§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer of the Lord Chancellor of 12 January (WA 121), how and upon what basis the full costs of photocopying are calculated per page at the Public Record Office. [HL197]
§ The Lord ChancellorThe charges for photocopying and related services at the Public Record Office are set on the principle of full cost recovery. The full cost of the reprographic services includes direct staff costs, reprographic material and other non-pay costs, depreciation of equipment and overheads. All the overheads of the PRO are allocated to the front line services, of which the copying service is one. The allocations are based on numbers of staff, office space occupied, quantity and type of computer equipment, use of specialist computer systems, telephone usage, number of payment transactions, number of income transactions and turnover.
The full cost of the copying service is partly offset by recharges to the PRO's internal preservation service for work done directly for that service. There is also a recharge to the preservation service because microfilming work done for the public also produces copies for preservation purposes. These offsets produce a net cost for the reprographic service. The reprographic prices, including photocopying, are set in an annual statutory instrument such that the total projected income from the reprographic service should equal its total projected net cost. Individual prices within the instrument are set to be reasonable and to take into account, as far as possible, the views of readers, user groups, the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Council and other interested parties.
78WAIn practice in 1997–98 the income received from the reprographic service will not equal the net cost. There will be a subsidy of approximately £300,000. In 1998–99, the introduction of capital charging will increase the PRO's total overheads by approximately £1.5 million, and this will increase the amount of subsidy necessary for the reprographic service.
Algerian NationalsAsylum Seekers Lord Hylton asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many Algerian citizens have applied for asylum and refugee status in the United Kingdom since 1 January 1992; how many have been returned to:
- (a) Algeria and
- (b) France
and how many such applicants are currently subject to detention in this country. [HL303]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Williams of Mostyn)During the period 1 January 1992 to 31 December 1997, a total of 4,560 Algerian nationals, excluding dependants, applied for asylum in the United Kingdom. During the same time period, a total of around 640 Algerian nationals, who had at some stage applied for asylum, were removed or departed voluntarily. The available data on removals exclude any in-country applicants who make a voluntary departure prior to the initiation of enforcement action.
I regret that comprehensive data on the final destination of those Algerian asylum seekers removed, or departed voluntarily, from the United Kingdom since 1992 could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. However, a recent exercise indicated that, of the 68 Algerian asylum seekers who were removed/departed voluntarily between 1 July and 31 December 1997, only 13 were removed to Algeria and a further five were recorded as having made a voluntary departure to that country. Most of the remainder were removed, or made voluntary departures, to countries within Europe—a total of 20 to France. No Algerian asylum seekers have so far been removed to France under the provisions of the Dublin Convention which came into force on 1 September 1997.
A total of 53 Algerian nationals, who had sought asylum at some stage, were recorded as being detained solely under Immigration Act powers as at 5 January 1998 (port cases). and 6 January 1998 (after entry cases).