To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he estimates the backlog of licence applications will be cleared by the Security Industry Authority. (79289)

Having received a large number of late applications, the SIA currently has a backlog waiting to enter the system. This is currently adding between two and four weeks to the processing time, so it is now taking up to 10 weeks to process most applications. The SIA has put significant additional resources into clearing this backlog, and expect it will have been cleared by early August.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many private security companies were not compliant with the Private Security Industry Act 2001 at 21 March (a) 2001 and (b) 2006. (79291)

The Private Security Industry Act 2001 requires individuals (not companies) who undertake designated activities to hold the appropriate Security Industry Authority (SIA) licence. Security companies can seek to achieve approved company status (ACS) but this scheme is voluntary.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how long he expects applications submitted for the licensing of close protection industry operatives to take to be processed; (68444)

The information is as follows.

(a) The SIA have a published target of processing 80 per cent. of all applications within six weeks, measured from the date that a properly completed application enters the processing system to the date that a licence is issued. Since September 2005, there has been a backlog of applications that have been waiting to enter the system. These have added an additional time of between two and four weeks to the process, so it is now taking up to 10 weeks to process most applications. As of 13 June there were 7,933 of applications for the manned guarding sector in this backlog.

(b) The SIA has put significant additional resources into clearing this backlog, and expect that by early August applications will achieve the SIA’s published target.