Written question asked by Andrew Turner (Conservative) on Thursday, 22 June 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 26 June 2006. It was answered by Baroness Harman (Labour) on Monday, 17 July 2006 on behalf of the Department for Constitutional Affairs.

Departmental Premises (Security)

Question: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what measures are in place to ensure that no illegal immigrants are employed in the manned guarding of her Department’s premises.

Answer: My Department uses a mix of in-house and contract security guards.Where security guards are recruited directly to provide in-house services, recruitment is carried out in accordance with the requirements of the Civil Service Commissioners Code.Two suppliers have provided manned guarding services to all Crown and county courts since 2000. Another supplier provides manned guarding services to offices on the DCA HQ estate. Under the terms of their respective contracts, these suppliers are required to carry out security vetting of personnel they propose using.My Department assumed responsibility for magistrates courts in April 2005, many of which have contracts for manned guarding services awarded prior to this date. Information on individual contractual arrangements is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.A national procurement exercise covering all courts in England and Wales, which will standardise the contractual arrangements including vetting requirements, will begin later this year.

Secondary information