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7 Apr 2005 : Column 1778W—continued

Airsoft BB Guns

Tony Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to ban the use of airsoft BB guns. [225024]

Caroline Flint: It has not been possible to provide an answer in the time available before Prorogation.

Alcohol-related Crime

Ross Cranston: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his answer of 10 January 2005, Official Report, column 266W, on alcohol-related crime, if he will break down the number of defendants by region; what assessment he has made of the reasons for the increase in the number of defendants selling intoxicating liquor to persons under 18 between 2002 and 2003; and if he will make a statement. [210739]

Ms Blears: It has not been possible to provide an answer in the time available before Prorogation.

Anitisocial Behaviour

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures his Department is introducing to divert youngsters from antisocial behaviour. [212322]

Ms Blears: It has not been possible to provide an answer in the time available before Prorogation.

Anti-Semitism

Dr. Vis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action his Department has taken sincepublication of the Community Security Trust Anti-Semitic Incidents Report 2004 to combat anti-Semitism. [223022]

Fiona Mactaggart: It has not been possible to provide an answer in the time available before Prorogation.
 
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Linda Perham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of levels of anti-Semitism. [223998]

Fiona Mactaggart: It has not been possible to provide an answer in the time available before Prorogation.

Antisocial Behaviour

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on (a) the effectiveness of his Department's policies to combat antisocial behaviour in Lancashire and (b) the Report telephone helpline. [216058]

Ms Blears: It has not been possible to provide an answer in the time available before Prorogation.

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to respond to the petition that was presented to him on his recent visit to Thirsk regarding local concerns over antisocial behaviour. [222697]

Ms Blears: It has not been possible to provide an answer in the time available before Prorogation.

Mr. Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the anti-social behaviour orders that have been breached were given to people under 18 years of age. [223055]

Ms Blears [holding answer 21 March 2005]: It has not been possible to provide an answer in the time available before Prorogation.

Anti-terrorism Legislation

Dr. Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were detained under anti-terrorism legislation in each year since 1975; how many were (a) UK and (a) non-UK citizens; how many of those detained were subsequently charged with (i) terrorist and (ii) other criminal offences; and how many were deported. [224857]

Mr. Charles Clarke: It has not been possible to provide an answer in the time available before Prorogation.

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how frequently the Secretary of State or responsible Ministers have personally reviewed the certification of individuals detained under the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001; and on what date the case of C" was last considered by the Secretary of State. [215036]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The individual cases of those certified under the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001, Part 4 powers were kept under regular review and I was kept fully informed of any developments in the individual cases.

My last consideration of C's" case was on 31 January, when following a meeting with the Security Service, I decided that his certificate should be revoked.

In the case of C" I revoked the certificate because there was a change in circumstance that related to his specific case. At the time of his certification under the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 (ATCSA)
 
7 Apr 2005 : Column 1780W
 
in December 2001, he was a leading UK member of the proscribed Egyptian terrorist group, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad (ElJ). Prior to his detention, C" was active on behalf of the EIJ in Egypt, Ireland and the UK. C" had an extensive network of associates among international terrorists in the UK and overseas. His contacts included prominent international terrorists from a range of organisations. However, although a number of C's" associates remain at liberty, many have now been detained and/or their extremist activities have been disrupted. This has lessened the potential for C" to re-engage in his previous activities to a degree that I believed it was no longer appropriate to maintain the certificate.

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what date he, or officials in his Department, started to review the case of prisoner C", then being held in Woodhill Prison; what new information led him to decide to release prisoner C"; and on what dates reviews of the cases of other prisoners being detained under anti-terrorist legislation in Belmarsh Prison, began. [215037]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The individual cases of those certified under the Anti-terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001, Part 4 powers were kept under regular review and I was kept fully informed of any developments in the individual cases.

My last consideration of C's" case was on 31 January, when following a meeting with the Security Service, I decided that his certificate should be revoked.

In the case of C" I revoked the certificate because there was a change in circumstances that related to his specific case.

Assaults on Police Officers

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers in each police force in England and Wales were assaulted in each of the last five years. [208272]

Ms Blears: It has not been possible to provide an answer in the time available before Prorogation.

Asylum and Immigration

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers whose applications for asylum in the UK had failed were convicted of a criminal offence in each year since 1997, broken down by (a) offence and (b) country of origin. [223716]

Mr. Charles Clarke [holding answer 4 April 2005]: It has not been possible to provide an answer in the time available before Prorogation.

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals residing illegally in the UK have been charged with criminal offences in each year since 1997, broken down by (a) category of offence and (b) country of origin. [223717]

Mr. Charles Clarke [holding answer 4 April 2005]: This information is not recorded centrally.
 
7 Apr 2005 : Column 1781W
 

Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the finding by the Prisons Ombudsman that an official in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate considered that reasoned debate on the target of 30,000 removals of failed asylum seekers in 2001–02 was forbidden. [206168]

Mr. Browne: In 1996, the Government of the day introduced a new civil service code which set out the framework in which civil servants work.

Staff may raise matters of concern if they feel they are being asked to act or abstain from acting which raises a fundamental issue of conscience. This should be raised with a senior officer. There is also provision for staff to raise matters of conscience within the Home Office with a nominated officer who is outside their usual management line.

Mr. Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers have been refused benefit payments and housing support from the National Asylum Support Service in (a) Leicester and (b) Leicester, South in each year since 2002. [224828]

Mr. Browne: It has not been possible to provide an answer in the time available before Prorogation.

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