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15 July 2009 : Column 397W—continued
The information has been provided with reference to the published statistics.
British Nationality
Mr. Wallace:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have (a) been prevented from entering the UK, (b) been deported
from the UK and (c) had their British citizenship revoked under the UK Border Agency's powers to exclude those who promote violent extremism and stir up hatred. [286112]
Mr. Woolas: The Government's unacceptable behaviours policy is directed at those who advocate hatred or violence in support of their beliefs. Since the introduction of the policy in August 2005, there have been (a) 106 exclusions, (b) one deportation and (c) no deprivations of citizenship on unacceptable behaviour grounds.
Cannabis: Suffolk
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many seizures of cannabis were made by the police in Suffolk in each of the last five years. [286271]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The information requested is given in the following table.
| N umber of police seizures of cannabis in Suffolk police force area, 2003 to 2007-08( 1) | |
| Number of Cannabis seizures | |
| (1 )The drugs seizures collection was changed from a calendar year basis to a financial year basis from 2006-07 onwards. (2 )Increases in cannabis seizures in 2004 and 2005 are thought to be associated with the introduction of cannabis warnings on 1 April 2004. (3 )2005 figures onwards are unrounded; previous years rounded. | |
Citizenship: Gurkhas
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Gurkhas have (a) applied for, (b) been granted and (c) been refused British citizenship in each of the last 15 years. [262733]
Mr. Woolas: UKBA does not capture information relating to the employment of individual applicants electronically. We can not therefore provide information on the numbers of Gurkhas or former Gurkhas who have naturalised in the past 15 years as a British citizen. The information requested could be obtained by the detailed examination of individual case records of all Nepalese nationals who had applied for British citizenship in the past 15 years only at disproportionate cost.
Crime: Suffolk
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crimes committed by (a) males and (b) females aged between 10 and 17 years were recorded in Suffolk in each of the last five years. [286272]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The information requested is not collected centrally. From the recorded crime statistics collected by the Home Office it is not possible to identify the age or sex of the alleged offender.
The Ministry of Justice collects information on the number of persons proceeded against and convicted by age and sex.
Crimes of Violence: West Suffolk
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crimes of violence against the person were recorded as occurring in West Suffolk constituency in each of the last five years. [286269]
Mr. Alan Campbell: Information for the West Suffolk constituency is not available centrally. West Suffolk comes within the Forest Heath crime and disorder reduction partnership (CDRP) area and figures for this CDRP are provided in the following table.
| Offences of violence against the person recorded in Forest Heath | |
| Number of offences | |
Criminal Records Bureau
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much on average it cost the Criminal Records Bureau to process a (a) standard and (b) enhanced check in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [285971]
Mr. Hanson: The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) is an Executive agency of the Home Office and issues higher level disclosures (both standard and enhanced) for employment and licensing purposes, as provided for in part V of the Police Act 1997. The CRB has been self-funding since 2006.
Fees have been frozen at the 2006-07 level, meaning the cost of a disclosure has not increased since April 2006. This has been achieved as a direct result of year on year internal efficiency savings and year on year increases in demand.
Approximately 20 per cent. of applications are from volunteers and disclosures for volunteers continue to be processed free of charge. This has resulted in a considerable saving for the voluntary sector.
As the CRB is self-funding, the processing costs for all the volunteer applications, processed free of charge, needs to be recovered through the fee paid by other applicants; consequently, the fee must be set higher than the unit cost.
The unit cost of a standard and an enhanced disclosure is the average cost to the CRB of producing one disclosure, irrespective of whether the disclosure is paid for. The following table shows the unit costs in each of the last five financial years.
| £ | ||
| Financial year | Standard disclosure | Enhanced disclosure |
Demos
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what (a) private meetings and (b) public engagements Ministers in his Department have attended at which representatives from the think-tank Demos were present in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [279500]
Mr. Woolas: Ministers have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.
Departmental Energy
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much (a) electricity and (b) gas was used (i) on his Department's estate and (ii) by his Department's agencies in each year from 2004-05 to 2008-09. [280524]
Mr. Woolas: Central Government Departments and their Executive agencies report performance data on their energy consumption from their offices annually as part of the Sustainable Development in Government (SDiG) reporting process.
For the properties that we collect data and report on, the electricity and gas use is as follows:
| kWh | 2005-06 (Baseline) | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | |
| (1) Core includes Home Office, UKBA and Home Office Scientific Development Branch. (2) Agency includes Identity and Passport Service. | ||||
Departmental Responsibilities
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Ministers with responsibility for victims of crime in England and Wales there have been in his Department since 1997. [286094]
Mr. Alan Campbell [holding answer 13 July 2009]: There were in total seven Ministers in the Home Office with responsibility for victims of crime in England and Wales between the Government coming to power in 1997 and the creation of the Ministry of Justice in 2007. Ministry of Justice Ministers now have overall responsibility for victims of crime.
Deportation
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his Department's policy is on discussing planned deportations with representatives of the government of the destination country based (a) in the UK and (b) in that country. [283093]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 30 June 2009]: The UK Border Agency works in close partnership with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) on return of individuals who do not have a right to remain in the UK, including those who are subject to deportation. The FCO leads in liaison with foreign missions in the UK, and through the FCO network of UK missions overseas, to work with the authorities in the country of destination. This includes both establishing overall agreements on returns policy with the receiving country and liaison on specific cases.
DNA: Databases
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 2 June 2009, Official Report, column 359W, on DNA: databases, how many children aged under 10 years have had DNA samples taken with the consent of a parent or guardian in the last 12 months; and for how long on average such samples were retained. [278668]
Mr. Alan Campbell [holding answer 8 June 2009]: A DNA sample may only be taken from a child under 10 with the consent of a parent or guardian. Such samples are taken from children aged under 10 for elimination purposes to assist in the investigation of an offence e.g. from children who are the victim of a crime or who had legitimate access to a crime scene. These samples are then destroyed and not put on the actual database. Information on the number of such samples taken and the average length of time for which they were retained is not held centrally.
The DNA profiles of all children aged under 10 taken by England and Wales police forces have been removed from the National DNA Database, and the database is monitored to ensure that this remains the case.
Drugs
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been sentenced to immediate custody for possession of (a) cannabis and (b) ecstasy in each year since 1997. [286045]
Claire Ward: I have been asked to reply.
The requested information is shown in the table:
| Number of immediate custodial sentences imposed for possession of cannabis or MDMA, 1997-2007 | ||||
| Possession of MDMA | Possession of MDMA with intent to supply | Possession of cannabis | Possession of cannabis with intent to supply | |
| Notes: 1. These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. 2. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system Source: OMS Analytical Services, Ministry of Justice | ||||
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