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31 Jan 2006 : Column 362W—continued
HOME DEPARTMENT
Alcohol-free Zones
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many alcohol-free zones there are in each local authority area. [45653]
Paul Goggins: The Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 enables local authorities to restrict antisocial public drinking by introducing a Designated Public Place Order (DPPO) in areas where there is a problem with alcohol misuse behaviour. These are sometimes mistakenly referred to as alcohol-free zones. Once in place a DPPO provides the police with the power to enforce the restriction, where necessary because of antisocial alcohol misuse, by confiscating both opened and sealed containers. There are currently 331 DPPOs and some areas have introduced more than one. A full list of the DPPOs currently in place can be found on the following website: www.crimereduction.gov.uk/alcoholorders09.htm
Asylum Seekers
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many asylum decisions have been taken in each month of the last two years; and how many have been judged as late and opportunistic; [42060]
(2) what the average time is which has elapsed before asylum applicants judged late and opportunistic are deported; and what measures are in place to ensure that such applicants are deported quickly; [42053]
(3) what the average cost has been of dealing with each asylum applicant judged late and opportunistic; [42054]
(4) how many asylum applicants judged late and opportunistic have been considered unsuitable for detention in each month of the past two years; and where they have been located; [42055]
(5) what the nine asylum routes are under the New Asylum Model; [42056]
(6) what arrangements are in place to detain those asylum applicants that are judged late and opportunistic; and how many such applicants have been detained; [42058]
(7) if he will make a statement on the New Asylum Model; [42057]
(8) how many asylum applicants judged late and opportunistic have been deported in each month of the last two years. [42059]
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Mr. McNulty: Information on asylum initial decisions by month is published quarterly. Copies are available from the Library and from the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html Late and opportun- istic" is not, however, a category of asylum decision, but a part of a casework-handling process which has not, prior to the advent of the New Asylum Model (NAM) in 2005, been dealt with as a discrete category. We have not as yet decided the appropriate format in which to publish NAM data.
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers accommodated in (a) England, (b) Cambridgeshire, (c) Peterborough City Council Unitary Authority and (d) Peterborough constituency, were granted (i) asylum, (ii) indefinite leave to remain and (iii) refugee status in each of the last 10 years; and how many illegal immigrants who had been accommodated in each area have been deported in each of the last 10 years. [46064]
Mr. McNulty: Statistics on the location of persons who were granted indefinite leave to remain and those who were granted refugee status in each of the last 10 years is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost by the examination of individual case records.
Data on asylum seekers supported by the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) broken down by parliamentary constituency are also available from the Library.
Information on the number of people who were deported from the UK is published on an annual basis in the Home Office Command Paper, Control of Immigration: Statistics United Kingdom". It is not possible to break this information down by the region that they were residing in.
Community Safety Officers
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many additional police community safety officers were allocated to each English police force in (a) 2004–05 and (b) 2005–06; how many he estimates will be allocated in each year to 2008–09; and if he will make a statement. [45590]
Hazel Blears: Community Support Officers (CSOs) are police staff who are employed by police authorities. In March 2005 there were 6,300 CSOs in England and Wales. Under the Neighbourhood Policing Fund (NPF) we are investing £88 million in 2006–07 and £340 million in 2007–08 to help the police service to recruit 24,000 CSOs by 2008. We are currently considering proposals from forces for recruitment of CSOs over the next two years. An announcement on NPF allocations will be made shortly.
Computer Misuse Act
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will bring forward proposals to update the Computer Misuse Act 1990 to ensure reasonable penalties for misuse. [44740]
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Paul Goggins: The Police and Justice Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 25 January 2006. Clauses 33 to 36 relate to computer misuse and in particular the Computer Misuse Act 1990. Specifically, we are seeking to amend:
Section 1(3) of the Act to increase the term of imprisonment for an offence of unauthorised access to a computer system from six months to two years;
Section 3(7) of the Act to increase the term of imprisonment for an offence of unauthorised modification of computer material from five to 10 years; and
Section 3 of the Act to clarify that all means of interference with a computer system are criminalised; in particular, ensuring that adequate provision is made to criminalise all forms of Denial of Service attacks.
Correspondence
Mr. David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to send a substantive reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Clwyd, West of 11 October 2005, reference M24593/5. [46149]
Mr. McNulty: I replied to the hon. Member for Clwyd, West on 27 January 2006.
Clare Short: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Immigration and Nationality Department will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood of 6 December 2005 on behalf of Harmesh Kumar Sharmar (Home Office reference S1172939, acknowledgement reference B29103/5). [46416]
Mr. McNulty: The Immigration and Nationality Directorate replied to the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood on 27 January 2006.
Departmental Staff
Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many civil servants in his Department worked from home for at least one day a week in the last year for which figures are available. [40288]
Mr. Charles Clarke: The Home Office offers a range of flexible working options to help staff balance their work and home lives. This includes the option of working from home.
The Department does not record ad hoc occasions or informal home working arrangements and as a result is only able to provide the number of staff by area who have a formally agreed home working pattern.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Home Office (Including the Immigration and Nationality Directorate)(12) | 17 |
| National Probation Directorate(13) | 30 |
| United Kingdom Passport Service | 67 |
| HM Prison Service(14) | — |
(12) These data cover the year to August 2004 as this is the last period for which data are available. Data on home working rates for 2005 are not centrally available owing to the move to a new personnel system.
(13) This does not include staff who are directly employed by the 42 Probation Boards.
(14) Data are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many disciplinary actions against civil servants employed in his Department (a) were commenced and (b) resulted in a sanction being applied in each of the last five years. [43492]
Mr. Charles Clarke:
Figures for disciplinary action and sanctions for the Home Office and its Agencies are shown in the table. Disciplinary action against staff may only be taken following an investigation. The figures for 'cases' therefore refers to the number of investigations undertaken in any given year and the result of some investigations—where no evidence of misconduct is found—will not lead to any sanction. Sanctions may range from a verbal or written warning; a bar on applying for promotion; withholding of pay increases and/or bonus payments; suspension from duty with loss of pay; downgrading; and dismissal (this list is not exhaustive).
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Core Home Office and Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND)
Decisions in respect of the disciplinary process were delegated to the line management chain with effect from January 2005. It is not possible to link investigations to specific sanctions applied in relation to each investigation except at disproportionate cost.
Decisions in respect of the disciplinary process are devolved to a local level in the Prison Service. The information required is not collated centrally in the requested format and could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.
United Kingdom Passport Services (UKPS)
The disciplinary process was devolved from HQ to Regional Offices on October 2002. Cases that are 'not found' are not recorded, as is true for any case dealt with informally by managers.
(15) Figures for IND 2001 are only partial due to change in recording method.
(16) Figures are not collated centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
(17) Figures for investigations 'not found' are not recorded. Data are not available pre-2004.
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