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Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the likely effect of his proposals for changes to the work permit system on ethnic minority businesses in the catering sector in relation to their ability to recruit skilled staff from the Indian sub-continent; and if he will make a statement. [4164]
Mr. McNulty: The Government's plans for changes to the work permits system and for current sector based schemes are outlined in Controlling our borders: making migration work for Britain" the five-year plan for asylum and immigration. The Government are committed to ensuring that UK employers have access to the skills and experience they need in order to maximise the economic benefits to the UK from migration. Skilled migrant workers should be enabled to fill vacancies which cannot be filled from within the UK or EU.
The written ministerial statement on 23 June announced that, following a review of the scheme and in the light of additional labour available from the new EU countries, the current sectors based scheme for the hospitality sector would be ended. The findings of that review have been placed on work permits (UK)'s website. If additional needs are identified in future, small tightly managed quota-based schemes will be established for specific shortage areas for fixed periods.
Mr. Oaten:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, following the implementation of the International Civil Aviation Organisation biometric standards, immigration staff at
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ports and airports will be able to access other countries' biometric passport databases in order to verify the validity of documents presented by passengers. [10072]
Mr. Charles Clarke: In order to realize the benefits of biometrics, Immigration Officers need to be able to access the biometric information stored on the passport's chip and verify that the person presenting the passport is the rightful holder. Immigration Officers will not have access to databases of other countries but it is the intention of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill that they will have access to the data contained within the passport chip in biometric passports of overseas nationals. The bill also seeks to provide Immigration Officers with the power to ask the holder of the passport to provide biometric information, such as fingerprints, for comparison with data held in the passport chip to ascertain whether the person presenting the passport is the rightful holder of the document.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will list the (a) dates and (b) locations of crimes using bombs or other explosive devices that have taken place in England and Wales resulting in death or personal injury in each year since 1976; and if he will list the number of (i) casualties and (ii) convictions that have been secured; [10550]
(2) if he will list the names of organisations and individuals who claimed responsibility for crimes using bombs or other explosive devices that have taken place in England and Wales resulting in death or personal injury for each year since 1976. [10551]
Mr. Charles Clarke: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Burns:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 13 June 2005,
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Official Report, column 151W, on correspondence, when he will provide a substantive reply to the letter of 28 February from the hon. Member for West Chelmsford. [9098]
Fiona Mactaggart [holding answer 4 July 2005]: Iwrote to the hon. Member on 30 June.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam concerning his constituent Mr. Sebastian John D'Souza, dated 18 May, ref D'Souza/180505/Stonecot/by. [4917]
Mr. McNulty: I wrote to the hon. Member on 15 July.
Mr. Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the trends in criminal activity in the East sector of Plymouth are for the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [11324]
Hazel Blears [holding answer 11 July 2005]: Statistics are not collected centrally for the East Sector of Plymouth. The latest published information is for the Plymouth Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership area and covers 200304. The statistics cover six key offence groups and give comparisons with 200203 and rates per 1,000 population.
The data is available on the Home Office website at:
John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) final warnings and (b) reprimands have been issued under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 in each year for each (i) classification of crime and (ii) age cohort. [11790]
Hazel Blears: Information from the Home Office Court Proceedings database on the number of persons in each age cohort under the age of 18 who have been issued with a reprimand or final warning since the introduction of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, by offence type, England and Wales, 19992003 is contained in the table.
Statistics for 2004 will be available in the autumn.
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on changes in the level of crime in (a) Lancashire and (b) Chorley in the last five years. [6611]
Hazel Blears: Information from police recorded data for the years 1999 to 2004 is contained in the tables.
Chorley is a Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP) area. The most recent available information relates to 200304. Data for the period up to 31 March 2005 will be included in the forthcoming publication Crime in England and Wales 200405" which will be available on the Home Office website and in the Library.
In terms of violent crime, much of the rise in violence against the person which is shown in the tables can be accounted for by changes to the way the police define and record certain offences. Police recorded crime data are subject to changes in police recording practices, including those relating to national Counting Rules and recording standards. The Counting Rules changes in 1998 had a very significant impact on violent crime, across England and Wales the numbers of such crimes recorded by the police increased by 83 per cent. in the first year of using the new rules. The National Crime Recording Standard, introduced in April 2002, again resulted in increased recording of violent crimes, particularly for less serious violent offences. In addition, increased police activity can have an impact on how many offences are recorded, because, in such circumstances, police officers may encounter and record incidents that may not previously have been reported or recorded.
In comparison, British Crime Survey data, widely regarded as the most authoritative view of violent crime, shows considerable reductions in violent crime across England and Wales since 1997.
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the annual number of recorded crimes per 1,000 population was for (a) Northamptonshire police force, (b) Northamptonshire's most similar family of forces and (c) an average for England and Wales in each of the last 10 years. [11192]
Hazel Blears: The information requested is given in the table.
Since 1997, there have been two major changes to the way crime is recorded. The effect of the change in the counting rules in 1998 was to artificially increase total recorded crime nationally by 14 per cent. while it is estimated that the effect of the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) in April
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2002 caused a further increase of 10 per cent. in total recorded crime in its first year.
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