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21 Oct 2009 : Column 1527W—continued
Royal Mail: Meetings
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many meetings between the management of Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union a Minister from the Government have attended in the last 12 months; and in what capacity such Ministers attended in each case. [294547]
Mr. McFadden: Ministers have not attended any joint meetings between the management of Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union in the last 12 months. Ministers keep in regular touch with both Royal Mail management and the Communication Workers Union.
Train to Gain Programme
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate his Department has made of the number of learners trained under the Train to Gain programme who would have received training from their employer in the absence of the programme. [290270]
Kevin Brennan: We have made no such estimate.
Train to Gain: Finance
Mr. Drew: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what plans he has to simplify the operation of Train to Gain; what the annual budget for Train to Gain is; and if he will discuss how to improve its operation with regional development agencies. [292435]
Kevin Brennan: The Department has introduced a range of measures to streamline Train to Gain for employers and skills providers and to simplify access. For example, we have brought together the Train to Gain and Business Link brokerage services to make it easier for businesses to identify the learning requirements of their staff, alongside their wider business needs. We are continuing to monitor Train to Gain with the aim of reducing paperwork and easing administrative burdens on providers.
The budget for 2009-10 is £925 million as set out in the Learning and Skills Council Grant Letter for 2009-10.
In future Regional Development Agencies will have a stronger role in articulating skills priorities for their regions, which will influence training provision through Train to Gain and other programmes.
Written Questions: Government Responses
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what the reasons are for the time taken to answer question 245130, tabled on 15 December 2008, on replies to correspondence. [286350]
Kevin Brennan [holding answer 16 July 2009]: I am responding to the hon. Member today.
Substantive answer from Kevin Brennan to Adrian Sanders:
I apologise to the hon. Member for the extraordinary delay in responding to his question.
The issue raised in his original correspondence was unusually difficult in terms of departmental lead, and officials mistakenly decided to wait until a decision had been made before responding to the question.
Home Department
Alcoholic Drinks: Young People
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people in each police force area were (a) prosecuted, (b) cautioned and (c) issued with a penalty notice for disorder for selling alcohol to a person under the age of 18 in 2008. [294206]
Mr. Alan Campbell: Data from 2008 will be available in January 2010.
Asylum: Children
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children have sought asylum in the UK in each of the last five years; how many such children have been the subject of an age dispute; and how many such age dispute cases were resolved in favour of the asylum claimant. [289400]
Alan Johnson: The following table shows the number of asylum applications by unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASCs) made between 2004 and 2008 and the number of applications which were the subject of an age dispute. Figures on the number of asylum applications by unaccompanied asylum seeking children involving an age dispute which were subsequently resolved in favour of the applicant are not collated by the UK Border Agency and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Information on asylum is published annually and quarterly. The "Quarterly Control of Immigration Q2 2009" and the annual "Control of Immigration 2008" was published on 27 August 2009 and is available in the House Library and from the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate website at:
| Unaccompanied asylum seeking children applications received in the United Kingdom, excluding dependants, on applications and age disputed applications, 2004-08( 1) | ||||||
| Principal applicants | ||||||
| Applications( 2, 3) | Age disputed applications( 4, 5) | |||||
| Total | Port | In country | Total | Port | In country | |
| (1) Figures rounded to nearest 5, with '*' = 1 or 2 and '-' =0 and may not sum due to independent rounding. (2) An Unaccompanied asylum seeking child (UASC) is a person under 18, or who, in the absence of documentary evidence establishing age, appears to be under that age; is applying for asylum in his or her own right and; is separated from both parents and is not being cared for by an adult who by law or custom has responsibility to do so. (3) Figures exclude age dispute cases. (4) An age dispute case refers to an applicant who claims to be a child, but whose appearance and/or demeanour strongly suggests that they are 18 or over, and whose age is disputed by the UK Border Agency unless there is credible documentary or other persuasive evidence to demonstrate the age claimed. (5) Includes cases for which age disputed at time of application. (6) Provisional figures. | ||||||
Asylum: Housing
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) in which local authority areas the UK Border Agency has housed asylum seekers who are eligible for temporary accommodation in housing owned by social landlords; [289358]
(2) in which local authority areas the UK Border Agency has rented empty social housing to accommodate asylum seekers. [289359]
Mr. Woolas: The UK Border Agency has 30 contracts with 18 suppliers on a national basis for the provision of accommodation for eligible asylum seekers.
The UK Border Agency has contracts with:
North West Consortium (which comprises Manchester city council, Blackburn with Darwen council, Oldham metropolitan borough council, Bolton metropolitan borough council, council of the city of Salford, Bury Metropolitan borough council and Rochdale metropolitan borough council).
West Midlands Consortium (which comprises Birmingham city council, Coventry city council, Dudley metropolitan borough council and Wolverhampton city council).
Yorkshire and Humberside Consortium (which comprises Leeds city council., The Sheffield city council, The borough council of Calderdale, Kingston Upon Hull city council, The council borough of Kirklees, The city of Wakefield metropolitan district council, The City of Bradford metropolitan district council, Barnsley metropolitan borough council, Doncaster borough council and Rotherham borough council).
North East Consortium (which comprises Newcastle Upon Tyne city council, Gateshead metropolitan borough council, Sunderland city council, Tyneside Metropolitan borough council, Middlesbrough borough council, Stockton borough council and Darlington borough council).
Northern Ireland Housing Executive
Five city councils:
Liverpool
Nottingham
Cardiff
Swansea
Glasgow
Two not-for-profit organisations:
YMCA Glasgow
Refugee Housing Association (operating in Derby, Leicester and Nottingham)
Six private sector companies
The consortia, the city councils and the not-for-profit organisations may partly or wholly source their accommodation from social landlords.
The UK Border Agency does not maintain records of which particular accommodation units are sourced from social landlords. However, unless the UK Border Agency permitted sharing within relevant law then the property would be empty before accommodating asylum seekers.
Automatic Number Plate Recognition
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 13 July 2009, Official Report, column 137W, on Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), what data is collected by the National ANPR Data Centre other than that ANPR data which is collected and stored locally. [289590]
Alan Johnson: The only data collected by the National ANPR Data Centre (NADC) are that which are collected and stored locally.
The NADC is currently under development and test. There are 40 police forces now supplying data and all police forces will be doing so by the end of 2009.
Information specifically relating to 2005 is not held centrally and some information would not be held on either the local or central ANPR systems.
British Nationality
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign nationals have become regularised British citizens by each route to nationality in each year since 1997. [294153]
Alan Johnson: Statistics on persons granted British citizenship are published annually and quarterly in the Home Office Statistical Bulletins "British Citizenship Statistics United Kingdom, 2008" and "Control of Immigration: Quarterly Statistical Summary, United Kingdom July to September 2009". These publications may be obtained from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics website at:
Broadcasting Programmes: Finance
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much funding his Department allocated to support the television production Good 4 the Hood. [294483]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 20 October 2009]: The Home Office partnered with the youth targeted channel MTV to develop the Good 4 The Hood campaign, to engage and inspire young people to be part of the solution in overcoming crime in their local area. The Home Office has spent a total of £70,000 on production costs for the Good 4 The Hood campaign. These costs included the production of TV and online adverts, a bespoke website and the four part MTV series.
Cybercrime: EC Action
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he plans to take towards ratification of the European Cybercrime Convention. [294207]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The Government are committed to ratifying the Council of Europe Cybercrime Convention. We are currently working through the process of ratification, following which we will lay the required Explanatory Memorandum before Parliament to obtain approval for ratification. If Parliament agrees to ratification, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office will then commence the formal ratification process with the Council of Europe.
DNA: Databases
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many profiles have been removed from the national DNA database by each police force in each month since 9 March 2009; and if he will make a statement. [294061]
Mr. Alan Campbell: Table 1 shows the number of subject profiles removed from the National DNA Database under the exceptional case procedure, i.e. following a request to the chief officer of the responsible police force from the person concerned, in each month from 9 March 2009 to 15 October 2009. The table covers subject profiles from English and Welsh forces and the British Transport police.
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