| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
16 Apr 2007 : Column 442W—continued
Departments: Complaints
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff worked in dedicated complaints units in his Department and its Executive agencies in (a) 1997-98, (b) 2001-02 and (c) 2005-06; and how many have done so in 2006-07 to date. [121667]
Mr. Byrne: The Home Office does not have any dedicated complaints units and does not hold any historic information on complaints units.
Departments: Contracts
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what payments his Department has made to Intellect in each of the last five years. [125937]
Mr. Byrne: The core Department including the Immigration and Nationality Department has no record of payments to Intellect. One of the Department's agencies, the Identity and Passport Service, has recorded four transactions totalling £2,255 plus VAT.
Departments: Freedom of Information
Mr. Wills: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of monitoring the time spent processing requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for the purposes of the proposed fees regulations. [121717]
Mr. Byrne: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by the Parliamentary Secretary of the Department for Constitutional Affairs on 22 February 2007, Official Report, column 865W.
Departments: Golden Arrow
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many meetings the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Criminal Justice System and Offender Management) has attended with representatives of (a) Golden Arrow and (b) Sovereign Strategy since taking office; and if he will make a statement. [131068]
Mr. Sutcliffe: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Wimbledon (Stephen Hammond) on 27 March 2007, Official Report, column 1443W.
In addition, a review of my ministerial diary has indicated that I have not met with representatives of Sovereign Strategy in my official capacity since I became the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State.
On a general basis, Ministers and civil servants meet many people as part of the process of policy development and advice.
Departments: Logos
Mr. Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his Department has commissioned work on logos for (a) a Ministry for Justice and (b) other Home Affairs departments. [126190]
Mr. Byrne: Under the machinery of Government changes announced by the Prime Minister on 29 March, there are no plans currently to change the name or logo of the Home Office. Logos for the Ministry of Justice are a matter for the Department of Constitutional Affairs.
Departments: PFI
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of his Department’s budget was taken up by private finance initiative commitments in each of the last 10 years for which information is available; and if he will make a statement. [125198]
Mr. Byrne: This information is not readily available and the cost of obtaining it would be disproportionate.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of his Department's budget will be taken up by private finance initiative commitments in each of the next 10 years assuming that the budget grows in line with the Treasury's estimates for gross domestic product over the period; and if he will make a statement. [125199]
Mr. Byrne: The Department’s annual payments for private finance initiatives (PFI’s) for the next 10 years are:
| Total (£000) | |
In relation to forecasting the percentage of the Department’s budget to be taken up by PFI's for the next 10 years, HM Treasury has stated the following:
While the Treasury makes assumptions about GDP growth in the following decade, the comprehensive spending review is a fundamental assessment of public spending. It would clearly be inappropriate for Departments to forecast their settlements in advance of the review. Where Departments have already settled, the information is publicly available and accurate projections are in place.
Departments: Pressure Groups
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what meetings took place between Ministers in his Department and outside interest groups between 1 January and 31 March; and what the date was of each such meeting. [131033]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Ministers and civil servants meet many people as part of the process of policy development and advice. It is not normal practice to disclose details of such meetings.
Departments: Public Appointments
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the former hon. Members who left Parliament in 2005 who have since been appointed to public bodies by his Department, broken down by party; and who was responsible for making each appointment. [130143]
Mr. Byrne: No former hon. Members who left Parliament in 2005 have been appointed to Home Office public bodies.
Departments: Surveys
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 20 February 2007, Official Report, column 1505W, on Departments: surveys, if he will place in the Library the results of the monthly staff survey for (a) January and (b) February. [127882]
John Reid: The monthly staff survey is used for internal management information purposes.
There is no plan to place the results in the Library of the House.
Departments: Theft
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what items valued at above £100 were reported as stolen from his Department's buildings or premises in the last 12 months. [121977]
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the value was of items stolen from his Department in 2006. [126077]
Mr. Byrne: The central Home Office and Immigration and Nationality Directorate reported thefts or losses for non-IT property in 2006 to the value of £250 in respect of postal orders.
The recorded number of stolen items of IT property for 2006 is 19. Because Home Office IT assets are supplied under managed service contracts, a specific cost cannot be attributed to each item without incurring disproportionate cost.
The Department has guidelines which should be followed in the event of a theft or loss. All reported thefts or losses are investigated and appropriate action is taken in the light of these investigations.
Departments: Trade Unions
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many meetings (a) he and (b) his Department's Ministers held with trade union representatives in 2006. [128756]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Ministers and civil servants meet many people as part of the process of policy development and advice. It is not normal practice to disclose details of such meetings.
Deportation
Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress he has made in effecting the deportation of Mr. Aleksandr Latsinnek since the Minister’s letter to the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan of 21 December 2006; and if he will make a statement. [126020]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 8 March 2007]: It is not our policy to comment on individual cases.
Deportation: Democratic Republic of Congo
Mr. Love: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps his Department is taking to monitor the treatment of returned asylum seekers deported from the UK in the Democratic Republic of Congo; and if he will make a statement. [127847]
Mr. Byrne: We would not return people to a country where they had established that they were at real risk of ill-treatment on return and thus were in need of international protection. If specific allegations are made that any returnee has experienced ill-treatment on return from the UK, then these will be followed up through the FCO.
Deportation: Equatorial Guinea
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether Equatorial Guinea is deemed a safe country to which to return failed asylum seekers; and if he will make a statement. [124693]
Mr. Byrne: We continuously monitor the political and human rights situation in all asylum intake countries including Equatorial Guinea through key governmental, non-governmental and other human rights organisations. Asylum decision-makers take into account the situation in the country of origin as it affects each asylum applicant when making a decision on an asylum claim. Individual claimants who have been found by both the Home Office and the Independent Appeals Process not to be in need of protection are expected to leave the UK.
If they do not leave voluntarily, they may have their return enforced.
Deportation: Zimbabwe
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had in 2007 regarding a change in status for enforcement of deportation to Zimbabwe; and if he will make a statement. [129340]
Mr. Byrne: We are not currently enforcing removals to Zimbabwe pending the resolution of a test case relating to such removals. On 6 March the Court of Appeal found that, in reaching its determination that the enforced return of failed asylum-seekers to Zimbabwe does not put them at risk of mistreatment, the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal did not fully consider material parts of the evidence of two of the witnesses in this case and has asked the tribunal to look at that evidence again. We continue to expect those found by the asylum decision making and independent appeals process not to need international protection to return to Zimbabwe voluntarily.
Dispersal Orders: Cleveland
Mr. Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many dispersal orders were issued in each basic command unit covered by Cleveland police in each of the last three years. [130895]
Mr. McNulty: The numbers of dispersal orders made in the Cleveland police force area for the last three years is as follows:
| Number of dispersal orders | |
Information is not collected centrally for which basic command unit these orders originated from.
Domestic Violence
Lynda Waltho:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many domestic violence
offenders have completed community rehabilitation orders without having (a) started and (b) completed the Integrated Domestic Abuse Programme that was a condition of their sentence. [128838]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many reported incidents of domestic abuse there were in (a) Hartlepool constituency, (b) Tees Valley sub-region, (c) the North East region and (d) the UK in each of the last 10 years. [130901]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Data for the number of reported incidents of domestic violence in the police force areas covering the North East region are available from 2001-02 (see table). Data for Cleveland are only available from 2003-04. Data are not available for Hartlepool constituency, the Tees Valley sub-region and England and Wales as a whole.
| Northumbria police force area | Durham police force area | Cleveland police force area | Regional total | |
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |