| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
7 July 2009 : Column 726W—continued
Domestic Violence
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions he has had with representatives of Respect on domestic abuse. [284104]
Mr. Alan Campbell: Respect is a member of the Home Office Domestic Violence Stakeholder Advisory Group which is chaired by myself. Respect attended the last meeting on 3 June.
Dr. Naysmith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what contribution his Department has made to the cross-Government consultation, Together We Can End Violence Against Women and Girls; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure adequate funding for specialist voluntary sector organisations dealing with violence against women. [281412]
Dawn Primarolo: I have been asked to reply.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families is part of an inter-ministerial working group and a
cross-Government steering group for the Violence Against Women and Girls consultation and strategy.
DCSF is establishing a new advisory group to consider how schools should help tackle violence against women and girls, and how the relevant strands of ongoing DCSF work can most effectively be harnessed to maximise their impact. Gill Frances has been offered and accepted the role of chair of the group which will be meeting before the summer break.
The funding for specialist voluntary sector organisations dealing with violence against women is one of the issues being considered as a part of the consultation and strategy and any decisions on this will be announced when the strategy is published in the autumn.
Driving: Fines
Mr. Amess:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will bring forward proposals to increase the fixed penalty for offences under section 14(3) of the Road Traffic Act 1998 to £60; what recent
representations he has received on this issue; and if he will make a statement. [R] [283706]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The fixed penalty for these offences was increased to £60 by the Fixed Penalty (Amendment) (No. 3) Order 2009. The increase came into effect on 30 June.
Drugs: Screening
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases of (a) testing of drugs and (b) testing for drugs using (i) blood and (ii) urine samples were processed at each Forensic Science Service laboratory in each of the last five years. [283602]
Mr. Alan Campbell [holding answer 2 July 2009]: The records on blood and urine tests carried out by the Forensic Science Service are generated by the machines running the analysis. These records do not differentiate between tests on or for blood and urine and cannot be broken down by type.
| Drugs case demand report | ||||||
| Case count | ||||||
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009( 1) | |
| (1) To 29.June | ||||||
The testing of samples of body fluids and tissues for drugs (both drugs of abuse and medicinal drugs) is carried out at the FSS labs in Chorley and London. Both laboratories carry out toxicology examinations in support of a wide range of criminal investigations; in addition the Chorley lab carries out tests of blood and urine in relation to the investigation of impaired driving through drugs. The cases of impaired driving are reported separately in the following table.
| 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | |
Entry Clearances: Married People
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions an application for a marriage visa has been refused on the basis of violence or coercion of a spouse since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [282244]
Mr. Woolas: The grounds for refusing a spouse visa as set out in the Immigration Rules are that the following requirements are not met:
(i) (a) The applicant is married to or the civil partner of a person present and settled in the United Kingdom or who is on the same occasion being admitted for settlement; or
(b)(i) the applicant is married to or the civil partner of a person who has a right of abode in the United Kingdom or indefinite leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom and is on the same occasion seeking admission to the United Kingdom for the purposes of settlement and the parties were married or formed a civil partnership at least four years ago, since which time they have been living together outside the United Kingdom; and
(b)(ii) the applicant has sufficient knowledge of the English language and sufficient knowledge about life in the United Kingdom, unless he is under the age of 18 or aged 65 or over at the time he makes his application; and
(ii) the parties to the marriage or civil partnership have met; and
(iii) each of the parties intends to live permanently with the other as his or her spouse or civil partner and the marriage or civil partnership is subsisting; and
(iv) there will be adequate accommodation for the parties and any dependants without recourse to public funds in accommodation which they own or occupy exclusively; and
(v) the parties will be able to maintain themselves and any dependants adequately without recourse to public funds.
As such we do not keep records of visas refused where coercion may have been a factor in determining the nature of the relationship. In 2008 the forced marriage unit of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office dealt with 200 immigration-related cases.
Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the timetable is for the review of the policy of no recourse to public funds for those entering the UK on a spouse visa in relation to people who are victims of domestic violence and trafficking. [282908]
Mr. Woolas: The Home Office and the UK Border Agency are working together to introduce a new scheme for victims of domestic violence whose applications for indefinite leave to remain under the domestic violence rule are successful. The scheme will provide a contribution towards the housing and living costs incurred by the supporting organisation, while the applicant’s ILR application was outstanding with the UK Border Agency.
The scheme was due to be implemented in June 2009, however, Ministers and stakeholders raised concerns about whether the scheme adequately supported victims. We are taking further time to consider these concerns.
The Council of Europe Convention on Trafficking came into force on 1 April and has provisions for identified victims to access a 45 day reflection period which gives access to accommodation and other services.
Entry Clearances: Overseas Students
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of applications from (a) Chinese, (b) Indian and (c) US nationals for a student visa have been rejected since 31 March 2009. [281392]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 19 June 2009]: The percentage of applications from (a) Chinese, (b) Indian and (c) US nationals for entry as a student under Tier 4 of the Points Based System between 31 March 2009 and 26 June 2009 is shown in the following table:
| PBS Tier 4 (Student) VISA applications: 1 April 2009 to 26 June 2009 | |||||||
| Received | Issued | Refused | Withdrawn | Lapsed | Total resolved | Percent refused | |
| Note: 1. These data are unpublished and should be treated as provisional 2. Some applications received in the period will be resolved after the period end, and some applications resolved in the period will have been received prior to the period start. Source: Central Reference System | |||||||
Firearms
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were arrested at airports for firearms offences in the last 12 months. [284107]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The data requested are not available.
The arrests collection held by the Home Office covers arrests for recorded crime (notifiable offences) recorded by the police forces in England and Wales, broken down by police force area, offence class and age group of arrestee. From these centrally reported data, it is not possible to separately identify firearms offences from within these offence groups.
Information on the specific location of arrests does not form a part of this collection.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |