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6 Feb 2008 : Column 1216W—continued
—continuedForced Marriage
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will take steps to ensure that information on helplines and access to support for victims of forced marriage or persons in fear of forced marriage is made available at police stations and other public places within the responsibility of her Department. [184352]
Mr. Coaker: As part of the Forced Marriage Unit’s outreach programme, the unit circulates forced marriage posters to a range of statutory agencies, including the police. The Forced Marriage Unit encourages agencies to display these posters in both police stations and other public places. In addition, in 2005 the Forced Marriage Unit issued guidance for police officers on dealing with cases of forced marriage.
Identity Documents
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 7 January 2008, Official Report, column 284W, on identity documents, how many of the 1,222 people convicted or cautioned for failing to produce immigration documents between September 2004 and November 2007 received a sentence of imprisonment. [183597]
Mr. Byrne: On 22 September 2004 Section 2 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants) Act came into force. Section 2 made failing to produce an immigration document, which satisfactorily establishes their nationality or identity, an offence. It does not differentiate between those who fail to produce an identity document or those who destroy an identity document on arrival.
Between 22 September 2004 and 30 November 2007 Border Control criminal investigations teams secured 1,222 convictions under Section 2. All 1,222 of these resulted in a custodial sentence.
The data provided are based on locally collated management information, which may be subject to change and does not represent published national statistics.
Illegal Immigrants
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of criminal justice enforcement efforts against those responsible for the facilitating of illegal migration and the employment of illegal migrants; and if she will make a statement. [177413]
Mr. Byrne: The Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) produces an annual assessment of the threat posed to the UK by organised crime, including immigration crime. Co-operation between all UK law enforcement agencies has led to 836 UK prosecutions for facilitation offences between 2003 and 2006 and 735 guilty verdicts. Close co-operation with the national law enforcement agencies of other countries, such as Police aux Frontieres in France, has also led to numerous convictions abroad.
The Government are introducing a tough new sanction of knowingly employing an illegal immigrant, punishable by up to two years in prison. In tackling the employment of illegal migrants, the Government also concluded that the introduction of civil penalties, of up to £10,000 per worker, was likely to provide a more effective alternative to the criminal justice system for dealing with the generality of employers who fail in their legal obligation to avoid illegal sources of labour. Prosecution is then reserved for those cases involving the deliberate or conscious use of illegal workers. This approach is in line with the recommendations of the Hampton and Macrory reports on better regulation Tough new measures to prevent illegal migrant working, provided by the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, will come into force on 29 February 2008.
Immigrants
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what checks her Department and its agencies make on the immigration status of couriers working within her Department and its agencies; and if she will make a statement; [169552]
(2) how many couriers working for or within her Department and its agencies were found to be illegal immigrants in each of the last five years. [169553]
Mr. Byrne: There are currently three messengers, performing duties similar to a courier, based at Home Office headquarters. All have been subject to the Department’s normal employment checks, which include checks on immigration status.
Otherwise, the Home Office uses external courier companies to carry out courier services when required. It is the legal responsibility of the courier companies used to ensure that their staff are permitted to work in the UK.
The Identity and Passport Service employs Secure Mail Services (SMS) to deliver passports to its customers and to transport its internal mail. As an additional safeguard since July 2006, IPS has arranged additional immigration status checks on all new SMS courier staff and retrospective checks on existing staff started in October 2007 will be completed in January 2008. No incidences of SMS employing illegal staff have been found.
Immigration
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will give a break down by (a) sex and (b) age group of the cases in which grant of leave to remain in the UK was granted under the immigration legacy exercise. [177354]
Mr. Byrne: The requested information is not collated centrally and could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost through the examination of individual cases.
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what estimate her Department has made of likely changes in its (a) expenditure on and (b) revenue from immigration arising from the hosting of the 2012 Olympic Games; [178680]
(2) what provision her Department has planned for the Border and Immigration Agency to manage any increase in demands on its services arising from the Olympic Games in 2012. [178662]
Mr. Byrne: The Borders and Immigration Agency has set up a programme to prepare for the London Olympic and Paralympic Games. Detailed financial and resource modelling has not been completed and it is too early to say what resources will be necessary to deal with the expected increase in demands arising from the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012.
The programme is working with key stakeholders to establish requirements and is learning from the experience of past host nations. Its aim is to ensure the efficient passage of participants, workers and visitors coming to the United Kingdom for the 2012 games while maintaining the security of our borders.
Kent
Dr. Ladyman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what funds in the form of (a) revenue payments, (b) capital grants and (c) supported borrowing for which her Department is responsible have been made available to (i) Kent county council, (ii) Thanet district council and (iii) Dover district council in 2007-08. [183054]
Mr. Byrne: For 2007-08 the Home Office will make funding available to Kent county council, Thanet district council and Dover district council from the Safer and Stronger Communities Fund (SSCF), the Young People Substance Misuse Partnership Grant (YPSMPG), the Drug Intervention programme (DIP) main grant, and the Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children Grant (UASC).
The SSCF is a joint Communities and Local Government (CLG) and Home Office fund aimed at tackling crime, drugs and antisocial behaviour, empowering communities, improving the condition of streets and public spaces and prioritising the most deprived neighbourhoods. The Home Office contribution to the SSCF is paid to CLG who in turn make the payments to top tier local authorities. It is for these local authorities in two-tier areas (in this case Kent county council), to decide on subsequent allocations within the county to local partners and partnerships as set out in local area agreements. In 2007-08 the Home Office contribution to the SSCF in Kent is £1,384,873 resource and £439,002 capital.
The YPSMPG is a pooled cross-departmental grant, managed by the Home Office. It facilitates better joined-up local planning and commissioning of young people's substance misuse services, in line with the principles in Every Child Matters and enables the delivery of services to be more responsive to local need, by giving greater flexibility in local commissioning decisions. The YPSMPG is paid to Kent county council as the top tier authority and then distributed across the county as per jointly agreed priorities and targets for the development and operation of responses to children and young people's drug use between drug action team chairs, directors of Children's Services and the Government office joint regional team. In 2007-08, Kent's YPSMPG allocation is £1,088,044.
The DIP main grant is a Home Office grant aimed at getting adult drug-misusing offenders out of crime and into treatment and other support. The allocations to local areas are decided centrally, with input from the Government Offices in the regions, and, in Kent's case, are paid to Kent county council. Kent then transfers the funding to the Kent drug action team (DAT) and the Medway DAT. It is for the DATs to decide how best to use the funding to deliver the Drug Intervention programme across their areas, taking account of Home Office guidance. In 2007-08 Kent county council's DIP main grant allocation is £1,385,981, of which £1,151,373 is allocated to the Kent DAT and £234,608 is allocated to the Medway DAT.
The UASC grant is for children under the age of 18, who are separated from both parents and not being cared for by an adult who, by law or custom, has responsibility to do so, and who have applied for asylum in their own right. There is a fixed grant rate the authority can claim per child, and the total claim is dependent on the number of children supported. The maximum grant that Kent is estimated to be able to claim in 2007-08 is calculated at £4.4 million. Payments are made to Kent as it is responsible for managing the UASC grant in this region.
Offenders: Deportation
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convicted foreign offenders were given a payment in return for voluntarily leaving the UK in each year since the inception of such payments; what the total value of such payments was in each year; and how many such offenders had been sentenced to (a) a custodial sentence of more than 12 months, (b) a custodial sentence of less than 12 months, (c) a community sentence and (d) a fine. [177340]
Mr. Byrne: The information requested can be obtained only through examination of individual file records at disproportionate cost. The facilitated returns scheme, which relates specifically to foreign nationals serving custodial sentences for crimes committed within the UK, has run since October 2006. In her letter of 20 November to the Home Affairs Select Committee the chief executive of the Border and Immigration Agency advised that more than 900 individuals had been removed under the scheme, 75 per cent. of whom had been removed direct from prison. A copy of the letter is available in the Library of the House.
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many of the 4,000 prisoners deported in 2007 were non-EU nationals; how many were (a) recommended for deportation by a judge at the time of sentencing and (b) deported following consideration of their case; how many non-EU national prisoners were liable to be considered for deportation in 2007 but not deported; and how many non-EU national prisoners serving sentences of more than 12 months were liable to be considered for deportation in 2007 but not deported; [177400]
(2) how many non-EU foreign prisoners serving sentences of (a) 12 months or more and (b) less than 12 months have been (i) considered for deportation and deported, (ii) considered for deportation and not deported, (iii) deported following a recommendation from a judge for deportation and (iv) allowed to remain in the UK on the completion of the custodial part of their sentence even though made the subject of a recommendation by a judge for deportation in each year since 1997. [177401]
Mr. Byrne: The information requested can be obtained only through the detailed examination of individual casefiles at disproportionate cost. The chief executive of the Border and Immigration Agency appeared before the Home Affairs Committee on 15 January and confirmed that more than 4,200 foreign national prisoners were removed or deported from the United Kingdom in 2007. The Home Secretary has also confirmed that this includes more than 20 killers, more than 200 sex offenders and more than 1,100 drug offenders.
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign nationals serving prison sentences of less than 12 months were deported in 2007. [180680]
Mr. Byrne: The chief executive has regularly updated the Home Affairs Committee over the past 18 months with the most accurate and robust information available on the numbers of foreign national prisoners who have been deported from the United Kingdom. Copies of these letters are available in the Library of the House. The chief executive appeared before the Home Affairs Committee on 15 January and confirmed that over 4,200 foreign national prisoners had been deported in 2007 and she will continue to provide updates to the Committee as required.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) non-EU citizens and (b) foreign nationals who were convicted of (i) firearms and (ii) drug offences in the UK were deported in each of the last 12 months. [182763]
Mr. Byrne: The chief executive of the Border and Immigration Agency advised the Home Affairs Committee on 15 January that more than 4,200 foreign national prisoners were deported in 2007. The Home Secretary has also confirmed that this included more than 1,100 drug offenders, more than 200 sex offenders and more than 20 killers. The chief executive of the Agency will continue to update the Home Affairs Committee as required.
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign prisoners were removed from the UK after being released from prison in 2007. [178778]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 30 January 2008]: Those foreign national prisoners subject to deportation action are detained under Immigration Powers following the expiry of their criminal sentences. The chief executive appeared before the Home Affairs Committee on 15 January and advised that over 4,200 foreign national prisoners had been removed or deported from the UK in 2007.
Police
Rob Marris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police special officers there were in each police authority in (a) England and (b) Wales in each year since 2000. [181582]
Mr. McNulty: The information requested is published annually in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin series ‘Police Service Strength, England and Wales.’ The bulletins are available in the Library of the House, and can be downloaded from the publications link within the Research Development and Statistics directorate website located at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/index.html
Political Impartiality
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what purpose her Department records the political opinions of (a) staff and (b) the public. [179324]
Mr. Byrne: The Home Office does not record the political opinions of (a) staff or (b) the public.
Prisoners Release
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many released prisoners were removed from prison to immigration centres in (a) 2006 and (b) 2007; how many such people were subsequently released from immigration centres; and in how many such cases were such releases notified to the (i) police and (ii) Probation Service. [181189]
Mr. Byrne: The information requested can be obtained through the detailed examination of BIA and Prison Service casefiles only at disproportionate cost. Those foreign criminals subject to deportation action are detained under Immigration Powers upon the expiry of their criminal sentence pending removal or deportation from the UK.
Regulation
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for which regulators and inspectorates her Department has had responsibility in each year since 1997; what the budget was of each such body in each year; and what the cost to the public purse was of any restructuring of each such body in each year. [175304]
Mr. Byrne: Regulators and inspectorates for which the Home Office is currently responsible are:
Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner
Security Industry Authority
The following bodies whose powers are covered by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA): Investigatory Powers Tribunal*; Office of Surveillance Commissioners*; Technical Advisory Panel*; Intelligence Services Commissioner; Interception of Communications Commissioner.
HM Inspectorate of Constabulary
Animals (Scientific Procedures) Inspectorate
The following bodies which the Home Office announced in March 2007 were to be merged into a single inspectorate for the immigration system: the BIA Complaints Audit Committee*, the Monitor of Accommodation Centres, the Race Monitor, the Certification Monitor and the Advisory Panel on Country Information*.
Budgets for 1997-98 to 2006-07 are set out as follows:
* Information on these bodies, for years 1997-98 to 2005-06, can be found at:
www.civilservice.gov.uk/other/agencies/public bodies/index.asp
Information for 2006-07 will be available shortly.
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