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24 Nov 2008 : Column 821W—continued
Drugs: Rehabilitation
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when pilots to extend integrated offender management models for drug misusing offenders will be introduced; in which areas they will be introduced; and what their cost will be. [234562]
Jacqui Smith: The Government announced on 16 July this year that the Integrated Offender Management pioneer areas would be based in Nottinghamshire, Lancashire, London, west Yorkshire and the west midlands, to strengthen and extend existing partnership work to reduce crime and re-offending in those areas, including drug-related crime. £1.65 million has been made available by the Home Office and Ministry of Justice jointly so far this year to assist development and monitoring of the approach. All the areas except west midlands, which is expected to start in the new year, are already operational.
Extradition
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been (a) extradited from the UK under European arrest warrant, (b) extradited to the UK under European arrest warrant, (c) extradited to the US under the UK/US extradition treaty and (d) extradited to the UK under the UK/US extradition treaty; and if she will make a statement. [231874]
Meg Hillier: Extradition is the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Home Affairs. The Extradition Act 2003, which gave effect to the provisions of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) in the UK, came into force on 1 January 2004. Since that date and up to 30 September 2008, 920 people had been extradited from the UK under the EAW, and 335 people had been extradited to the UK under the EAW.
In the same period, 55 people have been extradited to the US from the UK; and 23 people have been extradited to the UK from the US. A new UK/US extradition treaty came into force on 26 April 2007; prior to that, requests were made and received under the 1972 extradition treaty.
Football: Arrests
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reason the annual Football Arrest Statistics document was not published in October 2008; and when she expects it to be published. [239032]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The Football Banning Orders Authority, who manage football banning orders and collate police information in respect of every football match in England and Wales, moved offices in August. Consequently the relevant IT system was unavailable for a short time. This led to a delay in processing detailed information on arrests for football related offences. The statistics will be published on 25 November.
Forced Marriage
Lembit Öpik: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent estimate she has made of the incidence of forced marriage in the UK. [229294]
Gillian Merron: I have been asked to reply.
It is not possible to give an estimate of the number of cases of forced marriage in the UK, due to the underground nature of the abuse, as well as issues around recording of forced marriages by agencies, and the sharing of recorded information. The joint Foreign and Commonwealth
Office, Home Office Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) has been involved in 1,308 incidences of forced marriage or potential forced marriage in the first three quarters of 2008. As well as cases where the FMU has directly intervened, this statistic also includes incidences where the unit has provided support to an individual facing potential forced marriage who has made an anonymous call for advice to the public helpline and incidences where the FMU has provided referral support and guidance to agencies handling a case locally. We believe that this figure represents only a fraction of the total number of incidences of forced marriage in the UK, with many more being handled by local statutory or voluntary sector agencies without referral to the FMU and a far greater number going unreported.
Genetics: Databases
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the answer of 8 October 2007, Official Report, column 165W, on genetics: databases; if she will place in the Library a copy of the equality impact assessment conducted by the National Policing Improvement Agency relating to the national DNA database. [212372]
Meg Hillier: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Brent, East (Sarah Teather) on 12 November 2008, Official Report, column 1217W.
Human Trafficking: London
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her most recent estimate is of the percentage of people trafficked into the United Kingdom who entered via or who pass through London. [237854]
Mr. Alan Campbell: There is no estimate of the percentage of people trafficked through London.
However, we continue to improve our knowledge of the nature and scale of human trafficking through the work of the UK Human Trafficking Centre and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP). This is being done both through analysis of intelligence gained during frontline agency operations and through research.
Identity Cards: Foreigners
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reason 10 fingerprints will be collected from foreign nationals applying for identity cards instead of the two fingerprints required under EC Regulation No. 380/2008. [226409]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 13 October 2008]: Capturing and enrolling all 10 fingerprints onto our system will allow us to search other biometric databases providing a more robust approach to confirming identity. In the unlikely event we are unable to make a match against the two fingerprints held on the identity card for foreign nationals, we can make a further check against the applicant's other fingerprints.
In addition, we can verify identity with other fingerprint records we hold. As such, we are able to tie a person to a single identity which will help tackle immigration abuses and identity fraud.
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which of the separate pieces of information set out in Schedule 1 of the Identity Cards Act 2006 will be retained from foreign nationals applying for identity cards from November 2008. [235513]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 13 November 2008]: Identity cards for foreign nationals will be introduced on 25 November under the UK Borders Act 2007. The UKBA is not bound by schedule 1 of the Identity Cards Act 2006, however, the same information set out in schedule 1 of the Identity Cards Act will be collected under the UK Borders Act and will be retained by the Secretary of State as long as retention of the data is necessary for the specified functions e.g. functions under the Immigration Acts or for the prevention or detection of an offence.
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which database will store the personal data from foreign nationals applying for identity cards from November 2008. [235514]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 13 November 2008]: Biometric and biographical data from foreign nationals applying for identity cards from November 2008 will be securely and safely stored on the UKBA's central databases. It will also be stored on the national identity register, once it is up and running and the identity card for foreign nationals has been designated as a document under section 4 of the Identity Cards Act 2006.
Illegal Immigrants: Prisoners
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average length of time is that each immigration offender detained in the immigration estate has been detained. [234732]
Jacqui Smith: The information requested is currently not available.
Following a change in the computer system in which information is collected; summary statistics on all persons recorded as leaving detention in the UK solely under Immigration Act powers by length of detention are not available after September 2006. Information up to that date for each year is available from the Library of the House and in Table 9.4 of each year's Asylum Statistics United Kingdom publication published each August
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children have been detained in the immigration estate in each of the last five years. [234734]
Jacqui Smith:
The requested information is not available; the Home Office published the number of children recorded as leaving detention in the UK solely under
Immigration Act powers between January 2005 and September 2006. Information outside this time period is not available.
National Statistics on how many children are detained on a quarterly snapshot basis is available from the Library of the House and in Table 9.2 of the Asylum Statistics United Kingdom 2007 bulletin:
Children are detained in four limited circumstances: first, as part of a family group whose detention is considered appropriate; second, when unaccompanied, while alternative care arrangements are made (and normally only overnight); third, in the case of a former FNP under the age of 18 where it can be shown that they pose a serious risk to the public; and fourth, unaccompanied children escorted from their normal place of residence to a port for the purpose of removal.
While the detention of families with children is very regrettable, it nevertheless remains necessary in appropriate cases in order to maintain an effective immigration control and to tackle abuses of the asylum and immigration system.
Immigrants: Children
Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what timescale she has set for actions and decisions concerning children subject to immigration control to be taken in compliance with the full obligations and rights set out within the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. [237060]
Mr. Woolas: The UK Border Agency's treatment of children must be as sensitive as possible.
Withdrawing the reservation was made possible largely because of the way we have transformed our child protection arrangements since 1991. This includes legislating to impose a duty on UKBA to abide by a code of practice.
This code is designed to ensure that while exercising its functions in the UK, UKBA takes appropriate steps to ensure that while children are in the UK they are safe from harm. No additional changes to legislation, guidance or practice are currently envisaged.
Immobilisation of Vehicles: Licensing
Mr. Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) companies and (b) individuals have been investigated by the Security Industry Authority for an alleged breach of licensing rules relating to vehicle immobilisation in each year since 2002. [236482]
Mr. Alan Campbell: Information on the number of investigations relating to vehicle immobilisation carried out by the Security Industry Authority (SIA) is not available. The SIA does record details of written warnings and improvement notices on its website for all licensable sectors, but not by individual sector, such as the vehicle immobilisation sector.
A written warning may be issued to an individual or a company found to be in breach of the Private Security Industry Act 2001. Similarly an improvement notice may be issued to an individual or a company found to be in breach of the Act.
The SIA introduced licensing of the private security industry on a phased basis from 2004. It issued the first improvement notices to companies in 2006. 79 companies had been issued with improvement notices as at 31 October 2008. The first written warnings were issued to individuals in 2005 and 981 had been issued by 31 October 2008.
Members: Correspondence
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she will answer the letter of 4 August 2008 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton, with regard to Mrs Anila Zaidi. [224116]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 12 September 2008]: I replied to the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton on 25 September 2008 with full details of the case.
PA Consulting
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the review of all Home Office contracts with PA Consulting has been concluded; and when she will make public the outcome of the review. [225219]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 8 October 2008]: The review of contracts between the Home Office and PA Consulting Group has been completed, as we committed to do so, by the end of September 2008. The Home Office Departmental Security Unit (DSU) engaged independent experts from the Security Specialist Squadron of the RAF Police, to carry out this review, under the leadership of the Home Office Commercial Director.
This work was carried out over the period 15 to 30 September and comprised a detailed review of existing policy and applied procedures in support of each of the nine contracts in place.
The review concluded that each contract meets or exceeds the minimum requirements from a security and data handling perspective, as set out by OGC and Cabinet Office. The review recommended a small number of areas that could be further strengthened on one of the contracts, which PA Consulting have agreed to and already implemented.
The detailed report will not be made public, given commercial sensitivities and confidentialities.
Passports
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the Identity Card Scheme Cost Report of May 2008, how the estimates of the volume of passports and identity cards to be issued over the next 10 years have been calculated. [226404]
Jacqui Smith: Estimates of the volume of passports and identity cards to be issued over the next 10 years are derived by modelling both existing trends of passport issuance among British citizens and the strategy underpinning the roll-out of the national identity scheme, informed by market research as to likely customer behaviour at each stage of the roll-out.
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many passports have been issued in each of the last eight years; and what estimate has been made of the number of passports that will be issued in each of the next eight years. [235512]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 13 November 2008]: The following table shows how many passports were issued in each financial year for the 2000-01 to 2007-08 periods.
| Financial year | Actual output |
The Identity Cards Scheme Cost Report published in November 2008 sets out the estimated product volumes over the next 10 years, combining the total volume of identity cards and passports issued by IPS to United Kingdom citizens resident in the UK. The figures for issuing both products were combined as, in many cases, the same application would result in the issue of both a passport and an identity card.
This is the most recently published information on product volumes that is currently available. Previous estimates of product volumes are included in National Identity Scheme Cost Reports that may be found at:
The Identity and Passport Service is currently developing the product choice offered to customers, as indicated in the national identity scheme delivery plan published in March 2008, figures for the projected product volumes will be published in due course.
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