HC Deb 27 January 2000 vol 343 cc228-9W
Miss Widdecombe

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the earliest postmarked date of unopened mail in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate on(a) 1 November 1999, (b) 1 December 1999 and (c) 1 January 2000; and how many items of mail remained unopened on each date. [105674]

Mrs. Roche

Significant and continuing improvements have been made in the handling of mail in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate.

Directly addressed applications for variation of leave are opened when they are initially processed, which now takes place within three days of receipt. The earliest postmarked dates and numbers of unopened items of this category of mail were as follows on the dates specified:

Date Earliest postmark Unopened items
1 November 1999 17 September 1999 12,000
1 December 1999 1 October 1999 7,500
1 January 2000 20 December 1999 3,500

Information on the postmarked dates of mail addressed to the Travel Documents Section is not available, but the numbers of unopened items were as follows.

Date Unopened items
1 November 1999 1,573
1 December 1999 897
1 January 2000 461

Information on the unopened items and earliest postmarks of mail that was not directly addressed at the dates specified is not available. Since 1 November 1999, all mail which is not directly addressed has been sent to a Document Management Centre, where it is opened and sent to the correct location. All such mail items are currently opened and despatched on the date of receipt.

Fee receipts: Home Office and associated public bodies
£000
Service 1992–93 1 1993–94 1 1994–95 1 1995–96 1 1996–97 1 1997–98 1 1998–99 1 1999–2000 2 2000–01 2
Immigration: Additional Service 378 588 806 1,347 1,627 1,620 972 882 n/a
Accommodation provided for non-Home Office bodies 65 96 101 150 106 62 131 190 29
Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, licences 1,964 2,109 2,028 2,049 3,432 2,398 2,297 2,354 n/a
Immigration Detention costs recovered from carriers 773 790 291 372 640 1,360 976 1,997 2,250
Crime Prevention Centre 90 60 67 80 92 127 84 93 95
Data Protection Registrar 7,820 4,471 3,226 7,072 5,057 6,067 6,182 6,302 6,414
Data Subject Access Requests 110 111 171 259 506 668 784 1,200 1,500
Emergency Planning College 55 201 325 482 496 767 948 970 1,200
Fire Service College 12,688 12,979 13,712 13,375 13,069 13,524 14,296 13,956 14,654
Forensic Science Service 24,662 25,755 28,653 31,188 50,839 59,732 68,138 74,506 81,122
Gaming Board for Great Britain: Gaming 3,292 3,347 3,115 3,508 3,142 3,054 3,015 3,161 3,379
Lotteries3 n/a n/a 228 243 275 294 293 304 304
HMIC—Inspection of non Home Office police forces 102 0 98 0 170 215 202 183 n/a
Licences issued under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 319 359 409 432 390 494 494 570 n/a
Nationality fees 4,424 5,537 5,560 5,433 5,747 5,615 7,608 6,462 6,500
UK Passport Agency 71,321 89,261 87,354 91,061 88,923 78,249 89,600 95,800 116,300
Police Promotion Exams Board 13 53 36 58 60 59 64 51 41
Police Staff College 1,184 1,250 1,473 1,087 1,194 1,057 1,137 1,459 n/a
Police Training Centres 794 1,024 944 776 637 580 1,122 995 n/a
Specialist Crime Centre 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1
Travel Documents 173 323 514 514 736 640 462 420 1,423
1 Actual
2 Estimate
3 The fee receipts from Lotteries are included with those from Gaming until 1994–95

At present, receipts from every on-Vote service are treated wholly or partly as negative expenditure by the Department.