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11 Sep 2006 : Column 2238W—continued

Visas

Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether there have been any recent allegations made to his Department of visas being sold by UK officials at home or overseas; and if he will make a statement. [73833]

Mr. Byrne: 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 outcome.

Youth Cluster

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for funding Youth Cluster (a) has applied for and (b) has been granted in each of the last five years; to what funding programmes the organisation applied; and if he will make a statement. [87975]

Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer 24 July 2006]: As far as I am aware, the Home Office has received two applications for funding from Youth Cluster in the last five years.

One application was granted in July 2004 under Positive Futures. One application was not granted under Connecting Communities Plus.

Youth Crime (Peterborough)

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to tackle youth crime in Peterborough; and if he will make a statement. [53701]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The Youth Justice Board awarded a grant of £248,000 to Peterborough Youth Offending Team (YOT) for services to prevent youth crime and anti-social behaviour between 2005 and 2008. The grant is to fund an activity-based Youth Inclusion Programme (YIP) and develop the role of a Youth Offending Service co-ordinator. The YOT is also planning to part-fund a multi agency Youth Inclusion Support Panel (YISP), to provide support for young people at risk, providing it can attract additional partnership funding. The YOT also receives £755,700 per annum to provide a range of services for young offenders during and after their custodial sentence, including the Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme (ISSP), and Resettlement and Aftercare Provision (RAP) for young offenders with substance misuse problems. The YOT uses a multi-agency response to increase the resources and expertise available.

11 Sep 2006 : Column 2239W

Health

General Practitioners

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of GP practices in (a)
11 Sep 2006 : Column 2240W
England and (b) each region were single-handed in each of the last five years. [88148]

Caroline Flint: The latest available information up to September 2005 is given in the following table. The data relate to strategic health authority areas in existence prior to 1 July 2006.

GP practices and single handed contracted and salaried GPs( 1) by strategic health authority, at 30 September 2001-05
numbers (headcount)
		2001			2002
			of which:			of which:
		GP practices	Single handed	Percentage single handed	GP practices	Single handed	Percentage single handed
	England	8,910	2,626	29.5	8,833	2,566	29.1
	North East	408	86	21.1	407	83	20.4
Q10	County Durham and Tees Valley	168	35	20.8	169	37	21.9
Q09	Northumberland, Tyne and Wear	240	51	21 3	238	46	19.3
	North West	1,398	470	33.6	1,377	460	33.4
Q15	Cheshire and Merseyside	448	134	29.9	445	132	29.7
Q13	Cumbria and Lancashire	378	125	33.1	370	119	32.2
Q14	Greater Manchester	572	211	36.9	562	209	37.2
	Yorkshire and the Humber	878	243	27.7	875	243	27.8
Q11	North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire	265	70	26.4	266	74	27.8
Q23	South Yorkshire	229	59	25.8	226	62	27.4
Q12	West Yorkshire	384	114	29.7	383	107	27.9
	East Midlands	653	145	22.2	648	143	22.1
Q25	Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland	226	53	23.5	223	48	21.5
Q24	Trent	427	92	21.5	425	95	22.4
	West Midlands	1,050	386	36.8	1,036	385	37.2
Q27	Birmingham and the Black Country	536	236	44.0	530	238	44.9
Q26	Shropshire and Staffordshire	272	105	38.6	267	100	37.5
Q28	West Midlands South	242	45	18.6	239	47	19.7
	East of England	819	194	23.7	806	182	22.6
Q02	Bedford and Hertfordshire	231	54	23.4	230	52	22.6
Q03	Essex	279	96	34.4	275	93	33.8
Q01	Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire	309	44	142	301	37	123
	London	1,713	739	43.1	1,696	722	42.6
Q05	North Central London	309	140	45.3	313	145	46.3
Q06	North East London	384	196	51.0	381	194	50.9
Q04	North West London	463	210	44.5	457	200	43.8
Q07	South East London	307	117	38.1	300	112	37.3
Q08	South West London	244	76	31.1	245	71	29.0
	South East	1,224	266	21.7	1,224	256	20.9
Q18	Kent and Medway	308	118	38.3	302	113	37.4
Q19	Surrey and Sussex	380	82	21.6	379	72	19.0
Q16	Thames Valley	297	40	13.5	302	46	15.2
Q17	Hampshire and Isle of Wight	239	26	10.9	241	25	10.4
	South West	767	97	12.6	764	92	12.0
Q20	Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire	328	46	14.0	326	41	12.6
Q22	Somerset and Dorset	185	22	11.9	185	22	11.9
Q21	South West Peninsula	254	29	11.4	253	29	11.5

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