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1 Jun 2009 : Column 156W—continued
| 2007-08 | |||||||
| Unknown | Asian | Black | Chinese, Japanese or SE Asian | Middle Eastern | White North European | White South European | |
| 2008-09 | |||||||
| Unknown | Asian | Black | Chinese, Japanese or SE Asian | Middle Eastern | White North European | White South European | |
Domestic Violence: Immigrants
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will assess the quality of provision of support and assistance given by local authorities to women with no recourse to public funds who have been victims of (a) domestic and (b) sexual violence. [271599]
Mr. Alan Campbell: We would advise that the provision of local services for women who have no recourse to public funds and have been victims of domestic and sexual violence, must be determined locally, based on local need and priorities.
The Home office and UK Border Agency will shortly be launching a national scheme to assist victims of domestic violence who have no recourse to public funds if their application for indefinite leave to remain under the domestic violence rule is successful.
Domestic Violence: Victim Support Schemes
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps her Department is taking to ensure sustainable funding in the future for voluntary organisations working to assist women subject to domestic violence. [277492]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The Home Office is part of a cross-Government working group led by the Government Equalities Office. The aim of this group is to develop a long-term sustainable cross-Government engagement strategy with the Violence Against Women (VAW) third sector. The work of this Group is situated quite clearly within the context of the Home Office's consultation and following strategy on VAW.
Driving Offences: Licensing
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many charges for unlicensed vehicle offences have been brought based on evidence from speed cameras in each year since 1997. [276459]
Mr. Alan Campbell: Data on court proceedings for all motoring offences are given in Chapter 5, Criminal Statistics, England and Wales, 2007, available on the Ministry of Justice website at:
Data are not collected centrally on charges.
Drugs: Crime
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps her Department is taking to reduce the supply of Class B drugs. [276486]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The illegal supply of Class B drugs is a serious matter. Trafficking in controlled drugs of all classes needs to be tackled robustly in order to reduce the harm drugs cause to communities and the organised criminality associated with their supply.
The Government’s strategy is to bear down on all points in the drugs supply chain in order to disrupt criminal gangs, stifle drug supply and reduce the harm caused to communities in the UK. Increasing quantities of drugs are being seized and organised crime groups and dealers disrupted.
The latest figures published show that in 2007-08, there were 8,671 seizures of Class B drugs by the police and HMRC in England and Wales, up 4 per cent. from the 8,304 seizures the previous year. The majority of the Class B seizures in 2007-08 were amphetamines, with 8,412 in 2007-08, an increase of 5 per cent. from the previous year.
It is right that the police should prioritise action to tackle the offences which cause the most harm. For this reason, operational activity tends to focus on Class A drugs, particularly the supply of heroin and cocaine. Where Class B drugs pose a threat within a community, these will become a focus of police activity.
Drugs: Misuse
Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what financial interests (a) the Chairman and (b) each member of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and its technical committee have declared. [276006]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) will publish a register of interests of all council members on their website the week commencing 1 June. The register will include the interests of the chairman.
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her estimate is of the number of people who have used khat in each of the last 10 years. [276251]
Mr. Alan Campbell: No annual estimates are currently made of the number of people who have used khat.
The Home Office is planning to add questions to the British Crime Survey (BCS) from October 2009 to ask respondents about self-reported use of khat ever, in the last year and in the last month.
Sir Peter Soulsby: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of research commissioned by her Department on the individual and social effects of the use of khat in the UK. [276288]
Mr. Alan Campbell: In March 2005, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) was asked by the Home Office to assess the extent of the harm posed by khat use in the UK based on the evidence available at that time. The ACMD recommended khat not be controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act but it continues to monitor the situation in relation to khat through its technical committee.
The Government’s 2008 Drug Strategy Action Plan set out the intention to consider further the social harms created by khat use and to improve our understanding of the needs of khat users and their families.
In light of the commitments, the Home Office has commissioned a research project to examine the social harms associated with khat use and to explore the level and availability of treatment service provision for khat users and their families and will be considering the issue of classification.
Sir Peter Soulsby: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions officials of her Department have had with representatives of community organisations on the use of khat in the UK. [276289]
Mr. Alan Campbell: Representatives of communities in which khat is used have met both the Home Secretary and other Home Office Ministers, with officials present. Pursuant to the commitment in the Government's 2008 Drug Strategy Action, research that has been commissioned by the Home Office to examine the social harms associated with khat use will comprise a number of focus groups with members of the Somali, Yemeni, and Ethiopian communities. These groups will explore perceptions of the social harms associated with khat use.
Entry Clearances
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for an EEA Permanent Residence Card were undetermined at the latest date for which figures are available. [266349]
Mr. Woolas: As of 6 May 2009 the number of applications for an EEA Permanent Residence Card which were undetermined was 6,290.
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average time taken is between the receipt of an application for an EEA Permanent Residence Card and the issuing of such a card to successful applicants in the latest period for which information is available. [266350]
Mr. Woolas: Based on the applications decided over the preceding 12 month period, the average time elapsed from receipt of an application for an EEA Permanent Residence Card and the issuing of such a card to successful applicants was eight months.
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average processing time is for applications to the UK Border Agency for (a) registration certificates to EEA nationals and (b) residence cards to non-EEA family members of EEA residents; and if she will make a statement. [266504]
Mr. Woolas: Based on the applications decided over the preceding 12 month period, as of 6 May 2009 the average time taken by the UK Border Agency to issue Registration Certificates to EEA nationals was four months. The average time taken to issue Residence Cards to non-EEA family members of EEA residents was eight months.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which individuals have been prohibited from entering the United Kingdom since June 2007; what the reasons for the prohibitions applied were; and if she will make a statement. [274762]
Mr. Woolas: The information is as follows:
(a) A non-British national can be excluded (prohibited) from entering the UK if their presence here is not considered to be conducive to the public good. On 28 October 2008, my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary introduced a presumption that it would be in the public interest to disclose the names of individuals excluded from the UK on grounds of unacceptable behaviour from that date onwards. On 5 May 2009, the UK Border Agency published a list of 16 individuals who have been excluded since last October 2008. Further names will be published on a regular basis where it is considered to be in the public interest to do so.
(b) Since June 2007 the organisations known as Jammat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh and Tehrik Nefaz-e Shari'at Muhammadi have been added to the list of those proscribed by Order under the Terrorism Act 2000. In addition, the entry on the proscribed list for the Hizballah External Security Organisation was substituted in July 2008 by the following entry:
“The military wing of Hizballah, including the Jihad Council and all units reporting to it (including the Hizballah External Security Organisation)”.
Reasons for the proscriptions are provided on the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism website at the following address:
http://security.homeoffice.gov.uk/legislation/current legislation/terrorismact2000/proscribedgroups
Proscription creates a number of criminal offences relating to membership and support of the organisations concerned. Additionally, it is the policy of the UK Border Agency that individuals who are members of proscribed organisations should be excluded from entering the UK.
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