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3 Mar 2006 : Column 1063W—continued
Correspondence
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Nationality will answer the letter of 7 December 2005 from the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green on her constituent Mr. Ahmed Taha (Home Office ref: T1021789). [54789]
Mr. McNulty: I wrote to the hon. Member on 1 March.
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Immigration and Nationality Directorate will respond to the correspondence from the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green of 2 November 2005, regarding a constituent, Mrs. Dennis (Home Office reference D1101020). [54855]
Mr. McNulty: The Director General of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate wrote to the hon. Member on 28 February.
Criminal Cases Review Commission
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what advice the Criminal Cases Review Commission gives to members of the public wishing to have a case considered by the Commission; and if he will make a statement. [47412]
Fiona Mactaggart: The Commission produces a range of literature and maintains a website which makes available to members of the public and potential applicants information on the role played by the Commission in reviewing convictions and sentences. An information pack has been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Departmental Entertainment
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was spent on entertainment by his Department in 2004–05; and how much of that sum is accounted for by (a) food, (b) alcohol, (c) staff and (d) accommodation. [50896]
Mr. Charles Clarke: The Home Office does not record entertainment expenditure broken down into the four elements requested in the PQ.
All expenditure of official entertainment is made in accordance with published departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety, based on principles set out in the 'Government Accounting' procedures.
The spend on entertainment for the Home Office for 2004–05 was £269,000.
Deportations
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals with no legal right to be in the UK have been deported or returned voluntarily to their country of origin and subsequently refused entry to that country and permitted to return to the UK in each of the last five years. [54808]
Mr. McNulty:
This information is not available.
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Published statistics on immigration and asylum issues are available on the Home Office research development and statistics website at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html
Emergency Hoax Calls
Mr. Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many hoax calls were made to the emergency services and fire service in each of the last three years in (a) Bolton, (b) the North West and (c) England. [51560]
Jim Fitzpatrick: I have been asked to reply.
The number of hoax calls received by the emergency services is not held centrally, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The following table shows the number of malicious false fire alarms attended by the fire and rescue service (FRS) in each of the last three years in:
(a) Greater Manchester FRS (Data for individual local authorities is not available. Bolton is within Greater Manchester FRS area);
| 2002(31) | 2003(31) | 2004 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Manchester | 5,740 | 5,268 | 4,572 |
| North West region | 10,639 | 9,956 | 8,044 |
| England | 54,109 | 47,010 | 39,139 |
(31) Including estimates for incidents not recorded during periods of industrial action in 2002 and 2003.
Source:
Fire and Rescue Service FDR1 returns to ODPM.
Home Detention Curfew Scheme
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners are on the home detention curfew scheme. [45867]
Fiona Mactaggart: According to the Prison Service IT system, there were 3,024 prisoners on the home detention curfew scheme on 24 February 2006.
Illegal Immigration
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he is taking to tackle illegal immigration in Cambridgeshire. [54350]
Mr. McNulty: Immigration and Nationality Directorate is committed to working towards the Government target of removing more failed asylum seekers, on a monthly basis, than there are unfounded claims. Operations are also undertaken targeting those who are working here illegally.
Operations are intelligence led. Any information received concerning the county of Cambridgeshire is considered according to priorities and operations set up as necessary.
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Enforcement and removal work for United Kingdom Immigration Service in Cambridgeshire is carried out by the St. Ives office which is also the HQ of the eastern region.
All work is intelligence driven and in Cambridgeshire centres on failed asylum seeker identification and removal. In order to deal with this regular visits are conducted by staff from that office to private addresses and business premises. The region also conducts prosecutions of individuals and businesses where flagrant breaches are identified.
The Immigration Service in Cambridgeshire work closely with the police and other Government Departments as well as the local business community to deal with breaches of the immigration rules.
National Offender Management Service
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether legislation will be needed to allow regional offender managers to commission and contract for probation services under the National Offender Management Service arrangements. [48447]
Fiona Mactaggart: Legislation would be needed to allow regional offender managers to contract with other providers for services currently delivered by probation boards.
Passports
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the possible link between UK passports lost in the post and (a) identity theft, (b) human trafficking and (c) international terrorism; and if he will make a statement. [29741]
Andy Burnham: The extent to which UK passports reported lost in the post are used to facilitate identity theft is extremely difficult to establish because there is very little information in this area. However, as a result of concerns about the number of passports being reported lost in the post the UK Passport Service introduced a secure delivery service in February 2004. The secure delivery service provides for all new passports dispatched from UKPS to be taken to their destination by courier. As a result of the introduction of this service the number of UK passports being reported to UKPS as having been lost in the post has fallen dramatically.
There is also much less potential for the current design of digital passport, if stolen, to be modified to carry—for example—a different name or photograph. This will be made still more improbable with the advent if the new biometric chip enabled passport, which is being introduced next year.
Victims who are trafficked into the UK for purposes of exploitation frequently travel on genuine passports that have been falsified, or on forged passports. While no specific study has been done, there is unlikely to be a link to UK passports lost in the post. Most people entering the UK in this way would travel on a document from a country which closely mirrored their own in culture and language to minimise the chances of detection.
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Because of the relatively small number of UK passports reported as being lost in the post, we do not believe that there is a link between such passports and international terrorism.
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