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17 Dec 2007 : Column 952W—continued
Driving Under Influence
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether she plans to lower the permitted alcohol levels in relation to drink driving offences; and what recent research has been commissioned on this subject. [170471]
Jim Fitzpatrick: I have been asked to reply.
The most recent assessment of the possible effect of a change in the legal limit was included in the 1998 consultation paper “Combating Drink Driving: Next Steps”, a copy of which is in the Library of the House. The Government keeps this issue under review.
Dungavel Immigration Reception Centre
Mr. Ingram: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the last ministerial visit was to Dungavel Immigration Reception Centre; and when (a) she and (b) her ministerial team next plans to visit the centre. [173067]
Mr. Byrne: The last ministerial visit to Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre was made by Tony McNulty in his capacity as Minister for Immigration in June 2005.
As the current Minister of State for Borders and Immigration I intend to visit the centre in 2008.
Emergency Calls
John Cummings: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many 999 calls were made in the Durham police authority area in each year since 2000. [172764]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 10 December 2007]: The information requested is published in the Annual Reports of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC). The latest available data refers to the 2004-05 financial year, and are given in the table.
| Emergency calls received in Durham police force area from 1999-2000 to 2004-05( 1) | |
| Number of calls | |
| (1) HMIC have advised that emergency call handling data will no longer be published in their Annual Report and that the data for 2004-05 is the last series to be published. | |
Entry Clearances: Foreign Workers
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research she has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated into the likely change in the number of non-EU workers given leave to enter the UK as a result of the introduction of (i) the points-based system, (ii) the measures contained in Her Majesty's Gracious Speech and (iii) the introduction of further language requirements; and if she will publish such research. [166979]
Mr. Byrne: The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) and the Migration Impact forum (MIF) have been set up to help inform the development of immigration policy.
Entry Clearances: Iran
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether membership of or attachment to certain Iranian higher education institutions leads to a ban on an individual’s entry into the UK. [172369]
Mr. Byrne: Membership of, or attachment to, an Iranian higher education institution does not lead to an automatic ban on an individual’s entry to the UK. All applications are considered on their individual merits.
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether Fereydoon Abbasi, Mohammad Tavalaei, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Mansour Asgari or Mohamad Amin Bassam of the Imam Hossein University in Tehran have been allowed admittance to the UK in the last 10 years; and whether they would currently be allowed into the UK. [172396]
Mr. Byrne: It is not the policy of the Home Office to comment on individual cases.
Essex Police Authority: Finance
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) overspend or (b) underspend was for Essex Police Authority in each year since 1990-91. [174085]
Mr. McNulty: Police authorities are legally required to set balanced budgets taking into account any use of reserves. Decisions on the distribution of resources are matters for the Chief Officer and the Police Authority.
Essex Police: Sick Leave
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what the average annual rate of sickness absence was in (a) Southend and (b) Essex police in each year since 1997; [174064]
(2) how many and what proportion of working days were lost due to (a) sickness and (b) stress, anxiety or depression in (i) Southend and (ii) Essex police in each year since 1997. [174065]
Mr. McNulty: The available data are for the amount of police officer working time lost to sickness, breakdowns for the type of sickness are not collected centrally. Data are available for 2002-03 onwards at the police force level only.
Police officer sickness absence data for 2002-03 onwards are available on the Home Office website, located at:
For 2002-03 and 2003-04, the data are given in the 2003-04 police performance monitoring report, in the form of police officer days lost per person per year.
For 2004-05 onwards, the data are given in the annual police performance assessment reports, in the form of average number of police officer hours lost per person per year.
Essex Police: Standards
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps the Government is taking to improve the quality of local policing in (a) Southend and (b) Essex; and if she will make a statement. [174077]
Mr. McNulty: The Government are committed to ensuring every community in England and Wales has a neighbourhood policing team by April 2008. Neighbourhood policing teams, including those in Southend and Essex, are primarily concerned with engaging and working with communities in agreeing and tackling local policing priorities.
There are 16 dedicated neighbourhood policing teams in the south eastern division which covers Southend, and 145 teams in total in Essex. In 2008-09, Essex will receive £6.84 million in funding to be used primarily for police community support officers (PCSOs), but also to contribute to wider neighbourhood policing.
Furthermore, Essex police received a ‘good’ grading in their assessment of local priorities as part of the 2006-07 joint HMIC and Home Office police performance assessments. This reflects very positively on the force’s performance in dealing with locally selected indicators set by the force and police authority—those issues that are of particular concern to local citizens.
Extradition
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many extradition requests were made by the UK to (a) the USA, (b) each EU member state and (c) other countries in each of the last five years; and how many of those were (i) successful and (ii) refused. [164090]
Meg Hillier: For the purposes of this reply, the answer gives details of requests made by England and Wales; requests from Scotland and Northern Ireland are matters for the Scotland Office and Northern Ireland Office respectively. Extradition requests in England and Wales originate with the prosecuting authorities.
Since 1 January 2004, extradition between the UK and European Union has been conducted under the Framework Decision on the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), which was given effect in the UK by Part 1 of the Extradition Act 2003. The other EU member states have been designated under Part 1 of the Extradition Act 2003 at regular intervals. A separate table sets out the statistics for the EAW.
If an extradition request was sent to a member state before that state began operating the EAW, the request will continue to be dealt with under the arrangements in place with that state when the request was made.
It should be emphasised that a person is not always returned in the same year that an extradition request has been made.
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