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Violent Death

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons have been victims of violent death since 1 January 2006; and how many victims of violent death there were between 1 January and 10 July in each of the last 10 years. [85143]

Mr. Sutcliffe: Information on the number of violent deaths in England and Wales is not collected centrally. Available data relate to offences classed as homicide. The number of offences currently considered as homicide, recorded by police between 1 January and 10 July in each of the years 1996 to 2004-05, are given in the following table. Data for the periods April to July 2005 and January to July 2006 relate to financial years 2005-06 and 2006-07, full analyses of which will be published in January 2007 and 2008 respectively.

4 Sep 2006 : Column 1966W

Offences currently recorded as homicide( 1,2) , England and Wales
Year( 3,4)	Number of offences
1996	307
1997	330
1997-98	328
1998-99	325
1999-2000	363
2000-01	421
2001-02	415
2002-03	427
2003-04	429
2004-05	447
(1) As at 28 November 2005; figures are subject to revision as cases are dealt with by the police and by the courts, or as further information becomes available. (2) Does not include death by careless/dangerous driving and aggravated vehicle taking. (3) Calendar years data relate to offences recorded by police between 1 January and 10 July; other years data relate to 1 April to 10 July and 1 January to 31 March within the specified financial year. (4) This is not necessarily the year in which the incident took place or the year in which any court decision was made.

Witnesses

Mr. Ian Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many witnesses have requested special measures in each of the last three years. [24582]

Mr. Sutcliffe: This information is not collected centrally.

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were convicted of offences of intimidation or harming of witnesses in each year since 2003; and how many of those received a custodial sentence in each year. [88499]

Mr. Sutcliffe: Data from the court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform on the number of people convicted of offences of intimidation or harming of witnesses; and how many of those in each year received a custodial sentence in England and Wales, 2003 to 2004 can be seen in the following table. Court proceedings statistics for 2005 will be available in the autumn of 2006.

Number of people convicted at all courts for offences relating to intimidation or harming of witness in England and Wales( 1, 2) 2003 to 2004
		2003			2004
			Sentenced			Sentenced
Statute	Offence Description	Guilty	Total sentenced( 3)	Of which immediate custody	Guilty	Total sentenced( 3)	Of which immediate custody
Criminal Justice & Public Order Act 1994, Sec.51(1)	Intimidating a juror or witness or person assisting in investigation of offenders	467	469	211	523	525	259
Criminal Justice & Public Order Act 1994, Sec.51(2)	Harming or threatening to harm a juror, witness or a person assisting in investigation of offences	76	77	34	113	112	56
Criminal Justice & Police Act 2001 S39	Intimidating or intending to intimidate a witness	2	3	2	10	12	7
Criminal Justice & Police Act 2001 S40	Harming or intending to harm a witness	2	2	0	2	2	0
	Total	547	551	247	648	651	322
(1 )These data are on the principal offence basis. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts, and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (3 )The sentenced figure can exceed those found guilty, as it may be that the sentencing took place in the Crown court the year after a person was found guilty at the magistrates court. Source: Office for Criminal Justice Reform.

Work Permits

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which work permit schemes are available to farmers for employing migrant labour. [73185]

Mr. Byrne: The schemes available to UK farmers under the work permit arrangements for the employment of migrant labour are the Work Permit Scheme, the Training and Work Experience Scheme (TWES) and the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (SAWS).

4 Sep 2006 : Column 1967W

To qualify for consideration under the Work Permit Scheme the job must require a person with a degree or relevant HMD level qualification, or an NVQ at level three and three years relevant experience.

The TWES arrangements relate to jobs that provide temporary work experience or training requiring a person with either an NVQ at level three or at least 12 months work experience.

The SAWS enables UK farmers and growers to employ students from outside the European Economic Area on a seasonal basis for up to six months a year.

Farmers may also employ workers from other European Union countries, subject only to a requirement for those from Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic to register under the Worker Registration Scheme.

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many valid work permits issued to workers from each country there were at the latest available date. [83804]

Mr. Byrne: The information is set out in the following table.

4 Sep 2006 : Column 1968W

4 Sep 2006 : Column 1969W

4 Sep 2006 : Column 1970W

Nationality	Valid permits
India	102,730
Philippines	41,079
United States Of America	35,191
South Africa	30,524
Australia	21,044
China Peoples Republic Of	20,830
Zimbabwe	13,802
Pakistan	13,097
Malaysia	11 ,654
Japan	11,371
Nigeria	8,165
New Zealand	7,799
Canada	7,726
Bulgaria	5,935
Romania	5,161
Ghana	4,265
Thailand	4,067
Ukraine	4,003
Bangladesh	3,900
Russia	3,800
Kenya	3,370
Sri Lanka	3,200
Mauritius	3,165
South Korea	3,089
Jamaica	2,626
Turkey	2,359
Zambia	2,207
Singapore	2,090
Brazil	2,079
Nepal	1,978
British National Overseas	1,976
Hong Kong	1,753
Trinidad and Tobago	1,765
Argentina	1,518
Israel	1,358
Egypt	1,179
Mexico	1,103
Lebanon	894
Guyana	889
Poland	864
Iran	863
Belarus	852
Colombia	786
Indonesia	759
Taiwan	735
Malawi	620
Uganda	579
Botswana	557
Cameroon	540
Moldova	527
Jordan	514
Yugoslavia	505
Hungary	491
Croatia	473
Tanzania	448
Sierra Leone	436
Venezuela	421
Morocco	415
Syrian Arab Republic	411
Czech Republic	382
Myanmar	366
Swaziland	359
Saudi Arabia	324
Sudan	322
Kazakhstan	321
Algeria	305
Chile	305
Cyprus	298
Switzerland	297
Vietnam	293
Barbados	292
Libya	289
Serbia	271
Cuba	251
Slovakia	247
Albania	224
Lesotho	224
Namibia	210
Gambia	198
Tunisia	197
Peru	189
Azerbaijan	175
Macedonia	163
St. Lucia	161
Seychelles	153
Iraq	151
Latvia	149
Lithuania	147
Uzbekistan	133
Georgia	132
Palestine	114
Malta	108
Senegal	104
Congo	99
Angola	94
St. Vincent	89
Brunei	86
Kuwait	85
Ethiopia	81
Armenia	77
Bosnia—Herzegovina	74
Grenada	69
British Overseas Citz.	68
Ecuador	68
Mongolia	66
Dominica	65
Costa Rica	64
Uruguay	64
Fiji	61
Estonia	58
Kyrgyzstan	55
Afghanistan	50
Slovenia	49
Bahrain	47
Oman	47
Bolivia	45
Ivory Coast	44
Mali	43
Dominican Republic	42
St. Helena	40
United Arab Emirates	40
Belize	36
Bahamas	31
Turkmenistan	30
Somalia	29
Yemen Republic Of	28
Samoa	27
Maldives	26
Panama	25
Mozambique	24
Tonga	24
Kosovo	23
Togo	23
British Dependant Terr	21
Antigua	20
Guatemala	20
Paraguay	20
Tadzikhistan	20
Honduras	19
El Salvador	18
Nauru	18
St. Kitts	16
Niger	15
Rwanda	15
Gabon	13
Haiti	13
Qatar	13
Burundi	12
Liberia	12
Palestinian Authority	12
Papua New Guinea	12
Benin	11
Eritrea	10
Mauritania	10
Burkina Faso	9
Guinea	8
Monaco	8
Cambodia	7
Madagascar	7
Montenegro	6
Nicaragua	6
Surinam	6
Andorra	5
Bermuda	4
Bhutan	4
Chad	4
Zaire	4
North Korea	3
Sao Tome and Principe	3
Turks and Caicos Islands	3
Vanuatu	3
Burma	2
Comoros	2
Djibouti	2
Soloman Islands	2
Central African Republic	1
Kiribati	1
Laos	1
Western Samoa	1
Total	416,909

‘Valid’ work permits refers to all work permits, which are currently active. These figures may not accurately equate to the actual number of work permit holders currently working in the UK as some permit holders may never have entered the UK or may have returned overseas without informing Work Permits (UK). The validity of a work permit varies depending on the circumstances, but may be for a period of up to five years.

The figures quoted are not national statistics. They are based on provisional management information and may be subject to change.

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether existing holders of work permits who have a right to apply for residency after four years will be required to meet the new requirements of five years on work permits. [86568]

Mr. Byrne: Existing holders of work permits will be subject to the new requirements for settlement introduced on 3 April. Work permits do not create an entitlement to have future applications dealt with under the immigration rules in force when they were granted.

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