10,000 ‘lost’ asylum seekers and the string of howlers we weren’t meant to spot
AMONG the 400 announcements were a string of stories the Government hoped would be overlooked. Here, we reveal the most embarrassing of them
WE ‘MISLAID’ THOUSANDS OF ASYLUM SEEKERS
THE Home Office has lost track of at least 10,000 asylum seekers, a damning report has warned.
They are often released from custody when there are no beds available in detention centres – only to vanish.
According to David Bolt, Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, authorities have lost contact with 10,000 asylum seekers. More than 30,000 failed asylum seekers are still in the UK more than two years after appeals against their removal have been exhausted.
But officials often don’t attempt to trace such people as it would be too much of a ‘drain on resources’. Mr Bolt said many have ‘gone to ground’, working illegally, claiming benefits and even voting in elections.
His report added: ‘While enforcement teams could conduct residential visits to attempt to trace the absconders, they were reluctant to do so as this was not a priority.’
...AND WE CAN’T EVEN CHASE DOWN SUSPECTS
IMMIGRATION officers are not allowed to chase suspected illegal workers if they flee during a raid, it has emerged.
They are also powerless if other suspects who are discovered during a swoop refuse to answer questions and want to leave.
COUNCIL TAX RISES OF FOUR PER CENT ON HORIZON
TOWN halls will be able to increase council tax by an extra 2 per cent a year to cover the costs of elderly care, it has been confirmed.
This is on top of the 2 per cent a year that they are already allowed to increase council tax by without holding a referendum.
If authorities were to keep imposing both rises then the average Band D bill of £1,484 would have grown to £1,806 by 2020/21.
...AND COMPLICATED RAIL FARES HAVE ROCKETED, TOO
NATIONAL rail fares have more than doubled in two decades, it has emerged.
Department for Transport figures show fares increased by 117 per cent since 1995. Some standard-class fares have risen by a third in real terms since 1995, while first-class ticket prices soared by two-thirds.
Regulated fares – which include off-peak and season tickets – increased by an average of 7 per cent.
Nearly one in three passengers think there are too many ticket types and said they find the system confusing.
GROWING ARMY OF SPECIAL ADVISERS FOR MINISTERS
DAVID Cameron was accused of breaking his pledge to curb the Government’s use of spin doctors last night. New figures reveal ministers now have a total of 96 special advisers, with the Prime Minister accounting for around a third. At the time of the General Election in May, the Tories had a total of 69 so-called ‘Spads’. Their total wage bill now stands at around £8.4million a year. Mr Cameron himself has increased the number of special advisers in Number 10 from 26 to 32. But Chancellor George Osborne also now has his own ‘Spad Army’ comprising ten advisers – up from seven. Former BBC producer Thea Rogers received a 42 per cent pay rise after being promoted to the role of chief-of-staff.
Miss Rogers was reportedly instrumental in Mr Osborne’s image overhaul, overseeing his new diet and haircut. Her pay went from £69,250 to £98,000.
A PAY BOOM FOR THE QUANGOCRATS – INCLUDING A RISE FOR SIR COVER-UP
MORE than 300 quangocrats and Whitehall mandarins earn more than the Prime Minister, figures have shown.
The total is the highest it has ever been over the past five years – despite David Cameron’s pledge to slash the cost of politics and tackle the Whitehall gravy train.
Out of the 319 officials who take home more than the PM’s £150,000 salary, eight are earning more than £300,000.
Another 11 take home between £250,000 and £300,000. No fewer than 35 people working on the controversial HS2 train line earn more than Mr Cameron.
There are now 319 officials whose salaries are higher than the Prime Minister’s pay packet – an increase of a third compared to the total two years ago.
Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood – who has been dubbed Sir Cover-Up due to his attitude on transparency – received a pay rise last year of £5,000 to £195,000.
DATES WITH DAVE FOR JAMIE OLIVER, AMAZON AND CLOONEY’S GLAMOROUS WIFE
GEORGE Clooney’s wife, the human rights lawyer Amal, was one of the high-profile guests to have held a private meeting with David Cameron.
Mrs Clooney met Mr Cameron with the former first lady of the Maldives, Laila Abdullah, in June to discuss human rights in the Maldives and the imprisonment of the former president, Mohamed nasheed. Chef Jamie Oliver met the Prime Minister to discuss childhood obesity. Mr Cameron held a ‘discussion’ with German newspapers which was linked to his attempts to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the EU. Director Richard Curtis, a backer of the Make Poverty History campaign, met to discuss foreign aid.
Amazon, which is criticised over the amount of tax it pays Britain, met the PM to discuss investment in the UK.
FRACKING LICENCE BOOM ANGERS COUNTRYSIDE
A RAFT of fracking licences were awarded by the Government yesterday – as it announced cuts to solar panel subsidies.
Test drilling for shale gas is expected to start within a year as a result of 93 licences handed out yesterday for onshore oil and gas on the UK mainland.
Ministers also announced subsidies for solar panels on homes will be slashed by 64 per cent. Environmental groups warned ‘vast swathes’ of countryside were now being opened up for gas extraction.
TRAINEE NURSES TO PLUG STAFFING SHORTAGES
An army of trainee nurses are to be deployed in hospitals in an attempt to plug staffing shortages.
The ‘nursing associates’ will undergo two years of on-the-job training and will help nurses with basic tasks. Ministers hope to create up to 1,000 new posts and will offer the trainees starting salaries of £19,000. But unions said they should not be a ‘cheap’ way of replacing qualified nurses.
MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD WON’T BE BANNED
THE Muslim Brotherhood will not be banned from Britain even though having links to the group could be a ‘possible indicator of extremism’. A long-awaited report found that some members of the controversial organisation group had a ‘highly ambiguous relationship with violent extremism’.
The Prime Minister ordered an investigation into whether the hardline Egyptian
political group should be classified as a terrorist organisation – and if it was using the UK as a base to plot attacks in the region.
It was completed last year but its publication was delayed amid fears the findings will upset Britain’s allies in the Middle East.
BEDROOM TAX LED TO FOOD CUTBACKS
MORE than three- quarters of people affected by the so-called ‘bedroom tax’ had to cut spending on food, a report revealed.
Government analysis into people whose housing benefit was cut because they have a spare room found they were more likely to run out of cash each week. Fewer than one in ten who faced losing some of their subsidy had downsized, the report said.
STILL FAILING ON SOCIAL MOBILITY
THE middle classes continue to snatch the best jobs because recruiters employ graduates with the right accent who have been on gap years, an official report has found. Top law and accountancy firms actively seek out applicants with ‘middle- class characteristics’ – widening the UK’s huge social mobility gap.
The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, chaired by former Labour health secretary Alan Milburn, said modern Britain is still suffering from ‘deep divides’ in society with privately educated pupils still dominating the professions.
MINISTER’S 818 CHAUFFEUR TRIPS FUNDED BY TAXPAYER
A FORMER Lib Dem minister clocked up 818 car journeys over the course of three years using a taxpayerfunded chauffeur service.
Lord Mcnally, who served as Justice Minister in the previous government, was the most prolific user of the coalition’s car pool. Some ministers eschewed the journeys themselves but used the cars to courier red boxes containing ministerial papers.
nick Clegg, pictured, summoned a car to ferry paperwork 268 times. Simon Burns, who at the time was the rail minister, decided to take the service 93 times rather than travelling by train. Former Tory party chairman Grant Shapps called on the chauffeured cars 394 times.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the junior Transport Minister, has insisted the cost of the scheme has now fallen, from £21.6million in 2010 to £6.3million last year.