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23 Oct 2008 : Column 504W—continued
University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much the Government have provided by way of grants or subsidies to the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit in each financial year since 1998. [227854]
Joan Ruddock: The Natural Environment Research Council, which receives funding from the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS), has made grants and awards to the University of East Anglia, but figures specifically for the Climatic Research Unit are not available.
Home Department
Airports: Biometrics
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her policy is on the compulsory (a) fingerprinting, (b) iris scanning and (c) photographing of (i) UK and (ii) other passengers at UK airports. [226479]
Mr. Woolas: Taking biometrics allows UKBA to fix and verify a person’s identity, allowing a more informed decision about a person’s eligibility and entitlement to enter the UK.
Under current policy, an authorised person has powers to require any arriving passenger, regardless of claimed nationality, to provide biometrics in the form of fingerprints and a photograph of their face at all ports of entry, including airports, for the purpose of ascertaining whether a passport or other document is genuine and relates to the person being examined. This may sometimes require both UK and other nationals to provide fingerprints and photographs to enable the UKBA to verify their identity and nationality.
The UK Border Agency will not store the biometric features of British citizens and EEA nationals.
Compulsory fingerprints and facial photographs are required from all visa applicants before arrival in the UK, and we are committed to extending this requirement, so that all foreign nationals from outside the European economic area register their fingerprints and facial photograph before crossing the border.
Antisocial Behaviour
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much funding has been allocated to tackling antisocial behaviour in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) England and Wales in each year since the inception of such programmes. [228719]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The Home Office has not allocated any direct funding to tackle antisocial behaviour in Jarrow which falls within South Tyneside local authority. Home Office funding allocated to the North East including South Tyneside can be found in the following table.
Between 2003-04 and 2007-08, the Home Office made £34.4 million available in each year specifically and solely to tackle antisocial behaviour. This includes funding for the TOGETHER, then Respect Programmes respectively and a grant for antisocial behaviour co-ordinators.
The antisocial behaviour co-ordinator funding has been renewed for the period 2008-11, and the Home Office contribution to ABG in England amounts to some £61 million, with £3 million available for Wales in each year (the same in cash terms as in 2007-08).
The antisocial behaviour co-ordinator funding forms part of the unringfenced Area Based Grant (ABG) in England. The position in Wales is slightly different, whereby the funding for Community Safety Partnerships has been consolidated into the Crime Reduction and Anti-Social Behaviour National Resource Grant. In both England and Wales, it is for local partnerships to agree how the grants received should be allocated against locally determined priorities, including antisocial behaviour.
There are many funding streams that impact on antisocial behaviour. A more detailed account can be found in the report by the National Audit Office “Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour” (HC99 2006-07, December 2006). Other Home Office led activities also act to tackle antisocial behaviour, for example the introduction of community support officers, but a monetary value cannot be assigned to that contribution. Similarly, other Government Departments fund services that directly bear upon antisocial behaviour. For example the Crown Prosecution Service provides a network of specialist antisocial behaviour prosecutors, and Her Majesty's Court Service provides specialist antisocial behaviour response courts. There are many other programmes and services that contribute, sometimes indirectly, to tackling antisocial behaviour, including diversionary activities for young people, action against enviro-crime such as fly-tipping, neighbourhood wardens, as well as neighbourhood policing and neighbourhood management. A more detailed account can be found in the report of, and evidence to, the Home Affairs Select Committee's report on antisocial behaviour (Fifth Report, Session 2004-05, HC80).
| £ | ||||
| Financial year | Total | |||
| Area | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | |
Asylum: Sudan
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Sudanese nationals have been refused asylum in the UK in each of the last 12 months; and how many are awaiting a decision on an asylum application. [228482]
Mr. Woolas: The following table gives the most recently published figures available and shows the total number of refusals for Sudanese nationals, following initial decisions between July 2007 and June 2008.
The published figure for asylum applications split by nationality for people awaiting an initial decision is not available as the figures are based on an overall manual count which is not broken down into separate categories.
Information on asylum is published annually and quarterly. Annual statistics for 2007 and quarterly statistics for 2008 are available from the Library of the House
and from the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate website at:
| Asylum refusals on initial decisions( 1, 2) in the United Kingdom, excluding dependants July 2007 to June 2008 by month, nationals of Sudan | |
| Sudan | Total refusals |
| (1) Figures rounded to nearest 5. (2) Provisional figures. | |
Asylum: Zimbabwe
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Zimbabwean nationals were refused asylum in the UK in each of the last 12 months; and how many are awaiting a decision on an asylum application. [228481]
Mr. Woolas: The following table gives the most recently published figures available and shows the total number of refusals for Zimbabwean nationals, following initial decisions between July 2007 and June 2008.
The published figure for asylum applications split by nationality for people awaiting an initial decision is not available as the figures are based on an overall manual count which is not broken down into separate categories.
Information on asylum is published annually and quarterly. Annual Statistics for 2007 and quarterly statistics
for 2008 are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate website at:
| Asylum refusals on initial decisions( 1, 2) in the United Kingdom, excluding dependants July 2007 to June 2008 by month, nationals of Zimbabwe | |
| Zimbabwe | Total refusals |
| (1) Figures rounded to nearest 5. (2) Provisional figures. | |
Border and Immigration Agency
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was spent by the Border and Immigration Agency and its predecessor on (a) taxi fares, (b) hotel accommodation, (c) first class rail travel, (d) domestic and international flights and (e) hospitality in each of the last five years. [205453]
Mr. Woolas: The amounts spent by the UK Border Agency and its predecessors on taxi fares, hotel accommodation, rail travel, domestic and international flights and hospitality in each of the last five years is shown in the following table. Rail travel includes all classes of travel.
| £ | |||||
| 2007-08 | 2006-07 | 2005-06 | 2004-05 | 2003-04 | |
| (1) The financial record system in use at that time called BASS did not have a category to record hotel payments alone. This figure includes hotels and all subsistence, such as allowances for meals. | |||||
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