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Members: Correspondence

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will answer the letter to him of 25 January 2007 from the hon. Member for Castle Point. [123026]

Mr. Byrne [holding answer 23 February 2007]: I wrote to the hon. Member on 21 February 2007.

National Offender Management Trusts

Mr. Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the proposed division of assets in respect of the national offender management trusts will be; and whether the proposed trusts will be empowered to hold reserves. [123277]

Mr. Sutcliffe: Schedule 2 of the Offender Management Bill provides for the Secretary of State to make a scheme for the transfer of property in the transition from probation boards to trusts. Probation
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boards’ assets comprise mainly office machinery, IT equipment and vehicles. The probation estate is, and will remain, the property of the Crown.

In general, it is envisaged that, where services currently run by a board transfer to a trust, the corresponding assets will transfer with them.

Schedule 1 of the Bill provides that a probation trust may not invest sums not immediately required for achieving its purposes without the approval of the Secretary of State.

Mr. Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will place in the Library summaries of the principal responses to his Department’s consultation on the creation of national offender management trusts. [123282]

Mr. Sutcliffe: In October 2005, the Government published a consultation paper, “Restructuring Probation to Reduce Reoffending”. 748 written submissions were received. In March 2006, the Government published a list of the respondents and a summary of their responses in “Working with probation to protect the public and reduce reoffending”. I am happy to make available on request copies of specific responses.

National Probation Service for England and Wales: Pensions

Mr. Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the pension arrangements for chief officers in the Probation Service are; and what plans he has for the future of such arrangements following the creation of the national offender management trusts. [123281]

Mr. Sutcliffe: All chief officers are currently members of the Local Government Pension Scheme. The intention at this present moment in time is that they will continue to remain so upon moving to trust status.

North Sea Camp Prison

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what capital expenditure there was on North Sea Camp Prison, Lincolnshire in each of the last 10 years. [120420]

Mr. Sutcliffe: In the last 10 years, there has been £2.323 million of capital expenditure on North Sea Camp prison as set out in the following table.


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North Sea Camp, capital investment (£000)
1997-98 1998-99 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 Total

Roofing

124

124

Sea defences

240

21

5

266

Fire alarms

197

28

6

231

Lightning protection

79

79

Modular temporary unit

1,177

39

48

1,264

Ancillaries

191

27

7

225

Modular library

103

24

7

134

Total

364

218

33

6

79

1,368

169

79

7

0

2,323


Offenders: Republic of Ireland

Stephen Pound: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Irish nationals have (a) applied for and (b) been granted revocation of a Deportation Order under Immigration and Nationality Department Rule 390 in each of the last five years; and how many (i) applications and (ii) revocations were made in total under this order in each year. [121871]

Mr. Byrne: Revocation of deportation orders are considered by Managed Migration’s General Group in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. Records do not show any revocation applications made by Irish nationals during the last five years. Revocation of an order does not mean the subject may re-enter the UK. It only makes them eligible to apply for entry under the Immigration Rules. A table of the number of applications and revocations from all nationalities made to General Group in each of the last five years is as follows:

Application for revocation of deportation order( 1) Revocation of deportation order( 1)

2002

10

10

2003

50

20

2004

40

20

2005

40

30

2006

50

30

Total

190

110

(1) Figures rounded to the nearest 10.
Note:
The above data is not provided under the National Statistics protocols. It has been derived from local management information and is therefore provisional and subject to change.

Passports

Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will place in the Library a copy of the Identity and Passport Service’s marketing plan for the Passport Validation Service. [122016]

John Reid: The objectives of the Passport Validation Service will be set out in the Identity and Passport Service Corporate and Business Plan, which will be published shortly.

Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will place in the Library a copy of the service level agreements of the Identity and Passport Service's Passport Validation Service. [122020]

John Reid: The Passport Validation Service will need to perform to meet the Identity and Passport Service's key performance indicators. IPS's updated key performance indicators will be published in the spring. These will be made publicly available on our website www.ips.gov.uk.

Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which organisations are (a) accredited to use the Passport Validation Service and (b) in the process of becoming accredited. [122021]

John Reid: At the end of January 2007, there were 18 organisations using the Passport Validation Service (PVS) and there are a number of interested potential users in discussions with the Identity and Passport Service at present.

PVS is used by private sector organisations regulated by the Financial Services Authority that have to comply with the ‘Know Your Customer’ statement of good practice requirements. Customers include a number of high street banks and mortgage providers that have gone through a thorough accreditation process and have entered into contractual agreements with the Identity and Passport Service.

Other Government Departments also use PVS as part of their identity management processes and are listed on the IPS website at www.ips.gov.uk.

Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Identity and Passport Service produces fictional passports for use by the creative industries. [122052]

John Reid: Passports requested in a fictitious name for entertainment purposes such as television, theatre or film are issued by the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) on completion of checks to verify the purpose for which the document is required. The IPS require such passports to be returned and destroyed immediately after use.


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Passports: Personal Records

Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information can be accessed by an employee of the Identity and Passport Service in the course of conducting a Passport Validation Service check; what training they receive; and what penalties are in place for misuse of the information. [122005]

John Reid: Employees of the Identity and Passport Service conducting a Passport Validation Service check have access to a limited number of passport records which are necessary to conduct the check effectively. These are largely the same as the information on the face of the passport:

The training received by call centre operators that relates specifically to carrying out a PVS check includes (a) an introduction to PVS and PVS processes, (b) telephone techniques and customer care, (c) an introduction to PVS policy, procedures and legal obligations and (d) specific training on PVS IT systems.

All staff are subject to the Civil Service Code and IPS’s Code of Conduct which state all staff must:

Any staff in breach of this would be subject to IPS’s disciplinary procedure which could result in their dismissal and possible criminal proceedings.

Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what databases are accessed in the process of a personal identity project biographical footprint search. [122006]

John Reid: Strengthening identity authentication is a stated business objective for IPS in its corporate and business plans. The main IPS objectives of the Personal Identity Process (PIP) are:


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