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Special Advisers
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many overseas visits special advisers in his Department made in an official capacity since 31 March 2004; what places were visited; and how much each visit cost. [52666]
Mr. McNulty: Since 1999 the Government have published, on an annual basis, the total costs of all ministerial overseas travel and a list of all visits by Cabinet Ministers costing in excess of £500. Copies of the lists are available in the Library of the House. Information for the financial year 2004-05 was published on 21 July 2005, Official Report, column 158WS, and for the financial year 2005-06 on 24 July 2006, Official Report, column 86WS. Since 31 March 2004 to 31 January 2006, special advisers accompanied Ministers on the visits that they made to Italy (October 2004), France (November), Germany (June 2005), Switzerland (July), France (September), USA (October), Luxembourg (October), Belgium (November and December), France (December), Austria (January 2006), and Jordan-Egypt-Libya (February). The travel costs of special advisers accompanying Ministers on overseas visits are included in the annual list of overseas travel by Cabinet Ministers. All travel by special advisers is undertaken in accordance with the guidelines set out in the Ministerial Code and the Civil Service Management Code.
Tasker Inquiry
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the issues raised by the Tasker Inquiry. [66561]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Tasker Inquiry has not yet been completed. It is expected that a report will be received by the London area manager by the end of September.
Traffic Notices
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many traffic offences have been lost under the six-month rule in each of the last eight years; and what estimate he has made of the resulting loss of revenue from fines. [61277]
Mr. Sutcliffe: This information is not held centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate costs.
Unaccompanied Children
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many unaccompanied children have entered the UK in each of the last three years; how many of them have (a) been returned immediately to their country of origin, (b) been granted indefinite leave to remain and (c) entered the UK and subsequently been returned to their country of origin as the result of a failed asylum claim; and what proportion (c) were (i) under 18 years and (ii) over 18 years at the time of their deportation. [82616]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 5 July 2006]: Information relating to the number of unaccompanied children who have entered the UK and subsequently been returned to their country of origin as a result of a failed asylum claim is unavailable and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Information on asylum applications and initial decisions for unaccompanied children are published quarterly and annually. Copies are available from the Library of the House and on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate website at http://homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.
US-UK Extradition Treaty
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many representations he has received on the US-UK Extradition Treaty in 2006. [88327]
John Reid: This information can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Video Conferencing
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many video conferencing units are installed in (a) the Department and (b) each agency of the Department; what percentage of offices have these facilities in each case; and what plans there are to increase the number. [16199]
Mr. Byrne: Details are given in the following table.
It should also be noted that individual business units within Home Office Corporate Services may have purchased video-conferencing facilities out of their own budgets and there is no centrally held record of these.
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.
Yarl's Wood
Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether any of the seven detainees who escaped from Yarl’s Wood following the fire on 14 February 2002, and whose whereabouts remain uncertain, are suspected to have committed a crime since their escape in February 2002. [79193]
Mr. Byrne: To our knowledge none of the seven detainees, who escaped from Yarl’s Wood on the night of 14 February 2002 and whose whereabouts are unknown, have committed a crime since their escape in February 2002.
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 Charter 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 .
Health
General Practitioners
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of GP practices in (a) 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 relates to strategic health authority areas in existence prior to 1 July 2006.
| number (headcount) | ||||
| 2005 | ||||
| of which: | ||||
| GP practices | Single Handed | Percentage single handed | ||
| (1)
A single handed contracted and salaried GP is one who has no partners,
although they may have a GMS/PMS other, GP registrar or GP
retainer. Note: Data is estimated based on 2006 organisational structure. Source: The information centre for health and social care general and personal medical services statistics. | ||||
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