House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 17 May 2006 (pt 0017)

17 May 2006 : Column 1025W—continued

Published statistics on immigration and asylum are available on the Home Office's Research and Development
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and Statistics website at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html

Removals and voluntary departures^{( 1 )} of asylum applicants, returned to Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo Democratic Republic, Eritrea, and Ethiopia, 2005^{( 2,p)}
Number of asylum seekers
	Total	Of whom:
Destination		Principal applicants^{( 3)}	Dependants of asylum applicants
Angola
Total asylum applicants removed	165	120	45
of whom: persons leaving under Assisted Voluntary Return Programme	40	30	10
of whom: persons removed as a result of enforcement action^(5,6)	125	85	35
Burundi
Total asylum applicants removed	20	15	5
of whom: persons leaving under Assisted Voluntary Return Programme	15	*	—
of whom: persons removed as a result of enforcement action^(5,6)	*	10	5
Central African Republic
Total asylum applicants removed	*	*	—
of whom: persons leaving under Assisted Voluntary Return Programme	—	—	—
of whom: persons removed as a result of enforcement action^(5,6)	*	*	—
Chad
Total asylum applicants removed	20	20	—
of whom: persons leaving under Assisted Voluntary Return Programme	5	5	—
of whom: persons removed as a result of enforcement action^(5,6)	15	15	—
Congo Democratic Republic
Total asylum applicants removed	40	40	*
of whom: persons leaving under Assisted Voluntary Return Programme	5	5	—
of whom: persons removed as a result of enforcement action^(5,6)	35	35	*
Eritrea
Total asylum applicants removed	*	*	—
of whom: persons leaving under Assisted Voluntary Return Programme	—	—	—
of whom: persons removed as a result of enforcement action^(5,6)	*	*	—
Ethiopia
Total asylum applicants removed	40	40	*
of whom: persons leaving under Assisted Voluntary Return Programme	15	15	*
of whom: persons removed as a result of enforcement action^(5,6)	25	25	—
⁽¹⁾Includes persons departing Voluntarily after enforcement action had been initiated against them, persons leaving under Assisted Voluntary Return Programmes run by the International Organisation for Migration, those who it is established have left the UK without informing the Immigration Authorities. ⁽²⁾Figures rounded to the nearest five, with — = 0, * = 1 or 2, and may not sum due to rounding. ⁽³⁾Persons who had sought asylum at some stage, excluding dependants. ⁽⁴⁾Persons leaving under Voluntary Assisted Return Programmes run by the International Organization for Migration. May include some on-entry cases and some cases where enforcement action has been initiated. ⁽⁵⁾Including persons departing Voluntarily after enforcement action had been initiated against them, and those whom it is established have left the UK without informing the Immigration Authorities. ⁽⁶⁾Excludes Assisted Voluntary Returns. ^(p)Provisional figures.

Bruche Police Training Centre

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he has taken to ensure that Centrex co-operates with (a) the local authority and (b) local residents when planning the future use of the site of the Bruche police training centre. [64745]

Mr. Byrne [holding answer 24 April 2006]: The Bruche site will continue to be used as a police training centre up until 26 May this year. The situation remains that there are no options as to future use on which to consult locally yet. Any such options will be determined largely by who takes an interest in purchasing the site when it is put onto the market. The Home Office continues to work closely with Centrex on that process and, once options begin to emerge, we will be in a position to engage with local people over the future use of the site. The Centrex estates and facilities management team, along with staff working on behalf of my Department, have already begun preliminary discussions with local planning authorities around all three Centrex sites that are closing and will be focusing more effort on these discussions over the coming months.

Any change in the use of sites will, of course, require planning permission and the local authority will then need to involve residents in consultation over their decisions on any applications that are made. We welcome the involvement, in all such discussionsand consultations, of members representing those communities that are affected by the closure of Centrex sites.

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Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer of 2 May 2006, Official Report, column 1405W, on Bruche police training centre, what discussions his Department has had with Centrex on the future use of the Bruche police training centre; when these discussions took place; and whether any companies have expressed an interest in purchasing the site. [68711]

Mr. Byrne [holding answer 8 May 2006]: As the sponsor department for Centrex, dialogue is, of course, ongoing between the Home Office and Centrex in relation to the disposal of the police training centre at Bruche. However, as the property has not yet been put on the market, no clear options as to future use have yet emerged for discussion.

Cannabis

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will reclassify the drug cannabis by moving it from Class C to Class B. [68950]

Mr. Coaker: No, cannabis will not be reclassified from a Class C to a Class B drug. On 19 January, the former Home Secretary announced in Parliament that he had considered very carefully the advice which he had asked for from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and on behalf of the Government had accepted the council's recommendation to keep the current classification of cannabis as a Class C drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

Capita Group

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much business his Department has placed with (a) Capita Group plc and ( b) its subsidiaries in each of the last five years; what the total value is of outstanding contracts placed with Capita Group plc and its subsidiaries by his Department; for which current tenders issued by his Department (i) Capita Group plc and (ii) its subsidiaries have been invited to bid; and whether (A) Capita Group plc and (B) its subsidiaries have seconded staff (1) temporarily and (2) on a longer-term basis to (X) his Department and (Y) its agencies. [61073]

Mr. Byrne: The information on the total value of contracts held with the Capita group which is available for the last three financial years is as follows:

	£
2003-04	35,651,040
2004-05	60,386,458
2005-06	47,758,223

Information on 2001-02 and 2002-03 is not held centrally and to obtain this information would incur disproportionate cost.

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Information on contracts and participation in procurements by Capita and its subsidiaries is not held centrally and to obtain information on the value of outstanding contracts and current tenders would incur disproportionate cost.

Information on seconded staff is not held centrally and to obtain this information would incur disproportionate cost.

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the value of contracts held by his Department with (a) Capita plc and (b) its subsidiaries was in the last three financial years. [61462]

Mr. Byrne: The information on the total value of contracts held with the Capita group in the last three financial years is in the following table.

£
2003-04	35,651,040
2004-05	60,386,458
2005-06	47,758,223

Information on the individual value of contracts held by the Department with Capita plc and/or its subsidiaries is not held centrally and could not be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.

Similarly where a contract relates to spend in more than one year, we are unable to distinguish the proportion of spend applicable to each of the three years requested.

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many contracts his Department holds with (a) Capita plc and (b) its subsidiaries which still have a potential duration of five years or more. [61464]

Mr. Byrne: This information is not held centrally and could not be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.

Careless Driving

Mr. Touhig: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions he has had with (a) police forces and (b) campaign organisations on sentencing of those convicted of careless driving following incidents in which a person died. [71371]

Mr. Sutcliffe: In 2005, the Government published a consultation exercise entitled “A Review of Road Traffic Offences involving Bad Driving” which examined this issue. During that consultation, a number of interested parties including the police, judges and road safety groups were consulted. A full summary of responses is available in the Library. Proposals arising out of the consultation have been included in the current Road Safety Bill. These include a new offence of causing death by careless driving with a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment.

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Chip and PIN

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance he has given to retailers on the protection from fraud of customers using Chip and PIN technology; and if he will make a statement. [70469]

Mr. Coaker [holding answer for 15 May 2006]: Chip and PIN is a finance and retail industry initiative introduced to help tackle counterfeit, lost and stolen card fraud. The Government have actively supported the introduction of Chip and PIN. I have not issued guidance to retailers on protection from fraud of customers using Chip and PIN technology but the banking industry makes available a large amount of fraud prevention advice to meet the needs of both merchants and cardholders.

The impact of Chip and PIN has been seen in industry figures⁽¹⁾ published in March which show that in 2005 counterfeit fraud fell by 25 per cent. and fraud on lost or stolen cards fell by 22 per cent. compared to 2004.

⁽¹⁾ APACS

Mr. Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what reports he has regarding the incidence of Chip and PIN fraud; what steps he is taking to tackle such fraud; and if he will make a statement. [71351]

Mr. Coaker: Chip and PIN is a finance and retail industry initiative introduced to help tackle counterfeit and lost and stolen card fraud. The Government have actively supported the introduction of Chip and PIN.

We understand from APACS (the UK payment industry) that despite recent reports of fraud at a Chip and PIN outlet this is likely to be an isolated episode and does not signify a systematic failure of the Chip and PIN system.

The incident is being investigated by the Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit, a specialist police unit which investigates cheque and card fraud where there is a link to organised crime. Government money helped establish the unit, which is now fully funded by the banking industry and an excellent example of partnership working to tackle crime.

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