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10 May 2006 : Column 310W—continued
Ministerial Cars (Fuel Costs)
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the fuel costs were for ministerial cars used by her Department in each of the last five years. [67019]
Mr. Caborn: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my hon. Friend the Minister of State for Transport my hon. Friend the Member for South Thanet (Dr. Ladyman) on 27 April 2006, Official Report, column 1226W.
Olympic Games 2012
Anne Snelgrove: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what progress has been made in providing a manual of facilities identified as suitable for training camps by National Olympic and Paralympic Committees for the Olympic games in 2012; [68848]
(2) what progress has been made in providing interested organisations with the guidelines and requirements for training camps for the run up to the Olympic games in 2012. [68849]
Mr. Caborn: It is expected that guidelines and technical requirements for facilities and organisations will be available on the website of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic games (www.london2012.com) by the end of May. Facilities will shortly be invited to submit their interest in being assessed for inclusion in the manual.
Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of Statefor Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 27 February 2006, Official Report, columns 214-5W, on the London Olympics, what the most recent estimate made by KPMG is of the cost of the 2012 Olympics. [69425]
Tessa Jowell: The review of the cost of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games is still ongoing. Any revised estimates will be reported only when they have been agreed and when the cost review has been completed.
Public (Arts Organisation)
Mr. Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many times the chief executive of the Arts Council of England, West Midlands, was invited to attend the Board of the arts organisation, the Public, in each of the last three years; and how many times she attended. [68482]
Mr. Lammy: The Regional Executive Director of Arts Council England West Midlands has attended one board meeting in 2005. She has attended The Public's stakeholder meetings. Arts Council staff have attended at least 17 board meetings over the last three years. These have mostly been attended by the lead officer or the Director of Arts.
Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport who the lead officer was from the Arts Council responsible for liaison on the construction of the building to house the Arts Organisation, the Public based in West Bromwich. [69531]
Mr. Caborn: The chief executive of Arts Council England, Peter Hewitt, is the accounting officer for the organisation.
Schools Strategy
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on the National Strategy for Physical Education, School Sport and Club Links; how much her Department has (a) allocated and (b) plans to allocate to the initiative; and if she will list those schools which will take part in the initiative. [68846]
Mr. Caborn: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Department for Education and Skills are working together to deliver the National School Sport Strategy. From 2003-06 DCMS invested £150 million in the strategy, and between 2006-08 the
Department has allocated another £89 million. From September 2006 all maintained schools will be part of a School Sport Partnership.
Home Department
Asylum/Immigration
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers who were normally resident in (a) Peterborough and (b) Cambridgeshire in the 12 months after entering the United Kingdom have been (i) refused asylum and (ii) removed from the United Kingdom in each year since 1999; and if he will make a statement. [68762]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 8 May 2006]: Statistics on the location of asylum seekers who were refused asylum and removed from the UK since 1999 is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost by the examination of individual case records.
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what post-return monitoring is in place to ensure that all returns to Iraq are safe and sustainable. [65622]
Mr. McNulty: Returnees under the voluntary assisted return and reintegration programme—VARRP—are only monitored in so far as they have approached the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to receive counselling and reintegration assistance. Initial counselling begins upon arrival at the port of entry and further counselling takes place post-arrival, which ranges from assistance with social reinsertion and administrative procedures. Of those who have been monitored through their use of reintegration assistance it has been reported that there is no evidence that returnees have found themselves in danger or under threat of persecution due to their being returnees.
There is no post-return monitoring or sustainability programme for those persons who choose not to return as part of an assisted voluntary return package and whose subsequent removal from the UK is enforced.
However, removal will only be carried out where it is considered both appropriate and safe to do so and only after a full assessment of each case has been thoroughly conducted.
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what procedures and safeguards are in place to ensure that all returning Iraqi asylum seekers reach their home village or town safely. [65623]
Mr. McNulty: In respect of voluntary returns through Erbil and Sulaymaniyah, returnees assisted by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) are met upon arrival by the IOM. Arrangements are in place at both airports which allow the IOM and their representatives unrestricted access, enabling staff to provide assistance to returnees from the moment they land. They are assisted through immigration, baggage retrieval and customs formalities.
The IOM arranges with local transportation companies in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah for returnees to be transported via bus or car to their final destination within the three Northern Governorates and their immediate vicinity, this means Kirkuk and Mosul. Arrival is confirmed by the transportation company. For returns through Baghdad, passengers are met at the airport by IOM staff. Only one company is able to provide transportation from Baghdad International airport. The IOM arranges for the returnees to be taken to Baghdad's main land transportation hubs where onward travel is organised either by taxi or bus.
For enforced returns, there is clearly a difficult position in those parts of Iraq most affected by insurgent action, but it is not accepted that this applies to all areas.
Returns are taken forward on a case by case basis and are only enforced to areas assessed as sufficiently stable and where the Home Office is satisfied that the individual concerned will not be at risk of persecution or in need of humanitarian protection. The 15 individuals who were removed on an enforced return flight to Erbil on 20 November 2005 were offered onward transport to their home town or village.
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps are being taken (a) to improve and (b) to extend the statistics published on those detained under immigration legislation powers; if he will take steps to provide annual data showing the total number of people who have sought asylum, at what stage of the asylum process the individual was detained, the duration and location of their detention and any transfer across the immigration detention estate; and if he will make a statement. [68400]
Mr. McNulty: Period statistics covering those leaving detention were published for the first time in February 2006 on the Home Office's Research Development and Statistics website at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html. Statistics on persons leaving detention during July to September 2005, broken down by those who have sought asylum at some stage, place of last detention and the length of sole detention were published in the quarterly asylum bulletin.
There are currently no plans to publish statistics on transfers across the immigration detention estate. It is not possible to say which stage of the asylum process people are at when they are detained. The decision to detain is made on a case by case basis and may be appropriate in one or more of the following circumstances: to effect removal; while a person's identity and claim is being established; where a person is unlikely to comply with the conditions of temporary admission or release; or where the application is capable of being considered quickly.
Detailed official statistics on the asylum process are quality assured and published by the Immigration Research and Statistics Service (IRSS). Further information about National Statistics can be found at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/default.asp. The full range of immigration statistics published by the Home Office, including the frequency of publication, has recently been addressed in an independent review of the Control of Immigration Statistics publications.
An early findings paper was published in August 2005, which can be found on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/statsprog1.html. The Home Office is not bound to accept the recommendations, many of which would require additional resources, and is currently considering its response to the review.
Sandra Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what alternatives he has considered to the detention of children in immigration detention centres. [68080]
Mr. McNulty: I refer my hon. Friend to my answer to a similar question of 26 April 2006, Official Report, column 312.
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether (a) Dungavel and (b) Oakington Detention Centre is being used to hold immigration detainees from Northern Ireland; and what consultation took place on the proposal to hold such detainees in those centres. [68255]
Mr. McNulty: There have been some recent developments in respect of immigration detention in Northern Ireland. Until early 2006 it had been the case that ‘where it was necessary to detain individuals in Northern Ireland’ men were accommodated in the Working Out Unit, Crumlin Road, Belfast and women were accommodated at HMYOC Hydebank Wood.
It is now the case that individuals in Northern Ireland who are detained under Immigration Act powers are no longer held in Northern Ireland. Such individuals are transferred to a detention facility in Great Britain either on the day of detention or within 24 hours. In the majority of cases individuals will, initially, be detained at Dungavel House Immigration Removal Centre. Individuals whose asylum applications are straightforward and capable of being decided quickly may be held at Oakington Reception Centre.
While there are occasions when consultation with outside bodies is appropriate, there will be other occasions, of which this was one, where such consultation would delay changes to operational policy and practice that can and should be made quickly. In this case, consultation would simply have served to prolong the routine use of prison places in Northern Ireland for detainees beyond the point that it was operationally necessary to do so. This would not have been desirable.
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 18 April 2006, Official Report, column 365W, on UK immigration procedures, how many of those listed in the table have been included in the number of those recorded as removals and voluntary departures of asylum seekers. [68596]
Mr. McNulty: None of the persons listed in the previous table provided, have been recorded as removals or voluntary departures of asylum seekers as they have not been granted leave to enter the United Kingdom, and are handed straight over to the French authorities.
Business Rates/Council Tax
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been imprisoned for non-payment of (a) business rates and (b) council tax in each year since 1997. [66293]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Information on numbers of prisoners held under non-criminal categories of imprisonment is to be found in table 7.10 at the website http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/omcs.html for the Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2004. Figures can be found for all years since 1993 for the categories community charge/council tax, and rates. The data are as obtained from the prison IT system.
Child Trafficking
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 2 May 2006, Official Report, column 1406W, on child trafficking, whether the information requested is collected at a local level by (a) local authorities, (b) the police and (c) the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. [68551]
Mr. McNulty: Neither local authorities, police nor IND currently have specific requirements or associated standards and processes for such information to be collected at a local level. While some local recording may take place, it is not systematic. The Home Office is working in collaboration with DFES, local authorities, Local Safeguarding Children Boards and relevant voluntary organisations to address these issues. Among other steps we are establishing dedicated social work teams at ports and asylum screening units.
These teams will benefit from additional training and close working relationships with the Police and Immigration Service. The teams will ensure that children who need safeguarding will be properly referred to statutory agencies, and the information about them will be captured on the National Register of Unaccompanied Children and in due course the DFES Information Sharing Index.
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 2 May 2006, Official Report, column 1406W, on child trafficking, if he will take steps to establish a system which will collect information about children who have been trafficked or smuggled from (a) EU countries and (b) the rest of the world. [68552]
Mr. McNulty: Information on the steps being taken to establish a system to collect information about children who have been trafficked or smuggled to the UK has been provided in answer to the hon. Gentleman’s related PQ 68551. The Home Office is working in collaboration with both the EU and G8 countries to combat trafficking and the following outlines current actions:
The EU action plan on combating and preventing trafficking in human beings, which was agreed during the UK presidency, contains a number of specific actions focusing on children, including:
“holding a seminar on sharing best practice regarding the identification of children at risk, in particular unaccompanied minors;
improving the strategic and tactical intelligence picture on trafficking in human beings and enabling an intelligence-led approach;
ensuring that Frontex (the EU's border agency) work on trafficking takes into account the particular circumstances of the most vulnerable victims, in particular children and women.
The plan also commits member states to sharing lists of priority origin and transit countries and the most frequently encountered routes, as well as improving knowledge on the scale and nature of trafficking in human beings.
The G8 are committed to tackling the threat of human trafficking and has recently accepted the UK's questionnaire and concept paper on human trafficking and smuggling which was proposed during our presidency. The concept paper and questionnaire will serve to add value to the G8's position on immigration crime and aims to highlight where a joined-up international approach on human trafficking will be most influential by looking at current trends, routings and areas of best practice.
Criminal Justice Act
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the custody plus and related provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 will be brought into force; what period of notice will be given before their introduction; and what transitional provisions his Department has planned. [67117]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Criminal justice agencies have already been advised that the Government are planning to introduce custody plus in the autumn of 2006. We are currently considering what transitional arrangements may be required.
Criminal Justice and Court Services Act
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which provisions within the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 (a) have not yet come into force and (b) have been replaced (i) prior to and (ii) after coming into force. [67120]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The information requested is shown in the following table.
Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000—commencement
The following tables detail the Sections and Schedules to the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 which are repealed, not currently in force, or partially in force:
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