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Special Advisers
Mrs. Gillan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will indicate the number of salaries of his Department's special advisers falling within the range of (a) £24,349-£29,999, (b) £30,000-£34,999, (c) £35,000-£39,999, (d) £40,000-£44,999, (e) £45,000-£49,999,
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(f) £50,000-£54,999, (g) £55,000-£59,999, (h) 60,000-£64,999, (i) £65,000-£69,999 and (j) £70,000- £73,484. [4557]
Mr. George Robertson:
Consistent with the practice of previous administrations, and to protect the privacy of individuals, only aggregate information on the salaries of Special Advisers will be published.
Once all salaries have been agreed, the number of advisers paid in each of the appropriate £10,000 bands will be published.
Mr. Charles Clarke:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what guidance his Department currently applies in ensuring that full account is taken of the environmental impact of its new building projects in Britain. [4516]
Mr. Spellar:
My Department carries out an environmental assessment on all new buildings likely to generate environmental effects. The environmental assessment is included in the formal consultations with the local planning authority as part of the planning process.
Dr. Lynne Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what will be the scope of the proposed Strategic Defence Review; by whom it will be undertaken; and when the results are expected. [3632]
Mr. George Robertson:
I have today written to all right hon. and hon. Members setting out the scope of the Strategic Defence Review and how we propose it will be undertaken. I have placed a copy of my letter in the Library of the House. I expect the Review to be completed around the turn of the year.
Mr. Jim Marshall:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what decision he has reached on the future of the market testing programme within his Department. [4978]
Mr. Spellar:
The Government support market testing as one of several means at their disposal to secure better value for money in the provision of public services. There is, however, no dogmatic preference for private over public provision or vice versa, or for market testing where it is not appropriate. On this basis we have reviewed the Department's market testing programme and have set out our conclusions in a policy statement on getting the best value from defence resources. This is being widely distributed within the Department, to the Trade Unions and other staff representatives and to industry associations. I am placing a copy of the statement in the Library of the House.
The statement emphasises the imperative for continuous improvements in efficiency; pays tribute to the huge contribution made by the Department's Service and Civil Service personnel working together; welcomes private sector involvement where this is cost-effective; and enjoins managers throughout the Department to pursue best value from defence resources in a manner which is rigorous, undoctrinaire, open minded and scrupulously fair.
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Future projects will be judged against the policy statement at their key stages. We expect to announce the outcome in relation to several ongoing projects shortly.
Ms Dari Taylor:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what performance targets have been set for the Meteorological Office for 1997-98. [5062]
Mr. Spellar:
The Chief Executive of the Meteorological Office is responsible for providing quality meteorological and related services for the government, the armed forces, the public, aviation and commercial customers. During 1997-98, the Meteorological Office will be set the following challenging targets:
(a) to improve the Global Numerical Prediction (NWP) Index by eight index points from a baseline of 100, over a rolling three year period ending March 1998;
(b) to improve the UK NWP Index by four index points from a baseline of 100 in 1996-97;
(c) to achieve an index point improvement in the Service Quality Index from a baseline of 100 for 1996-97;
(d) to improve efficiency in year by four index points as measured by the agreed Efficiency Index;
(e) to achieve an overall Return on Capital Employed of at least 11.6 per cent. averaged over the two years 1997-98 and 1998-99 (not less than seven per cent. in year); and,
(f) to achieve a total contribution to core and central services from commercial activity of £3 million.
Crown Prosecution Service
33. Mr. Gareth Thomas: To ask the Attorney-General what proposals he has for relieving the Crown Prosecution Service of unnecessary bureaucracy. [2925]
35. Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Attorney-General what measures he proposes to increase the efficiency of the prosecution service. [2927]
The Attorney-General: The independent review which I announced to the House on 12 June 1997 will examine the organisation and structure of the Crown Prosecution Service, its policies and procedures and consider whether and, if so, what changes are necessary in order to provide for the more effective and efficient prosecution of crime through local public prosecutors.
34. Mr. Greenway: To ask the Attorney-General when he expects to review guidance to Crown prosecutors. [2926]
The Attorney-General: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend, the Member for Clwyd, West (Mr. Thomas). That Review will examine internal guidance including the Code for Crown Prosecutors.
Racial Hatred
36. Mr. Gapes:
To ask the Attorney-General how many prosecutions there have been for incitement to racial hatred in each of the last five years. [2929]
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The Attorney-General:
In the last five years, the Law Officers have consented to the prosecution of 31 defendants for offences of incitement to racial hatred under Part III of the Public Order Act 1986.
Mr. Coaker:
To ask the Attorney-General how many successful prosecutions there have been (a) nationally and (b) in Nottinghamshire in each of the last five years of retailers for selling cigarettes to children under 16 years of age. [3450]
The Attorney-General:
Offences of selling tobacco to children are generally prosecuted by local Trading Standards offices, and proceedings are handled by the Crown Prosecution Service only on those occasions when they are initiated by the police.
| 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nottinghamshire police force area: | |||||
| Prosecutions | 4 | 4 | -- | 3 | 1 |
| Convictions | 4 | 4 | -- | 3 | 1 |
| England and Wales: | |||||
| Prosecutions | 101 | 74 | 143 | 98 | 155 |
| Convictions | 85 | 57 | 108 | 80 | 128 |
(3) An offence under the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 Section 7 as amended by the Children and Young Persons (Protection from Tobacco) Act 1991 Section 1.
Source:
Home Office.
LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT
Departmental Documents
Mr. Baker: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, pursuant to his answer of 11 June, Official Report, column 450, what percentage of archival units produced by Government departments in 1965 have been (a) retained by Government departments with a specific future date identified for release into the public domain and (b) retained by Government departments with no specific future date identified for release into the public domain. [4311]
Mr. Hoon: The Question concerns a specific operational matter on which the Chief Executive of the Public Record Office is best placed to provide an answer and I have accordingly asked the Chief Executive to reply direct. Letter from Nicholas Cox to Mr. Norman Baker, dated 18 June 1997:
In the absence of the Chief Executive on business I have been asked by the Lord Chancellor's Parliamentary Secretary to reply for the Public Record Office to your question about the above.
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Mr. Baker:
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, pursuant to his answer of 11 June, Official Report, column 450, what percentage of the archival units passed to the Public Record Office from all Government departments in 1965 and what actual number have been subsequently (a) released into the public domain in their entirety and (b) released into the public domain in part. [4312]
Mr. Hoon:
The Question concerns a specific operational matter on which the Chief Executive of the Public Record Office is best placed to provide an answer and I have accordingly asked the Chief Executive to reply direct.
The great majority of records produced by Government departments in 1965 will by now have been destroyed under the normal arrangements for handling public records. Neither the Public Record Office nor Government departments kept statistics at that date of quantities of records created or destroyed, so that it is not now possible to give percentage figures for those records retained by their department.
Approvals given by the Lord Chancellor for retention of records all give a date by which the approval is to be reconsidered. As stated in the White Paper Open Government (Cm 2290 July 1993), paragraph 9.24, records retained by departments for other than administrative reasons are subject to regular review, ie at least every 10 years.
The Chief Executive, Mrs Tyacke, or I would be very pleased to discuss any of these matters with you further, if you wished.
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