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23 May 2007 : Column 1330Wcontinued
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what will happen to the information registered on the National Identity Register of individuals who do not re-register from the scheme. [135833]
John Reid: Information will be retained on the National Identity Register, in accordance with section 3.1 of the Identity Cards Act 2006,
for as long as it is consistent with the statutory purposes for it to be recorded in the Register.
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 30 April 2007 to the hon. Member for City of York, Official Report, column 1226, on net migration, what the exact number of A8 accession country immigrants working in the NHS is; and if he will break this number down by (a) job and (b) nationality. [135923]
John Reid: Information taken from registration of A8 nationals under the worker registration scheme shows that there were 9,790 registrations for the health and medical sector for the calendar year 2006. We are unable to confirm how many of this number were working in the NHS.
The jobs that the A8 workers, including those in the health and medical sector were doing are listed in Annex A of the accession monitoring report published on 27 February 2007 at:
The nationality of those registering is provided in the following table.
Accession state worker registration scheme initial approvals 2006 health and medical sector | |
Number | |
Note: The figures have not been rounded to the nearest five as in the published accession monitoring report. |
The sectors and occupations used in the worker registration scheme do not conform to the ONS standard industrial and occupational classifications.
The figures quoted are not provided under National Statistics protocols and have been derived from local management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change.
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 30 April 2007 to the hon. Member for City of York (Hugh Bayley), Official Report, column 1226, on net migration, what provisions there are in the points based system to allow for fast-track work permits. [135924]
John Reid: Under the new points based system, employers on our sponsorship register will issue Certificates of Sponsorship to prospective employees who will apply for leave to enter at posts abroad or leave to remain if extending their stay in-country.
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what criteria were used when finalising the list of approved passport photo countersignatories. [137553]
John Reid: A countersignatory for a passport application must be a professional person, or a person of standing in the community, who holds a current British or Irish passport. There is no exhaustive list of approved countersignatories; the passport application form and the Identity and Passport Service website give examples of the types of occupations which would be considered acceptable but there is no intention to preclude other people who meet the criteria.
Jo Swinson:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of passport applications submitted using the Check and Send service were refused in the last 12 months; on what grounds applications may be refused; and how many
applications were refused on each of those grounds over that period. [138279]
Joan Ryan [holding answer 18 May 2007]: Passports are issued at the discretion of the Secretary of State under the Royal prerogative. In practice, passports are issued when the Secretary of State is satisfied as to the identity and British nationality of applicants, in accordance with legislation, except in certain well defined categories, of which Parliament has been informed from time to time. These are:
(i) a minor whose journey was known to be contrary to a court order, to the wishes of a parent or other person or authority in whose favour a residence or care order had been made or who had been awarded custody; or care and control, or to the provisions of section 25(1) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 as amended by section 42 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1963, or section 56 of the Adoption Act 1976, as amended by the Children Act 1989;
(ii) a person for whose arrest a warrant had been issued in the United Kingdom, or a person who was wanted by the United Kingdom police on suspicion of a serious crime;
(iii) in very rare cases, a person whose past or proposed activities were so demonstrably undesirable that the grant or continued enjoyment of passport facilities would be contrary to the public interest;
(iv) a person repatriated from abroad at public expense until the debt has been repaid.
In addition, passports would not be issued to those who were currently the subject of Football Banning Orders or Travel Restriction Orders.
The statistics available show only the breakdown between those applications which failed on nationality grounds and those rejected for other reasons. In the 2006 calendar year 0.38 per cent. of the 2,846,324 applications received through the Check and Send service were rejected. The numbers in each category were:
Number | |
Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of new child passport applications were refused in the last 12 months; on what grounds applications may be refused; and how many applications over that period were refused on each of those grounds. [138278]
Joan Ryan [holding answer 18 May 2007]: Passport applications may be refused if the applicant does not hold British nationality, has not satisfactorily established their identity or falls into one of certain well defined categories, of which Parliament has been informed from time to time. The only one of these categories which is relevant to new child passport applications is as follows:
a minor whose journey was known to be contrary to a court order, to the wishes of a parent or other person or authority in whose favour a residence or care order had been made or who had been awarded custody; or care and control, or to the provisions of section 25(1) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 as amended by section 42 of the Children and Young
Persons Act 1963, or section 56 of the Adoption Act 1976, as amended by the Children Act 1989.
The statistics available show only the breakdown between those applications which failed on nationality grounds and those rejected for other reasons. In the 2006 calendar year 1.2 per cent. of the 948,201 first applications for children were rejected. The numbers in each category were:
Number | |
Sir Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the Government will make it its policy to give free passports to those who have reached the age of 75 years. [138226]
Joan Ryan [holding answer 18 May 2007]: Free passports are available to people born on or before 2 September 1929. This concession, which was announced on 19 May 2004, was introduced in recognition of the sacrifices made by adults during the second world war and it has previously been made clear that it would not be extended.
David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will assess the merits of establishing a regional ICT network for East Midlands police authorities. [138305]
Mr. McNulty: The five East Midlands police forces have indicated that they intend to submit a bid for funding which may include enhancement to support IT interoperability and collaborative working as part of the protective services demonstrator site programme which the Home Office will be supporting. Their bid will be evaluated alongside bids from other police forces.
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 16 April 2007, Official Report, column 479W, on police equal opportunities, when he expects the Women in Policing Steering Group to report on whether further targets should be set for the recruitment, retention and progression of female police officers. [138477]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 22 May 2007]: The Women in Policing Steering Group will consider whether further targets should be set for the recruitment, retention and progression of female police officers at their next meeting on 28 June 2007.
Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions he has had with the Association of Chief Police Officers on police rules of engagement with firearms. [138803]
Mr. McNulty: There have been no recent discussions. Operational tactics when using firearms are a matter for the police and the use of firearms is governed by ACPO guidelines. Once authorised to use firearms, it is for the individual officer to ensure they act within the law. The Criminal Law Act 1967 provides that the police may use such force as is reasonable in the circumstances to effect an arrest or to prevent crime.
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what meetings he has held with the Police Federation on targets for frontline police officers since 1 January 2007; and if he will make a statement. [138285]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 21 May 2007]: I have regular meetings with the Police Federation, at which we discuss a range of issues, including performance targets and other matters affecting frontline officers.
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) police and (b) other personnel were trained in surveillance through the National Specialist Law Enforcement Centre in each of the last 10 years. [137456]
John Reid: The National Specialist Law Enforcement Centre was established in 2001. Provision of surveillance training includes mobile surveillance, foot surveillance and static observation posts. The figures in the following table covering the period 1997 to 2001 are based on a fixed training programme delivered by the National Police Training Specialist Crime Centre and agreed with the Regional Crime Squad.
Financial year | Police( 1) | Other Personnel( 2) |
(1) Police personnel include RAF Police, British Transport Police, Regional Crime Squad as well as the territorial police forces of England and Wales. (2) Other Personnel in years 2004-06 are Immigration and Nationality Directorate staff involved in Operation Reflex working in partnership with the National Crime Squad. Those for 2006-07 are for Serious Organised Crime Agency staff, previously categorised as police personnel. |
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the percentage change in Government funding for West Midlands Police was over the last three years. [138778]
Mr. McNulty: The information requested is set out in the following table.
Percentage change in total Government grants for West Midlands Police, 2005-06 to 2007-08 | ||
Total Government grants( 2,)( )( 3)( ) (£ million) | Annual change in total grants (percentage) | |
(1) Adjusted for comparison purposes following the transfer of pensions and security funding from general grant in 2006/07. (2) Total Government grant comprises: Home Office police grant, Department for Communities and Local Government revenue support grant and national non-domestic rates; special formula grant; specific grants: crime fighting fund, basic command unit funding, community support officer funding, neighbourhood policing fund and capital grant. (3) The minimum increase in general grant for all police authorities was 3.75 per cent. in 2005-06. The increase for West Midlands Police Authority was 6.81 per cent. In 2006-07 and 2007-08 there was a broadly flat rate increase for all police authorities of 3.1 per cent. and 3.6 per cent. respectively. West Midlands received increases of 3.4 per cent. and 3.8 per cent. respectively. |
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