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28 Jan 2008 : Column 91W—continued
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what procedures her Department employs to ensure that licences to conduct scientific experiments on animals are only granted in circumstances where no viable alternative exists; and what steps it takes to ensure that licences are not granted unnecessarily to different scientists simultaneously. [180347]
Meg Hillier: Under section 5(5) of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, a project licence cannot be granted if the purpose of the programme could be achieved satisfactorily by the use of a reasonably practicable non-animal method. Applicants for project licences are, therefore, required to explain why animals have to be used and a key element of the assessment of licence applications by Home Office inspectors focuses on ensuring that the use of animals is essential. In considering this issue, inspectors have access to a wide range of expertise and sources of relevant information and fully explore potential alternative methods in discussion with applicants.
The avoidance of unnecessary duplication of animal use is another key consideration in the assessment of applications and all reasonable steps are taken to prevent it. However, the replication of experiments by more than one research group is not necessarily prohibited. The scientific method demands that research findings can be corroborated by the same or different research groups to establish the validity of the results.
Asylum
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many questionnaires for asylum seekers under the Legacy Casework Programme have been (a) issued, (b) completed and returned and (c) returned incomplete since the programme began; and if she will make a statement. [178987]
Mr. Byrne: There have been nearly 9,600 questionnaires issued since May 2007 and around 8,400 of these have been completed.
The questionnaire is only for applicants whose cases are among the older, unresolved ones that are not being considered by our teams in regional offices around the country.
Not all applicants will receive a questionnaire. Applicants will only be sent a questionnaire if we think we need more up-to-date information on the applicant’s case before we review it. If the application is a straightforward one, or the applicant has recently been in touch with us, we will not need to send a questionnaire.
In her recent update to the Home Affairs Committee on 17 December 2007, Lin Homer (chief executive of the Border and Immigration Agency) gave an undertaking to provide further updates to the Committee every six months.
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what projections she has made of the likely percentage of asylum seekers who will be recognised as refugees and granted asylum as an initial decision in (a) 2007, (b) 2008 and (c) 2009. [173029]
Mr. Byrne: Projections of the likely percentage of asylum seekers who will be recognised as refugees and granted asylum at initial decision in (a) 2007, (b) 2008 and (c) 2009 are not available. Every asylum application is considered on its individual merits.
Crime: Greater London
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) violence against the person, (b) criminal damage and (c) drug related offences have been recorded in London since 2001. [178075]
Mr. Coaker: The information requested is shown in the following table:
| Selected offences recorded by the police in London( 1) | |||
| Violence against the person | Criminal damage | Drug offences | |
| (1) Includes offences recorded by the City of London police and the Metropolitan Police Service. (2) The National Crime Recording Standard was introduced in April 2002. Figures before and after that date are not directly comparable. | |||
Criminal Records Bureau
Mark Williams:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what (a) basic, (b) standard and
(c) enhanced disclosure charges the Criminal Records Bureau has levied against each (i) local authority, (ii) local education authority, (iii) local health board and primary care trust and (iv) NHS trust in England and Wales in each year for which figures are available. [179283]
Meg Hillier: The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) does not collate this information in the format requested.
Departmental Land
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what land surplus to her Department’s requirements it is (a) selling, (b) leasing and (c) intending to (i) sell and (ii) lease; and what the size and name of each relevant site is. [168847]
Mr. Byrne: The Department is not currently selling or leasing land. It has however declared the former RAF Coltishall (260 hectares) surplus to its requirements and will shortly transfer it to the Ministry of Justice. Sale of a very minor part of the former airfield has been agreed with an adjoining owner.
Departmental Telephone Service
Rob Marris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many 0845 or similar cost telephone numbers are used by (a) her Department and (b) related departmental bodies for public access to services. [179202]
Mr. Byrne: The information requested is shown in the following table.
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which telephone contact centres are the responsibility of her Department; what mechanisms are in place to monitor their effectiveness; and how many people have been employed in each of those centres in each year since they were established. [166550]
Mr. Byrne: The information requested is shown in the following table.
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