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30 Nov 2009 : Column 484W—continued
Statistics covering applications for accession worker cards and registration certificates by nationals of Bulgaria and Romania (known as the A2 countries) are available from the UK Border Agency website at:
The above publications are also available from the Library of the House.
| Section 1: Border Control: Table 1.4-Work permit holders and dependants given leave to enter the United Kingdom, excluding EEA and Swiss nationals, 1999 to 2008( 1) | ||||
| Number of persons | ||||
| All nationalities( 2) | ||||
| Year of admission | Total | Employment for 12 months or more | Employment for less than 12 months( 3) | Dependants of work permit holders |
| (1) Figures rounded to the nearest five ('-' = 0, * = 1 or 2) and may not sum to the totals shown because of independent rounding. (2) Nationals of EU accession countries are included or excluded according to their accession date. (3) Includes the majority of work permit trainees. (4) A change in procedures may have resulted in some under-recording for the fourth quarter of 2000 and the first quarter of 2001. (5) Revised figures. (6) Provisional figures. | ||||
Foreign Workers: Entry Clearances
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment his Department has made of the effect on domestic workers requiring a visa of the cost of visa renewal. [300720]
Mr. Woolas: Domestic workers make up a small proportion of the total number of leave to remain applications. There has been no specific assessment of the effect on domestic workers requiring a visa of the cost of visa renewal.
Foreigners: Detainees
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign national prisoners were being held on the immigration detention estate on 1 November 2009. [301236]
Mr. Woolas: The UK Border Agency continues to build upon the success we have made with the deportation and removal of foreign national prisoners. In 2008 we deported or removed a record 5,395 foreign national prisoners. The process of deportation can be delayed in a number of ways through last minute legal barriers and the documentation process is often lengthy for some nationalities.
As at 1 August 2009 there were approximately 1,800 foreign national offenders detained under immigration powers who had completed their sentence and were awaiting deportation. Around 500 of those were detained under immigration powers in prisons with the remaining in immigration removal centres.
Foreigners: Prisoners
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign national prisoners were classified as mentally disordered on 1 November 2009. [301315]
Claire Ward: I have been asked to reply.
Information is not available in the form requested. Regardless of nationality, when a prisoner is suffering from a mental disorder which requires treatment in
hospital, he/she can be transferred to hospital by the Secretary of State. However, statistical information is not specifically collected on numbers of foreign national prisoners transferred to hospital.
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign national prisoners under the age of 18 years there were in prison on 1 November 2009. [301316]
Claire Ward: I have been asked to reply.
Data on foreign nationals are normally published quarterly. However, due to previously announced problems with the prison IT system the most recent data available relate to June 2009.
At the end of June 2009, there were 174 foreign national prisoners (FNPs) in England and Wales, aged under 18 years.
These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Gurkhas
Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent estimate he has made of the total annual cost of welfare benefits for (a) Gurkha ex-servicemen settled in the UK, (b) dependants of such servicemen who have emigrated to the UK following the recent change in his Department's policy and (c) Gurkha servicemen who would be eligible to settle in the UK on their retirement; and if he will make a statement. [300424]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 23 November 2009]: There have been no recent estimates made on the cost of welfare benefits for those former members of the Brigade of Gurkhas and their dependents who have already served in the UK or will choose to do so as a result of the discretions announced earlier this year. Nor has there been any estimate made about the total cost of welfare benefits for those Gurkhas still serving who choose to settle in the UK upon discharge.
When the publication of the revised guidance was announced it was estimated that the likely annual cost of allowing all former Gurkhas to settle in the UK would be £1.4 billion. This figure was based on cross Government consultation.
Hate Crimes
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation designed to tackle hate-related offences. [300483]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The Government have not made any recent formal assessment of the effectiveness of this legislation. In September 2009 the Home Office published the Cross-Government Hate Crime Action Plan. This plan brings together a range of work being delivered across Government and criminal justice agencies to target hate crime. The development of the Action Plan, involved informal assessment of the current legislative provision against the work being delivered.
Human Trafficking
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what funding he has allocated to the training of competent authority decision-makers for the identification of potential victims of human trafficking in each of the next three years. [301255]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 26 November 2009]: Funds have not been specifically allocated for training of competent authorities. To date this training has been treated as a business as usual cost by UKBA, supported by the UK Human Trafficking Centre and a number of voluntary sector organisations. There are no plans to change this arrangement.
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of competent authority decision-makers responsible for the identification of potential victims of human trafficking are employed by the UK Border Agency. [301256]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 26 November 2009]: There are approximately 180 trained staff within UKBA who undertake this role part-time, alongside other duties. The UK Human Trafficking Centre (UKHTC) is the only other organisation that hosts competent authority decision-makers and it has three full-time competent authority posts.
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what mechanisms are in place for the review of a reasonable grounds decision taken by a competent authority decision-maker in relation to a potential victim of human trafficking. [301257]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 26 November 2009]: There is no requirement under the Council of Europe Convention against trafficking to create a specific right of appeal. The reasonable grounds decision is a low threshold which is made following multi-agency consultation and engagement. There is also an opportunity for first responders to provide additional information if the competent authority is initially unable to make a positive identification. This helps to ensure that the right decisions are taken and victims are properly identified. There are also standard avenues for appealing immigration decisions, and a reasonable grounds decision can be subject to judicial review.
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many competent authority decision-makers have been trained since the implementation of the National Referral Mechanism for the identification of victims of human trafficking; and how many competent authority decision-makers he expects to be trained in the next three years. [301258]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 26 November 2009]: Over 180 people have been trained to act as competent authority decision makers within the national referral mechanism. There are no plans to significantly increase that number but the position will be regularly reviewed against the number of referrals made. New competent authorities will be trained if it is necessary to meet an increase in trafficking numbers.
Identity Cards: Costs
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much his Department had spent on identity card readers on 1 October 2009. [301309]
Mr. Woolas: As of 1 October 2009 the UKBA has spent £107,574 on readers for identity cards for foreign nationals.
Illegal Immigrants
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment has been made of the effects of the clearance of the informal camp near Calais on levels of migration into the UK. [301218]
Mr. Woolas: Following commitments made by both the UK and French Governments under the Evian Agreement, the area in Calais known as "the jungle" was cleared on 22 September 2009.
An assessment was immediately conducted and showed that figures for clandestine arrivals into the UK, via the juxtaposed locations, had fallen following the operation. Ongoing assessments reveal the number of clandestine attempts to reach the UK from juxtaposed ports, has halved when compared to the same period last year. There were 1,170 individual attempts in October 2008, compared with 569 in October 2009(1).
The French authorities continue to monitor the area and dismantle any further illegal camps, which has reduced the number of migrants in the vicinity.
We continue to build on cross-border joint intelligence and enforcement work, in order to dismantle organised immigration crime groups. In addition to this we work closely with our French partners to improve port security and increase the number of returns flights.
(1) Statistics have been sourced from locally collated management information held within locally accessed computer systems and do not represent National Statistics. They have not been the subject of National Statistics protocols and verification and should therefore be treated as provisional and subject to change.
Immigrants
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in countries of origin on assistance packages for returning migrants. [300562]
Mr. Woolas: The Government want people who are in the UK illegally to leave voluntarily and, in co-operation with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), it operates assisted voluntary return schemes to help them to do so.
The Secretary of State for the Home Department has had no recent discussions with his counterparts in countries of origin on assistance packages for returning migrants.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effects of (a) monetary incentives and (b) other factors on return migrant flows; and if he will make a statement. [300564]
Mr. Woolas: The Government want failed asylum seekers who are in the UK illegally to leave voluntarily and, in co-operation with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), it operates the assisted voluntary return (AVR) schemes to help them to do so. This offers failed asylum seekers a means of return which is both dignified and sustainable. To test elasticity of demand, we have piloted different packages of reintegration assistance to promote AVR.
The Assisted Voluntary Return programme offers packages of support to all returnees under the Voluntary Assisted Return and Reintegration Programme (VARRP). This programme is subject to an annual external assessment which looks at the package of reintegration assistance on offer, and considers other factors which may affect migrants' decisions to return voluntarily.
UK Border Agency operate a short term upstream AVR project currently operating in Libya, implemented by IOM, which aims to offer a return and reintegration package to return up to 250 irregular Ethiopian migrants from Libya to their country of origin. The project is due to complete in December 2009, after which evaluation of the project will be made. At this point, therefore, it is not possible to fully assess the effect of monetary incentives or other factors on this return migrant path way.
The Secretary of State has no plans to make a statement at this time.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps his Department takes to provide access to employment opportunities for young migrants entering the UK. [300565]
Mr. Woolas: The Government's migration policy is to facilitate labour migration only where there is a clear economic need for it and it is not a function of the United Kingdom Border Agency to assist economic migrants in finding work. Tiers 2 and 5 of the Points Based System for skilled and temporary workers generally require migrants to have a job offer as a condition of admission to the UK.
Other migrants, including EU citizens (other than Bulgarian and Romanian nationals subject to restrictions on labour market access), may have free access to the labour market and may therefore have access to assistance in finding work (for example, through the services provided by Job Centre Plus) in the same way as resident workers. They can look for work through the Jobcentre Plus website, self service job kiosks in Jobcentres and through the Jobseeker Direct telephone service.
In line with its obligations as a member of the European Employment Service (EURES), Jobcentre Plus also provides information and advice designed to help EU migrant workers make informed choices before they leave their home country by:
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