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13 Jan 2009 : Column 721W—continued
Prostitution
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether she intends to make changes to the legal status of brothels. [244764]
Mr. Alan Campbell: We do not intend to make changes to the legal status of brothels.
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consideration her Department has given to research on the likely effects of criminalising prostitution in preparing the Crime and Policing Bill. [244771]
Mr. Alan Campbell: We do not intend to criminalise prostitution and have not considered the likely effects of doing so. The Government's ‘Tackling the Demand for Prostitution: A Review’ considered the most effective way of reducing the demand for prostitution and as a result of its findings we intend to include the offence of paying for sexual services of a prostitute controlled for gain in the forthcoming Policing and Crime Bill.
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the average age of those first entering into prostitution. [244931]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The Government’s consultation paper on prostitution, Paying the Price, provides a summary of research on the age of first involvement in prostitution. This paper is available at:
Refugee Integration and Employment Service
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much she expects the Refugee Integration and Employment Service will cost to run in 2008-09 and in each of the following two years; how many staff are engaged in running the service; how many will be so engaged in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11; and if she will make a statement. [245684]
Mr. Woolas: The cost of the Refugee Integration and Employment Service (RIES) is volume-driven and take-up is voluntary therefore we are unable to provide an exact indication of what it may cost in this and subsequent financial years. However, we do not believe that the cost will exceed £10 million per annum. As of the end of November 2008 approximately £300,000 had been paid to providers by UKBA during 2008-09.
RIES is delivered through regional contracts by external organisations who are paid on a price per head basis to deliver the service therefore we do not have records of the number of staff providing the service. This is a matter for the service providers themselves.
Repatriation
Damian Green:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the answer of 18 November 2008, Official Report, columns 318-19W, on deportation, how her Department establishes that a
person has left the UK without informing the immigration authorities; and how many people so recorded subsequently have been found to have been in the United Kingdom illegally in each of the last five years. [243491]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 16 December 2008]: The Department establishes that a person has left the UK without informing the immigration authorities via:
Manual embarkation operations at UK ports
Data matching visa applications made at British Missions overseas
Data matching incoming/departing passenger and flight data recorded under the e-Borders programme (Semaphore)
The information requested on how many people have subsequently been found to have been in the UK illegally in each of the last five years could only be obtained by the detailed examination of individual records at disproportionate cost.
Risk Analysis UK
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what use her Department has made of (a) private investigators and (b) Risk Analysis UK Ltd since May 2005. [244795]
Mr. Woolas: From best available records the Home Department inclusive of its Agencies has had no contracts with private investigators or with Risk Analysis UK Ltd since May 2005.
Security Guards: Licensing
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Security Investment Authority will conduct its cost-benefit assessment on the potential requirement for licence holders to provide evidence that they have kept their competency up-to-date when applying for a renewal of their licence. [245944]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The Security Industry Authority (SIA) is working on an assessment of the costs and benefits of the introduction of a requirement for licence holders, including door supervisors, to provide evidence that they have kept their competency up to date, when applying for licence renewal. If it is decided that this proposal merits further development, a public consultation would be undertaken before any amendments are made to the SIA's competency framework for the issue of licences.
Serious and Organised Crime Agency: Standards
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what performance targets have been set by the Serious and Organised Crime Agency in respect of its asset recovery function following recommendation (b) of the National Audit Office report on the Assets Recovery Agency. [245950]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The performance targets set for 2008-09 in relation to asset recovery functions transferred from the Assets Recovery Agency to the Serious Organised Crime Agency are to recover £16 million of assets in civil recovery cases and enforce £4 million of confiscation orders from ARA legacy criminal cases.
Serious Organised Crime Agency
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases the Serious and Organised Crime Agency agreed to adopt from other law enforcement agencies for investigation in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) the UK in the first six months of this financial year. [243620]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The majority of the Serious Organised Crime Agency’s operational activity falls within the scope of the United Kingdom Serious Organised Crime Control Strategy, and is planned and executed in collaboration with one or more partner agency, including other law enforcement agencies from the UK and overseas. In addition to this work within the Control Strategy, SOCA provides a range of support activities for partners, principally UK law enforcement agencies, some routinely and others on request. While all of SOCA’s operational work is centrally tasked, there is no single referral and adoption system.
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases the Serious and Organised Crime Agency completed in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) the UK in the first six months of 2008-09; what the value of the assets recovered in those cases was; how many of those cases related to work inherited from the Assets Recovery Agency; and what the value of assets recovered in such inherited cases was. [243623]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The Serious Organised Crime Agency closed 75 operations and projects in the first six months of this financial year. SOCA operational activity is often multi-faceted with concurrent activity across the UK and internationally, these figures are therefore not available on a regional basis.
Data relating to cases transferred from the Assets Recovery Agency to SOCA are not collated in the form requested.
Figures relating to SOCA's UK-wide performance for the financial year 2008-09, including performance on asset recovery, will be included in SOCA's Annual Report for 2008-09, when published.
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how long on average it took for the Serious and Organised Crime Agency to decide whether to adopt cases referred to it in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) nationwide in the first six months of 2008-09; [243624]
(2) what estimate she has made of the value of assets in those cases which the Serious and Organised Crime Agency has declined to adopt in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) the UK in the first six months of 2008-09; [243625]
(3) how many of the cases referred to the Serious and Organised Crime Agency the agency declined to adopt in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) nationwide in the first six months of this financial year; and what the reasons were for declining in each case. [243626]
Mr. Alan Campbell:
While the Serious Organised Crime Agency does not operate a formal referral and adoption system with all its law enforcement counterparts
SOCA will normally make decisions on initiating new activity within two weeks of a proposal. There are other arrangements in place where time critical decisions are required. To make any comment on the reasons for not progressing proposals may prejudice the outcome of any subsequent investigation. SOCA does not collate information on estimated values of assets in declined cases.
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many criminal investigations the Serious and Organised Crime Agency inherited from its predecessor organisations; [243792]
(2) in how many of the cases inherited by the Serious and Organised Crime Agency upon its establishment prosecutions had already been initiated; [243793]
(3) in how many cases inherited by the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) in which prosecutions had been initiated before SOCA adopted the case those prosecutions proceedings have now been completed. [243796]
Mr. Alan Campbell: Under the Transfer Scheme, SOCA inherited 162 ongoing operations and projects from its predecessor agencies on 1 April 2006 encompassing a range of UK and international civil and criminal investigative responses. An additional 74 operations involving criminal prosecutions were already at court on 1 April 2006 and at least 65 of these have now been completed.
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many of the cases which the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) inherited from other law enforcement agencies in which prosecution proceedings had been initiated prior to SOCA's adoption of the case relate to investigations for the purpose of criminal confiscation; [243794]
(2) what estimate she has made of the value of assets restrained in those cases which the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) inherited from other law enforcement agencies and in which prosecutions proceedings had been initiated before SOCA adopted the case; [243795]
(3) in how many cases inherited from other law enforcement agencies by the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) in which prosecution proceedings had been initiated before SOCA adopted the case criminal confiscation orders have been granted; [243797]
(4) how much money has been recovered to date by the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) from cases it inherited from other law enforcement agencies in which prosecutions had been initiated before SOCA adopted the case; and what the value of criminal confiscation orders issued in relation to such cases is; [243798]
(5) in how many of the cases inherited by the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) in which prosecutions had been initiated previously assets had been restrained before adoption by SOCA. [244006]
Mr. Alan Campbell:
The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) does not collate this level of detail regarding cases or operations inherited from precursor agencies, as there would be no operational value and
some cost in doing so. This information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost (through manual collation from case files).
Details relating to SOCA performance in the first two years of its operation, including results contributing to asset recovery targets, are reported on in the SOCA annual reports for 2006-07 and 2007-08. Figures relating to SOCA's performance for the financial year 2008-09 are subject to internal validation and will be included in SOCA's annual report for 2008-09, when published.
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) financial investigators and (b) lawyers were employed by the Serious and Organised Crime Agency solely on assets recovery work in (i) the UK and (ii) Northern Ireland on 30 September 2008. [243922]
Mr. Alan Campbell: On 30 September, 2008, the Serious Organised Crime Agency employed 230 financial investigators working in the UK on tackling criminal finances and profits, including through asset recovery, and 22 lawyers in the UK who were dedicated to civil asset recovery work. SOCA is a UK-wide agency and as such staff from across the organisation work on particular pieces of activity.
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) financial investigators and (b) lawyers devoted to criminal confiscation work were employed in the Serious and Organised Crime Agency on 31 March 2008. [243923]
Mr. Alan Campbell: On 31 March 2008, the Serious Organised Crime Agency employed 181 financial investigators on tackling criminal finances and profits, including through asset recovery. Their work covered both criminal confiscation work and money-laundering investigations.
On 31 March 2008, seven SOCA lawyers were involved in criminal investigations, although none was dedicated to this. SOCA lawyers were not involved in criminal confiscation work at this time.
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what targets relating to (a) the UK and (b) Northern Ireland have been set for the Serious and Organised Crime Agency in 2008-09 in terms of (i) the number of criminal confiscation cases initiated, (ii) the number of those cases in which criminal assets will be restrained, (iii) the projected value of those assets, (iv) the number of cases in which action to recover assets by civil recovery or taxation is planned to be initiated and (v) the projected value of assets to be restrained through such actions; and what progress has been made against those targets to date. [243932]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The Home Office has set the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) targets for 2008-09 of:
£6 million cash forfeited;
£46 million confiscation, including £4 million of orders enforced from criminal casework inherited from ARA;
£16 million civil recovery.
SOCA is a UK-wide agency and no Northern Ireland-specific targets have been set for SOCA by the Home Office.
The Organised Crime Task Force has set a Northern Ireland target for 2008-09 of total criminal assets recovered (net of costs) in the range of £6.2 million to £10.0 million. SOCA will contribute to the achievement of this target through its work in the region.
Figures for SOCA's UK-wide performance on asset recovery for the financial year 2008-09 are still subject to internal validation and will be included in its annual report for 2008-09, when published.
Serious Organised Crime Agency: Assets Recovery Agency
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases were transferred by the Assets Recovery Agency to the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) on 31 March 2008 in which proceedings for civil recovery or taxation had been initiated in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) the UK; what the estimated value of the assets restrained in those cases was; how many of those cases related to (i) oils and (ii) tobacco fraud; and what the value of assets was in (A) oil and (B) tobacco fraud cases so transferred. [243841]
Mr. Alan Campbell: Data relating to the transfer of cases over from the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) to the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) were not collated to this level of detail, as there would be no operational value and some cost in doing so. 147 civil recovery operations and 38 tax operations were opened as a result of the transfer of cases from ARA to SOCA. Further relevant information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost (through manual collation from case files).
Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases were transferred by the Assets Recovery Agency to the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) on 31 March 2008 in which an action or investigation for criminal confiscation of assets had been initiated (a) in Northern Ireland and (b) in the UK; what the estimated value of the assets restrained in those cases was; in how many such investigations SOCA has obtained a confiscation order; and what the value of assets affected by such order is. [243843]
Mr. Alan Campbell: Data relating to the transfer of cases from the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) to SOCA were not collated to this level of detail, as there would be no operational value and some cost in doing so. 29 criminal confiscation operations were opened as a result of the transfer of cases from ARA. Some operations may include multiple ARA cases relating to the same subject. Further relevant information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost (through manual collation from case files).
Figures for SOCA's UK-wide performance on asset recovery for the financial year 2008-09 are subject to internal validation and will be included in its annual report for 2008-09, when published.
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