House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 12 Jan 2009 (pt 0067)

12 Jan 2009 : Column 316W—continued

Theft: Motor Vehicles

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent steps the Government has taken to reduce levels of car thefts. [244560]

Mr. Alan Campbell: There has been a significant and sustained reduction in vehicle crime. Since 1997 all vehicle crime is down by 57 per cent. The police recorded a 5 per cent. decrease in the number of cars stolen between 2006-07 and 2007-08. This decrease is also reflected in the British Crime Survey for 2007-08 which shows a reduction of 11 per cent. for vehicle-related thefts compared with 2006-07.

Maintaining this reduction is important, but our strategy reflects the success to date and the maturity of practice in this area. The Crime Strategy outlines our approach that Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships, Community Safety Partnerships and other local partners should focus on the issues of greatest priority in each locality through local area agreements. As part of the local area agreement process 98 of the 150 local areas have chosen serious acquisitive crime, of which vehicle crime is an important component, as one of their key priorities for improvement. Central Government are also held to account through Public Service Agreement 23 which measures the progress in tackling serious acquisitive crime.

Theft: Retail Trade

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent steps the Government have taken to reduce levels of retail theft. [244562]

Mr. Alan Campbell: In 2007, the Home Office set up the National Retail Crime Steering Group, to provide a forum for retailers to raise issues of concern with Government and devise strategies for tackling retail
12 Jan 2009 : Column 317W
crime. Current issues the group is addressing include ensuring Penalty Notices for Disorder are issued appropriately and consistently, developing and disseminating good practice guidance for local retailers and crime reduction partnerships to work more effectively together, and designing a new Commercial Victimisation Survey. The introduction of neighbourhood policing teams will also ensure that retailers concerns are reflected in local policing priorities. This will be backed up by guidance from the National Police Improvement Agency, and the reforms set out in the Policing Green Paper ‘From the neighbourhood to the national: policing our communities together' to give local people, including businesses, a greater say in how their neighbourhoods are policed.

UK Border Agency: Olympic Games 2012

Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost implications for the UK Border Agency are of the London Olympics in 2012. [241607]

Jacqui Smith: Work is continuing to finalise the strategy and plans for the security of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Any decisions will need to take account of operational needs, affordability within the total funding envelope and the need to secure value for money.

UK Border Agency: Prisoners

Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners in England and Wales were released into the custody of the UK
12 Jan 2009 : Column 318W
Border Agency and its predecessors in each of the last 12 months. [244481]

Mr. Woolas [holding answer 16 December 2008]: The Chief Executive of the UK Border Agency has regularly written to the Home Affairs Select Committee with all of the most robust and accurate information on the deportation of foreign criminals, including updates on the numbers of such individuals who are subject to deportation action and are detained following completion of their custodial sentence in order to facilitate their eventual deportation. In her letter of 23 July she advised the Committee that there were around 1,650 such individuals who were detained beyond their sentence under immigration powers. Copies of all of these letters are available in the Library of the House.

UK Border Agency: Working Hours

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many UK Border Agency (UKBA) enforcement operations have taken place on Saturdays or Sundays in each month of 2008, broken down by each UKBA region. [243117]

Mr. Woolas: The UK Border Agency adopts an intelligence-led approach to operations. The number of UK Border Agency enforcement operations that have taken place on Saturdays or Sundays in each month to end September 2008, broken down by each region of the UK Border Agency is detailed in the following table.

The data provided are management information. They may be subject to change and do not represent published national statistics.

	Saturday/Sunday operations by month, 2008
Command	January	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	Total
London and South East (L and SE)	193	161	212	28	34	56	76	45	26	831
Midlands and Eastern (M and E)	40	33	39	7	8	14	10	15	9	175
North East (NE)	33	23	22	7	16	22	8	13	5	149
North West (NW)	32	14	24	8	11	12	6	10	8	125
Scotland and Northern Ireland (S and NI)	10	11	14	12	11	11	8	14	5	96
South West and Wales (SW and W)	0	2	2	5	4	0	6	0	0	19
Total	308	244	313	67	84	115	114	97	53	1,395
Note: All data are sourced from the National Operations Database (NOD) or Crime Management Information (CMI) system. The NOD/CMI is a management information tool and data from it are not quality assured under National Statistics protocols. Figures provided from the NOD/CMI do not constitute part of National Statistics and should be treated as provisional.

Vetting

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average waiting time to process Criminal Records Bureau checks in each police force area was in the latest period for which information is available. [246843]

Meg Hillier: Data concerning the average time taken to complete a disclosure by police force area are not a performance target and are not collated by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB).

The CRB operates to a set of published service standards (PSS) which include to issue 90 per cent. of Standard Disclosures within 10 days and 90 per cent. of enhanced disclosures within 28-days.

Average figures do not give an accurate indication of performance, since any forces' performance can be affected by a number of factors; the volume of cases sent to a force to process in any given month, the number of staff available to process the checks and the IT resources on hand to forces. With these variables, performance can fluctuate within individual forces from one month to the next.

However, you may be interested to note that comparative police force performance data can be found on the CRB website at:

www.crb.gov.uk.

12 Jan 2009 : Column 319W

Work Permits: Foreign Workers

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been granted work permits in the last 12 months, broken
12 Jan 2009 : Column 320W
down by (a) country of origin and (b) duration of work permit. [244722]

Mr. Woolas: The following table shows the number of work permits granted broken down by the country of origin and the duration of the work permit:

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12 Jan 2009 : Column 322W

12 Jan 2009 : Column 323W

12 Jan 2009 : Column 324W

Applications granted for period 1 December 2007 to 30 November 2008, broken down by nationality and duration of work permit
	Months
Nationality	0-12	12-24	24-36	36-48	48-60	Over 60	Total
Afghanistan	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	15	0	35
Albania	25	5	5	5	30	0	70
Algeria	40	25	15	5	40	0	120
Angola	30	10	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	0	45
Antigua and Barbuda	⁽¹⁾—	0	0	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	5
Argentina	1,355	115	30	10	90	0	1,600
Armenia	15	5	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	5	0	25
Australia	2,040	1,040	620	345	2,190	5	6,245
Azerbaijan	25	10	5	5	30	0	70
Bahamas, The	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	0	0	5	0	5
Bahrain	10	⁽¹⁾—	0	⁽¹⁾—	10	0	20
Bangladesh	175	110	65	45	330	⁽¹⁾—	725
Barbados	45	5	⁽¹⁾—	5	15	⁽¹⁾—	70
Belarus	65	30	5	5	80	⁽¹⁾—	185
Belize	⁽¹⁾—	0	0	0	5	0	5
Benin	⁽¹⁾—	0	0	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	5
Bolivia	20	5	⁽¹⁾—	0	10	0	35
Bosnia - Herzegovina	15	15	5	0	10	0	45
Botswana	20	10	5	10	45	0	90
Brazil	745	185	105	30	260	⁽¹⁾—	1,320
British National Overseas	35	55	30	10	155	⁽¹⁾—	285
British Overseas Citz.	⁽¹⁾—	0	0	⁽¹⁾—	5	0	5
Brunei	5	⁽¹⁾—	0	5	⁽¹⁾—	0	10
Bulgaria	1,510	45	20	5	165	5	1,750
Burkina	5	⁽¹⁾—	0	0	0	0	5
Burundi	5	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	5
Cambodia	5	0	0	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	5
Cameroon	40	20	10	15	70	0	160
Canada	2,560	460	275	130	880	5	4,310
Cape Verde	5	0	0	0	0	0	5
Chad	0	0	0	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	⁽¹⁾—
Chile	90	25	10	5	20	0	150
China	1,655	1,260	525	355	3,750	5	8,090
Colombia	205	55	20	10	135	⁽¹⁾—	430
Comoros	0	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	0	0	⁽¹⁾—
Congo	25	10	⁽¹⁾—	0	5	0	45
Costa Rica	5	5	⁽¹⁾—	0	10	0	20
Croatia	85	20	15	5	90	⁽¹⁾—	210
Cuba	245	5	⁽¹⁾—	5	5	0	260
Czech Republic	0	0	0	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	⁽¹⁾—
Djibouti	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	0	0	0	0	⁽¹⁾—
Dominica	15	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	5	0	25
Dominican Republic	5	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	5	0	15
Ecuador	15	5	0	⁽¹⁾—	15	0	35
Egypt	300	80	40	20	155	⁽¹⁾—	595
El Salvador	5	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	0	5	0	10
Eritrea	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	0	0	0	⁽¹⁾—
Estonia	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	0	0	0	0	⁽¹⁾—
Ethiopia	35	5	5	⁽¹⁾—	10	0	55
Fiji	10	5	5	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	20
Gabon	15	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	0	0	0	15
Gambia, The	10	5	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	15	0	40
Georgia	25	10	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	15	0	50
Ghana	210	105	40	70	525	⁽¹⁾—	955
Grenada	15	0	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	5	0	20
Guatemala	5	5	⁽¹⁾—	0	5	0	10
Guinea	50	0	0	0	5	0	55
Guinea-Bissau	⁽¹⁾—	0	0	0	0	0	⁽¹⁾—
Guyana	15	5	5	15	65	⁽¹⁾—	105
Haiti	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	0	0	0	0	5
Honduras	5	0	5	5	⁽¹⁾—	0	15
Hungary	0	0	0	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	⁽¹⁾—
India	16,285	19,250	2,600	930	10,875	10	49,950
Indonesia	80	30	15	5	70	⁽¹⁾—	200
Iran	155	75	35	15	250	0	530
Iraq	35	25	5	⁽¹⁾—	35	0	100
Israel	320	80	45	25	140	0	610
Ivory Coast	35	0	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	10	0	50
Jamaica	745	90	45	95	195	⁽¹⁾—	1,170
Japan	1,065	555	430	215	1,365	5	3,640
Jordan	35	25	10	5	65	0	135
Kazakhstan	60	45	20	5	50	0	180
Kenya	145	85	55	35	350	⁽¹⁾—	665
Kosovo	5	5	0	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	5
Kuwait	25	5	5	0	5	0	40
Kyrgyzstan	⁽¹⁾—	5	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	15	0	20
Latvia	5	0	0	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	5
Lebanon	90	60	20	20	140	0	330
Lesotho	5	⁽¹⁾—	5	5	25	0	45
Liberia	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	0	5
Libya	30	5	⁽¹⁾—	5	20	0	65
Lithuania	⁽¹⁾—	0	0	0	0	0	⁽¹⁾—
Macedonia	10	10	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	15	0	40
Madagascar	⁽¹⁾—	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	5
Malawi	35	5	5	10	65	0	120
Malaysia	415	315	160	80	1,135	⁽¹⁾—	2,110
Maldives	5	⁽¹⁾—	0	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	5
Mali	70	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	75
Mauritania	5	0	0	⁽¹⁾—	5	0	10
Mauritius	50	45	40	60	355	⁽¹⁾—	555
Mexico	260	60	45	20	160	0	545
Moldova	340	10	5	⁽¹⁾—	10	0	370
Monaco	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	0	0	0	⁽¹⁾—
Mongolia	20	25	⁽¹⁾—	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	50
Montenegro	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	0	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	35
Morocco	155	25	15	5	65	0	265
Mozambique	15	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	20
Burma	45	25	10	5	75	0	160
Namibia	10	5	⁽¹⁾—	5	25	0	40
Nepal	50	170	95	40	520	⁽¹⁾—	885
New Zealand	605	230	175	130	670	5	1,810
Nicaragua	5	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	10
Niger	5	0	0	0	0	0	5
Nigeria	355	160	110	90	1,150	⁽¹⁾—	1,870
Korea (North)	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	0	0	0	0	⁽¹⁾—
Oman	15	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	5	⁽¹⁾—	0	20
Pakistan	565	560	285	215	1,645	⁽¹⁾—	3,270
Occupied Palestinian Territories	10	10	5	0	20	0	45
Panama	5	0	0	⁽¹⁾—	5	0	10
Papua New Guinea	5	⁽¹⁾—	0	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	5
Paraguay	5	0	0	0	5	0	10
Peru	25	10	5	⁽¹⁾—	20	0	60
Philippines	735	685	430	335	3,615	⁽¹⁾—	5,810
Qatar	5	⁽¹⁾—	5	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	10
Romania	440	75	60	20	315	5	910
Russia	1,545	310	110	50	505	5	2,525
Rwanda	15	⁽¹⁾—	0	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	20
Samoa	5	5	10	5	0	0	20
Sao Tome and Principe	⁽¹⁾—	0	0	0	0	0	⁽¹⁾—
Saudi Arabia	55	20	5	⁽¹⁾—	20	0	100
Senegal	175	5	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	10	0	195
Serbia	65	30	5	10	60	0	195
Seychelles	0	0	⁽¹⁾—	5	5	0	10
Sierra Leone	5	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	5	20	0	35
Singapore	160	90	55	30	265	0	600
Slovakia	⁽¹⁾—	0	0	0	0	0	⁽¹⁾—
Somalia	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	0	0	0	0	⁽¹⁾—
South Africa	1,375	645	320	310	2,220	5	4,870
Korea (South)	245	180	70	60	390	⁽¹⁾—	950
Sri Lanka	330	145	65	40	605	⁽¹⁾—	1,185
St. Kitts and Nevis	10	0	0	0	5	0	15
St. Lucia	20	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	20	0	45
St. Vincent	5	5	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	10	0	25
Sudan	40	25	5	5	25	0	100
Surinam	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	0	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	5
Swaziland	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	5	⁽¹⁾—	20	0	30
Switzerland	5	0	0	0	0	0	5
Syria	30	15	15	5	50	0	115
Tajikistan	5	0	0	⁽¹⁾—	5	0	10
Tanzania	50	15	10	5	40	0	125
Thailand	170	210	45	25	650	0	1,100
Togo	5	5	0	⁽¹⁾—	5	0	15
Tonga	5	⁽¹⁾—	5	⁽¹⁾—	0	0	10
Trinidad and Tobago	95	50	15	25	145	0	325
Tunisia	30	20	5	⁽¹⁾—	40	0	95
Turkey	315	145	75	30	325	0	895
Turkmenistan	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	0	5	0	5
Uganda	100	25	10	15	80	0	230
Ukraine	315	180	45	25	220	0	780
United Arab Emirates	10	⁽¹⁾—	⁽¹⁾—	0	5	⁽¹⁾—	15
United States	20,985	2,610	1,135	465	3,635	10	28,835
Uruguay	20	10	5	0	5	0	40
Uzbekistan	15	5	5	⁽¹⁾—	30	0	55
Vanuatu	0	0	0	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	⁽¹⁾—
Venezuela	75	20	10	10	85	0	205
Vietnam	65	30	20	5	90	⁽¹⁾—	210
Yemen	5	⁽¹⁾—	0	0	⁽¹⁾—	0	10
Zambia	25	10	15	15	190	0	255
Zimbabwe	250	105	90	235	1,300	0	1,970
Total	61,870	31,475	8,815	4,900	43,880	85	151,635
⁽¹⁾ Indicates figure of one or two. Notes: 1. Totals may not add up due to rounding. 2. Figures are rounded to nearest 5.

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