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5 Dec 2005 : Column 967W—continued
Women Trafficking
17. Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to prevent the trafficking of women from eastern Europe. [33837]
Paul Goggins: The Government are committed to tackling trafficking in human beings and we are working closely with several eastern European source and transit countries to improve preventative measures and increase prosecutions. The new EU action plan on trafficking, drafted by the UK presidency and adopted last week, includes actions to prevent trafficking from outside and within the EU.
Anti-semitism
18. John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate his Department has made of the number of offences involving anti-semitism in the last three years for which figures are available. [33838]
Paul Goggins: The total number of racially or religiously aggravated offences rose from 31,035 in 2002–03 to 35,022 in 2003–04. These figures cannot, however, be broken down by particular race or religion. We will continue to tackle racism and prejudice in all its forms and wherever it occurs.
Police
19. Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consultation he has carried out on proposals to merge Sussex police into a regional force. [33839]
Hazel Blears: Police forces and authorities have been asked to undertake consultation with relevant stakeholders in their areas including communities when developing their options for change. This should ensure that selected options reflect the views of as many stakeholders as possible. As part of developing options for change, I requested all forces and authorities including Sussex, to consult with local communities.
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he is taking to reduce the time it takes beat officers to return to the beat after making an arrest. [33835]
Paul Goggins: The use of designated support staff such as detention officers and investigating officers help minimise the time the arresting officer needs to spend at the police station in processing the suspect and investigating the offence. In addition, street bail allows the officer to determine when the arrested person is required to attend the police station to best meet the needs of the investigation, the custody suite and the officer's operational duties.
David Davis:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) groups have been dispersed and (b) under-16s have been removed to their
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place of residence by (i) community support officers and (ii) police officers under paragraph 4A of Schedule 4 to the Police Reform Act 2002 in each of the last four years, broken down by police authority. [29363]
Mr. Charles Clarke: Section 30 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 provides the police with a power to disperse groups and remove under 16s to their place of residence, within designated areas. The Act also inserted paragraph 4A into Schedule four to the Police Reform Act 2002 to allow designated community support officers to use these powers.
These powers came into force on 20 January 2004. From a Home Office data collection exercise, we estimate that 809 areas were designated between January 2004 and June 2005. Police officers and community support officer dispersed 14,375 people from the 293 areas where data was available. They also removed 520 young people under 16 to their place of residence from 236 areas where data was available. We do not hold the information on whether these powers were exercised by police officers or community support officers.
Sex Crimes (Victim Support)
21. Barbara Keeley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps his Department is taking to support victims of rape and other sex crimes. [33841]
Paul Goggins: Over 2004–06 we have invested £4 million in the development of Sexual Assault Referral Centres and voluntary services for victims of sexual violence. A further £1.25 million will go to support voluntary sector sexual violence services in 2006–07. We have also improved the ways in which the police and the Crown Prosecution Service provide support and greater access to justice for victims of sexual violence.
False Vehicle Registration
22. Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the effect of the registration of false vehicle licence addresses on the ability of the police to combat multiple road traffic offences. [33842]
Paul Goggins: Vehicles which are registered with incorrect details or not registered at all are regularly used in criminal and antisocial activities. An accurate register is important for identification purposes, so that the police can take effective action against the perpetrators. It is an offence not to supply the relevant details for correct registration, and in the last two years we have strengthened the likelihood of accuracy by the introduction of continuous registration and by creating a new offence of using a vehicle that is incorrectly registered.
Community Courts
23. Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made in establishing community courts; and if he will make a statement. [33843]
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Fiona Mactaggart: There are currently two Community Justice projects—the pilot Community Justice Centre, North Liverpool which was formally opened last month and the Salford Community Justice Initiative to be launched next week. It is early days for Community Justice in this country and these are both groundbreaking projects that will be fully evaluated.
Acceptable Behaviour Rules
Mr. Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals are being held for breaching acceptable behaviour rules and are awaiting deportation to countries where he believes they could face, without appropriate memoranda of understanding being in place, a risk of torture, broken down by nationality. [24015]
Mr. McNulty: No individuals are currently being held awaiting deportation on grounds of unacceptable behaviour.
However, 20 people are in detention pending deportation for reasons of national security. Their eventual deportation is subject to the negotiation of memorandums of understandings (MoUs) which cover various issues regarding return to country of origin.
Asset Recovery Agency
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what role the Asset Recovery Agency will have in recovering the assets of foreign politically exposed persons which have been derived from corrupt activities or theft of state assets. [34012]
Paul Goggins: The Assets Recovery Agency operates the civil schemes of recovering assets, namely civil recovery and taxation. In domestic cases, they take cases on referral from law enforcement where they are satisfied that a criminal conviction of a person followed by a confiscation order is not appropriate or has failed.
The cases referred to them might include those involving politically exposed persons. In international co-operation cases, they will have powers to enforce overseas civil forfeiture orders over assets in the UK.
Asylum/Immigration
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many families subject to the pilot implementation of section 9 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants) Act 2004 have had their support re-instated by the National Asylum Support Service as a result of the identification of a potential human rights breach. [31186]
Mr. McNulty:
Under the section 9 pilot, support is only withdrawn where a family has refused, without reasonable excuse, to take steps to return home. The National Asylum Support Service (NASS) only withdraw the family's support when this can be done without breaching any person's human rights. However, after support has been withdrawn, a family's circumstances can change in such a way that support needs to be reinstated to avoid a breach. This has happened in three cases.
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Mr. Caton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will review the regulation that prevents asylum seekers from securing employment in the UK; [28905]
(2) what assessment he has made of the merits of allowing asylum seekers to take paid work in the UK. [28906]
Mr. McNulty: The Government keep their immigration and asylum policies under review. Our current assessment is that it would not be right to routinely allow asylum seekers access to paid employment. The immigration rules make clear that asylum seekers may seek permission to work if their claim for asylum remains outstanding for longer than 12months without an initial decision being made on it and providing the reason for the delay cannot be attributed to the applicant.
We do encourage asylum seekers to undertake voluntary work while their claim for asylum is being assessed.
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many failed asylum seekers were removed from the UK between 1 July and 30 September; and how many were removed in the equivalent period in 2004. [32814]
Mr. McNulty: Information on the number of failed asylum seekers removed from the UK is published quarterly in the Asylum Bulletin.
The quarterly Asylum Bulletin relating to the third quarter of 2005, contains the number of failed asylum seekers removed between 1 July and 30 September 2005, and that in the equivalent period in 2004.
This publication is available from the Home Office's Research Development and Statistics website: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of illegal immigrants living in the UK. [32817]
Mr. McNulty: Although it is impossible to determine accurately how many people are in the UK illegally, the Home Office published a report which included an estimate of the size of the illegal migrant population in the UK in 2001. A copy of the RDS On-line report 29/05 Sizing the unauthorised (illegal) migrant population in the United Kingdom in 2001 can be found at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/notes/june_summaries. html#rdsolr2905.
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what average time appellants whose appeal against the decision to remove them from the United Kingdom had been allowed waited between the date that their appeal was allowed and grant of leave to remain, in the latest period for which figures are available. [33372]
Mr. McNulty: Information on allowed appeals is not currently available.
Lynne Featherstone:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of hon. Members' correspondence to the Immigration and
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Nationality Directorate was answered within 20 working days for the periods (a) January to March, (b) April to June and (c) July to September; and if he will make a statement. [33239]
Mr. Charles Clarke:
The proportion of Members' correspondence answered by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate within 20 working days was:
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28 per cent. for the period January to March; 49 per cent. for April to June; and 64 per cent. for July to September.
This improvement is encouraging but I am determined that it should be maintained until we reach the published target of replying to 95 per cent. of Members' letters within 20 days.
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average escorting contractprice was for inter-detention estate transfers of immigration detainees in the last period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [32901]
Mr. McNulty: The contract price for in country escorts is inclusive and covers all required escort movements for immigration detainees including inter-detention estate transfers.
Under the existing contract arrangement the average price of an escorted movement is £119.50.
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department to what extent immigration rules allow for the entry of foreign children to the United Kingdom for the purpose of fostering by (a) relatives and (b) non-relatives. [33129]
Mr. McNulty: There is no provision in the immigration rules to allow a child to enter or remain in the United Kingdom on the basis of a private fostering arrangement. It is open for a child who is the subject of a private fostering agreement to enter the United Kingdom under other provisions of the immigration rules, for example under the various adoption provisions, where they can meet the requirements.
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps are taken by immigration caseworkers to (a) monitor the welfare of foreign children who are fostered in the United Kingdom and (b) intervene where necessary. [33130]
Mr. McNulty:
Whilst a child cannot enter or remain solely on the basis of a private fostering arrangement, where children who are in the United Kingdom under another provision of the immigration rules and are
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covered by the definition of a privately fostered child in the Children Act 1989, the carer must advise their local authority social services of the child's presence. The local authority then has duties in respect of the child, including regular visits, so long as the arrangement lasts. The duty of care of a child lies with the relevant social services department. Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) staff are instructed to contact the local social services where they have any concerns about a child's welfare.
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