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16 Mar 2009 : Column 919W—continued
Community Service Orders: Young People
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many young people aged between 13 and 19 years have served a community service order in (a) England, (b) the north-east and (c) Middlesbrough, South and East Cleveland constituency in each of the last five years. [262913]
Mr. Hanson: I have been asked to reply.
The Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 replaced the community service order with the community punishment order (CPO) for young offenders between the ages of 16 years and 17 years. This order is not available for children between the ages of 13 years and 15 years. Young offenders between the ages of 16 and 17 years may also be sentenced to the community punishment and rehabilitation order (CPRO), which combines community punishment with a period of supervision by a member of a Youth Offending Team.
Following the implementation of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 in April 2005, community punishment orders were replaced by the unpaid work requirement of the community or suspended sentence order for offenders over 18 years of age.
The number of young offenders between the ages of 16 and 19 years who commenced community punishment or community punishment and rehabilitation orders in England and Wales and the north-east region during the last five years, as well as the number of unpaid work requirements started, is shown in the following tables.
| England and Wales | |||||
| 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | |
| North-east region | |||||
| 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | |
It is not possible to provide sentencing data by constituency.
Matters arising in Scotland and Northern Ireland are for the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Office respectively.
These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Departmental Air Travel
Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many official journeys (a) she and her predecessors and (b) her officials made by plane in each of the last five years. [247504]
Mr. Woolas: This information is available only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Bank Services
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with which banks her Department has or has had contracts for the provision of financial advice, for the financial year 2008-09. [262766]
Mr. Woolas: From best available records, the Home Department, inclusive of its agencies, does not hold and has not held contracts for the provision of financial advice for the financial year 2008-09.
Departmental Databases
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Rochford and Southend, East of 5 November 2008, Official Report, column 598W, on departmental databases, by what means her Department uses ACORN data to target its communications. [250427]
Mr. Woolas: We use ACORN to target our marketing campaigns by geographical location, and demographic factors. For example we target responsible drinking messages at young people.
Departmental Lost Property
John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what property has been lost or stolen from her Department in the last 12 months; and what the estimated cost was of replacement of such property. [263109]
Mr. Woolas: The Department's recorded losses and thefts for 2007-08 were 10 stolen assets, at a total value of £8,905.
The replacement cost of this property cannot be identified, without incurring disproportionate cost.
Departmental policy is that every reasonable effort is to be made to minimise the possibility of loss or theft of property; and that whenever fraud occurs it is to be investigated with disciplinary action being taken against those who have engaged in it.
Departmental Ministerial Policy Advisers
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much has been claimed in reimbursable expenses by special advisers in her Department in 2008-09 to date. [260358]
Mr. Woolas: The Department’s 2008-09 resource accounts will disclose the salary, social security and pension cost of its special advisers. These resource accounts will also disclose the reimbursable expenses of all staff, including special advisers. The reimbursable expenses specifically of special advisers, is not separately disclosed. These resource accounts are expected to be laid before the 2009 summer recess.
Departmental Public Consultation
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what payments for (a) polling and (b) other services her Department has made to (i) Deborah Mattinson and (ii) Opinion Leader Research Limited since 31 December 2007; and if she will make a statement. [260991]
Departmental Public Relations
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost of her Department's contracts with public relations consultancies was in each of the last five years. [251253]
Mr. Woolas: The following table provides the total spend on contracts with public relations consultancies for each of the last five financial years. It also includes a breakdown of the total by project.
| Project | Cost (£) |
Departmental Scientists
Ian Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her Department’s budget for scientific advice and research is in 2008-09; for what purposes the equivalent budget for 2007-08 was used; and how many people employed in her Department have a science or engineering degree. [260764]
Mr. Woolas: The Home Office does not have a single research budget; it has science and research teams embedded in the main delivery areas, science funding is delegated across the Department to fund the science and research necessary within their directorate. The amount allocated to science and research in any one year is based on individual unit’s business needs and therefore varies annually. The funding allocation for 2008-09 was approximately £50 million.
The equivalent budget for 2007-08 was £51 million and was spent on physical sciences, engineering, social research, operational research, economic analysis and statistics. More information on how the Home Office uses science can be found in the Home Office science and innovation strategy; see:
The Home Office employs around 195 scientists working on science and engineering delivery. Our systems do not hold information on the numbers of science and engineering degrees held by individuals. This information could not be collected without incurring disproportionate cost.
Illegal Immigrants
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent estimate her Department has made of the numbers of people in the UK illegally; and if she will make a statement. [263200]
Mr. Woolas: Since the phasing-out of embarkation controls in 1994 no Government have ever been able to produce an accurate figure for the number of people who are in the country illegally. By its very nature it is impossible to quantify accurately and that remains the case.
As part of the Government's 10-point plan for delivery, by 2010 over 95 per cent. of non-European Economic Area foreign nationals will be counted in and out of the country, rising to 100 per cent. by 2014. This is part of a sweeping programme of border protection which also includes the global roll-out of fingerprint visas, watch-list checks for all travellers before they arrive or depart from the UK and ID cards for foreign nationals.
The Government's plans, set out in ‘Enforcing the Deal', published on 19 June 2008, set a clear goal to target and remove the most harmful people first, working with local authorities and enforcement agencies to shut down the privileges of the UK to those breaking the rules.
Copies of this document are placed in the Library of the House. It is also available to view at:
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