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25 July 2007 : Column 1173W—continued


Drugs: Misuse

Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the reasons were for the reduction in the Young People Substance Misuse Grant in 2007-08; and if she will make a statement. [151542]

Mr. Coaker: In addition to mainstream funding, the Government have committed £55 million of ringfenced funding in 2007-08 to support work on reducing young people’s drug use through the Young People’s Substance Misuse Partnership Grant. This grant is pooled centrally across Departments, administered by the Home Office and paid to local areas. The change in the grant allocation in 2007-08 is primarily due to a reduction of £4 million in the Department of Health’s Targeted Prevention Funding. The Department of Health had made a time-limited commitment to this funding, which was not renewed after the transfer of
25 July 2007 : Column 1174W
responsibility for drug education and prevention to the Department for Education and Skills. A further £2.6 million reduction was because the Home Office had increased its contribution, by way of a one-off subsidy in 2006-07, to help mitigate a similar reduction of £4 million by the Department of Health in that year.

Fraud: Credit Cards

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) in how many cases in which credit card fraud is alleged in respect of suspects identified during Operation Ore had such suspects previously reported fraud or theft; [152167]

(2) how many suspects identified as part of Operation Ore who are claiming credit card fraud are (a) men and (b) women. [152168]

Mr. Coaker: This information is not held centrally.

Fraud: East Sussex

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases of (a) identity and (b) online fraud were recorded in (i) Eastbourne and (ii) East Sussex in each of the last five years. [151366]

Mr. Coaker: The information requested is not available centrally. The use of another person’s identification details (or the use of false identification details), often referred to as identity theft, is not in itself an offence in law. It is the action that is undertaken using those identification details that needs to be considered in respect of whether an offence has occurred and should be recorded.

With regard to online fraud, this is not a separately defined offence in law and such instances will be recorded under the appropriate fraud classification depending on the circumstances of the offence.

Missing Persons

Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the direct financial contribution from her Department was to the Police National Missing Persons Bureau in 2006-07; and what the equivalent allocation is for 2007-08. [152316]

Mr. McNulty [holding answer 24 July 2007]: No contribution was made to the Police National Missing Persons Bureau in 2006-07. We are proposing to provide a financial contribution in 2008-09 and will be confirming this shortly.

Passports

Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what percentage of passport applications were rejected in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) ethnicity of applicant, (b) reason for rejection and (c) processing office. [149766]

Jacqui Smith: The percentage of passport applications rejected in each of the last five years, broken down by office and reason for rejection are set out as follows. The statistics available show only the
25 July 2007 : Column 1175W
breakdown between those applications which failed on nationality grounds and those rejected for other reasons. Breakdown by ethnicity is not available.

The passport examination process is designed to confirm the nationality and identity of the intended passport holder and, where required, that consent has been provided. If the Identity and Passport Service does not receive the necessary supporting documentation to confirm the aforementioned, or is unable to verify the application details through
25 July 2007 : Column 1176W
examining procedures, it is unable to issue a passport. The ‘other reasons’ category covers these circumstances and also where the customer requests the application to be withdrawn.

The London office primarily handles applications submitted through its public counters, where the application is checked for completeness before being accepted for processing. Incomplete applications are not accepted. This reduces the number of rejections.

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

Belfast

Other reasons

1,468

1,461

1,611

2,029

2,350

Nationality grounds

1

210

236

199

255

Percentage Passport rejected

0.59

0.57

0.62

0.58

0.73

Durham

Other reasons

4,933

5,872

7,527

9,488

9,622

Nationality grounds

798

997

1,153

1,615

1,585

Percentage Passport rejected

0.45

0.47

0.50

0.51

0.55

Glasgow

Other reasons

3,010

2,720

2,863

3,252

2,934

Nationality grounds

223

246

307

329

296

Percentage Passport rejected

0.58

0.50

0.52

0.64

0.59

Liverpool

Other reasons

3,332

3,524

4,214

5,229

5,930

Nationality grounds

432

433

473

884

1,055

Percentage Passport rejected

0.42

0.44

0.46

0.42

0.46

London

Other reasons

936

613

350

561

447

Nationality grounds

1

4

1

0

1

Percentage Passport rejected

0.53

0.31

0.17

0.22

0.19

Newport

Other reasons

4,813

4,811

4,870

5,671

4,190

Nationality grounds

405

531

637

733

672

Percentage Passport rejected

0.50

0.51

0.50

0.62

0.60

Peterborough

Other reasons

6,994

8,912

6,756

6,667

6,823

Nationality grounds

2,785

3,279

3,096

2,428

2,091

Percentage Passport rejected

0.84

0.95

0.89

0.93

1.03

Total

Other reasons

25,486

27,913

28,191

32,897

32,296

Nationality grounds

4,645

5,700

5,903

6,188

5,955

Percentage Passport rejected

0.56

0.58

0.56

0.57

0.60


Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what percentage of passport applications sent through the Check and Send service were rejected in each of the last five years. [149767]

Jacqui Smith: We only hold data on Check and Send (Partner) applications rejected for the last financial year.

In the financial year 2006-07, 10,900 or 0.38 per cent. of the total applications received through Check and Send services (Partner) were rejected (withdrawn and failed cases).

Passports: Biometrics

Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the
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time taken to verify (a) a biometric passport and (b) a non-biometric passport at passport control (i) prior to and (ii) after the introduction of biometric-capability passport readers. [151501]

Jacqui Smith [holding answer 23 July 2007]: The new scanners are able to automatically read more data from passports and other travel documents than the old swipe system, which means that fewer details have to be input manually and improved security and fraud checks can be undertaken. They are also able to read the new biometric chips, providing immigration officers with an additional tool to combat identity fraud.

It is critical to the security of the United Kingdom that we verify the identity of all those who seek to enter the country. While allowing most passengers into the United Kingdom quickly, thorough checks are necessary to turn away those who present a risk to the public and to prevent illegal immigration.


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