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24 Mar 2009 : Column 303W—continued
Deportation: Peterborough
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 27 January 2009, Official Report, column 284W, on deportation: Peterborough, how many individual records would have to be manually identified and analysed in order to produce a summary report; and what the estimated cost of doing so would be. [259018]
Mr. Woolas: The very nature of this question means it is difficult to quantify. High level estimates suggest that costs would exceed £10,000 and are therefore considered to be disproportionate.
Electronic Government
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress her Department has made on the development of the e-justice portal; and how much has been allocated for spending on such activity in each of the next two financial years. [264030]
Mr. Straw: I have been asked to reply.
The European Commission are leading the implementation of the European e-Justice portal and signed a contract with a service provider on 25 February 2009 to deliver the first release by 14 December 2009. Officials from all member states have contributed to the development of an e-Justice action plan which sets out the priorities and the technical specifications of the portal. The first release of the portal will include information on national and community law and procedures and will provide a link between insolvency, land and business registers in a number of member states.
The Commission are funding the development of the portal. As a rough guide, they have budgeted €1.5 million for the contract to develop the first release this year. However the scope of the portal and budget allocation will only become clear once the project and a content roadmap have been prepared in the near future. There is no compulsion for member states to be involved in individual European e-Justice projects and the decision about whether or not we will fund participation in particular projects will be made by the appropriate budget holding Department on a case by case basis.
Entry Clearances: Pakistan
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for visitor visas from individuals in Pakistan are (a) being processed and (b) awaiting processing; and what the average waiting time between application and decision for such application was in the latest period for which figures are available. [264627]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 19 March 2009]: We can provide figures for the number of applications (a) received and (b) resolved in any given period. During February 2009, a total of 2,441 UK visit visa applications were lodged at our visa application centres in Pakistan. Details of applications resolved in that month, including processing times, are shown in the following table. Some of the applications that were resolved will have been lodged before 1 February.
| Visit visa applications: Pakistan—February 2009 | |||||
| Percentage resolved within (working days) | |||||
| Visa application centre | Number of applications resolved | 5 | 10 | 15 | 30 |
| Source: Central Reference System/UKBA Visa Services website | |||||
Human Trafficking: Deportation
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many 17 to 19 year olds apprehended following investigations into child trafficking have subsequently been deported in each of the last five years. [263685]
Mr. Woolas: This information is not centrally recorded and could be obtained only by the detailed examination of individual case records at disproportionate cost.
The Home Office publishes statistics on the number of persons removed and departed voluntarily 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:
National DNA Database: Children
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many profiles stored on the national DNA database were of children aged (a) under two years, (b) two years, (c) three years, (d) four years, (e) five years, (f) six years, (g) seven years, (h) eight years and (i) nine years on the latest date for which figures are available. [263806]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The Home Secretary made clear in her speech on 16 December 2008 that she believed it was wrong for children under 10 years to be held on the national DNA database. As a result, as of 5 March 2009, none of the profiles stored on the national DNA database by police forces in England and Wales were of children aged under 10 years old.
Offenders: Deportation
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much her Department spent on deportations in 2008. [263196]
Mr. Woolas: It is not possible to provide a comprehensive figure for the overall cost of removals and deportations in 2008 because there are many different factors which may or may not be involved in the cost of a case (such as detention costs, travel costs, and the cost of escorting the individual in question). We are unable to disaggregate the specific costs and any attempt to do so would incur disproportionate cost.
Offenders: Foreigners
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign national prisoners were being held in police detention on 28 February 2009. [263216]
Mr. Hanson: I have been asked to reply.
On 28 February 2009 there were no foreign national prisoners held in police cells under Operation Safeguard.
Police cells under Operation Safeguard have not been used to hold prisoners since 22 September 2008 and no police cells have been on stand by since the end of October 2008.
I am unable to say if any foreign national prisoners were held in police custody other than under Operation Safeguard.
Olympic Games 2012: Security
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether she has had discussions with private security companies on security arrangements for the London 2012 Olympics. [264329]
Mr. Coaker: In recent months we have briefed representatives of the wider private security and security supply industries about the Olympic security programme. We have an ongoing engagement with industry over the Government’s Olympic security needs.
We are working with the Security Industry Authority (SIA) and the British Security Industry Authority (BSIA) to ensure that there is appropriate provision of private security staff during the Games. We will consider carefully the lessons from previous Games about retention of security staff. We are providing financial support for the ‘Bridging the Gap’ initiative with Skills for Security and the Further Education sector to provide training for new security staff aimed at roles within the Games and a long-term career in the industry.
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what advice her Department has provided to hotels in London on security arrangements for the London 2012 Olympics. [264456]
Mr. Coaker [holding answer 18 March 2009]: The Government have already provided hotels with security advice through the National Counter Terrorism Security Office publication ‘Counter Terrorism Protective Security Advice for Hotels and Restaurants'. We intend to provide complementary Olympic-specific guidance to hotels hosting athletes, officials and members of the Olympic family at the appropriate time as part of our wider Olympic security plans.
Police: Resignations
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers resigned in each year since 2005. [264708]
Mr. Coaker: Available data relate to the financial years 2005-06 to 2007-08 and are given in the following table.
| Police officer resignations( 1) by police force area (FTE( 2) ): England and Wales, 2005-06 to 2007-08( 3) | |||
| Police force area | 2005-06( 4) | 2006-07 | 2007-08 |
| (1) Does not include transfers to other England and Wales forces. (2) Full-time equivalent figures have been rounded to the nearest whole number. Because of this there may be an apparent discrepancy between totals and sums of the constituent items. (3) Financial year runs 1 April to 31 March inclusive. (4) Over 1,000 police officers previously working with the National Crime Squad (NCS) and the National Criminal Intelligence Squad (NCIS) left their home force to join the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) when it launched on 1 April 2006. | |||
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