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26 July 2007 : Column 1504W—continued

Asylum: Zimbabwe

Mr. Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many failed asylum seekers have been returned to Zimbabwe in the last six months. [152056]

Mr. Byrne [holding answer 25 July 2007]: Between October 2006 and March 2007, 170 asylum applicants (including dependants) were removed from the UK to Zimbabwe. This is the latest six-month period for which figures are available. Figures include 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 those who it is established have left the UK without informing the immigration authorities. This figure has been rounded to the nearest five and is provisional.

The figure does not include any enforced removals; in the case of Zimbabwe, on 26 September 2006 we stated in the High Court that we will not enforce the return of failed asylum seekers to Zimbabwe until ongoing country guidance litigation is concluded, and that continues to be the position.

At present, the latest figures available correspond to the first quarter of 2007. Information relating to asylum removals during the second quarter of 2007
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will be published in the Asylum Statistics: 2nd Quarter 2007 bulletin (scheduled for 21 August). Copies of this publication will be available from the Library of the House and on the Home Office's Research, Development and Statistics website at:

Boris Berezovsky

Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 16 July 2007, Official Report, column 53W, on Boris Berezovsky, if she will take steps to enable parliamentary scrutiny of the decisions of the Border and Immigration Agency relating to political asylum via questions relating to individual cases; and if she will make a statement. [152465]

Mr. Byrne [holding answer 24 July 2007]: All applicants are assured at the beginning of the asylum process that details about their claim will be treated in confidence. Therefore it is not possible to comment on individual cases. The Border and Immigration Agency must meet the legal requirements placed on Government Departments by the laws of confidence, article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Data Protection Act 1998. These laws ensure that those genuinely in need of protection can feel secure in telling us the nature of their claim.

Departments: Air Conditioning

Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was spent by her Department and its agencies on the hire of mobile air conditioning units in each of the last five years. [151985]

Mr. Byrne: This information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost,

Departments: Legal Costs

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was ordered in costs against her Department in the House of Lords cases (a) Huang (FC) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department and (b) Kashmiri (FC) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department. [152099]

Mr. Byrne: This information is not available.

Departments: Ministerial Red Boxes

John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many ministerial red boxes the Department bought in each of the last five years; what the cost of each was; who the suppliers were; and what tendering process was used in choosing their supplier. [150294]

Mr. Byrne: Records relating to the purchase of ministerial red boxes in the Department in the last five years are not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.


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Departments: Official Visits

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was spent on overnight accommodation by civil servants within her Department's areas of responsibilities in the last 12 months. [149047]

Mr. Byrne: When travelling on departmental business officials are expected to make efficient and cost-effective accommodation arrangements.

Expenditure figures on overnight accommodation for the Home Office includes information for the core Home Office, the Border and Immigration Agency, the Office for Criminal Justice Reform and the National Offender Management Service (the latter two are now part of the Ministry of Justice). Prior to the Machinery of Government changes, the Department employed approximately 78,000 staff with this figure reducing to approximately 25,000 once the changes were implemented. The total amount covers expenditure on hotel accommodation in the UK and overseas by these civil servants and all ministers.

The overall spend for financial year 2006-07 for hotel accommodation was £8.28 million.

Information on civil servant overnight accommodation expenditure separately could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Deportation

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department following the judgments in (a) Huang (FC) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department and (b) Kashmiri (FC) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will review its policy on deportations. [152109]

Mr. Byrne [holding answer 24 July 2007]: The relevant policy document has been revised in light of the judgment in Huang and Kashmiri and is available on the Border and Immigration Agency website at:

Decisions to deport (or remove) foreign nationals from the UK are subject to the instructions found in that document.

Driving Offences: Insurance

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent estimate she has made of the number of deaths caused by uninsured drivers. [152754]

Jim Fitzpatrick: I have been asked to reply.

The information requested is not available.

Drug Seizures

Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 21 June 2007, Official Report, columns 2073-74W, on drug seizures, what the (a) date and (b) weight was of each seizure referred to on page 22 of the Serious Organised Crime Agency's Annual Report; and which agency was responsible for each seizure. [152448]


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Mr. Coaker: SOCA is tasked with reducing the harm caused to the UK by serious organised crime. To this end SOCA operations are directed against the most serious organised criminal enterprises (OCEs) causing harm to the UK regardless of their location. For the reasons that the hon. Member will now understand following his recent meeting with the chair and DG of SOCA, publication of the details the hon. Member requests would assist those OCEs to evade interdiction. Many of the seizures relate to ongoing work against the OCEs involved. It is important that SOCA can continue to hide or disguise its involvement in commodity (including Class A drugs) seizures, and that those OCEs involved in drug trafficking which affects this country remain unaware of the background to activity against them by SOCA and its national and international partners.

Drugs: Crime

Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what (a) quantity and (b) street value of illegal drugs was seized by (i) the Serious Organised Crime Agency, (ii) its predecessor agencies and (iii) local police forces in each of the last 10 years, broken down by type of narcotic. [152034]

Mr. Coaker: The Serious Organised Crime Agency in its first year of operation, 2006-07, was responsible with other law enforcement agencies for the seizure of 73 tonnes of cocaine, 1.5 tonnes of heroin, 4.4 million tablets of ecstasy, 260 kgs of opium and 1 million doses of LSD with a UK street market value of more than £3 billion.

The street market value of cocaine and heroin seizures from 2000 were:

£ million
Cocaine Heroin

2000

101

136

2001

60

169

2002

9

97

2003

105

64

2004

65

62


The latest available seizure data for police forces, including the National Crime Squad, in England and Wales from 1997 has been placed in the Library of the House.

Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what estimate she has made of the change in the quantities of illegal drugs in the UK over the last 10 years; and what assessment she has made of the changes to the average street value of illegal drugs in that period; [152051]

(2) what estimate she has made of the total amount of illegal drugs imported into the UK in each of the last three years. [152035]

Mr. Coaker: Home Office Online Report 16/06, “Measuring aspects of problem drug use: methodological developments” provides the most recent baseline estimates of market size for 2003-04. The estimates are subject to wide margins of error and are not for methodological reasons comparable with earlier estimates.


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The street price of the main drugs of misuse are estimated to have reduced since 2000.

Firearms: Greater London

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidents of gun crime have occurred in each London borough since 1997. [150892]

Mr. Coaker: Firearms are taken to be involved in an incident if they are fired, used as a blunt instrument against a person or used as a threat. The number of offences recorded by the City of London and Metropolitan police in which firearms (excluding air weapons) were reported to have been used between 1997-98 and 2005-06 is given in the tables. Data cannot be broken down by London borough.

Table 1: Crimes recorded in which firearms (excluding air weapons) were reported to have been used: City of London and Metropolitan police forces, 1997-98 to 2001-02
Number of firearm offences

1997-98

1,951

1998-99(1)

2,034

1999-2000

2,945

2000-01

3,036

2001 -02(2)

4,197

(1) There was a change in the counting rules for recorded crime on 1 April 1998.
(2) Figures for some crime categories may have been inflated by some police forces implementing the principles of the National Crime Recording Standard before 1 April 2002.

Table 2: Crimes recorded in which firearms (excluding air weapons) were reported to have been used: City of London and Metropolitan police forces, 2002-03 to 2005-06( 3,4)
Number of firearm offences

2002-03

4,202

2003-04

3,891

2004-05

3,697

2005-06

3,884

(3) Data in this table take account of the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002, which may have resulted in inflated figures for some crime categories. These figures are not directly comparable with those for earlier years.
(4) Data for 2006-07 will be available in January 2008.

Immigration: Bulgaria and Romania

Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the target processing time is for applications for (a) Romanian and (b) Bulgarian nationals under each of the different application processes and pathways through which they can apply to work and remain in the UK; and what percentage of such applications met that target time in the last period for which figures are available. [151484]

Mr. Byrne: The published service standards are 70 per cent. of applications under the Accession (Immigration and Worker Authorisation) Regulations, cleared within 20 working days of receipt for both Romanian and Bulgarian nationals. 77 per cent. of applications made were cleared within the target time in the three month period ending on 31 March 2007.

The published service standards are 30 per cent. for applications under the European Community Association Agreement, cleared within 70 working days of receipt
26 July 2007 : Column 1509W
for both Romanian and Bulgarian nationals. 94 per cent. of applications made were cleared within the target time in the three month period ending on 31 March 2007.

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.

Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average (a) cost and (b) time taken to process applications for (i) Romanian and (ii) Bulgarian nationals under each of the different application processes and pathways through which they can apply to work and remain in the UK was in the most recent period for which figures are available. [151487]

Mr. Byrne: Information on the average cost to process applications for Romanian and Bulgarian nationals is not available.

For the three month period ending on 31 March 2007, 77 per cent. of applications under the Accession (Immigration and Worker Authorisation) Regulations, were cleared within 20 working days of receipt for both Romanian and Bulgarian nationals.

In the same period, 94 per cent. of applications under the European Community Association Agreement, were cleared within 70 working days of receipt for both Romanian and Bulgarian nationals.

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.

Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many different application processes and pathways there are through which Romanian and Bulgarian nationals can apply to work and remain in the UK. [151488]

Mr. Byrne: There are two main pathways within which Romanian and Bulgarian nationals can apply to work and remain in the UK.

Romanian and Bulgarian nationals can apply under the Accession (Immigration and Worker Authorisation) Regulations for a Worker Authorisation Card or a Registration Certificate to confirm they are exercising a Treaty Right in the UK as a Student, Self-employed, Self-sufficient or Highly skilled person, or are exempt from Work Authorisation.

Bulgarian and Romanian nationals who have had valid leave to remain pre-accession under the European Community Association Agreement and can meet the terms of the agreement for the remainder of the qualifying period, are able to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain as a self-employed person.

Bulgarian and Romanian nationals can also seek Indefinite Leave to Remain under the immigration rules if they were in a category leading to settlement prior to accession.


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