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9 Mar 2010 : Column 218W—continued
Antisocial Behaviour Orders
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many antisocial behaviour orders were (a) issued and (b) breached in the Chelmsford local authority area in each of the last five years. [320350]
Mr. Alan Campbell [holding answer 4 March 2010]: The latest available data on the number of antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) issued and breached cover the period 1 April 1999 to 31 December 2007. Data on the number of ASBOs issued collected centrally by the Ministry of Justice are not available below Criminal Justice System (CJS) area level. A further breakdown could be ascertained only by reference to individual court files, which could be achieved only at disproportionate cost.
Data on breaches of ASBOs collected centrally by the Ministry of Justice and held on the Court Proceedings Database only count those occasions where the breach was proven in court to have occurred. These data are not compiled below CJS area level.
The available information is shown in the table.
| Number of antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) issued all courts( 1) and the number breached( 2) in the Essex Criminal Justice System (CJS) area, 1 January 2003 to 31 December 2007 | |||||
| CJS area | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
| (1) Includes ASBOs issued on application by magistrates courts acting in their civil capacity and county courts, which became available on 1 April 1999 and ASBOs made following conviction for a relevant criminal offence at the Crown court and at magistrates courts (acting in their criminal capacity), which became available on 2 December 2002. (2) ASBOs may be breached more than once and in more than one year. In this table ASBOs are counted once only within the period when they were first breached. For these reasons breach rates cannot be computed from the figures presented in this table. ASBOs may be issued in one area and breached in another. Breaches are counted in this table by area of issue. Notes: 1. Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 2. Previously issued data have been revised. | |||||
Antisocial Behaviour: Alcoholic Drinks
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of the effect of alcohol use on the level of antisocial behaviour. [320794]
Mr. Alan Campbell: Problems with drunk or rowdy behaviour form one component of the overall measure of antisocial behaviour that is routinely included in the British Crime Survey. The latest figures, for the 12 months ending September 2009, show that there has been a reduction in the proportion of people with a high level of perceived antisocial behaviour in their local area (down from 17 per cent. to 15 per cent. year on year) and a reduction from 26 per cent. to 25 per cent. of those who perceive problems with drunk and rowdy behaviour.
The update can be found at the following link:
Asylum
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he has taken to increase the rate of removal of failed asylum seekers since May 2005. [320607]
Mr. Woolas: The Government's measures include memoranda of understanding and readmission agreements with overseas governments to increase returns and re-documentation rates; regular charter services to countries where it would otherwise be difficult to return significant numbers because of lack of capacity on scheduled services; joint charters with other EU member states; Assisted Voluntary Return schemes offering enhanced packages to encourage voluntary return; close liaison with the judiciary to allow for the expeditious processing of legal challenges and changes to the judicial review policy to counter vexatious applications for judicial review; and expansion of the UK Border Agency detention estate.
In addition, we have made it increasingly difficult for people to live and work here who have no right to do so through toughening the illegal working legislation. Employers now face large fines if they hire illegal migrant workers including failed asylum seekers. Also, local immigration teams, backed by Immigration Crime Partnerships with the police, are in the process of being established across the country to track down, detain and remove all immigration offenders.
Asylum: Newcastle upon Tyne
Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether drinkable water is available on each floor of the Angel Heights asylum seeker hostel in Westgate Road, Newcastle upon Tyne; and what payments his Department has made to the Angel Group in respect of this hostel since 2006. [320711]
Mr. Woolas: Drinkable water is available from all four floors of the building. The UK Border Agency has made payments of £1,030,919.68 to the Angel Group for accommodating eligible asylum seekers in Angel Heights since 2006.
Binyam Mohamed
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he provided an authorisation under section 7 of the Intelligence Services Act 1994 in relation to the interrogation of Binyam Mohamed. [320947]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 8 March 2010]: The Government do not comment on intelligence matters.
Communications Capabilities Directorate
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff are employed (a) within the Communications Capabilities Directorate and (b) on projects associated with the Communications Capabilities Directorate. [318268]
Mr. Hanson [holding answer 24 February 2010]: 147 staff currently work within the Directorate. This number will be reduced significantly during 2010. The Directorate has links with other areas of the Home Office but no other Home Office staff work full-time on projects associated with Directorate's work.
Deportation
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many removal notices for unsuccessful asylum seekers have been issued in each year since 1997. [320651]
Mr. Woolas: The number of IS151As, which is a notice to a person liable to removal, issued to failed asylum seekers (FAS) by the UK Border Agency in each year since 2003 is shown in the following table. Data for previous years were not recorded centrally and would require the examination of individual records at disproportionate cost to extract.
| Calendar year | Number of IS151As issued to FAS |
All figures quoted are internal management information only and are subject to change. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols.
The IS151A does not necessarily signify that the UK Border Agency is making immediate efforts to remove that person at that time, as there may be numerous barriers to removal (such as an outstanding asylum claim or appeal right) which must first be considered; should the person subsequently be granted leave then the IS151A is no longer valid. Therefore, the issue of such a form does not correlate with the numbers of people actually removed from the UK. Removal directions are set at the end of the process when any barriers to removal are resolved.
Drugs
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effects on society of the use of psychoactive substances by individuals. [319668]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The Home Office has published research which addresses the effect on society of Class A drug use:
'The economic and social costs of Class A drug use in England and Wales in 2003-04', provides a measure of the total costs to society of Class A drug use. In Measuring different aspects of problem drug use: methodological developments
'Measuring the harm from illegal drugs using the Drug Harm Index 2006', provides an overarching measure of the harm caused by illegal drugs including drug-related crime, community perceptions of drug use and drug dealing and the various health consequences that arise from drug misuse.
In addition, assessment of a drug's societal harms is made on a case by case basis informed by advice from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) in respect of those drugs controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 or which have been considered for control. The ACMD's recent reports can be found at:
Drugs: Misuse
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the (a) level of availability and (b) price of mephedrone on the internet; and what estimate he has made of the average street price of cocaine in the last 12 months. [320341]
Mr. Alan Campbell [holding answer 4 March 2010]: Mephedrone is sold in the UK through shops and online from websites under the guise of a research chemical, plant food or bath salts. It can be purchased from the internet at between £10 and £15 per gram.
The street cocaine market is multi-tiered and a gram of cocaine can be sold for between £20 and £70, with a most common price of £40. What is being sold as cocaine by local dealers typically contains less than 20 per cent. cocaine hydrochloride.
Electronic Government: International Cooperation
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what role the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) is playing in the EU's STORK programme; and what recent discussions the IPS has had with its EU counterparts on storing fingerprints on microchips. [320913]
Meg Hillier: The Identity and Passport Service (IPS) 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.
IPS has frequent contact with many of its EU counterparts, both bilaterally and during the course of EU policy and technical meetings, where the use of fingerprints in travel documents is sometimes discussed.
Entry Clearances
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average time taken was to process an application for a spousal visa in each of the last six months. [320847]
Mr. Woolas: The global average processing time for spouse visas in each of the six months from August 2009 to January 2010 was as follows:
| Processing times-spouse visas | |
| Month | Working days to resolve |
The target is to process 95 per cent. of settlement visas within 60 working days.
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) mean and (b) median time was to process an application for leave to remain in December 2009. [320894]
Mr. Woolas: The information requested is as follows:
| Days | |
| Number | |
| Note: 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. Figures relate to cases which were decided by 3 March 2010. | |
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the longest-standing application for leave to remain is for which processing is yet to be completed by his Department. [320895]
Mr. Woolas: The information requested is not available centrally and could be provided only by examination of individual case files. Long standing applications arise for a variety of reasons.
Entry Clearances: Overseas Students
Mr. Galloway: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of private colleges that have closed as a result of a failure to gain Government accreditation as bona fide institutions offering courses for overseas students in the last 12 months. [314604]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 3 February 2010]: Since 31 March 2009, any institution wishing to bring non European economic area nationals to the UK to study must undergo a two-stage process of inspection, audit or accreditation, followed by licensing by the UK Border Agency for immigration purposes. This process has reduced the number of institutions able to bring students to the UK from over 4,000 to approximately 2,000.
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