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10 Feb 2009 : Column 1821W—continued

Waste Disposal

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the amount of trade waste collected by (a) local authorities and (b) private waste contractors under licence in each of the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [254989]

Jane Kennedy: No such estimate has been made by DEFRA.

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the average cost to local authorities in (a) rural and (b) urban areas of separating household and trade waste by weight in the last year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [255019]

Jane Kennedy: No such estimate has been made by DEFRA.

Waste Disposal: Climate Change

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he expects the waste provisions of the Climate Change Act 2008 to be implemented; and what assessment he has made of the financial and economic effects of those provisions on (a) households and (b) businesses. [254412]

Jane Kennedy: Powers in the Climate Change Act allow up to five local authorities in England to pilot household waste incentives schemes. No local authorities have so far expressed an interest in taking up these powers. The powers are of course voluntary and were introduced in response to requests from local government.

Waste Disposal: Fees and Charges

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with reference to the answer of 14 January 2008, Official Report, column
10 Feb 2009 : Column 1822W
870W, on waste disposal: domestic waste, whether a decision has been made on which body will evaluate pilot schemes for household waste incentive schemes. [252197]

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether an organisation has been appointed to carry out the evaluation of pilot schemes for charges for collection of household waste. [252713]

Jane Kennedy: No organisation has been appointed. I refer the hon. Members to the written statement I made on household waste incentives on 22 January 2009, Official Report, column 40WS.

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many fixed penalty notices for waste receptacle offences were issued in 2007-08; and how much was collected as a result. [252421]

Jane Kennedy: Figures for fixed penalty notices for waste receptacle offences issued in 2007-08 are not yet available.

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what records are required to be kept on the issue of fixed penalty notices to juveniles for waste receptacle offences. [252438]

Jane Kennedy: Figures collected from local authorities on fixed penalty notices (FPNs) issued for waste receptacle offences are not broken down by the age of the offender.

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what date his Department has set for local authorities to submit bids to pilot charges for the collection of household waste; and how many bids his Department has received. [252479]

Jane Kennedy: I refer the hon. Member to the written statement I made on household waste incentives, 22 January 2009, Official Report, column 40WS.

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will place in the Library a copy of the presentation on waste incentive pilot schemes given by Ms Sarah Fisher from his Department's waste strategy division to the Thames Valley Waste Forum on 4 April 2008. [252622]

Jane Kennedy: The presentation is available on the Thames Valley Waste Forum website.

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions he has had with local authorities on charges for the collection of household waste. [255782]

Jane Kennedy: No such discussions have taken place.


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Waste Disposal: Private Finance Initiative

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) how many local authorities have met the criteria for the Government’s private finance initiative programme to establish waste disposal projects; [254401]

(2) how much private finance initiative funding is available for energy from waste projects in England in (a) 2008-09 and (b) 2009-10. [254402]

Jane Kennedy: To date, £2.02 billion private finance initiative (PFI) credits have been committed to 33 local authority projects, all of which have met the required criteria.

There are an additional 11 projects in the application process, for which it is expected a further £1.18 billion PFI credits could be awarded.

The comprehensive spending review 2007 provided DEFRA with additional funding (totalling £2 billion) through PFI to provide further investment in waste infrastructure, of which £600 million is for 2008-09 and £700 million for the years 2009-10 and 2010-11.

Water Charges

Charlotte Atkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations he has received from churches on new charging systems for surface water drainage; and what his response to those representations has been. [255245]

Huw Irranca-Davies: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for South Ribble (Mr. Borrow) on 15 January 2009, Official Report, column 887W.

Home Department

Anti-terrorism Control Orders

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the seven individuals who have absconded from control orders have been arrested or otherwise located and returned to control. [255380]

Mr. Coaker: In relation to the locations and status of the seven individuals who have absconded from control orders, I would refer the hon. Member to written ministerial statements in relation to control orders published on 11 December 2006, 16 January 2007, 22 March 2007, 24 May 2007, 21 June 2007 (two statements), 17 September 2007 and 13 March 2008. These statements give as much information as we can provide about the individuals concerned given the national security sensitivities of these cases and the need to avoid publishing any information that could lead to the identification of an individual who is subject to an anonymity order.

Apprentices

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the answer of 11 June 2008, Official Report, column 332W, on apprentices, how many apprentices her Department employs. [251905]


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Mr. Woolas: The Home Office HQ, United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA), Identity and Passport Service (IPS), and the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) are participating in the Government Skills Apprenticeships Pathfinder Programme and data on the overall take up is collated centrally. There are currently 260 members of staff registered with an apprentice provider under this programme, and a further 76 applications are being processed.

Data about other staff taking apprenticeships outside of this programme are not collected centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Asylum

Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of applications for asylum in 2007-08 was made by people entering the UK from (a) another EU member state and (b) a country outside the EU. [254692]

Mr. Woolas: The requested information, which may not be available in all cases, could be obtained only at disproportionate cost by examination of individual case records.

Information on asylum is published annually and quarterly. Q4 2008 statistics will be available on 24 February 2009 from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate website at:

Asylum: Finance

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have qualified for an integration loan from the UK Border Agency under (a) refugee status and (b) humanitarian protection criteria in (i) 2007 and (ii) 2008. [254444]

Mr. Woolas: Between 11 June 2007 (when the integration loan scheme started) and the end of December 2008 a total of 1,137 loan applicants have been awarded a loan. 383 loans were awarded in 2007 and 754 in 2008.

The integration loan is available to those granted refugee status, humanitarian protection or those granted leave as a dependant of such individuals. Consideration of eligibility takes into account these factors and does not differentiate between whether an applicant has been granted refugee status or humanitarian protection. We therefore do not collect statistics on the immigration status of successful loan applicants.

Asylum: Homosexuality

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people who claimed to be gay or lesbian have been returned from the UK to (a) Iran, (b) Iraq, (c) Mauritania, (d) Nigeria, (e) Pakistan, (f) Saudi Arabia, (g) the United Arab Emirates, (h) Sudan and (i) Yemen since 1997. [255872]

Mr. Woolas: The information requested is not available and could be obtained only through the examination of individual cases files at disproportionate cost. Even then, this information may not be available in all cases.


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The Home Office publishes statistics on the number of persons removed, including voluntary departures, from the UK on a quarterly and annual basis. National Statistics on immigration and asylum are placed in the Library of the House and are available from the Home Office's Research, Development and Statistics website at:

Figures for the fourth quarter of 2008 will be published on 24 February 2009.

Borders: Personal Records

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in how many and what proportion of UK air passenger movements (a) other passenger information and (b) passenger name record data are gathered. [253335]

Mr. Woolas: Other Passenger Information (OPI) is known in the aviation industry as Passenger Name Record (PNR) data. Carriers will only be required to provide OPI to e-Borders to the extent that it is known to the carrier i.e. held within the reservation system. OPI is currently only collected on a limited number of routes.

It is UKBA policy not to provide details of the routes for security and commercial reasons.

Departmental Disciplinary Proceedings

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff in her Department were disciplined for (a) bullying and (b) harassment of colleagues in each of the last three years. [254085]

Mr. Woolas: This response covers staff within Home Office headquarters, the UK Border Agency, the Identity and Passport Service and the Criminal Records Bureau.

Information on the number of staff disciplined (including any dismissed) under the Department's Bullying, Harassment and Discrimination Policy during the last three financial years is shown in the following table:

Table 1: Staff disciplined or dismissed under Bullying, Harassment and Discrimination Policy

Staff disciplined (including any dismissed)

2005-06

17

2006-07

9

2007-08

19


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Information on the number of staff disciplined in each specific category is not held centrally and could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.

Departmental Ministerial Policy Advisers

Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what expert advisers have been commissioned by her Department and its agencies since 1997; on what topic each was commissioned; and whether the advisers so appointed made a declaration of political activity in each case. [246659]

Mr. Woolas: Comprehensive information on this is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.

Departmental Pensions

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps her Department is taking to advise staff of pension options available to them in relation to added years or additional voluntary contributions. [253271]

Mr. Woolas: Information on how to purchase added pension and additional voluntary contributions is provided to all members of staff on joining the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS). This is contained in the relevant scheme booklet sent to all those joining the Department.

This information is also made available to members of staff on the Cabinet Office website (a link to this is on the Home Office HR intranet site) and the annual benefit statements sent to all staff who are members of the PCSPS contain details on where to find further information for those interested in boosting their pension provision.

Departmental Recruitment

Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many new recruits her Department took on in (a) 2005-06, (b) 2006-07, (c) 2007-08 and (d) 2008-09, how many of these were taken on as (i) permanent, (ii) temporary and (iii) agency staff; and what estimate she has made of the equivalent figures for (A) 2009-10 and (B) 2010-11. [254464]

Mr. Woolas: The number of new recruits in Home Office HQ is in the following table:

Home office HQ—new recruits
Financial year
Appointment type 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11

Permanent recruits

491

618

216

255

Temporary recruits

235

172

142

287

Agency recruits

17

51

77

97

Total

743

841

435

639

Forecast permanent recruits

(1)

(1)

Forecast temporary recruits

(1)

(1)

Forecast agency recruits

(1)

(1)

(1 )2009-10 and 2010-11 forecasts figures are not available as business planning has not been finalised in detail.

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