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13 Mar 2006 : Column 1965W—continued
Prisons
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which (a) prisons and (b) young offender institutions have governors who have been in post for more than two years; and how many of them will leave within the next 12 months. [55083]
Fiona Mactaggart: 51 of the 127 Governors in charge of public sector prisons and young offenders institutions in England and Wales have been in post for two or more years (as of the 1 March 2006). The establishments that they govern are shown in the following table. It is not possible to forecast which Governors will leave during the next 12 months, but the Governors from four establishments in the table will reach normal retirement age (60) during that period. Information relating to contracted prisons is not available and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
List showing governors in charge of public sector prisons and young offenders institutions in England and Wales who have been in post for two or more years (as of 1 March 2006).
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to increase funding for the work done at HM Prison Grendon. [55596]
Fiona Mactaggart: Bids for increased mental health in-reach funding to enhance the therapeutic capacity of Grendon prison have recently been submitted to the Vale of Aylesbury Primary Care Trust. Grendon is also currently responding to an invitation by the Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder (DSPD) Home Office Team to bid for consideration as a DSPD step-down facility.
Private Schools (Charitable Status)
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will initiate a review of the charitable status of private schools. [56233]
Paul Goggins: Many, but not all, independent schools have charitable status. An organisation qualifies for charitable status only if it has a charitable purpose—such as the advancement of education—and is for the public benefit. The Charity Commission, the independent regulator, will be required, under the Charities Bill now before Parliament, to issue guidance on public benefit. After the Bill is enacted, the Commission will begin a programme to review the public benefit of different groups of charities, including fee-charging charities.
Prostitution
Mrs. James: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress 'Project Reflex' has made in combating the trafficking of women to the UK to work as prostitutes. [55993]
Paul Goggins:
Reflex has made progress in combating organised immigration crime by disrupting organised criminal gangs involved in trafficking for sexual exploitation as well as people smuggling and related activities. Between April 2004 and April 2005 Reflex resulted in 149 disruptions of organised immigration crime groups. Reflex conducted 343 operations during 04/05 which resulted in 1,456 arrests 102 of these were for trafficking for sexual exploitation offences.
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Security Industry Authority
Dr. Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what powers he has to take action against the Security Industry Authority for failing to meet the deadlines for licensing door supervisors. [52037]
Paul Goggins: The deadlines for door supervisors have all already been met. The provisions in the Private Security Industry Act 2001 which required all door supervisors who carry out licensable activities to be licensed were rolled out on a regional basis, with the last offence date being 11 April 2005. Ultimately, the responsibility for obtaining a licence to undertake licensable activities lies with the individual.
Sex Offences
Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will re-examine the law on anonymity prior to conviction with respect to individuals who are the subject of allegations of sex offences. [56384]
Paul Goggins: The Government support the conduct of investigations into allegations of sex offences without publicity before charge and believes that the current system of guidance is operating satisfactorily. We have recently reviewed the impact of guidance issued by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) and found that neither ACPO nor the PCC have received any complaints about breaches of their guidance.
Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent representations he has received from members of the public wrongly accused of sex offences with regard to anonymity prior to conviction. [56385]
Paul Goggins: Our records show that during 2005 eight letters were received from members of the public about anonymity for sex offence suspects and two were received from Members of Parliament. We have no record of receiving any correspondence on this subject to date in 2006.
Sudan
Lynda Waltho: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many failed asylum seekers who stated that they were from the Darfur region of Sudan have been returned since 2000. [56982]
Mr. McNulty: The latest published information on removal of asylum seekers covers the final quarter of 2005.
The Home Office does not electronically record the region from which failed asylum seekers originate; this information would be available by examination of individual case files only at disproportionate cost. Therefore the number of failed asylum seekers that were from the Darfur region of Sudan, and where they have been returned to is not available.
In 2005 there were 235 principal asylum seekers, nationals of Sudan, removed from the UK, of whom 40 were returned to Sudan. These figures include persons departing 'voluntarily' after enforcement action has been initiated against them, those leaving under
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Assisted Voluntary Return programmes run by the International Organisation for Migration, and those who it is established have left the UK without informing the immigration authorities. These figures are rounded to the nearest five and are provisional.
Information on the number of asylum seekers removed from the UK, broken down by nationality, is produced regularly in the annual Asylum Bulletin. Destination data has only been available since 2004. Data pertaining to persons removed from the UK, broken down by nationality and destination for 2004 is also available from this publication.
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
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