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1 Nov 2004 : Column 47W—continued
HOME DEPARTMENT
Asylum Seekers
Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people are held in each asylum detention centre. [191452]
Mr. Browne: Information on the number of persons recorded as being in detention in the United Kingdom solely under Immigration Act powers as at 26 June 2004 is shown in the following table.
Information on numbers detained, by place of detention, is published on a quarterly and annual basis. The next quarterly statistics, providing the numbers detained at the end of September, will be available on 16 November on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate web site at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.
(11) Figures rounded to the nearest 5, with * = 1 or 2, and exclude persons detained in police cells and those in dual detention.
(12) A recent assessment of figures supplied by IND on immigration detention has highlighted an undercount of detainees held in prisons.
(13) Persons detained under Immigration Act powers who are recorded as having sought asylum at some stage.
(14) Other prison establishments with five or fewer detainees.
Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many appeals against a refusal to grant asylum are awaiting hearing in the Greater London area. [193969]
Mr. Lammy: I have been asked to reply.
As at 26 October 2004, information drawn from the Immigration Appellate Authority (IAA) database IRIS indicates that, at IAA Hearing Centres within the boundaries of the M25, there are approximately 2,229 appeals against a refusal of being granted asylum which
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are awaiting a hearing before an Immigration Adjudicator. This information does not include appeals which are currently in the process of being created following receipt by the IAA, or cases where a subsequent appeal has been made to the Immigration Appeal Tribunal (IAT) on a point of law.
Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have used the channel tunnel illegally to gain access to the United Kingdom to seek asylum. [191255]
Mr. Browne: Information on entry routes of those claiming asylum, including on the number of asylum applicants entering the UK via the channel tunnel, is unavailable. Most asylum applicants conceal their route of entry.
Information on asylum applications is published on a quarterly and annual basis. The next publication covering the third quarter of 2004 (July to September) will be available on 16 November on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate website at:
Mr. Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his latest estimate is of the number of asylum applicants who have been refused section 4 support; and if he will make a statement. [189981]
Mr. Browne: Since January 2004 a total of 788 unsuccessful asylum seekers have been refused section 4 support.
Biometric Identifiers
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the results of the UK Passport Service's trial into biometric identifiers will be made available. [191328]
Mr. Browne: The enrolment of volunteers on the UK Passport Service biometrics trial is expected to be completed in November 2004. This will be followed by evaluation and quality assurance of the results with the findings being released as soon as possible thereafter.
Vehicle Crime
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what initiatives his Department have implemented to reduce the number of car thefts. [194168]
Ms Blears: The Home Office is taking forward work within the broad strategy published by the Vehicle Crime Reduction Action Team in 1999 for meeting the Government's target to reduce vehicle crime by 30 per cent. over five years.
The initiatives on which the Home Office has taken the lead include:
working to improve police performance including, with the Association of Chief Police Officers, publication in 2003 of good practice advice in tackling vehicle crime;
getting across car crime prevention advice to motorists through national communications campaigns and by using opportunities provided by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency;
providing funding to support vehicle crime reduction work undertaken by the National Criminal Intelligence Service (£1.41 million between 2000–01 and 2004–05) installing CCTV schemes in 1,222 car parks (£106 million between 1999–2000 and 2002–03);
the Safer Parking Scheme (£865,000 between 2001–02 and 2004–05, including its predecessor the ACPO Secured Car Park Scheme) and the Tenants Participation Advisory Service 'Partnership into Practice' competitions to identify and disseminate good practice for community groups (£37,000 in 2003–04 and £40,000 estimated for 2004–05).
In addition, other Home Office funding available to support vehicle crime reduction work, as well as other interventions to reduce crime according to local priorities includes that available to the police through the Police Standards Unit (£23.1 million in 2003–04 and £20 million in 2004–05); the Basic Command Unit Fund (£50 million in both 2003–04 and 2004–05); and that available to Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships through the Building Safer Communities Fund (£94 million from 2002–03 to 2004–05, including its predecessor, the Safer Communities Initiative).
These, together with other initiatives undertaken by other Government Departments and key stakeholders, have resulted in British Crime Survey estimates from interviews in the year ending June 2004 showing a reduction of 33 per cent. in vehicle related thefts against 1999 (British Crime Survey 2000).
Consultants
Mr. Maples: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will list the contracts awarded by his Department to consultants in each of the last five years, stating in each case (a) the name of the consulting company, (b) the value of the of the contract and (c) the purpose for which the contract was awarded; and if he will make a statement. [191731]
Fiona Mactaggart: The Home Office does not hold central records of all the contracts awarded to consultants in each of the last five years. To obtain the information requested for each of the last five years would result in disproportionate costs.
The Home Office is currently addressing this problem with the implementation of an Oracle Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, Adelphi, in the core Home Office and in the Prison Service, Phoenix, which will provide accurate management information on the Department's use of consultants.
The use of external consultants in the Home Office provides the Department with specialist knowledge, skill, capacity and technical expertise that is not otherwise available in the House.
Correspondence
Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for The Home Department what the average time for a reply to be sent to an hon. Member from a Minister in the Home Office was in the last period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [191969]
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Fiona Mactaggart: My Home Office colleagues and I replied within 15 working days to 70 per cent. of letters received in August, an improvement on the 60 per cent. achieved in respect of letters received in January.
We aim to reply to 95 per cent. of Members' letters within 15 working days except in the case of correspondence relating to the Immigration and Nationality Department and HM Prison Service, when we aim to reply within 20 working days.
Improving performance against targets is recognised as a priority across the Department. The computerised Correspondence Tracking System has recently been extended to cover the immigration and nationality areas and this should result in further improvements in performance.
Data on the average time for a reply to be sent is not held and could be made available only at disproportionate cost.
Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for The Home Department whether it is the policy of his Department to send acknowledgement cards to honourable Members who have written to his Department; and if he will make a statement. [191970]
Fiona Mactaggart: All Members' correspondence processed on the Home Office's correspondence tracking system should be acknowledged.
During August and September technical difficulties meant that in some cases no acknowledgement was sent and in others multiple acknowledgements were generated. These problems have now been resolved.
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