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31 Oct 2006 : Column 382W—continued
Asylum Seekers
Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his Department’s estimate is of the number of failed asylum seekers who will be eligible for indefinite leave to remain as a result of the Rashid case. [91533]
Mr. Byrne: The Court of Appeal judgment in the case of Rashid, and the subsequent High Court judgment in the test cases of A, H and AH were based on a combination of factors particular to individual cases decided before March 2003 where our then policy towards certain categories of Iraqi asylum seekers may not have been correctly applied. We do not believe that a similar combination of factors is likely to exist in a high proportion of Iraqi claims. An accurate estimate of the numbers affected can be obtained only at disproportionate cost. As of the week ending 13 October, around 300 Iraqi cases where the applicant has made representations that they are eligible for ILR on the basis of the Rashid judgment have been decided and of those we have granted ILR in seven cases.
Cannabis
John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) adults and (b) young offenders were (i) reprimanded for, (ii) received a final warning for and (iii) charged with possession of cannabis in each year between 2002 and 2005. [91670]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Available information relates to the number of persons aged 18 and over in England and Wales cautioned, receiving formal warnings (since April 2004) or found guilty under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 of unlawfully possessing cannabis between 2002 and 2004. The number of reprimands and warnings, which replaced cautions for persons aged under 18 in selected areas of England and Wales on 30 September 1998, are also given for 2003 and 2004.
| Number of persons (a) aged 18 and over (b) aged under 18 cautioned or found guilty of unlawfully possessing cannabis, England and Wales, 2002 to 2004 | |||
| 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | |
| (1) Formal warnings data for cannabis possession have been available since April 2004. Those aged 18 and over who are caught in simple possession of cannabis can be eligible for a police formal warning which would not involve an arrest. Police issued 27,520 formal warnings between April and December 2004. (2) Separate figures for reprimands and warnings not available for 2002. | |||
Cargo
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements are in place to inspect commercial air cargo; whether any changes to those arrangements have been put in place since the events of 9 September 2001; and if he will make a statement. [95327]
Gillian Merron: I have been asked to reply.
It is not Government policy to comment in detail on the methods used to inspect air cargo or the means employed to counter terrorist attacks.
The screening requirements for cargo shipments travelling by air are contained within the United Kingdom National Aviation Security Programme. The measures detailed within the programme are robust, and are kept under review to maintain their effectiveness.
Child Trafficking
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his Department has undertaken best interests assessments of all trafficked children. [93012]
Mr. Byrne: The Immigration and Nationality Directorate seeks to safeguard the welfare of all children subject to immigration control in cooperation with the relevant authorities. The best interests of all children, including unaccompanied children who may have been trafficked, are taken into account as part of this process.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps his Department takes to ensure that (a) deported trafficked children are supported upon their arrival in their original country and (b) these children are not trafficked again. [93013]
Mr. Byrne: It remains the Government’s position that we would not seek to remove an unaccompanied asylum seeking child to his or her home country unless adequate and safe reception arrangements were in place. As part of the consideration of the suitability of return, the Home Office would undertake a case-by-case assessment of any risk of trafficking or re-trafficking that they might face post-return.
Correspondence
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letters from the hon. Member for the Isle of Wight dated 15 June, 24 July and 19 September 2006 to the Director General of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate concerning Mrs. Taylor, a constituent of the hon. Member. [93940]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 16 October 2006]: The Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) wrote to the hon. Member for Isle of Wight (Mr. Turner) on 12 October 2006.
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter to him of 11 September 2006 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mrs. Thi Thao Nguyen. [95572]
Mr. Byrne: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 30 October 2006.
Crime Statistics
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many victims of crime there were (a) in total, (b) in each police authority area and (c) in each local authority area in each of the last 25 years. [93666]
Mr. McNulty: The British Crime Survey (BCS) is a national victimisation survey covering crime in England and Wales since 1981. Estimates of victimisation by police force area have been available through the BCS only since 2001-02. Figures are reported annually in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin ‘Crime in England and Wales'.
There is no figure for the overall numbers of victims as certain crimes are against households (such as burglary or some forms of vandalism) and thus affect an undefined number of people. This is true both of police recorded crime and BCS figures. The best
indicator is therefore given by the number of incidents of crime in England and Wales estimated by the BCS which are shown in the attached table going back to 1981. The estimates of prevalence for each police force area from 2001-02 to 2005-06 can be found within the web pages devoted to each of the annual Crime in England and Wales statistical bulletins (incident estimates are not available by police force area). The figures cannot be broken down by local authority area.
2005-06 http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/crimeew0506.html
2004-05 http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/crimeew0405.html
2003-04 http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/crimeew0304.html
2002-03 http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/crimeew0203.html
2001-02 http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/crimeew1.html
The estimate of victimisation in England and Wales is now at the lowest level it has been since 1981, and has fallen by 44 per cent. since its peak in 1995. The number of crimes in England and Wales in 2005-06 is estimated as 10,912,000, 8.4 million fewer crimes than in 1995.
| Trends in incidents of crime in England and Wales, 1981 to 2005-06 BCS | ||
| Year( 1) | All BCS crime (thousand) | Unweighted base( 2) |
| (1) In 2001-02 the BCS moved to a continuous format and estimates are reported for interviews conducted in each financial year based on crimes experienced in the 12 months prior to interview. (2) The BCS is a sample survey of adults resident in private households and the unweighted base gives the number of adults interviewed on which estimates are based. | ||
DNA Profiles
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether DNA profiles retrieved during the course of an investigation where the crime remains unsolved are deleted as a matter of routine once the persons concerned are eliminated from police inquiries. [89880]
Joan Ryan [holding answer 9 October 2006]: DNA samples taken voluntarily for elimination purposes e.g. from persons such as the victim, witnesses, another person who had legitimate access to the crime scene or as part of an intelligence led screen must be destroyed as soon as they have fulfilled the purpose for which they were taken unless the person gives written consent to their DNA profile being loaded onto the National DNA Database.
DNA profiles retrieved from a crime scene which cannot be identified as coming from a person not suspected of the crime are added to the National DNA Database.
EU Migrant Workers
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many workers from other EU states there were in the Lancashire region in each of the last five years. [96343]
Mr. Byrne: The Home Office does not generally monitor the regional distribution of workers from other EU member states.
The Immigration and Nationality Directorate publishes regional information on those workers who came to work in the UK from the eight Eastern European countries which acceded to the EU on 1 May 2004. Nationals of these eight countries (the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia) are required to register on the Worker Registration Scheme (WRS) within one month of starting work in the United Kingdom.
Information about the number of workers in the Lancashire region is not available in the report. However, the number of workers in the North West who have registered from 1 May 2004 to 30 June 2006 is published in table 7 of the Accession Monitoring Report, on the following link:
www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/aboutus/reports/accession_monitoring_report
Mr. Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many workers from other EU states there were in (a) North East Cambridgeshire, (b) Cambridgeshire and (c) the Eastern region in each of the last five years. [95717]
Mr. Byrne: The Home Office does not generally monitor the regional distribution of workers from other member states.
The Immigration and Nationality Directorate publishes regional information on those workers who came to work in the UK from the eight Eastern European countries which acceded to the EU on 1 May 2004. Nationals of these eight countries (the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia) are required to register on the Worker Registration Scheme (WRS) within one month of starting work in the United Kingdom
Information about the number of workers in the areas specifically requested is not available in the report. However, the number of workers in the Anglia, Midlands and Central regions who have registered from 1 May 2004 to 30 June 2006 is published in table 7 of the Accession Monitoring Report, on the following link:
www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/aboutus/reports/accession_monitoring_report
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what criteria were used by his Department in its formula to predict the estimated number of migrant workers to the UK from the 2004 EU accession countries. [95618]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 23 October 2006]: The Home Office did not make an official estimate of the numbers of migrants who would come to the UK following the European Union enlargement of 2004.
We published independent research on our website in 2003, with its methodology. This can be found at:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/rdsolr2503.pdf
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