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17 Dec 2007 : Column 964W—continued
Mr. Byrne: The closest available information is the number of asylum seekers in receipt of support from BIA, broken down by Government office region and local authority. The figures do, however, cover all those on support, which is principally those whose asylum application has not yet had an initial decision or who have an outstanding right of appeal.
These and other statistics relating to asylum are published on a quarterly and annual basis and the latest publication, covering the third quarter of 2007, is available on the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics website at:
Further breakdowns of those in receipt of support from BIA, by parliamentary constituency, are also available from the Library of the House.
Immigration: Kent
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the costs incurred by Kent police as a result of immigration in (a) 2005 and (b) 2006. [168344]
Mr. McNulty: Kent police authority and force do not separately identify costs incurred as a result of immigration. Decisions on the distribution of resources are matters for the chief officer and the police authority.
Immigration: Northern Ireland
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what responsibility her Department has to monitor the number of foreign nationals residing in Northern Ireland; and what measures her Department takes to combat illegal immigration in Northern Ireland. [166727]
Mr. Byrne: The Border and Immigration Agency has responsibility for immigration control matters throughout the UK, including Northern Ireland, and has a team of enforcement officers based in the Province who work closely with the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
The Agency does not disaggregate statistics for areas within the UK.
Records on migrants who are legally authorised to live and work in the UK are held but such migrants may move freely within the UK subject to their immigration conditions.
The Agency maintains records on asylum applications, including failed asylum seekers in the UK. The availability of the information on these cases is currently linked to the support that they receive.
The Agency, the PSNI and the Garda National Immigration Bureau work collaboratively and run regular intelligence-led operations to counter risks to the common travel area borders. These operations have successfully prevented foreign nationals attempting to enter Northern Ireland and the Republic illegally in both directions.
The Agency operates immigration controls at the international ports in Northern Ireland, refusing entry where appropriate, thereby preventing illegal migrants from entering by those routes.
In addition, the Agency works closely with the police service in Scotland in dealing with those who are in the UK illegally and who are identified when seeking to move between the Province and Great Britain.
In the last six months, account managers have been recruited in Northern Ireland to advise employers about their responsibilities when employing overseas nationals and the penalties and sanctions that will apply where they knowingly employ people who are here illegally.
Compliance officers will audit employers in the Province to ensure that the law is being complied with and will initiate enforcement action in appropriate cases.
Immigration: Security Services
Frank Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether any companies providing security services to Government departments have been prosecuted for employing people not entitled to be employed in this country. [175021]
Jacqui Smith: To date there have been no prosecutions under section eight of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996 of companies for providing illegal migrant workers to work as security guards in Government Departments.
Illegal working is an issue which we take seriously which is why we introduced new measures in the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality (IAN) Act 2006 to ensure employers meet their obligations. This will give us greater enforcement powers, which we will not hesitate to use.
As I told Parliament last week, the Border and Immigration Agency (BIA) has prioritised enforcement action with respect to the security industry. Cases are being analysed for evidence of employers who appear to have a track record of employing people who do not have a right to work. The BIA tells me that a third of its illegal working operation is deployed on that employment sector.
As a result of this action, problems were identified with one of the sub-contractors providing services to the Home Office. This led on Friday 14 December to the identification and arrest of one member of the sub-contractor’s security staff who did not have the right to work and is now subject to deportation action. The Home Office is now working with the sub-contractor to recheck individually the right to work of all their security staff supplied to the Home Office.
Furthermore, the permanent secretary has taken immediate steps to tighten the procedures for checking the identity and immigration status of those working in the Home Office, whether as a civil servant, employed by a contractor, or in any other capacity.
International Conference on Illicit Nuclear Trafficking
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what contribution Ministers or officials from her Department made to the International Conference on Illicit Nuclear Trafficking: Collective Experience and the Way Forward, held in Edinburgh between 19 and 22 November. [172978]
Mr. McNulty: The conference was addressed by William Nye, Director for Law, Security and International in the Office for Security and Counter-terrorism, who provided a keynote speech on 19 November titled "The UK approach to combating nuclear terrorism".
Muhammad Qazilbash Mumtaz
Clare Short: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she expects the Border and Immigration Agency to reply to the letter of 23 October from the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood on Muhammad Qazilbash Mumtaz (acknowledgement reference B31608/7). [173583]
Mr. Byrne: The Border and Immigration Agency wrote to my right hon. Friend on 4 December 2007.
Neneh Famata Jalloh
Clare Short: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she expects the Border and Immigration Agency to reply to the letter of 29 October from the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood sent on behalf of Neneh Famata Jalloh (Home Office reference J112636, acknowledgement reference B30489/7). [173618]
Mr. Byrne: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 4 December 2007.
Offenders
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons working for her Department have unspent criminal convictions. [163348]
Mr. Byrne: Information obtained on recruitment or reported by employees is retained on personnel files or by HR management units as appropriate and is not collated. It could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Overseas Students: Vetting
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the new immigration rules which will mean that students studying proliferation sensitive courses require ATAS clearance to enter the country are planned to come into force. [172368]
Mr. Byrne: The relevant changes to the immigration rules took effect on 30 November 2007.
Departmental Recycling
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much (a) the UK Passport Service, (b) the Identity and Passport Service, (c) Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, (d) the immigration and nationality directive and (e) the National Policing Improvement Agency recycled in terms of (i) volume of total waste and (ii) percentage of total waste in each of the last five years. [172420]
Mr. Byrne:
The recycling data for the agencies and non-departmental public bodies requested is unavailable because comprehensive waste data collection and reporting systems are not currently in place in all of these organisations. The following table provides departmental data from 2002-03 until 2005-06, the latest year for which figures have been
published. The figures include data from some office properties on the Borders and Immigration Agency and Identity and Passport Service estates. It also includes figures from the public sector prison estate which was part of the Home Office estate until May this year. The table shows an increase in the amount of waste arisings year on year, which reflects an increase in the total number of properties reported on.
| Total waste arisings (metric tonnes) | Percentage of total waste recycled | |
| (1) Not yet published | ||
The Home Office continues to explore opportunities to increase further the amount of waste recycled and to identify opportunities for waste minimisation. These initiatives will be supported by more reliable data systems that will be realised through our new shared service operations, as well as by procurement initiatives.
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the policy is of (a) the Identity and Passport Service, (b) Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, (c) the Immigration and Nationality Directorate and (d) the National Policing Improvement Agency on recycling. [172421]
Mr. Byrne: None of the organisations cited has its own dedicated recycling policy. Rather they operate under the departmental waste policies which stem from our commitment to the Sustainable Operations on the Government Estate, published in June 2006 which require central Government Departments and their agencies to increase the amount of waste recycled to 40 per cent. of their waste arisings by 2010 and increase their recycling figures to 75 per cent. of their waste arisings by 2020.
Police
Mr. Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many full-time equivalent police officers there were per recorded incident of (a) rape, (b) homicide and (c) violence against the person in each London borough in each year since 1997. [171789]
Mr. McNulty: Figures are available centrally from 2002-03, and appear in the following tables. The police officer totals used in the ratios relate to all officers in post in each borough, and not just to those involved with investigating rapes, homicides and violence against the person which may involve officers from other boroughs and central services.
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