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4 Mar 2010 : Column 1380W—continued
Identity and Passport Service
Mr. Stewart Jackson:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what planning applications the Identity and Passport Service has submitted in the
last 18 months; and in respect of which addresses. [319665]
Meg Hillier: The Identity and Passport Service has submitted two planning applications as detailed in the following table:
Identity and Passport Service: Manpower
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people worked for the Identity and Passport Service (a) in 2006 and (b) at the latest date for which figures are available; and how many are projected to work for it in 2015. [318706]
Alan Johnson: As published in the 2006-07 Annual Report, the average number of employees on the Agency payroll during the year ending 31 March 2007 was 3,619
The latest published figures are also available in the 2008-09 Annual Report which shows that the average number of employees on the Agency payroll during that year was 4,078. This figure includes the GRO staff who joined the Agency from 1 April 2008.
IPS does not have a projected headcount for 2015.
Identity Cards
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what (a) Government departments, (b) non-governmental public bodies and (c) other organisations (i) have and (ii) are planned to have access to information held on the national identity database. [318708]
Alan Johnson: No organisation will have direct access to information recorded on the National Identity Register, with or without the consent of the individual. The Identity Cards Act 2006, and secondary legislation made there under, sets out who may be provided with information from an individual's entry on the register and under what circumstances.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make it his policy not to introduce compulsory identity cards. [318715]
Alan Johnson: Government policy is that Identity Cards are voluntary. The Prime Minister has made it clear that there will be no legislation to make Identity Cards compulsory for British citizens in the next Parliament. Identity cards are all about personal choice and the introduction of identity cards, which has now started for British citizens, is on a voluntary basis.
Identity Cards: EU Action
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the nature is of the relationship between the Identity and Passport Service and Project STORK. [318770]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 25 February 2010]: The Identity and Passport Service is leading the UK contribution to Project Stork as a member of a consortium within the EU who are working together to pilot a cross border solution for the delivery of e-services. The project is part of the European Union Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme.
Illegal Immigrants: Employment
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the name and address is of each business the UK Border Agency has fined for hiring illegal immigrants in the last 24 months. [319617]
Mr. Woolas: Since the introduction of civil penalties which came into effect for those employed on, or after 29 February 2008, a total of 3,709 notices of liability for a civil penalty to the period 31 January 2010, have been issued to employers hiring illegal workers. These data are derived from local management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change. It is not practical to list the names and addresses of all those employers but details of employers where the appeal process against service of a notice of liability for a civil penalty has been fully exhausted in the last quarter can be found on the UK Border Agency website at the following link:
The information is listed by region and includes the name of the business, the town or city where it is located, the postcode of the business, the number of illegal workers found to be working illegally and the amount of the civil penalty imposed.
Immigration Controls
Mr. Frank Field:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Certificates of Sponsorship
have been granted to employers under (a) Tier 2 general and (b) Tier 2 ICT to date; and how many such certificates for the second year of Tier 2 of the points-based system remain under consideration. [318427]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 24 February 2010]: As at 21 February 2010 the number of Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) assigned to employers under Tier 2 (General) is 36,140(1) and the number assigned for Intra-company transfer is 40,980(1).
Information on the number of certificates for the second year of Tier 2 which remain under consideration is not available.
(1) These figures are not provided under National Statistics protocols and have been derived from local management information. They are therefore provisional and subject to change.
Local Government Finance
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what datasets not included in the National Indicator Set local authorities are required to submit to (a) his Department and (b) its agencies. [319616]
Mr. Hanson: The Home Office does not place any statutory obligations on local authorities to submit, for either performance management or monitoring purposes, any datasets to the department or its agencies, other than the National Indicator Set.
Members: Correspondence
Sir Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to reply to the email from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire, dated 17 December 2009, on asylum seekers (reference: M27601/9). [319456]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 1 March 2010]: I replied to the hon. Member's e-mail under reference M27605/9 on 19 January 2010.
I will arrange despatch of a further copy of that reply.
Metropolitan Police
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make it his policy to review the process by which senior police officers in the Metropolitan Police are appointed; and if he will make a statement. [319851]
Mr. Hanson:
The Government are supportive of the Commissioner having a strong role in appointments. The Policing and Crime Act 2009 reinforces this by making it a statutory obligation for the Metropolitan
Police Authority to consult the Commissioner in making senior appointments. This process will be kept under review.
Passports: Fraud
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many fraudulent passport applications were made in 2009; and how many of those applications involved (a) identity theft and (b) false declarations where the individual was otherwise entitled to a passport. [319577]
Meg Hillier: IPS estimates that in the calendar year 2009 there were 13,396 fraudulent passport applications. The number of confirmed frauds detected in 2009 was around 8,600 of which 167 involved identity theft. IPS does not routinely collate data where a false declaration has been made where the applicant was otherwise entitled to a passport.
Police: Bureaucracy
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what estimate he has made of the proportion of police officer time spent on paperwork in each year since 1997; [319529]
(2) what estimate he has made of the proportion of police officer time spent on beat patrol in each year since 1997; [319530]
(3) what estimate he has made of the proportion of police officer time spent on patrol (a) on foot and (b) in cars in each year since 1997. [319531]
Alan Johnson: Information on time spent on patrol and paperwork was collected between 2003-04 and 2007-08 as part of the frontline policing measure and is set out in the following table. Information was not collected on time spent on patrol in cars and on foot. To reduce paperwork burdens on police officers the collection of data about time spent by officers on police activities ceased after 2007-08 in response to the recommendations by Sir David Normington in his review of data burdens placed by the Government on the police service published in February 2009.
The figure for time spent on patrol does not include everything done by an officer engaged in frontline policing. It only measures the time an officer is engaged on no other activity but patrol, for example as soon as they respond to an incident they are counted against that activity and not patrol. It is therefore inappropriate to look at the patrol element in isolation from the rest of the frontline policing measure.
Policing necessarily requires a degree of paperwork: to ensure accountability in the use of powers, prepare case files, and take witness statements. Non-incident paperwork includes handling complaints. All of these activities are part of providing a modern, effective and accountable police service.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the proportion of police officer time spent on health and safety-related activities in each year since 1997. [319533]
Alan Johnson: Information relating to the proportion of time spent on 'health and safety-related activities' is not held centrally.
The health, safety and welfare of police officers is the responsibility of the chief officer of each individual police force.
Prison Sentences: Deportation
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners from (a) Ireland and (b) each other European Economic Area country serving mandatory life sentences have been deported or removed in each of the last five years. [320071]
Mr. Woolas [h olding answer 2 March 2010]: Since 2007, the UK Border Agency has removed or deported over 15,000 foreign national offenders. Of those removed or deported, less than three in every thousand previously served a mandatory life sentence.
Information from before this period could be obtained only by reviewing individual records. This would be a disproportionate cost.
As a general rule, it is our policy not to disclose the volume or characteristics of those removed to specific countries as it would jeopardise our diplomatic relations. This exemption would normally include EEA countries but, in the case of the Irish Republic and consistent with the special relationship that exists between the UK and the Republic of Ireland, I can confirm that, approximately 30 Irish national prisoners have been removed since 2007.
Children, Schools and Families
Cadet Forces
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many pupils at (a) grammar, (b) comprehensive and (c) Academy schools were members of cadet forces in the last year for which figures are available. [316722]
Mr. Kevan Jones: I have been asked to reply.
The information required is not held in the format requested. The data provided reflects only the category of 'State' schools (noting that for the purposes of Combined Cadet Force (CCF) data collated by MOD, all other schools are categorised as Independent).
As at 1 April 2009, and subject to the caveats mentioned above, there were 7,579 School pupils who were members of their State School's Combined Cadet Force. However, given that the majority of Cadets are members of a community-based Cadet unit, it is estimated that some 90,000 cadets are state school pupils. In the same timeframe there were some 130,000 cadets overall. It should also be noted that there are 25 known partnerships where Independent Schools with CCFs provide cadet places to neighbouring State schools; for these partnerships it is not possible to identify the numbers of State School cadets.
Full statistics on cadet forces can be found on the Defence Analytical Services and Advice organisation's website in their Tri-Service Publication (TSP) 7:
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