| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
2 Oct 2006 : Column 2612W—continued
Criminal Justice System (Employer Coalitions)
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the role of employer coalitions in the criminal justice system. [62771]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Developing on the proposal in the Government’s Green Paper on Reducing Re-offending Through Skills and Employment, the National Employment Panel will be piloting the role of Job Developers in up to six major cities. Job Developers will be recruited in the Autumn and will work with the National Offender Management Service’s Regional Offender Managers, and employment and training agencies, to identify suitable jobs for offenders. Getting offenders into sustainable employment will contribute to the Home Office aim of reducing re-offending.
Criminal Records Bureau
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average time between the receipt of an application for a Criminal Records Bureau check and the full formal response was in each year from 2000 to 2005; and what the average time was for applications submitted since the beginning of 2006. [91238]
Joan Ryan [holding answer 18 September 2006]: I refer the hon. Member to my written answer of 12 June 2006, Official Report, column 1025W. It is important to note that the Published Service Standards are measured from receipt of a fully and correctly completed application form to the despatch of the completed Disclosure.
Departmental Staff
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff in his Department are paid on a performance-related basis. [50493]
John Reid: All staff in the Home Department are paid on a performance related basis. Staff must meet a minimum acceptable standard to receive a pay award. In Prison Service and non-agency Home Office, staff who achieve an exceptional standard will in addition receive a performance bonus. In UKPS, a corporate bonus is awarded to all staff depending on the targets achieved by their local office / HQ.
Deportation
Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects Misha Goravoy, reference TA4581, who completed his prison sentence at Bullingdon Prison three months ago, to be deported. [76125]
Mr. Byrne: It is not the policy of the Department to comment on the specific details of individual cases in the public domain. However, if the hon. Gentleman wishes to write to me with detailed representations on this matter and sets out the basis of his interest in this case I will consider these further.
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people from each Commonwealth country have been deported in each of the last five years. [89063]
Mr. Byrne: Up until 2002, published information is available on the total number of persons against whom deportation action was initiated, in the Control of Immigration: Statistics United Kingdom Command Paper. Published editions of this Command Paper 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
Information on deportation action was not available for 2003 due to data quality issues in this area. Information for 2004 has been published provisionally and may be revised in the 2005 Control of Immigration: Statistics United Kingdom Command Paper publication. The Immigration and Nationality Directorate is currently putting in place new processes to improve its data collection systems for the future in this area.
Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his answer of 18 July to question 68798, what role his Department plays in setting the contractor’s operating procedures for the treatment of foreign nationals being deported; how many such contractors there are; and if he will place in the Library the operating procedures for each contractor. [87901]
Mr. Byrne:
The contractor’s operating procedures follow the guidance given in a series of detention service orders, issued by this Department to establish standards for immigration removal centres and escorting. Detention service orders are publicly
available. In addition, we are in the process of developing escorting standards, which when published will also be publicly available. The contract for overseas escorting is held by G4S Justice Services Ltd. Two other companies are also approved to carry out overseas escorts. The operating procedures will be placed in the Library. However, it may be necessary to redact certain sections for the safety and security of detainees and staff.
Detention Estate Population Management Unit
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Detention Estate Population Management Unit plans to introduce a real time electronic database of those immigration offenders currently detained. [91251]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 18 September 2006]: The Detention Estate Population Management Unit (DEPMU) maintains a record of all detainees in the custody of the escorting contractor and main Removal Centres. These records are in the process of transferring to the main casework information database (CID) used by the Immigration Nationality Directorate caseholders.
Drug Classification
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions his Department had with (a) outside bodies and experts and (b) the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs before classifying (i) benzodiazepines, (ii) khat, (iii) ecstasy and (iv) magic mushrooms. [48709]
Paul Goggins: I will address each of the four substances in turn:
(a) The Home Office has not been in discussions with outside bodies other than occasional correspondence with members of the public and the lobby group “Beat the Benzos”.
(b) Benzodiazepines were first brought under the controls of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 in 1986 following consultation with the Advisory Council on the Misuse of drugs (ACMD). The ACMD considered the classification of these drugs again in 2004 following representations from the “Beat the Benzos” group, but did not recommend any alteration to the classification.
(a) The Home Office commissioned two pieces of work on khat, by Turning Point and MACRO, in addition to receiving a number of pieces of correspondence from members of the public and community groups.
(b) The issue of Khat was referred to the ACMD in March 2005. They established a Khat working group to consider the issue in detail and report back to the full council. The council published its report and recommendations in January 2006 and their recommendations were accepted in full.
(a) The Home Office as not been in discussions with any outside bodies about ecstasy.
(b) Ecstasy was placed in class A on the recommendation of the ACMD in 1977. In 1996 the ACMD convened a special meeting to discuss ecstasy following a number of deaths. They did not make any recommendation to change the classification.
(a) The Home Office has not been in discussions with any outside bodies about magic mushrooms.
(b) The recent legal alteration to the position of magic mushrooms under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 was primarily a matter of legal clarification. We wrote to the ACMD, and asked for its views on our proposals, before the Drugs Bill was introduced. The ACMD agreed that a clarification of the legal position was necessary. In addition, they approved the associated regulations.
Drug Treatment Programmes
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many inmates in prisons in England and Wales have (a) successfully completed and (b) started but failed to complete a drug treatment programme. [47700]
Fiona Mactaggart: Figures for 2004-05 showed that (a) 4,902 prisoners successfully completed a drug treatment programme and (b) 2,719 failed to complete—a completion rate of 64.3 per cent. During that year the target for successful completions was 60 per cent. The target for 2005-06 is 65 per cent. completion.
Electronic Borders
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the Prime Minister’s oral answer of 17 May 2006 to the right hon. Member for Witney (Mr. Cameron), Official Report, column 991, what his timescale is for introducing electronic borders; and what proposals he has to introduce identity cards for foreign nationals. [73200]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 23 May 2006]: The e-Borders programme is currently at the procurement stage. Implementation will take place thereafter with full e-Borders capability by 2014.
As outlined in the Immigration Nationality Directorate Review of 2006, biometric identity management for foreign nationals will be introduced from 2008.
Extreme Pornography
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the terms of reference were of the consultation on the possession of extreme pornography; and when he expects to publish a response to the consultation. [49855]
Fiona Mactaggart: The Consultation on the Possession of Extreme Pornographic Material, which we announced on 30 August, sought views on four options for creating a new offence of simple possession of extreme pornographic material containing explicit actual scenes or realistic depictions of:
i) intercourse or oral sex with an animal;
ii) sexual interference with a human corpse;
iii) serious violence in a sexual context;
iv) serious sexual violence.
By “serious violence” we mean violence in respect of which a prosecution of grievous bodily harm (GBH) could be brought in England and Wales.
One of the purposes of the consultation was to seek views on the categories and definitions which were outlined. The consultation period ended on 2 December 2005 and nearly 400 responses were received covering a wide spectrum of views. A Government response is due in March.
Foreign Nationals (UK Entry)
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign nationals entered the United Kingdom for the purpose of (a) business, (b) tourism and (c) immigration in each year since 1997. [88241]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 24 July 2006]: The requested figures are in the table from the Home Office Statistical Bulletin “Control of Immigration: Statistics United Kingdom” publication for the years 1997 to 2004. 2005 figures will be published on 22 August 2006 in the Command Paper “Control of Immigration: Statistics, United Kingdom 2005”, and may be obtained from the Library of the House and from the Home Office website http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html
Foreign Prisoners
Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign nationals convicted of serious offences and serving sentences in Scottish prisons have been (a) recommended for deportation by a court, (b) considered for deportation by his Department, (c) deported by his Department and (d) released without deportation at the end of their sentence since January 1999. [67593]
Mr. Byrne: I refer the hon. Member to the most recent written ministerial statement of 23 May 2006, Official Report, column 77WS. My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary set out in this statement the eight priority areas for management action to deliver our long term agenda for change on radically improving the system for deporting foreign national prisoners. The sixth point deals specifically with the position in Scotland and Northern Ireland concerning foreign national prisoners. We shall update the House with our progress on this point shortly.
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the released foreign prisoners being sought by the police are on the Sex Offenders Register. [69655]
Joan Ryan [holding answer 9 May 2006]: My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has updated the House on this matter today in a written ministerial statement, and the Director General of the Immigration and Nationality Department (IND) has written to the Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee today on the number of cases where foreign national prisoners were released without proper deportation consideration. A copy of the letter has been placed in both Libraries.
Mr. Spellar:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his answer of 18 April
2006, Official Report, column 337W, on prisons, how many cases of (a) foreign nationals and (b) dual nationals have been referred to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate by the Prison Service in each of the last three years. [67004]
Mr. Byrne: My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary and his predecessor have provided regular statistical updates to the House on the number of cases where foreign national prisoners were released without proper deportation consideration. In particular I refer my right hon. Friend to the most recent written ministerial statements of 15 and 23 May 2006. We will continue to update the House on the 1,019 cases as we work through these and urgently recheck the information we hold to ensure that any further information we provide to the House is as accurate as possible. We aim to provide a further update to the House by the end of June.
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps the Immigration and Nationality Directorate is taking to encourage the voluntary return of failed asylum applicants in detention for criminal offences. [67494]
Mr. Byrne: The Voluntary Assisted Return and Reintegration Programme (VARRP) is the voluntary return programme for all failed asylum seekers and is currently open to convicted prisoners who are subject to control under the Immigration Act, and who have finished serving sentences of less than 12 months.
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners have been deported (a) before their non-parole release date (NPD) and (b) on, or shortly after, their NPD, in each of the last five years. [45873]
Fiona Mactaggart: Information in the form requested is not available without disproportionate cost.
Ian Missing
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the conclusion of the review commissioned by Essex Police and Essex Probation Services, on the case of Mr. Ian Missing, that their new enhanced measures of sharing information are in breach of national guidelines; and if he will make the necessary changes to national guidelines to address the situation. [46269]
Fiona Mactaggart: The guidance on information sharing referred to in the review accompanies the national standards for the probation service in the production of pre-sentence reports. It is for use by the Crown Prosecution Service. While it does not specify any police-held information that should be excluded, it only stipulates what must be included. Providing additional information, such as previous arrests, would not, technically, be in breach of agreed guidelines. As a result of the report the NPD will involve the national Police and the CPS in clarifying the guidance.
Identity Cards
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much funding his Department allocated to the London School of Economics for research into identity cards. [68570]
Joan Ryan: The Home Office has not provided funding to the London School of Economics for research into identity cards.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |