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HOME DEPARTMENT
Domestic Workers
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what changes he proposes to make to the arrangements for overseas domestic workers who accompany their employers to the United Kingdom. [52283]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: We have been concerned for some time at reports of abuse of domestic workers accompanying their employers to the United Kingdom. We have been working with Kalayaan, the organisation which represents overseas domestic workers, to see what changes we could make to the conditions under which they are admitted, with a view to improving them and preventing abuse.
With effect from today, only those domestic workers whose duties exceed those set down in the International Labour Organisation's International Standard Classification of Occupations will be allowed to accompany their employer to the United Kingdom. This means that those whose duties are only cleaning,
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washing and cooking will not qualify. Once in the United Kingdom, they will be allowed to change domestic employment to another employer, provided the nature of their duties meets the above criteria.
These changes, which we shall include in the Immigration Rules at a suitable opportunity, will reduce the number of overseas domestic workers admitted to the United Kingdom. However, once here, they will be able to change to another employer if they suffer abuse from their original employer.We also propose to regularise the stay of those overseas domestic workers who, because of the shortcomings of the provisions in the past, find themselves in an irregular position through no fault of their own.
Mr. Efford:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will lay before Parliament the ninth Annual report of the Firearms Consultative Committee. [52417]
Mr. Straw:
I have placed in the Library today a copy of the annual report of the Firearms Consultative Committee.
Ms Southworth:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will lay before Parliament the Annual Report for the Forensic Science Service. [52418]
Mr. Straw:
I have today laid before Parliament copies of the Forensic Science Service (FSS) Annual Report and Accounts for 1997-98.
The Report and Accounts details the Agency's performance against its targets. The FSS continues to grow at a significant pace, and efficiency savings are at the highest level since it became an agency in 1991. The FSS passes on these improvements to customers through
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real price reductions and higher investment in both research and development and infrastructure to improve the quality of products and services.
The achievement on four main indications was as follows:
The total number of delivered jobs--which represent individual parts of a case--showed a greater than predicted increase of 28 per cent. Measures were put in place to minimise the impact on turnaround times.
The speed of delivery of DNA jobs will be further improved by the recruitment of more scientific staff and the new DNA unit at Huntingdon.
Mr. Beith:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the certified normal accommodation for each prison in England and Wales (a) in 1998 and (b) for each of the next seven years. [51404]
Ms Quin:
The table lists the 1997-98 actual financial year averages and the 1998-99, 1999-2000 and 2000-01 forecast averages of certified normal accommodation (CNA) for each prison in England and Wales. There are no changes forecast to CNA beyond March 2002, although plans are currently under review.
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Full cost recovery
The target was exceeded. The Operating surplus before exceptional items after interest was £3 million, representing a recovery of costs of 105.3 per cent. This is sufficient to recover brought forward accumulated deficit of £2 million;
Unit cost £80.91
The target was exceeded. The unit cost achieved was £79.88, representing an underlying efficiency improvement of 5.8 per cent. (against a target of 3.9 per cent.);
Achieve 90 per cent. of agreed delivery dates;
72 per cent. of agreed delivery dates was achieved. The increased volume of business made it impossible to achieve this target. The number of delivered jobs was well ahead of expectations, but increase in capacity is in hand to meet future customer demands within the target times; and
Maintain quality accreditation (NAMAS M10 and BS EN ISO 9001)
Accreditation was maintained and extended to other scientific areas.
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