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11 Sep 2006 : Column 2220W—continued
Foreign Criminals
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many civil service staff hours have been expended on duties related to the release of foreign offenders since July 2005. [68619]
Mr. Byrne: This information is not readily available and could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the former foreign national prisoners identified as not having been assessed for deportation and subsequently relocated have been claiming benefits. [68745]
Mr. Byrne: The immigration and nationality directorate are working with all other relevant agencies to conclude all cases where foreign national prisoners were released without due consideration. The information as requested is not currently available in the format requested and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the foreign nationals who were not assessed for deportation on release from prison were visited by foreign consular services during their incarceration; and which embassies were involved in each case. [68768]
Mr. Byrne: This information is not held centrally. During the induction process for new prisoners, it is a requirement that all foreign national prisoners are offered the opportunity to contact their embassy or high commission.
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will instruct chief police officers to publish any available photographs in their respective constabulary areas of foreign nationals considered for deportation but released on completion of their sentences and still at large, to facilitate their arrest; and if he will make a statement. [70168]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 12 May 2006]: My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary already explained during his appearance before the Home Affairs Committee on 23 May 2006 that this is an operational matter for the police. Discussions have taken place between officials from the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) on whether making public details of ex-offenders would assist in locating them. It is the considered view of ACPO that a decision should only be taken on a case by case basis as to whether to publicise the details of those individuals who are the subject of ongoing deportation action and still need to be located.
Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign nationals are (a) awaiting trial and (b) helping police with inquiries. [67458]
Mr. Byrne: The information requested is not available.
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what rules govern applications for (a) leave to remain and (b) British citizenship by foreign nationals who have served in the British Army. [82372]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 4 July 2006]: The rules applying to applications for leave to remain in the UK by foreign nationals discharged from the British Army are set out in paragraphs 276L to 276Q of the Immigration Rules. I would refer the hon. Gentleman to the information contained on the IND website at: http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/lawandpolicy/immigrationrules/part7.
Foreign nationals who have served in HM Forces and who wish to apply for British citizenship must make a successful application for naturalisation under sections 6(1) or 6(2) of the British Nationality Act 1981. Policy requirements and procedures for handling applications are available for viewing on the IND website at: http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/britishnationality.
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to Lin Homer's letter to the Home Affairs Select Committee, what crimes were committed by the seven serious foreign national offenders who have not been detained; what the nationality was of each; how long each served in prison; and when each was released. [88953]
John Reid: It is not the general policy of the Department to disclose specific details into the public domain which may identify individuals included among the 1,013 foreign national prisoners who were released without deportation consideration.
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign nationals were released from HMP Wellingborough in (a) March, (b) April and (c) May 2006; and how many were considered for deportation. [85596]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Comprehensive statistical information on discharges is not centrally available, and providing information based on manually stored records could be achieved only at disproportionate cost.
The Department does not hold information on how many foreign nationals released from HMP Wellingborough in (a) March, (b) April and (c) May were considered for deportation and could provide this information only at disproportionate cost.
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign prisoners (a) claimed asylum and (b) were deported at the end of their prison sentence in each of the last five years. [73531]
Mr. Byrne: The information requested for the period concerned is not collected centrally and only available at disproportionate cost. In a written ministerial statement of 19 July 2006, Official Report, column 28WS, I provided an update to the House on the progress the Department is making to ensure that foreign national prisoners face deportation as early as possible within their sentences.
Hadi Nozadi
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will conclude consideration of the status of Hadi Nozadi of Lower Sharpham Barton, Ashprington, Totnes, who was refused asylum on 22 November 2001. [77516]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 22 June 2006]: The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Enfield, North (Joan Ryan), wrote separately to the hon. Member regarding Hadi Nozadi on 26 June 2006.
Immigration and Nationality Directorate
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff there are in each civil service grade in the immigration and nationality directorate who have been recruited since 1 January (a) 2006 and (b) 2005; and if he will make a statement. [75161]
Mr. Byrne: The immigration and nationality directorate does not hold this information in the format requested, which could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions have taken place between officials of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate and Jobcentre Plus regarding the allocation of national insurance numbers. [76196]
Mr. Byrne:
Officials at a variety of levels in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate have been in regular contact with their counterparts in Jobcentre Plus about the procedures for allocating national insurance numbers. No central record is kept of the detail of these discussions. However, they have covered a wide variety of legislative, policy and procedural matters relating to the recently announced changes to these procedures. These changes introduced from July
2006 a “right to work” condition for employment related applications for national insurance numbers.
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what investigations (a) his Department and (b) the police are conducting into allegations that (i) permanent residency visas and (ii) changes in residency status are being bought from immigration officials; and if he will make a statement. [84146]
John Reid: The Department takes all allegations of misconduct very seriously. Any such allegation will be thoroughly investigated and any necessary action taken in accordance with departmental procedures.
To provide details about the investigations that are under way at the moment would risk compromising their successful outcome.
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many passports have been lost while being held by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate pending an immigration decision in each of the last five years. [85402]
John Reid: The only information on passports relates to applications made under managed migration routes for variation of leave, work permits and citizenship. Management information for all of these work streams is only available for the last three years. This indicates that the number lost in 2003-04 was 588, in 2004-05 was 452 and in 2005-06 was 288.
Information Technology
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the value was of each IT contract awarded by his Department in each of the last five years; and who the contractor was in each case. [88986]
Mr. Byrne: The following tables outline those details that are centrally held in relation to major IT projects with a value over £10 million. The Home Office runs a number of smaller IT projects but details of these are not held centrally.
| Desktop Services | ||||
| Business | IT Unit | Supplier/contract | Value (£ million) | Year |
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many IT projects have been developed for his Department since 2001; and whether he has agreed to make public Gateway reviews for these projects (a) in full and (b) in part. [23519]
Mr. Byrne: Information on the number of projects is not held centrally and is therefore not available. To provide a complete answer in the time available would therefore incur disproportionate costs.
A Gateway review is conducted on a confidential basis for the Senior Responsible Officer. Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 each request for the release of information contained in a Gateway Review is considered on a case-by-case basis.
Life in the UK Test
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have (a) taken and (b) successfully completed the Life in the UK test for adult applicants who want to become British citizens since its inception; and if he will make a statement. [88450]
Mr. Byrne: Information on the number of individuals who have taken the Life in the UK Test is not currently available, as some applicants will have taken the test more than once before passing it. Between the introduction of the Life in the UK Test in November 2005 and 22 July 2006, 82,375 tests were taken. Of these, 56,615 were passed and 25,760 failed, giving an overall pass rate of 68.7 per cent.
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will place in the Library a copy of the Life in the UK test for adult applicants who want to become British citizens. [88519]
Mr. Byrne: No. The Life in the UK test is a multiple choice test comprising 24 questions, selected from a bank of around 200 questions, which were carefully scrutinised by the Advisory Board on Naturalisation and Integration. All of the answers to the test questions can be found through study of the handbook “Life in the United Kingdom: A Journey to Citizenship”. It would not be appropriate to publish the test questions, as this would enable people to learn them by rote and thus defeat the object of the test.
Ministerial Visits
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the towns in (a) England and Wales, (b) Scotland and (c) the European Union that he has visited in an official capacity in each month since 1997; what the purpose was in each case; what the (i) date, (ii) time, (iii) location and (iv) duration was of each meeting; if he will place in the Library the text of any speech made; and if he will make a statement. [65001]
Mr. Byrne: This information can be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, all ministerial visits are conducted in accordance with the Ministerial Code and Travel by Ministers. The Government publishes on an annual basis lists of overseas travel by Cabinet Ministers costing over £500 which will include visits to the European Union. Lists covering 1997 to 2005 are available in the Libraries of the House. Information for 2005-06 is currently being compiled and will be published when it is available.
Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what visits (a) in the UK and (b) overseas Ministers in his Department have made in the last 12 months. [73677]
Mr. Byrne: This answer can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions he has visited each region in an official capacity in the last 12 months. [84004]
Mr. Byrne: The current Home Secretary and his immediate predecessor visited the Government regions of the South West, the South East, the West Midlands, the North East and London over the last 12 months.
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