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Social Fund

Mr. Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when he intends to publish his annual report on the social fund for 1995-96 and the Social Fund Commissioner's annual report; and if he will make a statement. [37972]

Mr. Roger Evans: The Secretary of State's annual report on the social fund for 1995-96, Cm 3320, was published today and has been laid before Parliament. The report records that the gross budget allocated to the discretionary part of the fund on 1 April 1995 was

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£406 million, an increase of £53 million on the budget set at 1 April 1994. For the current year, we have increased the gross discretionary budget by £13.5 million to £419.5 million.

Total gross expenditure in 1995-96 was £534 million, £83 million higher than in 1994-95 and was the highest annual level of expenditure since the fund was set up in 1988. This included over 2 million non-repayable grants and interest-free loans worth £401 million and funeral, maternity and cold weather payments worth £133 million.

Cold weather payments were increased from £7 to £8.50 on 1 November 1995. Over 7 million payments were made to around 3 million people at a cost of £62 million.

As part of the aim of eliminating abuse, changes to the funeral payment scheme came into effect on 5 June 1995 to ensure that only those with good cause for taking responsibility for a funeral were eligible for help. In addition, a ceiling was placed on the amount payable to cover specified funeral directors' charges. The number of funeral payments had nearly doubled between 1988-89 and 1994-95, but expenditure had more than trebled. The new arrangements continue to provide for a dignified funeral but at the same time protect public funds. Expenditure on funeral payments has reduced from £63 million in 1994-95 to £49 million in 1995-96.

The social fund continues to play an important role in supporting mainstream social security provision, in providing a varied and flexible response to the individual needs of applicants and in offering the taxpayer value for money.

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The Social Fund Commissioner's annual report has also been published today and copies have been placed in the Library.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Departmental Legal Costs

Mr. Alan Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what external legal costs have been incurred by his Department in the cases in which his Department's actions have been judged to be unlawful. [35910]

Mr. Howard: No central record has been kept of the outcome of all the cases against the Home Office during the more than 200 years of its existence. The cases include claims for personal injuries as well as applications for judicial review.

Police Patrol Vehicles (Accidents)

Mr. Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many road traffic accidents involving police patrol vehicles were reported in each police force area in England and Wales for the years 1994 and 1995; and how many (a) police officers and (b) civilians sustained serious or fatal injuries in such accidents. [37105]

Mr. Maclean: Information for the years 1994 and 1995 in the precise form requested is not available centrally. Some information is available, however, for the financial year 1994-95 and is set out in the table. The figures for deaths and serious injuries relate to the incidents which are recorded in the second column, which arose in the course of either police pursuits or responses to emergency calls in England and Wales.

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1994-95
Forces	Total police vehicle accidents	Total police accidents arising from pursuits and emergency calls	Police fatal injury	Police serious injury	Civilian fatal injury	Civilian serious injury
Avon and Somerset	608	170	0	1	0	1
Bedfordshire	113	20	0	0	0	0
Cambridgeshire	124	50	0	0	0	0
Cheshire	166	73	0	1	0	0
City of London	56	14	0	0	0	1
Cleveland	164	108	0	0	0	3
Cumbria	160	29	0	0	1	1
Derbyshire	281	58	0	0	0	0
Devon and Cornwall	383	53	0	0	0	1
Dorset	119	54	0	2	0	2
Durham	176	105	0	0	0	1
Dyfed Powys	143	20	0	0	0	1
Essex	87	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Gloucestershire	158	2	0	0	0	0
Greater Manchester	920	426	0	2	0	4
Gwent	139	9	0	0	0	0
Hampshire	500	115	0	0	0	0
Hertfordshire	258	10	0	3	0	0
Humberside	243	69	0	0	0	2
Kent	938	27	0	0	0	0
Lancashire	404	72	0	0	0	2
Leicestershire	274	71	0	1	0	1
Lincolnshire	72	28	0	1	0	0
Merseyside	520	225	0	6	1	4
Metropolitan Police	4,321	1,995	2	22	11	22
Norfolk	194	46	0	1	1	1
North Wales	93	36	0	0	0	0
North Yorkshire	173	68	0	1	0	1
Northamptonshire	173	71	0	0	0	0
Northumbria	1,011	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Nottinghamshire	304	161	0	1	2	3
South Wales	398	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
South Yorkshire	285	150	0	0	0	1
Staffordshire	415	72	0	0	1	1
Suffolk	143	31	0	0	0	0
Surrey	226	122	0	2	0	1
Sussex	328	41	0	4	0	0
Thames Valley	813	327	0	3	0	0
Warwickshire	97	33	0	1	0	1
West Mercia	328	93	0	0	0	0
West Midlands	1,052	258	0	1	1	1
West Yorkshire	515	49	0	0	1	0
Wiltshire	73	27	0	0	0	0
England and Wales Total	17,948	5,388	2	53	19	56

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Post Office (Postal Ballot Papers)

Mr. Pickthall: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with the Post Office and with returning officers about the need for a statutory duty for the Post Office to deliver postal ballot papers for public elections on time; and if he will make a statement. [37410]

Mr. Sackville: None. There is already a statutory duty upon the Post Office to deliver these ballot papers as set out in regulation 86 of the Representation of the People Regulations 1986.

Parliamentary Questions

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 25 March, Official Report, column 405, about parliamentary questions, what method would be used by his Department in collating the information requested. [37535]

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Mr. Howard: The examination of nearly 30,000 files dating back to 1987-88.

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 26 March, Official Report, column 495, about parliamentary questions, what method would be used by his Department in collating the information requested. [37534]

Mr. Howard: The examination of nearly 22,000 files dating back to 1989-90.

Driving Offences

Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the driving offences which involve (a) obligatory disqualification and (b) obligatory endorsement, indicating the degree of endorsement for each offence. [37484]

Mr. Maclean: Information on driving offences which attract obligatory disqualification and/or endorsement is given in the table.

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Driving offences attracting disqualification or endorsement

				Penalty
Provision	Offence	Disqualification	Endorsement	points
Road Traffic Act 1988
RTA S.1	Causing death by dangerous driving	Obligatory	Obligatory	3-11
RTA S.2	Dangerous driving	Obligatory	Obligatory	3-11
RTA S.3	Careless and inconsiderate driving	Discretionary	Obligatory	3-9
RTA S.3A	Causing death by careless driving while under the influence of drink or drugs	Obligatory	Obligatory	3-11
RTA S.4(1)	Driving or attempting to drive when unfit to drive through drink or drugs	Obligatory	Obligatory	3-11
RTA S.4(2)	Being in charge of mechanically propelled vehicle when unfit to drive through drink or drugs	Discretionary	Obligatory	10
RTA S.5(1)(a)	Driving or attempting to drive with excess alcohol in breath, blood or urine	Obligatory	Obligatory	3-11
RTA S.5(1)(b)	Being in charge of a motor vehicle with excess alcohol in breath, blood or urine	Discretionary	Obligatory	10
RTA S.6	Failing to provide a specimen of breath for a breath test	Discretionary	Obligatory	4
RTA S.7	Failing to provide specimen for analysis or laboratory test	Obligatory (in certain cases)	Obligatory	3-11
RTA S.12	Motor racing and speed trials on public ways	Obligatory	Obligatory	3-11
RTA S.22	Leaving vehicles in dangerous positions	Discretionary	Obligatory (if motor vehicle)	3
RTA S.23	Carrying passenger on motorcycle contrary to this section	Discretionary	Obligatory	3
RTA S.35	Failing to comply with traffic directions	Discretionary (in certain cases)	Obligatory (in certain cases)	3
RTA S.36	Failing to comply with traffic signs	Discretionary (in certain cases)	Obligatory (in certain cases)	3
RTA S.40A	Using vehicle in dangerous condition	Discretionary	Obligatory	3
RTA S.41A	Breach of requirement as to brakes, steering gear or tyres	Discretionary	Obligatory	3
RTA S.87(1)	Driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence	Discretionary (in certain cases)	Obligatory (in certain cases)	3-6
RTA S.92(10)	Driving after making false declaration as to physical fitness	Discretionary	Obligatory	3-6
RTA S.94(3A)	Driving after failing to provide information as to disabilities	Discretionary	Obligatory	3-6
RTA S.94A	Driving after refusal or revocation of licence	Discretionary	Obligatory	3-6
RTA S.96	Driving with uncorrected defective eyesight or refusing to submit to test of eyesight	Discretionary	Obligatory	3
RTA S.103(1)(b)	Driving while disqualified	Discretionary	Obligatory	6
RTA S.143	Using motor vehicle while uninsured	Discretionary	Obligatory	6-8
RTA S.170(4)	Failing to stop after accident and give particulars or report accident	Discretionary	Obligatory	5-10
RTA S.172	Failure of person keeping vehicle to inform police as to identity of driver in the case of certain offences	Discretionary (in certain cases)Obligatory (in certain cases)3
Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984
RTRA S.16(1)	Contravention of temporary prohibition or restriction	Discretionary (in certain cases)	Obligatory (in certain cases)	3-6
RTRA S.17(4)	Use of special road contrary to scheme or regulations	Discretionary (in certain cases)	Obligatory (in certain cases)	3-6
RTAR S.25(5)	Contravention of pedestrian crossing regulations	Discretionary (in case of motor vehicle)	Obligatory (in case of motor vehicle)	3
RTRA S.28(3)	Not stopping at school crossing	Discretionary (in case of motor vehicle)	Obligatory (in case of motor vehicle)	3
RTRA S.29(3)	Contravention of order relating to street playground	Discretionary (in case of motor vehicle)	Obligatory (in case of motor vehicle)	2
RTRA S.89(1)	Exceeding speed limit	Discretionary	Obligatory	3-11
Other offences
Manslaughter by the driver of a motor vehicle		Obligatory	Obligatory	3-11
Aggravated vehicle taking under Section 12A of Theft Act 1968		Obligatory	Obligatory	3-11

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