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13 Oct 2009 : Column 840W—continued
Asylum: Children
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) aims and (b) eligibility criteria are of the Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children Grant is; how much funding was (i) distributed to local authorities via the grant and (ii) subsequently spent by local authorities by local authority in each year since the grant began; and what estimate he has made of the amount of such funding to be provided in the next two years. [292410]
Mr. Woolas: The aim of the grant is to assist local authorities in meeting the costs of supporting unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC) under the provisions of the Children Act 1989. With a few small exceptions all UASC that the local authorities are supporting can be included in a claim for funding under the terms of the grant. The full terms of the grant and eligibility criteria can be found at:
The grant reimburses local authorities for expenditure already incurred (subject to audit). It is not possible to break down expenditure under the grant by year before financial year 2005/06 because of the way in which funding claims from local authorities before that time were finally settled.
The breakdown of total expenditure over the past four years is set out in the table:
| Total expenditure (£ million) | |
It is anticipated that funding levels for the next two years will be at roughly the same level as at present but this depends on discussions with local authorities and on the numbers of new UASC that arrive in the United Kingdom.
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what categories of expenditure are covered by the Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children Grant; how many children have received such funding in each local authority in each year since the grant began; and what estimate he has made of such funding in the next two years. [292411]
Mr. Woolas: The grant covers the main expenditure local authorities incur in looking after unaccompanied asylum seeking children. This includes the cost of a foster placement, the cost of accommodation provided when fostering is not the placement option, the cost of the social workers who provide the care and general administrative costs.
The numbers of children covered by the expenditure since the financial year 2005-06 is set out in the following table. It is not possible to break down numbers before 2005-06 because of the way in which funding claims from local authorities before that time were finally settled.
It is anticipated that funding levels for the next two years will be at roughly the same level as at present but this depends on discussions with local authorities and on the numbers of new UASC that arrive in the United Kingdom.
| Supported numbers at end of year | |
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of the progress of his departmental goal to transfer a large number of Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children away from London and the South East as stated in his Department's February 2007 consultation paper, Planning better outcomes and support for unaccompanied asylum seeking children. [292412]
Mr. Woolas: Insufficient local authorities outside the South-East have expressed a willingness to accept the transfer of the children to their areas to make this policy goal viable.
We are therefore developing the other policy goals set out in the consultation paper on the basis that children who are the responsibility of authorities in the South-East will stay in that area for as long as they remain in the United Kingdom.
Business: Government Assistance
Mr. Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many loans have been granted under the Small Business Loan Guarantee Scheme to small and medium-sized businesses in Birmingham, Sparkbrook & Small Heath constituency since the establishment of the Scheme. [291445]
Ms Rosie Winterton: I have been asked to reply.
The Small Business Loan Guarantee Scheme announced in November 2008 was launched as the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) in January 2009.
Within the constituency of Birmingham, Sparkbrook & Small Heath, as of 16 September 2009, eight businesses have been offered loans totalling £833,265.
Departmental Manpower
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the average length of employment of staff of his Department at each Civil Service payband. [290570]
Mr. Woolas: The following table provides the average length of employment of staff in the Home Office and its agencies at each pay band as at 31 March 2009.
| Pay band | Median length of service (years) as at 31 March 2009 |
The average length of employment refers to the length of time employees have been working in the Home Office and its agencies rather than time in a particular pay band or career length of service.
Drugs: Sentencing
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been sentenced to immediate custody for possession of drugs of each (a) type and (b) class in (i) each police force area and (ii) England in each of the last 10 years. [291481]
Claire Ward: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested has been placed in the Libraries of the House.
Entry Clearances
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to prohibit Yunus Yosfiah and Christoforus da Silva from entering the UK following their naming by the Coroner of New South Wales in her findings on the murders of British citizens Malcolm Rennie and Brian Peters in 1975 in East Timor; and if he will make a statement. [292313]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 12 October 2009]: It is not Home Office policy to comment on individual cases. Any individual whose presence in the UK is not considered conducive to the public good may be denied entry.
Entry Clearances: Appeals
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance he has issued on the time elapsing between an appeal determination being issued by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal and a visa being issued to the applicant. [291932]
Mr. Woolas: Guidance on Appeals (INF 19) is available on the UK Border Agency's Visa Services website:
This advises appellants that it can take up to six weeks for the visa section to be notified through official channels that an appeal has been allowed, and that the visa section will then contact the appellant. Visa sections are expected to do so within three weeks of receiving the notification. The guidance does not go on to indicate how long it will then take for the visa to be issued as this will depend on how quickly the appellant returns their passport to the visa section and the number of checks that need to be carried out.
Mr. Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when his Department plans to implement the decision of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal in respect of the appeal OA/46462/2008; what the average period between a tribunal decision in favour of an appellant in an entry clearance case and the granting of entry clearance was in the most recent period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [292046]
Mr. Woolas: Although appeal number OA/46462/2008 was allowed on 2 March 2009, notification was not received in the Visa Section in Islamabad until 10 June. A letter was sent to the appellant on 15 June requesting submission of the passport and this was subsequently received on 2 July. Verification checks were then undertaken and the visa was issued on 8 October. The processing was delayed due to a backlog of appeal cases in Islamabad. The UK Border Agency plans to reduce this to near zero levels by mid-November. Turnaround times in allowed appeal cases will then be significantly quicker.
Entry Clearances: Pakistan
Mr. Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when a decision on the entry clearance application made to the High Commission in Islamabad, reference 1494299, will be made. [292044]
Mr. Woolas: Entry clearance application reference Islamabad 1494299 was submitted on 15 April 2008 and a decision was made on 6 June 2008. Although the appeal against the decision was allowed on 2 March 2009, notification was not received in the Visa Section until 10 June 2009. A letter was sent to the appellant on 15 June 2009 requesting submission of the passport, and this was subsequently received on 2 July 2009. Verification checks were then undertaken and the visa was issued on 8 October 2009.
The delay in processing was due to a backlog of appeal cases in Islamabad. The UK Border Agency plans to reduce this to near zero levels by mid-November. Turnaround times in allowed appeal cases will then be significantly quicker.
Entry Clearances: Students
Mr. Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of people who entered the UK on a student visa and remained in the UK after the expiration of the visa in the last 10 years. [291928]
Mr. Woolas: Since the phasing out of embarkation controls in 1994 no Government has ever been able to produce an accurate figure for the number of people who have overstayed their visas, including those who entered on a student visa.
However, as part of the Government's 10-point plan for delivery, by 2010 over 95 per cent. of non-EEA foreign nationals will be counted in and out of the country, rising to 100 per cent. by 2014. This is part of a sweeping programme of border protection which also includes the global roll-out of fingerprint visas, watch-list checks for all travellers before they arrive or depart from the UK and ID cards for foreign nationals.
Further to this, Local Immigration Teams (LITs) are being established to serve every community in the UK. Each local team will enforce immigration laws working shoulder-to-shoulder with police, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, local authorities and other local partners to target immigration crime (including seeking to detect and remove those overstaying on their visa) and address local community concerns on migration. By December 2011 there will be a team serving every community in the country.
Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he plans to take to ensure the effectiveness of the system for granting visas to overseas students wishing to study in the UK; and if he will make a statement. [291978]
Mr. Woolas: At the end of March this year we implemented Tier 4 of the Points Based System for international students.
We have monitored carefully the implementation of the new system, making various small changes to it in the light of experience. We have now received and processed more student applications than at the equivalent time last year, predominantly within customer service standards. Further IT changes will be introduced between now and February 2010 to further improve processing. We have kept in close touch with stakeholders to understand their needs.
Information on end to end processing times at each overseas post can be found at:
https://ukvisas-stage.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/howtoapply/processingtimes
Human Trafficking: Females
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many shelters for trafficked women his Department plans to build in each of the next five years. [291552]
Claire Ward: I have been asked to reply.
The Council of Europe Convention on Trafficking which the Government ratified in December last year commits the UK to provision of sheltered accommodation for all those trafficked women who need it.
The Government have consequently invested £4 million into specialist support services for victims of human trafficking over the next two years.
This includes an investment of £3.7 million into the Poppy project to expand and improve the services that are available to victims that have been trafficked into
the sex-industry and domestic servitude. The additional investment will see an expansion of supported accommodation, with refuge places for victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation and domestic servitude in London, Sheffield and Cardiff. The investment will also fund a new national co-ordinator who will help set best practice standards and work with areas to raise awareness with local agencies and funding commissioners. There will also be an increase in advocacy workers to help provide one-to-one tailored support and the community outreach team will also be extended with two link workers based within the UK Human Trafficking Centre to work in partnership with the police, UK Border Agency and other partners to help with victim identification and onward referral into support.
Additionally, £300,000 is being invested into the UK Human Trafficking Centre to develop flexible support services for victims of labour trafficking.
National Security
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures are in place to protect the supply of (a) water, (b) food and (c) communications from burn-out caused by an electromagnetic pulse attack. [289836]
Mr. Hanson [holding answer 12 October 2009]: The Government's Cyber Security Strategy of the United Kingdom, published alongside and reflected in the National Security Strategy update, considers a number of methods of cyber attack, including those that generate high levels of power that can damage or disrupt unprotected electronics. It also outlines the new governance structures and workstreams which will build on existing work to take forward the Government's plans for reducing the impact on and vulnerability of the UK's interests from cyber attacks.
The Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) provides advice on electronic or cyber protective security measures to the businesses and organisations that comprise the UK's critical national infrastructure, including public utilities, companies and banks CPNI also runs a CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) service which responds to reported attacks on private sector networks. In addition, CESG, provides government departments with advice and guidance on how to protect against, detect and mitigate various types of cyber attack.
It would not be in the interests of national security to provide information about specific protective measures relating to electromagnetic pulse attack.
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