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3 Jun 2008 : Column 882W—continued
Human Trafficking
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements are in place at St. Pancras station to intercept human traffickers and their victims; and how many traffickers and victims have been apprehended since the Eurostar service to that station started. [207579]
Mr. Coaker [ h olding answer 2 June 2008]: On 14 November 2007 Eurostar's London terminus moved from Waterloo to St. Pancras and the decision was made to examine arriving passengers at our juxtaposed controls in France and Belgium.
Juxtaposed UK border controls have been in place at Paris, Lille and Calais Frethun since June 2001 and at Brussels since October 2004. They are staffed by UK Border Agency staff. If a passenger has qualified for entry to the UK at one of the juxtaposed controls, but has aroused suspicion for other reasons, they may be referred to the appropriate UK agency and can be intercepted by British Transport Police at St. Pancras.
Between December 2007 and May 2008, UKBA staff at the juxtaposed Eurostar ports have referred 25 cases to the European Operations' Intelligence Team for further investigation.
UKBA staff at juxtaposed ports work closely with the UK, French and Belgium police to ensure that we do the maximum possible to disrupt human trafficking and to provide appropriate support to the victims, ensuring they are properly cared for.
Human Trafficking: Children
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 25 March 2008, Official Report, column 72W, on human trafficking: children, if she will place in the Library a copy of the recent Child Exploitation Online Protection Centre study on Vietnamese juveniles. [207578]
Mr. Coaker [holding answer 2 June 2008]: The Child Exploitation Online Protection Centre study into Vietnamese juveniles arrested in cannabis factories in 2007 has not yet been published. When it is published, a copy will be placed in the Library.
Immigration
Damian Green:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if she will make it her policy to use gross domestic product per capita as the principal
measurement when considering the economic effects of migration in developing policy; [206841]
(2) if she will commission or evaluate research on the effect of immigration on the gross domestic product per capita of the resident host population in the UK; [206842]
(3) pursuant to the oral evidence given by the Minister of State for Immigration to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Select Committee in its inquiry into the Economic Impact of Immigration, if she will commission quantitative research into the effect of immigration on gross domestic product per capita. [206849]
Mr. Byrne: The issue of the links between migration and GDP and GDP per head was raised by the House of Lords Select Committee on Economic Affairs in its report, The Economic Impact of Immigration (Session 2007-08 HL Paper 82). The Government are considering the recommendations made by the Committee and will provide a formal response shortly. I shall arrange for copies of the response to be placed in the Library of both Houses and for a copy to be sent to the hon. Gentleman.
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many legacy immigration cases (a) were solved, (b) were closed for administrative or other reasons, (c) were no longer being actively investigated or worked on, (d) were resolved resulting in a deportation order, (e) resulted in a deportation being carried out and (f) resulted in a decision allowing the applicant to remain in the United Kingdom in each of the last five years. [206853]
Mr. Byrne: In her letter of 17 December 2007 to the Home Affairs Select Committee, Lin Homer, chief executive of the UK Border Agency stated that of the 52,000 older asylum cases that had been concluded, 19,000 had led to grants of leave, 16,000 had led to removals and 17,000 had been closed due to previously erroneous or duplicate records. This update records the position from the start of the Case Resolution Directorate work to clear the legacy from July 2006 up to the end of November 2007. Lin Homer is due to update the Home Affairs Select Committee on the work to clear the backlog next month.
Licensed Premises: Kent
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many (a) off licences and (b) other establishments with a licence to sell alcohol in Kent have been prosecuted for selling alcohol to under-age drinkers in each of the last five years; [195148]
(2) how many licensees in Kent have been prosecuted for serving under-age drinkers in each of the last five years. [195149]
Mr. Coaker: The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts for selling alcohol to those under 18 years old in Kent police force area from 2003 to 2006 can be viewed in the following table. It is not possible to identify from the data whether these sales were from on or off licensed premises.
The offence of sale of alcohol to a person under 18 can also attract a penalty notice for disorder (PND); there were no PNDs issued for the offence in Kent police force area in 2004, 10 PNDs issued in 2005 and five in 2006.
Offensive Weapons
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidents of knife crime were reported in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each year since 1997. [207804]
Mr. Coaker: It is not possible to identify those offences which are knife-related from the data centrally collected on overall recorded crime. However, since April 2007, police forces have been providing separate aggregate data on serious violence involving knives. Home Office statisticians will assess the quality of these data and it is planned that figures for 2007-08 will be published in the main crime bulletin in July 2008. Since the data are collected at police force area level, it will not be possible to show the number of incidents at constituency or borough level.
Statistics for Scotland and Northern Ireland are a matter for the respective Secretaries of State.
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were convicted of knife crime offences in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside and (c) the North East in each year since 1997. [207805]
Mr. Coaker: Information on the number of persons found guilty at all courts for the illegal possession of knives in a public place and on school premises, in the North East region of England and Wales from 1997-2006, are provided in the following table. Information on convictions in (a) Jarrow constituency and (b) South Tyneside cannot be provided as the data held by the Ministry of Justice are not held at that level of detail.
The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offence for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences, the offence selected is the one for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
The data provided do not cover persons found guilty of ‘other’ crimes involving the use of a knife, for example assault or threatening behaviour. Court data held by the Ministry of Justice do not include the circumstances behind each case; therefore it is not possible to identify all offences involving knives.
| Number of persons found guilty at all courts for offences relating to the illegal possession of knives in public( 1) , North East region 1997-2006( 2, 3) | |
| Found guilty | |
| (1) Includes the offences of having an article with a blade or point on school premises under the Criminal Justice Act 1988 S 139 and having an article with a blade or point in a public place under the Criminal Justice Act 1988 S 139a. (2) These data are on the principal offence basis. (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. | |
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were (a) killed and (b) injured in incidents of knife crime in (i) Jarrow constituency and (ii) South Tyneside in each year since 1997. [207867]
Mr. Coaker: The information available centrally relates to homicides by sharp instrument recorded each year between 1997-98 and 2006-07. As figures are not collected below police force area level, data relating to Northumbria police are given in the following table. Injuries data are not collected centrally.
| Homicides currently recorded( 1) where apparent method of killing is sharp instrument( 2) : Northumbria police force area, 1997-98 to 2006-07( 3) | |
| Year offence initially recorded as homicide( 4) | Number |
| (1) As at 12 November 2007; figures are revised as cases are dealt with by the police and by the courts, or as further information becomes available. (2) Includes knives as well as other sharp instruments. (3) Data for 2007-08 are scheduled to be published in January 2009. (4) Offences are shown according to the year in which the police initially recorded the offence as homicide. This is not necessarily the year in which the incident took place or the year in which any court decision was made. | |
Racially Aggravated Offences
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were the victim of crimes recorded as racially motivated in England in each of the last three years, broken down by region. [204377]
Mr. Coaker: The available statistics relate to racially or religiously aggravated offences recorded by the police and are given in the following table. It is not possible to separately identify those of a racial nature from those of a religious nature.
| Racially or religiously aggravated offences recorded by the police | |||
| Number of offences | |||
| Region | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 |
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