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30 Jun 2009 : Column 166W—continued
Members: Correspondence
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he plans to reply to the letter of 27 November 2008 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr. Mohsin Zafar. [250864]
Alan Johnson: The then Home Secretary replied to my right hon. Friend on 25 March 2009.
Overseas Students: Entry Clearances
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been (a) prosecuted for and (b) convicted of immigration offences related to the student visa system in the last 12 months. [279319]
Alan Johnson: The system used by the UK Border Agency to record data relating to prosecutions for immigration offences does not categorise individuals by the nature of their stay in the UK.
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.
Passports
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for passports were found to be supported by birth certificates which claimed to but did not relate to the applicant in each of the last five years. [281933]
Alan Johnson: From 1 April 2005 to 31 March 2009 IPS records indicate that there were 492 applications identified in which an impostor used the genuine birth certificate of another person to support a passport application.
| Number | |
In addition, for the same period IPS records indicate that 258 instances were identified in which a passport application was supported by a forged, counterfeit or stolen blank birth certificate.
| Number | |
These figures do not constitute part of National Statistics as they are based on internal management information. The information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols, should be treated as provisional and is subject to change.
Police: Lancashire
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) police officers and (b) police community support officers (PCSO's) were assigned to duties in each parliamentary constituency in the Lancashire County Council area in the latest period for which figures are available; how many police officers were assigned to duties in each such constituency in 1997; and how many PCSOs were assigned to duties in each such constituency in 2003. [282076]
Mr. Hanson: Police personnel data are not available by parliamentary constituency. Information for Lancashire along with basic command unit (BCU) data for police officers and police community support officers (PCSOs) for 2007-08 is provided in the tables.
Police strength by police basic command unit was collected centrally for the first time for the period beginning April 2002 and is therefore not available for earlier years.
Information on the number of PCSOs in BCUs is not available for 2003 as it has only been collected since June 2005.
| Police officer strength by basic command unit, 31 March 2008( 1) —Lancashire police force | |
| Full-time equivalent | |
| BCU( 2) | Police officers |
| (1) These figures are based on full-time equivalents that have been rounded to the nearest whole number; due to rounding there may be an apparent discrepancy between totals and the sums of constituent items. Figures include those officers on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave. (2) Airport BCUs do not have a population attributed to them. | |
| Police community support officer strength by basic command unit, 31 March 2008( 1) —Lancashire police force | |
| Full-time equivalent | |
| BCU( 2) | Police community support officers |
| (1) These figures are based on full-time equivalents that have been rounded to the nearest whole number; due to rounding there may be an apparent discrepancy between totals and the sums of constituent items. Figures include those officers on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave. (2) Airport BCUs do not have a population attributed to them. | |
Police: Voluntary Work
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his most recent estimate is of the number of police volunteers in Greater London. [283011]
Mr. Hanson: At the end of March 2008 there were 2,510 special constables in the Metropolitan Police Service and 72 in the City of London Police.
We do not collect information about the number of volunteer police staff or volunteer cadets.
Road Traffic Offences
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will bring forward legislative proposals to make (a) the filming of and (b) the subsequent online publication of video recordings of instances of road traffic violations an offence; and if he will make a statement. [281783]
Mr. Alan Campbell: We have no current plans to change what can legally be filmed and published on the internet.
Serious and Organised Crime Agency
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 16 June 2009, Official Report, column 197W, on the Serious and Organised Crime Agency, what estimate he has made of the proportion of the 5,000 persons of interest resident in the UK. [281835]
Alan Johnson: Approximately 95 per cent. of the Serious Organised Crime Agency’s current persons of interest (POI) are recorded as having a UK address.
Justice
Ashwell Prison
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prison officers are employed at HM Prison (HMP) Ashwell; and whether any prison officers at HMP Ashwell have been relocated to other prisons following the disturbance on 11 April 2009. [273534]
Mr. Straw: There are currently 117.5 prison officers employed at HMP Ashwell, two less than the present target staffing figure. The 117.5 are made up of 91 officers, 21 senior officers and 5.5 principal officers.
Since 1 June 2009, 20 officers and three senior officers have been carrying out temporary detached duty at other prisons within the East Midlands region. The remainder of the unified staff are engaged in normal business running the prison, which still holds 204 prisoners in the secure areas of the prison that were not damaged in the disturbance on 11 April 2009. They are additionally continuing the process of clearing up the establishment, bringing back into use work areas damaged during the disturbance, and recovering and returning prisoners’ property from the damaged areas of the prison to those prisoners that have been transferred.
Damages Act 1996
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will ensure the discount rate for future loss under the Damages Act 1996 reflects the real rate of return for index-linked government stock and equity; and if he will make a statement. [282499]
Bridget Prentice: The discount rate under the Damages Act 1996 is kept under review. It would not be appropriate for the Government to give any indication of how or when this is done, as this would generate speculation that could significantly affect settlements in personal injury cases.
Domestic Violence: National Offender Management Service
Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what programmes to tackle domestic violence are being developed within the National Offender Management Service. [282404]
Maria Eagle: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) currently delivers three specific accredited programmes to perpetrators of domestic violence—two in the community and one in prison. In addition NOMS delivers a range of other accredited programmes that may be appropriate in these cases which address violent and sexual offending. NOMS is undertaking a review of the suite of existing programmes which will help inform commissioners and future developments.
Ernst and Young
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what criteria were used to determine when to commission Ernst and Young to conduct economic research as part of the Legal Services Commission’s review of family law legal aid funding; and if he will make a statement. [282439]
Bridget Prentice: The LSC commissioned the Ernst and Young research as part of their responsibility as a commissioning organisation to ensure that the impacts on client access to family advocacy services are fully understood, and in order to gain a fuller economic understanding of the market for family advocacy. It was always the LSC’s intention to undertake this research alongside the consultation process. The LSC has agreed to share the outcome of the Ernst and Young research with a number of stakeholders representing legal service providers and will do so shortly.
The LSC issued the invitation, to tender for the research contract as soon as possible after the consultation began.
Judicial Appointments for England and Wales
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many Judicial Appointments Commission staff at each civil service grade were on secondment from his Department and its predecessor in each of the last three years. [282554]
Mr. Straw: The breakdown of secondees from the Ministry of Justice and its predecessor Departments to the Judicial Appointments Commission by civil service grade is set out in the following table:
| Number | |||||||
| SCS | Grade 6/7 | SEO | HEO | EO | AO | Total | |
The Judicial Appointments Commission publishes headline information about its staffing in its Annual Reports, which can be found on their website at:
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