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23 Feb 2009 : Column 135W—continued
Assaults on Police: Young People
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many assaults on police officers by people under the age of 16 have been recorded in each police force area in each of the last 10 years. [254595]
Jacqui Smith: The information requested is not collected centrally. Offences of assault without injury on a constable are available in the police recorded crime statistics collected by the Home Office. However, no data are available on the alleged offender and we are not, therefore, able to provide any age breakdowns.
Asylum: Democratic Republic of Congo
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) nationals have been forcibly removed from the UK to the DRC in each of the last 12 months; and if she will make a statement. [257244]
Mr. Woolas: The requested information is not available; however the following table shows the number of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) nationals who were removed or departed voluntarily from the United Kingdom to the DRC in each of the last 12 months for which published information is available (October 2007-September 2008).
Figures for the fourth quarter of 2008 will be published on 24 February 2009.
Published statistics on immigration and asylum are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate website at:
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Democratic Republic of Congo nationals have been refused asylum but have not left the UK whilst exercising a right of appeal to remain. [257245]
Mr. Woolas: Information on how many Democratic Republic of Congo nationals have been refused asylum is published annually and quarterly. Annual figures are available in Table 3.3 of Asylum Statistics United Kingdom.
Information on how many people have not left the UK while exercising a right of appeal is not available. This is due to the fact that an appellant may leave the UK voluntarily without informing the UK Border Agency. While an appellant is exercising their right of appeal they are not a failed asylum seeker and therefore are not removable until their appeal rights are exhausted.
Information on persons who it has been established left the UK without informing the immigration authorities in 2005-08 will be published in Tables 7 a-c of the “Control of Immigration: Quarterly Statistical Summary, United Kingdom—Q4 2008” bulletin on 24 February 2009. It is not possible to say what stage in the asylum process the returnees have reached at the time they have left the UK.
Copies of these publications are/will be available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office’s Research, Development and Statistics website at:
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Democratic Republic of Congo nationals are being held in detention pending possible deportation; and how many were being so held in each of the last 12 months. [257247]
Mr. Woolas: As at 11 February there were 33 Democratic Republic of Congo nationals being held in immigration detention pending their removal from the UK.
Numbers for those held in each of the last 12 months is not recorded centrally and could be provided only by checking individual records which would be at disproportionate cost.
Asylum: Finance
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) administrative cost of appraising entitlement to section 4 support, (b) administrative cost of running an appeals system for those refused support under section 4, (c) the cost of printing, distributing and operating the use of vouchers for asylum seekers and (d) total cost of administering the voucher scheme for asylum seekers was in the last year for which figures are available. [255866]
Jacqui Smith: The way that data on the costs of providing section 4 support are recorded does not enable the separate collation of the administrative costs of appraising entitlement to section 4 support, as distinct from other costs such as consultancy, travel, office services and training.
Responsibility for running the Asylum Support Tribunal, which hears appeals by those refused asylum support or for whom asylum support is discontinued, rests with the Ministry of Justice, not the Home Office. Appeals may relate to support under sections 4 or 95 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.
The costs of printing section 4 vouchers and administering and distributing those vouchers is included within the unit costs paid to accommodation providers under the UK Border Agency's target contracts. It is not an additional cost. Consequently it is not possible to provide a figure for the overall costs of administering section 4 vouchers.
Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements she has made with local authorities in response to their representations about a shortfall in their funding for dealing with asylum seekers in the years before the 2006-07 financial year. [257214]
Mr. Woolas: All claims from authorities for support for adults and families and UASCs have now been agreed and paid in with the exception of two London authorities, where the agency has recently made a final settlement offer following discussions with the authorities.
UKBA has paid all standard grant payments for UASC for the financial years up to and including 2007-08. UKBA has also agreed and paid all UASC special circumstances claims up to and including 2007-08.
DCSF and UKBA reached agreement with the Local Government Association and London Councils on the settlement of claims for leaving care expenditure up to and including 2007-08. Payments have been made to individual local authorities covered by the agreement.
Asylum: Housing
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average weekly cost of accommodating an asylum seeker on (a) section 4 and (b) section 95 support was in the last 12 months. [255868]
Jacqui Smith: During 2007-08 the accommodation element of section 4 support was an average of £97 per person per week and the accommodation element of section 95 support was £96 per person per week.
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what additional average unit cost per asylum seeker is paid to accommodation providers to administer the provision of vouchers for those eligible for section 4 support. [255871]
Jacqui Smith: The cost for the administration and provision of vouchers is included within the unit cost paid to accommodation providers under the target contracts; it is not an additional cost.
Borders: Illegal Immigrants
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what means her Department uses to monitor which points of entry to the UK are used most frequently by illegal immigrants. [254494]
Jacqui Smith: The UK Border Agency continually uses risk assessment processes to provide a national picture of the risks posed at points of entry to the UK, the risk assessment process uses up to date national and international intelligence. It also takes into account the numbers of immigrants prevented from gaining entry into the UK illegally through clandestine methods, as well as those arriving without adequate documentation.
These assessments inform the decision on the level of front line resources deployed to points of entry to the UK. It is longstanding policy not to divulge details of operational deployment, as this could provide information of value to those seeking to circumvent controls.
British Nationality
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 27 January 2009, Official Report, column 280W, on British nationality, under what circumstances a requirement to attend a citizenship ceremony would have national security implications sufficient to give grounds to exempt an applicant from attendance. [254349]
Jacqui Smith: Citizenship ceremonies are public events often attended by many people. Exemption may be considered appropriate where, for example, it is deemed necessary to protect the identity of the person becoming British and ensure his or her safety.
British Nationality: Overseas Students
Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether time spent in the UK by a foreign national on a student visa counts towards the qualifying period for UK citizenship. [256883]
Mr. Woolas: The qualifying period of residence for naturalisation as a British citizen is five years (or three if married to a British citizen). Currently time spent in the UK on a student visa will count towards this qualifying period.
Cambridgeshire Constabulary
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much Cambridgeshire Constabulary spent on translation and interpretation services provided by Language Line Services Limited in each month since May 2004; and if she will make a statement. [250828]
Mr. Coaker [holding answer 27 January 2009]: Figures are not held centrally by the Home Office. However, Cambridgeshire constabulary have advised that the annual spend on translation and interpretation services provided by Language Line Services Ltd was: £54,929.55 in 2004-05; £64,209.62 in 2005-06; £73,871.88 2006-07; and £42,698.40 in 2007-08.
Cannabis: Crime
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people (a) were arrested and (b) received on-the-spot fines for possession of cannabis in 2008. [256675]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The information requested is not collected centrally.
The arrests collection held by the Home Office covers arrests for recorded crime (notifiable offences) only, broken down at a main offence group level, police force area and age group, covering categories such as violence against the person, robbery and drug offences. From these centrally reported data we are not able to identify specific offences from within the main offence groups.
The offence of possession of cannabis was added to the penalty notice for disorder (PND) scheme on 28 January 2009. No PNDs were therefore issued in 2008; data for 2009 should be published by the Ministry of Justice in November 2010.
Cannabis: Cumbria
Mr. Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what evidence her Department holds on the relationship between the use of cannabis and the level of criminal activity to fund such use within (a) Cumbria and (b) Copeland in the last five years. [253792]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The Department does not hold evidence on the relationship between use of cannabis and the level of criminal activity to fund such use within Cumbria and Copeland.
Much of the research evidence on the links between acquisitive crime and drug use points to Class A or ‘problem’ drug use as having the strongest links and as such there is little evidence on the links between cannabis use and crime.
Specific data on cannabis possession are only available from 2004-05 onwards. This is because prior to this, possession offences did not distinguish between cannabis and non-cannabis offences.
The number of recorded offences for possession of cannabis for Copeland and Cumbria, for the period 2003-04 to 2007-08, are given in the following table.
| Recorded offences of possession of controlled drugs (cannabis) for the Copeland Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP) and Cumbria police force area, 2003-04 to 2007-08 | |||||
| Area | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 |
| Note: Possession of controlled drugs offences were split with effect from April 2004 into (i) possession of cannabis and (ii) possession of drugs other than cannabis. Source: HO Crux-Matrix database | |||||
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