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HOME DEPARTMENT

Antisocial Behaviour

Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research his Department has commissioned regarding the number of times reported criminal activity relating to antisocial behaviour has resulted in suspects being (a) charged and (b) convicted. [186820]

Ms Blears: The Home Office has commissioned a survey of young people which will give a measure of the percentage of antisocial young people who have had contact with the criminal justice system and the Youth Justice Board are commissioning research to look at the use of antisocial behaviour orders. Results are not yet available from either of these studies.

Asylum Seekers

Mr. Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what evidence he has received regarding estimated asylum applications from (a) Darfur, (b) South Sudan and (c) other parts of Sudan; and if he will make a statement. [186723]

Mr. Browne: Applications for asylum in the UK are collated and published by nationality, and are made in the UK rather than from abroad. The available data do
 
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not include breakdowns by region within countries of origin, which would not necessarily be reliable even if it were possible to record such information. The latest published figures show a 13 per cent. rise in asylum applications from 265 in Q1 2004 to 300 in Q2 2004 from Sudanese nationals compared with an 11 per cent. fall for total applications (all nationalities) over the same period.

Information on asylum applications is published in quarterly web pages and in the annual statistical bulletin "Asylum Statistics United Kingdom". Copies of these publications and others relating to general immigration to the UK are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.

Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many failed asylum seekers have been removed from the United Kingdom in each year since 1997. [186553]

Mr. Browne: The available information is in the table.
Removals and voluntary⁽²⁾ departures of asylum applicants, 1997 to 20032,3

	Principal applicants	Dependants	Total
1997	7,165	n/a	n/a
1998	6,990	n/a	n/a
1999	7,665	n/a	n/a
2000	8,980	n/a	n/a
2001	9,285	(5)1,495	10,780
2002	10,740	3,170	13,910
2003(6)	13,005	4,890	17,895

n/a = not available
⁽²⁾ 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.
⁽³⁾ Figures rounded to the nearest five and may not sum to total due to rounding.
⁽⁴⁾ Data on dependants of asylum seekers removed have only been collected since April 2001.
⁽⁵⁾ Excludes January-March 2001.
⁽⁶⁾ Provisional figures

Information on asylum seekers who were removed from the UK in the first half of 2004 can be found on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many National Asylum Support Service-supported cases in the City of Newcastle have ended with the withdrawal of benefits on grounds of refusal of the case; and how many (a) women and (b) children have been affected by such withdrawals. [186844]

Mr. Browne: A total of 45,120 cases had support ceased in 2003 compared with 45,185 in 2002 and 14,195 in 2001. A breakdown of this information by reason for cessation, by area of the UK, by age or by gender is unavailable and could be produced only at a
 
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disproportionate cost. The National Asylum Support Service (NASS) only supports children if they are dependants of a principal applicant; NASS does not support unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASCs).

Failed asylum seekers with dependent children currently receive NASS support until such time as they leave the UK or fail to comply with a removal direction. When section 9 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004 is implemented NASS support will cease if the Secretary of State certifies that, in his opinion, such a person has failed without reasonable excuse to take reasonable steps to leave the UK voluntarily or place himself in a position in which he is able to leave the UK voluntarily.

As at the end of June 2004 the number of asylum seekers (including dependants) supported in Newcastle in NASS accommodation was 1,575 and 50 were in receipt of subsistence-only support. Figures are rounded to the nearest five and cases which have had their support terminated are excluded from this figure.

Information on the number of asylum seekers supported by NASS is published quarterly, and information on the number of cases with support ceased is published annually in the annual Home Office Statistical bulletin, Asylum Statistics United Kingdom, available on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.

Charities

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make it his policy to issue a definition of public benefit in relation to the activities of charities; and if he will make a statement. [187493]

Fiona Mactaggart: The draft Charities Bill was published on 27 May 2004. It takes forward a number of the recommendations of the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, which made its report 'Private Action; Public Benefit' in September 2002. Copies of both documents are available in the Library.

At the heart of the draft Charities Bill is a new statutory definition of charity, based on a list of charitable purposes, and the principle of charities providing public benefit. This will make clear exactly what a charity is.

The Strategy Unit thoroughly reviewed the pros and cons of putting a definition of public benefit onto the face of the Bill. It concluded, and the Government agrees, that the future development of charity will be better served by keeping the current, flexible, non-statutory definition of public benefit.

The draft Bill is the subject of pre-legislative scrutiny by a Joint Committee of both Houses, which is expected to publish its recommendations by 30 September 2004. The Government will publish their response to the Committee's recommendations.
 
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Children Trafficking

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the trafficking of children within the UK; and what steps he is taking to counter this. [185120]

Mr. Browne: The Government are strongly committed to combating child trafficking. We recognise that it is a complex problem and are determined to address every aspect of it, whether in countries of origin, en route to the UK, or on arrival. We have put in place a number of measures to do so, and constantly keep them under review.

We are working with source countries to tackle the problem at its root. The UK is one of the strongest supporters of the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) Convention on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour. We have given £70,000 to Anti-Slavery International for raising awareness of the abuses suffered by the victims of trafficking and remedial action in West Africa. We have also given £3 million for the International Labour Organisation's International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) programme in the Greater Mekong region. This involves a number of inter-linked interventions to raise awareness and prevent trafficking, and to withdraw women and children from labour exploitation and reintegrate them back into their own or new communities.

We are also taking action to ensure an effective enforcement response. Since 2000, all operational activity targeted against organised immigration crime, including people trafficking, has been co-ordinated through the multi-agency task force Reflex. Led by the National Crime Squad (NCS), Reflex brings together all the key agencies (including the Immigration Service, the National Criminal Intelligence Service and key police forces), as well as the appropriate Government Departments. Reflex aims to build up the intelligence picture, co-ordinate operations and provide a focal point for the operational response to human trafficking and smuggling.

The Sexual Offences Act 2003, which came into force in May this year, sets out wide-ranging offences covering trafficking for sexual exploitation with a maximum sentence of 14 years imprisonment. A new offence covering trafficking for non-sexual purposes, such as forced labour, is included in the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004.

The Government are committed to providing appropriate support to victims of trafficking. Child victims of trafficking are likely to be in need of welfare services. Under the Children Act 1989 local authorities have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children who are in need, by providing a range and level of services appropriate to those needs or arranging for their provision by other agencies. Assistance and support should therefore be provided by local statutory services in response to identified needs, whether directly or though specialist agencies.

We are also working to raise awareness of child trafficking among key professionals and agencies. The Immigration Service has started specialist child interviewing training for around 600 operational
 
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members of staff nationwide, which will help identify child victims of trafficking as they arrive in the UK. The Government have also published a best practice toolkit as a guide for professionals who are likely to come into contact with victims of trafficking. This includes specific sections on children and young people.

The Home Office and the Department for Education and Skills 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.

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