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8 Feb 2006 : Column 1277W—continued
Prisons
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average daily sum spent by the Prison Service was on feeding adult (a) male and (b) female prisoners and (i) male and (ii) female prisoners in young offenders institutions in the last year for which figures are available. [43583]
Fiona Mactaggart: For 2004–05, the latest period for which data are available, the average public sector Prison Service daily food cost for adult males was £1.79.
For male prisoners held in Young Offender Institutions (YOIs) the figure was £2.26. The average figure for all female prisoners was £2.16. It is not possible to separately identify food costs for female adult and female young offenders as they are held in the same establishments. The differentiation in costs between adult males and male prisoners in YOIs mainly reflects the general recognition that young people require more vitamins and protein to ensure healthy growth.
Respect Agenda
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the implementation of the Government's Respect Agenda will affect the number of police working in Romford. [48553]
Hazel Blears: As part of the Respect Agenda, the Government have committed that, by 2008, every area will benefit from its own neighbourhood policing team. The Respect Agenda also supports the increase in number of PCSOs so that by 2008 there will be over 24,000 which will make a significant difference to policing in our communities. The Metropolitan police will benefit from the increase in PCSOs. The deployment of police officers to Romford is an operational matter for the Havering Borough Commander. The workforce total for the borough is determined annually by the Commissioner, subject to the budget set for the force by the Mayor of London.
Security Industry
Patrick Mercer:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what estimate the Security Industry Authority (SIA) has made of the cost of the security industry regulation to be delivered by the SIA; [26181]
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(2) whether the Security Industry Authority has selected and is training eight assessment bodies to operate option four of the Approved Contractor Scheme as detailed in the Partial Regulatory Impact Assessment; [26183]
(3) what the key criteria will be upon which the selection of an Approved Contractor Scheme for the private security industry will be based. [26184]
Paul Goggins: The private security industry has invested approximately £400 million in meeting the requirements of the Government regulations under the Private Security Industry Act 2001 (PSIA).
A Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) on the Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS) went out to consultation on 25 August 2005 until 17 November (a period of 12 weeks). The SIA continued working to be ready to proceed with four options under the RIA included in the consultation. This work included a meeting with eight potential assessing bodies.
Following analysis of the responses received from the RIA, Paul Goggins announced, on 12 January, that the Government had decided to introduce an Approved Contractor Scheme which would comprise elements of Options 3 and 4. Option 3 would require companies to possess one or more of a list of specified existing standards, and Option 4, would introduce a new standard defined by the Security Industry Authority. Further details about the shape of the scheme will be announced in due course.
The estimated cost to the private security industry to implement a combination of Options 3 and 4 of the Approved Contractor Scheme ranges from between £2.0 million to £2.6 million per annum.
Special Branch
Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what review of the size and structure of Special Branch he (a) has undertaken and (b) plans to undertake. [44708]
Hazel Blears: The substantive resource allocation, in terms of staffing and associated costs, to Special Branch is the responsibility of Chief Officers in each force. The role of the National Co-ordinator of Special Branch is to set and promulgate Special Branch policy, set standards and codes of practice for Special Branch activity and quality assure its work nationally. As part of his role, the National Co-ordinator reviews and monitors the size and structure of Special Branches.
Following the publication of the HMIC Thematic Inspection Report in 2003, Regional Intelligence Cells (RICs) were established and are now operating in all of the ACPO regions. More recently, the 'Closing the Gap' report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary recommended that the creation of strategic forces offered the best means for providing the Police Service with the necessary capacity and resilience to meet the threats posed by terrorism and organised crime.
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Work Permits
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many work permits were granted through the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme in each of the last 10 years. [48604]
Mr. McNulty: The following table provides detail of the numbers of approvals under the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) for each calendar year since the programme was launched in January 2002. These approvals allow individuals to apply either for leave to enter or leave to remain in the United Kingdom as highly skilled migrants.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| 2002 | 1,180 |
| 2003 | 3,695 |
| 2004 | 7,515 |
| 2005 | 17,635 |
| Total | 30,025 |
Note:
This data are not provided under national statistics protocols. They have been derived from local management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change. Figures have been rounded up to the nearest 5.
Mr. Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individual work permits were issued in (a) 2003, (b) 2004 and (c) 2005; how many of these were (i) long-term permits of a year or more duration and (ii) short-term permits; how many of the short-term permits were in respect of the sector-based schemes; and how many (A) long-term and (B) short-term permits were issued to people who were already residing in the UK. [48758]
Mr. McNulty: The total number of individual work permits issued in 2003, 2004 and 2005 is set out in table 1. Also included is the number of these permits issued with a fixed expiry date. It is not possible to determine the duration of these permits.
The number of individual work permits issued in 2003, 2004 and 2005, for a period of a year or more and a period of less than a year, is set out in table 2. Also included is the number of Sectors Based Scheme (SBS) permits issued for a period of less than a year. These figures exclude any permits issued to a fixed expiry date.
The number of individual work permits issued to people already in the UK in 2003, 2004 and 2005, for a period of a year or more and a period of less than a year is set out in table 3. Also included is the number of permits issued to people already in the UK that were issued to a fixed expiry date where it is not possible to determine how long they were issued for.
(This data is not provided under National Statistics protocols. It has been derived from local management information and is therefore provisional and subject to change.)
| Number of permits issued | Number of permits issued to a fixed expiry date | |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 141,204 | 28,125 |
| 2004 | 156,275 | 31,141 |
| 2005 | 137,061 | 30,244 |
Worker Registration Scheme
Mr. Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of workers from EU accession countries who are working within the United Kingdom but are not registered under the Worker Registration Scheme; on what basis he made the calculation of this figure; and if he will make a statement. [47661]
Mr. McNulty: If an accession state worker (those from Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia) works in a job in the UK for 30 days or more, he or she is required to register on the Workers Registration Scheme (WRS) in order to be lawfully employed.
However, all European Economic Area (EEA) nationals have a right of free movement and residence in the United Kingdom. Accession state nationals are not subject to immigration control, and if they are working for less than 30 days, have no requirement to register with the scheme.
This means that an accession state national can be legally working in the UK without registration.
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