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21 Jun 2007 : Column 2067W—continued
Asylum: Iran
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what account is taken of membership of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran in assessing applications for asylum in the UK. [141361]
John Reid: Guidance to case owners on the handling of asylum claims made by Iranian nationals on the basis of their membership of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran is contained in the Operational Guidance Note on Iran which is published on the Home Office website at:
Case owners are also able to utilise country information on the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran in the Iran country of origin information report also available on the Home Office website at:
Children: Abuse
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the progress of the Association of Chief Police Officers’ review of the guidance for the investigation of historical child abuse. [144166]
Mr. Coaker: We continue to work with the ACPO Working Group reviewing the guidance on the investigation of historic child abuse. The development of practice and guidance from the National Centre for Policing Excellence (NCPE) will also help ensure that there is a consistent approach across the police service and prevent duplication. In the light of this activity, the Working Group is reviewing the work requirements and hopes to be in a position to share the revised document in the autumn.
Departments: Advertising
Mr. Heath:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much revenue his Department has received from (a) advertisements on his Department's public information leaflets and (b)
advertisements on his Department’s public websites in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [142531]
Mr. Byrne: In the last 10 years the Home Office has not generated any advertising income from its leaflets or websites.
Departments: Foreign Relations
Mr. Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Memorandums of Understanding are in force as a result of agreements with foreign governments entered into by Ministers in his Department; and what Executive actions each entails. [144469]
Joan Ryan: The information requested is not held centrally and to obtain would incur disproportionate costs.
Departments: Freedom of Information
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many requests were made to his Department under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in each month of the last two years; what percentage of requests were responded to within 20 working days of their receipt; how many requests were successful; how many were rejected; and how many are the subject of (a) an appeal and (b) a complaint. [122053]
John Reid: The following table includes figures for the number of requests received each month in 2005 and 2006. The percentage of requests responded to within 20 working days of their receipt are included in the quarterly statistical reports produced by the Ministry of Justice.
The number of successful and rejected requests are included in the quarterly statistical reports produced by the Ministry of Justice. We have interpreted the request for the number of requests subject to complaint as cases where an internal review has been requested, these figures are included on the following table.
We have interpreted the request for the number of requests subject on an appeal, as cases where a complaint has been made to the Information Commissioner, these figures are included on the following table. These figures relate to cases where the Information Commissioner has advised us that an appeal has been received, and are provided as an annual figure as we are not always informed of the month when a complaint was made to the Commissioner.
There has been one Information Tribunal case.
| Freedom of information requests received by the Home Office in 2005 and 2006 | ||
| Number received | ||
| 2005 | 2006 | |
| Number of internal review requests received by the Home Office in 2005 and 2006 | ||
| Number received | ||
| 2005 | 2006 | |
| Number of cases at the Information Commissioner | |
| Number | |
Departments: Legal Costs
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was spent by his Department on legal fees in each of the last five years. [139398]
Mr. Byrne: The expenditure on legal fees for the Home Office and Borders and Immigration Agency, Identity and Passport Service and the Criminal Records Bureau, for the requested period, is in the following table.
| £000 | |||||
| 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | |
The aforementioned table covers external legal fees only. Home Office numbers include the National Offenders Management Scheme and the Office of Criminal Justice Reform which have now transferred from the Home Office to the Ministry of Justice.
Departments: Remploy
Danny Alexander:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what (a) services and (b)
products his Department has procured from Remploy in the last 12 months; and at what cost. [143794]
John Reid: From best available records between June 2006 and May 2007 the Home Office procured from Remploy (a) no services and (b) 1,750 operational and 2,314 training civil responder personal protective ensembles for police officers trained in Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) response at a cost of £3,211,466.36 inclusive of VAT.
Deportation: Afghanistan
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people whose asylum claims had failed were deported to Afghanistan in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [142270]
Mr. Byrne: Information on the destination of persons removed from the UK has only been collated since 2004. The table shows provisional figures rounded to the nearest five persons, who had claimed asylum at some stage, who were removed from the United Kingdom to Afghanistan between January 2004 and March 2007, inclusive.
It is not possible to say what stage in the asylum process people have reached at the time of their removal, because those departing voluntarily can do so at any stage.
Deportations are a specific subset of removals; most illegal immigrants are removed under administrative or illegal entry powers from the UK and not deported. It has therefore been assumed that your question refers to the number of asylum applicants removed to Afghanistan; information on those deported is not separately available.
The information provided comes from published statistics, which are available from the Home Office’s Research, Development and Statistics website at:
| Removals and voluntary departures( 1,2) of asylum applicants, including dependants, to Afghanistan, January 2004 to March 2007 | ||||
| Destination | 2004 | 2005( 3,4) | 2006( 3,4) | January to March 2007( 3,4) |
| (1) Includes persons departing ‘voluntarily’ after enforcement action had been initiated against them, persons leaving under assisted voluntary return programmes run by the International Organisation for Migration and removals on safe third country grounds. (2) Figures have been rounded to the nearest five and may not sum due to rounding. (3) Figures since 2005 include those who it is established have left the UK without informing the immigration authorities. (4) Provisional figures. Note: Destination data as recorded on source database. | ||||
Detainees
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department under what circumstances embassy officials from foreign countries are given access to detained asylum seekers before their claims have been refused. [141406]
John Reid: Embassy officials are not given access to asylum seekers before their claims are refused, unless the individual in question makes a specific request for consular access. Asylum seekers will not be prevented from meeting officials from the embassy of their country of origin if they make a specific request for consular access.
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether detained asylum seekers are given a choice whether to meet officials from the embassy of their country of origin. [141407]
John Reid: The Home Office would not ask an asylum seeker to meet officials from the embassy of their country of origin until and unless a negative decision was taken in respect of his claim for protection in the United Kingdom. After that time, refused asylum seekers may be requested to meet officials from the embassy of their country of origin to assist in the process of obtaining documents for their return. Such meetings are not compulsory although refused asylum seekers are expected to co-operate in arrangements for their return.
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