| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
30 Nov 2009 : Column 488W—continued
Co-operating with other member states to make all vacancies notified to Jobcentre Plus accessible to people in the EU through the European Commission's European Job Mobility Portal;
providing information about living and working conditions in the UK to migrant workers before they travel to the UK;
using a network of EURES advisers who provide information and advice on the UK labour market and job vacancies at events organised by the EURES network in other member states.
Immigration: Torture
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to ensure that decision-makers and judges dealing with immigration cases are informed of the Istanbul protocol on the rights of torture victims and take its recommendations into account in their work; and if he will make a statement. [302478]
Mr. Woolas: The policy and guidance on the handling of asylum claims from alleged torture victims is currently under review and as part of this review, consideration will be given as to whether the Istanbul protocol should be taken into account by decision makers.
Immigration judges are required to determine any matter raised as a ground of appeal, but training and guidance provided to immigration judges is a matter for the judiciary.
Immobilisation of Vehicles
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make it his policy to ensure that drivers have recourse to an independent body in disputing a fine issued in relation to the immobilisation of a vehicle on private land. [300741]
Mr. Alan Campbell: Under proposals contained in the Crime and Security Bill, laid before Parliament on 20 November, we plan to amend the Private Security Industry Act 2001 to introduce a requirement for all vehicle immobilisation businesses to be licensed by the Security Industry Authority and to adhere to a strict code of practice, when working on private land.
As part of our plans we are working to introduce an independent appeals process for motorists who feel they have been unfairly treated.
More details of the Bill can be found at the following link:
Internet
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent representations he has received on the protection of internet users in the UK, with particular reference to (a) trials of deep packet inspection hardware and (b) the consent of internet users to the interception of their communications; and if he will make a statement. [302777]
Mr. Hanson: Deep packet inspection can be used by internet service providers for a variety of uses, including the blocking of unwanted e-mails and "spam". The circumstances under which interception can be carried out with the consent of the users are set out in section 3(1) & (2) of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. The Home Office, together with other Government Departments, has received a number of representations relating to the use of targeted on line advertising systems.
Iraq Committee of Inquiry
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when his Department will publish its response to the Chilcot Review into intercept evidence. [301937]
Mr. Hanson: As highlighted in the Written Ministerial Statement in July the end of the Intercept as Evidence work programme has been reached. Recent work has focused on drawing together emerging conclusions and testing their validity. I shall be reporting back to the House on the findings and conclusions of this work very shortly.
Members: Correspondence
Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects a reply to be sent to the letters from the right hon. Member for Banff and Buchan of 21 August 2009 and 22 September 2009 to the Chief Executive of the UK Border Agency regarding his constituent Mr. Beesely. [300676]
Mr. Woolas: In response to the letters of 21 August and 22 September 2009, the deputy director for economic and family migration in the London and South East region wrote to the right hon. Gentleman on 23 November 2009.
Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to reply to the letter of 11 September 2009 from the right hon. Member for Banff and Buchan on his constituent Mr. Belal. [300677]
Mr. Woolas: A full substantive response was sent to the right hon. Gentleman by e-mail and by post, on 24 November in reply to his letter of 11 September 2009 about his constituent Mr. Belal.
Sir Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he plans to reply to the letter of 30 September 2009 from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire, Ref: M22429/9. [301744]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 26 November 2009]: A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 23 October 2009. A copy of the reply was sent on 25 November 2009.
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when his Department's International Group regional co-ordination unit of the EC errors team will reply to the hon. Member for Edinburgh West's correspondence of 5 November 2009 with regard to Mr. Kamal Ramdani. [301746]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 26 November 2009]: On 11 November the UK Border Agency requested the e-mail from the entry clearance officer referred to as it was missing from the enclosures sent in with the letter. Once the hon. Member can provide this then a reply will be given.
National Identity Register
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the answer to Lord Stoddart of 14 October 2009, Official Report, House of Lords, columns 26-7WA, on the national identity register, how many fingerprints (a) per person and (b) in total he expects to be stored on the national identity register from 2012. [300533]
Meg Hillier: 10 fingerprint images will be recorded as part of an individual's identifying information on the National Register and two fingerprint images will be held on the chip in the identity card. Currently over 5 million passports are issued each year and it is intended that, from 2012 when fingerprint biometric passports are introduced, every adult applying for a British passport will be offered a choice of being issued with a fingerprint biometric passport or identity card (or both documents) and their identity details and fingerprint biometrics will be recorded on the National Identity Register.
Passports
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent steps he has taken to modernise the passport application process; and what plans he has for the future of that process. [301451]
Meg Hillier: The Identity and Passport Service has taken a series of steps in recent years to modernise the passport application process including the provision of an online electronic passport application form on the Directgov website and the introduction of additional background checks and interviews for adults applying for their first passport, together with a video interview service for first time adult applicants who live in remote communities.
Improved photo standards have been introduced to allow for the introduction of e-passports incorporating the facial image of the applicant on a chip in the passport. This allows e-passport holders to pass through fast track automated gates at the border control at a number of airports.
In the future it is intended to enhance the online application channel including an ability to pay online. It is also intended to introduce fingerprint biometric passports and to legislate to provide for a single application process so that anyone aged 16 and over applying for a fingerprint biometric passport will have the choice of being issued with a passport or an identity card or both.
Police: Firearms
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers carried firearms as a regular part of their duties in (a) England and (b) each police force area in 2007-08. [302451]
Mr. Hanson: Figures on the number of authorised firearms officers in England and Wales in 2007-08 were published on 2 March 2009 and can be found at:
Figures for 2008-09 will be published before April 2010.
Police: Lancashire
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many attacks on police there have been in each (a) division of Lancashire police force area and (b) constituency in Lancashire in each of the last five years. [301409]
Mr. Hanson: Data on assaults are not collected centrally by division or constituency. Data for the numbers of assaults on police officers in Lancashire for 2004-05 to 2008-09 are given in the following table:
| Assaults on police officers in Lancashire, 2004-05 to 2008-09( 1,2,3,4) | |
| Assaults (headcount) | |
| (1) Financial year runs 1 April to 31 March inclusive. (2) Data are provisional. (3) Data are collected by the Home Office on behalf of HMIC. From 2005-06, assaults data were no longer published in the HMIC Annual Report. Current arrangements for the publication of these data are that they will be released as supplementary datasets to the HMIC Annual Report by Home Office Statistics. (4) Data for 2004-05 have been revised since being published in the HMIC Annual Report, when it was stated that the figures were being reviewed in the light of possible changes in recording practice. Source data were previously populated from the crime recording system, but this was changed to populate source data from the self-reported HR system. | |
Police: Marketing
Mr. Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of leafleting households to provide information on the Policing Pledge in each of the targeted areas in the last 12 months. [302261]
Mr. Hanson: The cost to public funds of leafleting households about the Policing Pledge and their rights and entitlements from the wider criminal justice system in targeted areas is £234,000.
Police: Pay
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average (a) pay and (b) pay-related cost was of employing a full-time police officer at the rank of sergeant or below in the most recent period for which figures are available. [302194]
Alan Johnson: The pay scales for a Constable and a Sergeant in England and Wales from 1 September 2009 are as follows:
| £ | |
The average cost of employment (including salaries, National Insurance, pension costs and superannuation) of a police officer in 2008-09 was £54,300 per full-time officer. The detailed information required to calculate the pay related cost of employing a full-time police officer for each rank is not held centrally.
Policing Pledge: Finance
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much funding his Department (a) provided in the last 12 months and (b) intends to provide in the next 12 months on promoting the Policing Pledge in respect of each medium of communication. [301793]
Mr. Hanson: The Home Office provided £3.43 million in the financial year 2008-09 to promote the Policing Pledge, using posters-£781,000, press-£1.69 million, radio-£670,000 and online-£290,000.
In the financial year 2009-10, the Home Office is currently spending £1.9 million to promote the Policing Pledge and the rights and entitlements the public should expect from the wider Criminal Justice System using TV to the cost of £743,000, Radio-£322,000, press-£380,000, direct mail-£234,000 and online-£220,000.
There are no plans to pay for further promotion of the Policing Pledge this financial year.
The Policing Pledge has helped to contribute to the raising of public confidence from 45 per cent. to 50 per cent. in the British Crime Survey.
Presenting Officers
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. [301308]
Mr. Woolas: The role of presenting officer is not a specific grade but a function that can be carried out by officers at Senior Executive Officer or Higher Executive Officer level depending on the specific requirements of the post.
Without manual inspection of the individual records of the above officers, which would involve disproportionate cost, it is not possible to state how many presenting officers were appointed in the periods in question.
Stop and Search: Greater London
Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police stop and search actions have been carried out in the London Borough of (a) Brent and (b) Harrow under the powers in Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000; and how many records of such searches have been (i) checked to ensure that powers were exercised correctly, (ii) found to have been carried out outside the geographical area specified in their authorisation and (iii) found to have been conducted not in conformity with the authorisation criteria specified other than those relating to geographical area. [302130]
Mr. Hanson: Data relating to the number of people stopped and searched under s44 Terrorism Act 2000 in the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) area are available on the MPS website and can be accessed via the following link to give the latest available monthly figures:
http://www.met.police.uk/foi/pdfs/priorities_and_how _we_are_doing/corporate/mps_stop_and_search_borough_ breakdown_reportjuly_2009.pdf
In relation to the remaining queries, these are operational matters for the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police to comment on.
Terrorism Act 2000
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been stopped at the UK border under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 in (a) 2009 and (b) each of the last five years. [301238]
Mr. Hanson: Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (TACT) (as amended by the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001) enables an examining officer to stop, search and examine a person at a port or in a border area to determine whether they are someone who is or has been concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.
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.
Only examinations for longer than one hour are required to be recorded centrally. For the period specified the number of individuals examined for in excess of one hour were:
| Number of individuals examined in excess of one hour | |
| (1 )As a mid-year figure this is provisional and may be subject to review due following data validation at year end. | |
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |