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23 Apr 2009 : Column 848W—continued
Sudan: Overseas Aid
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what humanitarian assistance the Government has provided to the population of Darfur in the last 12 months. [268951]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to the hon. Member for Buckingham (John Bercow) on 25 March 2009, Official Report, column 401W.
Information on the Department for International Development's funding to Sudan is available in the publication Statistics on International Development 2007/08. This is available in the Library of the House and online at:
Leader of the House
Written Answers
8. Michael Fabricant: To ask the Leader of the House what guidance she has provided to Ministers on arrangements to ensure that answers to parliamentary questions for written answer are provided first to the hon. Member who tabled the question. [270332]
Chris Bryant: Good practice for all Government Departments is that the answers should be available to hon. Members prior to them being distributed elsewhere in the House, for example to the Library, Hansard, Table Office and Press Gallery.
9. Mr. Dunne: To ask the Leader of the House what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of answers given by Ministers to parliamentary questions for written answer. [270333]
Chris Bryant: Ministers are fully aware of their responsibilities to this House in respect of written questions. The Leader of the House keeps the quality of Ministers' answers to written parliamentary questions under continuous review.
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Leader of the House what recent representations she has received from hon. Members on the completeness of answers to parliamentary questions for written answer. [270328]
Chris Bryant: My right hon. and learned Friend and I receive regular representations on a variety of issues relating to the answer of written parliamentary questions.
Ministers are fully aware of their responsibilities to this House in respect of written questions. The Leader of the House keeps the quality of Ministers' answers to written parliamentary questions under continuous review.
Departmental Disciplinary Proceedings
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Leader of the House how many officials in her Office are suspended; how many are suspended on full pay; for how long each has been suspended; and what the reasons are for any such suspensions. [270504]
Home Department
Asylum
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when a decision will be made on the application by relatives of the constituents of the hon. Member for West Lancashire, Mr Katona, visa reference number VFS-ZA-01-011915-X and Amanda Katona, visa reference number VFS-ZA-01-011916-X, for a family reunion visa, made in Pretoria, South Africa. [247869]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 15 January 2009]: The visa section in Pretoria have sought verification of key documents submitted in support of these visa applications, the results of which have now been received. The applications were resolved on 26 January 2009.
Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what procedures are in place to enable UK Border Agency caseworkers to examine new evidence in respect of individuals seeking asylum. [270190]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 22 April 2009]: The procedure followed by UK Border Agency case owners in examining new evidence in respect of individuals seeking asylum depends on the stage the asylum claim has reached when the new evidence comes to light.
If the individual's asylum claim is outstanding, the new evidence will form part of the initial consideration.
If the individual has had an initial decision on their asylum claim, but they have an appeal outstanding, they may have a reconsideration of the original decision by the UKBA case owners, or the new evidence may be considered at appeal by an immigration judge, depending on the similarity of the new evidence to that which has previously been considered.
If the individual has come to the end of the asylum process and has exhausted their appeal rights, any new evidence put forward will be considered under paragraph 353 of the Immigration Rules.
Asylum: Bahrain
Mr. Purchase: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what criteria apply to decisions on whether to grant asylum to a Bahraini national. [267845]
Mr. Woolas: Bahrain generates very few asylum claims here. In accordance with our international obligations, trained case owners will consider any claim that is made on its individual merits consistent with the established refugee and human rights criteria, referring to the latest available country of origin information. The UK Border Agency provides country specific guidance to case owners on common types of asylum claim from countries which generate significant numbers of such claims. Because there are no common types of Bahraini asylum claim, reflecting very low numbers of applications, no such country specific guidance is produced for Bahrain.
Borders: Personal Records
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were on the e-Borders watch list on 30 December 2008. [251688]
Mr. Woolas: The data held on the e-Borders watchlists are drawn from a variety of sources, including the police and other Government Departments. Checks are undertaken against this database for the purposes of border control, national security and the detection and prevention of crime.
It is longstanding policy not to discuss either the specific information held on the database or details relating to the volumes of data on it. To do so would be counterproductive and may provide sensitive information to those seeking to circumvent border controls.
Crime
Chris Grayling:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answers of 9 March 2009, Official Report, column 79W, on police: crime, and 30 March 2009, Official Report, columns 943-44W, on crime, for what reasons her Department is able to
provide information on only some categories of incidents recorded in 2007-08. [269241]
Jacqui Smith: Data in respect of certain incidents (including, for example, assistance to other agencies, bail or curfew checks etc.) are recorded under the heading of ‘administration’, as defined within the National Incident Category List (NICL). The data for categories within ‘administration’ are considered as information for local management purposes only and provide only a partial picture of these types of records. The collection of such data ceased during 2007-08. Data for incidents as defined within the other themes of NICL (including, for example, firearms incidents) continue to be collected.
Departmental ICT
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what IT projects (a) her Department and (b) each of its agencies is undertaking; and what the most recent estimate of (i) the cost and (ii) the completion date of each is. [242265]
Mr. Woolas: The information requested is in the following table.
| Business owner | Programme | Current expected completion | Current estimated cost |
| (1) 10-year period October 2008 to October 2018 (2) These figures are estimates developed for the ICW OBC. They have not yet been baselined. (3) Set up cost (4) Operational costs over five years. | |||
In addition to the above, the Home Office is also the lead Department for the cross-Government Interception Modernisation Programme, announced by the Prime Minister in February 2008.
Departmental Ministerial Policy Advisers
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much her Department spent on severance pay to special advisers in 2008-09. [269695]
Mr. Woolas: The Home Office has paid no severance pay to special advisers in 2008-09.
Departmental Vetting
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what checks her Department and its agencies make of the immigration status of couriers working within her Department and its agencies; whether her Department requires couriers to notify the Department if they discover an illegal worker who has worked handling documents on behalf of her Department and its agencies; and how many illegal workers have been discovered working for such couriers in each of the last three years. [243123]
Mr. Woolas: Internal Government couriers are security cleared and, as part of that process, are subject to a nationality status check. Staff who work for contractors and who have a need to access Home Office official information and/or Home Office premises are security cleared to the appropriate standard. Checks conducted by contractors on other staff are subject to periodic audit and inspection under contractual terms. The Home Office and its agencies do require information on any potential breaches of security by contractors. In the last three years I am aware of one individual working in a self-employed capacity for a contractor who was discovered through internal checks to have been working without the required permission.
Deportation
Mr. Stewart Jackson:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what mechanism she uses to evaluate the efficacy of her policy of removing individuals
who have no legal right to remain in the United Kingdom after their applications for indefinite leave to remain in the United Kingdom have been disallowed; and if she will make a statement. [261901]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 10 March 2009]: When an application for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) is refused, any subsequent appeals dismissed, and the applicant has no other grounds for leave, the UK Border Agency will seek to enforce compliance with the immigration decision. Those who refuse to leave voluntarily are classed as overstayers and are liable for enforced removal.
In 2008, we introduced case ownership for all in-country cases. Disallowed applications for ILR are owned by a case owner, based in the region where the applicant lives, who is responsible for pursuing the case to conclusion and giving priority to cases according to the harm they may potentially cause to the public. In addition to this, work is being undertaken on the development of electronic embarkation controls (e-Borders) to record departures, allowing us to monitor compliance and focus enforcement resource on those who do not comply.
Further information on the UK Border Agency's enforcement strategy is available to view at:
The efficacy of this approach is assessed by measuring the number of voluntary departures and removals. In 2008, 66,275 people were removed or departed voluntarily from the UK (which will include overstayers)—a 5 per cent. increase on 2007. This includes a 10 per cent. increase in non-asylum cases from 49,660 in 2007 to 54,635 in 2008. These figures (not percentages) are rounded to the nearest five and are provisional.
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:
Detainees: Immigration
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will review the UK's opt-out from the EU returns directive; and if she will adopt a maximum time limit for the detention of illegal immigrants. [264766]
Jacqui Smith: While the United Kingdom has not opted-in to this directive, we agree that a collective approach to removal would have advantages. However, we are not persuaded that this directive delivers the strong returns regime that is required for dealing with irregular migration. We prefer to formulate our own policy in line with retaining control over conditions of entry and stay; including the returns procedure. Our current practices on the return of illegal third country nationals are in line with the prescriptions of the directive.
Detention is a final option and is only used for the shortest period necessary. Every decision to detain is taken on a case by case basis and we do not have a maximum time limit.
Detention Centres: Prostitution
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals who had worked as a prostitute in the UK were subsequently detained in an immigration removal centre in each year since 2000. [258269]
Mr. Woolas: The information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only by checking individual case files at disproportionate costs.
Firearms: Crime
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what non-notifiable crimes involving firearms and imitation firearms would be recorded as a firearm incident as defined by the Incident Category List in 2007-08. [269231]
Jacqui Smith: The various non-notifiable offences that may be included within reports recorded as a firearms incident as defined in the National Incident Category List are given as follows.
Data collected under the National Standard for Incident Recording are normally used for management information only and are not subject to the detailed checks that apply for National Statistics publications.
Offences under Firearms Act 1968
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