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12 Nov 2009 : Column 936W—continued
Departmental Information and Communications Technology
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with which organisations his Department has had exclusivity agreements for information technology (a) hardware and (b) software in each of the last five years; how many such agreements have been breached in each year; and what the cost to his Department was of each breach. [299691]
Mr. Woolas: It has not been possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Departmental Manpower
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of his Department's presenting officers were appointed (a) in 2007, (b) in 2008 and (c) between 1 January and 31 October 2009. [299234]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 10 November 2009]: It has not been possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Departmental Official Cars
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost of provision of Government cars to special advisers in his Department was in the last 12 months. [299590]
Mr. Woolas: It has not been possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Departmental Pay
Mr. Philip Hammond:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was claimed in
reimbursable expenses by press officers in his Department and its agencies in 2008-09. [299374]
Mr. Woolas: It has not been possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Departmental Postal Services
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with which providers (a) his Department and (b) its agencies had a contract to provide postal services in (i) 2007, (ii) 2008, (iii) between 1 January 2009 and 1 July 2009 and (iv) since 1 July 2009. [299436]
Mr. Woolas: It has not been possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Departmental Procurement
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether there has been any nugatory cost to his Department and its agencies on procurement under tender because the tender process had been cancelled prior to the award of the contract in the last 12 months. [299352]
Mr. Woolas: It has not been possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Departmental Statistics
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of the statistical datasets collected by his Department are published. [299666]
Mr. Woolas: It has not been possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Departmental Telephone Services
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many helplines his Department operates; and how much his Department has received from the operation of such helplines in each of the last three years. [294982]
Mr. Woolas: The information is as follows:
The core Home Office does not operate any helplines. However, a number of Home Office business areas fund or contribute to the running of helplines via third sector partners and external groups but do not receive any revenue from these arrangements.
There are currently five Identity and Passport Service (IPS) helplines which all use 0300 numbers. The amount of revenue IPS received from the 0870 services in the years before IPS changed to 0300 numbers is given in the following table.
The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) has six helplines which use 0870 numbers. The CRB does not receive any income from non-geographical contact telephone numbers.
The agency is currently reviewing moving all of its main Contact Centre numbers to 0300 numbers and has recently transferred its Sponsorship and Employer Helpline to 0300. Information about numbers and revenue is given in the table.
| Identity and Passport Service | ||
| Number of helplines | Re venue received from helplines (£) | |
All revenue received was used to offset the costs of running the services provided.
| UK Border Agency | ||
| Number of helplines | R evenue received from helplines (£) | |
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) average time to answer a call, (b) average waiting time for members of the public during a call, (c) percentage of calls dropped or not answered and (d) average length of calls was in call centres run by his Department and each of its agencies in the latest period for which figures are available. [299390]
Mr. Woolas: It has not been possible to respond to the right hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment has been made of the level of failure demand in call centres run by (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies. [299391]
Mr. Woolas: It has not been possible to respond to the right hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Deportation
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Hertsmere (Mr. Clappison) of 12 October 2009, Official Report, column 527-28W, on deportation, how many of the cases referred to in the table involved deportations or exclusions specifically on the grounds of fomenting extremism. [298172]
Alan Johnson:
I have taken the term "fomenting extremism" as equating to unacceptable behaviour under the policy announced by my right hon. Friend, the then Home Secretary on 24 August 2005. The powers to exclude or deport an individual on the grounds of their unacceptable behaviour are directed at foreign nationals
who foment hatred or violence in support of their extremist beliefs. I can confirm that during the period in question, 106 individuals were excluded and one individual was deported, on these grounds.
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of immigration removals were made successfully at the (a) first and (b) second attempt in each of the last five years. [299226]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 10 November 2009]: It has not been possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
DNA: Databases
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of crimes detected on the basis of a DNA profile of a person who had no previous convictions which had been retained on the National DNA Database in the last year for which figures are available. [298922]
Mr. Alan Campbell: I will write to the hon. Member.
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will bring forward proposals for the reform of the National DNA Database in light of the recent ruling of the European Court of Human Rights; and if he will make a statement. [299152]
Mr. Alan Campbell: It has not been possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Drugs
Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress is being made in international efforts to combat the trade in illegal drugs; and if he will make a statement. [298975]
Mr. Alan Campbell [holding answer 10 November 2009]: The United Nations World Drugs Report 2009 indicates the markets in traditional opium-using countries in south-east Asia are declining and the markets for heroin, cocaine and cannabis in the developed world are stable or declining. It also indicates that the global problem with amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) may be worsening, with increased seizures globally and diversifying locations and methods of manufacture.
The Government support the existing international control system under the three United Nations drug conventions. They continue to advocate the principle established by the UN General Assembly Special Session on drugs that the problem needs to be addressed through strategies and measures on both supply and demand. The Government also believe that there continues to be a need to focus on the harms that drug misuse and trafficking cause to society, communities and individuals.
The Government will continue to work with partners internationally to reduce the harm from drugs. Areas of international work that are relevant to combating the trade in illegal drugs include harmonisation between the work of the UN drugs bodies and other UN activity, for example in HIV/AIDS transmission from needle
use; data collection and analysis standards; cooperation between states in supply reduction; controlling the flow of precursor chemicals; developing further and using more effectively practices found to reduce supply and demand; and methods of infrastructural development to make alternatives to drug crop cultivation viable for poor farmers.
Examples of practical work by the Government and its agencies include the provision of projects to develop new livelihoods for farmers in drug producing areas. The Serious and Organised Crime Agency, working with law enforcement agencies and other bodies in the UK and abroad, has contributed to 85 tonnes of cocaine seizures in the past year and we have seen a decline in reported street level purity of cocaine in this country.
Drugs: Misuse
Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) on what date he first discussed with Professor David Nutt his concerns about Professor Nutt's public statements on the Government's policy on drugs; [297879]
(2) what his policy is on whether the (a) Chairman and (b) members of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs may comment in public on the Government's policy on drugs; [297880]
(3) what the (a) job description and (b) remit is of (i) the Chairman and (ii) the members of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs; [297881]
(4) whether the actions of the Chairman and members of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs are governed by a code of conduct. [297906]
Mr. Alan Campbell [holding answer 9 November 2009]: The then Home Secretary explained in Parliament, on 9 February 2009, that she had had a telephone conversation that morning with Professor Nutt in which she made it clear that she felt that his comments went beyond the scientific advice that she expected from him as chair of the ACMD. The then Home Secretary also wrote to Professor Nutt on 25 February 2009 and explained that
"it was not the role of the Chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs to initiate public debate as to the appropriateness or otherwise of the Government's policy framework".
It was explained that it is the role of the Home Secretary to make decisions based on all relevant factors as they relate to public protection and that the role of advisers is to provide advice based on the evidence. The duty of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs is set out in the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. The job descriptions and remit of the chair and members of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs are set out, in accordance with the remit of the council as described in the Misuse of Drugs Act, in the applicants pack when applying for a position on the council.
Guidelines for the chairman and members of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, including those on speaking in public, are provided by the Code of Practice for Scientific Advisory Committees. In addition, the chair and members of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs are expected to comply with the council's own code of practice, which is based on the wider Code of Practice for Scientific Advisory Committees.
Entry Clearances
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many visas have been rescinded on the grounds that a spouse signed under duress or threat of violence; and what steps his Department takes against the perpetrators of such duress or violence. [291741]
Mr. Woolas: I will write to the hon. Member.
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to reduce the backlog in processing visa applications. [297679]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 10 November 2009]: The UK Border Agency aims to process all visa applications in line with published service standards. These are:
To complete 90 per cent. of straightforward, non-settlement applications in not more than a week, 98 per cent. in not more than two weeks, and 100 per cent. in not more than 12 weeks.
To complete 90 per cent. of non-straightforward, non-settlement applications in not more than three weeks, 98 per cent. in not more than six weeks and 100 per cent. in not more than 12 weeks.
To complete 95 per cent. of applications for settlement visas in not more than 12 weeks and 100 per cent. in not more than 24 weeks.
Performance against these targets is published monthly on our website at
There are no global backlogs. However, where circumstances arise that mean that we are unable to meet these targets in particular locations, we aim to take quick and effective action to improve performance and reduce any backlog that has built up. For example, we have recently deployed additional resources to our visa operation in Pakistan and aim to clear the current backlogs there by mid November.
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