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12 Nov 2009 : Column 922W—continued
Asylum: Appeals
Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals there are in the UK who have appealed to the Immigration Appeals Tribunal against a request to grant them refugee status whose appeal has failed and who are still within the jurisdiction. [296404]
Mr. Woolas: The Immigration Appeals Tribunal no longer exists. The present Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT) was created on 4 April 2005 by a merger of the Immigration Appellate Authority (IAA) and the Immigration Appeals Tribunal (IAT).
The number of asylum seekers who have their appeals dismissed and the number of failed asylum seekers who are removed from the UK, or voluntarily depart, are published quarterly and can be found on the Home Office website at:
The most recent published figures relate to the second quarter of 2009 and show that 1,945 asylum appeals were dismissed by the AIT. In the same quarter, 2,400 failed asylum seekers were either removed from the UK or departed voluntarily.
Asylum: Families
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 1 September 2009, Official Report, column 1871W, on asylum: families, what assessment has been made of the reasons for the reduction in the number of visas issued to overseas nationals under the age of 18 years in the family reunion category between 2004-05 and 2008-09; and if he will make a statement. [298187]
Mr. Woolas: I will write to my hon. Friend.
Asylum: Iraq
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many unsuccessful asylum seekers have (a) been granted a right to remain in the UK, (b) been deported to Iraq and (c) been taken into detention after a refusal to travel to Iraq in (i) each of the last three years and (ii) 2009 to date. [299800]
Mr. Woolas: It has not been possible to respond to my hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation.
Borders: Personal Records
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what data are collected by the UK Border Agency in respect of international rail travellers entering the UK; and what such data will be required to be collected under the e-borders scheme. [296790]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 2 November 2009]: International rail travellers are subject to the same checks as all other arriving passengers in the UK. Non-European economic area nationals entering the UK by rail are required to complete a landing card which captures up to 14 pieces of information, including bio-data and passport number. EEA nationals are required to provide a passport or national identity card.
Under the e-Borders scheme, the legal obligations on rail carriers are identical to those imposed upon all other modes of transport. The e-Borders system requires carriers to provide the data contained in the machine readable zone (MRZ) of a passport. The eight data fields are: name, date of birth, nationality, gender, travel document type, state of issue, number and expiry date.
In addition to travel document information, carriers may be required to provide other passenger information (OPI) to e-Borders, but only to the extent that it is known to the carrier.
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the proportion of exits from the UK recorded by the e-borders scheme in 2009; and what target percentages have been set for each of the next 10 years. [296792]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 2 November 2009]: e-Borders has set the following two target percentages for the capturing of passenger and crew movements into and out of the UK:
95 per cent. by December 2010
100 per cent. by end of March 2014
The programme is being progressively rolled out throughout 2009, and 91 million per annum passenger movements entering and departing the UK are currently being recorded.
British Nationality: Assessments
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applicants for British citizenship have successfully completed (a) the Life in the UK test and (b) an English for speakers of other languages course in each year since these schemes were introduced. [296757]
Alan Johnson: Since the test was introduced for settlement back in early 2007, a total of 220,726 people have passed the test to obtain settlement (ILR) in the UK. A breakdown of the number of tests taken for Citizenship against those taken for Settlement is given in the following table.
Applicants may take the Life in the UK Test as many times as they wish but records are not kept of how many times each individual applicant takes the test.
(Please note: 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.)
| Citizenship | Settlement | ||
The method of satisfying the ESOL requirements for naturalisation is not recorded on NCID in such a way that it can easily be reported on. (The individual case records would have to be examined-so a disproportionate cost response will have to be given so far as use of the ESOL route for this purpose is concerned.)
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applicants for UK citizenship were found to have submitted fraudulent certificates of (a) a pass in the Life in the UK test and (b) attendance at an English for speakers of other languages course in each year since these schemes were introduced. [296758]
Alan Johnson: The individual case records would have to be examined as we do not currently hold statistics regarding the submission of fake pass note letters (PNLs) for those that have taken the LitUK route. Earlier this year an applicant was successfully prosecuted and subsequently received a 15 month custodial sentence when they submitted a fake PNL with an Indefinite Leave to Remain application.
No specific records are held for those having submitted bogus ESOL certificates.
All records would also need to be examined and could be done so only at disproportionate cost.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many colleges which provided (a) the Life in the UK test and (b) the English for speakers of other languages course have been removed from the Government's list of approved educational establishments. [296759]
Alan Johnson: The information is as follows:
(a) At the start of the year there were 92 live test centres, during the year 23 centres have left the network and a further seven have been added. There are currently 76 "live" Life in the UK Test Centres across the country. However we plan to further reduce the number of centres to 60-65 by January 2010. Some are being removed from the network due to their close proximity to existing centres, but the main reason for downsizing the network is in response to declining demand rather than instances of malpractice or improprieties at individual centres.
The existing centres are subject to stringent routine checks by senior Ufi staff to ensure that they meet the required standards.
(b) The Register of Education and Training Providers maintained by the Department for Education and Skills up to 31 March 2009 contains the names of educational establishments, but not the details of the course they teach. Therefore, it is not possible to say how many colleges providing English language courses were removed.
The RETP contained approximately 15,000 registered educational establishments. Of this number, it is estimated that 4,000 establishments provided courses to international students. The UK Boarder Agency register of sponsors has further reduced this number to around 2,000 establishments.
Burglary: Cambridgeshire
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offenders received a police caution for residential burglary in each of the Cambridgeshire Constabulary basic command units in each year since 1997. [299927]
Mr. Alan Campbell: It has not been possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
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