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6 May 2009 : Column 262W—continued
Nigeria: Exports
Sir George Young: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform when he plans to reach a decision on the application for an export licence for goods for Nigeria referred to in the letter from the right hon. Member for North West Hampshire of 22 September 2008, and subsequent correspondence of 6 and 31 October 2008 and 23 March 2009. [271513]
Ian Pearson: An export licence for these goods was issued on 23 April 2009.
Royal Mail: Profits
Geraldine Smith: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how much profit General Logistics Systems made in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [263013]
Mr. McFadden [holding answer 12 March 2009]: General Logistics Systems made a £114 million operating profit before exceptional items for the financial year 2007-08. For the first six months of financial year 2008-09 (period April to September 2008) it made an operating profit before exceptional items of £59 million.
Small Business: Government Assistance
Mr. Breed: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what progress has been made on allowing small businesses to access the £1 billion fund announced in December 2008. [255888]
Ian Pearson: On 14 January 2009, the Government launched the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) as part of a wider programme of Real Help for Business.
As of 22 April 2009, the Enterprise Finance Guarantee has nearly £300 million of eligible applications from over 2,600 firms that have been granted, are being processed or assessed.
Small Businesses
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many small businesses operate in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) England. [268470]
Ian Pearson: The following table shows the number of small businesses in the north-east and England at the start of 2007. Data for 2008 will be available in autumn 2009.
Businesses are classified as small if they have between zero and 49 employees.
| Number of small businesses | |
| Source: BERR SME Statistics 2007: http://stats.berr.gov.uk/ed/sme/ | |
Estimates of the total number of small businesses (registered and unregistered) are only available at national and regional level, and not at parliamentary constituency level.
However, figures are available for the number of businesses registered for VAT and/or PAYE to parliamentary constituency level. These figures exclude the very smallest businesses and we estimate that only 45 per cent. of businesses are registered for either VAT or PAYE.
The following table shows the number of registered small businesses in the Jarrow constituency and South Tyneside as of March 2008.
| Number of registered small business | |
| Source: Office for National Statistics—‘UK Business: Activity, Size and Location—2008’ http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=933 | |
Home Department
Alcoholic Drinks: Sales
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the effect on antisocial behaviour of levels of sales of alcohol from off-licences. [271601]
Mr. Coaker: No specific assessment has been made on the effect on antisocial behaviour of levels of sales of alcohol from off-licences, however the Government are aware that alcohol is a factor in some instances of antisocial behaviour and a number of actions have been taken to address the issue. These include the provisions in the Policing and Crime Bill which will introduce a mandatory code for all alcohol retailers, and will give licensing authorities new powers to clamp down on specific problems in their areas. We have also given £3 million to Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) in order to undertake multi-agency enforcement activities on specific alcohol-related problems. We have made available a further £1.5 million to our top 50 priority areas which have the highest levels of alcohol-related crime and disorder and public concern about drunk or rowdy behaviour. This money has been used to tackle under age sales, to confiscate alcohol from under 18s and to run communications campaigns to tell local people what action is being taken in their area.
A number of antisocial behaviour tools and powers are also available which include written warnings, home visits, Acceptable Behaviour Contracts, Parenting Orders/Contracts, crack house and premises closure orders, antisocial behaviour orders and dispersal zones. We have recently just finished a series of 13 regional Alcohol Enforcement Skills Development training workshops for front-line practitioners covering the use of these tools and powers and those available under the Licensing Act 2003. In addition, we are legislating to improve these powers, including increasing the fine for anyone not obeying an instruction to stop drinking in a Designated Public Place Order (DPPO) area, making it easier for the police to disperse antisocial drinkers, and introducing a new offence of persistent underage possession. We are also encouraging wider use of Acceptable Behaviour Contracts and have recently extended the alcohol arrest referral pilots to include under 18s. We are working across Government to take these actions forward.
Antisocial Behaviour: Crime Prevention
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the number of mosquito teen deterrents in use. [270334]
Mr. Coaker: Information on the use of mosquito dispersal devices is not collected centrally by the Home Office.
Anti-terrorism Control Orders
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much her Department has spent on payments to individuals subject to control orders for (a) accommodation, (b) council tax, (c) utility bills, (d) telephone line rental, (e) pre-paid telephone cards and phone bills and (f) other subsistence in each year since 2005. [264686]
Mr. Coaker: Expenditure on accommodation, council tax, utility bills, pre-paid telephone cards and other subsistence prior to April 2007 was absorbed by the UK Border Agency as part of spending on accommodation for asylum seekers. Figures covering the expenditure on accommodation for controlled persons could be retrieved only at disproportionate cost.
During the last two financial years the Department has spent the following amounts on accommodation, council tax, utility bills, pre-paid telephone cards and other subsistence:
| £ | |
This expenditure could be broken down further only at disproportionate cost.
During the last three financial years, the Home Office has paid the following amounts on telephone line rental, bills and connection charges for those subject to control orders:
| £ | |
This expenditure could be broken down further only at disproportionate cost.
Assaults on Police
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many assaults on police constables per 100,000 population were recorded in each police force area in (a) 2003-04 and (b) 2004-05. [271674]
Mr. Coaker: Data for assaults on all officers in England and Wales were published by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary at the time. Links to these publications are provided below.
Asylum
Tom Brake:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the answer from Lord West of Spithead of 29 October 2008, Official
Report, House of Lords, column WA165, on asylum seekers, how her Department ensures that asylum seekers with grounds to make an appeal or fresh claim are given the opportunity to do so before attending a re-documentation interview. [242460]
Mr. Woolas: Where an asylum claim falls to be refused, and the consequent immigration decision attracts a right of appeal, applicants are notified how to appeal and by when. The United Kingdom Border Agency is not required to wait for any appeal right to be exercised or any lodged appeal to be concluded before a re-documentation interview is arranged.
Case owners give full consideration to further representations, including whether they amount to a fresh claim, and decide on a case by case basis whether it is appropriate to suspend the re-documentation process in the light of those representations. The re-documentation interview is not prejudicial to the consideration of further representations or the outcome of any appeal.
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers were removed through (a) assisted voluntary returns and (b) enforced returns in each of the last five years. [242733]
Jacqui Smith: The Home Office publishes statistics on the number of asylum seekers who were removed or departed voluntarily from the UK on a quarterly and annual basis.
The latest published annual information for the last four years can be found in table 7a of the Control of Immigration: Quarterly Statistical Summary, bulletin
Information prior to 2005 can be found in table 6.1 of the Control of Immigration: Statistics United Kingdom 2007 bulletin
Published 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 Directorate website at
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of age assessments made by the UK Border Agency in 2008 have been successfully challenged on appeal. [269169]
Mr. Woolas: Information on the percentage of age assessments made by the UK Border Agency in 2008 that have been successfully challenged on appeal is not available. This is because our Case Information Database does not record the specific reasons why an appeal is allowed. This information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost by the examination of a large number of individual case files.
Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases there were in the Legacy casework system on the latest date for which figures are available. [272032]
Mr. Woolas: The previous Home Secretary informed Parliament in July 2006 of
“the Immigration and Nationality Directorate's case load of around 400,000 to 450,000 electronic and paper records, which as hon. Members also know, are riddled with duplication and errors, and include cases of individuals who have since died or left the country, or are now EU citizens”
The Case Resolution Directorate has concluded 155,500 cases up to 9 January and the chief executive of the UK Border Agency will update the Home Affairs Select Committee on case conclusion progress in the summer.
Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she expects to have cleared the backlog of applications in the Legacy casework system. [272033]
Mr. Woolas: The Case Resolution Directorate aims to complete all cases in the asylum backlog by 2011 and is currently on track to do so.
Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications in the Legacy casework system were made in each of the last seven years. [272034]
Mr. Woolas: The work to clear the backlog of asylum cases was announced to Parliament in July 2006. The chief executive of the UK Border Agency provided an update on clearing the backlog of older cases to the Home Affairs Committee on 8 December 2008 and the next update is expected in the summer. To provide this information would involve a detailed examination of all our case records which would incur a disproportionate cost.
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when a decision will be made on the application for asylum by a constituent of the hon. Member for North-East Milton Keynes, Sima Salamat, Home Office reference number S1011503. [272357]
Mr. Woolas: The UK Border Agency sent a reply to the hon. Member on 30 April 2009.
Asylum: Finance
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were granted section 4 support in each of the last five years; and how many people were in receipt of section 4 support in each of those years. [263956]
Mr. Woolas: The table shows the number of failed asylum seekers granted section four support and those who were in receipt of section four support. Information on the number of failed asylum seekers receiving section four support is only available from March 2005.
The number of failed asylum seekers granted section four support and the number of people in receipt of section four support is published on a quarterly and annual basis.
The latest publication covering the fourth quarter of 2008 is available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research Development and Statistics website at
| Number of asylum seekers who were granted section 4 support and in receipt of section 4 support, excluding dependants, 2005 to 2008( 1,2) | ||
| Number of principal applicants | ||
| Decisions to grant section 4 | Persons in receipt of section 4 at the end of the period | |
| (1) Figures rounded to the nearest five. (2) Information on Section 4 support prior to April 2007 is understated due to data quality issues associated with previous recording systems. The process of recording data on ASYS (the support database) improved the quality of the information. (3) Provisional figures. | ||
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