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26 Jun 2007 : Column 710W—continued
Home Department
Antisocial Behaviour: Bridgend
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidents of antisocial behaviour there were in Bridgend constituency in each of the last 10 years. [144307]
Mr. Coaker: The Home Office does not hold records of incidents of antisocial behaviour.
Individual police forces, local authorities and housing associations as well as other bodies may keep records of antisocial behaviour that is reported to them, but these figures are not collated centrally.
Anti-terrorism Control Orders: Biometrics
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what date he became aware that individuals subject to control orders cannot have their fingerprints and DNA taken by the police. [144963]
Mr. McNulty: It is inaccurate to say the police cannot take fingerprints or DNA from individuals on control orders. Section 1 (3) of the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 allows for the imposition of any obligations that the Secretary of State or the court considers necessary for purposes connected with preventing or restricting involvement by that individual in terrorism-related activity. The Government could therefore make the provision of fingerprints or DNA an obligation under a control order, if it was considered necessary and proportionate to do so. Moreover, powers to take fingerprints are governed by other legislation, such as PACE. If, for example, an individual committed an offence while subject to a control order, fingerprints and DNA could be taken in the usual way.
The proposal for the forthcoming Counter-Terrorism Bill is to provide equivalent powers after a control order is served as currently apply when arrests are made under the Terrorism Act 2000 or the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. This will provide the same police powers to retain, store and use the DNA and fingerprints of individuals on control orders and will mean that the procedures and safeguards that generally apply, also apply in control order cases.
Asylum
Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his answer of 28 February 2007, Official Report, column 1351W, on asylum, when he expects to be able to say how many asylum seekers will be dispersed and to which boroughs. [133777]
Mr. Byrne: In the reply of 28 February 2007, Official Report, column 1351W, I advised that a review of cases would be undertaken to determine whether there were circumstances which required the continued provision of accommodation in London.
There are approximately 2,000(1) cases supported in the London area under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. Reviews are now being undertaken
of each of these cases to determine where they had their original support provided and if they have any special reason for remaining in London. Our current intention is to complete the review of each case by the 31 October 2007. It will only be after these reviews have been completed that we will be able to quantify the number of moves and to which local authorities they will be dispersed.
(1) This information is based on internal management information, and as such, is not published within the official statistics. Information is provisional and subject to change.
Asylum: Afghanistan
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Afghan asylum seekers cited membership of the Taliban as grounds for (a) claiming asylum and (b) it being unsafe for them to return to Afghanistan in each of the last five years. [145053]
Mr. Byrne: Information about an applicant's reasons for claiming asylum is not collected centrally. The requested information could therefore be obtained only at disproportionate cost by examination of individual case records
Information on asylum applications, initial decisions, appeals and removals for nationals of Afghanistan are published quarterly and annually. Copies of these publications are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics website at:
Bicycles: Theft
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were (a) prosecuted and (b) sentenced for bicycle thefts in each of the last five years. [145442]
Mr. Coaker: Data extracted from the court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform showing the number of people proceeded against and sentenced for theft of a pedal cycle in England and Wales from 2001 to 2005 are shown in the following table.
| Number of persons prosecuted at magistrates' courts and sentenced at all courts for bicycle theft, England and Wales, 2001 to 2005( 1, 2) | ||
| Proceeded against | Sentenced | |
| (1 )These data are on the principal offence basis. (2) 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 the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: RDS-OCJR, Office For Criminal Justice Reform | ||
Demonstrations: Whitehall
Sir Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) which organisations applied to mount protests in Whitehall on the afternoon of 15 June 2007; when the applications were (a) made and (b) approved; and if he will make a statement; [145793]
(2) how many (a) Metropolitan and (b) British Transport Police officers were deployed to police the protests in Whitehall on 15 June 2007; what operational instructions they were given to assist the public in accessing Whitehall and public transport; and what comments and complaints by members of the public were noted by police officers during the operation; [145794]
(3) when Transport for London was informed of the protests taking place in Whitehall on 15 June; and what operational instructions or guidance were given to Transport for London ahead of the organised protests in order to minimise disruption to the travelling public; [145795]
(4) what assessment he has made of the level of disruption to traffic, public transport and the flow of pedestrians during the protests in Whitehall on the afternoon of 15 June 2007; [145796]
(5) what monitoring was undertaken of the individual participants in the protests held on 15 June in Whitehall; what assessment he has made of the nature of the protest placards in terms of relevant statutory restrictions on inciteful language; and if he will make a statement. [145797]
Mr. Coaker: The policing of demonstrations in Whitehall is an operational matter for the Commissioner of the Police of the Metropolis. I have asked the Metropolitan police to collate the information requested by the hon. Gentleman. I shall write to the hon. Gentleman when that information is available.
Departments: Credit Cards
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was spent by staff in his Department via departmental (a) credit, (b) procurement and (c) fuel cards in each of the last three years. [145295]
Mr. Byrne: The expenditure in the Department via departmental (a) credit, (b) procurement cards and (c) fuel cards for the last three calendar years is shown in the following table.
| £ | |||
| Government procurement card | Travel and expense cards | Fuel cards | |
Travel and expenses cards were introduced in 2005 on a trial basis. Fuel card figures for 2004 relate only to the Arval contract which commenced that year. Figures for the previous contract could be obtained only at disproportionate cost because of changes in the accounting systems and organisational arrangements.
The Department has adopted OGCbuying.solutions pre-tendered national frameworks for the Government Procurement Card (GPC) and Government Fuel Card facilities in line with best practice. GPC is used for the consolidation of prompt and efficient payment of goods and services.
Arval Fuel Cards are available for any civil servant who need to put fuel in official vehicles on a regular basis The Travel and Expense (T&E) Cards are available to any civil servant in the Home Office who is called upon to travel regularly and would otherwise submit claims for reimbursement of personal expenses.
Departments: Northern Ireland
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will place in the Library a copy of the concordat governing the relationship between his Department and the Northern Ireland administration. [145939]
Mr. Byrne:
We do not have a Concordat with the Northern Ireland Executive. The principles set out in
the Memorandum of Understanding and Supplementary Agreements between the UK Government, Scottish Ministers, the Cabinet of the National Assembly for Wales and the Northern Ireland Executive, published in 2001, underpin our working relationship with the Northern Ireland Executive. These are contained in Command Paper 5240 and published by the Ministry of Justice at:
Departments: Pay
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff in his Department received bonus payments in each of the last five years for which information is available; what proportion of the total work force they represented; what the total amount of bonuses paid was; what the largest single payment was; and if he will make a statement. [143100]
Mr. Byrne: Where it is available, the information requested is recorded in the following table.
| Amount paid (£) | Number paid | Total staff (headcount) | Percentage of total work force | Single highest payment (£) | |
| n/a = Not available. | |||||
The information provided is subject to limitations. Comprehensive data for 2001-02 are not available or can be provided only at disproportionate cost. Data for appraisal-related bonus payments are included only for Home Office HQ and Border and Immigration Agency (BIA). Data for the public sector Prison Service are excluded and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Identity and Passport Agency (IPS) does not run an appraisal-related bonus scheme. Data recorded for performance appraisal payments relate to the previous reporting year and not the financial year in which the bonuses themselves were paid.
Data for special bonus payments are included only for the senior civil service (for the whole Department and its agencies) and IPS for 2004-05 and 2005-06 for certain bonuses where information is available. Staffing data cover those in Home Office HQ, BIA and all senior civil servants in the Department and its agencies. For 2004-05 and 2005-06, IPS staff are included. Information for 2006-07 is currently unavailable: bonuses relating to this period will be paid with the 2007 pay award later in the year.
The highest payments in each year were made to the senior civil service following recommendations by the independent Senior Salaries Review Body. Figures cannot be provided for 2002-03 and 2003-04 as they represented the highest paid amount to an individual and it is not departmental practice to provide information that could be attributed to individual members of staff.
Within the Home Office and its agencies there are separate arrangements for awarding bonuses. Staff below the senior civil service may receive annual, appraisal-related awards where their objectives were exceeded and overall effectiveness was significantly above the standards agreed for the post. Examples include demonstrating the ability and willingness to take on new and additional work or consistently exceeding key objectives that have been set. Special bonuses will be awarded for exceptional, specific work such as delivering key tasks in particularly challenging and demanding circumstances.
Senior civil service bonuses reward, provide incentives for, in-year delivery of key results. Senior civil servants can be awarded bonuses as set out in the Senior Salaries Review Body report No. 62.
Departments: Publications
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost to his Department was of the uncompleted research paper IND Customer Survey. [129043]
John Reid: The work carried out as part of the IND customer survey was undertaken by MORI during the period February-April 2002. The results of this work were used internally by the Department but were not placed into a final published report. Its cost was estimated to be £60,000.
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost to his Department was of the unpublished research paper Dispersal: Facilitating Effectiveness and Efficiency. [129044]
John Reid: The work carried out by contractors as part of the report into Dispersal: Facilitating Effectiveness and Efficiency took place in the period September 2001 to September 2002. This work was used internally but not placed into a final published report, although it has now been released under the Freedom of Information Act. The cost of this work was estimated to be £137,000.
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