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1 Feb 2005 : Column 818W—continued
Asylum Seekers
Mr. Laxton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of initial asylum applications received from 1 August 2003 were dealt with in the target time of 13 weeks from receipt of application. [211241]
Mr. Browne: 88 per cent. of applications (excluding withdrawals and third country cases 1 ) received in August 2003 to June 2004 had initial decisions reached and served within 13 weeks.
The latest published information on the Home Office Public Service Agreement for 2003–04, ensuring that 75 per cent. of substantive asylum applications are decided within two months show that: 82 per cent. of applications (excluding withdrawals and third country cases 1 ) received in 2003–04 (April 2003 to March 2004) had initial decisions reached and served within two months, 90 per cent. within four months and 94 per cent. within six months (compared with 75 per cent., 85 per cent. and 88 per cent. respectively for 2002–03).
84 per cent. of applications received in Q2 (April to June) 2004 had initial decisions reached and served within two months, compared with 83 per cent. for Q1 (January to March) 2004.
Information on the timeliness of initial decisions is published quarterly on the Home Office website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.
Catterick Barracks Inquiry
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many files the Yorkshire police has re-opened in the past year concerning deaths at Catterick Barracks. [208751]
Ms Blears: North Yorkshire police advise that no files have been re-opened in the last 12 months concerning deaths at Catterick Garrison. During that period, two new cases of death in Catterick Garrison were investigated by north Yorkshire police and both resulted in the production of reports to the coroner.
CCTV
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much money has been allocated for CCTV cameras in Warrington in each year since 1997. [209786]
Ms Blears
[holding answer 20 January 2005]: Since 1997, the Home Office has allocated £31,700 towards a mobile CCTV system in Warrington to ensure full coverage of the system across the town under the Closed Circuit Television initiatives, which formed part of the Crime Reduction Programme. This payment was made in the financial year 2001–02.
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Since the completion of the Crime Reduction Programme, crime reduction funding has been allocated directly to the local Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership through the Building Safer Communities fund and to Basic Command Unit (BCU) Commanders through the BCU fund. These funding streams finance a variety of interventions, including CCTV, to tackle local crime priorities. Exactly how funding is allocated across the area is the responsibility of Warrington borough council and the Greater Manchester police.
Mr. Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much public funding has been spent on CCTV security cameras in Bolton, North-East since 1997. [203377]
Ms Blears:
The Home Office has provided a total of £518,791 to Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council (which includes Bolton, North-East) under the Close Circuit Television initiatives, which formed part of the Crime Reduction Programme which ran from 1999–2002.
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Child Sex Offences
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the rate of conviction in cases where the defendant was charged with child sex offences was in the most recent period for which figures are available; and what the rate of conviction in cases where the defendant is charged with child sex offences wheresimilar fact evidence was introduced was in that period. [201501]
Paul Goggins: Statistics of defendants charged with crimes are not collected centrally. The number of defendants proceeded against and convicted for sexual offences for 2003 are provided in the table, together with conviction rates.
It is not possible from the statistics collected to identify those defendants proceeded against, where similar fact evidence was introduced, as these circumstances are not collected centrally.
Statistics for 2004 will be published in autumn next year.
(9)Principal offence basis.
(10)Proportion of defendants proceeded against who were found guilty.
(11)Excludes those sexual offences where the age of the victim cannot be identified in the wording of the offence.
Source:
RDS—Office For Criminal Justice Reform
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Children in Prison
Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many women serving a prison sentence have their children with them in prison; and how many children are with mothers in prison. [206204]
Paul Goggins: The Prison Service provides places in Mother and Baby Units for infants up to about 18months old. On 13 December 2004, there were 51mothers and 50 babies in those Units.
Conferences
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many conferences were (a) attended by officials from his Department, (b) cancelled by and (c) facilitated by his Department in each year since 1997; and what the (i) cost to the Department and (ii) location was in each case. [205761]
Fiona Mactaggart: Records for this subject are not held centrally and the information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Correspondence
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter of 28 October from the hon. Member for North Norfolk, regarding the costs of surveys into public perceptions of the Home Office undertaken by and on behalf of the Home Office over the past year. [204426]
Fiona Mactaggart [holding answer 13 December 2004]: I replied to the hon. Member on 6 December 2004.
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reasons Vivien Hamilton of his office asked the hon. Member for Thurrock on 16 December to return to the Department the letter of 2 December from the Minister of State to the hon. Member in order to reply to question 206327 tabled by the hon. Member on 15 December; and if he will make a statement. [207585]
Ms Blears [holding answer 10 January 2005]: Vivien Hamilton works in the Direct Communications Unit which deals with all forms of customer communications including the tracing of missing correspondence.
The letter of 2 December referred to in my hon. Friend's earlier question could not be found on the Department's central correspondence tracking system. In these circumstances it is normal practice to ask my hon. Friend's office if they can provide a copy of the letter to assist in tracing the correspondence, and to identify the person best placed to provide a reply to the question.
On this particular occasion, it was discovered that the missing correspondence had been handled directly by my private office.
Sir Gerald Kaufman:
To ask the Secretary of State forthe Home Department (1) when he will reply to the letter dated 15 November 2004 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr. K. Gelani; [208706]
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(2) when he intends to answer the letter dated 15 November 2004 from the Right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr. K. Gelani. [210833]
Mr. Charles Clarke: I replied to my right hon. Friend on 25 January 2005.
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter dated 1 November 2004 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Lily Beverley. [208707]
Mr. Charles Clarke: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 1 February 2005.
Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many letters his Department received from members of the general public in the United Kingdom during the year 2004. [208741]
Fiona Mactaggart: The Home Office's central Direct Communications Unit received 25,259 letters and 10,530 e-mails from members of the general public in 2004.
The figures include cases transferred to other Government Departments, and agencies other than HM Prison Service.
Because they are not recorded, the figures do not include:
correspondence sent to the Immigration and Nationality Department, who are currently looking to establish a method of recording public correspondence
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Minister of State for Crime Reduction, Policing and Community Safety will reply to the letter of 14 October from the hon. Member for Southend, west. [209465]
Ms Blears [holding answer 18 January 2005]: Ianswered the hon. Member's concerns in my reply to his parliamentary question on 3 November 2004. I have, in addition, replied in a letter dated 1 February 2005.
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton dated (a) 29 November 2004 with regard to (i) Ms Yulima Vicentre Vidal and (ii) Dr. A. R. Estabragh, (b) 17 November 2004 with regard to Ms Thembalani Chinyoka, (c) 1 November 2004 with regard to Lily Beverley and (d) 18 November 2004 with regard to Mr.Shaban Kurkala. [209851]
Mr. Charles Clarke: The information is as follows:
(a) (i) and (ii) I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 28 January 2005.
(b) I wrote to my right hon. Friend 19 January 2005.
(c) I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 1 February 2005.
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(d) I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 14 January 2005.
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter dated 22 November from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to the Roby. [210143]
Mr. Charles Clarke: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 21 January 2005.
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter dated 6 December 2004 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mrs. Saima Manzoor Ahmed. [212281]
Mr. Charles Clarke: I replied to my right hon. Friend on 11 January 2005.
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