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8 May 2007 : Column 79W—continued
| Table B: penalty charge notices by result, England and Wales( 1) , 2004( 2) | ||
| 2004 | ||
| Penalty charge notices | Number of notices issued | Percentage of notices issued |
| (1) England and Wales data only. Local authorities within the County of Gloucestershire are not signed up to the scheme under the Road Traffic Act 1991 which allows local authorities outside London to apply to the Secretary of State for Transport to become a special parking area (SPA). (2) Source: Home Office publication ‘Offences relating to motor vehicles England and Wales 2004, Supplementary tables’ Tables 22(a) and 22(b) refer. (3) Where the PCN is written off, for example, the motorist cannot be traced or the PCN is cancelled due to parking attendant error or successful representation. (4) This figure excludes notices still being processed and for some local authority areas will include those issued in the previous period but recorded as a payment in 2004. Note: Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by local authorities As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when these data are used. | ||
Human Trafficking
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Kosovan man, five Albanian men and a Lithuanian woman recently convicted of trafficking charges following a joint investigation by Manchester and Warwickshire police will serve their sentences in the UK; and what the estimated cost is to UK public funds of their imprisonment in the UK. [132750]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 23 April 2007]: Defendants sentenced to imprisonment by UK courts, whatever their nationality, are committed to serve their sentences in UK prisons.
Foreign national prisoners can apply to serve their sentences in their home country if a prisoner transfer agreement exists. Prisoner transfer agreements are in place between the UK and Lithuania and Albania but not with Kosovo.
The average cost of a prison place in 2005-06 was £28,486 in the public sector and £33,722 in the contracted sector.
Humberside Police: Emergency Calls
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average response time was for an emergency call by the Humberside Police Force in each of the last three years. [135490]
John Reid: Data on emergency call response times for individual police forces are not compiled centrally. This is an operational matter for the chief constable of Humberside police.
Immigrants
Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for indefinite leave to remain awaiting decision his Department has been processing for over 13 weeks. [134084]
Mr. Byrne: Information on the number of indefinite leave to remain applications awaiting decision in the above category is not kept separately and could be obtained only by examination of individual cases at a disproportionate cost.
Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average time taken to process applications for indefinite leave to remain that are not processed within 13 weeks was in the last period for which figures are available. [134085]
Mr. Byrne: The Border and Immigration Agency do not keep statistics on average waiting times. Performance is measured against the published service standards which can be found on the immigration website at:
Immigrants: Tuberculosis
Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps his Department is taking to prevent individuals with tuberculosis from entering the country. [132740]
Mr. Byrne: The Immigration Act 1971 gives Immigration Officers the power to refer people who are subject to immigration control and who are seeking entry to the United Kingdom to a medical inspector for a medical examination. The Immigration Officer may take the findings of the medical examination into account when deciding whether to admit the person to the UK.
The long-standing policy of successive Governments is that people who come from countries with a high prevalence of TB (over 40 cases of TB per 100,000 population) and who are seeking to enter the UK for more than six months, or are port asylum claimants, are routinely referred for a medical examination, which includes tuberculosis screening, on arrival at major UK ports. In addition, Immigration Officers are required to refer for medical examination anyone who appears ill, or who mentions health or illness as a reason for coming to the UK.
As stated in our recently published strategy to ensure and enforce compliance with our immigration laws, the Government have started requiring residents of some countries to have a certificate proving they are free from infectious tuberculosis before applying for a visa. Those found to have infectious TB are required to complete treatment before entry clearance to the UK is granted. This programme has so far been rolled out to cover residents of 11 countries (Bangladesh, Cambodia, Eritrea, Ghana, Kenya, Laos, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania and Thailand).
Immigration
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many (a) resident and (b) non-resident foreign nationals have unexpired leave to reside in the UK, broken down by category of leave; [122189]
(2) pursuant to the answer to question number 117847, on foreign nationals, whether (a) he has made and (b) whether it is possible to make an estimate of the number of foreign nationals legally resident in the UK. [122384]
John Reid: The information is not held centrally. The Border and Immigration Agency is now implementing plans to count everyone in and out of Britain.
Immigration Controls: Biometrics
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to use (a) proximity and (b) RFID chips in biometric immigration documents. [117842]
John Reid: Subject to the successful progress of any necessary legislation the biometric immigration document will have both proximity and RFID chip capability.
Immigration: Biometrics
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department at what age foreign nationals will be required to register for a biometric immigration document. [122057]
John Reid: We are still considering at what age an applicant will be required to provide their fingerprints. Related discussions are under way in the European Union regarding the age at which children should have their fingerprints recorded when member states issue a biometric residence permit (which, in the UK, will be a biometric immigration document).
Immigration: Bulgaria
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his estimate is of the number of (a) Romanian and (b) Bulgarian citizens who have arrived and stayed in the UK since 1 January 2007. [133591]
Mr. Byrne: Romanian and Bulgarian nationals are not subject to Immigration control following their accession to the European Union (EU) on 1 January 2007 and do not require permission to travel to the UK. As a result precise figures for the arrival and subsequent stay of Romanians and Bulgarians since Accession are not available.
The Office for National Statistics will publish results of their International Passenger Survey in July which will give an indication of movements of Bulgarians, Romanians and other EEA nationals.
Immigration: Northern Ireland
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average waiting time was for processing applications for leave to remain in Northern Ireland in 2006. [133622]
Mr. Byrne: The Border and Immigration Agency do not keep statistics on average waiting times. Performance is measured against the published service standards which can be found on the immigration website at:
Intelligence Services: Data Protection
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many certificates he issued under Section 28 (2) of the Data Protection Act 1998 in (a) 2005, (b) 2006 and (c) in the first four months of 2007; and how many appeals against those certificates were lodged with the National Security Appeals Panel of the Information Tribunal in each period. [135624]
Mr. McNulty: No certificate has been issued during these periods. The Information Tribunal has not notified the Home Office of any appeals lodged against certificates during the same periods.
Ketamine
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will review the appropriateness of the classification of Ketamine as a class C drug. [136079]
Mr. Coaker: There are no plans to review the classification of ketamine. Ketamine was brought under control of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 as a class C drug in January 2006, following the advice of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.
Leave to Remain
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applicants for the family indefinite leave to remain exercise (a) whose cases are outstanding and (b) whose applications have been refused have criminal convictions. [115827]
Mr. Byrne: This information could be obtained by examination of individual case records, only at disproportionate cost.
Information on the ‘Family Indefinite Leave to Remain Exercise’ is published in quarterly web pages and in the annual statistical bulletin ‘Asylum Statistics United Kingdom’. Copies of these publications and others relating to general immigration to the UK are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate web site at:
National Identity Register: EEA Countries
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department from which date EEA nationals will be compelled to have their personal information recorded on the National Identity Register; and whether they will then be issued with a UK biometric identity card. [130425]
John Reid: We will start issuing identity cards to British citizens from 2009, alongside compulsory biometric immigration documents to foreign nationals from 2008. No date has yet been set but, subject to further primary legislation, it is intended that registration on the National Identity Register should eventually become compulsory for everyone aged 16 and over who is resident in the United Kingdom for more than a prescribed period and this will include European Economic Area (EEA) nationals.
Offenders: Financial Services
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps his Department is taking to support access to fair insurance and banking products for former offenders and their families. [135842]
John Reid: The National Offender Management Service is working in partnership with the Financial Services Authority and with voluntary sector organisations to improve former offenders' access to financial services.
This includes several projects around the country enabling prisoners to open basic bank accounts prior to their release, and the production of guidance for those working with offenders in custody and in the community to enable them to signpost offenders to financial services.
Olympic Games: Greater London
Anne Moffat: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions his Department plans to have with the Secretary of State for International Development to ensure that security companies are vetted to ensure they are not guilty of violations against workers in countries abroad before security contracts are awarded for the 2012 Olympics. [133921]
Mr. Caborn: I have been asked to reply.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is the lead Government Department for the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. Neither I nor my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State have had any specific discussions with the Secretary of State for International Development on this matter. However, my officials are maintaining a close watch on the contractual arrangements for procurement of private security services by both the Olympic Delivery Authority, which is responsible for providing the venues and infrastructure, and the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, which is responsible for the preparation and staging of the event. I am pleased to note the Olympic Delivery Authority has already made a commitment to employ companies who have a good track record in human rights and have high moral and ethical standards. I fully appreciate the importance of this issue and my officials will continue to monitor the situation as appropriate.
Overseas Visitors
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many non-EEA nationals visited the UK for less than six months in (a) 2004, (b) 2005 and (c) 2006. [132931]
Mr. Byrne: The requested figures for 2004 and 2005 are in the following table.
These have been extracted from the Command Paper publication "Control of Immigration: Statistics United Kingdom 2005".
Those persons seeking leave to enter the United Kingdom as visitors may be granted entry for a period not exceeding of six months.
2006 figures will be published in August 2007, and may then be obtained from the Library of the House and from the Home Office website: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.
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