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28 Feb 2007 : Column 1340W—continued


Proportion of households/adults victims of crime types by household income, 1998 BCS—England and Wales
Household income
Percentage victims once or more
Less than £5,000 £5,000 less than £10,000 £10,000 less than £20,000 £20,000 less than £30,000 £30,000 or more

All burglary

8.3

5.8

5.3

4.6

5.0

All vehicle theft

14.2

11.9

14.5

17.2

18.8

All violence

6.6

2.9

4.1

4.7

5.1

Source:
1998 British Crime Survey

Crime: Alcoholic Drinks

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the cost of alcohol-related crime in each police force area in England and Wales in the last period for which information is available; and if he will make a statement. [121585]


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Mr. Coaker: This information is not routinely collected. The only previous estimate of the costs of alcohol-related crime was produced by the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit in support of the Government’s Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy and published in the associated consultation document. The costs for 2001-02 were estimated at up to £7.3 billion. No breakdown by police force area was provided.

Crimes of Violence

Mr. Binley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many violent crimes in England were attributed to gang violence in each of the last five years. [122607]

Mr. Coaker: The information requested is not available centrally as the recorded crime statistics do not contain any details relating to offenders.

Departmental Pay

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which civil servant in his Department was paid the highest bonus payment in 2006; how many civil servants in his Department received bonus payments in 2006; and what the total cost was of bonus payments to officials in his Department in 2006. [111775]

Mr. Byrne [holding answer 26 January 2007]: It is not policy to comment on pay arrangements for individual employees within the Department. However, the highest paid bonus was £15,000 and this was in line with the arrangements set out by the Senior Salaries Review Board, 28th Report, dated March 2006. Set out in the table is the number of performance-related bonuses paid to employees together with the total costs for staff within the Home Office, excluding Prison Service and Identity Passport Service.

Home Office: bonus summary( 1)
Amount paid (£) Number paid

Senior Civil Servants

1,071,118

158

Civil Servants

2,426,908

4,643

Total

3,498,026

4,801

(1 )The bonus payments in the table relate to the annual employee performance review for 2005-06 and were paid in 2006-07.

Departments: Pendle

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what expenditure is planned to be carried out in Pendle by his Department in the years up to 2010; and if he will make a statement. [120602]

Mr. Byrne: The Department's expenditure is made for the benefit of the whole of Great Britain. Providing detailed spend for Pendle could only be provided at disproportionate cost.


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Departments: Retirement

Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many employees from his Department have been asked to retire upon reaching 65 years of age as a result of the Department’s mandatory retirement policy in each year since 1997. [121741]

Mr. Byrne: Staff in the Home Office can choose to retire at any age after 60. The default retirement age is 65. Staff are notified of their retirement date between 6-12 months before their 65th birthday and are informed of their right to request to work past that date. Any such requests are considered carefully and, if refused, attract a right of appeal. Data are not held centrally on staff who have been asked to retire at age 65, and could not be obtained except at a disproportionate cost.

Deportation: Convictions

Stephen Pound: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals have been (a) arrested, (b) prosecuted and (c) convicted of offences relating to the breach of a deportation order in each of the last 12 months, broken down by country of origin. [121936]

Mr. Byrne: The specific information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost gathered by exploration of each individual case file.

Stephen Pound: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals have been (a) arrested, (b) prosecuted and (c) convicted of offences relating to the breach of an exclusion order issued as a consequence of the facilitated release scheme for foreign national prisoners in each of the last 12 months, broken down by country of origin. [121937]

Mr. Byrne: There is no facilitated release scheme operated by the Department. The facilitated returns scheme which was introduced in October last year in order to help more foreign national prisoners to return voluntarily to their own country.

The Director General of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate wrote to the Home Affairs Committee on 19 February 2007. A copy of this letter has been placed in the Library of the House and it contains details of the facilitated return scheme.

Foreigners: Custodial Treatment

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what guidance he has issued to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate since 1 January 2007 on the detention of illegal immigrants or convicted foreign nationals in prisons; [120396]


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(2) whether illegal immigrants who have not been convicted of a crime in the UK are held in prisons in England and Wales; [120398]

(3) whether failed asylum seekers are held in prisons prior to deportation. [120399]

Mr. Byrne: The routine use of prisons to hold immigration detainees ended in January 2002. However, it was made clear that there would continue to be a need to hold small numbers of individual detainees in prison for reasons of security and control. That remains the case and may apply to both failed asylum seekers and other immigration offenders. In addition, individual foreign nationals who have been convicted for criminal offences in the United Kingdom may be held in prison accommodation pending deportation or transfer to the immigration detention estate on release from their prison sentences. No specific guidance has been issued but the Home Secretary has instructed the Immigration and Nationality Directorate to work closely with the National Offender Management Service and HM Prison Service.

Highly Skilled Migrant Programme

Sir Peter Soulsby: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effect of the recent changes to the highly skilled migrant programme on people who had been granted leave under the previous rules; and what estimate he has made of the numbers of people who will not be able to extend this leave. [113009]

Mr. Byrne: People who were granted leave under the immigration rules relating to the highly skilled migrant programme (HSMP) which were in force before 8 November 2006 and make applications for further leave to remain under HSMP on or after that date will have their applications considered against the requirements of paragraph 135D of the immigration rules (HC 395, as amended) as it is currently drafted. We anticipate that most of these people who are economically active in the United Kingdom will be able to extend their leave under the revised immigration rules, to succeed under the transitional arrangements for self-employed people, or to switch into work permit employment. We will be evaluating the impact of the changes.

Homicide

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many murders have been committed in 2007 in (a) England, (b) Greater London, (c) the London borough of Havering and (d) Romford. [122496]

Mr. McNulty: Latest available data relate to offences currently recorded as homicide and were published on 25 January 2007 in “Homicides, Firearm Offences and Intimate Violence 2005-06” (HOSB 02/07).
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Throughout chapter one homicide offences are shown according to the year in which the police initially recorded the crime as homicide, which is not necessarily the year in which the incident took place or the year in which any court decision was made.

As of 9 October 2006, there were 725 offences currently recorded as homicide in England during the financial year 2005-06, of which 175 were recorded by the Metropolitan police service. Data from the Homicide Index cannot be broken down to a more local level. Full data for 2006-07 are expected to be published in early 2008.

Immigration and Nationality Directorate

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects a decision to be reached on whether the Immigration and Nationality Directorate will acquire the former RAF Coltishall for use as a removal centre. [110938]

Mr. Byrne: We announced on 5 February that the former RAF Coltishall site is being transferred to the Home Office as part of our efforts to expand detention capacity.

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what mean average salary is paid to full-time officials in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. [111245]

Mr. Byrne: The mean average salary paid to full-time officials in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate is £21,157.

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the total cost was of employing temporary staff in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [111246]

Mr. Byrne: Total expenditure on staff employed through employment agencies by IND is shown in the following table. IND also employs casual staff but expenditure is not recorded separately. Information for prior years by Directorate is not available.

£

2004-05

29,365,441

2005-06(1)

28,568,740

(1 )This figure updates the provisional figure given in answer to the question tabled by Jeremy Browne MP (18 April 2006) [59912].

Members: Correspondence

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Parliamentary Business Unit of the Immigration and Nationality Department will respond to the fax of 27 November 2006 from the hon. Member for Edinburgh West regarding his constituent Mr Twana Zahir Raeof. [122104]

Mr. Byrne: I wrote to the hon. Member for Edinburgh West on 23 February 2007.


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Missing Persons

Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what requirements there are on police forces to record data on reports of missing children; [121263]

(2) what his plans are for the enhancement of the Police National Missing Persons Bureau. [121383]

Mr. McNulty [holding answer 19 February 2007]: Guidance on the “Management, Recording and Investigation of Missing Persons Cases” published by the National Centre for Policing Excellence in 2005 on behalf of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), states that information on missing persons reported to the police should be placed centrally on the Police National Computer unless exceptional circumstances apply. The Police National Missing Persons Bureau is sent data from forces on persons missing for more than 14 days, or less, if the case is considered urgent.

The Home Office/ACPO Missing Persons Strategic Oversight Group will be working with the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) on enhancing the role of the bureau and the potential transfer of the bureau’s national function from the Metropolitan police service to the NPIA once the NPIA becomes fully operational. The enhanced bureau will look to maintain a comprehensive database of missing persons and provide operational support for police forces.

Norfolk Constabulary: Community Policing

Mr. Fraser: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the impact of the change in grant for Norfolk constabulary on community policing in Norfolk. [121884]

Mr. Coaker: The funding for neighbourhood policing in Norfolk, including police community support officers (PCSOs), will increase by 37 per cent. from £2.7 million in 2006-07 to £3.7 million in 2007-08. By April 2007 Norfolk constabulary will have 189 PCSOs. They will play an important part in the continuing rollout of neighbourhood policing which will further reduce the fear of crime and address antisocial behaviour.

Norfolk Constabulary: Finance

Mr. Fraser: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the grant change for Norfolk constabulary is for financial year 2007-08. [121886]

Mr. McNulty: The information requested is set out in the table.


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Norfolk police authority funding 2006-07 to 2007-08
2006-07( 3) 2007-08

General government grant(1) (£ million)

80.5

83.4

Annual change in general government grants (Percentage)

3.6

Total specific grants and capital provision(2) (£ million)

21.4

23.1

Annual change in specific grants and capital provision (Percentage)

7.9

Total government grants (£ million)

101.9

106.5

Annual change in total government grants (Percentage)

4.5

(1) General grant comprises of Home Office Police Grant and DCLG Revenue Support Grant and National Non-Domestic Rates.
(2) Specific Grants and capital provision includes: The Crime Fighting Fund, Basic Command Unit Fund, Neighbourhood Policing Fund, Community Support Officer Funding, Special Formula Grant, Pensions Deficit Grant, Dedicated Security Posts and Capital provision.
(3) An extra capital payment of £287,000 will be paid on 12 March 2007 for 2006-07 as announced on 19 February 2007.

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