§ Lembit ÖpikTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the estimated cost is of his Department's efforts to detect and deter illegal immigrants from entering the UK through concealment in vehicles in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [160377]
§ Mr. BrowneThe costs are as follows:
The costs cover both the capital investment and the costs of staff working both in the UK and at the juxtaposed control conducting the following tasks
Cost (£000) 2001–02 2,178 2002–03 14,049 2003–04 (To January 2004) 4,919
- Physical vehicle searches
- The handling of trained people detection dogs
- The management of new detection technology equipment
- The operation and management of carbon dioxide probes
The annual cost of funding the Immigration and Nationality Directorate is less than 1 per cent. of the Government's Total Managed Expenditure and this will reduce further from next year.
The deployment of now detection technology and the extension of juxtaposed controls are part of a wide range of measures which have contributed to a 52 per cent. reduction in the number of asylum claims and the associated costs of supporting asylum seekers.