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Written Answers to Questions
Thursday 30 October 1997
DEFENCE
Cyprus
Mr. John D. Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions during October (a) Greek and (b) Greek Cypriot military aircraft flew over United Kingdom sovereign base territory on the island of Cyprus; what representations were made; and if he will make a statement. [12872]
Dr. Reid: Two Hellenic Air Force F-16 fighter aircraft which were participating in a joint military exercise with the Republic of Cyprus overflew the Akrotiri sovereign base area at low altitude on Tuesday 14 October. The British high commission in Nicosia wrote to the Government of the Republic on 16 October reminding them of the existence of sovereign airspace over the SBAs and of the safety requirements.
Security Clearances
Dr. Naysmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will review the procedures whereby individuals with dual nationality, with security clearance to access MOD and NATO protectively marked material, are precluded from access to internal caveat information. [12800]
Mr. Spellar: The Ministry of Defence recently revised policy on access by dual nationals to national caveat information. Under the new policy there is no general ban on access by dual nationals to national caveat information. Decisions on access are made on a case-by-case basis. In the case of contractors' employees, the Department is required to seek the permission of the originator of the material before granting access.
CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT
Works of Art (Exports)
Mr. Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when the 1996-97 annual report of the reviewing committee on the export of works of art will be published. [14159]
Mr. Chris Smith:
The reviewing committee's annual report for 1996-97 has been published today and copies have been laid before Parliament.
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Public Record Office
Mr. Baker: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what factors he takes into account when considering appeals against the non-release of documents from the Public Record Office. [13214]
Mr. Hoon: Neither the Lord Chancellor nor I have considered any such appeals. The Advisory Council on Public Records advises on requests for the release of records made by historians and other members of the public which Departments reject, but the final responsibility for the release or otherwise of withheld records rests with the Ministers of the Departments concerned.
Magistrates (Warrington)
Helen Jones: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many women magistrates were appointed to the Warrington bench in the past year; and what proportion of women applicants for that year this figure represents. [13193]
Mr. Hoon: One woman was appointed to the Warrington bench in 1997 out of 13 women applicants. One man was also appointed out of a total of 18 male applicants. Following the appointments, there were 55 women and 56 men on the Warrington bench.
Helen Jones: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many magistrates currently serving on the Warrington bench are resident in the Warrington, North constituency; and what proportion of serving magistrates in Warrington this represents. [13194]
Mr. Hoon: Forty magistrates on the Warrington bench are resident in the Warrington, North constituency-- 36 per cent. of the Warrington bench.
Late Payments
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list the suppliers to his Department who are owed outstanding amounts, indicating the amounts and the due date on which the account should have been settled. [13549]
Mr. Hoon: All Departments are required to pay all their bills within agreed contract terms, or 30 days from receipt of the goods or service or a valid invoice, whichever is later, where no such terms exist. Such detailed information on payment performance for the current financial year could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The Treasury will shortly be publishing a league table of departmental payment performance for 1996-97.
Immigration Appeals
Mr. Malins: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many appeals in immigration cases, excluding asylum cases, are currently outstanding. [13345]
Mr. Hoon:
At the end of September 1997, there were 9,410 non-asylum appeals outstanding.
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Criminal Justice System
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 30 July, Official Report, column 263, to the hon. Member for South Derbyshire (Mr. Todd), on the review of delay in the criminal justice system, which recommendations for procedural changes in the youth court will be contained in the Crime and Disorder Bill. [12730]
Mr. Michael: The Crime and Disorder Bill will introduce wide-ranging reform of the youth justice system. The measures in the Bill, including the new final warning scheme and a range of new sentencing options, will improve the effectiveness of the youth justice system and the speed with which cases can be concluded.
The Bill will include the legislative provisions necessary to implement the following recommendations from the review of delay in the criminal justice system for procedural reform in the youth court:
The Government also intend to give the youth court discretion to remit a case to the adult court where a juvenile, aged under 18 at the outset of his case, is likely to turn 18 during the course of the proceedings. This is a modification of recommendation 26 from the review of delay in the youth justice system. The necessary legislative changes will be included in the Crime and Disorder Bill.
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In addition to these measures, the Crime and Disorder Bill will include legislative provision to give effect to a number of other recommendations from the review of delay in the criminal justice system which apply to both youth and adult proceedings. The Government's response to all the recommendations of the review is set out in a document which has been placed in the Library.
Mr. Clappison:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of (a) the average cost per case of electronic tagging and (b) the costs to the police of dealing with an offender who breaks the terms of the tagging. [12732]
Ms Quin:
(a) Based on the experience of the first year of the trials of curfew orders with electronic monitoring, the estimated cost per order for a national roll-out was estimated to be about £2,300. Better estimates based on the second year of the trials will be published shortly.
(b) An offender who breaches the terms of the order is returned to court by the electronic monitoring contractors and the police are not involved. However, if an offender then fails to appear in court, a warrant for arrest is issued. Too few such cases have arisen during the current trials of electronic monitoring to enable a meaningful estimate of police costs to be made.
Mr. David Heath:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list, by constabulary, the length of service at Association of Chief Police Officers rank prior to their current appointment of each (a) chief constable and (b) assistant chief constable designated as deputy, indicating for each the date of appointment to their present position. [12354]
Mr. Michael:
The information requested is shown in the tables.
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recommendation 31: stipendiary magistrates should be able to sit alone in the youth court and should specialise in the management of particularly complex cases;
recommendation 32: when the Crown Court deals with a grave offence it should also deal with other related charges;
recommendation 33: the requirement that there should be an hour's interval between sittings of the magistrates' court and the youth court in a courtroom should be abolished.
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(1) Prior to current appointment.
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