Immigration: Kenya

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether Joshua Kulei of Kenya has ever been banned from entering the UK. [206645]

James Brokenshire: The Home Office does not routinely comment on individual cases. This is because the Home Office has obligations in law to protect this information.

I can confirm that any visa application from Mr Kulei would be considered on its individual merits and in accordance with the Immigration Rules.

Islam: Marriage

Mrs Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions she has had with (a) ministerial colleagues in the Ministry of Justice, (b) the Muslim Institute, (c) the Muslim Council of Great Britain and (d) the Muslim Parliament of Great Britain on the legal status of Islamic marriages in England and Wales. [201472]

James Brokenshire: Home Office Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of international partners, as well as organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors, as part of the process of policy development and operational delivery. Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations and individuals are passed to the Cabinet Office on a quarterly basis and are subsequently published on the Cabinet Office website, which is available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/home-office-mnisters-hospitality-data

There are no plans to change the law to recognise in English law Muslim marriages and divorces which do not conform to the Marriage Act 1949.

Mass Media: Subscriptions

Mr Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what subscriptions to (a) magazines and (b) television channels her Department funds. [205343]

Karen Bradley: The information is as follows.

(a) The Library Service subscribe to 117 journals using the SwetsWise pan-government contract. This is the only centrally held information on journal or magazine subscriptions.

(b) The Home Office pays for a monthly rental for Parliament TV Services in Millbank. This TV services carries live and archived coverage of all UK Parliament proceedings taking place in public,

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including debates and committee meetings of both Houses. The monthly amount for line rental is £1275.00 and the yearly amount for TV provision and maintenance is £1880.96 all figures excl VAT.

In addition, there are Sky boxes in 2 Marsham Street which only transmit free to air channels (so no subscription) such as Sky News, BBC News, Al Jazeera, Russia Today, France 24, BBC1,2, ITV, CH4, CH5 etc. Again, these channels are distributed to TVs within the building.

Members: Correspondence

Mr Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when a reply will be sent to the hon. Member for Harrow West's letter of 15 July 2014 regarding Mr and Mrs Patil of Harrow; and if she will make a statement. [206571]

James Brokenshire [holding answer 22 July 2014]: A response was sent by Her Majesty's Passport Office on 21 July 2014.

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she plans to respond to the recent letter from the hon. Member for Wigan on the

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remit of the inquiry into child abuse recently announced by her Department. [207059]

Norman Baker: Work continues to identify and appoint a suitable chairman for the inquiry. It is important that the chairman has the right blend of experience, expertise and authority to lead the Inquiry. Terms of reference for the Inquiry will be agreed with the chairman and panel, when appointed. A formal reply to the letter in question will be sent as soon as possible.

Mental Illness: Homicide

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were murdered by people classified as severely mentally ill in each of the last 15 years. [206742]

Norman Baker: The Home Office Homicide Index collects information on whether the homicide was linked to the mental state of the suspect but does not contain information on whether the suspect was ‘severely’ mentally ill. Information on whether the homicide was linked to the mental state of the suspect for 2007-08 onwards (the first year these data were collected) is given in the following table.

Passports

Mr Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the Passport Agency's average process time for applications was in each month since January 2010. [199385]

James Brokenshire: The following table shows the average passport processing times in days for each week.

The data is not stored in a way that enables us to provide monthly averages.

We do not hold data on non-straightforward average processing times prior to April 2012.

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Meg Hillier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of (a) new passport applications and (b) passport renewal applications were received by HM Passport Office in each week since 6 January 2014; and what proportion of those applications (i) were completed in three weeks, (ii) were completed in four weeks and (iii) remain outstanding for each of these weeks. [200466]

James Brokenshire: Table 1 sets out the volume of new and renewal passports on a weekly basis since 5 January 2014.

Table 2 provides the proportion of straightforward cases dealt with within three weeks, four weeks and over four weeks. The information is not available by breakdown of application type.

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Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what revenue has been received by the Passport Office for (a) standard passport applications, (b) fast-track applications and (c) premium service applications in (i) 1 January 2012 to 31 May 2012, (ii) 1 January 2013 to 31 May 2013 and (iii) 1 January 2014 to 31 May 2014. [200525]

James Brokenshire: The following table sets out the requested information:

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the viability of civil servants from other Departments being deployed to assist in the processing of outstanding passport applications. [205644]

James Brokenshire: To date all but one additional member of staff has been redeployed from within Her Majesty's (HMPO) Passport Office and the wider Home Office. Over 650 staff have been redeployed to HMPO frontline services since January 2014.

Wayne David: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 8 July 2014, Official Report, column 200W, on passports, when she expects to publish a reliable estimate of the additional costs arising from staff temporarily working away from their normal workplace and from overtime to deal with delays at the Passport Office. [206495]

James Brokenshire [holding answer 22 July 2014]: We will provide the actual costs incurred in redeploying staff to meet the exceptional levels of passport demand this year when that redeployment ends. Redeployed staff will continue to support Her Majesty's Passport Office frontline services until further notice.

Police: Databases

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the feasibility and potential benefits of introducing real time information into the police National Mobile Property Register. [206589]

Mike Penning: The National Mobile Property Register (NMPR) helps reduce the theft of mobile devices. There

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are clear benefits in ensuring that information entered on to the system is as timely as is practicable, however I am not aware of any assessment made as to the additional benefits of introducing real time information.

The existing Home Office-held contract with the provider of NMPR is due to come to an end early next year, and we are working with Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs), police forces and others to agree the successor arrangements. As part of this process, it is anticipated that a review of benefits to date will be undertaken to inform any future requirements and business case. This will ultimately be for PCCs to determine.

Police: Global Positioning System

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will commission an independent evaluation of the use of GPS tracking by police services in England and Wales. [206139]

Mike Penning: The Home Office has no plans to commission an independent evaluation.

Police: St Helena

John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what visits by UK police officers in an official capacity to St Helena have taken place since May 2010; what the purpose and cost was of each such visit; and whether the full costs of each visit were met by her Department. [205833]

Mike Penning: Under Section 26 of the Police Act (1996), the Home Office has authorised three deployments of UK police officers to St Helena to provide advice to the St Helena Police: two in 2010 and a third in 2013. The Home Office does not hold details on the costs of these deployments which are a matter for the relevant UK police force facilitating the visit, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the authorities in St Helena.

Procurement

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much her Department paid to (a) G4S, (b) Serco, (c) Sodexo, (d) GEOAmey, (e) Capita, (f) Atos, (g) Mitie, (h) Working Links, (i) A4E, (j) MTC Amey, (k) GEO Group and (l) Carillion in (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12, (iii) 2012-13 and (iv) 2013-14. [205684]

Karen Bradley: As part of the Home Office transparency programme, any spend over £25,000 is available on the Department’s website. Since January 2011, all contracts over £10,000 in value are published on Contracts Finder:

http://www.contractsfinder.co.uk/

Radicalism

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she is taking to protect civil liberties whilst tackling Islamic extremism across the UK. [205912]

James Brokenshire: The Government are committed to disrupting extremism and we use the full force of the law to do so, including proscribing groups concerned in

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terrorism, prosecuting the perpetrators of hate crime and excluding preachers of hate from the UK. We also remain committed to protecting fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of speech. That is why it is vital that we challenge those extremist ideas that also form part of a terrorist ideology, and threaten these freedoms. Central to this is challenging those behaviours and views which run counter to our shared values, which include freedom of speech, democracy, the rule of law, equality of opportunity and treatment, and the rights of all men and women to live free from persecution of any kind.

Recycling: Codes of Practice

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations she has received on changes to the Recyclers' Code of Practice in the last six months. [206590]

Norman Baker: The Home Office has received one letter from a member of the public relating to the Recyclers’ Code of Practice in the last six months. Home Office officials regularly discuss the code of practice with representatives from the mobile phone industry and law enforcement agencies.

Research Councils: Finance

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what funding her Department gives to research councils for the purpose of conducting non-animal tests or research; [206207]

(2) how much her Department gives to research councils to fund tests or research involving animals. [206210]

Norman Baker [holding answer 21 July 2014]: The Home Office does not provide any direct funding to Research Councils for the purposes of non-animal tests or research, or tests or research involving animals as it performs predominately a regulatory function. Significant Government funding is deployed to encourage the development and uptake of non-animal tests, largely through the Department for Business, Innovation and Science.

The Home Office does however provide £250,000 per year to the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) to fund its activities, which include developing and promoting alternatives to the use of animals in research. Some research into non-animal methods requires the use of animals for validation and other purposes. It is therefore not possible to state definitively how much of this contribution has been used for the purpose of conducting non-animal tests or research, to fund tests or research involving animals, or for the purpose of promoting the uptake of alternatives.

Sexual Offences

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps are taken to ensure adults living with children are made aware of convicted sex offenders moving within a close proximity to their residence. [205904]

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Norman Baker: The coalition Government is committed to ensuring we have the best arrangements in place to protect children and families from harm.

Under the Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme, members of the public are able to make an application for information to the police about a particular individual who has contact with a child, or children, in order to prevent harm.

Slavery

Graham Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what provisions are being made by her Department in conjunction with the NSPCC to ensure that calls from (a) professionals, (b) volunteers, (c) members of the public and (d) victims of modern slavery and human trafficking to the modern slavery helpline can be dealt with effectively; and when the modern slavery helpline will go live; [205863]

(2) what discussions she has had with the NSPCC about its current and future plans to train staff to run her planned modern slavery helpline; what that training will include; what the estimated cost is of such training; and which body will provide the training; [205949]

(3) to whom the NSPCC will refer cases of people (a) from EU countries and (b) who are not EU nationals, who call her planned modern slavery helpline and are identified as victims of modern slavery; [205950]

(4) what consultation she undertook with (a) non-governmental organisations, (b) civil society, (c) church organisations, (d) front-line professionals, (e) social workers and (f) local authority and Health Service staff on the creation of a modern slavery helpline prior to her announcement that such a helpline was being set up; [205951]

(5) what expertise the NSPCC has in dealing with victims of slavery; and what criteria were set by her Department for the securing of the contract to run the modern slavery helpline. [205956]

Karen Bradley [holding answer 22 July 2014]: We are working closely with the NSPCC to pilot a Modern Slavery Helpline as part of a wider communications and marketing campaign, to raise awareness of modern slavery. The helpline will be established by the end of July 2014. We are working with a number of non-governmental organisations and law enforcement agencies to ensure that all callers to the helpline can access any additional help, advice and support they need.

Training will be provided to all call handlers working on the helpline, which will be delivered by the NSPCC Child Trafficking Advice Centre and the Metropolitan Police Service, building on their specific expertise and knowledge in this area. The training will include the nature of modern slavery, the information to be obtained from individuals who call the helpline as well as organisations that can provide further support and guidance. There are no specific costs to the Home Office associated with providing this training.

Each call to the helpline will be considered on a case-by-case basis and, where an individual requires further information or advice, the helpline call handlers will provide the details of other organisations for the caller to contact, as appropriate. This is regardless of whether the caller is from an EU or non-EU country.

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Stakeholders, including NGOs, have been engaged in the communications and marketing campaign which underpins the helpline.

The NSPCC is ideally placed to deliver what we need given their existing infrastructure and expertise in safeguarding issues. The NSPCC runs a number of helplines, including Childline, FGM helpline and the Child Trafficking Advice Centre (CTAC) line. We have engaged NSPCC by means of a formal Grant Agreement, not a Contract, which will be managed using standard Home Office grant terms and conditions in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money.

Tobacco Smuggling

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much her Department spent on its tackling tobacco smuggling strategy in (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13. [206014]

James Brokenshire: The Tackling Tobacco Strategy in its current form came into force in April 2011. Customs operations target a range of commodities, including those covered by this strategy, and our officers and equipment are deployed to cover a range of activities. We do not therefore hold information relating specifically to tobacco.

Training

Mr Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much has been spent on what (a) media training and (b) social media training for (i) her and (ii) Ministers in her Department since May 2010. [205311]

Karen Bradley: Departmental spend on media and social media training for Ministers and the Home Secretary since 2010 can be found in the following table.

Vetting

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of applications to the Disclosure and Barring service in each police authority in England were approved within (a) 14, (b) 18 and (c) 25 days in 2013. [205941]

Karen Bradley: The following table contains figures relating to the number and percentage of Disclosure and Barring Service Certificates issued within 14, 18, and 25 days by police force area in England during financial year 2013-14.

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Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been placed under a discretionary bar from working with (a) children and (b) adults in each of the last five years; and for what (i) reasons and (ii) harm type each person was so placed. [205989]

Norman Baker: The following table sets out the number of people that have been placed under a discretionary bar from working with (a) children and (b) adults in each of the last five years. Information relating to the reasons and the harm type under which each person was so placed cannot be provided without incurring disproportionate cost.

The Independent Safeguarding Authority did not have the power to automatically place individuals on the adults barred list where their convictions predated 20 January 2009, when automatic barring on the adults list became available. These cases were considered under the discretionary barring route. The ISA continued to receive notification of these convictions in 2009 and did not conclude all of these cases until 2010-11. This means that the figures for discretionary bars were higher in 2009 and 2010. After 2010, the number of such cases decreased and the number of discretionary bars reduced in line with that change.

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many discretionary referrals have been made from the National Crime Agency Child Exploitation and Online Protection unit to the Disclosure and Barring Service in each of the last five years. [206296]

Norman Baker [holding answer 21 July 2014]: Child Exploitation and Online Protection unit (CEOP) Command

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works with the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) to check the details of individuals against CEOP records when requested to do so, however they do not make discretionary referrals. Like its predecessor (the Criminal Records Bureau), the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) has access to Police National Computer (PNC) records which includes details of those who have been charged or convicted in connection with CEOP Command investigations. This allows the DBS to undertake checks when criminal records certificates are applied for or referrals are received from employers or others.