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25 Feb 2008 : Column 1253W—continued
Departmental ICT
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what obligations her Department and its agencies place on contractors in relation to the audit of personal data and IT equipment. [176464]
Mr. Byrne: Home Department contracts include obligations on the contractor to comply with legislative requirements such as the Data Protection Act 1998 and these are set out in our model terms and conditions. Those contracts with ICT obligations have more specific audit requirements incorporated into their contracts. All personal data are to be protected in accordance with legislative requirements.
The individual business units within the Home Department develop and review policy, procedures and processes with regard to their own security and data handling requirements and central guidance and policies such as that issued by the Cabinet Office.
Departmental Pay
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 29 November 2007, Official Report, column 648W, on departmental pay, how many of those earning over £100,000 were employed (a) as special advisers and (b) in a political role in each year since 1997. [177180]
Mr. Byrne: The Home Office has employed no one as (a) a special adviser or (b) in a political role in the Home Office on a salary in excess of £100,000 since 1997.
Departmental Vehicles
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many vehicles were (a) owned and (b) purchased by her Department in each of the last 10 years. [183298]
Mr. Byrne: The Department does not hold central records of all the vehicles owned and purchased in each of the last 10 years. To obtain the information requested would incur disproportionate costs.
Information on the number of vehicles owned and purchased over the last five financial years as follows:
| Fleet vehicles owned and purchased by Home Office over last five financial years | ||
| Vehicles purchased | Vehicles owned | |
Deportation
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her policy is on the deportation of individuals who are not entitled to remain in the country but who have taken cases to employment tribunals. [186356]
Mr. Byrne: Information on the policy of deportation of individuals who are not entitled to remain in the country but who have taken cases to employment tribunals is available to view in the Operational Enforcement Manual (OEM) at Chapter 21.1. Copies of the OEM are placed in the Libraries of both Houses. It is also available to view at:
Deportation: Police Custody
Mr. Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many hours detainees awaiting deportation spent in police custody in (a) Cambridgeshire and (b) England and Wales in 2006; and at what cost to the public purse. [187320]
Mr. Byrne: The information requested could be obtained by the detailed examination of individual case records only at disproportionate cost.
Domestic Violence: Reoffenders
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of people found guilty of domestic violence offences went on to re-offend in the last period for which figures are available. [187898]
Mr. Coaker: The information requested is not available.
Dual Nationality
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many UK citizens are also citizens of another nation state; and if she will list in order the 10 other nation states with which such citizens most frequently hold dual nationality. [187880]
Mr. Byrne: The requested information is not available.
The Border and Immigration Agency records details of the nationality of applicants at the time that a citizenship application is received. It does not have information in respect of those who subsequently renounce that nationality or in respect of British Citizens who hold or apply for citizenship of another country.
Emergency Calls
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many calls were made to the police last year using the (a) 999 emergency number and (b) non-emergency 0845 6070999 number. [186758]
Mr. McNulty: The information is as follows:
(a) Data on the number of emergency calls made to the police are published in the Annual Reports of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC). The latest available data refer to the 2004-05 financial year, and can be found in Figure 8 of the HMIC Annual Report 2004-05. This publication is available via the Home Office website at:
The total number of 999 calls received by the police forces of England and Wales for the year 2004-05 was 10,243,515.
(b) Data on the number of non-emergency calls made to the police are not collected centrally.
Entry Clearances: Doctors
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Worthing, West (Peter Bottomley) of 28 January 2008, Official Report, column 98W, on entry clearances: doctors, how many of the 2,095 doctors who were awarded highly skilled migrant status between 6 February and 31 December 2007 (a) were of each medical or surgical specialty and (b) were making an application for a (i) new and (ii) renewed permit. [186125]
Mr. Byrne: This information is not centrally recorded and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Entry Clearances: Forced Marriages
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many (a) marriage visa and (b) indefinite leave to remain applications representations about forced marriage have been received in each of the last five years; how many of those applications have been granted; and how many representations on forced marriage have been (i) investigated and (ii) resulted in refusal of the application in each of the last five years. [186679]
Mr. Byrne: Grants and refusals of applications for marriage visas, and grants and refusals of applications made after entry are recorded but these are overall figures and do not reflect the degree of detail requested.
The information requested would require us to examine individual case-files which could be done only at disproportionate cost.
Extradition
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were detained in the UK solely in connection with extradition procedures initiated by a foreign authority in the latest period for which figures are available. [185348]
Meg Hillier: There are currently 256 people on remand in connection with extradition proceedings in England and Wales. 27 of these are in custody in relation to separate, domestic offences. Therefore, there are currently 229 people on remand solely in connection with extradition proceedings in England and Wales (figures correct as of 15 February 2008).
Eyesight
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the merits of the provision of laser eye surgery for personnel within her responsibilities with visual defects to improve their operational effectiveness. [183205]
Mr. Byrne: No formal assessment has been made but the Department does not normally assist staff with arranging any medical treatment.
Facilitated Returns Scheme
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign national prisoners received grants under the Facilitated Returns Scheme in each of the last five years; and what the (a) average and (b) largest grant paid was. [180667]
Mr. Byrne: The Facilitated Returns Scheme was announced in October 2006 and has resulted in well over 1,000 foreign national prisoners leaving the country. The level of cash support provided has always been £46.
Foreign Nationals
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many foreign nationals have been convicted of living off immoral earnings of prostitutes; and how many have been subsequently deported from the UK as a result of these crimes in each year since 1999; [181111]
(2) how many foreign nationals have been convicted of offences relating to assisting or facilitating illegal entry into the UK; and how many had subsequently been deported as a result of such convictions in each year since 1997; [181112]
(3) how many foreign nationals have been convicted (a) of trafficking people into the UK and (b) trafficking people within the UK for sexual exploitation; and how many have subsequently been deported from the UK as a result of such convictions in each year since the offences came into law; [181115]
(4) how many foreign nationals have been convicted of exercising control over a prostitute; and how many such people have been deported subsequently from the United Kingdom as a result of such a conviction in each year since 1997. [181116]
Mr. Byrne: The information requested can be obtained only through examination of individual file records held by Ministry of Justice and Border and Immigration Agency at disproportionate cost. The chief executive of the Border and Immigration Agency has regularly written to the Home Affairs Committee over the past 18 months and provided the most accurate and robust information available relating to foreign national prisoners. She advised the Home Affairs Committee, during her appearance before them on 15 January, that more than 4,200 foreign national prisoners were removed or deported from the UK in 2007. The Home Secretary has also confirmed that this included more than 20 killers, more than 200 sex offenders and more than 1,100 drug offenders.
Foreign Workers: Doctors
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of doctors who settled in the United Kingdom in 2007 were (a) non-EU and (b) EU foreign nationals. [187157]
Mr. Byrne: European Economic Area nationals are entitled to free movement and do not require leave to settle in the United Kingdom. Therefore, the requested percentages cannot be calculated.
Foreigners: Identity Cards
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether foreign nationals will be required to carry identity cards with them at all times within the UK; and whether the police will have powers to arrest and detain anyone whom they believe to be a foreign national until such time as their identity is proved. [186469]
Mr. Byrne:
The UK Borders Act 2007 expressly provides that regulations may not make provision to require a person to carry an identity card for foreign
nationals at all times. The police may arrest and detain a person but only where there is suspected involvement in an offence and not simply because they believe the person to be a foreign national.
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in what ways the requirement for foreign nationals to have identity cards within the UK will be monitored; and what assessment she has made of the likely effect of such monitoring on community relations. [186470]
Mr. Byrne: When the new requirement for foreign nationals to apply for an identity card under the UK Borders Act 2007 commences this year, we will record how many cards we issue—and to whom. Details of our roll-out strategy will shortly be published. We do not expect the new requirements to affect community relations, although we are presently engaging with the Commission for Equality and Human Rights about this.
Frontiers: Personal Records
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the general specifications and capability of the new system for monitoring travellers to and from UK ports of entry are; and what the timetable for its introduction is. [186471]
Mr. Byrne: The e-Borders programme is a key component of the Government’s wider strategy to strengthen and modernise border controls. It is designed to complement the UK counter-terrorism strategy. The main purpose of the e-Borders programme is to collect and analyse passenger, service and crew data provided by carriers (air, sea and rail), in respect of all journeys to and from the United Kingdom in advance of their travel, supporting an intelligence-led approach to operating border controls.
The contract to deliver the e-Borders system was awarded to the Trusted Borders Consortium in November 2007. The programme will begin counting foreign nationals in and out of the country from October 2008, building upon the carrier data already captured in the Semaphore pilot. There will be a ramping up of existing capability in 2008 to handle data for 100 million (annualised) passenger movements by April 2009. The e-Borders operations centre (e-BOC) will be established by mid-2009 at the earliest, providing capture and watch list assessment of passenger data for an initially limited number of high priority passenger routes. The three stages of capability delivery are bound by the following milestones:
December 2009: Initial Operating Capability—which will deliver the capability to process 60 per cent. of passenger movements into and out of the UK;
December 2010: Major Operating Capability—which will deliver the capability to process 95 per cent. of passenger movements into and out of the UK and
March 2014: Full Operating Capability.
Genetics: Databases
Damian Green:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether her Department or individual police forces will pay for (a) technology, (b)
equipment and (c) training that will enable police forces access to the National Identity Register when it becomes operational; and what she expects the costs to be for each police force area. [171057]
Meg Hillier: Police forces or other organisations that will benefit from the provision of identity information from the National Identity Register would bear the cost of any equipment or training that they may require. No estimate of any such costs is available. However, as identity cards will be introduced incrementally, it is unlikely that any large investment would be needed at the beginning of the scheme and any costs associated with the provision of information would be phased in gradually as the national identity scheme itself grows.
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