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1 Dec 2009 : Column 674W—continued
Departmental Internet
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost was of maintaining his Department's website in the 2008-09 financial year; and what the forecast cost is of maintaining websites within his responsibility in the 2009-10 financial year. [302419]
Mr. Woolas: The costs of maintaining Home Office websites (i.e. hosting, licensing, domain registration, and updates but excluding staff costs) has been as follows:
2008-09: £577,000
The projected cost for the financial year 2009-10 is £593,000. Again, this covers hosting, licensing, domain registration, and updates but excludes staff costs.
Deportation: Finance
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much his Department spent on deportations between 1 January and 1 November 2009. [301235]
Mr. Woolas: The deportation process is integrated with the removals process and we are therefore unable to identify a specific unit cost for deportations as distinct from other removal types. The type of costs incurred in deporting a foreign national from the United Kingdom are casework, detention, removals and enforcement costs.
DNA
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his Department plans to publish the UK Border Agency's asylum process instruction about storage and retention of DNA and isotope data of asylum seekers. [301018]
Mr. Woolas: Since 14 September an instruction relating to the UK Border Agency's Familial Relationship Testing pilot has been published, and is available on the UK Border Agency website. The pilot-which continues to run-involves the voluntary testing of families claiming asylum at the Asylum Screening Unit, where there are suspicions that the children in the family unit are not actually related to the adults as purported.
The instruction is clear about the secure handling of samples, and their destruction at the conclusion of the asylum case.
Another related pilot was also started on 14 September relating to the testing of isotope and DNA samples. This pilot (which was also supported by a publicly available published instruction at the time of commencement) sought to take non-invasive isotope and DNA samples and to use matching techniques to provide indications of possible country of origin.
The pilot was suspended on 5 October to allow for a review of feedback.
The pilot resumed on 20 November and will be supported by updated instructions reflecting the steps now in place to anonymise data, and addressing issues of sample handling and retention.
Driving Offences: Insurance
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) convictions, (b) cautions and (c) issues of fixed penalty notices there were relating to uninsured drivers in each police force area in 2008-09; and what the average penalty upon conviction was. [302448]
Mr. Alan Campbell: Information on fixed penalty notices for motoring offences issued in 2008 are scheduled to be published in March 2010.
The Ministry of Justice advises that court proceedings data for 2008 are planned for publication on 28 January 2010.
Entry Clearances: Overseas Students
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much revenue has been received from student visas in the last (a) year and (b) five years. [301426]
Mr. Woolas: The information is as follows:
(a) In the last year (12 months ended September 2009), £51,959,697 has been received from student visa and PBS tier 4 applications, including those from dependents
(b) In the last five years (60 months ended September 2009), £166,833,972 has been received from student visa and PBS tier 4 applications, including those from dependents.
Fingerprints: Databases
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people with records on the national fingerprint database were aged (a) under 10, (b) from 10 to 15, (c) 16 or 17 and (d) 18 or more years old in each year since 1997. [302365]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 30 November 2009]: This information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997
Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance his Department has issued on the application of section 17 of the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997 to the practice of Spitfire pistol tooling; and if he will make a statement. [303126]
Mr. Alan Campbell: Manufacturing equipment, machinery and tools are not covered by the provisions of section 17 and the associated compensation scheme. Any such items surrendered to the police are ineligible for payment and can be retrieved by their owner.
Firearms: Crime
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) gun crimes and (b) arrests relating to gun crime there were in (i) England and (ii) each police force area in 2008. [302452]
Mr. Alan Campbell: Available information relates to offences in which firearms (excluding air weapons) were reported to have been used during 2007-08, and are shown in the table. Data for 2008-09 are scheduled to be published on 21 January 2010. Firearms are taken to be involved in a crime if they are fired, used as a blunt instrument or used as a threat.
Data on arrests relating to gun crime cannot be provided since (a) the centrally held Home Office firearm offences database does not record detection or suspect data, and (b) offences involving firearms cannot be identified on the centrally held Ministry of Justice arrests database.
Fires: Atherstone on Stour
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with Warwickshire police authority on Government assistance for funding the police inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the firefighter fatalities at Atherstone on Stour, Warwickshire on 2 November 2007; and if he will make a statement. [302496]
Mr. Hanson: We have regular discussions with representatives of Warwickshire police authority.
I have provided £3.045 million special grant to Warwickshire police to support this operation. I will also consider further requests from the police authority under the special grant criteria.
Human Trafficking
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research his Department has evaluated on any relationship between levels of human trafficking into the UK and economic conditions. [301224]
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what definition of human trafficking his Department uses; and if he will make a statement. [301265]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The UK uses the definition of trafficking set out in the Palermo Protocol to the 2000 UN Convention against Transnational Crime (UNTOC), "Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children" which defines human trafficking as:
"Trafficking in persons shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs."
Hunting
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) charges, (b) prosecutions, (c) convictions, (d) cautions and (e) fines there were for breaches of the Hunting Act 2004 in each police force area in (i) 2007 and (ii) 2008. [302449]
Mr. Alan Campbell: Information provided by the Ministry of Justice, showing the number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates' courts, found guilty at all courts, given a court fine and cautioned for offences under the 2004 Hunting Act in England and Wales, broken down by police force area for 2007 can be viewed in the table.
The Ministry of Justice does not collect charging data centrally. Data for 2008 are planned for publication on 28 January 2010.
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