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5 May 2009 : Column 32W—continued
Home Department
Departmental Computers
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many laptop computers have been provided to (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) civil servants in her Department in each year since 2005; and at what cost. [268274]
Mr. Woolas: Information regarding the breakdown of laptops between Ministers, special advisers and civil servants is not held centrally and to get this information would incur disproportional cost.
Departmental Data Protection
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions in (a) her Department and (b) its agencies confidential data have been downloaded on to compact discs (i) without and (ii) with encryption in the last 12 months. [241539]
Mr. Woolas: We do not hold these data and to obtain them would involve disproportionate costs. We are not aware of any loss of confidential data from compact discs in the last 12 months.
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will make it her policy for her Department to sign the Information Commissioner's Personal Information Promise. [258969]
Mr. Woolas: The Government have welcomed the Promise as a commendable initiative to raise awareness of the importance of effective data protection safeguards, particularly for those organisations with no similar commitments already in place.
Departmental ICT
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average server capacity utilisation by each division of her Department was in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement. [269679]
Mr. Woolas:
The Home Office operates a large-scale, multi-vendor supply chain delivering a wide range of ICT categories. Service capacity utilisation and the number of printers and multi-functional devices with printer capability are managed by our suppliers as part of the service offering. The information requested by the hon. Member is not therefore available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, the Home Office
is working towards a ratio of one printer per 20 people and work is under way to review and rationalise data centres and to convert network printers to duplex capability where practicable.
Departmental Mobile Phones
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much has been spent on (a) the purchase of and (b) bills for (i) BlackBerrys and (ii) other mobile telephones for (A) Ministers, (B) special advisers and (C) civil servants in her Department in each year since 2005. [268234]
Mr. Woolas: BlackBerrys and other mobile telephone devices are supplied through our IT service providers.
Call and data charges for UKBA users of BlackBerrys are approximately £7,800 (including VAT) per quarter. The remainder of call and data charges for BlackBerrys are sent directly to each business area and to get this information would incur disproportional cost.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) BlackBerrys and (b) other mobile telephones have been provided to (i) Ministers, (ii) special advisers and (iii) civil servants in her Department in each year since 2005. [268295]
Mr. Woolas: Information regarding the breakdown of BlackBerrys and other mobile telephones between Ministers, special advisers and civil servants is not held centrally and to get this information would incur disproportionate cost.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which programmes funded by her Department experienced a real terms reduction in their budget for 2008-09 in comparison with 2007-08; and what the budget for each such programme was in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2006-07. [269689]
Mr. Woolas: The major Home Office Programme budgets and comparisons for the years in question are set out in the Departmental Report 2008, tables 5.1 to 5.3. This report is available on the Home Office website at:
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for which financial losses her Department was granted Treasury approval in 2008-09. [269694]
Mr. Woolas: All losses incurred by the Home Office during the year have been managed by the Department within the scope of authorities delegated by the Treasury. The Departmental Resource Accounts for 2008-09 are scheduled for publication in June.
Departmental Training
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which training courses were (a) available to and (b) taken up by (i) civil servants and (b) Ministers in her Department in the last 12 months. [265308]
Mr. Woolas: A wide range of internal and external training courses are available to and taken up by Home Office civil servants. Details cannot be provided without disproportionate cost. On training for Ministers in the Home Office, I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer of 22 March 2009, Official Report, column 167W.
Deportation: Zimbabwe
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will suspend all deportations of people to Zimbabwe until there is greater political stability in that country. [268043]
Mr. Woolas: The court judgment on 19 November 2008 found that there is no prohibition to removing people who have no right to be here to Zimbabwe. However, the policy of Her Majesty's Government is that we will always take account of the political and humanitarian factors before doing so. My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary announced in September 2006 that we would be halting enforced returns to Zimbabwe and we are not currently enforcing the return of Zimbabwean nationals.
Immigration: Somalia
Mr. Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Somali citizens are seeking (a) asylum and (b) leave to remain; and how many have been (i) granted indefinite leave to remain and (ii) deported in each year since 1997. [269753]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 20 April 2009]: An integral issue in asylum policy is that claimed national citizenship and actual citizenship are often different.
The number of Somali nationals currently seeking asylum is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost by examination of individual case records.
Management information indicates that as at 6 April 2009, there are 1,660 claimed Somali nationals who currently have outstanding applications for limited leave to remain in the UK. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols and may be subject to change. The figure has been rounded to the nearest five.
The following table shows the numbers of Somali nationals granted settlement in each year from 1997 to 2007, and Somali nationals removed or departed voluntarily from the UK in each year from 1997 to 2008. Published settlement data by nationality for 2008 are not currently available; this information is due to be published in August 2009.
National statistics on asylum applications, including grants and refusals, grants of settlement and removals and voluntary departures from the UK are published in chapters 3, 5 and 6 respectively of the Control of Immigration: Statistics United Kingdom annual bulletins. Copies of these publications are available from the Library of the House and the Home Office’s Research, Development and Statistics website at:
| Grants of settlement, removals and voluntary departures, nationals of Somalia, 1997 to 2008 | ||||||||||||
| Number of grants/departures | ||||||||||||
| 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007( 1) | 2008( 1) | |
| (1 )Provisional figures. (2 )Figures are rounded to the nearest 5 and may not sum to the totals shown because of independent rounding. (3 )Includes persons departing voluntarily after notifying the UK Border Agency of their intention to leave prior to their departure, since January 1999 persons leaving under Assisted Voluntary Return programmes run by the International Organisation for Migration and since January 2005 persons who it has been established have left the UK without informing the immigration authorities. (4 )Removals and voluntary departures recorded on the system as at the dates on which the data extracts were taken. (5 )Persons who had sought asylum at some stage. (6 )Data for 1998 and 2001 to 2003 have been estimated due to data quality issues. | ||||||||||||
National Identity Scheme Commissioner
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 23 February 2009, Official Report, column 158W, on the National Identity Register: data protection, what (a) financial and (b) staffing resources will be available to the National Identity Scheme Commissioner to provide independent oversight of the provision of information. [269471]
Mr. Malik: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given on 29 January 2009, Official Report, column 822W.
The appointment of the Scheme Commissioner is still continuing and once the appointee has commenced the role they will discuss the resources required to undertake independent oversight.
In accordance with the Identity Cards Act 2006 the Scheme Commissioner has the right to ask the Home Secretary for staff required to fulfil the role.
Passports: Concessions
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many pensioners have received a free passport in each year since the introduction of the policy. [270155]
Mr. Malik: The introduction of free passports was announced on 19 May 2004 as a special concession for the second world war generation. Those who qualify are British nationals born on or before 2 September 1929 and therefore were old enough by the end of the war to have made a substantial contribution to the national effort.
The scheme also included provision for a refund to be available on request to those that were eligible but applied for a passport in the period between 19 May 2004 (the date the Home Secretary announced the scheme) and 18 October (the implementation date of the scheme). Up until 31 March 2009, 18,897 refunds have been applied for and processed under this provision and are included in the volumes shown.
For each financial year from May 2004 until the end of March 2009, the following volumes of free passports were issued:
| Financial year | Volume issued |
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