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1 Nov 2004 : Column 50W—continued

Counter-terrorism

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much of the extra £90 million for counter-terrorism measures announced on 29 September will be made available to the Metropolitan Police Service; and when the breakdown of allocations will be announced. [192534]

Mr. Blunkett: For security reasons we would not wish to comment on the allocation of specific counter terrorism funding. However I can say that additional funding is being made available to the Police Service in England and Wales and on which we are currently consulting with the Association of Chief Police Officers, which includes senior officers from the Metropolitan Police Service.

Custody Suites

Mr. Heath: To ask the Secretary of State for The Home Department how many custody suites were available in each police authority area in England and Wales in each year from 1993 to 2004. [192146]

Ms Blears: This information is not held centrally.

English Language Testing System

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the new requirement for Ministers of Religion who wish to come to the UK to provide an international English Language Testing System certificate. [190795]

 
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Mr. Browne: I would refer my hon. Friend to the written statement which my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, made to the House on 22 July.

Under the new Rules, which came into force on 23 August, those seeking entry as a Minister of Religion are required to demonstrate that they have a basic command of spoken English by providing an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) certificate at the "limited user" level (Level 4). We intend to raise this requirement to level 6 spoken and written English after an interim period of two years.

For people with existing English skills—for example those educated in an English speaking nation—discretion may be applied to allow entry where evidence is provided that an individual speaks competent English.

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Sikh ministers of religion have taken the International English Language Testing System certificate test this year. [190796]

Mr. Browne: International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is jointly managed by the University of Cambridge Local Examination Syndicate, the British Council and IDP Education Australia.

We would only become aware of a person's IELTS qualification once an application to enter the United Kingdom under the Immigration Rules as a Minister of Religion had been made.

ICT Consultants

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for The Home Department how much the Department spent on outside information technology and communication specialist consultants and engineers in the 2003–04 financial year. [191906]

Fiona Mactaggart: The Home Office does not hold central records on how much was spent on outside information communications and technology (ICT) specialist consultants and engineers in the financial year 2003–04. To obtain the information requested would incur disproportionate costs.

The Home Office is currently addressing this problem with the implementation of an Oracle Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, Adelphi and Prison Service Phoenix, which will provide accurate management information on the Department's use of consultants and engineers.

The use of specialist consultants and engineers in the Home Office and its agencies provides the Department with specialist knowledge, skill, capacity and technical expertise that is not otherwise available in House.

Much technical ICT consultancy and engineering is provided by the Home Department's ICT service providers, notably in 2003–04 by EDS, Fujitsu, Siemens and Steria, as part of their overall service provision charge.
 
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Identity Cards

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for The Home Department whether the identity card scheme will be covered by the Data Protection Act 1988. [191891]

Mr. Browne: The identity cards scheme will be covered by the Data Protection Act 1998.

Immigration and Nationality Directorate

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were employed in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in (a) 1996–97 and (b) 2003–04. [190961]

Mr. Browne: In 1996–97 5,432 full-time equivalent staff were employed in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate; the figure for 2003–04 was 13,716.

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average time taken was at the latest available date for cases received by the Immigration and Nationality Department's Appeals Processing Centre, to be processed and sent to the Independent Appellate Authority. [191370]

Mr. Browne: Data on the average time between appeals being processed by the Appeals Processing Centre and the papers being sent out to the Immigration Appellate Authority is unavailable and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost by examination of individual case records.

It is planned that performance against PSA targets relating to 2003–04, including those relating to the speed of processing, will be published in due course (once the data is judged sufficiently reliable) in the regular quarterly asylum statistics, a copy of which is available in the Library and from the Home Office's Research Development and Statistics website:

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html

Immigration Officers

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the pay scales for immigration officers are. [191267]

Mr. Browne: The pay scales for immigration officers are as follows:
£

	Minimum	Target rate
Inner London	18,757	23,930
Gatwick	18,757	23,930
National	18,380	23,449

Knives

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many attacks involving knives used by under-aged offenders the Leicestershire police authority has recorded in 2004. [194759]

Ms Blears: This information is not collected centrally.
 
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Manchester Airport

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent representations he has received concerning the standard of immigration checks at Manchester Airport. [190499]

Mr. Browne: The Secretary of State has received no representations about the standard of immigration checks at Manchester Airport this year. There have been four formal complaints to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate about the conduct of immigration officials at Manchester Airport this year. In addition, immigration officials at Manchester Airport have received nine complaints about local procedures and issues, such as the standard of facilities, at the airport during that time.

Muslim Council

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his recent meetings with the Muslim Council. [191539]

Fiona Mactaggart: My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary holds regular meetings, on a roughly quarterly basis, with the Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain. These meetings enable the Home Secretary to keep abreast of issues relating to the safety and security of Muslim communities, their relations with other communities and progress in addressing concerns about equality and discrimination.

The Government are keen to have good relations with all faith communities in the UK. The Home Secretary and his colleagues both in the Home Office and in other departments engage with members of faith communities in a number of ways and are always open to meetings with faith leaders and representatives.

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