 | 1,591 |
| 2001–02 | 2,363 | 1,794 |
| 2002 (to December) | 2,213 | 1,689 |
| Applications | Awards | |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 (January) | Not available | 325 |
| 2003 (February and March) | 682 | 435 |
| 2003–04 | 4,251 | 3,059 |
| 2004 (April and May) | 653 | 494 |
Notes:
1. Data is not available by parliamentary constituency.
2. Rochdale parliamentary constituency used to be part of West Pennine Social Fund District and is now part of Oldham and Rochdale Jobcentre Plus District. The latter was formed in January 2003 from part of Oldham Social Fund District and part of West Pennine Social Fund District. The two areas for which data is given above are different and the data is not comparable.
3. Sure Start Maternity Grants were introduced on 27 March 2000. The very small number of cases for 1999–2000 have been excluded for data protection reasons.
4. Data is given for all applications and awards, irrespective of whether the application was made by the mother or her partner.
5. Data is not collected on the ethnic origin of Sure Start Maternity Grant applicants.
Source:
DWP Social Fund Policy, Budget and Management Information System.
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FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
British Indian Ocean Territories
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what income of the British Indian Ocean Territories is disbursed (a) as administrative costs, (b) to support the security of US facilities on Diego Garcia and (c) to support the welfare of the Chagos Islanders. [180347]
Mr. Rammell: The revenues of the Government of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) are disbursed on the protection and management of the BIOT Fisheries (Conservation and Management) Zone, and the BIOT civil administration. There are no disbursements to support the security of the US Defence Facility or to support the welfare of members of the Chagossian communities in Mauritius, Seychelles and elsewhere.
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the recognised population of the British Indian Ocean Territories is; and what information he holds on where they are domiciled. [180348]
Mr. Rammell: There is currently no settled population in the British Indian Ocean Territory. There are no official figures for the number of persons outside the Territory who could be regarded as Chagossians either by virtue of birth there or immediate descent from a person born there. The majority of them reside in Mauritius but there are smaller numbers in Seychelles and elsewhere, e.g. in the United Kingdom.
Burma
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make representations to the Burmese Government, citing Common Article 3 of the Geneva conventions, on its treatment of the civilian populations of the Karen, Karenni and Shan peoples. [180020]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: We regularly raise our concerns on human rights in Burma with the Burmese regime including the suffering of ethnic groups such as Karen, Karenni and Shan peoples, most recently when I met the Burmese Ambassador on 1 June.
We look to the Burmese authorities to respect and abide by the principles of international law, including international humanitarian law, and notably all the provisions of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, to which Burma is a State Party.
The UK co-sponsored a resolution which was unanimously adopted at the UN Commission on Human Rights on 21 April that condemned human rights violations suffered by ethnic groups in Burma. The Resolution called on the regime to consider as a matter of high priority becoming party to the Additional Protocols of 8 June 1977 to the Geneva Conventions, of 12 August 1949.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will recognise as genocide the actions of the Burmese Government against the Karen, Karenni and Shan peoples. [180021]
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Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Government are one of the strongest critics of the Burmese regime's violations of human rights. There is a consistent pattern of serious violations over many years, particularly against the ethnic groups. However, the term "genocide" has a specific meaning under international law. The United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Burma, Professor Sergio Pinheiro, who has visited Burma several times does not use the term to describe the situation there nor do major international NGOs, who monitor the situation in the country.
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