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12 Sept 2005 : Column 2545W—continued
Arrests
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance he has given to police officers on briefing the media when a person is (a) arrested, (b) detained in custody and (c) convicted; if he will place such guidance in the Library; and if he will make a statement. [14123]
Hazel Blears: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 23 February 2005, Official Report, column 736W. The guidance is publicly available on the ACPO website and I have placed a copy in the Library. Conviction is a matter of public record and any briefing subsequent to conviction is a matter for the chief officer of the force concerned.
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will issue guidance to police forces that a representative from social services should be present when possible when a mentally disabled person is arrested. [13142]
Hazel Blears: As indicated in my earlier response to the hon. Member of 18 July 2005, Official Report, column 1495W, the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) and associated Codes of Practice require that persons detained in a police station who appear to be mentally vulnerable must be given special consideration as summarised in Code C, Annex E. In cases of those people detained under section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983, an approved social worker and registered medical practitioner must be called to interview and examine the detainee. The police station is not the most suitable place to detain people suffering from mental disorder and it is not always possible in that environment to ensure that people suffering from mental disorder are identified and given suitable attention.
These issues are exacerbated at the point of arrest. In cases of arrest which are not pre-planned, the ability to make use of someone from social services is impractical. The circumstances of the arrest and any considered risk must be notified to the custody officer on arrival at the police station. In cases of a planned arrest, it is an operational decision for the chief officer of the force concerned how best that should be carried out and any other personnel who should accompany the arresting officer.
Assaults
Mr. Kemp: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many physical attacks have been made on (a) firefighters, (b) police officers and (c) ambulance staff in Houghton and Washington East constituency in each of the last three years for which figures are available. [13183]
Hazel Blears:
The information requested is not collected centrally.
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Mr. Kemp: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many physical attacks have been made on shop workers in the constituency of Houghton and Washington East in each of the last three years for which figures are available. [13240]
Hazel Blears: Recorded crime statistics do not normally identify the location of offences, or the occupation of victims. The British Crime Survey provides an overview of the extent of violence at work in England and Wales, examines the nature of these incidents and looks at the level of worry among workers about becoming victims of workplace violence. Information is not, however, available at a local level.
Mr. Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many attacks have been made on shop workers in Hartlepool in the last three years. [13443]
Paul Goggins: Recorded crime statistics do not normally identify the location of offences, or the occupation of victims. The British Crime Survey provides an overview of the extent of violence at work in England and Wales, examines the nature of these incidents and looks at the level of worry among workers about becoming victims of workplace violence.
Information is not, however, available at a local level.
Asylum Seekers
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 4 July 2005, Official Report, column 115W, on asylum seekers, how many asylum seekers have applied for the right to work following the introduction of the EU directive; and what steps he has taken to publicise this change in the law. [13215]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 18 July 2005]: The information requested is not centrally recorded and could be obtained only by examination of individual case files. The National Asylum Support Service (NASS) amended its policy bulletin number 72 on Employment and Voluntary Activity to make the change clear. This was shared with the voluntary sector agencies assisting asylum seekers supported by NASS and with other members of the National Asylum Support Forum, and is available on the internet. In addition, guidance issued to new asylum seekers was amended to take account of the change in policy.
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the total number of failed asylum seekers in (a) the UK and (b) each county. [14095]
Mr. McNulty: The information requested is not available and could be produced only at disproportionate cost.
The recent National Audit Office report Returning failed asylum applicants" acknowledges that the number of failed asylum seekers in the UK is impossible to determine as some will have left the country of their own accord.
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No Government have ever been able to produce an accurate figure for the number of failed asylum seekers who are in the country illegally. By its very nature it is impossible to quantify accurately, and that remains the case. We do not know how many failed asylum seekers remain in the country, because there is no means of counting those who leave the country on their own accord without informing the immigration authorities.
Information on the number of removals of failed asylum seekers is published quarterly and annually, on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html
Mr. Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what support his Department offers asylum seekers who have failed in their applications but whose countries are too dangerous for them to be returned to. [14713]
Mr. McNulty: Unsuccessful asylum seekers unable to leave the country immediately due to circumstances entirely beyond their control may be provided with support under section four of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. This support is provided in the form of accommodation and, where possible, food. Where food is not provided vouchers valued at £35 per week are issued to enable the supported person to buy food. Essential toiletries are also provided.
Mr. Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will allow asylum seekers to work while their applications are being considered. [14714]
Mr. McNulty: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave him on 4 July 2005, Official Report, column 115W.
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many failed asylum seekers have been returned to safe third countries in each of the last five years, broken down by country; and if he will make a statement. [14719]
Mr. McNulty: The requested information is not available. Information on the destination of failed asylum seekers removed from the UK during 2004, including a breakdown between removals to the country of nationality and removals to elsewhere, will be published in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin: Asylum Statistics United Kingdom 2004, which will be published in August. Information for earlier years is not available and could be produced only at disproportionate cost.
Information on the numbers of failed asylum seekers removed are published every quarter on the Home Office website at:
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the total amount spent on benefits for asylum seekers has been in each county in each year since 1997. [14760]
Mr. McNulty:
The information is not available in the precise format requested. Local authorities retain responsibility for providing support to certain asylum seekers and can claim grant from the Home Office to meet the reasonable costs of providing this support.
12 Sept 2005 : Column 2548W
Details of the grants paid for adults and families since 1 April 1999 and Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC), since 1 April 2000 are available on the Immigration and Nationality Directorate website:
http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/ind/en/home/applying/national_asylum_support/stakeholders/finance.html.
Other expenditure on the provision of support to asylum seekers is not recorded by individual county or local authority and therefore a breakdown cannot be provided. Prior to 1 April 1999 the Department of Health was responsible for the grant to local authorities for the provision of support to asylum seekers.
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Darfuri asylum seekers whose applications are being fast-tracked are being detained. [15031]
Mr. McNulty: Immigration and Nationality Department electronic records are based on the nationality or country of origin of the claimant rather than ethnicity or regional origin. Accordingly figures can only be provided for Sudanese claims. Information relating to asylum seekers claiming to be from Darfur would not necessarily be reliable, and could be produced only at disproportionate cost by examination of individual case files.
Information on the numbers of asylum seekers detained, by nationality, is published quarterly in the official asylum statistics, available from the Library of the House and from the quarterly and annually, on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers have been housed in (a) the East of England, (b) Suffolk, (c) the constituency of Bury St. Edmunds and (d) each local authority area in Suffolk in each of the last seven years. [15122]
Mr. McNulty: The information is not available in the format requested. Statistical information on the location of asylum seekers is linked to the support they are receiving. Since 3 April 2000 the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) has been responsible for providing support for adult and family asylum seekers. Local authorities retain responsibility for supporting some longer standing adult and family asylum seekers under the Asylum Support (Interim Provisions) Regulations 1999, as amended. Local social services departments are responsible for supporting unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASCs) irrespective of when the application for asylum is made. Available information on the location of asylum seekers housed either directly by the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) or by local authorities is in the following tables.
In addition, at the end of March 2005 there were 50 unsuccessful asylum seekers receiving support under section four of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 in the East of England region.
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* = 1 or 2.
Note:
Figures are rounded to the nearest 5 and therefore may not sum
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many units of council accommodation his Department has reserved in each local authority area in Suffolk for asylum seekers; for what period; and how many are vacant. [15123]
Mr. McNulty: The National Asylum Support Service (NASS) has contracted with both the private and public sector and registered social landlords to provide accommodation for asylum seekers. Within Suffolk there is one designated dispersal area for asylum seekers requiring accommodation. That area is Ipswich and there are no units of contracted council accommodation within that area.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what was the net current expenditure on asylum seekers by each local authority, in each year since 1996; and what is the estimated figure for 2005–06. [15212]
Mr. McNulty: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my predecessor, the hon. member for Kilmarnock on 17 November 2004, Official Report, column 1574W.
Information on claims and grants for the financial years 1999–2000 to 2003–04 is on the Immigration and Nationality Directorate website. Information for 2004–05 will be included on the website as soon as the figures have been cleared by the auditors.
12 Sept 2005 : Column 2550W
Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Zimbabweans have been removed to Zimbabwe and to Malawi in each of the past six months. [15870]
Mr. McNulty: The latest published information on removal of asylum seekers covers the first quarter of 2005.
The number of persons removed of Zimbabwean nationality, for the six months from October 2004 until March 2005, by destination is shown in the table. These figures include people departing voluntarily after enforcement action has been initiated against them and people leaving under assisted voluntary returns programmes run by the International Organization for Migration. Figures have been rounded to the nearest five.
Information on removals of asylum seekers for the second quarter of 2005 will be published in August on the Home Office website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.
(135)Includes persons departing voluntarily" after enforcement action had been initiated against them, persons leaving under assisted voluntary return programmes run by the International Organization for Migration, and removals on safe third country grounds.
2Provisional figures.
(136)Figures rounded to the nearest five, with * = 1 or 2 and — = 0, may not sum due to rounding.
(137)Figures exclude dependants of asylum seekers removed.
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