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8 Jan 2007 : Column 438W—continued
Asylum Registration Cards
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum registration cards were issued in each month since July 2006. [109234]
Mr. Byrne: The number of application registration cards issued in each month since July 2006 is as follows:
| Month | Total |
| (1) 1-11 inclusive | |
Asylum and Immigration
Mr. Pelling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made by his Department in working with the Local Government Association, London councils, the Department for Education and Skills and the Department for Communities and Local Government to review the cost of supporting destitute failed asylum seekers. [112852]
Mr. Byrne:
The Home Office has agreed to establish a working group to discuss a wide range of issues
raised by local authorities in respect of asylum seekers, including the costs of supporting those that are destitute but are not supported directly by the Home Office. It is expected that this group will be meeting early in 2007 to agree a programme of work for the year based upon proposals from the local authority representative organisations. This group will specifically focus on issues that relate to more than one local authority.
In the interim, the Home Office continues to work with the local authority representative organisations and individual local authorities on specific issues as they are raised.
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many under-18s were detained in immigration removal centres on 30 November 2006. [110420]
Mr. Byrne: On 30 November there were a total of 56 under-18s detained in immigration removal centres.
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many under-18s were held at Colnbrook immigration removal centre on 30 November 2006. [110421]
Mr. Byrne: There were no under-18s held at Colnbrook immigration removal centre on 30 November 2006.
Bereavement Counselling
Mr. Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what services are provided by Government for people bereaved as a result of a (a) homicide and (b) road crash; what the cost was for providing these services in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [113314]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Home Office provides services for people bereaved as a result of a homicide through an annual grant in aid to Victim Support and an annual grant to Support After Murder and Manslaughter (SAMM). The Home Office has also produced the “Advice for Bereaved Families and Friends Following Murder and Manslaughter” pack since 2004.
The Home Office funds the BrakeCare guide for bereaved families and friends. This has been funded since 2001 and is provided to families by police officers following a road crash. The cost for producing the guide in 2006-07 is £50,324.17.
The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority also provides financial compensation to the relatives and dependents of people killed as a result of violent crime.
| Victim support | |
| Funding (£ million) | |
| SAMM | |
| Funding (£) | |
Child Immigrants
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children who had been detained for more than 28 days were being held at immigration detention centres on (a) 31 August, (b) 30 September and (c) 31 October. [101779]
Mr. Byrne: Quarterly snapshots are published showing the number of people detained under Immigration Act powers on the last Saturday of each quarter. As at 30 September 2006, there were no persons recorded as being under 18, detained solely under Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 powers, who had been detained for more than 28 days.
The number of children detained with their families solely under Immigration Act powers will change from day to day. However, internal management information shows that, as at 31 August 2006 there were three minors, and as at 31 October there were three minors detained with their families under Immigration Act powers, who had been detained for more than 28 days. These individuals were all detained as part of families whose detention as a group was considered necessary. These figures do not constitute part of national statistics as they are based on management information. This information has not been quality assured under national statistics protocols and should be treated as provisional.
Minors are detained only in two limited circumstances: first, as part of a family group whose detention is considered appropriate; secondly, when unaccompanied, while alternative care arrangements are made and normally just overnight. Whilst the detention of families with children is very regrettable, it nevertheless remains necessary in appropriate cases in order to maintain an effective immigration control and to tackle abuses of the asylum system.
Information on the number of persons detained is published in the quarterly asylum bulletin, on the Home Office Research, development and statistics directorate website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1 .html
Corporal Punishment
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will bring forward proposals for legislation to abolish all forms of corporal punishment of children. [109478]
Beverley Hughes: I have been asked to reply.
Children are already protected against intentional harm, whether physical or psychological, by the general law of assault. Corporal punishment in schools is already illegal.
Correspondence
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to reply to the letter to him dated 9 November from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton, with regard to Ms Jacinta Monteiro. [113116]
John Reid: I wrote to the hon. Member on 28 November 2006.
Crime: Cumbria
David Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offences of (a) violence against the person, (b) theft and (c) criminal damage were committed in Cumbria in each year since 1998. [112873]
Mr. McNulty: The information requested is given in the following tables.
| Table 1: selected offences recorded by the police in Cumbria, 1998-99 to 2001-02 Number of offences | |||
| Number of offences | |||
| Violence against the person | Theft and handling stolen goods | Criminal damage | |
| Note: Expanded offence coverage and revised counting rules came into effect on 1 April 1998. The figures in this table are therefore not directly comparable with those for earlier years. | |||
| Table 2: selected offences recorded by the police in Cumbria, 2002-03 to 2005-06 | |||
| Number of offences | |||
| Violence against the person | Theft and handling stolen goods | Criminal damage | |
| Note: The data in this table takes account of the introduction of the national crime recording standard in April 2002. These figures are not directly comparable with those for earlier years. | |||
Departmental Computer Data
Mr. David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether any of his Department's (a) computer data and (b) computer back-up data is stored outside the United Kingdom. [108332]
Mr. Byrne: The Home Office does not store computer data or computer back-up data outside the United Kingdom.
Mr. David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether any corrupt data have been detected on his Department's computer systems. [108468]
Mr. Byrne: Since 2001 there have been isolated incidents of data corruption with Home Office ICT services.
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department where his Department's computer (a) data and (b) back-up data is physically stored. [108704]
Mr. Byrne: The Home Office’s computer data and back-up data is stored in secure buildings across the UK. These buildings comply with HM Government security standards for handling storing and processing information and the addresses of these buildings are not to be released into the public domain.
Departmental Expenditure
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the cases of overspend on his Department’s projects costing over £5 million since 2001; and if he will make a statement. [107126]
Mr. Byrne: This information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Overall control of spend on any project is the responsibility of its senior responsible owner working within the Department’s investment approval process.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost was to his Department of conferences relating to the new asylum model in the last 12 months. [109840]
Mr. Byrne: Costs in the last 12 months total £42,130.19.
Departmental Library
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the budget for his Department's library was for each of the last five years. [110417]
John Reid [holding answer 19 December 2006]: The Home Office library forms part of the larger information services unit, which has had a number of different functions over the last five years, and a budget for the library alone cannot be isolated using the records available. The overall budget for this unit in each of the last five years is shown as follows. The figures include provision for various costs incurred on behalf of the Home Office group, such as copyright licensing, that have been or are currently funded from the unit budget.
| Costs incurred (£) | |
Departmental Staff
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) marketing officers, (b) communications officers and (c) press officers are employed in his Department; and what the total expenditure on communications for his Department was on (i) Government information and communication service staff and (ii) other (A) press officers, (B) special advisers and (C) staff in the last year for which figures are available. [104224]
Mr. Byrne: The Government information and communication service has now been replaced by the Government communication network. The categories of staff asked about do not match the recognised GCN “specialisms”. The two categories of staff that do fit are press and marketing officers.
As of the 31 October 2006 the number of press officers employed was 37, and the number of marketing officers was 15. All were employed with the Department’s communication directorate.
The latest full year’s communication expenditure data available is for 2005-06. The total marketing expenditure for that year was £22.1 million.
This included all marketing campaigns, and publications. The total press communications spend for the same financial year was £182,000.
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