§ Mrs. EllmanTo 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:
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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. EllmanTo 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:
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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.