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25 Nov 2009 : Column 215W—continued
Safer Schools Partnerships
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent estimate he has made of the number of safer schools partnerships; and how many such partnerships are structured on the basis of a full-time officer based within a secondary school or college. [300298]
Mr. Alan Campbell: A survey of the number of Safer School Partnerships (SSPs) in England was carried out this summer following publication of guidance in May 2009 which tightened the definition of an SSP. The results of this survey are currently being verified by the Association of Chief Police Officers and therefore are not yet available.
Information on how many partnerships are structured on the basis of a full-time officer is not collected centrally.
Sponsor Register
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which institutions (a) have had an application to join the sponsor register refused and (b) have been removed from the register of licensed sponsors since 31 March 2009. [301084]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 24 November 2009]: This question cannot be answered due to the commercial sensitivity of the information requested.
The number of institutions that have had an application to join the sponsor register refused between 31 March 2009 and 23 November 2009 is 1,080.
The number of sponsors removed from the sponsor register between 31 March 2009 and 23 November 2009 is 30.
Figures are rounded to nearest five.
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.
Student Visitors
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what criteria students who are travelling to the UK to study for a period of less than 26 weeks must meet to be permitted to enter the UK under the student visitor route as an alternative to entering under Tier 4 of the points-based immigration system. [301661]
Mr. Woolas: The criteria for those wishing to seek entry as a student visitor are set out in paragraph 56K of the Immigration Rules and paragraph 2.14 of the Immigration Directorate Instructions. This category allows those who wish to come to the United Kingdom as a visitor to undertake a short period of study which will be completed within the period of their leave. In order to qualify student visitors must be coming to an institution that is either the holder of a sponsor licence for Tier 4 of the points based system or accredited by a UKBA approved accreditation body. Those attending an overseas higher education institution that offer part of their programmes in the United Kingdom may also seek entry under this route providing the overseas institution hold their own national accreditation and offer programmes that are of an equivalent level to a United Kingdom degree.
Student visitors are not permitted to undertake paid or unpaid work placements as part of the course, nor are they permitted to take part-time employment. Six months is the maximum time a student visitor may stay in the United Kingdom and applications for either leave to enter or remain beyond that period would fall to be refused.
Students Visas
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many student visa applications have been (a) granted and (b) refused in Pakistan since the introduction of the Tier 4 immigration rules; and what the average time from submission of application to decision has been in each month since the rules were introduced. [301085]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 24 November 2009]: As of 30 September, the number of student visa applications lodged in Pakistan under Tier 4 of the Points Based System that had been (a) successful and (b) refused were 5,906 and 3,517, respectively.
Information about the performance of our visa application centres against target visa application processing times in each quarter is available on our Visa Services website:
Processing times in Islamabad for Tier 4 applications has been as follows:
| Processing time- tier four application: Islamabad | ||
| Percentage | ||
| 15 days | 30 days | |
Terrorism Act 2000
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been (a) stopped, (b) detained and (c) arrested under Schedule 7 (Port and Border Controls) to the Terrorism Act 2000 since 2004; and how many of those were subsequently convicted of a terrorist offence. [301036]
Mr. Hanson: The use of Schedule 7 powers of examination is an important tool in countering terrorism and those who would seek to do harm to the UK and its interests. Terrorists often need to travel across borders to plan, prepare and initiate their acts and these powers are essential in identifying those individuals.
Examinations for longer than one hour are recorded centrally; there were over 10,400 examinations in the period between 1 January 2004 and 30 September 2009.
Of these 1,110 persons were detained under the examining officer powers in Schedule 7 and 8 for the same period.
There were 99 arrests of persons examined under Schedule 7 during this period for terrorism related offences, of which 17 were initially charged in relation to offences under the Terrorism Act 2000 and 31 were charged with other terrorist related offences.
Of those charges there were 43 convictions. Some individuals will have been charged with more than one offence or had a charge varied later on advice from the Crown Prosecution Service.
The powers contained in Schedule 7 are kept under scrutiny by the noble Lord Carlile of Berriew, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation. Lord Carlile has commented and made recommendations as to the use of these powers but has consistently found the powers to be necessary and proportionate.
UK Border Agency
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to paragraph 27 of the letter of 19 October 2009 from the Chief Executive of the UK Border Agency to the Home Affairs Committee, which areas of business have been asked to review their files; what advice has been given to businesses in each such area on such reviews; in how many cases in each area of business no record has been found of an individual having left the country in the circumstances set out in the letter; and what assessment he has made of the findings of such reviews. [300411]
Mr. Woolas: Lin Homer, chief executive of the UK Border Agency, will update the Home Affairs Select Committee in January 2010 with further information on the progress on the 40,000 older, archived non-asylum files referred to in the last update.
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the letter of 19 October 2009 from the Chief Executive of the UK Border Agency to the Home Affairs Select Committee, what estimate has been made of the number of non-archived non-asylum cases in respect of which an application has been dealt with but where there is no formal record of an individual having left the country; what criteria are used in the archiving of such files; and if he will make a statement. [300412]
Mr. Woolas: Lin Homer, the chief executive of the UK Border Agency, will update the Home Affairs Select Committee in January 2010 with further information on the progress on the 40,000 older, archived non-asylum files, which are files and not people, referred to in the last update.
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many raids UK Border Agency officials conducted in each region in 2008. [300990]
Mr. Woolas: In 2008, the UK Border Agency carried out the following numbers of enforcement operations in each region:
| Number | |
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 and should be treated as provisional and subject to change.
Warehouse Parties
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of illegal raves which have taken place in the Milton Keynes local authority area in each of the last five years; and how many (a) crimes and (b) accidents arising from such events were reported in that period. [300717]
Mr. Alan Campbell: Thames Valley police have informed me that there have been three events which they classified as illegal raves over the last four years and that no crimes were reported or investigated regarding offences of damage or assault at these events. Several arrests were made for drugs related offences. The police do not hold information on accidents.
Women and Equality
Equalities and Human Rights Commission
Mr. Stewart Jackson:
To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what recent discussions she has had with the Equalities and Human Rights Commission
concerning transparency in respect of (a) opening the Commission's board meetings to the public and (b) publication of the Commissioners' register of interests; and if she will make a statement. [301005]
Maria Eagle: Transparency and openness are matters of great importance to the Equality and Human Rights Commission Board. This reflected in their new Governance Framework adopted earlier this year. Commissioners have already agreed to consider at their board meeting in December proposals for increasing its accessibility to the public and for making its register of interests publicly available.
Children, Schools and Families
Children: Carers
Mr. Lancaster:
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families in how many
households in North East Milton Keynes constituency a child under the age of 18 years fulfils the role of a carer for a disabled parent. [300716]
Dawn Primarolo: Precise local and national data on the number of children under the age of 18 years caring for a disabled parent is not collected centrally.
Class Sizes
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the average class size of (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in (i) Lewes constituency, (ii) Sussex and (iii) England and Wales was in each year since 1997. [301282]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: The information available is shown in the table.
| Maintained primary and state funded secondary( 1) schools-Classes as taught( 2, 3) -Years: position in January in each year coverage-England | |||||
| 1998 | 2001 | 2005 | 2009 | ||
| (1) Includes CTCs and Academies. (2) One teacher classes as taught during a single selected period in each school on the day of the census in January. 3. Includes middle schools as deemed. Source: School Census | |||||
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