House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 03 Nov 2009 (pt 0018)

3 Nov 2009 : Column 864W—continued

Drugs: Smuggling

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been (a) cautioned, (b) prosecuted and (c) convicted of offences relating to the unlawful importation or exportation of drugs in each of the last 10 years; and how many of those convicted received the maximum available sentence. [296659]

Claire Ward: I have been asked to reply.

The number of offenders issued with a caution and the number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for offences relating to the unlawful importation or exportation of drugs in England and Wales, from 1998 to 2007 (latest available) is given in tables 1 and 2 respectively.

The number of defendants given the maximum available custodial sentence for offences relating to import or export of a controlled drug in England and Wales, from 1998 to 2007, is given in table 3.

Court proceedings data for 2008 are planned for publication at the end of January 2010.

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Table 1: Number of offenders cautioned^{( 1)} for offences relating to the unlawful importation or exportation of controlled drugs, England and Wales, 1998 to 2007^{( 2, 3)}
Statute/offence description	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Customs and Excise Management Act 1979: Offence in relation to the unlawful 'importation' of a drug controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971	29	16	5	3	1	6	9	15	10	11
Customs and Excise Management Act 1979: Offence in relation to the unlawful 'exportation' of a drug controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971	5	8	11	1	6	6	8	4	24	6
⁽¹⁾ From 1 June 2000 the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 came into force nationally and removed the use of cautions for persons under 18 and replaced them with reprimands and warnings. These figures have been included in the totals. ⁽²⁾ The cautions statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been cautioned for two or more offences at the same time, the principal offence is the more serious offence. ⁽³⁾ Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Office for Criminal Justice Reform: Evidence and Analysis Unit.

Table 2: Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for offences relating to the unlawful importation or exportation of controlled drugs, England and Wales, 1998 to 2007^{( 1, 2, 3, 4)}
	1998		1999		2000		2001		2002
Statute/offence description	Proceeded against	Found guilty	Proceeded against	Found guilty	Proceeded against	Found guilty	Proceeded against	Found guilty	Proceeded against	Found guilty
Customs and Excise Management Act 1979: Offence in relation to the unlawful 'importation' of a drug controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971	1,300	1,190	1,280	1,171	1,201	1,165	1,752	1,648	1,624	1,599
Customs and Excise Management Act 1979: Offence in relation to the unlawful 'exportation' of a drug controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971	112	59	74	25	51	40	22	30	30	21

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	200 3		2004		200 5		2006		200 7
Statute/offence description	Proceeded against	Found guilty	Proceeded against	Found guilty	Proceeded against	Found guilty	Proceeded against	Found guilty	Proceeded against	Found guilty
Customs and Excise Management Act 1979: Offence in relation to the unlawful 'importation' of a drug controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971	1,081	1,063	945	975	1,057	1,026	874	835	818	783
Customs and Excise Management Act 1979: Offence in relation to the unlawful 'exportation' of a drug controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971	28	18	18	37	25	35	30	35	38	36
⁽¹⁾ The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences, the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. ⁽²⁾ Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. ⁽³⁾ Staffordshire police force were only able to submit sample data for persons proceeded against and convicted in the magistrates courts for the year 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robust enough at a detailed level and have been excluded from the table. ⁽⁴⁾ Where the 'found guilty' column exceeds the 'proceeded against' column it may be the case that a defendant was found guilty at the Crown court in the year following the year in which proceedings took place, or the defendant was found guilty for a different offence to that proceeded against. Source: Office for Criminal Justice Reform: Evidence and Analysis unit.

Table 3: Defendants given maximum available custodial sentence for offences relating to import or export of controlled drug^{( 1)} , 1998 to 2007
	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Import⁽²⁾	1	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-
Export⁽³⁾	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
⁽¹⁾ Customs and Excise Management Act 1979. Offences in relation to the unlawful importation/exportation of a drug controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. ⁽²⁾ Maximum available sentence for import of class A or other class is life imprisonment, for class B and C it is 14 years. ⁽³⁾ Maximum available sentence for export of class A or other class is life imprisonment, for class B and C it is 14 years. Note: These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. 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.

Entry Clearances

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has taken account of the published anti-Semitic views of any individuals seeking to enter the United Kingdom when deciding whether to grant entry to such individuals in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [283707]

Mr. Woolas: I would refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 11 March 2009, Official Report, column 462W and would re-affirm that where there is clear, reliable evidence that a person has engaged in unacceptable behaviour, which would include inciting racial or religious hatred, consideration will be given to whether or not that person should be refused entry to the United Kingdom.

This may be at the entry clearance application stage, where applicable, or when a person arrives at the port of entry. In certain cases the Home Secretary may personally decide that a person should be excluded from the United Kingdom.

Figures on the number of refusals of entry to the United Kingdom on the basis of the published anti-Semitic views of individuals are not recorded centrally.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the reasons are for the time taken by the UK Border Agency to process applications by European nationals for permanent residence. [293114]

Mr. Woolas: The length of time taken by UK Border Agency to determine applications submitted by European nationals for permanent residence is subject to a number of factors-both internal and external to the Agency. Internally UK Border Agency has had to refocus resource and this has impacted on the Agency's ability to deal with applications as quickly as we would wish. Externally, the number of incomplete applications received has led to delays in the caseworking process.

On both counts, we have introduced a number of measures in the past six months to improve performance. The Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006 stipulate this documentation should be issued as soon as possible after an application and proof of entitlement have been submitted. If an application is not submitted with adequate supporting evidence then delays are necessarily incurred as that information is obtained.

Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many civil and unmarried partners of UK residents who are from outside the European Economic Area have been admitted to the UK in each of the last five years. [295688]

Mr. Woolas [holding answer 26 October 2009]: The available information is provided in the following table.

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Statistics on passengers given leave to enter the United Kingdom by purpose of journey are published in table 1.2 of the Home Office publication "Control of Immigration: Statistics United Kingdom 2008" which is available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics website at:

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration-asylum-stats.html

Passengers^{( 1, 2)} entering the United Kingdom as civil and unmarried partners, 2004-08, United Kingdom
Number of journeys
	2004^{( 3)}	2005	2006	2007^{( 4)}	2008^{( 5)}
Total civil partners⁽⁶⁾	n/a	n/a	105	1,890	1,955
Of which:
Proposed civil partner	n/a	n/a	5	*	5
Civil partner admitted for a probationary period	n/a	n/a	100	1,890	1,930
Civil partner given indefinite leave to enter	n/a	n/a	-	-	20

Total unmarried partners⁽⁷⁾	90	115	290	190	335
Of which:
Common law spouse admitted for a probationary period⁽⁸⁾	45	55	110	110	295
Same sex partner admitted for probationary period⁽⁹⁾	50	55	185	80	40
n/a = Not applicable. ⁽¹⁾ Figures rounded to the nearest 5 (- = 0, * = 1 or 2). Figures may not sum to the totals shown because of independent rounding. ⁽²⁾ Excludes EEA and Swiss nationals. ⁽³⁾ Includes nationals of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia before 1 May 2004, but excludes them from this date. ⁽⁴⁾ Excludes Bulgaria and Romania. ⁽⁵⁾ Provisional figures. ⁽⁶⁾ The Civil Partnership Act 2004 came into force on 5 December 2005. ⁽⁷⁾ In table 2.1 of Control of Immigration Statistics United Kingdom 2008 the figure for 'civil and unmarried partners and proposed civil partners' for 2006 excludes unmarried partners. This will be corrected in table 1 of Control of Immigration Statistics Summary, United Kingdom July to September 2009, scheduled for publication on 26 November 2009. ⁽⁸⁾ Includes common-law spouse of a diplomat admitted for a probationary period. ⁽⁹⁾ Includes same sex partner of a diplomat admitted for a probationary period. Source: Migration Statistics, Home Office.

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