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4 Feb 2005 : Column 1144W—continued
CCTV (Coventry)
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much money has been allocated for CCTV cameras in Coventry, South since 1997. [210797]
Ms Blears: Since 1997, the Home Office has allocated £717,742 to Coventry to ensure full coverage of the system across the town under the Closed Circuit Television Initiative, which formed part of the Crime Reduction Programme (CRP).
Since the completion of the Crime Reduction Programme in 2002, 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. The method of allocating funding across the area is the responsibility of Coventry city council and West Midlands police.
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Correspondence
David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will send a further reply to the hon. Member for Walsall, North's letter of 9 November 2004, ref. P393908, setting out the latest position. [213512]
Mr. Browne [holding answer 3 February 2005]: I shall send a further reply to my hon. Friend's letter of 9 November 2004 as soon as the results of our further inquiries are known.
Crime (Derbyshire)
Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidents of (a) anti-social behaviour and (b) alcohol-related crime there have been in (i) the Derbyshire constabulary and (ii) the western area of the Derbyshire constabulary in each of the last seven years. [211910]
Ms Blears: Anti-social Behaviour is not a crime type and as such there is no definition from which the number of incidents could be reliably calculated, particularly going back seven years which pre-dates the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. Alcohol related crime is the same, many crimes occur as a result of alcohol but again as it is not a crime category in itself we could not reliably measure it.
Criminal Records Bureau
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to require volunteers to pay for checks with the Criminal Records Bureau. [213333]
Ms Blears [holding answer 1 February 2005]: There are no plans to require volunteers to pay for checks with the Criminal Records Bureau.
Fines/Fixed Penalties
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of (a) fixed penalties and (b) fines imposed by the courts in England and Wales were collected in full in (a) 2001–02, (b) 2002–03 and (c) 2003–04. [201435]
Caroline Flint: Available information (by calendar year) for England and Wales on the percentage of motoring fixed penalties paid are given in the table. Information for 2003 will be available in the spring of 2005.
| Fixed penalties | 2000 | 2001 | 2002(17) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paid within 28 days | 58.1 | 59.1 | 58.7 |
| Payment accepted after 28 days | 22.3 | 23.1 | 23.2 |
| Total paid | 80.4 | 82.2 | 81.9 |
(17) Estimates.
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The latest provisional data shows that, up to 31 August 2004, 28,743 penalty notices for disorder have been issued by police forces in England and Wales of which 12,978, or 45 per cent., were paid in full within the 21 day payment period. If the penalty is not paid or a court hearing requested within this time then a fine is registered against the individual. The evaluation of data from the pilots of penalty notices for disorder showed that payment of fines added to the penalties paid on time resulted in an overall payment rate of 70 per cent.
Information from the Department for Constitutional Affairs shows that the payment rate for financial penalties was 59 per cent. in 2001–02, 55 per cent. in 2002–03, 74 per cent. in 2003–04 and 79 per cent. in 2004–05 (August to October).
However, as a result of revisions in the method of calculating the payment rate, direct year-on-year comparisons cannot be made and although recent changes to the way data are collected from Magistrates' Court Committees allows confiscation orders to be excluded, it is still not possible for fines, costs and compensation to be identified separately, so the figures relate to financial penalties in general, as opposed to fines in isolation.
The Department for Constitutional Affairs' Enforcement Programme is delivering a wide programme of change aimed at improving the enforcement and administration of financial penalties. The national payment rate is currently (Q3 2004–05) at 80 per cent., up 9 per cent. on the same period last year, and performance is on trajectory to meet the 78 per cent. national target at the end of the year. The ongoing work of the Programme includes improving the intelligence available to enforcement teams through a variety of information-sharing measures, national implementation of the new legislative framework for enforcement provided by the Courts Act and taking the opportunity offered by the launch of HMCS to introduce more effective and efficient ways of working. The Programme has also devised and supported a series of nationally co-ordinated fine enforcement blitzes, with the most recent—'Operation Payback 2' in November 2004—resulting in a positive impact on the payment rate of £1.7 million.
Fixed Penalty Notices
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many fixed penalty notices have been issued in each authority for nuisance behaviour in each year since their introduction. [210731]
Ms Blears:
6,043 penalty notices for disorder were issued in the 12 months from August 2002 when the scheme was piloted in four police force areas. 57,472 (a provisional figure) have been issued in the period January to December 2004. Details by police force area are shown in the table.
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(18) August 2002 to August 2003.
(19) Provisional.
(20) Part of force only involved in pilot.
(21) Commenced issuing penalty notices from 1 November 2004.
Foreign Students
Mr. Rendel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how long, on average, it took to process an application by an international student for leave to remain in the last period for which figures are available. [213281]
Mr. Browne: Since the introduction of charges on 1 August 2003, we have been completing approximately 70 per cent. of postal applications within three weeks of receiving them in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND).
We may not be able to complete applications within three weeks of receipt if they need further documents, inquiries or an interview, or if they are complex. We should normally deal with these within 13 weeks at most. A very small minority which are particularly complex or sensitive may take a little longer.
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Those international students who use the Student Batch Scheme through their Student Advisors have their applications decided within three weeks or earlier. The percentage of Batch Scheme cases decided at the Initial Consideration Stage is much higher than average—approximately 90 per cent.
Mr. Rendel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much his Department expects to raise in each of the next three years from levying charges on students applying for leave to remain. [213282]
Mr. Browne: In the past non-asylum immigration services were provided free of charge to applicants, at considerable cost to the UK taxpayer.
The Government believe it is appropriate to expect those who benefit from the provision of immigration services to meet the cost of providing those services. In 2003–04, this saved the UK taxpayer £70 million.
Mr. Rendel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the cost of processing a visa extension application made by an international student studying at a UK university; how the cost was assessed; and on what data he based his calculation of the cost. [213284]
Mr. Browne: On 1 August 2003 the Home Office introduced charges for leave to remain applications, including those from international students. Fees were calculated to recover the full administrative costs (including staffing and overhead costs) of processing applications to the point of conveying a decision.
We have recently consulted stakeholders on proposals to extend the principle of cost recovery charging, to include the costs of providing an appeal function and the costs of delivering enforcement activity. The consultation closed on 8 December 2004. The outcome of the consultation and the final fee levels will be announced in February 2005.
The fee ranges have been calculated using the full cost recovery formula approved by HM Treasury. A full explanation of how the costs are calculated will be laid before Parliament when the Fees Regulations are amended.
The fee ranges have been calculated using the full cost recovery formula approved by HM Treasury. A full explanation of how the costs are calculated will be laid before Parliament when the Fees Regulations are amended.
Mr. Rendel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what data he has collected on the average level of income for an international student studying at a UK university; and whether he will take account of the average level of income for international students studying in the UK when calculating the proposed level of increase to visa extension charges. [213286]
Mr. Browne:
A joint project team—comprising representatives from the Department for Education and Skills, the Home Office and the British Council—has undertaken an assessment of the likely impact of increased leave to remain fees on attracting international students to the UK.
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International student costs and spending has been taken into account as part of this project, the outcomes of which will be made available when the Government announces its response to the recent Home Office Consultation on "Review of Charges for Immigration Applications" in February.
Mr. Rendel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the impact on the UK economy of the proposed increase in visa extension charges for international students. [213304]
Mr. Browne: A Regulatory Impact Assessment of the proposed increase in charges for "leave to remain applications" on the education sector and the UK economy will be published when the Government announces its response to the recent Home Office Consultation on "Review of Charges for Immigration Applications' in February.
Mr. Rendel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what data he collects on the quality of service international students receive while processing a visa extension. [213305]
Mr. Browne: Since the introduction of charges on 1 August 2003, we have been completing approximately 70 per cent. of postal applications within three weeks of receiving them in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND).
We may not be able to complete applications within three weeks of receipt if they need further documents, inquiries or an interview, or if they are complex. We should normally deal with these within 13 weeks at most. A very small minority which are particularly complex or sensitive may take a little longer.
Those international students who use the Student Batch Scheme through their Student Advisors have their applications decided within three weeks or earlier. The percentage of Batch Scheme cases decided at the Initial Consideration Stage is much higher than average—approximately 90 per cent.
Mr. Rendel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many passports have been lost by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate while processing international student applications for leave to remain over the past five years. [213306]
Mr. Browne: Statistics on the number of letters issued for passports reported lost or mislaid by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) while processing international student applications for LTR over the last five years would be available only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Rendel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the impact of the plans to increase visa charges on the number of international students studying in the United Kingdom. [213307]
Mr. Browne:
A joint project team—comprising representatives from the Department for Education and Skills, the Home Office and the British Council—has undertake an assessment of the likely impact of increased leave to remain fees to attract more international students to the UK.
4 Feb 2005 : Column 1150W
The outcomes of this work will be made available, alongside a regulatory impact assessment for the education sector, when the Government announce their response to the recent Home Office Consultation on "Review of Charges for Immigration Applications".
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