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Migration Impacts Forum

Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which organisations have provided evidence to the Migration Impacts Forum. [233260]

Jacqui Smith [holding answer 4 November 2008]: Members of the Migration Impacts Forum are selected on a sectoral basis. Each meeting has a theme and is led by a representative of the sector to which that theme applies. Recent themes have included employment (led by the CBI and TUC), crime and policing (led by ACPO) and housing (led by housing sector representative from Sheffield city council). The organisations consulted by sector leads in preparing their presentations will be dependant upon how the lead chooses to conduct their research. The minutes of and papers for all MIF meetings are available on the website of the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Ministerial Duties

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which Ministerial taskforces and action groups she is a member of. [194334]

Mr. Woolas: I will write to the hon. Member.

Mosques

Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many mosques she has visited since her appointment. [183780]

Mr. Alan Campbell [holding answer 1 February 2008]: My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary visited Leicester Central Mosque on the 21 February 2008 and Luton Central Mosque on the 17 November 2008.

National Identity Register

Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of (a) the proportion of addresses held on the National Identity Register which will require amendment in each year and (b) proportion of card holders likely to fail to
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notify a change of address in one year is; what proportion of addresses held on the National Identity Register are estimated to be inaccurate at any one time; what the average annual cost of maintaining the address element of the register is; and if she will make a statement. [230974]

Meg Hillier: It is estimated that 14.3 per cent. of the addresses on the National Identity Register will require amendment each year.

Estimates of the number of card holders who are likely to fail to update a change of address and proportion of accurate address details on the National Identity Register have not yet been finalised.

It is not possible to separate the costs specific to the maintenance of the address field on the National Identity Register.

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether information held on the National Identity Register will be accessible by local authorities. [236582]

Meg Hillier: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 25 March 2008, Official Report, column 73W.

National Security: Data Protection

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will (a) publish and (b) place in the Library a copy of all certificates signed under section 28 of the Data Protection Act 1998 that are still valid. [228506]

Mr. Coaker: I will write to my hon. Friend.

Oakington Immigration Centre

Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the Answer of 27th October 2008, Official Report, columns 679-80W, how many of the detainees who escaped from Oakington Immigration Centre were illegal immigrants. [234756]

Mr. Woolas: I will write to the right hon.Member.

Offenders: Deportation

Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what mechanisms are in place to prevent foreign nationals convicted of offences relating to human trafficking from re-entering the UK following deportation on the completion of their sentence. [236517]

Jacqui Smith: Any person with a deportation order against them may not re-enter the country. If such a person seeks entry at a United Kingdom port, they will be refused entry.

The United Kingdom holds a ‘watchlist’ of adverse information, which includes those people subject to deportation orders. It also includes intelligence drawn from a variety of sources, including the police, on individuals who should be refused entry to the country. Border Force officers operating at the border check both EEA and non EEA nationals against this database for the purposes of national security and the detection and prevention of crime and immigration offending.


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Offensive Weapons

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the proportion of victims of knife crime who were carrying a knife at the time at which they were attacked in the latest period for which figures are available. [219402]

Mr. Alan Campbell: I will write to the hon. Member.

Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the proportion of knives used in crimes for which charges were brought in 2007-08 which were domestic or kitchen knives. [227931]

Mr. Alan Campbell: I will write to the right hon. and learned Member.

Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were (a) prosecuted, (b) convicted of knife possession and (c) sentenced to prison for knife possession between (i) June and October 2008 and (ii) June and October 2007. [232340]

Jacqui Smith [holding answer 3 November 2008]: I will write to the hon. and learned Member.

Offensive Weapons: Coventry

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent steps the Government have taken to reduce levels of knife crime in Coventry. [220626]

Mr. Alan Campbell: I will write to my hon. Friend.

Office of Surveillance Commissioners

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will designate the Office of the Surveillance Commissioner a public authority for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. [239174]

Mr. Coaker: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Official Cars

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost of provision of Government cars to special advisers in her Department has been in the last 12 months. [233521]

Mr. Woolas: The information is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Official Residences

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 17 March 2008, Official Report, column 807W, on official residences, if she will place in the Library a copy of the (a) leasehold and (b) freehold documents relating to the Government House in Pimlico. [204864]


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Mr. Woolas: A copy of the Departments' under-leases of 22 December 1987, 13 October 1992, 15 October 1998 and Deed of Variation of 15 October 1998 are being placed in the Library.

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) pursuant to the answer of 20 May 2008, Official Report, column 232W, on official residences, when her Department expects to receive the report from Savills; [218275]

(2) pursuant to the answer of 19 May 2008, Official Report, column 104W, on Government House, if she will place in the Library a copy of the disposal report, redacting any commercially sensitive elements. [218284]

Mr. Woolas: A redacted version of the report is being placed in the House Library.

Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the home information pack for the sale of the Government property at South Eaton Place was produced; and if she will place a copy in the Library. [222924]

Mr. Woolas: The home information pack will be completed shortly and a copy will be placed in the Library.

Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar of 20 June 2008, Official Report, column 232W, on official residences, whether the report has been received and considered by her officials. [223009]

Mr. Woolas: A redacted version of the report is being placed in the House Library.

Organised Crime

Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much her Department plans to spend on the Tackling Gangs Action Programme in (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10 and (c) 2010-11. [234745]

Jacqui Smith [holding answer 10 November 2008]: The Tackling Gangs Action Programme completed in March 2008 and saw a 51 per cent. drop in firearms-related injuries across the target areas. However, Government work to tackle youth violence continues. For example, a further £1.8 million has been committed for 2008-09 to tackle gangs; £5 million has been allocated to the Tackling Knives Action Programme which is delivering focused action to crack down on knife crime in 10 police force areas; and the Youth Crime Action Programme is spending up to £100 million over the next three years to support vulnerable teenagers at risk.

Overseas Visitors: Madagascar

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Madagascan citizens visited the UK in each of the last five years. [233967]

Mr. Woolas: The number of Madagascan nationals given leave to enter the United Kingdom, by the purpose of their journey, for 2004 to 2007 is shown in the tables
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placed in the House Library. Data for earlier years are unavailable. The information shown is based on landing card information and may include the same individuals more than once if they visited the United Kingdom on multiple occasions in the period.

Passports

Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what the annual resource costs of providing passports to British citizens were in each of the last five years; [226405]

(2) when she plans to reply to Question 226405, tabled on 8 October 2008, on passports. [238622]

Jacqui Smith: I will write to the hon. and learned Member.

Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the timetable is for a passport to become a designated document under section 4 of the Identity Cards Act 2006. [233403]

Meg Hillier: It is not intended that passports should be designated under section 4 of the Identity Cards Act before 2012. Further primary legislation will then also be required in order to offer people the choice of being issued with a passport or an identity card or both.

Passports: Biometrics

Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the cost of installing biometric passport readers at each of the main airports and ports in the UK; and if she will make a statement. [237608]

Jacqui Smith [holding answer 20 November 2008]: Biometric passport readers were installed at UK ports of entry between January and March 2007 as part of a wider technical programme. The element attributable to the processing of ePassports was budgeted at £1.4 million.

This information was previously published in the National Audit's Office Report - Identity and Passport Service: Introduction of e-Passports.

Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the unit cost of a (a) biometric passport reader and (b) identity card reader is expected to be. [237609]

Jacqui Smith [holding answer 20 November 2008]: I will write to the hon. Member.

Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will estimate the effect on expenditure as classified in the (a) common passport and identity card and (b) passport specific section of the most recent Identity Cards Scheme cost report in each year between 2008-09 and 2017-18 if biometric passports contained just a facial scan. [237610]

Jacqui Smith [holding answer 20 November 2008]: It is intended that passports incorporating fingerprints will be introduced from 2012 onwards and applicants for such passports will be enrolled on the National
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Identity Register. From that point, common business processes and technology infrastructure will be used to register applicants on the National Identity Register and issue them with an identity card and/or a passport. It is not expected that the inclusion of just a facial image on a biometric passport would have any significant impact on the costs outlined in the November 2008 cost report.

Passports: Costs

Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost of (a) issuing and (b) producing passports in each of the last eight years has been; and what estimate has been made of the cost of (i) issuing and (ii) producing passports for each of the next eight years. [235511]

Jacqui Smith [holding answer 13 November 2008]: will write to the hon. and learned Member.

Passports: Fees and Charges

Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the costs are expected to be for adults applying for a passport for the first time to provide the necessary biometric information in each year between 2008-09 and 2017-18. [238193]

Jacqui Smith [holding answer 24 November 2008]: In the future, it is proposed that the cost of biometric recording will be set by an open market where multiple providers compete against each other to deliver biometric recording services in line with standards established by the Identity and Passport Service (IPS). IPS is currently engaging with private and wider public sector organisations on how they might be able to help to record digital photographs, together with fingerprint data for passport and identity card applications as well as providing directly related services such as document collection. As such, exact costs for biometric enrolment are not yet known.


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