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9 Mar 2009 : Column 69W—continued
Departmental Freedom of Information
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 have been made to her Department since 2005; how many of them were (a) agreed to and (b) refused in each of those years; how many refusals were subject to appeal to the Information Commissioner in each of those years; how many appeals were successful; if she will place in the Library copies of the material subsequently provided in each case; how much was spent by her Department opposing each appeal; which (i) consultants and (ii) law firms were employed by her Department in connection with each appeal; and if she will make a statement. [244887]
Mr. Woolas: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by the Minister of State for Justice, my right hon. Friend the Member for North Swindon (Mr. Wills) on 12 January 2009, Official Report, column 504W.
A copy of the information released pursuant to Information Commissioner decisions will be placed in the House of Commons Library.
Departmental Impact Assessments
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many equalities impact assessments her Department has undertaken in the last 12 month period for which figures are available; and what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of such assessments. [255071]
Mr. Woolas: The Home Office has published 24 equality impact assessments in the last 12 month period.
The Secretary of State is committed to fulfilling her statutory duty to conduct such assessments, where required. The equality impact assessment process is part of the Home Office’s policy/business development model. For these reasons, exact costs of the assessments can not be determined without incurring disproportionate cost.
Departmental Official Hospitality
Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her Department’s entertainment budget was in each of the last five years. [261103]
Mr. Woolas: The Department does not delegate budgets specifically for entertainment. Expenditure on entertainment is covered by the larger hospitality and catering budget.
All Home Office expenditure on entertainment and hospitality conforms to the principles of regularity, propriety and value for money, and any other guidance as applicable contained within Managing Public Money and the Treasury handbook on Regularity and Propriety.
Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much her Department spent on (a) alcohol and (b) food in each of the last five years. [261159]
Mr. Woolas: The Home Office accounting systems do not identify separately the cost of alcohol and food. This information cannot be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.
Departmental Reviews
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many change programmes her Department has initiated in each of the last five years; what the planned budget was for each such programme; what the outturn cost was of each completed programme; and what the projected outturn cost is of each incomplete programme. [254597]
Jacqui Smith: Change programmes, large and small, are initiated across the Department on a regular basis. Records of all such programmes are not held centrally and such details could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Drugs: Crime
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions she has had with the European Commission on measures to prevent illegal drug activity. [260059]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The Home Secretary met Vice President Jacques Barrot on 3 March when, in the context of discussions about the next five year work programme for justice and home affairs, she discussed the need for the EU to continue to work together against illegal drugs.
In November 2008, the Council of Ministers adopted the European Union Drugs Action Plan for 2009-12, the second within the EU Drugs Strategy 2005-12. This had been drafted by the Commission and amended in the Council in the course of the adoption process. The plan contains a series of actions to be taken by member states, the Commission, Europol and by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), with the ultimate aim of significantly reducing the prevalence of drug use among the population of the European Union and to reduce the social harm and health damage caused by the use of and trade in illicit drugs.
In October 2008, the Justice and Home Affairs Council also discussed the threat to the European Union of cocaine trafficking through west Africa and tasked officials to take forward a series of actions addressing this.
Economic Situation
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what (a) summits, (b) conferences and (c) seminars her Department has hosted since January 2008 at which a primary subject for discussion was the impact of the economic situation on matters within her Department's responsibility. [260149]
Mr. Woolas: We are unable to answer this question as we do not hold the information required centrally.
Empty Property
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the estimated cost in empty property business rates for the vacant properties recorded on the e-PIMS database owned by (a) her Department, (b) HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and (c) the UK Border Agency is in 2008-09. [258514]
Mr. Woolas: As at 24 February 2009 the e-PIMS database recorded that there were no vacant owned properties on the estates of the Home Office, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary or the UK Border Agency. Empty rates are therefore not payable in respect of any property owned by these bodies.
Entry Clearances
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been prevented from entering the UK on the grounds that their presence could threaten public security in each year since 1997. [260060]
Mr. Woolas: From 1997 to 2008, 5,160 persons were refused entry at the UK border on grounds relating to the public good. The annual breakdown is as follows:
| Number of refusals | |
| (1) Statistics between 1997 and 2000 are based on local management information and they predate the current Home Office records database. | |
Entry Clearances: EC Nationals
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many EU nationals from each member state have been refused entry into the UK on the grounds that their presence would threaten public safety in each of the last five years. [260077]
Mr. Woolas: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 25 February 2009, Official Report, column 865W.
Entry Clearances: Overseas Students
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health on the effect of the maximum length of student visas on foreign students studying medicine in the UK. [260566]
Mr. Woolas: Tier 4 of the Points Based System is due to be launched at the end of this month, and under the terms of the Tier, as published in the Tier 4 Statement of Intent (SoI), General Student visas were to have been limited to a maximum period of four years. This period would have covered the duration of the majority of degree courses, but students on longer courses would have had to apply for extensions of stay to complete their courses.
However, in the light of concerns expressed since the publication of the SoI about the position of medical students and others on longer degree courses, I have decided, and recently announced, that degree students may be issued with visas for the full duration of their courses in the United Kingdom, rather than their visas being limited to a maximum of four years.
Entry Clearances: Standards
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 23 February 2009, Official Report, column 152W, on entry clearances, what the reasons are for the relatively low performance against public service agreement targets in Sri Lanka; in which three countries there was the lowest performance against the public service agreement targets for processing visa applications in 2007-08; and if she will make a statement. [260623]
Mr. Woolas: In the financial year 2007-08 the number of visa applications in Colombo exceeded the ability of the visa section to process them.
In that financial year, our posts in the following countries had the lowest performance against public service agreement targets for visa processing times (rating 1 = lowest):
| PSA1 | PSA 2 | PSA 3 | |
These data are unpublished and should be treated as provisional.
Genetics: Databases
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how old the (a) youngest and (b) oldest person with a profile on the national DNA database is; and how old the (i) youngest and (ii) oldest person to have had a profile added to the national DNA database was at the time the profile was added. [243275]
Jacqui Smith:
As at 26 November 2008, the youngest person with a profile on the National DNA Database was aged under one year and the oldest was over 90 years old. The youngest person to have had a profile
added to the NDNAD was under one year old, and the oldest was over 90 years old, at the time the profile was added.
The precise age of the subject profile taken from the subject aged over 90 cannot be disclosed as it would constitute personal data as defined by Article 2 of the European Data Protection Directive: information relating to an identified or identifiable individual.
On 16 December 2008, I announced that the Government would take immediate steps to remove the DNA profiles of children aged under ten from the NDNAD.
Human Trafficking
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of people-trafficking-related (a) investigations, (b) trials and (c) convictions have been brought about as a result of the activity of the Metropolitan police human trafficking unit in each year since its inception. [241792]
Jacqui Smith: The data provided by the UK Human Trafficking Centre indicate that of the 92 convictions secured for human trafficking offences 28 have been as a result of operations by the police in the Metropolitan Police Service area. It is not possible to break down the number solely related to the work of the Met's trafficking unit as operations against this crime often involve officers from the boroughs, the Clubs and Vice Unit, as well as from the joint operations involving UKBA staff.
The number of convictions by year is follows:
| Number | |
Immigration: Appeals
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the average length of time taken by her Department to comply with judgments of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal after a decision has been taken by her Department not to appeal. [260546]
Mr. Woolas:
Information on the average length of time taken to comply with an Asylum and Immigration Tribunal judgment following a hearing is not available.
This could be obtained only at disproportionate cost by examination of individual case records.
However, the UK Border Agency has recently undertaken a piece of work to review the processes involved in granting status following an allowed appeal. The review has identified potential process amendments to make the system more timely and a workshop to consider how changes could be implemented has recently taken place. One of these amendments includes looking into the possibility of introducing targets for the implementation of status following an allowed appeal.
Arrangements have been made to monitor progress in this area.
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