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27 Jun 2007 : Column 755W—continued
Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments
Mr. Laws:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many letters were written by HM Revenue and Customs demanding the recovery of overpaid tax
credits in each month since January 2007; and if he will make a statement. [144868]
Dawn Primarolo: HM Revenue and Customs issued around 171,000 requests to pay back overpaid tax credits (forms TC610) from January 2007 to March 2007 (inclusive).
Home Department
Agriculture: Foreign Workers
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many temporary agricultural workers permits have been issued to (a) Romanian nationals and (b) Bulgarian nationals since 1 January 2007; and if he will make a statement. [140539]
Mr. Byrne: Provisional figures indicate that for the period 1 January to 31 March 2007, 1,535 work cards have been issued for Bulgarian nationals and 890 work cards for Romanian nationals wanting to participate in the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Scheme.
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.
Airline Liaison Officers: Scotland
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many airline liaison offices and returns liaison officers are stationed in Scotland; where they are located; and if he will make a statement. [144404]
Mr. Byrne: There are no Airline Liaison Officers (ALOs) or Returns Liaison Officers (RLOs) based in the United Kingdom.
Airline Liaison Officers work at points abroad identified as significant points of embarkation for inadequately documented passengers boarding flights to the United Kingdom. Returns Liaison Officers are based overseas and are responsible for establishing and maintaining liaison with foreign officials on the ground to facilitate the return of those with no legal basis to remain in the United Kingdom.
Asylum
Mr. Mudie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 3 May 2007, Official Report, column 1871, on asylum, how many applications of claims for extensions of discretionary leave were decided in the weeks beginning (a) 23 October 2006, (b) 30 October 2006, (c) 6 November 2006, (d) 13 November 2006, (e) 20 November 2006, (f) 27 November 2006, (g) 4 December 2006, (h) 11 December 2006 and (i) 18 December 2006 [137125]
Mr. Byrne:
Lin Homer, the chief executive of the Border and Immigration Agency, wrote to the chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee on 19 February
2007 about the legacy programme. She explained that once reports can be produced on the legacy programme which Parliament and the wider public can have confidence in, Parliament will be updated accordingly. A copy of this letter has been placed in the Library of the House.
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many of the 400,000 to 450,000 unresolved records relating to asylum cases to which he referred in his statement to the House on 19 July 2006, Official Report, column 324, on the Home Office: Reform Action Plan, have been resolved; [138530]
(2) how many of the 400,000 to 450,000 unresolved records relating to asylum cases to which he referred in his statement to the House on 19 July 2006, Official Report, column 324, on Home Office: Reform Action Plan, are held at Beddington Cross. [138531]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer s 23 May 2007]: Lin Homer, the Chief Executive of the Border and Immigration Agency, wrote to the chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee on 19 February 2007 about the legacy programme. She explained that once reports can be produced on the legacy programme which Parliament and the wider public can have confidence in, Parliament will be updated accordingly. A copy of this letter has been placed in the Library of the House.
Asylum: Applications
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many outstanding asylum applications there are; and how many were first made (a) within the last (i) 12 months, (ii) two years and (iii) three years and (b) more than three years ago. [145492]
Mr. Byrne: The latest published figures show that the number of cases (excluding dependants) recorded as awaiting an initial decision was 5,700 at the end of March 2007. Of this total, 4,300 cases were work in progress, i.e. the application had been outstanding for six months or less.
Information on when outstanding asylum applications were first made could be obtained only at disproportionate cost by examination of individual case records.
Information on outstanding asylum applications is 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:
Asylum: English Language
Mr. Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has estimated any additional costs for interpretation services provided by his Department which might result from the decision to end free English classes for asylum seekers, refugees in work and migrant workers. [125557]
Mr. Byrne:
Most asylum seekers already request that an interpreter be provided at their asylum interview.
The costs of providing this service are already met by the Border and Immigration Agency. We do not therefore anticipate any additional costs arising from the decision to end free access to ESOL courses for asylum seekers. Refugees on low incomes continue to be entitled to free English classes. The Border and Immigration Agency funds the Sunrise pilot scheme which provides caseworker support to new refugees in accessing appropriate mainstream benefits, ESOL provision and employment services and opportunities. Other migrant workers have limited face-to-face contact with the Home Office.
Automatic Number Plate Recognition
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the percentage of (a) driver and (b) vehicle information held on the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s Automated Number Plate Recognition database that is inaccurate. [144796]
Mr. McNulty: Driver information held by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is not used to support use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) as the technology applies to vehicles only.
Border and Immigration Agency: Manpower
Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many full-time equivalent staff were employed at the North Shields Enforcement Unit of the Border and Immigration Agency and its predecessor the Immigration and Nationality Department at the start of each year from 2003-04 to 2007-08; and how many site visits and inspections were made by them in each year from 2003-04 to 2006-07. [146309]
Mr. Byrne: The annual number of full-time equivalent staff employed by the Border and Immigration Agency and, before 2 April 2007, the Immigration and Nationality Directorate at North Shields between 2003-04 and 2007-08 are as follows:
| Full-time equivalent | |
| (1) No figures available due to archiving of records. | |
The figures for 2004-05 cover border control and enforcement staff. Separate figures are not available.
The number of site visits and inspections made by this unit between 2003-04 and 2006-07 are as follows:
| Number | |
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.
British Nationality: Applications
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the people having to retake Knowledge of Life in the UK tests have already been granted citizenship. [141599]
John Reid: I will write to the hon. Gentleman shortly about this matter.
Departments: Advertising
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was spent on advertising by (a) the Department and (b) its agencies in each of the last five years. [139516]
Mr. Byrne: The expenditure on advertising for the Home Office, including the Border and Immigration Agency, and the 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 | |
For both the Home Office and IPS, advertising for recruitment is accounted for as part of recruitment and selection costs and is not included in the figures above.
Departments: IPPR
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what funding his Department provided to (a) the IPPR and (b) IPPR Trading Ltd. in each year since May 1997; and for what purposes. [125719]
Mr. Byrne: The Department's payments to the Institute for Public Policy Research and IPPR Trading Ltd., for the period in question, were:
| £000 | |||
| IPPR | IPPR Trading | Total | |
The purpose of expenditure was for research projects and consultancy work. More details could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departments: Manpower
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people granted (a) temporary part-time, (b) temporary full-time, (c) permanent part-time and (d) permanent full-time contracts of employment in his Department in each of the last three years were (i) male, (ii) female, (iii) registered disabled and (iv) aged 55 years or over. [143898]
Mr. Byrne: The available information is set out in the following tables.
Figures given are for FTE staff joining in the preceding year, who on the 31 March, were in post in the categories shown. In some cases movement between other Government Departments or other categories of employment other than recruitment may be included. It is not possible to exclude these except at disproportionate cost.
| Central Home Office including Border and Immigration Agency( 1) | ||||
| Temporary | Permanent | |||
| 2006-07( 2) | (a) part-time | (b) , full-time | (c ) part-time | (d ) full- time |
| Notes:(1) Border and Immigration Agency moved to Agency status on 9 May 2007, previous to this it was Immigration and Nationality Directorate. (2) Figures have been taken from the Home Office personnel system Adelphi as at 31 March 2005, 2006, 2007. Non-active staff have been excluded. Temporary staff here excludes agency workers and contractors. (3) The Home Office does not store disability information on the basis of 'registered disability' figures are for self-declared disabled status. (4) Where staff numbers are less than five, it is not Home Office policy to disclose them. | ||||
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