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25 Feb 2008 : Column 1264W—continued
The BIA routinely considers for deportation those serving less than 12 months sentences. The chief executive recently appeared before the Home Affairs Committee and advised that the focus is on deporting the most serious criminals first, but we are already deporting a significant number of criminals whose
sentences are either less than 12 months, for instance where a court recommends deportation, or where they have had a number of sentences of less than 12 months but those aggregate to 12 months overall.
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many non-EU citizens serving prison sentences in respect of (a) sexual and (b) violent offences have been released from custody on completion of their sentence since 1 January 2007; and how many such prisoners have been deported or otherwise removed from the UK. [177343]
Mr. Byrne: We have made it clear that our priority is to protect the public by ensuring that foreign national prisoners are not released without first being considered for deportation. 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 from the United Kingdom. The Home Secretary has also announced that this included more than 20 killers, more than 200 sex offenders and more than 1,100 drug offenders.
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many non-EU citizens have received custodial sentences for (a) sexual and (b) violent offences of (i) less and (ii) more than 12 months in each year since 1997; and how many such offenders (A) are in custody serving their sentence or otherwise and (B) have been deported or otherwise removed from the UK. [177347]
Mr. Byrne: The information requested is not collated by the Border and Immigration Agency (BIA) and can be obtained through the detailed examination of individual case files only at disproportionate cost.
The chief executive of the BIA advised the Home Affairs Committee on 15 January that over 4,200 foreign national prisoners from the United Kingdom had been removed or deported in 2007. The Home Secretary has also confirmed that this includes more than 1,100 drug offenders, more than 200 sex offenders and more than 20 killers. A large number of these individuals were deported following completion of custodial sentences lasting less than 12 months and that will continue to be the case for any future deportations that take place.
During her recent appearance before the Home Affairs Committee the Chief Executive of the BIA advised that the focus is on deporting the most serious criminals first, but we are already deporting a significant number of criminals whose sentences are either less than 12 months, for instance where a court recommends deportation, or where they have had a number of sentences of less than 12 months but those aggregate to 12 months overall.
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the 4,000 prisoners deported in 2007 were serving sentences of (a) two years or less, (b) 12 months or less and (c) 12 months or less for offences of a violent or sexual nature. [177402]
Mr. Byrne:
The information requested can be obtained only through examination of individual file records 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.
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many EU prisoners have been (a) considered for deportation and deported, (b) considered for deportation and not deported, (c) deported following a recommendation from a judge for deportation and (d) 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. [177403]
Mr. Byrne: The information requested can be obtained only through examination of individual file records at disproportionate cost. The chief executive of the Border and Immigration Agency 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. More than 500 of these were nationals from European economic area countries.
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of foreign nationals detained in HMP Peterborough were removed and deported under the auspices of the Border and Immigration Agency at the conclusion of their sentence in each month since May 2006; and if she will make a statement. [178268]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 15 January 2008]: 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 wrote a letter to the Home Affairs Committee on 17 December and provided the most accurate and robust information on the deportation of foreign national prisoners. A copy of the letter is available in the Library of the House.
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convicted foreign nationals were deported in 2007; and how many of these had been serving prison sentences in England and Wales. [180679]
Mr. Byrne: The chief executive of the Border and Immigration Agency advised in her appearance before the Home Affairs committee on 15 January that over 4,200 foreign national prisoners were deported or removed from the United Kingdom in 2007. In order to ascertain which prisons they were detained at would require the detailed examination of individual casefiles at disproportionate cost.
Damian Green:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the Borders and Immigration Agency's policy is on the deportation of prisoners
serving sentences of less than 12 months; and what advice it has offered HM Prison Service. [181101]
Mr. Byrne: Monthly liaison meetings are held between all relevant parties in Ministry of Justice and Border and Immigration Agency to consider general issues and specific cases.
The Border and Immigration Agency deported over 4,200 foreign national prisoners from the United Kingdom. A large number of these individuals were deported following completion of custodial sentences lasting less than 12 months and that will continue to be the case for any future deportations that take place.
The BIA routinely considers for deportation those serving less than 12 months sentences.
Mr. Ian Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign prisoners have been deported since May 2007; and to which countries they have been deported. [180040]
Mr. Byrne: 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 on foreign national prisoners. Copies of these letters are available in the Library of the House.
In her recent appearance before the Home Affairs Committee on 15 January, it was advised that over 4,200 foreign national prisoners were deported or removed from the United Kingdom in 2007. She also advised that a significant number of foreign national prisoners come from countries such as Jamaica, China, Nigeria and Vietnam.
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average cost was of deporting a foreign national prisoner in each of the last five years. [187103]
Mr. Byrne: The information requested can be obtained through the detailed evaluation of individual cases only at disproportionate cost. The chief executive of the Border and Immigration Agency has regularly updated the Home Affairs Committee over the past 18 months with the most robust and accurate information available on the deportation of foreign national prisoners and will continue to do so as required. Copies of her letters to the Committee are available in the Library of the House.
Passports: Biometrics
Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what data security measures have been implemented for the ePassport database; how much has been spent on such measures; and how much is expected to be spent on such measures in future. [187012]
Meg Hillier: The ePassport has replaced the previous version of the passport. It also uses the same database—the Passports Application Storage System—for information storage. It did not, therefore, require any additional data security measures or any additional expenditure.
Police Pay
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was allocated to this year’s budget for police pay as a percentage increase on last year’s figures, broken down by police authority. [183052]
Mr. McNulty: The 2007-08 Police Funding Settlement was approved by the House of Commons on 31 January 2007.
The Government allocates funding to police authorities as a whole. No specific provision is made available for police pay. The distribution of resources and the setting of budgets is a matter for the chief officer and the police authority.
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Mr. Gauke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what payments were made to PricewaterhouseCoopers by her Department in each financial year since 1997. [180824]
Mr. Byrne: Information on the total value of the Department's payments, inclusive of its agencies, made to PricewaterhouseCoopers is available from 2004-05 following the introduction of the Department's ERP—enterprise resource planning—system. Earlier data could be collected only at disproportionate cost. The information held by the Department is as follows:
| Payments made to PricewaterhouseCoopers (£) | |
Mr. Gauke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether her Department has awarded any contracts to PricewaterhouseCoopers since 2000. [181511]
Mr. Byrne: The Home Department engages consultancy firms to support and augment civil servants in the delivery of a specific range of work, including large IT development programmes and, where more cost-effective, longer term service delivery programmes.
The Department's expenditure on these services is allocated across a wide range of firms, from small, specialist companies with niche expertise and few employees, to global multinational organisations offering a broad spectrum and substantial depth of consultancy expertise.
The Department awards contracts in competition according to the EU procurement directives based on value for money. The Department uses OGC framework agreements where appropriate. The use of external consultants provides the Department with specialist knowledge, skill, capacity and technical expertise that would not otherwise be available. Some expenditure is on consultants to whom we have outsourced services, such as IT.
The Department inclusive of its agencies has awarded contracts to PricewaterhouseCoopers since 2000. The Department does not hold a central record
of individual contracts with external consultants. To identify and compile a list of contracts from individual files would incur disproportionate cost.
The information held by the Department on the total value of contracts let to PricewaterhouseCoopers since 2004-05 is as follows:
| £ | |
Prisoners Release: Crimes of Violence
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons sentenced to a period of imprisonment, then removed to an immigration centre and subsequently released into the community in (a) 2006 and (b) 2007 were originally convicted of an offence of violence. [181225]
Mr. Byrne: The information requested can be obtained only through the detailed examination of individual casefiles and cross referencing them with Police National Computer records at disproportionate cost.
Prisoners: Foreigners
Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what assessment she has made of the effect of EU nationals who have served prison sentences of six months or more in the UK remaining in the UK; [178502]
(2) whether nationals from an EU country having served a prison sentence in England or Wales in the last five years have been deported following completion of sentence. [178544]
Mr. Byrne: The Border and Immigration Agency will continue to take a robust approach in considering and, where international obligations allow, pursuing the deportation of European economic area nationals.
The chief executive of the Border and Immigration Agency advised the Home Affairs Committee during her appearance of 15 January that more than 4,200 foreign national prisoners were removed or deported in 2007. More than 500 of these were nationals from European economic area countries.
Proceeds of Crime
David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what amounts have been recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Acts 1995 and 2002 in the most recent period for which figures are available; what proportion of these amounts was collected by the Assets Recovery Agency; and if she will make a statement. [188277]
Mr. Coaker: In the financial year 2006-07, the total amount recovered under proceeds of crime legislation was £125.04 million and the Assets Recovery Agency recovered £15.9 million; approximately 13 per cent.
Road Traffic Offences
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) parking tickets and (b) speeding fines were issued for vehicles used by her Department in each of the last 10 years; and what the cost to the public purse of those penalties was in each year. [183360]
Mr. Byrne: The Department makes use of vehicles from the Government Car and Despatch Agency (GCDA), the HM Prison Service Transport Unit and the vehicles of staff members used in the course of their official duties.
For the GCDA I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 5 February 2008, Official Report, columns 1014-5W, by my hon. Friend, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport.
For the HMPS Transport Unit the following tables gives the traffic penalties received for Crown vehicles over the last two years, the only years available. These figures cover both Home Office and HMPS usage:
| Traffic penalties | ||
| Notices of intended prosecution ( s peeding) | Penalty Charge Notices (p arking) | |
Data on the split of penalties between Home Office and HMPS per the above are not available. However usage of the vehicles is approximately split 40 per cent. Home Office, 60 per cent HMPS.
Penalty charge notices are forwarded immediately onto the driver for payment, while notices of intended prosecution for speeding are returned to the relevant authority with the name and address of the driver. They then contact them direct regarding payment of fines or issue of penalty points. The Department therefore does not have any details regarding the total costs involved.
Lease vehicles are also provided by HMPS Transport Unit, however information on these could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Penalties incurred by staff members using their own vehicles while on official duty are the responsibility of the individuals concerned. The Department does not hold records of these penalties.
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