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18 Nov 2008 : Column 324W—continued
Immigration Officers: Sick Leave
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) immigration officers and (b) other Border and Immigration Agency staff took long-term sick leave in each of the last five years. [193119]
Mr. Woolas: The numbers of Immigration Officers and other UK Border Agency staff who have taken long term sick leave in each of the last three calendar years as recorded on our personnel system (Adelphi) are shown in the following table. The figures reflect improvements in recording and monitoring and should be judged in this context.
We are unable to provide accurate data previous to 2005 as these were not recorded centrally.
| Number | ||
| Immigration officers | All other border and immigration agency staff | |
Islam: Marriage
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many mosques (a) were registered and (b) had applied for registration to perform joint civil and religious marriage ceremonies at the most recent date for which figures are available. [234592]
Meg Hillier: The Places of Worship Registration Act 1855 provides for places of religious worship, except those of the established Church, to be certified to the Registrar General. A building has to be certified as a place of religious worship before it can be registered for marriages by the Registrar General under the Marriage Act 1949.
The total number of buildings currently recorded by the Registrar General as certified places of meeting for religious worship by those professing the Muslim religion in England and Wales is 809. Of those 159 buildings are registered for marriage.
The Marriage Act draws a distinction between civil and religious marriages. Where a marriage is conducted in a registered building it may be solemnized according to such form and ceremony as the persons contracting the marriage see fit to adopt. Civil marriages may only take place in a register office or other building approved for that purpose by the local authority in which it is situated.
The register of buildings registered for marriage is not held in a format that can provide the total number of applications since the 1855 Act was implemented.
Members: Correspondence
Clare Short:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Minister of State for Borders and Immigration plans to reply to the enquiry from the right hon. Member from Birmingham,
Ladywood of 7 October 2008 on the allowed appeal and issue of a visa to Ahmed Sharif Ali (Post reference: 92727 Addis Ababa). [234772]
Mr. Woolas: A reply was sent from Visa Services Directorate on 11 November 2008.
John Penrose: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she plans to reply to the letters of 10 September and 9 October 2005 from the hon. Member for Weston-Super-Mare on behalf of his constituent Mr Gordon Butcher. [235321]
Mr. Woolas: The chief executive of the United Kingdom Border Agency wrote to the hon. Member on 12 November 2008.
Oleg Deripaska
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether information held by the US authorities on Oleg Deripaska was available to the UK authorities before a visa was issued to him; and if she will make a statement. [229955]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 27 October 2008]: It is not Home Office policy to comment on individual cases.
Passports: Pensioners
Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many pensioners in Enfield North constituency have received a free passport in each year since the introduction of the policy. [235434]
Meg Hillier: The Identity and Passport Service (IPS) does not ask passport holders to keep their address up to date on our database. Therefore, IPS cannot identify the number of current residents by geographical area that have taken advantage of the scheme to issue free passports to those applicants born on or before 2 September 1929.
Over 520,000 free passports have been issued since the scheme was introduced in 2004 as a way of recognising all those who had contributed to the national effort during the second world war.
Police: Finance
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the expenditure on (a) direct staff cost, (b) operational support cost, (c) business support cost and (d) cost excluding sustaining overhead under activity-based costing analysis was on (i) reducing crime, (ii) investigating crime, (iii) promoting public safety and (iv) providing assistance in each financial year since 2004-05. [200338]
Mr. Woolas: The Department’s expenditure on crime for the last three years, for which there are audited figures, is shown in the following table.
To provide the detail requested in the question could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost. Figures for UKBA 2004-05 could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Police: Misconduct
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of procedures in place for the investigation of alleged misconduct by the police; what recent representations she has received on this issue; what response was given; and if she will make a statement. [235519]
Mr. Coaker: In 2004, the then Home Secretary commissioned a review of the current arrangements for dealing with police misconduct. The Review of Police Disciplinary Arrangements was the review conducted by William Taylor CBE QPM into the effectiveness of disciplinary arrangements for police officers. It made a number of recommendations, including that the procedures for dealing with the unsatisfactory performance of police officers should be reviewed. It was published in 2005 and its recommendations were accepted by Ministers. The Police Advisory Board for England and Wales (PABEW) took forward the process for implementing the recommendations. As a result, new Police (Performance) Regulations 2008, Police (Conduct) Regulations 2008 and Police Appeals Tribunals Rules 2008 were approved by both Houses of Parliament and the new procedures will come into force on 1 December 2008.
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