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Greater Manchester Police

Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) police officers and (b) community support officers there were in the Greater Manchester Police in each of the last 10 years; and what his projections are for the next three years' spending period. [184746]

Ms Blears: The information requested is set out in the table. The Greater Manchester Police had record police strength at the end of December 2003.

We have made no projections for force strength over the next three years. It is for the Chief Constable of the Greater Manchester Police to determine the mix of officers and support staff within the budget set by the police authority over the next three years.

As at 31 March	Police Officer strength	Police (support) staff strength	Community Support Officer strength
1993–94	6,967	2,638	—
1994–95	7,037	2,674	—
1995–96	6,938	2,749	—
1996–97	6,922	2,612	—
1997–98	6,949	2,661	—
1998–99	6,810	2,623	—
1999–2000	6,795	2,822	—
2000–01	6,909	2,858	—
2001–02	7,217	3,135	—
2002–03	7,343	3,173	160
2003–04	(19)7,770	Not available	(20)185

⁽¹⁹⁾ Police officer strength as at 31 December 2003.
2 CSO strength as at 31 March 2004.

Correspondence

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when his officials at the Immigration and Nationality Directorate will answer letters dated 22 February and 19 May from the hon. Member for Vauxhall about a constituent, reference number: S1003233. [184698]

 
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Mr. Browne: I wrote to my hon. Friend on 21 July 2004.

Heathrow

Mr. Wilshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many immigration staff were
 
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employed at each of Heathrow airport's four terminals at 1 January in each year since 1997. [183301]

Mr. Browne: The following table sets out the number of full-time equivalent immigration officials employed at Heathrow airport, Terminals 1–4, at 1 January for the last eight years.

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
TN1	187.1	209.2	189.8	194	179.4	203.1	210.3	234.9
TN2	231.7	225.7	201.6	192.5	188.2	208.8	205.7	193.1
TN3	(20)—	278.5	270	269.8	277.5	326.7	332.6	308.2
TN4	199.2	186.9	179.6	180	187.2	186.9	195.4	196.9
Total	618	900.3	841	836.3	832.3	925.5	944	933.1

⁽²⁰⁾ Figures are unavailable for Heathrow Terminal 3 for the years 1997. 1998 figure is for 1 February 1998 for Terminal 3.

In addition since 1 January 2004 127 officials have been trained or allocated training places for deployment at Heathrow airport.

Identity Cards

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the race impact assessment of the identity card scheme. [182298]

Mr. Browne: The identity cards scheme will be an inclusive scheme, designed to cover everyone who has the right to be in the United Kingdom. It will show that everyone belongs to our society whether they were born here, have chosen to make their home here or are just staying for a while to study or work. It will help people prove their identity to access services such as free health treatment or benefits and give everyone confidence that legal migration will not result in increased fraudulent use of hard-pressed public services. If our communities have confidence in our immigration controls, they will be more welcoming of new arrivals, helping to promote a more cohesive society.

The identity cards scheme itself is non-discriminatory as it is intended to cover everyone in the United Kingdom for longer than a specified period (three months). The scheme will not, in general, require people to obtain a specific, additional document as it will be designed to make use of existing documents that will be designated as identity cards. Most members of the identity cards "family" will be enhanced versions of existing identity documents which are very widely held familiar documents that are already used as proof of identity.

A partial race impact assessment was published with the draft Bill (CM 6178). This was developed following consultation with representatives of black and minority ethnic groups and research undertaken with these groups. Further assessments will be made as the design of the scheme develops, focusing mainly on how the introduction of ID cards affects the use of existing police powers, how the scheme is administered and its use in relation to access to services and employment.

Immigration

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department why the Indian passport and travel documents were sent to the constituent of the hon. Member for Walsall, North without explanation or information on how to proceed, ref 5773882. [185289]

Mr. Browne [holding answer 20 July 2004]: I understand that on the occasions that my hon. Friend's constituent applied for a No Time Limit (NIL) endorsement, his documents were returned to him with a covering letter explaining that a further endorsement cannot be placed in his passport whilst he is in possession of a valid travel document endorsed with an NIL stamp.

National Asylum Support Service

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many vacant homes in the borough of Trafford are held under contract to the National Asylum Support Service, broken down by (a) local authority, (b) private landlords and (c) housing association properties; and at what cost. [182000]

Mr. Browne: Details of the properties and costs of accommodation contracted to the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) cannot be disclosed since this information is part of the contract between NASS and the provider and must be treated as commercial in confidence.

Racist Visitors

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his policy is on allowing into the UK those with well-known racist and anti-semitic views who intend to speak at public meetings; and if he will make a statement. [183118]

Mr. Browne [holding answer 12 July 2004]: The Immigration Rules make provision for a person to be refused entry if their presence in the UK is not considered to be conducive to the public good. Each case is considered on its individual merits. Once admitted to the UK a person is expected to abide by UK law.

UK Passports Service

Mrs. Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the efficiency of Special Mail Services in delivering United Kingdom passports; and if he will make a statement. [182803]

Mr. Browne: The United Kingdom Passport Service assesses the performance of Special Mail Services (SMS) on a regular basis. Since the new arrangements for secure delivery of UK passports commenced on 9 February SMS have successfully delivered just over
 
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3 million passports and have surpassed their key performance target of delivering 97 per cent. of passports on the next working day. On current information recorded losses of passports total 219 over the five month period.

Based on the first five months of contract performance SMS and UKPS have identified a number areas of SMS's performance including the security of their premises and vetting of their staff where arrangements need to be strengthened. UKPS will be closely monitoring the implementation of planned improvements to their performance over the next few months.

The SMS contract was awarded following a competitive tender and the payments made to SMS are in line with the contract, delivering the anticipated value for money for passport customers.

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether it is the practice of the UK Passports Service to cash cheques for passport applications before processing the application itself. [184201]

Mr. Browne: Yes, all payments for passport services are processed as soon as the application is received. There are good reasons for this. On security grounds, so that large sums of money are not held at passport offices. On grounds of regularity, so that passports are only issued to customers who have paid in full and for process efficiency. In processing over 5 million passport applications annually it would be impossible to keep payments with applications throughout the whole issuing process.

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether compensation is payable for (a) delay and (b) distress in the case of an error by the UK Passports Service in transposing an incorrect photograph onto a passport application. [184218]

Mr. Browne: The compensation policy of the UK Passport Services (UKPS) which reflects good practice guidance issued by the Cabinet Office and the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration, is to reimburse the reasonable out of pocket expenses incurred by customers as a direct consequence of clear errors or omissions by its staff. It is not UKPS's normal policy to make compensation payments for loss of enjoyment, distress or inconvenience arising from such errors. Each claim is treated on its merits, and for audit purposes documentary evidence is needed to confirm significant additional expenditure incurred by a passport applicant.

In the case of an error by the UKPS in inserting an incorrect photograph in an issued passport, under the terms of its policy, if additional costs have been incurred by the customer as a result of such an error, this would provide a basis for a claim on UKPS for compensation.

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