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10 Feb 2009 : Column 1832W—continued
Members: Correspondence
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Northavon of 21 August 2008, on behalf of Mr. Paul Butler, transferred from the Ministry of Defence and acknowledged by her Department with reference M16298/8. [254294]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 4 February 2009]: The chief executive of the UK Border Agency wrote to the hon. Member on 6 February 2009.
Offenders: Deportation
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment she has made of procedures for the deportation of illegal immigrants who are convicted of a criminal offence. [253530]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 3 February 2009]: The chief executive of the UK Border Agency has regularly written to the Home Affairs Select Committee advising of progress that the Agency has made in deporting such individuals and improvements to the system. Copies of these letters are available in the Library of the House. According to provisional internal management information, which is subject to change, the UK Border Agency deported or removed over 5,000 foreign national prisoners in 2008 meaning that it has again exceeded its Government set target and deported or removed record numbers of foreign criminals.
Offenders: Foreigners
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign national prisoners have been given leave to remain in the UK in the last 12 months. [254025]
Mr. Woolas: The Home Secretary has made it clear that those foreign national prisoners who commit crimes within the United Kingdom and meet the relevant criteria will face deportation action. Where an individual who does not meet this criteria but has no lawful basis upon which to remain in the United Kingdom, the UK Border Agency will pursue removal action against them.
The chief executive of the UK Border Agency has regularly written to the Home Affairs Select Committee in order to provide them with all of the most robust and accurate information available on the deportation of foreign national prisoners. Copies of her letters are available in the Library of the House.
Passports
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many visits to each passport office members of the public made in each of the last 10 years. [253672]
Meg Hillier: The Identity and Passport Service does not hold data on the actual number of visits made by members of the public. However the total number of actual counter applications processed over a five year period, under the one week and same day service are in the following table.
| London | Liverpool | Peterborough | Newport | Glasgow | Belfast | Durham | Total | |
Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the answer to the right hon. Member for Horsham of 4 March 2008, Official Report, column 2479W, on the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre: Government Departments, what the purpose was of each of the conferences for her Department organised by R Glasgow and Associates Public Relations Ltd held in the QE2 Conference Centre. [252455]
Mr. Woolas: The information requested is as follows:
SCS Leadership Conference—October 2007
The conference focused on the quality of management and leadership within the Home Office and the steps to be taken to further improve performance.
SCS Leadership Conference—March 2008
The conference focused on the quality of management and leadership within the Home Office, the Department's strategy, progress being made on the Department's reform programme and preparations for the Capability Review.
Under the title ‘Diversity Reflects us all—Equality Protects us all’, the AGM
Presented the NETWORK Annual Report;
Presented awards for outstanding work within the NETWORK;
Announced results of the National Executive Committee Elections.
Sri Lanka
Mike Gapes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether her Department classifies Sri Lanka as a safe country. [254578]
Mr. Woolas: Sri Lanka is not one of the 24 countries currently designated under Section 94 (4) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 as a country from which asylum or human rights claims are to be certified as clearly unfounded unless the applicant is able to satisfy the Secretary of State that their asylum claim is not clearly unfounded.
Terrorism Act 2006: Prosecutions
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there have been for the offence of encouragement of terrorism contained in the Terrorism Act 2006; and how many in each case involved glorification of terrorism as defined in section 1(3) of that Act. [254861]
Mr. Coaker: The information requested is not currently held.
The Home Office, Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General's Office are currently working with the National Coordinator for Terrorist Investigations to improve the quality of data on arrests and convictions under terrorist legislation and other related legislation. As soon as this is complete a statistical bulletin to cover information on arrests and convictions will be published, but as yet we do not have a confirmed date.
The bulletin will say how many individuals have been charged and convicted for encouragement of terrorism; however it will not break it down any further.
UK Border Agency: Correspondence
Mr. Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how long on average it took the UK Border Agency to reply to letters from hon. Members in 2008. [249404]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 19 January 2009]: The Cabinet Office publish annually a report detailing departmental performance in handling Members’ correspondence. The report for 2008 will be published shortly and will be made available in the House Library.
Work Permits
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the answer of 8 January 2008, Official Report, columns 453-4W, on entry clearances: employment, how many work permit applications by non-EU workers were approved in each of the last three years for which figures are available, broken down by the 20 most frequent occupations. [253987]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 3 February 2009]: The table shows the number of work permit applications for non-EU workers approved in each of the last three years broken down by the 20 most frequent occupations.
Figures are rounded to nearest five.
Because of rounding, figures may not add up to totals shown.
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. The occupational categories used are not compatible with those in the Standard Occupational Classification.
The figures do not equate to the number of individual nationals who were granted permits because they include those applications approved to extend or amend an existing permit or where the individual has moved to another job with a different employer. Not all those who were granted a permit took up the job and some may have been refused entry clearance or further leave to remain.
| Number of individual approved work permit applications from 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2008 | ||||
| Top 20 occupations | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | Total |
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