here - United Kingdom Parliament

811W
Written Answers
1 DECEMBER 2010
Written Answers
812W
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Priti Patel: To ask the Minister for Women and
Equalities pursuant to the answer of 22 November
2010, Official Report, columns 81-82W, on ethnic minorities,
what steps she plans to take to evaluate the (a) outcome
and (b) value for money of each event. [27473]
Lynne Featherstone: Action has been taken to evaluate
the work of the Black, Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME)
Women Councillors’ taskforce and an evaluation report
will be published in the new year, with an executive
summary. The report will assess the short- and longer-term
impacts of the taskforce as a whole, and by each of the
three strands of work covering the support and development
element of the programme, which are the outreach
events, the shadowing and mentoring scheme and the
community leadership course.
The specific research objectives are:
1. To identify and examine the outcomes and effectiveness of
the BAME taskforce
2. To identify the strengths and limitations of the BAME
taskforce programme of work
3. To assess the value of the taskforce programme of work,
including how to make this agenda sustainable in the longer term
4. To follow-up and track participants’ progress in getting
involved in political and public life.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Aviation: Security
Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for the
Home Department who informed (a) her and (b) the
Prime Minister of the discovery of a bomb on board a
UPS courier aircraft at East Midlands airport; and
what the reasons were for the time taken to inform each
Minister of that discovery. [22219]
Mr Maude: I have been asked to reply.
The Secretary of State for Transport, the right hon.
Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond)
informed about an incident at East Midlands airport at
8.10 am on 29 October. In his capacity as Secretary of
State for Transport he is routinely informed of incidents
having the potential to disrupt air transport, even when
no specific threat materialises. The Prime Minister, the
Secretary of State for the Home Department, my right
hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May)
and the Minister of State for Security and Counter-terrorism
(Baroness Neville-Jones) were all informed at lunchtime
on 29 October.
Crime
Ed Balls: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home
Department what the change in overall crime levels has
been between 1997 and the latest date for which figures
are available in terms of the methodology used in
collecting information for (a) police recorded crime
and (b) the British Crime Survey. [24606]
Mrs May [holding answer 16 November 2010]: Both
the police recorded crime statistics and the British Crime
Survey provide an incomplete picture of crime.
Statistics from the two sources are published annually
in the Home Office statistical bulletin, Crime in England
and Wales, a copy of which is available in the House of
Commons Library.
Homosexuality: Criminal Records
Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for
the Home Department if she will bring forward legislative
proposals to change requirements for the disclosure of
historic convictions for homosexual intercourse for the
purpose of preventing discrimination. [27241]
Lynne Featherstone: As set out in the Home Office
Business Plan, the Freedom Bill, to be introduced by
February 2011, will include provisions so that those
who were prosecuted for consensual gay sex at a time
when this was illegal may apply to have their conviction
record deleted from police records and will no longer be
required to disclose their conviction in any circumstances.
Immigration
Mr Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for
the Home Department what procedures are available to
her to restrict the level of immigration from other EU
member states. [26882]
Damian Green [holding answer 29 November 2010]:
The right to free movement is not unlimited; European
Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA) nationals
must be exercising a Treaty right as a worker, a self-employed
or self-sufficient person or a student if they wish to
reside in the UK beyond three months.
The EU Accession Treaties for countries that have
joined the EU since 2004 include a temporary derogation
that allows individual member states to restrict accession
workers’ access to the labour market for up to five years,
or up to seven years if justified on labour market
grounds. This Government are committed to applying
transitional controls on access to the UK labour market
as a matter of course in the future to all new EU
member states.
Under transitional arrangements currently in place,
workers from the Central and Eastern European countries
that acceded to the EU in 2004 must register their
employment in the UK within one month. This scheme
must end by 30 April 2011.
Workers from Romania and Bulgaria, which acceded
to the EU on 1 January 2007, must seek authorisation
to work from the UK Border Agency and meet the
required criteria. These restrictions will remain in force
until 31 December 2011 and may be extended for a
further two years.
Migration
Mr Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for the
Home Department pursuant to the oral statement of
23 November 2010, Official Report, columns 169-71,
on controlling migration, what the minimum amount is