| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
10 Nov 2009 : Column 334W—continued
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people (a) took and (b) passed the life in the UK citizenship test in each month of 2009. [297618]
Mr. Woolas: The following table breaks down the number of tests taken this year.
| 2009 | Number of tests delivered | Passes |
| Note: October figures are not yet available. | ||
Crime Prevention: Cars
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cars in (a) the Vale of York, (b) Yorkshire and the Humber and (c) England are fitted with a tracking device. [295744]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The information requested is not collected by central Government.
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what advice is provided to people who leave their cars parked in the driveway on protecting their vehicle from theft. [295745]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The Home Office continues to provide advice to people on how to protect their cars. Advice on the Home Office website suggests fitting alarms or steering locks and, for older cars, immobilisers. It also advises against leaving items on display, and suggests ways of securing items attractive to thieves, such as car stereos and wheels.
The website also provides advice to householders on protecting themselves from burglary, including advice on keeping car keys out of sight of doors and windows, closing and locking doors and windows, and advising on appropriate security standards to take account of when replacing windows or doors.
The website provides a number of published crime prevention guides, including "Steer Clear of Car Crime", which provides advice for people on protecting their car and its contents from theft, including specific advice on keeping car keys safe from thieves, and on how to take account of security when purchasing new or used cars. It also includes contact information for other organisations who may be able to provide more detailed or specific advice and information.
A further publication, "Be safe be secure" provides advice on minimising the risks of becoming a victim of a number of different crime types, including car theft and burglary.
The Home Office is also now preparing an updated version of the publication "Keep it safe, keep it hidden, keep it locked" which also provides advice to members of the public on protecting their possessions, including cars and their contents.
The Home Office keeps the advice it provides under review to ensure that what it provides is accurate, relevant and useful. It is currently considering how best to ensure that the advice is readily available to those who are not already aware of it, or applying it.
Departmental Manpower
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of his Department's staff worked (a) part-time and (b) full-time on asylum removals in each of the last five years. [297612]
Mr. Woolas: Over the last five years the internal organisation of the United Kingdom Border Agency and that of its predecessor organisations changed considerably. It is not possible to distinguish the set of staff working on every aspect of 'removals' from their colleagues over the period requested except at disproportionate costs.
Deportation
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff were working in the assisted voluntary return unit on 1 October 2009. [297620]
Mr. Woolas: 27 full-time equivalent staff worked in the assisted voluntary return unit on 1 October 2009.
Detention Centres: Suicide
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) children and (b) adults are recorded as having attempted suicide while held in immigration removal centres in each of the last five years. [297613]
Mr. Woolas: We do not have a central definition of attempted suicide as it is not always clear whether an individual who seeks to harm themselves intended to kill themselves.
We take the safety of those in our care very seriously, and operate a system called Assessment Care in Detention and Teamwork (ACDT) to identify and help those who are at risk of suicide or self harm. Notices in various languages are displayed around Centres setting out that, where there is a concern about a fellow detainee, this should be brought to the attention of a member of staff.
Entry Clearances: Pakistan
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many visa applications submitted to the British consulate in Islamabad are outstanding; and what steps he plans to take to expedite the processing of such applications. [293610]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 16 October 2009]: As of 23 October, there were approximately 1,000 visa applications at the visa section in Islamabad which were awaiting initial assessment and processing before being passed to Entry Clearance Officers in the Abu Dhabi visa hub for a decision.
The UKBA has deployed additional temporary staff to Islamabad and Abu Dhabi with the aim of clearing the backlog by mid-November.
Entry Clearances: Religious Persons
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applicants from each country seeking to visit the UK for the purpose of speaking in mosques have been (a) granted and (b) refused the right to visit the UK in each of the last five years. [295821]
Alan Johnson: The UK Border Agency is unable to identify from its records those visa applicants who wished to visit the UK for the specific purpose of speaking in mosques. There has been provision in the Immigration Rules since November 2008 for non-EEA nationals who wish to undertake some preaching or pastoral work in the UK to enter as business visitors. While the agency keeps a record of those applying for entry in this category, the category is open to applicants of all faiths and the agency cannot therefore identify Moslem applicants from others. The agency is also unable to identify from its records of visit visa applications prior to November 2008 those that were made for religious purposes.
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many imams from each country have been (a) granted and (b) refused the right to work in the UK in each of the last five years. [295822]
Alan Johnson: While the UKBA can provide information on the numbers of non-EEA nationals who have been granted leave to enter or remain (1) prior to 27 November 2008, as a minister of religion, missionary or member or religious order; and (2) since 27 November 2008, as a minister of religion or temporary religious worker under the points based system, these immigration categories are open to applicants from all religious faiths and it is not possible to separately identify those applicants who were imams or of any other particular faith.
Fraud: Learning Disability
Mr. Tom Clarke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent steps he has taken to reduce the incidence of fraud against people with learning disabilities. [297986]
The Solicitor-General: I have been asked to reply.
The National Fraud Authority is committed in its business plan to deliver, in partnership, an improved service to the victims of fraud. This service is to be piloted in the west midlands police area from January and will place a particular emphasis on providing a tailored service to vulnerable people.
The pilot is to be delivered in the community by specialist agencies, mainly from the third sector, and if successful rolled out to the rest of England and Wales by the end of 2010. One aim of the pilot is to stop the multiple victimisation of some of our most vulnerable citizens.
Illegal Immigrants
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) individuals and (b) businesses have paid a civil penalty fine for employment of an illegal immigrant in 2009. [297610]
Mr. Woolas: The following table shows the numbers of civil penalties paid by individuals and businesses for offences related to illegal working under section 15 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, from 1 January to 30 September 2009. Where the individual or business in question can show that they are unable to pay their full penalty as a lump sum, arrangements for payment in instalments can be agreed with the UK Border Agency.
| 1 January-30 September 2009 | Individuals | Businesses |
These figures do not constitute part of National Statistics as they are based on internal management information. The information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols, should be treated as provisional and is subject to change.
Immigration
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in how many cases an application for (a) asylum and (b) leave to remain was initially refused and subsequently granted following the intervention of an hon. Member in (i) 2005, (ii) 2006, (iii) 2007, (iv) 2008 and (v) 2009. [298108]
Mr. Woolas: The Case Information Database (CID) used by the UK Border Agency records details of applications for asylum and leave to remain, including whether or not the application has been refused or granted. It also records details of any intervention in the case by an hon. Member, but not in such a way as to allow the automatic extraction of the data requested.
To establish this information, therefore, would require the manual examination of a large number of individual records at disproportionate cost.
The Home Office publishes statistics on decisions on applications for an extension of leave to remain on an annual basis, and on initial decisions on applications for asylum and on appeals on a quarterly and annual basis. National Statistics on immigration and asylum are placed in the Library of the House and are available from the Home Office's Research, Development and Statistics website at:
Immigration Controls
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what proportion of sponsor licence applications have taken longer than four weeks to process in each of the last 36 months. [294390]
Alan Johnson: The start date for applications was 29 February 2008. Applications for processing were received from April 2008. The following table shows the number of sponsor licence applications that have taken longer than four weeks to process, expressed as a total and as a percentage of all sponsor licence applications processed.
| Total of sponsor licences >four weeks | Percentage of sponsor licences >four weeks | |
| Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to nearest five. 2. The figures quoted are not provided under National Statistics protocols and have been derived from local management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change. | ||
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |