| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
17 Mar 2008 : Column 804W—continued
Immigration: Housing
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the impact on demand for social housing arising from the grants of leave to remain under the legacy exercise; and if she will make a statement. [177351]
Mr. Byrne: In dealing specifically with families who have been allowed to remain and are no longer entitled to asylum support, where we judge an individual and their family have a right to live in Britain, our aspiration is that no one need go through the homelessness mechanism. To help make this a reality, we made a number of pledges to local authorities about the way we will work.
Work on these supported family cases was originally due to be completed by October 2007. In response to concerns expressed by local authorities that the timescales involved were too short, we agreed to extend the work on these cases until March 2008.
Following my personal review and meetings with a number of local authorities and the LGA we have supported local authorities by:
putting in place a package of assistance for local authorities, including a ‘transitional costs fund’;
improving the detail of case information available to local authorities;
encouraged our private sector providers to co-operate with the programme (principally by allowing existing properties to transfer to the private rented market);
worked closely with local authorities in an attempt to reach individual agreements;
agreed to include schemes to help prevent homelessness in the reimbursement package; this would effectively give local authorities an additional six months to find solutions for individual families.
We have worked closely with local authorities and our private sector providers to broker arrangements where families given leave to remain can stay in their existing accommodation. Where this proves impossible, we have put in place arrangements to assist them to secure an alternative private sector tenancy rather than moving them into social housing.
Immigration: Iraq
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many former Iraqi employees of the Government have been accommodated in the UK by the Government in 2007; and how many she expects the Government to accommodate in 2008. [191925]
Mr. Byrne: No former Iraqi employees of the Government were accommodated in 2007 under the scheme of assistance for locally engaged Iraqi staff.
It would not be appropriate to speculate how many former Iraqi staff will be accommodated in 2008. Each application for assistance will be considered on its merits against the criteria for the scheme and also, in the case of those seeking resettlement under the Gateway Programme, against published policy.
Members: Correspondence
Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) when she plans to reply to the letter of 13 November 2007 from the hon. Member for Mid Worcestershire inviting the Minister for Borders and Immigration and for the West Midlands to visit Worcestershire to discuss the future of the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme; [179826]
(2) when she will reply to Question 179826, on a reply to correspondence on the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme, tabled by the hon. Member for Mid Worcestershire on 14 January. [191360]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 17 January 2008]: I wrote to the hon. Member on 10 March 2008.
Mr. Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she will reply to the letter of 5 February 2008 from the hon. Member for Walsall North concerning a constituent. [193545]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 12 March 2008]: I wrote to my hon. Friend the Member for Walsall, North on 7 March 2008. This letter was faxed to his office on the same day.
Mr. Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the hon. Member for Walsall North will receive a reply to his letter of 30 January concerning a constituent, reference H1109704. [193749]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 13 March 2008]: The Border and Immigration Agency wrote to the hon. Member on 12 March 2008.
Mr. Rausch
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress her Department has made in finding the file of Mr. Rausch, a constituent of the hon. Member for St. Albans; and what steps are being taken to find the file. [190682]
Mr. Byrne: The Border and Immigration Agency has Mr. Rausch's file and has written to his home address explaining the next steps for him to take.
Mrs. Nyatsanza
James Duddridge: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when a decision will be made on the application of Mrs. Nyatsanza of Shoeburyness for the right to stay in the UK on the basis of marriage, Home Office reference C1090509. [169322]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 10 December 2008]: I wrote to the hon. Member on 10 March 2008.
Official Residences
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what changes have been made by the freeholder to leasehold extension rights regarding the Government House in Pimlico in the last five years. [183488]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 31 January 2008]: The property is held on leases to 2053 from a superior tenant. The Department is not aware of any changes to leasehold extension rights by the freeholder.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) pursuant to the answer of 18 February 2008, Official Report, column 120W, on official residences, if she will place in the Library a copy of the tender advice for the disposal of South Eaton Place; [193186]
(2) pursuant to the answer of 18 February 2008, Official Report, column 455W, on official residences, what the timetable is for producing the home information pack for the sale of South Eaton Place. [193192]
Mr. Byrne: The appointed selling agents, Savills UK (Sloane Street branch), are preparing advice on the best method of sale of the Home Secretary's former residence. This requires completion of relevant market research and pre-disposal due diligence. Once completed the Department will consider Savills' report and recommendations for successful disposal but as it is likely to be commercially confidential it is unlikely that it can be placed in the Library. The home information pack will be produced when the residence is placed on the market.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 18 February 2008, Official Report, column 455W, on official residences, who owns the freehold on the Government House in Pimlico, South Eaton Place. [193193]
Mr. Byrne: The freehold is owned by Grosvenor and is part of Grosvenor London Estate.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 18 February 2008, Official Report, column 455W, on official residences, on what date the right hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside moved (a) into and (b) out of the residence at South Eaton Place. [193194]
Mr. Byrne: The right hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside (Mr. Blunkett) moved into the residence at South Eaton Place in the summer of 1997 and moved out in March 2006.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 18 February 2008, Official Report, column 455W, on official residences, what costs have been met by the public purse in respect of South Eaton Place during the period in which the property has been vacant. [193195]
Mr. Byrne: Excluding security-related decommissioning, costs of £4,500 have been incurred since March 2006.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the value of the Government House in Pimlico was at its most recent valuation. [193196]
Mr. Byrne: The Department's leasehold interest in this property was most recently valued at £2.4 million.
Police Custody: Death
Mike Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons died in police custody from drug-related causes in each of the last five years. [194145]
Mr. McNulty: Responsibility for the collation and publication of data in respect of persons who died in police custody rests with the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
Police: Lancashire
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police community support officers there were in Lancashire Constabulary in each year since their inception. [193952]
Mr. McNulty: The requested data are given in the following table, and are published annually in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin “Police Service Strength, England and Wales”, copies of which are available online and in the Library of the House.
| Police community support officer strength( 1) (FTE)( 2) for Lancashire as at 31 March 2003 to 31 March 2007( 3) | |
| As at 31 March each year | PCSOs |
| (1) This table contains full-time equivalent figures that have been rounded to the nearest whole number. Because of rounding, there may be an apparent discrepancy between totals and the sums of the constituent items. (2) Full-time equivalent includes those on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave. (3) Police community support officers were introduced in statute in 2002, therefore data are not available prior to 2002-03. (4) Strength figures as at 31 March 2005 onwards include those staff on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave. Therefore these figures are not comparable with those provided for other years in the table. | |
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) force strength and (b) budget for Lancashire Constabulary was in each year since 1997. [193953]
Mr. McNulty: The requested data are given in the following tables.
| Police officer strength( 1) (FTE)( 2) for Lancashire as at 31 March 1997 to 31 March 2007 | |
| Lancashire Police f orce as at 31 March each year | £ |
| (1) This table contains full-time equivalent figures that have been rounded to the nearest whole number. Because of rounding, there may be an apparent discrepancy between totals and the sums of the constituent items. (2) Full-time equivalent excludes those on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave. (3) Comparable strength (excludes those on career breaks, or maternity/paternity leave). The Police Numbers Task Force (2001) recommended that a clear presentation was made of the numbers of staff employed by police forces including those seconded into the force and those on any type of long or short term absence. These new calculations were first used in 2003, and are not comparable with data prior to March 2003. The data from 2003 onwards used here are termed comparable because they have been calculated on the old basis to allow comparison. | |
| Budget for Lancashire Constabulary from 1996-97 to 2007-08 | |
| £ million | |
Police: Morecambe
Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) police community support officers and (b) police officers there were in Morecambe and Lunesdale in the latest period for which figures are available. [192590]
Mr. McNulty: Figures collected by the Home Office relate to basic command units (BCUs) within police forces, and the BCU that most closely matches the Morecambe and Lunesdale constituency is the northern division of Lancashire constabulary.
The latest figures published by the Home Office for Lancashire northern division relate to 31 March 2007. The data are on a full-time equivalent basis and shows that there were 70 police community support officers and 444 police officers employed on this date. The figures include those on career breaks and maternity leave that were deployed to this BCU when their absence commenced.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |