Immigration And Nationality Directorate

Annabelle Ewing
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff there were in each office of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in the last year for which figures are available; and what the remit of each office is. [127206]

Beverley Hughes
The number of full-time equivalent staff in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate by business area, at 30 June 2003 was: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|                                                                                  |
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|Immigration Service—(including border controls and removals)                      |
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|Asylum support, asylum casework and appeals                                       |
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|Managed Migration (applications for leave to remain, nationality and work permits)|
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|Non-operational (includes policy development and corporate services)              |
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Annabelle Ewing
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set up an Immigration and Nationality Directorate office in Scotland. [127210]

Beverley Hughes
The Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) has a Public Enquiry Office (PEO) in Glasgow. In May 2003, responsibility for this office transferred from UK. Immigration service to the IND. Since this transfer, the Glasgow office has expanded their services and now deal with all types of straightforward applications for leave to remain and settlement. Applicants are required to make an appointment prior to attending. There are no plans for any further offices to be opened in Scotland.

Dr. Cable
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many items (a) deposited at and (b) posted to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate have been (i) lost at and (ii) stolen from each office in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [128770]

Beverley Hughes
Information dating back to 1993 for each of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate's buildings is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. I would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 12 June 2003, OfficialReport, column 1053W, and would add that as at 4 September this year, 2,872 requests for the return of documents had been received and 571 lost passport letters issued. A range of measures including the setting up of secure handling areas and the early return of sponsors' passports are currently being put in place to improve significantly IND's ability to find and return documents at the time of request.