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2 July 2009 : Column 406W—continued
Immigrants: Somalia
Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Somali nationals have (a) voluntarily returned to and (b) been forcibly removed to Somalia from the UK in the last two years. [282736]
Mr. Woolas: The requested information is not available. The following table shows the number of nationals of Somalia removed or departed voluntarily to Somalia in the last two years by type of departure.
The Home Office publishes statistics on the number of persons removed or departed voluntarily from the UK on a quarterly and annual basis, which are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office’s Research, Development and Statistics website at:
Internet: Security
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his Department's budget for cyber-security was for 2008-09. [277342]
Mr. Hanson: The Home Office takes cyber-security very seriously. In addition to research in this area, cyber-security is an integral part of every Home Office IT system but it is not costed separately; hence it is not feasible to give a total budget figure.
Police: Identification
Colin Challen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many complaints have been made against police officers in each police force for not displaying their shoulder number in the last five years. [282504]
Mr. Hanson: The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is responsible for the collation and annual publication of police complaints and discipline statistics. However, these statistics are not broken down to the level of detail requested.
International Development
Afghanistan
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will place in the Library a copy of the Afghan Perspectives Report: The Provincial Reconstruction Team and Quick Impact Projects, Helmand Province of April 2008. [282883]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: The Afghan Perspectives Report is not suitable for release. It contains sensitive information, the publication of which I am advised could put individuals at risk.
Democratic Republic of Congo: Internally Displaced Persons
Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate has been made of the number of people who have been displaced from North Kivu owing to the security situation in that region since the beginning of 2009; and if he will make a statement. [282829]
Mr. Thomas: According to the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 350,000 people have been displaced from or within North Kivu since the beginning of 2009.
Democratic Republic of Congo: International Assistance
Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether his Department plans to contribute to the UN emergency appeal for the Democratic Republic of Congo; and if he will make a statement. [282827]
Mr. Thomas: The UK Government have already disbursed £20 million to the humanitarian pooled fund in response to the appeal for the 2009 Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) humanitarian action plan. This week we will release a further £15 million of the £35 million of funding announced by the Secretary of State in January. We are also planning to contribute £500,000 to an Oxfam GB intervention in Lubero territory in North Kivu province.
Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment he has made of the effects of the security situation in North Kivu on the capacity of humanitarian organisations to deliver assistance to that region; and if he will make a statement. [282828]
Mr. Thomas: The current situation in North Kivu is characterised by significant humanitarian needs, widespread violence and human rights violations. Along with continuing insecurity, emergency assistance is also hampered by weak basic services, insufficient funding and too few humanitarian organisations on the ground.
Ongoing military operations led by the Congolese Army (FARDC) against the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) have further restricted humanitarian access and the ability to distribute relief items, leaving many with no or insufficient assistance.
The Department for International Development is committed to helping to alleviate the humanitarian situation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In January the Secretary of State announced a commitment of £35 million for 2009 for humanitarian needs.
Kenya: Overseas Aid
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of his Department’s development aid to Kenya which was (a) misappropriated and (b) used for purposes other than those for which it was intended in the last two years. [283168]
Mr. Thomas: The majority of UK development aid to Kenya goes through civil society organisations, international NGOs, UN agencies and other private implementing partners, who usually have robust project monitoring and financial accounting systems. Approximately 30 per cent. of our programme goes directly to the Government of Kenya through earmarked accounts, which are rigorously monitored and audited. Thorough fiduciary risk assessments are undertaken of individual ministries and projects before we provide funding to the Government of Kenya.
The only substantiated instance of misappropriation I am aware of in the last two years was in 2007, when £18,968 was misappropriated from a DFID health programme. The fraud was picked up by DFID systems, the funds were recovered and returned to DFID, and legal action was taken against the suspect. This constitutes less than 0.02 per cent. of UK development aid to Kenya over a two-year period.
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much overseas development assistance his Department has allocated to projects in Kenya in each year from 2007 to 2010. [283272]
Mr. Thomas: The Department for International Development (DFID) will publish details of all country resource allocations to 2010-11 in its annual report to be published later this month. This will be available in the Library of the House and on the DFID website:
Overseas Aid
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent estimate he has made of the percentage of humanitarian aid provided by the Government which (a) reaches and (b) does not reach its intended recipients. [282298]
Mr. Thomas: Department for International Development (DFID) aid is managed and controlled to ensure that it reaches its intended recipients. DFID does not provide humanitarian aid to foreign Governments, only to UN relief agencies, the Red Cross and reputable non-government organisations. It is monitored rigorously on the ground, at headquarters level and through systematic accounting, audit and parliamentary scrutiny. The National Audit Office and the International Development and Public Accounts Select Committees have in recent years examined and reported favourably on DFID’s humanitarian spending.
Somalia: Overseas Aid
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent discussions he has had with his European counterparts on the provision of humanitarian aid to Somalia. [282304]
Mr. Thomas:
In May, the European Union (EU) General Affairs Council, attended by the Foreign Secretary and me, agreed a statement on Somalia which condemned the recent fighting in Mogadishu and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities. It also welcomed the steps taken by the new Transitional Federal Institutions to consolidate the political process and stressed the
continued engagement of the EU, including in the delivery of humanitarian aid as well as for reconstruction and development.
Sudan: Overseas Aid
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent humanitarian aid his Department has provided to the Darfur area of Sudan. [282313]
Mr. Thomas: The Department for International Development (DFID) does not systematically disaggregate humanitarian aid by region within Sudan. However, of our £110 million budget for Sudan for 2008-09, we provided approximately £55 million towards the humanitarian effort, of which over £30 million went to the Darfur region. This support is provided through bilateral funding for NGOs, support to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and contributions to the Common Humanitarian Fund (CHF).
Justice
Debts: Court Orders
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many charging orders for debt were obtained at each county court in each of the last two years. [283242]
Bridget Prentice: Copies of tables showing the total number of charging orders made against debtors in the county courts of England and Wales in 2007 and 2008, have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Fraud
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people have been (a) investigated, (b) tried and (c) convicted of Ponzi-type frauds in each of the last five years. [283747]
Claire Ward: The information requested is not available.
"Ponzi-type fraud" is not an offence covered by specific legislation, and financial service providers involved in consequential criminal behaviour are likely to be charged with an offence appropriate to the circumstances (such as money laundering, fraud or dishonesty, theft or market abuse, etc).
Information held on the Ministry of Justice court proceedings database on the number of prosecutions and convictions for fraud offences cannot be broken down further to show which of these offences specifically relate to the commission of a Ponzi-type fraud.
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether any mechanisms exist in the sentencing of those found guilty of Ponzi-type frauds for the provision of compensation or other payment to the victims of the fraud. [283750]
Bridget Prentice:
Where a person is convicted of any offence, including fraud, the court has the power to impose a compensation order requiring the offender to
pay a specified sum to a victim who has suffered personal injury, loss or damage to property. The court must give reasons, on sentencing, if it does not make a compensation order where it had the power to do so. However, in criminal cases, compensation is designed primarily to make clear to the offender the impact of the offence on the victim, rather than to make good the victim's losses. The amount of compensation must take account of the known means of the offender.
A compensation order, like a fine, is enforced by the magistrates courts using a range of enforcement powers. Where the offender is imprisoned, the compensation order remains active on the courts' systems and enforcement action can resume on the offender's release.
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people are in detention having been convicted of participation in or orchestration of Ponzi-type frauds; and what the average length of detention for this particular type of crime is. [283751]
Claire Ward: The information requested is not available.
Ponzi-type fraud is not an offence covered by specific legislation, and financial service providers involved in consequential criminal behaviour are likely to be charged with an offence appropriate to the circumstances (such as money laundering, fraud or dishonesty, theft or market abuse, etc).
While statistics are held on the number of detentions and average sentence lengths by each offence group (including fraud and forgery), they cannot be broken down further to show which of these convictions specifically related to the commission of a Ponzi-type fraud.
National Offender Management Service: Stress
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) whether his Department provides training for prison staff in meditation techniques; [283100]
(2) if he will undertake research into the effectiveness of meditation techniques for prison service staff in assisting them to carry out their duties. [283104]
Maria Eagle: There is no central curriculum provision for training for prison staff in meditation techniques, although HMP Manchester is providing meditation training on a pilot basis locally for their staff. Whether more establishments are providing such training could be known only by obtaining information from each establishment, which would incur disproportionate cost.
There are no current plans to undertake national research into the effectiveness of meditation specifically for prison staff. However, the provision at HMP Manchester is currently being independently evaluated.
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