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28 Apr 2008 : Column 104W—continued
Police: Stun Guns
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what procedures govern the use of Taser-style electric shock weapons by police; and what training police officers are required to receive before using such weapons. [196422]
Mr. Coaker: Following a trial in five forces in 2003, the Home Secretary agreed to allow Chief Officers of all forces in England and Wales to make the laser available to authorised firearms officers as a less lethal alternative for use in situations where a firearms authority has been granted in accordance with criteria laid down in the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) Manual of Guidance on Police Use of Firearms.
Following a request by ACPO my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary agreed in July 2007 that laser may be deployed by an authorised firearms officer beyond situations in which a firearms authority would be granted. In these cases, officers would be facing violence or threats of violence of such severity that they would need to use force to protect the public, themselves and/or the subjects.
My right hon. Friend also agreed to a 12 month trial, from 1 September 2007, in 10 selected forces of use of laser in similar circumstances by specially trained units who are not authorised firearms officers.
Full policy and operational guidance documents on the use of laser has been issued by ACPO, and there is a rigorous selection procedure for officers which is fully set out in the ACPO guidance. Laser is only issued to specially trained officers who have successfully completed approved ACPO sponsored training in the use of the device. All officers will be required to successfully complete annual refresher training.
Ports: Arrests
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were (a) detained and (b) arrested at UK ports in the last five years. [199143]
Jacqui Smith:
Information pertaining to the number of people detained at UK ports is not fully available
due to a change in our data collation systems in 2003. Figures relating to 2003 do not therefore reflect the full year.
Information relating to persons detained at ports falls into two areas: Those who do not immediately satisfy the Immigration Officer of their eligibility to enter, or who are subject to further examination, and those who are further detained pending the outcome of their application or following refusal of leave to enter.
In the interests of completeness, figures have been provided in relation to persons detained in order to be subjected to further examination.
Totals of persons initially detained (at the arrivals control) are as follows:
| Number | |
The data provided above have been compiled from locally held management information and as such do not represent national statistics. They may therefore be subject to change.
Figures relating to arrests at UK ports are available only from April 2006, as these were not previously recorded centrally. Figures for March 2003-06 relate only to Heathrow and Gatwick, and all figures relate only to arrests by Immigration Crime Teams as follows:
| Number | |||
| Heathrow | Gatwick | Total | |
Numbers of persons arrested by HM Revenue and Customs are available only from April 2005 until March 2007, and are as follows:
| Number | |
Prisoners: Foreigners
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many sentence-expired foreign prisoners are held in detention under immigration powers; and how many have been held in such detention in each year since 1997. [193823]
Mr. Byrne
[holding answer 13 March 2008]: The Chief Executive of the UK Border Agency advised the Home Affairs Committee in her letter of 20 November that there were 1,500 foreign national prisoners that were detained under immigration powers. She will continue to update the Committee with the most robust and accurate information available as requested. She has also explained in her letters to the Committee that information prior to April 2006 is not available due to
the quality of management information that is held. Copies of these letters are available in the Library of the House.
South Yorkshire Police: Accidents
Jeff Ennis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many South Yorkshire police vehicles have been involved in an accident while attending an emergency call in each of the last five years. [199442]
Mr. McNulty: The data provided here are a supplementary series collected on behalf and released with the approval of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC). These data are normally used for inspection purposes only.
The available data on road traffic collisions on public roads during immediate/emergency response and police pursuit have been collected centrally from 2002-03 and are provided in the following table.
| R oad traffic collisions during immediate/emergency response and police pursuit for South Yorkshire, from 2002-03 to 2006-07 | |
| Number | |
Terrorism Act 2000
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been (a) charged and (b) convicted of offences under the Terrorism Act 2000 since it came into force. [198629]
Jacqui Smith: The Terrorism Act (TACT) 2000 came into force on 19 February 2001. Statistics compiled from police records are available on the Home Office website from 11 September 2001 to 31 March 2007.
For this period, there were a total of 1,228 arrests; of which 1,165 arrests were made under the Terrorism Act 2000 and 63 arrests under other legislation, where the investigation was conducted as a Terrorist investigation. Of the total 1,228 arrested, 132 were charged with terrorism legislation offences only; 109 were charged with terrorism legislation offences and other criminal offences and 195 charged under other legislation, including murder, grievous bodily harm, firearms, explosives offences, fraud, and false documents.
Of those charged, there were 41 Terrorism Act 2000 convictions and 183 convictions under other legislation, including murder, explosives offences (including conspiracies), grievous bodily harm, firearms offences, fraud, false documents offences, and other offences (including 12 cautions). Figures are subject to change as cases go through the system. The Home Office is currently working with the police to review how terrorism statistics are collated.
In addition to the above, statistics on the number of convictions in significant terrorist cases are available
for 2007 and 2008. In 2007, 37 individuals were convicted in 15 significant terrorist cases. So far in 2008, 21 people have been convicted in seven significant terrorist cases. There are a range of powers available under other non-TACT legislation, to arrest and charge individuals in connection with terrorist or terrorist related activity. Charges and convictions can and are brought under the most-appropriate legislation.
Terrorism: Crime Prevention
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many times she has met home affairs front-bench spokespersons from other political parties to discuss her counter-terrorism proposals since 1st July 2007. [199429]
Mr. McNulty: My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has met the Conservative Shadow Home Secretary and the Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson three times to discuss counter-terrorism proposals since 1 July 2007.
Translation Costs
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the answer of 15 January 2007, Official Report, column 785W, on translation costs, how much was spent on translating Home Office publications into languages other than English in (a) 2003-04, (b) 2004-05, ( c) 2006-07 and (d) in 2007-08 to date. [188082]
Mr. McNulty: It is not possible to provide this information on the basis of disproportionate cost.
UK Border Agency: Wales
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff of the new UK Border Agency will be based in (a) Pembroke Dock, (b) Fishguard, (c) Swansea, (d) Holyhead and (e) Wales. [200212]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 21 April 2008]: The number of staff employed by the former Borders and Immigration Agency was 18,154 at the end of March 2008. This number is the actual active staff at 31 March 2008 and replaces earlier projected figures. Of this 176 were geographically located in Wales.
On 1 April 2008 the UK Border Agency was created and 2,303 staff transferred from UK Visas. More than 4,000 further staff are expected to join UKBA from HM Revenue and Customs and the final staff total is expected to be around 25,000 but figures are not yet finalised.
Video Conferencing
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will set a target to increase the use of video conferencing by her Department’s officials as an alternative to staff travelling to meetings. [200483]
Mr. Byrne: There are no plans to introduce such a target, however it is now standard practice to put in at least one set of video conferencing (VC) equipment in Home Office properties.
Work Permits
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent estimate she has made of the number of illegal migrants employed in the UK without a valid work permit. [199167]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 21 April 2008]: Since the phasing out of border controls in 1994, no Government have ever been able to produce an accurate figure for the number of people who are in the country illegally and that includes illegal workers. By its very nature it is impossible to quantify accurately and that remains the case.
As one of the Government's 10 substantive changes to the border and immigration system in 2008 we will count in and out the majority of foreign nationals. This will build on the successes of our early testing of the e-Borders programme (Project Semaphore) which already covers over 30 million passenger movements and has led to 18,000 alerts and more than 1,500 arrests.
This is part of a large-scale programme of reform to border protection which also includes the global roll-out of fingerprint visas, compulsory watch-list checks for all travellers from high-risk countries before they land in Britain and ID cards for foreign nationals.
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many employers in the residential and care home industries were (a) prosecuted and (b) fined for employing workers without valid work permits in each of the last three years; [199163]
(2) how many agricultural employers were (a) prosecuted and (b) fined for employing workers without valid work permits in each of the last three years; [199164]
(3) how many people were (a) arrested for, (b) prosecuted for and (c) convicted of working illegally in the UK without a valid work permit in each of the last three years; [199165]
(4) how much was collected in fines from employers of workers without valid work permits in each of the last three years; [199166]
Mr. Byrne: There are no centrally collated reports on how many employers have been prosecuted specifically within the residential care home and agricultural industries.
The Home Office publishes statistics on the number of persons proceeded against for offences under Immigration Acts 1971 to 2004 in England and Wales on an annual basis in table 6.7 of the Control of Immigration: Statistics Command Paper. Published statistics on immigration and asylum are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate web site at:
No data are held centrally on the total amount of fines collected from employers prosecuted for employing those without a valid work permit.
Workers Registration Scheme: Greater London
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have registered on the Workers Registration Scheme in each London borough in each year since the scheme was introduced. [199301]
Mr. Byrne: The Home Office only records the regional distribution of workers from A8 countries when they first registered to the Workers Registration Scheme. Data by local authority were published in February 2008 in concert with the Accession Monitoring Report (AMR) on the Local Government Analysis and Research (LGAR) website.
The table shows the last published available data by local authority for the number of workers when they first registered to the Worker Registration Scheme (WRS) in each London borough since the scheme was introduced.
The figures quoted are not provided under National Statistics protocols and have been derived from local management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change.
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