| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
16 Nov 2004 : Column 1414W—continued
Asylum/Immigration
Mr. Lilley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average time taken to reach a final decision on an asylum application was in the last period for which figures are available. [193299]
Mr. Browne [holding answer 25 October 2004]: Information on the average time taken to reach a final decision on an asylum application is not available and could be produced only at disproportionate cost by examination of individual case files. Some cases do not result in such decisions, for example if the application is withdrawn.
However, the Home Office and the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) set a jointly owned public service agreement target for 2003–04 that 60 per cent. of substantive asylum applications received from 1 April 2003 should have a decision, up to and including appeal at the Immigration Appeal Tribunal, within six months. The latest published data show that the Home Office and DCA are exceeding this target. 63 per cent. of substantive applications1,2, received in the period April to December 2003, were decided within six months 3 . This compares to an average of 20 months for a decision in 1997.
Information on the timeliness of case processing, up to and including appeals, is published quarterly on the Home Office website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.
2 Excludes withdrawals and third country cases, which may be the responsibility of other EU member states under the Dublin convention. Home Office's public service agreement target for 2003–04 is 60 per cent. Details of the targets are given in the 2000 Spending Review Public Service Agreements White Paper at http://www.treasury.gov.uk/. Excludes asylum applications lodged by Iraqis between 1 February and 31 May 2003.
Bribery
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what date the UK Central Authority received a request from the (a) US authorities, (b) French authorities and (c) Nigerian authorities for assistance with their investigation into allegations of bribery relating to a Nigerian LNG plant. [196427]
Caroline Flint: Letters of request for assistance in criminal matters from foreign governments are treated confidentially, as communications between two countries. In accordance with this practice, we are unable to confirm or deny that we have received requests in this matter.
Burglary
Mr. Oaten:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were jailed in
16 Nov 2004 : Column 1415W
(a) 2001, (b) 2002 and (c) 2003 under section 111 of the Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 for a third offence of burglary. [193991]
Paul Goggins: Information reported to the Home Office shows that six people were sentenced under section 111 of the Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 (previously section 4 of the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997) in England and Wales for a third offence of burglary in 2001 and two in 2002.
Information for 2003 is due for publication in November.
Cannabis
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convictions there have been for possession of cannabis in each of the last 10 years. [148604]
Caroline Flint: Details of the number of convictions for possession of cannabis in each of the years between 1992 and 2002 are in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin on Drug Seizure and Offender Statistics 2001 and 2002 (Table S2.29 of the Supplementary tables). The information is analysed from the Home Office Drug Seizures Database.
The Bulletin is available on the RDS website and in the Library http://uk.sitestat.com/homeoffice/homeoffice/s?rds.hosb0804pdf&n s_type=pdf&ns_url=%5Bhttp: //www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs04/ hosb0804.pdf %5D http://uk.sitestat.com/homeoffice/homeoffice/s?rd s.hosb0804areap df&ns_type=pdf&ns_url=%5 Bhttp://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdf s04/hosb0804 area,pdf%5D.
Charities Bill
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department why service non-public funds are no longer to be excepted charities in the draft Charities Bill. [194453]
Fiona Mactaggart: The Charity Commission's register was created in the 1960s to provide public information about the existence and status of individual charities. Some classes of charity, including service charitable funds, were excepted from the registration requirement because either the relevant information about them was provided by some other means or there was no public interest in them. Excepted charities continued to be regulated by the Commission even if they were not registered with it.
The Government believes that, to enhance the accountability of charities and to promote public confidence in the regulatory arrangements, all charities that are regulated by the Charity Commission should appear on its public register. The Government have included a provision in the draft Charities Bill to achieve this by ending the system of exceptions from registration. The Government have set the initial
16 Nov 2004 : Column 1416W
income threshold for registration at £100,000 per annum in order to provide for a manageable process of registration over time.
There is a public interest in service charitable funds. They benefit from the tax reliefs available to charities generally, and they can make use of the Gift Aid scheme which allows them to receive donations in a tax efficient way.
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether heritage assets are to be included in the balance sheets of service non-public funds under the draft Charities Bill. [194454]
Fiona Mactaggart: The Charities Bill will make no change to the existing rules on the content of the accounts of non-public funds belonging to service charities. This is a matter for the Charity Commission as the Government department responsible for the regulation of charities in England and Wales. The Director of Policy and Strategy at the Charity Commission will write to the hon. Member and a copy of her letter will be placed in the Library.
Citizenship Requirements
Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to modify the language requirement for citizenship applications for people from countries where English is either an official language or is the sole official language. [195473]
Mr. Browne [holding answer 2 November 2004]: We have no plans to discriminate between nationalities in this way. The requirement to demonstrate knowledge of English applies to all applicants. The fact that someone comes from a country where English is an official language does not guarantee that they can speak it to the standard required for naturalisation as a British citizen.
The Home Office website explains how fluent English speakers can most easily demonstrate their knowledge of the language.
Community Punishment (London)
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many hours of community punishment were awarded by the courts in the London area in each of the last three years. [143395]
Paul Goggins: The available information, from the Home Office Court Proceedings Database is as follows:
| Total number of hours | |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 768,445 |
| 2001 | 770,256 |
| 2002 | 878,510 |
(44) Total hours of community punishment orders and community punishment within community punishment and rehabilitation orders. Data are on the principal offence basis.
Statistics for 2003 will be published later in November.
16 Nov 2004 : Column 1417W
Convicted Criminals (EU Nationals)
Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many nationals of the new EU accession states have been convicted of crimes in magistrates courts in England and Wales since May. [198092]
Paul Goggins [holding answer 15 November 2004]: Information held on the Home Office court proceedings database does not include the nationality of the defendant.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |