HC Deb 04 November 2002 vol 392 cc100-2W
Mrs. Ellman

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many(a) local authorities, (b) private sector contractors and (c) voluntary sector contractors are providing accommodation and support services for asylum seekers; and what the financial value is of tenders awarded to each sector. [78544]

Beverley Hughes

[holding answer 31 October 2002]: The information is as follows:

Contracts Grant agreements
Private sector 11
Local authorities 11
Voluntary sector 6

Information on the financial value of contracts is not available in the form requested.

Mrs. Ellman

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what geographical areas are covered in each region in the regional breakdown used by NASS; and what powers and responsibilities have been delegated to the individual regions. [78545]

Beverley Hughes

[holding answer 31 October 2002]: The areas covered by each region are as follows:

Region County
East of England Norfolk
Suffolk
Essex
Cambridgeshire
Hertfordshire
Bedfordshire
East Midlands Derbyshire
Nottinghamshire
Leicestershire
Lincolnshire
Northamptonshire
Greater London London
South Central and East Dorset
Buckinghamshire
Oxfordshire
Berkshire
Hampshire
Surrey
West Sussex
East Sussex
Kent
North East Northumberland
Tyne and Wear
Durham
Cleveland
North West Greater Manchester
Merseyside
Lancashire
Cheshire
Cumbria
Northern Ireland County Antrim
County Down
County Armagh
County Tyrone
County Fermanagh
County Derry
Scotland Dumfries and Galloway
Borders
Lothian
Strathclyde
Central
Fife
Tayside
Grampian
Highland
South West Cornwall
Devon
Somerset
Avon
Wiltshire
Gloucestershire
Wales Gwent
South Glamorgan
West Glamorgan
Mid Glamorgan
Dyfed
Powys
Clwyd
Gwynedd
Anglesey

Region Country
West Midlands Staffordshire
Shropshire
West Midlands
Hereford and Worcester
Warwickshire
Yorkshire and Humberside North Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
South Yorkshire
Humberside

National Asylum Support Service (NASS) is planning to increase the number of its staff in each major region. It is expected that the regional infrastructure will be in place by the end of the current financial year. Under the regionalisation programme work related to investigations, outreach and housing contract management will be delegated, with the expectation that aspects of operations work will follow at a later date. Actual locations of individual offices within regions are still being finalised.

Mrs. Ellman:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many private contractors providing accommodation or support for asylum seekers have been dropped since 1997 because of dissatisfaction with their performance. [78546]

Beverley Hughes

[holding answer 31 October 2002]: The National Asylum Support Service (NASS) became operational on 3 April 2000. Since that date NASS has not terminated any contracts with private sector contractors providing accommodation or support asylum seekers.