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19 Jul 2004 : Column 69W—continued
LEADER OF THE HOUSE
Orders in Council
Llew Smith: To ask the Leader of the House if he will list each occasion when Her Majesty's Government has legislated by way of an Order in Council since 1 May 1997; and what the reason for deciding on this way to legislate was in each case. [184395]
Mr. Leslie: I have been asked to reply.
Her Majesty's Government legislates through Orders in Council either because Parliament has provided for delegated legislation under a particular Act to be made in that way, or because a Prerogative power is being exercised which can be given legislative force in no other way. Not all Orders in Council represent "legislation by Her Majesty's Government", and the task of listing those that do could be carried out only at disproportionate cost. A list of all Orders in Council made since October 2000 can be found, however, on the Privy Council Office website at www.pco.gov.uk.
CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS
Civil Emergencies (Voting Arrangements)
Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what contingency arrangements have been made for casting votes at an election in the event of there being a civil emergency such as a foot and mouth outbreak. [185207]
Mr. Leslie: The arrangements for counting votes are the responsibility of the relevant Returning Officer. Guidance on appropriate actions in the event of various emergencies (such as security threats, riot, flood, fire, etc) is issued to Returning Officers before each parliamentary election. Special guidance related to the foot and mouth outbreak was issued before the last general election. An assessment of the need for further advice would be made in the light of the circumstances and the nature of the emergency.
Electoral Fraud
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will set up a committee to investigate allegations of corruption, vote tampering and voter manipulation in the June elections. [185076]
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Mr. Leslie: The Government have no plan to do so. Some allegations of electoral fraud are already under criminal investigation. In addition, five electoral petitions are before the courts. More generally, the independent Electoral Commission has a statutory duty to report on the European Parliamentary elections. It is also statutorily required to evaluate the operation of the all-postal voting electoral pilots. I understand that the Commission's reports will consider electoral fraud issues.
Travel Costs
Dr. Cable: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the travel costs were of civil servants in (a) his Department, (b) its predecessor Department and (c) its related agencies in each year since 1997. [183894]
Mr. Lammy: Total travel costs, which includes domestic and overseas travel for the Department and covers costs for the Court Service (CS), the Public Guardianship Office (PGO) and the Department for Constitutional Affairs, Headquarters (DCA HQ) are set out in the following table.
| Period | DCA HQ | CS | PGO | Total DCA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004–05(43) | 556,356 | 720,660 | 7,570 | 1,284,586 |
| 2003–04 | 2,389,149 | 3,664,272 | 34,639 | 6,088,060 |
| 2002–03 | 1,174,209 | 3,964,961 | 41,783 | 5,180,953 |
| 2001–02 | 1,179,355 | 3,377,593 | 61,480 | 4,618,428 |
| 2000–01 | 1,307,772 | 2,972,788 | 43,082 | 4,323,642 |
| 1999–2000 | 1,096,679 | 3,215,919 | 28,751 | 4,341,349 |
| 1998–99 | 903,983 | 2,696,618 | 16,934 | 3,617,535 |
(43) To 30 June.
There has been an increase in travel costs for the DCA HQ between 2002–03 and 2003–04, which is mainly due to a change in attribution of costs between the Court Service, PGO and DCA HQ and due to an increase in responsibilities for the Department.
Information on the previous year is not readily available.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Alcohol Promotions
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will hold discussions with the alcohol industry and licensed trade, in particular the large pub chains, to encourage the stocking of a range of non-alcoholic beers, lagers and ciders on licensed premises. [183657]
Caroline Flint:
We are currently having discussions with the industry around the development of the social responsibility scheme for retailers, which was one of the recommendations of the Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy for England. This scheme is likely to contain a pledge to consider the pricing policy on non-alcoholic drinks, and to encourage discounting of them. The scheme will also be likely to include a commitment to offering free water and reasonably priced soft drinks in all pubs and clubs.
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Asylum Seekers
Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) on what date his Department agreed a contract with Reliance Monitoring Service to provide a system for tagging individuals seeking asylum; if he will publish a copy of the contract; and if he will make a statement; [183918]
(2) what the value of the contract with Reliance Monitoring Service to provide a system for tagging individuals seeking asylum is. [183920]
Mr. Browne: The Secretary of State has not let a contract with Reliance Monitoring Services for tagging individuals seeking asylum and residing in Scotland.
Reliance Monitoring Services Ltd. have been providing electronic monitoring services in the South of England since 1 October 2001 under the terms of a contract with the Home Office and electronic tagging services within the Scottish criminal justice system since 1 May 2002 under the terms of a contact with the Scottish Executive.
IND plans to pilot the use of electronic monitoring for immigration purposes from the autumn in accordance with clause 36 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants etc.) Bill.
The pilot in England and Wales will be run under the existing Home Office contract. A separate procurement exercise is under way to provide services for use by IND in Scotland.
Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals seeking asylum in the UK and residing in (a) Scotland, (b) England, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland will be involved in his Department's pilot scheme to provide a system for tagging individuals seeking asylum. [183922]
Mr. Browne: The pilot will cover up to 200 people for voice recognition and up to 50 people for tagging (including up to 10 on satellite tracking). Numbers will be divided between the three contractors operating under the existing Home Office contract for England and Wales and an interim contractor in Scotland.
The Immigration and Nationality Directorate has no plans to pilot tagging in Northern Ireland, but will consider the use of electronic monitoring through voice recognition depending on the outcome of the pilots in England and Wales and Scotland.
Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his Department consulted the Scottish Executive prior to the awarding of the contract with Reliance Monitoring Service to provide a system for tagging persons seeking asylum. [183923]
Mr. Browne: The Secretary of State has not awarded a contract to Reliance Monitoring Services for the electronic monitoring of individuals seeking asylum and residing in Scotland.
Home Office officials met officials from the Scottish Executive in Glasgow in January and have kept them fully informed of plans to procure electronic monitoring services in Scotland.
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Child Trafficking
Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the first inter-ministerial meeting on child trafficking will be held. [182840]
Mr. Browne: There is close co-operation across Government to tackle the crime of human trafficking. For example, Reflex the multi-agency task force set up to co-ordinate intelligence and law enforcement in a response to organised immigration crime, including human trafficking, brings together all the key agencies and Departments. The Government Departments represented on Reflex include the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Crown Prosecution Service, and the Home Office.
The Home Office and the Department for Education and Skills work closely on the subject of child trafficking. We are jointly considering the results from the Reflex funded multi-agency operation, Paladin Child. This involved the Metropolitan police, the Immigration Service, social workers from Hillingdon Social Services and secondees from NSPCC. The operation risk assessed children arriving at Heathrow airport without their parents or legal guardians and social services followed up those considered to be at risk. The operation did not uncover any evidence of child trafficking. However, the report did make a number of recommendations related to child protection.
This issue of human trafficking is currently within the remit of a number of ministerial groups. Ministers are currently considering whether a ministerial group focussing specifically on human trafficking would be of benefit in taking forward the agenda in this area.
(44) Figures rounded to the nearest 5 with *=1 or 2.
(45) Unaccompanied at point of arrival, aged (or if no proof) determined to be 17 or under and not known to be joining a relative or guardian in the United Kingdom.
(46) Figures exclude disputed age cases.
(47) May excluded some cases lodged at Local Enforcement Offices.
(48) Not comparable with manual counts data prior to 2002.
(49) Provisional figures.
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