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4 Sep 2006 : Column 1746W—continued
| Quarter | Indefinite leave to enter (ILE) | Indefinite leave to remain (ILR) | Grand total |
| Indefinite leave to enter (ILE) | Indefinite leave to remain (ILR) | Grand total | |
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many former members of the armed forces from (a) Commonwealth and (b) other countries subsequently applied to become British citizens in each year since 1997. [85805]
Mr. Byrne: An applicant's former or current occupation is not separately recorded and these statistics could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of asylum seekers who are not complying with reporting requirements to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. [85865]
Mr. Byrne: Since April 2005 we have been monitoring the level of compliance with reporting requirements. Individuals who are placed on a reporting restriction are required to report at a reporting centre or a police station at regular intervals. This interval will vary from a daily reporting event up to reporting each month depending upon individual circumstances. Information we have indicates that four out of five of all planned reporting events in 2005-06 took place.
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many detainees held under immigration powers are on hunger strike in each institution. [85397]
John Reid: We record detainees who have refused to eat the meals provided. Records indicate that on 12 July there were three detainees who had refused to take the meals provided for three days or more. I am advised that one person is detained at Colnbrook and two are detained at Harmondsworth. All three are taking fluids and two are known to be buying food from the centre’s shop.
Mr. Walter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children have been detained for 21 days or more in immigration detention centres in each of the last 10 years. [75518]
Mr. Byrne: Period statistics covering October to December 2005 have been published in the latest Quarterly Asylum bulletin. Published editions of this bulletin and other information 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.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the operation of Regulation (a) 364, (b) 365, (c) 366, (d) 367 and (e) 368 of the Immigration Rules; what recent representations he has received about the operation of rules; and whether he plans to amend these rules. [70361]
Mr. Byrne: In all cases the Immigration Rules (paragraph 364) require that the Secretary of State will take into account all relevant factors, including those listed in paragraph 364, known to him before a decision to deport is taken.
Where a spouse, civil partner, or dependent child under the age of 18 of a person who is or has been deported are themselves liable to deportation, the case
must, in addition, be considered in accordance with the requirements of paragraphs 365-68 of the Immigration Rules.
On 19 July my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary laid a statement of change to the Immigration Rules. This amends paragraph 364 of the rules to set out that where an individual is liable to deportation the presumption will be that the public interest requires deportation. While the Secretary of State will consider all relevant factors in deciding whether this presumption is outweighed in any particular case it will only be in exceptional circumstances that the public interest will be outweighed in a case where it would not be contrary to our international obligations to deport.
Paragraphs 365 to 368 of the rules, which relate to spouses, civil partners and children of persons against whom a deportation order has been made, are not being substantively amended at this time but paragraph 367 is being amended to reflect the changes to paragraph 364.
My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary also reported to the House on the progress of the eight priority areas for management action to improve the way the Department deals with the deportation of foreign national prisoners. We will keep the Immigration Rules relating to deportation under review in the light of that work.
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Immigration Service staff were employed at UK (a) seaports and (b) airports in each of the last five years. [87297]
John Reid: Overall, numbers of Border Control staff have risen.
In 2001 the figure for full-time equivalent immigration control staff was 1,830.2, in 2002 the figure was 2,194, in 2003 the figure was 2,322.7, in 2004 the figure was 2,474.7, in 2005 the figure was 2,501.4 and in 2006 the figure is currently 3,594.6.
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions have been made under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006. [88653]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Information on prosecutions is taken from the court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform. The most recent year for which data are available is 2004. Data for 2005 will be available in the autumn of 2006, and data for 2006 will be available in the autumn of 2007.
Some sections of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 came into force in June this year and the other sections are being progressively commenced over time. Information on prosecutions under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 is therefore not yet available.
Mr. Mullin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department who the Ministers with responsibility for immigration and asylum have been since May 1997; and what responsibilities each Minister had. [73802]
Mr. McNulty: Information on the Ministers that had responsibility for Immigration and Asylum since May 1997 is provided in the attached table. A publication called the List of Ministerial Responsibilities which provides details of departmental and ministerial responsibilities and contact details for Minister's offices is available on line at: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/ministerial_responsibilities/index.asp
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to change the management structure in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. [77402]
Mr. Byrne: As part of the fundamental review of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate currently underway we are further considering the future management structure of the organisation. Ministers reported their findings on 25 July. The report can be found at www.homeoffice.gov.uk.
Automatic Gait Recognition Technology
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the (a) reliability and (b) effectiveness of automatic gait recognition technology in tackling crime; if he will make resources available to make this technology more widely available to the police; and if he will make a statement. [85960]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 18 July 2006]: The Home Office continues to explore the application of new authentication and identification technologies through the Biometric Centre of Expertise at the Home Office Scientific Development Branch. The Centre has tracked research in this field and has been in discussion with the National Offender Management Service on potential applications for gait recognition.
Gait recognition is one of a group of biometric technologies which are predominantly behavioural in character, in contrast with the mainly physiologically determined technologies such as facial recognition, fingerprint identification and iris biometrics, where there is more performance data and a longer history of research, development and deployment. Work on development of robust solutions using gait recognition is relatively recent and the Home Office is aware that one of the premier centres of research in the field is in the UK at Southampton University. It is recognised that automatic gait recognition has potential to support systems that protect the public, but this technology needs further development and validation before it can be considered for deployment on a routine basis.
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