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20 Jul 2005 : Column 1781W—continued
HOME DEPARTMENT
African Child Immigrants
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children from Africa have been killed in England and Wales in each of the last five years. [12804]
Hazel Blears: In 2001–02 there were four victims of homicide, under 16 years of age, known to be African and one in 2002–03. There were none recorded in the years 1999–2000, 2000–01 and 2003–04.
Antisocial Behaviour Orders
Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many antisocial behaviour orders have been issued in respect of persons with a known disability. [12164]
Hazel Blears: Information is not collected centrally about the characteristics of persons issued with an antisocial behaviour order.
Asylum Seekers
Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers have been detained under Immigration Act 1971 powers in each of the last five years; at what stage of the asylum process they were detained; and for how long. [12967]
Mr. McNulty:
Information on the number of asylum seekers detained under the Immigration Act 1971 powers over a period of time is not available.
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It is not possible to say which stage of the asylum process people are at when they are detained. The decision to detain is made on a case by case basis and may be appropriate in one or more of the follow circumstances: to effect removal; to establish a person's identity and claim; where a person presents a risk of abscond or where the application is capable of being considered quickly.
Information on the number of asylum seekers and the length of their detention is only available from December 2001. Quarterly snapshots are published showing the number of people detained under Immigration Act powers on the last Saturday of each quarter and these can be broken down by the length of detention. This information can be found in the Quarterly Asylum Statistics publications on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.
Consultation (Faith Communities)
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent consultations have been carried out by his Department with representatives of faith communities; and if he will make a statement. [3232]
Paul Goggins: Faith communities have been involved in the following recent consultations carried out by the Home Office:
Criminal Justice Act 2003
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has established the mechanism to monitor the use of new sentences under the Criminal Justice Act 2003 in order to assess the impact on correctional resources; and if he will make a statement. [12065]
Fiona Mactaggart:
Use of the new sentences is being monitored through the regular data collections covering sentencing decisions, probation workloads and prison populations. In addition more in-depth analysis will be possible through two sample surveys of court decision making which will compare the position before and after the Criminal Justice Act 2003 measures were implemented.
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At this stage it is too early to assess the actual impact upon correctional resources.
Departmental Report (Production Cost)
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the total production cost of the Home Office Departmental Report 2004–05 was. [12064]
Mr. Charles Clarke: The Home Office Departmental Report 2004–05 (Cm 6528) sets out to Parliament how the Department has delivered its public services and how it achieved its key targets during 2004–05.
The report also sets out the structure of the Department and summarises the plans for the next financial year—2005–06. The report reflects the Department's three pillars of responsibility, around which the ministerial team is organised. These are: policing, security, community safety and active communities; National Offender Management Service and the criminal justice system; and immigration, citizenship and nationality. Our activities and achievements are brigaded under the Department's strategic objectives.
The report is available to other stakeholders including the public and is accessible via the Home Office website.
The total production costs of the report incurred by the Department including design, layout and printing costs excluding VAT is £60,228 while the total VAT inclusive cost is £67,732. This does not included the potential cost of an HMTL web-version for the visually impaired, which it is intended to produce in the near future. Nor, as in previous years, does it include the costs of Home Office staff time involved in the production of the report as identifying these would involve disproportionate cost.
Domestic Violence
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his answer of 5 July 2005, Official Report, column 382W, on domestic violence, if he will make it his policy to extend the self-completion component of the British Crime Survey to adults over 59 years; and if he will make a statement. [12060]
Hazel Blears: Respondents over the age of 60 are not asked to undertake British Crime Survey (BCS) self-completions. Traditionally, this has been because older people are sometimes less able or willing to use the laptop computers. There is evidence from the BCS that older respondents in the 16 to 59 age group are more likely to require interviewer assistance for the self-completion (see Budd and Mattinson, 2000). There is, however, also anecdotal evidence from interviewers and survey companies to suggest that this is increasingly less of a problem.
However, the decision to limit the upper age range has remained, primarily for research reasons. Inclusion of the 60 and over age group in modules relating to 'interpersonal violence' issues (such as sexual victimisation) is methodologically problematic. The issue of 'elder abuse' (in common with the issue of child abuse) tends to be explored in a different context, using dedicated surveys.
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Fraud Prevention
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress the Department has made with the second phase of its project, begun in November 2004, to explore the benefits, feasibility and legal impediments of sharing public sector deceased person information with other public agencies and organisations involved in fraud prevention; and whether he intends to bring forward legislation on these matters in the current parliamentary session. [13662]
Andy Burnham: The project is largely complete and results suggest that there would be benefits in sharing public sector deceased person information with the private sector, but this may be constrained by existing legislation. In light of this, the Office for National Statistics is exploring the extent to which information can be shared under existing powers and practices. It is anticipated that examination of these options will be completed by autumn 2005.
Gun Crime
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the work undertaken with communities to tackle gun crime. [13734]
Hazel Blears: The Government consider that the involvement of communities in tackling gun crime is vital to resolving this complex issue. Organisations such as the Trident Independent Advisory Group have demonstrated their effectiveness in raising awareness in communities and of providing a means to ensure that the community plays a part in tackling the problem.
Where funding is provided, projects are monitored to ensure that they have effectively carried out the work for which the grant was made.
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