| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
22 Apr 2009 : Column 730W—continued
Buses: Damage
Mr. Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidences of criminal damage to buses have been recorded in each of the last five years. [269996]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The information requested is not available centrally. Offences committed in relation to buses cannot be separately identified in the recorded crime statistics collected by the Home Office.
Departmental Carbon Emissions
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether her Department has adopted the Carbon Trust’s Carbon Management Programme. [266732]
Mr. Woolas: The Home Office has joined the Carbon Trust’s Carbon Management Programme. This is providing us with technical and change management support to help us realise savings in carbon emissions.
Departmental Energy
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps have been taken by (a) her Department and (b) its agencies to improve the thermal efficiency of their buildings in the last 12 months. [266749]
Mr. Woolas: The Department is committed to the Sustainable Operations on the Government Estate (SOGE) targets which include a requirement to reduce absolute carbon emissions, improve energy efficiency per m(2) and a mandated action to apply the building research establishments environmental assessment method (BREEAM) to all new build and major refurbishment projects.
In the last 12 months a range of activities have been undertaken across the estate as part of refurbishment projects which will improve thermal efficiency of buildings, including installation of double glazing at an Identity and Passport Service office in Liverpool and upgrading of thermostatic controls to improve efficiency in certain buildings on the UK Border Agency (UKBA) estate in Croydon. In addition, our newest office building, Vulcan house, a UKBA property was Sheffield’s first BREEAM excellent rated building. It has a range of measures integrated into the design and construction to optimise thermal efficiency including setting the orientation to mitigate the effects of solar gain, building fabric insulation and a thermally efficient envelope including a vegetation roof that acts as a thermal barrier in both winter and summer. We will continue to employ these innovative and effective design methods to maximise thermal efficiency in future construction projects.
The Department has recently signed up to the Carbon Trust Management Programme which will assist us in identifying opportunities to further improve efficiency on our existing estate.
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent progress her Department has made towards the target of increasing its energy efficiency per square metre of its Estate by 15 per cent. by 2010, relative to 1999-2000 levels; and if she will make a statement. [266889]
Mr. Woolas: The Department is committed to the Sustainable Operations on the Government Estate (SOGE) targets which include a requirement to improve energy efficiency per m(2) by 15 per cent. by 2010, and then 30 per cent. by 2020, based on 1999-2000 levels. Energy efficiency performance in 2007-08, the latest year for which data are available, compared to 1999-2000 shows that we are 13 per cent. less efficient than in the baseline year. These figures are given in the annual Sustainable Development in Government Assessment 2008 published by the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) in December 2008.
Our estate structure and size significantly altered as a result of Machinery of Government changes in the last reporting period, following the transfer of the National Offender Management Service, incorporating the probation and prisons estates, to the Ministry of Justice in May 2007.
We will be applying to re-baseline our data for the next reporting period to reflect these estate changes and
some data improvements. This will assist us to report Home Office energy efficiency per square metre for our buildings (excluding those with shared occupancy), permit fairer comparisons to the baseline year and identify what level of activity may be required to meet the 2010 target. The Department has recently signed up to the Carbon Trust Management Programme which will assist us in identifying opportunities to further improve efficiency.
| kWh/m( 2) | |
| Energy per m( 2) | |
| (1) Includes core Home Office, UK Borders Agency, Identity and Passport Service as well as the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), since transferred to the Ministry of Justice. | |
Departmental ICT
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what proportion of IT products in each category procured for each division of her Department were compliant with the Government’s Buy Sustainable-Quick Win standard in the latest year for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement. [269626]
Mr. Woolas: The Department contracts for the provision of IT services with suppliers and, therefore, does not directly buy IT products. In accordance with the Department’s procurement policy the procurement of IT services requires the evaluation of suppliers’ environmental policies and practices and the contracts require suppliers to meet the Department’s and Government’s sustainability standards on an ongoing basis.
Departmental Public Consultation
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which opinion research companies her Department employed in 2008-09; and what the cost was of employing each. [269691]
Mr. Woolas: During the financial year 2008-09 the Home Office and its agencies have employed the following companies for public opinion polling at these total costs:
1. Central Home Office: Ipsos MORI - £177,775
2. UK Border Agency: Ipsos MORI - £89,050
3. Identity and Passport Service: TNS - £67,800
Departmental Recycling
Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much and what proportion of its waste her Department recycled in (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2007-08. [266778]
Mr. Woolas: Central Government Departments and their executive agencies are required to report performance data on the proportion of waste recycled on their office estate annually as part of the Sustainable Development in Government (SDiG) reporting process. The latest assessment of Government's performance against these targets was published by the Sustainable Development Commission on 12 December 2008
We reported 44 per cent. and 25 per cent. of waste was recycled in 2006-07 and 2007-08 respectively. Direct comparisons between these two years cannot be easily drawn as the data were extrapolated across the estate using a very small sample of UK Border Agency buildings plus Home Office headquarters. We are currently seeking a rebaselining of our data to a period with more representative and comprehensive data.
The figures for Home Office Headquarters on its own for 2006-07 and 2007-08 are as follows:
| Waste recycled tonnes) | Percentage of total waste recycled | |
Departmental Sick Leave
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff in her Department (a) were disciplined and (b) had their employment terminated as a result of a poor sickness record in each of the last 12-months. [262235]
Mr. Woolas: Staff with a poor sickness absence record are managed under attendance management policies operated within Home Office Headquarters, the UK Border Agency (UKBA), the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), and the Identity and Passport Service (IPS).
During the period 1 March 2008-28 February 2009, a total of 357 members of staff within Home Office HQ and UKBA were disciplined short of dismissal under attendance management policies. A breakdown by month is shown in the following table:
| Table 1: Number of Home Office HQ and UKBA staff disciplined short of dismissal under attendance management procedures | |
| Staff disciplined short of dismissal | |
During the same period a total of 37 members of staff within Home Office HQ and UKBA were dismissed under attendance management policies. A further breakdown by month has been withheld from the answer as in most cases there were fewer than five dismissals in each month.
The Identity and Passport Service issued 249 formal disciplinary warnings, and dismissed 25 members of staff under its managing attendance policy during the period 1 March 2008-28 February 2009. The figure for the number of warnings issued is the total number of all disciplinary warnings issued (short of dismissal), rather
than the number of people who were disciplined short of dismissal. This information, along with a breakdown of the figures by month, could only be provided at a disproportionate cost by carrying out a detailed manual review of the statistics.
IPS figures also exclude General Register Office (GRO) staff as GRO data have not yet been migrated to the IPS HR system. The information requested could only therefore be obtained using manual methods which would incur disproportionate cost.
Less than five members of CRB staff have been dismissed under Sickness Absence Management policies during the last 12 months; further information on those cases is therefore withheld on confidentiality grounds. Information on the number of CRB staff disciplined short of dismissal is not held centrally.
Departmental Written Questions
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many parliamentary questions for written answer her Department took longer than 10 days to answer in 2008-09. [269696]
Mr. Alan Campbell: As of 3 April 2009, the Home Office had received 1,910 written parliamentary questions in session 2008-09. Of the 1,910 written questions, 205, or 10.7 per cent. took longer than 10 sitting days to answer.
Deportation: Sri Lanka
Mr. Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will impose a moratorium on the deportation to Sri Lanka of failed asylum seekers who are ethnic Tamils. [269316]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 20 April 2009]: All asylum claims, including those from Tamils, are considered on their individual merits in accordance with our international obligations against the background of the latest country information and relevant caselaw. Where an applicant has been identified by the asylum decision making process and the appeals determination process not to be in need of international protection, we would expect the individual concerned to leave the UK voluntarily. If they do not leave voluntarily they may have their return enforced.
Entry Clearances: Overseas Students
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what proportion of students entering each higher education institution in the UK had study visas in each year since 2006; and how many such students were granted extensions to their visas after graduation in order to undertake work in the UK. [269162]
Mr. Woolas: The information requested is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign students were prosecuted for breach of the work conditions of their visa in 2008. [269746]
Mr. Woolas: The system used by the UK Border Agency to record data relating to prosecutions for immigration offences (including those found working in breach of their conditions) does not categorise individuals by the nature of their stay in the UK. To establish the number of foreign students prosecuted for this offence, therefore, would require the examination of individual records at disproportionate cost.
It should be noted, however, that the UK Border Agency would normally seek to remove an individual under such circumstances, rather than to prosecute them, as the former presents a more cost effective alternative.
Essex Police Authority
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the answer of 26 November 2008, Official Report, columns 2254-5W, on Essex Police Authority, when she plans to write to the hon. Member for Southend West; and if she will make a statement. [242693]
Mr. Coaker: I wrote to the hon. Gentleman on 20 April 2009.
Identity Cards: Foreigners
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much her Department has spent to date on readers for identity cards for foreign nationals. [258100]
Mr. Woolas: To date we have not spent anything on card readers. Cards may currently be verified using the card verification phone line and as the volume of cards in circulation increases other forms of verification will be introduced.
Immigration
Mr. Grogan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been granted leave to remain on the grounds of at least 14 years’ continuous residence in the UK in each year since 2004. [268632]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 2 April 2009]: The following table shows the number of main applicants (excluding dependants) granted indefinite leave to remain on the grounds of a 14-year long residency each year since 2004.
| Main applicants | |
| Notes: 1. 2009 figures are for a partial year—1 January to 30 March. 2. 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. 3. The individual figures and total have been rounded to the nearest five. | |
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |