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LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT
Compensation Awards
Mr. Morley: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what is the average time currently taken by courts to collect and pay compensation awards to those victims who have been awarded them; and what proposals he has to review current procedures.[8881]
Mr. Streeter: Information concerning compensation awards is not collected separately. The average time taken by magistrates courts to collect all money due to the court, including fines, fees, costs, compensation awards and contributions to legal aid, at the end of 1995 was 236 days.
My Department chairs an inter-agency working group which was set up May 1995 to identify urgently ways of improving the enforcement of financial penalties including fines, compensation orders and confiscation orders. The group issued good practice guidance on enforcement procedures to the courts in July this year. The group is continuing its work and further guidance will be issued where appropriate.
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Embassies and Consulates (Opening Hours)
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what are currently the average hours of opening of embassies and consulates in (a) Europe and (b) other countries. [9034]
Dr. Liam Fox: The opening hours for British embassies and consulates in Europe and in other countries are based on local practice.
Normally this would mean at least seven hours on a full working day. Consular offices are normally open to the public for at least five hours on full working days but shorter hours may be implemented where the overall consular workload makes this appropriate.
Consular staff are on call world wide 24 hours a day to help British nationals in distress.
Mr. Sheerman:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs for what hours the British consulate in Berlin is (a) open and (b) open to receive calls from British businesses. [9035]
Dr. Fox:
The opening hours of the British embassy office in Berlin are 8.30 to 17.00 local with a lunch break between 12.30 and 13.30. The embassy office switchboard is manned continually during open hours.
The consular section of the British embassy office in Berlin is open to the public from 9.00 to 12.00 and 14.00 to 16.00. Consular staff are on call 24 hours a day to help British nationals in distress.
Mr. Sheerman:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs during which hours of the day United Kingdom overseas embassies and consulates are open for telephone inquiries from United Kingdom businesses. [8950]
Dr. Fox:
British embassies and consulates are usually open for telephone inquiries seven hours a day. Details for individual posts can be obtained from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on 0171 270 1500.
Consular staff are on call world wide 24 hours a day to help British nationals in distress.
Mr. Sheerman:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what has been the annual cost of his Department's presence in Germany in each of the last three years. [9033]
Mr. Hanley:
The annual cash operating cost of the missions in Germany was as follows:
| Financial year | £ |
|---|---|
| 1993-94 | 19,480,357 |
| 1994-95 | 20,637,195 |
| 1995-96 | 21,722,071 |
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the annual cost to his Department of the running of the consulate in Berlin. [8951]
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Mr. Hanley: The cash operating cost of the British embassy office in Berlin for 1995-96 was £3,780,937.
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the present staff establishment of the British consulate in Berlin.[8952]
Mr. Hanley: UK-based staff figures are staff numbers from the authorised establishment but locally engaged staff are calculated in man years.
There are currently 21 UK-based staff working at the British embassy office in Berlin. These are supported by 41.20 man years of locally engaged staff--this figure includes locally engaged staff at the ambassador's residence.
Mr. Sheerman:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the cost to his Department of all United Kingdom consulates in Germany. [8953]
Mr. Hanley:
The cash operating cost of our missions in Germany for 1995-96 was as follows:
| £ | |
|---|---|
| British Embassy, Bonn | 8,744,134 |
| Embassy Office, Berlin | 3,780,937 |
| Consulate-General, Dusseldorf | 4,073,785 |
| Consulate-General, Frankfurt | 1,656,779 |
| Consulate-General, Hamburg | 1,390,261 |
| British Trade Office, Leipzig | 38,327 |
| Consulate-General, Munich | 1,586,127 |
| Consulate-General, Stuttgart | 451,721 |
| Total | 21,722,071 |
NATIONAL HERITAGE
Museum Inventories
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what steps are being taken to check the stock in the collections held by (a) the British museum, (b) the Victoria and Albert museum and (c) the national museums in Scotland and Wales against their inventories; and when these checks were last made. [8200]
Mr. Sproat: The national museums and galleries are accountable for the security of their collections. Under the financial memoranda, the British museum has to keep detailed inventory and stock records. It carries out regular stock-takes of the items in its collections and, as part of this, it is common practice for museum staff to make daily checks of exhibits. Similar arrangements apply to the national museums and galleries of Scotland and the national museums and galleries of Wales.
Crystal Palace National Sports Centre
Miss Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if she will make a statement on the future of Crystal Palace national sports centre. [8332]
Mr. Sproat: The future of the facilities at Crystal Palace national sports centre are, in the first instance, a matter for Bromley borough council and the Sports Council. In taking forward the initiatives in "Sport:
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Raising the Game", it will be necessary, however, to consider the future of the national sports centres currently operated by the Sports Council to see how the objectives of the sports policy statement can best be achieved within the resources and opportunities available.
Christmas Expenditure
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage how much her Department plans to spend on celebrating Christmas and the new year. [7573]
Mr. Sproat [holding answer 6 December 1996]: My Department estimates that it will spend approximately £1,850 on celebrating Christmas and the new year. This includes the cost of Christmas cards, the provision of a Christmas tree and a contribution for official guests at the Department's party.
Public Appointments
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage how many of the individuals appointed by his Department to public positions in the last year were first identified by the public appointments unit. [8541]
Mr. Sproat [holding answer 10 December 1996]: Guidance issued by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments requires that candidates for public appointment are selected from a wide field identified through advertising, executive search, consultation with interested bodies and through the public appointments unit as appropriate.
Over the past year the Department of National Heritage has used all these methods and in addition has set up a central appointments unit to maintain a departmental register of those interested in public office.
The Department of National Heritage does not retain records to enable us to identify which of the appointments made over the past year were candidates first identified by the PAU. However, of the 144 people appointed to this Department's sponsored bodies over the past year, 22 were registered with the PAU.
Mr. Wilshire:
To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if she will make a statement on the safeguards that will be put in place to ensure that local association football clubs will continue to receive grants from the Football Trust; and what alternative funds will be provided from the national lottery. [8312]
Mr. Sproat
[holding answer 11 December 1996]: The Football trust receives revenue from the spot the ball competition, the home nation football associations and the FA Premier league to help football clubs at all levels. The distribution of grants from these sources is a matter for the Football trust. This money is entirely separate from the pool betting duty concession afforded to the trust to find safety-related works in line with Lord Justice Taylor's report into the Hillsborough disaster for clubs in the FA Premier league, the Football league and the Scottish Football league.
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