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Firearms

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many firearms were seized in (a) Romford and (b) Havering in each of the last seven years. [48548]

Hazel Blears: The requested data are not collected centrally.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many firearms have been seized by police in Wales in each of the last seven years. [48565]

Hazel Blears: The requested data are not collected centrally.
 
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Fresh Talent Scheme

Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many migrants to Scotland under the Fresh Talent initiative, including migrants on the Fresh Talent Working in Scotland scheme, have been (a) skilled, (b) unskilled and (c) semi-skilled in each month since the scheme began operation; [53291]

(2) what sectors of employment migrants to Scotland have entered under the Fresh Talent initiative, including migrants on the Fresh Talent Working in Scotland scheme; [53292]

(3) how many migrants to Scotland under the Fresh Talent initiative, including migrants on the Fresh Talent Working in Scotland scheme, have not held university degrees or qualifications from Scottish institutions. [53293]

Mr. McNulty: The Fresh Talent Initiative is operated by the Scottish Executive. The Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme is one part of the Fresh Talent Initiative, and is also a separate category within the Immigration Rules. In order to qualify for the scheme, migrants need to have been awarded an HND, undergraduate degree, Master's degree or PhD by a Scottish institution. IND does not hold information on the sector participants choose to work in but all hold an HND as a minimum.

The Scottish Executive is monitoring and evaluating the Fresh Talent Initiative. This includes sending participants in the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme a questionnaire at regular intervals, one of the questions being which sector they are employed in. The Scottish Executive will be publishing an analysis of the questionnaire responses on their website.

Gun Offences

Mr. David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the gun offences recorded in the area of North Wales Police during the year ended 31 March 2005 related to the use of ball-bearing guns. [47733]

Hazel Blears: A BB gun is an airsoft weapon that fires plastic pellets. Forty-seven of the 60 offences involving firearms (excluding air weapons) recorded by North Wales Police in 2004–05 related to the use of BB guns.

Identity Cards

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether Government Departments' estimates of the (a) total and (b) net cost of (i) integrating the proposed identity card scheme into his Department's IT systems and (ii) the ongoing operation of the scheme are included in the Home Office's £584 million at 2005–06 prices estimated cost of the scheme published in the regulatory impact assessment; and what these estimates are. [50261]

Mr. McNulty: Other Government Departments do not produce estimates of the costs of integrating Home Office IT systems with the identity card scheme or of the ongoing operation of the scheme itself.
 
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Estimates made by Government Departments of the costs of integrating the Identity Cards Scheme into their own IT systems is part of the ongoing development of the business case which continues to show that the benefits of the scheme outweigh the costs. These cost estimates are not included within the figure of £584 million which represents our current best estimate of the costs of issuing passports and ID cards to British nationals and the central infrastructure costs of providing an on-line verification service which can validate ID cards and other identity inquiries for user organisations in the public and private sector.

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 28 June 2005, Official Report, column 1457W, on identity cards, whether a decision has been made on the (a) number and (b) location of centres where biometric information may be collected; and whether the cost of these centres is included in the estimated cost of the scheme published in the regulatory impact assessment. [50322]

Andy Burnham: No final decisions have been taken with regard to the exact number or eventual locations of enrolment centres for the Identity Card Scheme as ongoing analysis and research continues. While the 69 offices of the expanded passport office network will form the building blocks of the enrolment centre network, it does not necessarily reflect the entire network structure.

The Identity Cards Programme business case includes assumptions with regard the number of enrolment centres for the identity card scheme. However, it is not possible to reveal this number at present as to do so would jeopardise the ability of the Government to obtain value for money from the procurement process.

The Government have stated that current analysis envisages that no person will have to travel more than an hour to get to an enrolment centre. Provision for mobile enrolment facilities is planned for those who would have to travel more than an hour from the location of a fixed enrolment centre.

The estimated annual average running costs for issuing identity cards and passports to British citizens cost is £584 million. The cost of staffing, operation, equipment and office property for passport and identity card local enrolment centres and mobile enrolment facilities where biometrics will be recorded is included in this figure as well as allowances for depreciation and the replacement and updating of IT and other equipment as well as the maintenance thereof.

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he proposes to take to ensure that individuals who are not in possession of the proposed identity card will not be denied access to emergency services; and if he will make a statement. [52772]

Andy Burnham: The Government have always made clear that an ID card will not be required at any time for access to emergency treatment. This was emphasised when the policy was announced in November 2003, in 'Identity Cards: The Next Steps' (Cm 6020)

No one would ever be refused medical treatment in an emergency or emergency social security benefits nor would vulnerable groups be refused critical services such as access to hostels or refuges because they were unable to produce an identity card."

 
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It would not in any case be possible to require the production of an ID card for emergency treatment as the Identity Cards Bill currently before Parliament explicitly precludes the making of regulations requiring people to carry a card at all times. In addition, no free public service will be able to require the production of an ID card without new primary legislation.

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he will put in place to ensure the security of RFID chips and biometric information on identity cards and biometric passports; and whether such measures are included in the £584 million estimated annual cost of operating the identity cards scheme. [53032]

Andy Burnham: There are no plans to incorporate RFID chips in biometric passports and identity cards which will use proximity chips. While both use radio frequencies, they use different operating systems and security requirements. For example, proximity chips include a far higher level of security protection than an RFID tag and can only be read at a very short distance (e.g. 0–2cm from the reader). These differences are reflected in the fact that they operate to different standards set by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO).

Proximity chips are being introduced into travel documents worldwide to fulfil international requirements for travel documents established by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, a division of the United Nations.

It is intended that the proximity chips in both the identity card and biometric passports will utilise Basic Access Control as a data access protocol in accordance with international standards as well as other cryptographic measures in order to prevent the information on the chip from being modified. Furthermore, it is planned that further advanced encryption will be utilised to secure biometric information on the chip of the card. This will comply with Extended Access Control standards that are currently under development at an international level.

The security features of the chip of the biometric passport and identity card will also be subject to an assurance process including rigorous testing in advance of their rollout. In addition, before the identity card scheme can commence, it will be subject to a comprehensive security accreditation process.

The cost of producing chips with these security features is included in the annual running cost estimate of issuing biometric passports and identity cards.

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what changes there have been in the identity card scheme since he first estimated the annual operating costs at £584 million. [53033]

Andy Burnham: The Identity Cards Programme is constantly evolving as it prepares for the commencement of a procurement process and the establishment of a new agency for the issue of passports and identity cards. Based on ongoing analysis and research, assumptions underlying the Scheme are regularly refined and an assessment on the impact of the Scheme's business case is conducted before changes are approved.
 
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However, the changes that have been approved since the estimate of average annual operating costs of £584 million was published have had no overall upward impact on this figure.

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