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7 Jan 2008 : Column 290W—continued
Passports
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which countries do not issue passports that are capable of being read by electronic or automated passport readers; what estimate her Department has made of the number of countries likely to be issuing such passports when the e-border system becomes operational; and if she will make a statement. [163141]
Meg Hillier:
There are a small number of states still issuing passports that are not machine readable. The e-Borders programme has ensured that its solution is
capable of processing such documents at both check-in and the immigration control.
In addition, from 2008, all visa applicants will be required to provide a 10-finger fingerprint scan and a digital photograph, as part of the application process when applying for a UK visa. Fingerprints and facial images are now in use in 125 countries and the global roll-out will be completed by, or before, March 2008. Nationals from approximately three-quarters of the countries identified as listed require a visa to travel to the UK. We are currently applying a Visa Waiver Test to all non-EEA countries by the end of 2007, with changes to the UK's visa regimes taking place over 2008-09. The Visa Waiver Test uses a range of criteria including the assessment of the level of security and integrity of each individual countries passport.
Furthermore, from 2008 onwards the UK will also start to introduce immigration documents for foreign nationals resident in the UK which will include fingerprints. Together, these measures will ensure that we can fix the identity of foreign nationals and thus check their entitlement to be in the UK.
Countries that do not currently have machine readable passports
Afghanistan
Algeria
Bahamas
Bangladesh
Bolivia
Botswana
Chad
Colombia
Congo
Cook Islands
Cote d'Ivoire
Democratic Republic of Congo
East Timor
Egypt
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Gabon
Ghana
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Kiribati
North Korea
Libya
Madagascar
Marshall Islands
Mauritania
Federated States of Micronesia
Morocco
Mozambique
Nauru
Nepal
Philippines
Sao Tome
Serbia
Solomon Islands
Somalia
Sudan
Turkey
Vanuatu
Montenegro
Laos
Turkmenistan.
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the reason was for the reduction in the forecast of future passport volumes in the November 2007 identity cards cost report; and for what reasons her Department expects customers to delay passport renewals. [171888]
Meg Hillier: The future prediction of passport demand is updated periodically by the Identity and Passport Service to reflect actual numbers of applicants. The November 2007 Cost Report included the most recent prediction of future passport volumes. This prediction had recently been updated to reflect lower than anticipated passport renewals. There could be a number of reasons for passport renewals being increasingly delayed by customers:
Other identity documents have been improved. In particular the introduction of the photo driving licence has been introduced in the last 10 years. This would be an alternative option for those who hold a passport for proof of identity reasons;
Last minute behaviour. To a certain extent, the travel industry encourages ‘last minute’ behaviour and it is reasonable to believe that customers also apply this behaviour to how they apply for passports. This behaviour has also been enabled by IPS Fast Track services which have improved to meet this demand since these were first introduced in 1996;
Changes in travel trends. Official statistics confirm that passenger journeys continue to increase, but whether this is the same number of people travelling more frequently is unclear. Hence the overall total demand for passports is difficult to predict with accuracy.
The latest Cost Report may be found at:
I would refer the hon. Member to that report.
Passports: Applications
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many interview centres for new passport applicants are operational. [171049]
Meg Hillier: As at 5 December 2007 36 Interview Offices dealing with first time passport customers are in live operations. We anticipate that 62 offices will be fully operational by end December 2007 with a further six opening by end February 2008.
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much her Department has spent on acquiring premises for passport application interview centres. [171050]
Meg Hillier:
The Identity and Passport Service (IPS) contracted Mapeley Abl Provider Limited to acquire, fit out and service manage the interview office estate capability. Following a competitive tender a contract award notice (OJEC Ref 06/5 74-77058/EN) was published on 13 April 2006 which gave a total contract
value of £71.86 million (ex VAT). To the end of November 2007 IPS incurred costs of £35.33 million (ex VAT) against this contract and total life costs for the contract are not expected to exceed the published total. An additional £1.24 million (ex VAT) has been incurred by IPS on professional services in respect of design, assurance and legal advice in delivery of the estate.
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff have been recruited to work in passport interview centres. [171053]
Meg Hillier: As at 5 December 2007, 465 staff have been recruited to work in Interview Offices. We anticipate that we will reach the full complement of about 600 staff by February 2008.
Passports: Fraud
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many forged UK passports, including biometrics, have been detected and cancelled since November 2006. [169566]
Meg Hillier: Since November 2006 the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) has recorded the receipt of 1,172 passports which have been tampered with or in some way forged. All 1,172 passports have been cancelled. Over the same period the Borders and Immigration Agency (BIA) has detected 384 fraudulently used UK passports. The records collated by IPS and BIA do not distinguish between biometric and earlier types of passport.
Police
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average length of service is of serving police officers in England. [174718]
Mr. McNulty: The information requested cannot be calculated from the centrally collected data within the police personnel statistics series. Length of service data are collected in the following time bands only for police officers: less than six months, six months to one year, one to two years, two to three years, three to four years, four to five years, five to 10 years, 10 to 15 years, 15 to 20 years, 20 to 25 years, 25 to 26 years, 26 to 27 years, 27 to 28 years, 28 to 29 years, 29 to 30 years, 30 to 31 years, 31 to 32 years, 32 to 33 years, 33 to 34 years, 34 to 35 years, and 35 years and over.
The length of service categories with the largest numbers of police officers have been given. There were approximately 25,000 full-time equivalent police officers in the 43 police forces of England and Wales with between five and 10 years service, approximately 21,000 with 15 to 20 years service and approximately 20,000 with 10 to 15 years service as at 31 March 2007.
Police: Cumbria
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many serving police officers there were in (a) Cumbria and (b) Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency in each of the last 10 years. [175386]
Mr. McNulty [ h olding answer 18 December 2007]: Figures for Cumbria appear in the following table. Figures for Westmorland and Lonsdale are not collected centrally, as local area police personnel figures are collected at Basic Command Unit rather than constituency level.
| Number of police officers in Cumbria: 1997-2007 | |
| Police officers( 1) | |
| (1 )All figures are full time equivalents (FTE) rounded to the nearest whole number. They exclude officers on maternity/paternity leave and career breaks. | |
Police: Influenza
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment her Department has made of the likely effect of an influenza pandemic on the operational capacity of the police service. [175142]
Mr. McNulty: The National Policing Improvement Agency is working with the Department of Health to ensure that the appropriate guidance on pandemic flu is available to all police forces. It advises all police staff, and their families, about how they can protect themselves against the disease and prevent the spread of the infection.
The Government have not made an assessment of the operational capacity of the Police Service should a serious outbreak of pandemic flu occur as this would be a matter for individual Chief Constables.
Police: Legislation
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what (a) statutory instruments, (b) departmental circulars and (c) other documents she (i) has issued and (ii) plans to issue in the next 12 months consequential to the provisions of police legislation passed since 1996. [174045]
Mr. McNulty: In the next 12 months I intend to lay before Parliament a number of statutory instruments regarding the Police and Justice Act 2006. In early 2008 I intend to lay four sets of regulations regarding the membership, functions and planning obligations of police authorities and in spring and autumn I intend to lay orders commencing various uncommenced provisions of that Act.
Since 1996 the Government have enacted 12 pieces of police legislation which have effect in England and Wales, and several Statutory Instruments consequential to these. 65 Home Office circulars have been issued in
regard to these acts. In relation to other documents consequential to these acts, these details are not kept centrally.
A document has been prepared with a full list of these statutory instruments and Home Office circulars, and will be placed in the Library of the House.
Police: Manpower
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers worked in each London borough in the latest period for which figures are available, broken down by (a) ethnicity, (b) age and (c) sex. [167415]
Mr. McNulty: These breakdowns are not collected centrally at London borough level.
Mr. Hepburn:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many police community
support officers were employed in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) England in each year since they were introduced; [174756]
(2) how many (a) police sergeants, (b) special constables and (c) traffic police officers were employed in (i) Jarrow constituency, (ii) South Tyneside, (iii) the North East and (iv) England in each year since 1997; [174750]
(3) how many police officers were employed in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) England in each year since 1997. [175050]
Mr. McNulty: The available information is given in the following tables. Statistics for Jarrow constituency are not available centrally and figures for South Tyneside relate to the South Tyneside basic command unit.
| Number of police officers and staff in South Tyneside, North-East region and England: 1997 to 2007 | |||||
| Table A: South Tyneside basic command unit (BCU) | |||||
| Police officers (FTE)( 1) | Police sergeants (FTE) | Special constables (HC) | Traffic police officers (FTE) | Police community support officers (FTE)( 1,)( )( 2) | |
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