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Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 26 November 1996
HOME DEPARTMENT
Stalkers and Paedophiles
Ms Janet Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) when he intends to publish the Government's stalking Bill; [5333]
- (2) when he intends to publish the Government's Bill to establish a national register of paedophiles. [5312]
Mr. Maclean: Bills on both these topics will be published shortly.
Ms Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will place in the Library copies of the responses he has received to the consultation paper, "Stalking-The Solutions". [5334]
Mr. Maclean: Comments on the consultation paper were not sought with the aim of publication. I can, however, assure the hon. Member that the overwhelming majority of comments were favourable.
The following organisations responded to the paper:
We received responses from the hon. Member, the hon. Member for Bradford, North (Mr. Rooney) and the hon. Member for Bradford, South (Mr. Sutcliffe). In addition, there were 28 responses from private individuals.
The Association of Chief Officers of Probation, Association of Chief Police Officers, Association of Magisterial Officers, British Transport Police, British Fur Trade Association, Childline Conservative Women's National Committee, Council of Circuit Judges, Cumbria Constabulary, General Council of the Bar, Guild of Editors, Hampshire Constabulary, Holborn Law Society, Justices' Clerks Society, Law Commission, Magistrates' Association. Mind, National Free Church Women's Council, National Anti-Stalking and Harassment Campaign, The Newspaper Society, North Eastern Circuit Court Service, National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Paisner and Co, Police Federation, Portsmouth Circuit Court Service, Rights of Women, Riverside Housing Association, Royal College of Psychiatrists, Nineteen branches of Soroptimist International, Suzy Lamplugh Trust, Townswomen's Guild, Victim Support, Welsh Women's Aid, Women's National Commission, and the Women's Aid Federation of England.
European Union
Mr. MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of his Department's time and resources are spent dealing with administrative and policy matters connected with British membership of the European Union. [4957]
Mr. Howard: This information is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Asylum Seekers
Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the number of (a) men and
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(b) women held in custody in prisons in England and Wales while seeking political asylum in the United Kingdom as at 18 November. [5568]
Mr. Kirkhope: Information as at 18 November 1996 is not available. However, as at 5 November 1996, 319 men and six women who had sought asylum at some stage were recorded as being detained in prison service establishments in England and Wales.
Criminal Injuries Compensation
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, (1) in what circumstances a United Kingdom citizen working in Germany and there assaulted and injured by another United Kingdom citizen, qualifies for compensation under the terms of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board; [6209]
- (2) what protection a United Kingdom citizen has when he or she becomes a victim of a crime in another country of the European Union; [6144]
(3) in what circumstances British citizens are able to claim under the criminal injuries compensation scheme if they are victims of crime while in another EU country. [6206]
Mr. Maclean: Under the terms of the criminal injuries compensation scheme approved by Parliament, eligibility is restricted to victims of crimes of violence whose injury was sustained in Great Britain. Victims of crime committed in another country must normally look for protection or redress under whatever arrangements obtain in the country concerned, or to such insurance arrangements as they may have made. I understand that a number of European Union countries, including Germany, do have schemes for compensating victims of violent crime, although none are as generous as the Great Britain scheme.
Mr. John Berry (Compensation)
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what compensation the Home Office has paid to Mr. John Berry following the recent Court of Appeal case. [5601]
Mr. Kirkhope: An application for compensation on behalf of a Mr. John Berry was made on 2 February 1994 and compensation will be paid under section 133 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988.
We have not yet received Mr. Berry's final claim and although an interim payment has been made it is not the practice to disclose the amount of such payments in individual cases.
Consultants
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the latest estimates of the expenditure on all external consultants, including management consultants, for each year since 1992, in 1996 prices, for his Department and its agencies; and what are the quantified annual cost savings which such expenditure has resulted in. [4067]
Mr. Howard [holding answer 14 November 1996]: I refer the hon. Member to my letter to him of 18 November 1996, a copy of which has been placed in the Library.
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High Court Cases
Mr. Ainger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list each of the High Court cases which he has lost since becoming Home Secretary and the amount of costs awarded against his Department in each case. [5405]
Mr. Howard [holding answer 1 November 1996]: Since May 1993, the Home Office has been involved in several thousand cases in the High Court. These cases include judicial review applications and writ actions. The Home Office has been successful in more than 90 per cent. of the judicial review cases. The detailed information requested is not readily available.
PRIME MINISTER
Ministerial Accountability
Mrs. Clwyd: To ask the Prime Minister if he will draw up a new code of practice on ministerial accountability to Parliament; and if he will ensure a right of access under such a code of practice on ministerial accountability to Parliament to full documents rather than solely the information they contain. [6008]
The Prime Minister: The standards expected of Ministers in relation to their duty of accountability to Parliament are laid down in "Questions of Procedure for Ministers". Following recommendations in the Public Service Committee's recent report on "Ministerial Accountability and Responsibility", an amendment has been made to the opening section on ministerial conduct. This now includes the statement that Ministers:
"must be as open as possible with Parliament and the public, withholding information only when disclosure would not be in the public interest, which should be decided in accordance with relevant statute and the Government's Code of Practice on Access to Government information".
The reason the Government believe that their commitment to openness is best expressed in terms of access to information, rather than in terms of access to specific documents, is set out in the Government's response to the Public Service Committee's report.
Ministerial Travel Abroad
Mr. Gapes: To ask the Prime Minister what is the procedure for purchasing tickets for overseas travel and reimbursement of costs for Ministers taking part in delegations abroad partly of a non-ministerial, personal or party political nature; and for how long Her Majesty's Government keep records of such visits. [5384]
The Prime Minister: Departments have their own procedures for purchasing tickets for Ministers' travel on official trips abroad. Where the delegation in question is partly of a governmental and partly of a personal or party political nature, Ministers are required to ensure, in
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accordance with the terms of "Questions of Procedure for Ministers", paragraph 72, that no undue obligation is involved to their Department.
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