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27 Mar 2008 : Column 428W—continued
The Home Office recognises the value of an age diverse work force. We are a member of the Employers Forum on Age (EFA); more information on the EFA can be found at:
The Home Office, like all responsible employers, works hard to ensure that all staff, regardless of age, are treated equally from their initial application through to when they leave us.
Departmental Pay
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was claimed in reimbursable expenses by senior civil service staff in her Department and its agencies in the last 12 month period for which figures are available. [187540]
Mr. Byrne: The Home Office accounting system does not hold the requested information in a readily accessible form; it could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Of the Home Office agencies the Criminal Records Bureau reimbursed £12,700 in the last 12 months and the Identity and Passport Service reimbursed £35,000 in financial year 2006-07.
All staff expenses are reimbursed subject to the conditions set down in the Civil Service Management Code.
Departmental Public Participation
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what subjects her Department commissioned opinion polling in each of the last two years; and at what cost. [193856]
Mr. Byrne: During the last two years (2006-07) the Home Office has commissioned public opinion polling on attitudes, experiences and awareness of a broad range of crime, immigration and asylum issues. Specific polls have been carried out on the issues of neighbourhood policing and gangs. The cost of the opinion polling was £67,500 during 2006 and £197,025 during 2007 (exc. vat).
Departmental Temporary Employment
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what average hourly rate her Department paid to employment agencies for agency staff in each year since 1999, broken down by employment agency. [187908]
Mr. Byrne: Agency workers are used where recruiting managers require individuals to undertake a role of short duration, or as a temporary measure where permanent staff are unavailable or there are exceptional and overriding business reasons for doing so.
Agency workers should only be used as a short-term solution to fill a particular need that cannot be met by permanent staff.
The Home Office currently uses its new national framework for the supply of admin/clerical temporary staff (agency). This contract was awarded in April 2007 and will run for a period of four years. Contracts were awarded to seven suppliers:
Reed Employment
Hays
Brook Street
Office Angels
Kelly Services
Northern Recruitment Group plc
Employment Plus
with pricing aligned to the 13 government regions.
The range of temps covered by this framework is wide from basic administrative grades to generalist junior managers. The pricing information is commercially sensitive with differing rates between each supplier. The effort and cost of averaging every role by supplier by 13 regions would incur disproportionate cost.
Details of the average hourly rate paid by the Department to each employment agency for agency staff in 2005-06 for the core Home Office is not held centrally and to provide the information would incur disproportionate cost. Information relating to BIA and the Executive Agencies is available as follows:
| Hourly rates paid to employment agencies by BIA for 2005-06 | |
| Employment agency name | Average hourly rate (£) |
| Hourly rates paid to employment agencies by Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) for 2005-06 | |
| Employment agency name | Average hourly rate (£) |
| Hourly rates paid to employment agencies by Identity and Passport Services (IPS) for 2005-06 | |
| Employment agency name | Average hourly rate (£) |
During 2006-07 the Home Department used the HM Prison Service Framework agreement for temporary staff and the average pricing (across five suppliers/nine regions) for 2006-2007 was as follows:
| Average hourly rate paid to employment agencies for agency staff across five suppliers/nine regions for 2006-07 via the HM Prison Service Framework agreement | |
| Grade | Average hourly rate paid (£) |
Information on the hourly average rate paid to employment agencies for agency staff prior to 2005-06 is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Travel
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much her Department and its agencies spent on first class travel in the last 12 months for which figures are available, broken down by staff grade. [187655]
Mr. Byrne: The Department's accounting system does not separately identify expenditure on first class travel. Such information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The Department expects all official travel to be carried out by the most efficient and economic means available, taking into account the cost of travel and subsistence, savings in official time, management benefit, and the needs of staff with disabilities. This is in accordance with the Civil Service Management Code and the Ministerial Code.
For the Department's agencies, The Criminal Records Bureau and the Identity and Passport Service, answers could, again, be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Deportation: Grants
Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of payments under the Facilitated Returns Scheme were made to (a) failed asylum seekers, (b) migrants and (c) foreign national prisoners in the last year for which information is available. [193232]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 14 March 2008]: The Facilitated Returns Scheme is limited to those foreign nationals who have committed a criminal offence for which they have received a custodial sentence and is not open to failed asylum seekers or migrants as separate categories.
Domestic Violence: Staffordshire
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were arrested for offences involving domestic violence in (a) Tamworth constituency and (b) Staffordshire in each year since 2000. [195455]
Mr. Coaker: The Home Office does not routinely collect data on the number of arrests for domestic violence related offences but is planning to commence the collection of this data from 2009-10 onwards. The Home Office does, however, collect data on the number of arrests for domestic violence related incidents since 2005-06.
Incidents are defined as any incident of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse (psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional) between adults who are or have been intimate partners or family members, regardless of gender or sexuality.
A subset of domestic violence related incidents are those incidents where a specified offence has been committed.
However there has been a change in what is collected as a result of changes in legislation as Section 110 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 made all offences arrestable.
2005-06 to January 2006: number of arrests for those domestic violence incidents where a power of arrest existed.
January 2006 onwards: number of arrests for any domestic violence incidents.
Data is available from Staffordshire for the period 2004-05 and 2005-06:
| Number | |
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