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Antisocial Behaviour

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what proportion of antisocial behaviour orders issued to (a) under 18s and (b) under 16s have been breached in each year since 1999; [42146]

(2) what proportion of antisocial behaviour orders have been breached in each year since 1999 . [42227]

Hazel Blears: Antisocial behaviour order (ASBO) breach data are currently available from 1 June 2000 to 31 December 2003 for ASBOs issued since 1 June 2000. Age data are for those aged 10–17 and 18 and over. During this period 47 per cent. of ASBOs issued to persons aged 10–17 within the period were breached on one or more occasions. The corresponding percentage for those aged 18 and over is 38 per cent. The overall breach rate is 42 per cent.

Judy Mallaber: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people in (a) Derbyshire and (b) Amber Valley have been issued with anti-social behaviour orders (a) in total and (b) in each year since their introduction. [42938]

Hazel Blears: A table giving a breakdown by the criminal justice system area and local government authority area in which prohibitions are imposed within antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) is available on the crime reduction website at www.crimereduction.gov.uk. This table gives data by year since ASBOs were introduced up to 30 June 2005 (latest available).
 
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Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many antisocial behaviour orders have been issued in each area since their inception; how many breaches have been recorded; how many prosecutions for breach there have been; how many recordings for breach have been obtained; and if he will make a statement on his policy on the recording of breaches. [44276]

Hazel Blears: A table giving a breakdown by the criminal justice system area and local government authority area in which prohibitions are imposed within antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) is available on the Crime Reduction website at www.crimereduction.gov.uk.

This table gives data by year since ASBOs were introduced up to 30 June 2005 (latest available).The number of times persons have breached their ASBOs are not collected centrally.

The Home Office Court Proceedings Database (HOCPD) only holds breach proceedings where there has been a conviction for breach of an ASBO. ASBO breach data are currently available from 1 June 2000 to 31 December 2003 for ASBOs issued since 1 June 2000. Of the number of ASBOs issued during this period, as notified to the Home Office, the HOCPD records 2,053 occasions where a conviction was recorded for breaching an ASBO.

Asylum/Immigration

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers (a) whose claims are being processed and (b) who are appealing against a refusal for asylum are resident in the UK. [32818]

Mr. McNulty: As at the end of September 2005 there were 6,100 asylum applicants awaiting an initial decision (4,000 cases were work in progress ie the application had been outstanding for six months or less), all residing in the UK. As at the end of September 2005 the total asylum work in progress at the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal was 9,000 (to the nearest thousand).

A proportion of the 9,000 will be non-suspensive appeals, for which the appellant is residing outside the UK. Information on asylum applications is published quarterly. The next publication covering the last quarter of 2004 will be available on 22 February 2005 on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people in Leeds, North West are (a) registered as asylum seekers and (b) registered migrants awaiting decision to be awarded status to remain in the UK. [38213]

Mr. McNulty [holding answer 15 December 2005]: Statistics on the location of asylum seekers in the UK are linked to the available information on the support that the asylum seeker receives. The number of asylum seekers supported by the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) are published on a quarterly and annual basis, broken down by local authority.
 
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Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what monitoring of the safety and welfare of deported asylum seekers to (a) Somaliland and (b) Somalia is undertaken; and from what sources his Department gains information to assess the personal safety and security of such people. [44459]

Mr. McNulty: As with returns to all countries, the Home Office does not routinely monitor the treatment of individual Somali nationals (both from Somalia and Somaliland) once removed from the UK. Where we refuse a claim and the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT) dismisses any appeal we consider that it is safe for that individual to return. This is one of the reasons why the Government do not routinely monitor the treatment of individuals once removed from the UK.

However, if specific allegations are made that any returnee has experienced ill-treatment on return from the UK, these are followed up through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the British high commission in Nairobi as a matter of urgency. The Government consider the safety of any prospective returnee at the initial decision stage and it is also covered by the AIT at the appeal stage. These assessments are made against the background of current information from a wide range of well-recognised sources about the situation in Somalia, including inter-governmental bodies, governmental sources and non-governmental human rights organisations.

Mr. McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with the Scottish First Minister about the use of dawn raids in asylum cases. [25315]

Mr. McNulty: [holding answer 7 November 2005]: My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary and I have had discussions in person and on the phone with the First Minister on this and other subjects. In addition Immigration Service officials have met with officials from the Scottish Executive and Scotland Office in order to discuss the removal of failed asylum seeking families from Scotland.

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many failed asylum seekers sought by his Department have been found through the use of Quick Check since its inception; and if he will make a statement. [43198]

Mr. McNulty: Quick Check records are available from one August 2004. Between this date, and 29 October 2005, a total of 60,660 Quick Check searches were submitted to the Immigration Asylum Fingerprint System (IAFS) database, and 25,283 possible matches identified.

Fingerprints captured by Quick Checks can be matched against those on an Application Registration Card (ARC), or transmitted for searching on the IAFS database. The result, which is automatically forwarded to the sender, is either Possible Identification", this may require fingerprint expert verification, or No match". Asylum status is not available on results forwarded from the IAFS to Quick Checks.

Audible Fire Alarms

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of the premises occupied by his Department is fitted with audible fire alarms. [42878]

 
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Mr. Charles Clarke: The Department is committed to ensuring compliance with fire safety law in premises it occupies. It is estimated that the proportion of premises occupied by the Department with audible fire alarm systems is roughly 90 per cent. The Department does not hold a central record of precisely how many premises have audible fire alarm systems. Instances where audible fire alarm systems are not installed include small buildings where there is no requirement under the Building Regulations. Otherwise some areas where persons are held in custody do not have audible fire alarm systems but in these instances controlled and managed contingency procedures will be in place.

Automatic Number Plate Recognition

Anne Snelgrove: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what mechanisms are in place to ensure access by individuals to information about themselves gathered by means of the automatic number plate recognition system; [42367]

(2) what assessment he has made of the impact on personal privacy of rolling out the automatic number plate recognition system. [42368]

Hazel Blears: My officials have been working closely with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) to ensure that information collected by automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technologies and retained by the police is cognisant of the relevant data protection legislation. The specific ACPO guidance ensures that the principles detailed in part one of schedule one of the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000 are followed by all police forces in relation to access to this information by individuals.

This document covers the European Convention for Human Rights, Data Protection, the Regulatory Investigative Powers Act 2000 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000 relating to the police use of ANPR (excluding speed enforcement devices) and is applicable to all police forces in England and Wales.

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