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1 Mar 2010 : Column 881W—continued
Biometrics: Post Offices
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which post office branches are equipped to allow customers to enrol their biometrics; and which post office branches are planned to be equipped to allow customers to enrol their biometrics in each of the next five years. [318771]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 25 February 2010]: The UK Border Agency has entered into contract with Post Office Ltd. for a pilot scheme to enrol biometrics for migrants who are required to apply for an identity card. 17 post offices are taking part in the pilot as follows:
Battersea
Beckenham
Camden
Earls Court
Old Street (London EC1)
Beeston
Bracknell
Cambridge
Durham
Kingstanding (Birmingham)
Middleton (Manchester)
Oxford
Redditch
Romsey
Stamford
South Shields
Union Street (Aberdeen).
The contract allows for a further eight post offices to be added in 2010-11 but to date no decision has been made on extending the contract.
An Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) notice was published in December 2009, which notified the market of the Identity and Passport Service's (IPS) intention to commence a competition to award the biometric enrolment concession to potential partners. The outcome of this competition will determine who will provide these services, and how many biometric enrolment outlets will be provided across the UK. IPS's current arrangement with the Post Office does not involve biometric enrolment.
Crime Prevention: Finance
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much his Department spent on preventing (a) re-offending and (b) antisocial behaviour in 2008-09; and how much it plans to spend for each such purpose in (i) 2009-10, (ii) 2010-11 and (iii) 2011-12. [318113]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The Home Office spent £145,700,000 in 2008-09 in England and plans to spend £155,000,000 in 2009-10 in England and Wales on specific programmes to prevent re-offending including the Drugs Intervention Programme, Integrated Offender Management and Prolific and other Priority Offender (PPO) Programme. Spending on specific programmes to prevent anti-social behaviour was £818,000 in 2008-9 and planned to be £1,977,000 in 2009-10.
A number of specific and individual Home Office grants have now been combined into area based grant (ABG), which is allocated to local authorities on a three-year basis to maximise stability and certainty. The receiving authorities have flexibility to use ABG as they see fit to deliver local, regional and national priorities in their respective areas. The position in Wales is slightly different, whereby the funding for community safety partnerships has been consolidated into the crime reduction and antisocial behaviour national resource grant. In both England and Wales, it is for local partnerships to agree how the grants received should be allocated against locally determined priorities, including antisocial behaviour.
Final allocations for 2010-11 have yet to be confirmed, and budgets for 2011-12 will be the subject of a future allocations exercise.
Crime: Foreigners
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign nationals given leave to remain in the UK since 1997 have been convicted of a serious crime. [316012]
Mr. Woolas: Identifying the number of foreign nationals given leave to remain since 1997 who have also been convicted of a serious crime, can be achieved only by reviewing individual case files, this would be at disproportionate cost.
The UK Border Agency removed or deported approximately 11,000 foreign national offenders in 2008 and 2009. Of these, less than 0.002 per cent. had at some stage previously been granted indefinite leave to remain and subsequently been convicted of a serious crime such as manslaughter or rape.
The information provided is internal management information and, as such, subject to change.
Crimes of Violence: Bookmakers
Mr. Binley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions he has had with representatives of police forces on the incidence of attacks on bookmakers. [318679]
Mr. Hanson:
The Government take tackling all forms of robbery seriously. Following a number of robberies of bookmakers in November and December 2009 my
officials have made contact with Northamptonshire Police and other forces who have confirmed that these serious offences are being dealt with as a matter of priority.
Disabled Departmental Staff
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what proportion of staff in (a) his Department and (b) the executive agencies for which he is responsible are disabled; and what the average salary in (i) his Department and (ii) the executive agencies is of (A) full-time disabled staff, (B) full-time non-disabled staff, (C) part-time disabled staff and (D) part-time non-disabled staff. [317897]
Mr. Woolas: Table 1 provides information for the Home Office and its agencies on the numbers and proportion of staff who are disabled. Table 2 provides the median average salaries of disabled and non-disabled staff.
The information provided is based on data collated by the Office of National Statistics for 31 March 2009.
| Table 1: Headcount and proportion of disabled staff in the Home Office( 1) | ||
| Department | Disabled | Disabled employees as percentage of known disability status |
| (1) Numbers are rounded to the nearest 10. (2) Includes Government office for the regions employees. (3) The Identity and Passport Service declarations are extremely low so their data have not been included. | ||
| Table 2: Median earnings by disability( 1,2) | ||||
| Full-time | Part-time | |||
| Department | Disabled staff | Non-disabled | Disabled staff | Non-disabled |
| (1) Numbers are rounded to the nearest 10, numbers less than five are represented by "(1)-". (2) Salaries in this table represent the full-time equivalent salaries of employees rounded to the nearest 10. (3) The Identity and Passport Service declarations are extremely low so their data have not been included. | ||||
Departmental ICT
Mr. Maude:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost had been of the Heavy Hitter Programme Delivery Director service deployed in his Department on the latest date for which figures
are available; on which IT projects each consultant contracted under that service worked; and what payments have been made to each such consultant for work undertaken in connection with the programme. [318110]
Mr. Woolas: The Home Office has no involvement in the Heavy Hitter programme. Previous involvement in this programme was based in parts of the Home Office that transferred to the Ministry of Justice on its establishment in 2007.
Departmental NDPBs
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for how many non-departmental public bodies his Department is responsible. [314256]
Mr. Woolas: Information on the number of non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) sponsored by my Department is published in the annual Cabinet Office report-Public Bodies. Public Bodies 2008 is available online at:
Copies have been placed in the Libraries of the House. Public Bodies 2009 will be published shortly.
Departmental Sick Leave
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff in his Department have had five or more periods of sickness absence of less than five days in two or more of the last three years. [316462]
Mr. Woolas: 15 employees within the Home Department (excluding its agencies) had five or more periods of sickness absence of less than five days in two or more years between June 2007 and September 2009. At September 2009 3,033 staff were employed by the Home Department (excluding its agencies).
The Department has not been able to analyse three full years' data as data are available only from 1 July 2007 to 30 September 2009 (2.25 years).
Deportation
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many deportations have not been completed in the last five years. [317582]
Alan Johnson: Since 2007, approximately 3,500 removal directions have been initially unsuccessful (incomplete). The reason for this will vary but will include for example the late lodging of a judicial review or a claim for asylum or the receipt of further representations requiring consideration prior to removal. Where such an initial direction has not been completed, the UKBA has, in over 95 per cent. of cases, already reset the removal direction and removed the person.
Accurate figures relating to before 2007 are not available electronically and could only be obtained by investigating individual case-files. This would incur a disproportionate cost.
This information is taken from internal management information systems and is subject to change.
Entry Clearances
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate his Department has made of the cost to businesses of the removal from eligibility for the visa waiver scheme of those who have previously been arrested. [318227]
Mr. Woolas: An estimate of cost to the business will be achieved only at disproportional cost.
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of entry clearance applications for settlement in the United Kingdom submitted to the British consulate in Tel Aviv were granted prior to the transfer of the processing of such applications to the British embassy in Istanbul; what percentage of applicants were of (a) a Jewish and (b) a non-Jewish background; and if he will make a statement. [318460]
Mr. Woolas: Prior to the transfer of processing entry clearance applications to the British embassy in Istanbul on 7 April 2008, 98 per cent. of entry clearance applications for settlement made at the British consulate in Tel Aviv were granted in the financial year of 2007-08.
A breakdown of this figure to show comparisons for applicants with Jewish and non-Jewish backgrounds is not captured in our database.
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of applications for entry clearance to the United Kingdom submitted to the British consulate in Tel Aviv between June 2008 and May 2009 and processed by the British embassy in Istanbul was granted; how many such applications there were; what percentage of applicants were of (a) a Jewish and (b) a non-Jewish background; and if he will make a statement. [318461]
Mr. Woolas: Between June 2008 and May 2009, 1,559 applications for entry clearance were submitted to the British consulate in Tel Aviv and processed by the British embassy in Istanbul. 84 per cent. of these applications were granted.
A breakdown of this figure to show comparisons for applicants with Jewish and non-Jewish backgrounds is not captured in our database.
Entry Clearances: Overseas Students
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of current Tier 4 sponsors in each category who will be accepted onto the new Highly Trusted Sponsor List. [317154]
Mr. Woolas: It is not possible to estimate of the number of current Tier 4 sponsors in each category who will be accepted onto the Highly Trusted Sponsor List as the criteria is still being finalised. The criteria will be published in advance of 6 April implementation.
Immigration Controls
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he plans to publish the Government's response to the Migration Advisory Committee's report on Tier 1 of the points-based immigration system. [315508]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 4 February 2010]: The Government will respond to the Migration Advisory Committee review of Tier 1 shortly.
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