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Departmental Publicity

Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many full-time equivalent staff are responsible for brand management and marketing in her Department and its agencies. [165240]

Mr. Byrne: Home Office information provision provides the public with factual information, practical advice and access to services, on for example, how to protect themselves against crime, access help for drug users, and protect their children on the internet.

The number of full-time equivalent staff responsible for information provision is:

The number of full-time equivalent staff responsible for brand management is:

Departmental Translation Services

Mr. Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of her Department's translation and interpreting work is outsourced through framework agreements with commercial providers; and if she will make a statement. [189148]


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Mr. Byrne: The Department’s policy is to outsource all translation work through framework agreements with commercial providers. The Department has no similar agreements in relation to interpreting. Where the Department requires face-to-face interpreting services these are generally obtained from individual freelance interpreters.

Deportation

Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons apart from those refused entry at port and subsequently removed, those dealt with at juxtaposed controls, asylum seekers and their dependants, foreign national prisoners at the end of the sentences, those leaving under assisted voluntary return programmes and those who it has been established left the UK without informing the immigration authorities, were removed from the UK in each of the last five years. [180621]

Mr. Byrne [holding answer 21 January 2008]: The following table shows the number of non-asylum cases removed from the UK as a result of enforcement action between 2003 and 2007. These figures may include some persons departing voluntarily after enforcement action had been initiated against them and foreign national prisoners. This is the latest five year period for which national statistics are available.

The figures provided exclude non-asylum cases refused entry at port and subsequently removed including cases dealt with at juxtaposed controls, all persons who had claimed asylum at some stage (including their dependants), those leaving under assisted voluntary return programmes run by the International Organisation for Migration and those who it is established have left the UK without informing the immigration authorities.

Published statistics on immigration and asylum are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics website at:

Non-asylum cases removed from the UK as a result of enforcement action and voluntary departures( 1, 2, 3, ) 2002-07
Number of removals

2003

11,365

2004

10,070

2005

11,970

2006(4)

9,800

2007(4)

12,410

(1) Includes enforced removals and persons departing voluntarily after enforcement action had been initiated against them. (2) Excludes persons refused entry at port and subsequently removed (including those dealt with at juxtaposed controls), persons leaving under assisted voluntary return programmes run by the International Organisation for Migration, those who it is established have left the UK without informing the immigration authorities and all asylum removals (including dependants). (3) Figures rounded to the nearest five. (4) Provisional figures.

Deportation: Police Custody

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many hours on average detainees awaiting deportation spent in police custody in (a) Staffordshire and (b) the West Midlands in 2007. [193600]


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Mr. Byrne: The information requested could be obtained by the detailed examination of individual case records and it would only be at disproportionate cost to provide the detail requested.

English Language

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much her Department has spent on English language classes for staff in the last year for which figures are available. [177487]

Mr. Byrne: The Home Office does not fund or provide English language classes for staff on a departmental wide basis. Staff needs are identified on an individual basis and any requirements not provided centrally may be met from local provision. No records are held centrally of local provision and it would incur a disproportionate cost to identify the nature of locally provided training across the Department.

Entry Clearances: Employment

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the dependants of the work-permit holders given leave to enter the UK since 1 January 2004 were aged under 16 years. [162351]

Mr. Byrne: The requested figures are in the following table.

Passengers recorded as aged under 16 given leave to enter the United Kingdom as dependants of work permit holders, 2004 to 2006
Number

2004

16,700

2005

17,700

2006

18,700

Total

53,200

Notes:
1. Data rounded to three significant places, therefore they do not sum to the total shown.
2. Includes nationals of the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia before 1 May 2004, but excludes them from this date.
3. This information is not published as a National Statistic. As such, it should be treated as provisional and therefore subject to change.

Entry Clearances: Offenders

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals were granted entry clearance or leave to enter the UK (a) who had and (b) who went on to gain in the UK a conviction which in the UK would result in at least a 12 month prison sentence in the last 12 months. [192039]

Mr. Byrne: It has been made clear that we will seek to deport those foreign nationals who commit serious crimes within the UK. The chief executive of the Border and Immigration Agency has regularly updated the Home Affairs Committee with the most robust and accurate information available on the subject of foreign national prisoners. The information requested would require the detailed examination of individual casefiles at disproportionate cost.


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Evidence

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what procedure is followed by police officers investigating cases where the available evidence is based on conflicting statements by the complainant and alleged perpetrator; and if she will make a statement. [188516]

Mr. McNulty: It is an operational matter for the chief officer to determine whether to proceed with an investigation. If the decision is taken to proceed with the investigation, paragraph 3.5 of the Code of Practice issued under the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 provides that investigators

If conflicting statements are made by the complainant and the person they have accused of committing an offence, police would seek independent evidence to see which of the conflicting accounts can be corroborated. Depending on the offence concerned, this evidence might take the form of forensic examinations or come from statements taken from independent witnesses who are unconnected with either the complainant or the suspect. It might also involve asking the complainant and suspect for more details to check and test what they said previously. At any stage, it would be for police to decide whether they have sufficient grounds to arrest the suspect and whether arrest is necessary to progress the investigation.

Foreigners: Sports

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2008, Official Report, column 2083W, on foreigners: sports, whether she plans to increase (a) the visa fee payable for a sportsperson from a visa national country coming to participate at a sporting event in the UK and (b) what the visa national countries are. [193220]

Mr. Byrne: The visa fee currently payable for a sportsperson from a visa national country coming to participate at a sporting event in the UK is £99.

Applications made under the creative and sporting sub-category of tier 5 of the points based system will be set at £99—also below cost recovery levels.

A list of the countries subject to a visa regime is as follows.


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