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7 Jun 2007 : Column 682W—continued
Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will sign the UN Convention on the rights of migrant workers and their families. [137696]
Mr. Byrne: We have no plans to sign the UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. The rights of migrant workers are already protected in UK legislation, including under the Human Rights Act 1998.
Migrant Telephone Services
Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much funding was provided by his Department to Migrant Helpline in the last year. [121966]
Mr. Byrne: Migrant Helpline received funds totalling £13.4 million in the financial year 2006-07 to provide one stop services in Dover, Gravesend, Hastings and Margate, and initial accommodation services in Ashford, Croydon, Dover and Margate.
Passports
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information is retained by the Identity and Passport Service on people to whom passports have been issued. [139974]
John Reid: The Passport Application Support System (PASS) contains the personal data provided by the individual on the application form, the progress history of the application, and details of the passport issued, as shown on the personal data page of the passport.
Thus, the personal details held on the system are:
(1) applicant’s name,
(2) gender,
(3) date of birth,
(4) town and country of birth,
(5) the names, dates of birth and places of birth of both parents (in most cases),
(6) details of naturalisation or registration certificates where appropriate,
(7) address and other contact details,
(8) name and passport number of countersignatory,
(9) passport number,
(10) issuing authority,
(11) dates of validity,
(12) the photograph displayed on the passport,
(13) the signature displayed on the passport,
(14) nationality.
In addition, the full progress history of an application is held on the system. This would include information such as the date the record was created, the date the issue of a passport was authorised as well as any notes made by UKPS staff during the consideration of the application. A complete copy of the application form is also stored on the system. Supporting documents provided by applicants to verify information provided may also be scanned into the record and since December 2003, all completed forms reporting lost, stolen or recovered passports have been stored on the database.
The system also holds information about all passports issued to a person under the same name. Furthermore, since September 2004, when an applicant has applied for a renewed passport and has changed their name, PASS automatically adds notes linking the new and previous passport records.
The UK Passport Service has an outsourced PFI contract with Siemens Business Services, a component part of which is to provide support and maintenance to PASS. The contract provides for per transaction charges which also includes receipt, cashiering and data capture of all passport applications, therefore it is not possible to separate the amount relevant solely to the system costs.
Police Custody
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been remanded in police custody for a further period of 192 hours provided for under the Drugs Act 2005 for drug trafficking offences. [137024]
John Reid: The Home Office does not collect this data centrally.
Police National Computer
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban) on 26 February 2007, Official Report, column 1076W, on the police national computer (PNC), how many PNC records were checked for the purposes of the audit; and what percentage this was of the total number of records on the PNC at the time. [126399]
John Reid: The audits were two research exercises in 2001 and 2002 undertaken by the Home Office to assess the accuracy of criminal record information held on the Police National Computer partly in preparation for the establishment of the Criminal Records Bureau. The first exercise compared 5,543 offence records extracted from the Court Proceedings database with the equivalent information on the Police National Computer. This comprised court results for all courts in England and Wales on a single day selected at random. The second exercise focused on a sample of convictions for sex offences and comprised three periods of one month each spanning a three year period. A total of 3,236 offence records were checked in respect of 1,298 people. The research does not show what percentage of this was the total number of records on the PNC at the time.
Police: Lost Working Days
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what proportion of working days were lost due to (a) sickness and (b) stress, anxiety or depression in each police authority area over the last five years. [139984]
Mr. McNulty: Sickness data for each police authority area are not available for the last five years and the Home Office does not collect sickness data with relation to specific illnesses. Sickness data for each police authority are collected in the published Police Performance Assessments 2005-06 and are available in the House of Commons Library and electronically at:
Proscribed Organisations
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which organisations have been proscribed using terrorism legislation; and for what reasons in each case. [139262]
John Reid: A total of 42 international terrorist groups, two domestic groups and 14 Irish groups are currently proscribed. There have been four orders to date. The first, proscribing 21 international organisations became effective in March 2001. The second, adding four more organisations, was in November 2002 after the bombings in Bali. The third was in October 2005, adding another 15 organisations to the list. The most recent order came into force on 26 July 2006 and added two organisations under the Terrorism Act 2000 and two organisations under powers introduced in the Terrorism Act 2006 for glorifying terrorism. The Irish groups were proscribed under the previous emergency legislation. A full list of proscribed organisations can be found at:
A copy of the list has been placed in the Library.
A summary of the reasons for the proscriptions of each group were laid in Parliament at the time of each order in an explanatory memorandum.
Written Questions
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to answer question 105573, on special advisers, tabled on 6 December 2006 by the hon. Member for Fareham. [139941]
Mr. Byrne: I replied to the hon. Member on 4 June 2007, Official Report, column 268W.
International Development
Departments: Ministerial Policy Advisers
Mr. Hoban:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many of his Department’s special advisers were on (a) paid and (b) unpaid leave in order to assist with party political
matters under section 22 (iii) of the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers on Wednesday 16 May 2007; and how many days’ leave each adviser was granted. [140127]
Hilary Benn: Special advisers’ involvement in party political matters is conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers, including section 22 (iii), and the guidance issued by the Cabinet Secretary in December 2006 and May 2007, copies of which are in the Libraries of the House.
Iraq: Internally Displaced Persons
Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development who represented the UK at the United Nations conference in Geneva on Iraqi refugees and internally displaced people on 17 and 18 April 2007; and if he will make a statement on the outcome of that conference. [140494]
Hilary Benn: At the UNHCR Conference in Geneva, the UK delegation consisted of senior officials from DFID, FCO and the Home Office.
The conference was successful in drawing international attention to the plight of the displaced Iraqis inside Iraq and in the region, and recognising the burden this places on host communities and countries. The main outcome of the conference was the Government of Iraq’s commitment to take the lead in providing support and security for its citizens, including for those who have fled the country. The conference also agreed a new UN Strategic Framework for humanitarian action in Iraq, which will coordinate UN action in support of the Iraqi Government's efforts. Further assistance to support the displaced was also pledged by a number of international donors. We are now working with the UN and other partners to ensure that the Strategic Framework is taken forward.
Since January, DFID has provided £10 million to support emergency relief and other services to displaced and vulnerable Iraqis. This takes our total humanitarian assistance to over £125 million since 2003. We will continue to work closely with the Iraqi Government and our international partners to ensure needs are met.
Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent estimate he has made of the number of internally displaced people in Iraq; and what efforts the UK Government is taking to help those displaced people. [140495]
Hilary Benn: The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that there are approximately 2 million Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in Iraq. Over 820,000 of these have been displaced since February 2006 following the attack in Samarra.
In 2007, DFID has provided £10 million to support humanitarian relief efforts to help vulnerable Iraqi groups, including those displaced in Iraq and across the region. This includes a £7 million contribution to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC); a £1 million contribution to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to support internally displaced people; a £1.5 million
contribution to the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to support displaced Iraqis in the region; and a £500,000 contribution towards the setting up of a UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) coordination office in Amman and Baghdad, to help support the Iraqi Government’s efforts and facilitate a coherent international response to the situation. Since 2003, we have contributed over £125 million for humanitarian assistance to Iran.
Justice
Administration of Justice
Mr. Arbuthnot: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what plans she has to improve access for litigants to copies of statutes in force. [140830]
Mr. Hanson: Litigants in person, as members of the public, have access online to two main sources of current legislation. First, the website of the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) at www.opsi.gov.uk provides access to both primary and secondary legislation in the form in which it was enacted. Secondly, the statute law database (SLD), maintained by the Statutory Publications Office (SPO), provides access to primary legislation revised to incorporate the effects of subsequent legislation. SLD was made available to the public in December 2006 and can be accessed at:
All the primary legislation held on SLD has been updated with the effects of legislation enacted at least up to the end of 2001. Most of the legislation on the database is also up to date to the present. The effects of legislation enacted in the years 2002 to 2006 are currently being applied to the database. SPO and OPSI are currently undertaking a programme of work designed to avoid unnecessary duplication between the two websites and to make access to legislation as seamless as possible to the public.
Children’s Act 1989
Mr. Arbuthnot: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice whether she has plans to publish on the internet the Children's Act 1989 consolidated with the Adoption and Children Act 2002, the Children Act 2006 and other relevant legislation. [140832]
Mr. Hanson: The revised version of the Children Act 1989, incorporating the effects of legislation enacted up to the end of 2002, and including those of the Adoption and Children Act 2002, was published on the internet when the statute law database was made available to the public in December 2006. The effects of legislation enacted in the years 2003 to 2006, including those of the Children Act 2006, are in the process of being applied to the database. It is expected that the Children Act 1989 will be republished with those effects incorporated by the end of August 2007.
Departments: Ministerial Policy Advisers
Mr. Hoban:
To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice how many of her Department’s special advisers
were on (a) paid and (b) unpaid leave in order to assist with party political matters under section 22 (iii) of the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers on 16 May 2007; and how many days’ leave each adviser was granted. [140119]
Bridget Prentice: Special advisers’ involvement in party political matters is conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers, including section 22 (iii), and the guidance issued by the Cabinet Secretary in December 2006 and May 2007, copies of which are in the Libraries of the House.
Family Courts
Mr. Hands: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what measures are in place to ensure that family lawyers dealing with children have the required staff training and qualifications to ensure that the children in their care have the best representation; and how many family lawyers have been disciplined for practising without having the required training and qualifications in the last five years. [138361]
Bridget Prentice: The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) operates accreditation schemes for solicitors practising in family law and specifically for solicitors acting for children (and adults) in public law care proceedings. There are currently around 3,000 solicitors on the family law scheme and around 2,000 solicitors on the child law scheme.
Accreditation is not a requirement for practice in family or child law, but it would be a disciplinary matter for a solicitor to claim accreditation if they do not have it. We are not aware of any cases referred to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal in relation to this matter.
The Bar Council, which is responsible for the training of barristers, does not impose any requirements on barristers to undertake training in family or child law.
Members of the Institute of Legal Executives must work under the supervision of a solicitor. Only those legal executives who are members of the SRA’s Children Panel may represent children in family proceedings. In the last five years, one member was disciplined for practising without having the required training in a family matter.
Joint Ministerial Committee
Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (1) what plenary and functional meetings of the Joint Ministerial Committee there have been since 1999; which Ministers attended; and what the subject matter was of each meeting; [140744]
(2) what the date is of the next scheduled plenary meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee. [140837]
Bridget Prentice: The Government are not at present proposing to organise a plenary meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC).
The JMC has met in various functional formats to discuss specific policy areas such as Health, Poverty, the Knowledge Economy and Europe. There have been at least 48 plenary and functional meetings of the JMC
since 1999. Of these four subject areas, the JMC on Europe meets most regularly and is serviced by staff from the Cabinet Office. The Department does not hold a complete record of which Ministers have attended these meetings.
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