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6 Mar 2006 : Column 1144W—continued
Yarl's Wood
Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many detainees at Yarl's Wood Detention Centre, Bedfordshire on 8 November had been detained for (a) up to one week, (b) between one and three weeks, (c) between three and eight weeks and (d) longer than eight weeks; [28346]
(2) how many detainees at Yarl'sWood Detention Centre on 8 November were children; and if he will make a statement. [28347]
Mr. McNulty: The Home Office publishes a quarterly snapshot of people detained solely under Immigration Act powers on the last Saturday of each quarter. The latest published information pertains to people detained as at 31 December 2005.
The accompanying table shows the number of persons detained solely under Immigration Act powers in Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre as at 31 December 2005 broken down by length of detention and persons recorded as being under 18 on 31 December 2005.
Additionally, internal management information shows that, as at 9 November 2005, there were 54 children detained with their families at Yarl's Wood. Minors are detained only in two limited circumstances: first, as part of a family group whose detention is considered appropriate; second, when unaccompanied, while alternative care arrangements are made and normally just overnight. While the detention of families with children is very regrettable, it nevertheless remains necessary in appropriate cases in order to maintain an effective immigration control and to tackle abuses of the asylum system. Published statistics on immigration and asylum are available on the Home Office's Research Development and Statistics website at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.
(35) Figures rounded to the nearest 5, with * = 1 or 2, may not sum due to rounding and exclude persons detained in police cells and those recorded as detained under both criminal and immigration powers.
(36) Includes persons recorded by IND as detained in Prison Service Establishments.
(37) Relates to current period of sole detention only.
(38) Two months is defined as 61 days; four months is defined as 122 days; six months is defined as 182 days.
(39) People recorded as being under 18 on 31 December 2005.
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WORK AND PENSIONS
Baby Changing Facilities
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what representations he has received regarding the safety of parents and babies in public baby changing facilities. [53819]
Mrs. McGuire: HSE or local authorities, depending on the location, enforce health and safety in baby changing facilities. These facilities are mainly in department stores, shopping malls etc., which fall to local authorities. Health and safety in facilities in health centres, hospitals and local authority owned premises is enforced by HSE.
In the last 10 years there were 17 complaints about baby changing facilities in premises enforced by HSE. These included falls from changing mats/tables, cleanliness of the facilities, and the condition of restraint straps. Also in the last 10 years, there have been five investigations resulting from accidents to babies or young children. These include three falls from changing tables and two trapped fingers in door hinges, one resulting in severe cut and the other in the amputation of the top of a finger.
Benefit Payments
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what mechanisms are in place to assess the eligibility of benefit claimants who are UK citizens resident in foreign countries. [54227]
Mr. Timms: The Pension Service's International Pension Centre assesses the eligibility of benefit claimants resident in foreign countries according to the appropriate UK legislation and relevant reciprocal agreements.
As with claims made within the UK, births, marriages, divorces and national insurance contributions are verified to determine an individual's entitlement. A programme of certification is also in place to ensure that benefits payments continue to be made appropriately.
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Energy Costs
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was spent by his Department on (a) gas and (b) electricity in 2004–05. [51767]
Mr. Plaskitt: The Department spent (a) £6,613,954.00 on gas and (b) £17,342,661.00 on electricity in 2004–05.
Freedom of Information
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many Freedom of Information applications his Department has received; how many have taken more than 20 days to process; and how many of these gave rise to complaints about the time taken. [31219]
Mrs. McGuire: In the first nine months of 2005, the Department for Work and Pensions received 1,108 FOI requests (as monitored in line with Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) requirements). 167 of these took more than 20 working days to process in full, including 36 where a permitted extension of the normal limit was required in order to apply the public interest test.
During the same period, the Department conducted 52 internal reviews where the applicant was not content with the handling of the request. In line with DCA monitoring requirements information is not kept on how many of these related to the time taken to reply.
DCA is committed to publishing quarterly updates in relation to departmental performance under FOI, including information on both the volume and outcomes of requests. The bulletin for the third quarter was published on 15 December 2005 and can be found on the DCA website at http://www.foi.gov.uk/statsapr-jun05.htm and in the Libraries of both Houses. An annual report will be published by DCA later this year.
Gas Safety
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps the Department has taken to implement the Health and Safety Commission's Fundamental Review of Gas Safety recommendation for a levy on the gas industry for research and publicity. [51000]
Mrs. McGuire: The levy envisaged by the Fundamental Review of Gas Safety in 2000 required primary legislation to impose such a charge. As an alternative, effort has focused on promoting a voluntary funding arrangement.
In 2003 Bill Callaghan, Chair of the Health and Safety Commission, met with the top six gas suppliers, now collectively represented by ERA (Energy Retail Association). Agreement was reached to fund a national gas safety strategy to include the dangers of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning.
On 31 January 2006, there was a roundtable discussion attended by ERA and key stakeholders with an interest in gas safety. ERA outlined activities that had been undertaken to promote gas safety. However no information was forthcoming on costs and no commitment was given at this meeting to extend publicity.
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The Chair of the All Party Gas Safety Committee, John Trickett MP, has now written to chief executives of the main energy companies expressing concern that a gas safety campaign has not materialised and requesting information on CO awareness raising activities. A further meeting will be arranged to discuss this information.
HSE is undertaking research to examine the scale of the CO problem associated with domestic gas appliances and any further need for raising awareness. This will help identify the most appropriate publicity measures for dealing with problems. HSE retains the option of imposing a levy.
Jobseeker's Allowance
Mr. Laws:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what the average time taken to process a
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claim for jobseeker's allowance was in (a) England and (b) each region in each month from April 2004 to September 2005; and if he will make a statement; [24538]
(2) how many claims for jobseeker's allowance have been manually processed in each month from April 2004 to September 2005; and if he will make a statement. [24573]
Margaret Hodge: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie. She will write to the hon. Member.
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions concerning what the average time taken to process a claim to Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) was in (a) England (b) each region, in each month from April 2004 to December 2005, and how many claims for JSA have been manually processed. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Source:
Central Data Unit for figures up to and including July 2004 and management information systems programme 04(MISP04) from August 2004 to December 2005.
The Actual Average Clearance Times (AACT) for JSA is measured from the date the customer first contacts Jobcentre Plus to the date the customer is sent a notice of entitlement. The performance of AACT for JSA has increased nationally from 11 days in April 04 to 15 days in December 05. Initial analysis showed that shortfalls in performance in the 'initial contact' part of the process were critical. Delays in contact centres and local service outlets were a contributory factor to the situation as well as the time it can take to gather evidence from third parties before claims can be processed.
Some of our customers did experience problems getting through to our contact centres over the Summer months. Robust plans were put in place to address this, which resulted in week on week improvements. The most recent performance information for our contact centres shows that in the week ending 3rd February we answered over 94 percent of calls offered.
To address the issue of fluctuating clearance times in benefit processing a taskforce has developed immediate recovery measures. Building on the taskforce's work, the Jobcentre Plus Chief Operating Officer launched a National Action Plan in the week commencing 30 January. The Action Plan is built around a mandatory series of health checks", taking local managers through the whole end to end process, identifying key risk elements and, where a part of the process fails the health check, directing managers to appropriate good practice products and tool-kits. Regular reviews are undertaken to ensure areas of our business do not fall below expectation. We are already seeing improvements following the introduction of these measures.
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