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12 Jun 2008 : Column 471W—continued
| Work permit holders and dependants( 1) given leave to enter the United Kingdom, excluding EEA Swiss nationals, 2004 to 2006( 2) | ||
| Number of persons | ||
| Year/quarter | Work permit holders | Dependants of work permit holders |
| (1) Includes nationals of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia before 1 May, but excludes them from this date. (2) Provisional and subject to change. Note: Data rounded to the nearest five, therefore they may not sum to the totals shown. | ||
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many visa centres her Department has in (a) Russia, (b) India and (c) China. [210128]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 10 June 2008]: There are three visa application centres in Russia, 12 in India and 12 in China.
Points-based System
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many businesses had applied for licences to sponsor foreign migrants under the points-based system by 31st May 2008. [208989]
Mr. Byrne: The number of sponsors who had applied for registration to sponsor migrants under the points-based system by 31 May 2008 was 125.
Note:
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.
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate her Department has made of the number of businesses likely to apply for a licence to sponsor migrants in 2008 who had not done so by 31 May 2008. [208991]
Mr. Byrne: Our planning assessment indicates that potentially 14,000 sponsors may apply for registration to sponsor migrants by the end of this year.
Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will put in place measures to ensure that imams in the United Kingdom who have been issued with religious visas do not espouse a doctrine of violence against those who wish to leave the Islamic faith. [208792]
Mr. Byrne: With the introduction of the points-based system (PBS) for managing migration, only genuine and reputable employers will be granted a licence to bring migrants to the UK, and this will include religious organisations wishing to bring in religious workers. This is in addition to other measures already in place, such as the screening of passengers at ports, the use of alerts and watch-lists, and checking biometrics taken from visa applicants. The Home Secretary also has the power to exclude or deport from the UK those non-UK nationals whose presence here is not conducive to the public good. This would include those who come within the scope of the list of unacceptable behaviours announced by the former Home Secretary on 24 August 2005.
We are building on the work that local communities, institutions and organisations are already taking forward to stop people becoming or supporting violent extremists. We see faith leaders as central to a co-ordinated effort to stop promoters of violent extremism from operating unchallenged.
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations she has received from the catering industry on the points-based immigration system; which groups she met as part of the development process of the points-based system before it was introduced; how many catering or restaurant groups and organisations she met as part of the development process; and what processes will exist to monitor the sex, age and country of origin of immigrants entering the UK through the points-based system. [202716]
Mr. Byrne: The Home Office sent its consultation on proposals for a points-based system to 52 representative groups and employers in the hospitality and catering industry and received 10 responses. I have had meetings with interest groups on the development of the points- based system including the Bangladeshi Caterers Association and representatives of the Chinese community. The British Hospitality Association is represented on the Employer Taskforce which, as a consultative group, has informed development of the points-based system. The Home Office will publish an equality impact assessment when it publishes a statement of intent in respect of its proposals for tier 2 of the points-based system and this will indicate what measures will be put in place to monitor race, age and gender impacts.
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many compliance officers are employed by her Department to make checks on job roles, qualifications and salary under the points-based system; and what the average caseload of each compliance officer is; [208117]
(2) how many account managers are employed by her Department to provide help and guidance to sponsors in discharging their responsibilities under the points-based system; and what the average caseload of each account manager is. [208118]
Mr. Byrne: There are at present 160 Visiting Officers across the UK who undertake the compliance and account management function under the points-based system.
This figure is likely to increase by March 2009.
The current average caseload of each Visiting Officer is 3.5 visits each week.
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the cost of employing (a) account managers and (b) compliance officers to deal with sponsorship and compliance under the points-based system in each of the next 10 years. [208182]
Mr. Byrne: The forecast cost for the current financial year is £6.7 million.
Requirements for future years will be reviewed in due course.
HOPS Student Exchange Programme
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many visas were offered under the HOPS student exchange programme in 2008; and what representations she has received from farmers on the number of places for migrant labourers to enter the UK on the scheme. [208633]
Mr. Byrne: The HOPS student exchange programme is not administered by the UK Border Agency. The UK Border Agency has a Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (SAWS) that enables the provision of short term, low skilled workers to be employed in the agricultural industry.
The SAWS annual quota for 2008 is 16,250. The quota is managed by nine contracted operators who issue work cards on behalf of the UK Border Agency.
The scheme is exclusively available to Bulgarian and Romanian nationals, therefore no visa is required.
The Secretary of State has received representations from farmers wishing to see an increase in the number of places available on the Seasonal Agricultural Workers programme and for this scheme to be opened to migrants from outside the European Union.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Chatham and Aylesford (Jonathan Shaw) and I recently met with the National Farmers’ Union and representatives of SAWS operators at which we discussed the labour needs of the agricultural industry and the challenges facing it for the future. We shall continue to keep in touch with the industry on these issues.
Fairtrade Initiative
Mr. Moore:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 18 February 2008, Official Report, column 441W, on the Fair trade
initiative, at what buildings fairtrade products are (a) provided and (b) not provided at official meetings and functions. [209030]
Mr. Byrne: Fairtrade products are provided for official meetings and functions at 2 Marsham Street, the Home Office Headquarters building. We do not collate information centrally on the availability of Fairtrade goods at other buildings on the Home Office estate.
Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 18 February 2008, Official Report, column 441W, on the Fairtrade initiative, how much and what proportion of revenue from her Department’s staff catering facilities was accounted for by Fairtrade products in each of the last three financial years. [209031]
Mr. Byrne: This information is not available. The Department does not receive information on revenue at its staff catering facilities as this is the responsibility of the catering suppliers.
Foreign Workers: EU Nationals
Lembit Öpik: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many migrant workers from A8 countries have worked in the UK since 2004. [206460]
Mr. Byrne: Information on A8 workers, who have registered under the Worker Registration Scheme, which started in May 2004, is available on the following link, although not all A8 migrant workers need to register under the Worker Registration Scheme.
A copy of the Accession Monitoring Report is available in the House Library.
Human Trafficking
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will include checks for trafficked victims as part of the new watch list being introduced for aircraft passengers on high-risk routes. [207267]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 22 May 2008]: e-Borders will require commercial carriers and owner/operators of all vessels scheduled to arrive in or depart the UK to submit to the e-Borders system, and provide detailed passenger, service and crew data prior to their departure to and from the UK.
Those data will be checked against watch lists, analysed, risk assessed and shared between UK border agencies. It will improve border security and assist in the fight against organised crime and illegal migration.
The UK Border Agency maintains a watch list of information and intelligence which is used to inform decisions. It is longstanding policy not to disclose the specific data held on this watchlist or the source of the data on it.
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the Answer of 3 June 2008, Official Report, column 883W, on human trafficking, what definition of the term juxtaposed controls she uses. [209865]
Mr. Byrne: Juxtaposed controls were introduced in France and Belgium to further strengthen and enhance the protection of the UK borders. Juxtaposed controls are established through bilateral agreements and allow the authorities of two states to operate frontier controls alongside each other in both states. They are fully reciprocal.
This reciprocal arrangement provides the French authorities with the facilities to operate their frontier control from the United Kingdom, while the UK Border Agency operates the UK frontier control from France and Belgium. This effectively allows UK Border Agency staff to check 100 per cent. of all passengers and their documents before they disembark to enter the UK. The French authorities, Police Aux Frontieres (PAF), are responsible for managing the security of the French border and do so from the English side of the juxtaposed control.
Juxtaposed controls have existed at the Channel Tunnel sites in Coquelles and Cheriton since the opening of the Tunnel System in 1994. The arrangements are governed by the Sangatte Protocol under the treaty of Canterbury. On 29 May 2000, the Additional Protocol to the Sangatte Protocol was signed to allow commencement of juxtaposed controls at designated Eurostar terminals in France.
The Anglo-French Le Touquet Treaty was signed on 4 February 2003, giving UK Border Agency staff the power to operate a juxtaposed control in France at the northern French Seaports of Calais, Boulogne and Dunkerque.
Juxtaposed controls currently operate at Calais, Boulogne and Dunkerque ferry ports, as well as the Eurotunnel terminal at Coquelles, and the Eurostar stations of Brussels, Paris, Lille and Frethun.
The French authorities operate their controls in the UK at St. Pancras, Ebbsfleet, Ashford International, Dover and Cheriton. These are the UK terminals which are currently served by the French operations covered under the terms of the various Treaties and Protocols which govern the operation of juxtaposed controls.
Identity Cards: Foreigners
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 28 April 2008, Official Report, column 88W, on identity cards: foreigners, for what reasons the fingerprint biometrics will be stored on an embedded chip in an identity card instead of holding fingerprint records centrally. [207704]
Mr. Byrne: Two fingerprints will be stored on an embedded chip in an identity card for foreign nationals to comply with EU regulations. However, a full set of fingerprints will also be held on the same database already used to store fingerprints recorded by foreign nationals when applying for visas.
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