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26 Nov 2008 : Column 2249W—continued
Drug Interventions Programme: Stoke on Trent
Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what funding her Department has allocated to each area in Stoke-on-Trent constituency through its Drug Intervention Programme. [239492]
Mr. Alan Campbell: It has not proved possible to respond to my hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation.
Drug Seizures: Databases
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the proposed pilot scheme to test the benefits of establishing a national forensic database of drug seizures will be established; where it will take place; and what the cost of the scheme will be. [234559]
Jacqui Smith: I will write to the hon. Member.
Drugs: Crime
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her Department plans to spend in total on tackling drugs in (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10 and (c) 2010-11. [234746]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 10 November 2008]: I will write to the hon. and learned Member.
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were convicted of drug-related offences in England and Wales in each of the last three years. [237455]
Mr. Alan Campbell: I will write to the hon. Member.
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the level of acquisitive crime associated with drug addiction in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement. [239247]
Mr. Alan Campbell: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Gentleman in the time available before Prorogation.
Drugs: Crime Prevention
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 22 October 2008, Official Report, column 442W, on drugs: crime prevention, when data on crackhouse closure orders in 2007-08 will be available. [231373]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 29 October 2008]: I will write to the hon. and learned Member.
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crack house closures there were in (a) Ashford constituency and (b) Kent in the last three years. [236876]
Mr. Alan Campbell: I will write to the hon. Member.
Drugs: Smuggling
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures are used to assess the performance of counter-narcotics activities at (a) Heathrow, (b) Gatwick and (c) Stansted airports. [232902]
Mr. Woolas: The measures used to assess the performance of counter-narcotics activities of the UK Border Force are the targets set out each year in the Departmental Strategic Objective (DSO). These targets are for numbers of seizures and quantities of heroin and cocaine. The targets are set at a national level and no individual targets are set for specific sites.
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent estimate she has made of the amount of illicit drugs which entered into the UK through London airports in the latest period for which information is available. [232903]
Mr. Woolas: Information relating to the movement of illicit drugs at specific locations cannot be disclosed as this would provide information of value to those seeking to circumvent UK Border Force's controls, thereby prejudicing the prevention of crime.
Ecstasy
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether she plans to change the drug classification of ecstasy. [232133]
Mr. Alan Campbell: [ h olding answer 3 November 2008]: The Government has no plans to change the classification of ecstasy.
Employment Agencies
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which recruitment agencies (a) her Department and (b) its agencies have used in the last three years; and how much was paid to each of these recruitment agencies in each year. [230940]
Mr. Woolas: The decision to employ recruitment agencies to assist with filling a particular vacancy is made by individual business units, and all associated costs are met from devolved unit budgets. The information requested is therefore not held centrally and could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.
Entry Clearances
Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many people are on the waiting list for English language tests for visa applicants in South Africa; [223083]
(2) how many people are on the waiting list for English language tests for visa applicants in each (a) country and (b) British mission in the Asian subcontinent. [223084]
Mr. Woolas: I will write to my hon. Friend.
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of those applying for a marriage visa in the last 12 months were interviewed by an entry clearance officer; and if she will make a statement. [236470]
Mr. Woolas: This information cannot be retrieved centrally. It would be necessary to check the record of each individual application in order to ascertain whether it was necessary to interview the applicant. We could therefore only provide the information requested at disproportionate cost.
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many visas issued by posts in (a) India, (b) Pakistan, (c) Bangladesh, (d) South Africa, (e) Australia and (f) the USA have been revoked in each of the last five years. [236473]
Mr. Woolas: I will write to the hon. Member.
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people from (a) Russia, (b) China and (c) India applied for an entry visa in each year since 1997. [238150]
Mr. Woolas: Figures are available only for the last four financial years and are as follows:
| Nationality | Financial year | Total |
| Source: CRS unpublished data (should be treated as provisional) 19 November 2008. | ||
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many visas have been issued gratis in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) reason and (b) country of origin of applicant. [238271]
Mr. Woolas: The information requested has been placed in the House Library.
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the number of (a) short-term and (b) long-term visa applications that were wrongly approved in (i) 2007 and (ii) 1997. [239488]
Mr. Woolas: It has not proved possible to respond to my right hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation.
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how long it took on average to process a (a) short-term and (b) long-term visa application in the latest period for which figures are available. [239489]
Mr. Woolas: It has not proved possible to respond to my right hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation.
Entry Clearances: Biometrics
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department where fingerprints taken from people receiving biometric visas are stored. [226398]
Jacqui Smith: I will write to the hon. and learned Member.
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for how long biometric information collected from a recipient of a biometric visa may be retained, once the individual is no longer resident in the UK. [226400]
Jacqui Smith: I will write to the hon. Member.
Entry Clearances: Gurkhas
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consideration she has given to issuing visas gratis to Gurkha soldiers; and if she will make a statement. [238270]
Mr. Woolas: The UK Border Agency's visa operations are self funding and visa fees are set to recover the full costs of issuing visas with no additional cost to the taxpayer. Waiving the fee for visa applications from former Gurkhas would not be appropriate and would set an unhelpful precedent for other categories of visa applicants and also in-country applicants who might similarly seek to be exempted from application fees.
Entry Clearances: Overseas Students
Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many overseas students have been permitted, on graduation in the UK, to remain for a period of two years in each year of the shortage occupations list scheme’s existence. [227407]
Mr. Woolas: The following table details the number of applications approved for each year since the graduate schemes were introduced including data up to 30 September 2008.
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | |
| Note: Figures rounded to nearest five. | |||||
The criteria includes main applicants only and excludes dependants.
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.
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions a request to extend a student visa has been declined on the grounds of fail to pass examinations since 2001; and in how many of these cases the applicant subsequently passed the required examinations at re-sits. [236823]
Jacqui Smith: Applications for further leave to remain as a student, which are refused on the basis of the failure to pass examinations, are not recorded separately for management information purposes from records for applications that are refused for other reasons. The information requested could be obtained only by the detailed examination of individual case records which would be at disproportionate cost.
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department against what criteria satisfactory progress on student visas is judged. [236824]
Jacqui Smith: I will write to the hon. Member.
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to her statement of intent on students under the points-based system—Tier 4, what benchmarks she has set to assess progress made towards her objectives for the new student route for visa applications. [238191]
Jacqui Smith: I will write to the hon. Member.
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