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11 Oral Answers
26 OCTOBER 2009
Oral Answers
12
comments to the Department for Business, Innovation
and Skills, which is the appropriate Department to
regulate these matters.
Mr. David Ruffley (Bury St. Edmunds) (Con): The
public rightly want to see more visible policing. Four
years ago, the Home Office told us that police officers
spent only 19 per cent. of their time on the beat. Will
the Minister tell us what the latest figure is?
Mr. Hanson: I do not have those figures to hand, but
I will certainly write to the hon. Gentleman. However, I
will say this: no matter how many police are on the beat,
they must be doing something right, because crime is
down by 36 per cent. over the past 12 years. Indeed, the
figures that came out last Thursday show that overall
crime was down by 4 per cent. I hope he will recognise
that the police are doing a good job, servicing the public
very well, reducing crime and ensuring that the safety of
the community is paramount.
Andrew Miller (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab):
Smart use of some technologies that are available to
police is helping them to reduce time wasted in bureaucracy.
What steps is my right hon. Friend taking to evaluate
the pilots that have been undertaken to improve services
to the public, such as the use of palm devices in Thames
Valley?
Mr. Hanson: We are undertaking ongoing evaluation.
My hon. Friend will know that some 18,000 hand-held
devices have been put into the system over the past
12 months and we continually look at how we can
reduce bureaucracy and get police focused on the front
line. Indeed, very shortly we expect a further report
from Jan Berry, the police adviser on these matters,
which we will publish for the House and which I believe
will set a further trend for the next 12 months and
beyond of reducing bureaucracy still further.
Antisocial Behaviour
8. Mr. Mark Harper (Forest of Dean) (Con): What
recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of
measures to combat antisocial behaviour. [295132]
The Secretary of State for the Home Department
(Alan Johnson): Three independent reports have confirmed
that our approach to tackling antisocial behaviour is
working. The National Audit Office reported that two
thirds of people stop committing antisocial behaviour
after one intervention, rising to nine out of 10 ceasing
after three interventions. The Home Office has recently
commissioned a consortium of Aberystwyth university,
Swansea university and an independent research
organisation, Applied Research in Community Safety,
to undertake an evaluation of the comparative effectiveness
of ASB interventions. It is expected to report in the
spring.
Mr. Harper: The Children’s Secretary has condemned
the Government’s failure on antisocial behaviour orders.
Does the Home Secretary agree with him?
Alan Johnson: I have not heard of the Children’s
Secretary doing any such thing. I agree absolutely with
the Secretary of State for the Department for Children,
Schools and Families that our action, reducing as it has
the public perception of antisocial behaviour as being
a major problem by 19 per cent. in just four years, is
working, and the whole Government support that view.
Shona McIsaac (Cleethorpes) (Lab): My right hon.
Friend recently said that North East Lincolnshire council
had to get its act together on tackling antisocial behaviour.
What is he expecting the local authority, social landlords
and the police in that area to do to get a grip on this
subject?
Alan Johnson: A number of things, but what I said on
19 October is that just as the policing pledge gives a
certain confidence to the public that they will get a
standard of service wherever they live, given that there
are 42 different police authorities—43 if we count the
transport police—so we should also have a certain
consistency of treatment right across the country on
antisocial behaviour. My colleagues in the Ministry of
Justice, the Department for Communities and Local
Government and I have asked the crime and reduction
partnerships to ensure that that is the case over the
coming months. With that and other measures, we can
ensure that the public, no matter where they live, have
an expectation of a certain level of service.
Asylum Applications
9. Mr. Stewart Jackson (Peterborough) (Con): What
recent estimate he has made of the average time taken
to process an application for asylum. [295133]
10. Richard Ottaway (Croydon, South) (Con): What
his most recent estimate is of the average time taken to
process an asylum application. [295134]
The Minister for Borders and Immigration (Mr. Phil
Woolas): In December we met our targets to conclude
60 per cent. of new cases within six months. That means
not only that decisions were taken early but that in a
significant proportion of refusals, removal from the
UK was effected within six months of application.
In 1997 it took on average 22 months merely to reach
an initial decision. We can only speculate how much
longer than that it was taking to remove those who were
refused at that time.
Mr. Jackson: Why are Members of Parliament routinely
sent letters by the Border and Immigration Agency
advising them in respect of individuals applying for
asylum and indefinite leave to remain that those cases
will not be resolved until July 2011? Is not that a sign of
a failing and dysfunctional Department, or as we heard
earlier, is that the policy of this Government—
Mr. Speaker: Order. [Interruption.] Order. Let me just
say very clearly to the hon. Gentleman that when I
interrupt, he resumes his seat, and that is the end of the
matter.
Mr. Woolas: It is important not to confuse asylum
with immigration. The contrary is the case: the reason
why the former Home Secretary, who is in his place, set
that target was to ensure that Members of Parliament
could be confident that their constituents’ cases were
being dealt with. To be fair, as we have reported to the