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Self-Determination

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether it is his Department's policy that the principle of self-determination can be (a) limited and (b) constrained by treaty. [63613]

Ian Pearson [holding answer 18 April 2006]: The Government supports the right or principle of self-determination reflecting the wishes of the people concerned. It should be exercised in accordance with the other principles and rights in the UN Charter and with other treaty obligations. This has been and continues to be the position of successive British Governments.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Child Immigrants (Detention)

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the longest length of time is that a child who is being detained for immigration purposes has been held. [58857]

 
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Mr. McNulty: Information on the longest length of time that a child who is being detained solely under Immigration Act Powers is unavailable. Published statistics on immigration and asylum issues are available on the Home Office's Research Development and Statistics website: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.

Correspondence

Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to answer the letter of 23 February from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton, about Mrs. Eva Wilson. [63933]

Mr. Charles Clarke: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 10 April 2006.

Home Detention Scheme

David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners were released on the Home Detention Curfew scheme in 2004–05 for (a) less than one month, (b) one to two months, (c) two to three months, (d) three to four months and (e) over four months in each year since the scheme was introduced. [59140]

Fiona Mactaggart: Information on the number and percentage of prisoners released on Home Detention Curfew (HDC) by time to be spent on curfew, from 1999 to 2005, is given in the following tables.
HDC releases with information on time to be served on HDC

	1999		2000		2001		2002
	Actual	Percentage	Actual	Percentage	Actual	Percentage	Actual	Percentage
Less than one month (i.e. up to 30 days)	3,768	26	3,978	26	3,301	25	5,573	29
One to two months (31 to 60 days inclusive)	10,740	74	11,170	74	9,935	75	12,817	67
Two to three months (61 to 90 days inclusive)	—	—	—	—	—	—	875	5
Three to four months (91 to 120 days inclusive)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Four to four and a half months (121 to 136 days inclusive)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Total (excluding those with no valid centrally held information)	14,508	100	15,148	100	13,236	100	19,265	100

	2003		2004		2005
	Actual	Percentage	Actual	Percentage	Actual	Percentage
Less than one month (i.e. up to 30 days)	5,564	29	5,266	30	4,329	27
One to two months (31 to 60 days inclusive)	4,195	22	3,896	22	3,359	21
Two to three months (61 to 90 days inclusive)	6,420	33	2,817	16	2,730	17
Three to four months (91 to 120 days inclusive)	1,337	7	1,456	8	1 ,556	10
Four to four and a half months (121 to 136 days inclusive)	1,912	10	4,301	24	4,188	26
Total (excluding those with no valid centrally held information)	19,428	100	17,736	100	16,162	100

Notes:
1. The table does not include those with no valid centrally held information on time to be spent on tag.
2. These statistics are based on information recorded on the central Prison Service IT system on 1 April 2006.
3. Further updates and amendments may be made to records on this system in future resulting in revised figures.
4. Two changes were made to the scheme in 2002: the introduction of the Presumptive HDC scheme in May for prisoners serving between three months and under 12 months, and the increase of the maximum curfew period to 90 days on 16 December. On 14 July 2003 the maximum curfew period was increased to four and a half months.





 
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Identity Cards Register

Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what date the Identity Cards Register will commence operation. [63895]

Andy Burnham: No date has yet been determined for the commencement of the National Identity Register. This will depend on the progress of the procurement exercise.

Security Industry Authority

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many licence applications had been processed by the Security Industry Authority by 1 March. [62303]

Paul Goggins: The total number of fully processed licence applications by the Security Industry Authority at 1 March 2006 was 79,974.

World Cup (Complimentary Tickets)

Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many complimentary tickets his Department has received for games taking place at the FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany. [63909]

Paul Goggins: The Home Office has not received any complimentary tickets for World Cup matches taking place in Germany this summer. The Home Secretary may attend matches, and may be accompanied by officials. However, no decisions have been made at this time.

TREASURY

Bank Accounts

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people in Coventry, South did not have access to a bank account on 31 December (a) 2005 and (b) 1997. [63423]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The most recent data available that allows assessment to be made of the number of households with no access to a bank account is the Family Resources Survey from 2002–03. This indicates that 8 per cent. of households in the United Kingdom had no bank account of any kind. This equated to 1.9 million households containing around 2.8 million adults. This data is broken down to Government Office regional level. This shows 10 per cent. of households in the West Midlands were unbanked.

In 1997–98, the Family Resources Survey was collected on a Great Britain basis, excluding Northern Ireland. 8 per cent. of households in the West Midlands were unbanked at that time compared to 8 per cent. of households in Great Britain as a whole.

In December 2004, the Government and the banks agreed to work together towards the goal of halving the number of adults in households with no access to a bank account of any kind and of making significant progress
 
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within two years. The Financial Inclusion Taskforce has been asked to monitor progress. The taskforce recently made its first annual report, which concluded that steady progress has been made towards the goal but also encouraged banks to continue to address the difficulties faced in opening a bank account.

Ben Chapman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the take-up of basic bank accounts. [63274]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: Following the report of Policy Action Team 14: Access to Financial Services in 1999, the banking industry worked with the Government to introduce the basic bank account which is specifically designed to address the needs of the financially excluded.

The Government do not collect data on the numbers of basic bank accounts. The latest data from the British Bankers Association show that between April 2003 and December 2005, a net total of 1.64 million basic bank accounts were opened.

The Family Resources Survey indicates that in 2002–03 8 per cent. Of households, containing around 2.8 million adults, had no access to a bank account of any kind.

In December 2004, the Government and the banks agreed to work together towards the goal of halving the number of adults in households with no access to a bank account of any kind and of making significant progress within two years. The Financial Inclusion Taskforce recently made its first annual report on progress towards the goal, which concluded that steady progress has been made but also encouraged banks to continue to address the difficulties faced in opening a bank account.

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