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17 Mar 2008 : Column 799W—continued
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Surinam
Syria
Taiwan
Tajikistan
Tanzania
Thailand
Togo
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe
The territories formerly comprising the socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
(b) Persons who hold passports or travel documents issued by the former Soviet Union or by the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
(c) Stateless persons.
(d) Persons who hold non-national documents.
Immigrants: Pakistan
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of how many and what proportion of spouses from Pakistan arrived in the UK in each of the last 10 years unable to speak English. [193735]
Mr. Byrne: The information requested is not available. It is not a current requirement of the immigration rules for a spouse to demonstrate command of the English language before he/she can be granted spouse entry clearance in order to enter the UK.
Immigration
Mr. Clappison:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to her letter to the Home Affairs Committee of 17 December 2007, how many of the cases closed under the legacy exercise were due to (a) erroneous and (b) duplicate records; how such errors and duplications arose; how many of the individuals concerned have been traced; how many of the cases were closed because the individual concerned
could not be traced; and what estimate she has made of the number of people dealt with by the legacy exercise who remain in the UK without leave to remain. [177360]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 10 January 2008]: On 17 December 2007 Lin Homer provided a written update to the Home Affairs Select Committee stating that 52,000 older asylum cases had been concluded and of these 17,000 were closed due to previously erroneous or duplicate errors. Of this 17,000, approximately 2,000 were duplicates; 9,500 were errors and 5,500 were EU nationals where the individual originally applied for asylum, but their country of origin has since acceded to the EU.
These errors and duplications arose as part of the backlog of unresolved cases that the previous Home Secretary informed the House of in July 2006.
Where a case has been closed because it is a duplicate or an error, the individuals involved will already have been granted status or removed.
The previous Home Secretary also referred to the fact that some in some cases the individuals may have died or left the country since they had claimed asylum. We often do not have this information recorded. In future, when we introduce electronic embarkation checks, the situation should improve. In the meantime there are some individuals we are struggling to trace.
It is not possible to accurately forecast the number of people remaining in the UK without leave to remain under the legacy exercise, as each case is decided on its merits and there are an unknown, and significant number of data errors in the case records. We are prioritising cases using the following criteria: those who may pose a risk to the public, those who can more easily be removed, those receiving support, and those who may be granted leave.
Immigration Control Officer
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what rank the supervising officer on duty at immigration control at major UK ports of entry is required to be while that port is operational. [193125]
Mr. Byrne: The primary arrivals control is operated by Immigration Officers who are supervised by Chief Immigration Officers at major UK ports.
A senior role is provided by HM Immigration Inspectors who have the responsibility for overall management of BIA port operations.
Immigration Controls
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if she will make a statement on the rules and procedures to combat illegal migration and progress expected to be made in areas such as border management, document security and the fight against organised crime by (a) Albania, (b) Bosnia and Herzegovina, (c) Montenegro, (d) Serbia, (e) the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, (f) the Government and (g) the European Union in order to meet the terms of visa facilitation and readmission agreements; [185473]
(2) if she will make a statement on the effect for UK border control of the visa facilitation and readmission agreements between the EU and (a) Albania, (b) Bosnia and Herzegovina, (c) Montenegro, (d) Serbia and (e) the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. [185474]
Mr. Byrne: The UK maintains the security of its own border controls and does not participate in EU visa facilitation agreements. The EU visa facilitation agreements concluded with the Western Balkan states, and therefore have no direct effect on UK border control. The agreements allow the UK to consider whether it should conclude bilateral visa facilitation agreements with the Western Balkans states. Were we to do so, we would ensure that they were consistent with the protection of the UK border and wider visa policy.
The UK regards European Community Readmission Agreements as a key part of co-operation with third countries and an essential component in the fight against illegal immigration. These agreements (with the exception of Albania) have only recently come into force, and it is therefore too early to gauge their effectiveness. However, we do expect them to ensure effective and rapid procedures for the identification, documentation and return of persons (nationals of the EU member states and the third country involved; third country nationals and stateless persons) illegally entering or remaining, and to facilitate the transit of persons, in the spirit of co-operation.
The Western Balkan states are all either candidate countries to join the EU (Croatia, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) or potential candidate countries. Progress in achieving EU-level standards, including in border control and organised crime, is part of the candidate process and is assessed each year by the European Commission.
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the likely effect of the introduction of the points-based immigration system on the operation of the resident labour market test; and what plans she has to amend the test. [191944]
Mr. Byrne: We will ensure that under the PBS we continue to protect the privileged position held by British workers in the job market.
Immigration Controls: Foreign Workers
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if she will make it her policy to ensure that existing safeguards for migrant domestic workers will remain in place following the launch of the points-based migration system; [193282]
(2) what assessment she has made of the likely effect of the new points-based immigration system on domestic workers; and what measures she has put in place to protect domestic workers. [193283]
Mr. Byrne:
We are conducting research and analysis in respect of the current provisions for overseas domestic workers. Once this research is complete, we will publish it. In the light of its findings, we will
consider separately, with interested parties, how best to achieve protection for any person, irrespective of how they have entered the UK, who is found to be a victim of trafficking.
Immigration Officers
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many full-time equivalent immigration officers were employed in each year since 1997. [193130]
Mr. Byrne: The figures for the number of immigration officers (IOs) who have been employed in each year since 1997 are shown in the table.
Figures provided are for the number of immigration officers as at 31 March each year since 1997, except 2008 where the figures were recorded at 28 February. Data from 31 March 1997 to 31 March 2004 are taken from archived Home Office Personnel system—PIMMS. Data since 31 March 2005 to 28 February 2008 are taken from the Home Office Personnel System—Adelphi.
| Date( 1) | I Os all( 2) | I Os active( 3) |
| (1) 31 March data for each year with the exception of 2008 which is 29 February 2008 data. (2) Staff at immigration officer grade, including staff on career break, special leave, maternity leave. (3) Active staff at immigration officer grade, excluding staff on career break, special leave, maternity leave. | ||
Immigration Officers: Crimes of Violence
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidelines her Department has issued to immigration officers on dealing with members of the public who become violent or abusive while passing through immigration control. [193126]
Mr. Byrne: Two new offences relating to assaulting an immigration officer have been introduced and come into force on 31 January 2008. Section 3 of the UK Borders Act 2007 introduces new offences where a person assaults or obstructs a designated immigration officer in the exercise of Section 2 of the UK Borders Act. Section 22 of the same act creates an offence of assaulting an immigration officer. Guidance on both of these new offences has been circulated to all Border Control operational staff.
Further guidance is available to Home Office staff on reducing the risk of violence at work and working alone in safety. This guidance supplements training which immigration officers undertake during their
operational service. Local risk assessments are used to determine the appropriate level of Personal Safety Training (PST) required by immigration officers.
Immigration: Deportation
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department further to the letter of 17 December 2007, from Lin Homer, Chief Executive of the Border and Immigration Agency to the Chairman of the Home Affairs Committee, what criteria have been set to prioritise the immigration cases of individuals who are deemed to pose a potential threat to the public; how many such cases have been identified; and how many of the individuals concerned have been deported or otherwise removed from the UK. [177324]
Mr. Byrne: As Lin Homer wrote in her letter to the Home Affairs Select Committee on 18 February 2008, the
“need to remove the most harmful people first is reflected in the Case Resolution Directorate’s priorities and processes”
All applicants and their dependants aged 10 and over are checked against the police national computer
(PNC) to establish whether these individuals have criminal convictions in the UK before a decision is made. Where it is identified that the individual has been guilty of serious criminality, we prioritise consideration and seek to deport them in accordance with the Agency-wide criteria.
As at the end of November 2007, we had concluded 52,000 backlog cases, of which, around one third (16,000) were removals. A detailed breakdown of the reasons for these removals, including whether they related to evidence of serious criminality could be obtained by examination of individual case records, only at disproportionate cost.
Immigration: Eurostar
Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) undocumented and (b) incorrectly documented persons have arrived at London on Eurostar in each of the last 24 months. [180332]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 21 January 2008]: The number of undocumented and inadequately documented passengers arriving in the UK on Eurostar for the last 24 months are as follows:
| No document and inadequately documented arrivals at Waterloo/St. Pancras | |||||||||||||
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Total | |
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