| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT
Court Service (Fee Income)
Mr. Burnett: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will make a statement on the method employed by the Court Service to calculate the estimated reduction of litigation and consequential short-fall of fee income in the financial year 2000-01. [108826]
Jane Kennedy: To calculate the estimated reduction in litigation, the number of claims issued over two period of six months were compared. These were May to October 1998 and May to October 1999. This comparison showed that the total of originating proceedings (excluding family and insolvency) commenced in total declined by 23 per cent. The calculation of the estimated shortfall in fee income was based on a combination of actual income from April to December 1999 and three months of forecast income to March 2000. Income for 2000-01 is expected to be £308 million. The calculated level of new income from the changed fees in a full year has been downgraded by 9 per cent. for 2000-01 to allow for the fact that the higher fees will not apply for the whole of the financial year and a small decline in workload.
Court Closures
Mr. Burnett: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will make a statement on the number of court closures in England and Wales in the past three years. [108860]
Jane Kennedy: Magistrates courts are locally managed by magistrates courts committees under the provisions of the Justices of the Peace Act 1997. Decisions concerning the future of magistrates courts are for the relevant magistrates courts committee to determine.
| 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Courtroom closures | 48 | 46 | 14 |
| Courthouse closures | 22 | 22 | 8 |
Legal Aid
Mr. Burnett:
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what was the expenditure on legal aid for personal injury cases in (a) 1993-94, (b) 1994-95, (c) 1995-96, (d) 1996-97, (e) 1997-98 and (f) 1998-99 and for the same years in relation to legal aid for personal injury cases; (i) what amount of contributions to the Legal Aid Fund was paid or repaid by legally aided litigants, (ii) how much of this expenditure on legal aid for personal injury cases in the
9 Feb 2000 : Column: 224W
above years was value added tax and (iii) what is his Department's estimate of the benefits, recovery and savings by virtue of cases won by litigants in personal injury cases who had the benefit of legal aid for the years requested. [108791]
Mr. Lock:
Excluding advice and assistance expenditure on cases completed in each year was as follows:
| Net | Gross | Contributions from legally aided litigants | |
|---|---|---|---|
| (a) 1993-94 | 38.0 | 155.3 | 1.3 |
| (b) 1994-95 | 44.4 | 190.1 | 1.5 |
| (c) 1995-96 | 55.2 | 239.6 | 1.7 |
| (d) 1996-97 | 61.8 | 274.2 | 1.9 |
| (e) 1997-98 | 65.6 | (25)307.7 | (25)2.3 |
| (f) 1998-99 | (26)-- | 335.2 |
(25) CIS was installed during 1997-98 in the Board's Nottingham and Chester offices. Because of this the figures for 1997-98 are incomplete and do not include data for five months (Nottingham) and six weeks (Chester)
(26) I am unable, at present, to provide net figures for 1998-99 due to the differences in data collection between the Legal Aid Board's former computer system and its current Corporate Information System (CIS)
I am also unable to provide details of VAT because not all the Board's payment systems record it as a separate item. Some disbursements are registered for VAT and others are unregistered.
It is not possible to estimate the benefits, recovery and savings to litigants by virtue of cases won in personal injury cases. Neither is it possible to estimate the benefit to public funds. Although the Compensation Recovery Unit of the Department of Social Security (CRU) will seek to recover any state benefit from the amount of damages paid, the CRU does not record whether monies recovered were in relation to a case supported by legal aid throughout, partially supported by legal aid or financed in another manner, eg with the support of a trade union.
Ms Oona King:
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what representations he has received on the proposed reform of the Public Trust Office; and if he will consider extending the period for consultation. [108828]
Jane Kennedy:
I refer my hon. Friend to the written answer I gave her on 8 February 2000, Official Report, column 132W on the consultation period. Representations from a number of organisations and groups have been received on the Quinquennial Review of the Public Trust Office including Members of Parliament, the judiciary, the Law Society and other professional bodies, voluntary organisations and groups representing the interests of PTO clients and staff.
Ms Oona King:
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what steps he proposes to take to implement the recommendations made by the
9 Feb 2000 : Column: 225W
National Heritage Committee in its report on press activity affecting court cases (HC 292, Session 1996-97). [109573]
Mr. Lock:
The Government announced on 27 February 1998 that it accepted in principle the recommendations of the National Heritage Committee. As my noble Friend the Lord Chancellor said in another place on 22 November 1999, Official Report, House of Lords, column 169, legislation will be brought forward when Parliamentary time allows. The Lord Chancellor is setting up an interdepartmental working group of officials to review the law relating to the payments to witnesses in criminal proceedings and the publication of information in advance of criminal trials. The review will inform the Government's decisions about the form of legislation required to implement the National Heritage Committee's recommendations. The review will consider how the requirements of the European Convention of Human Rights affect the law of contempt.
Mr. Don Foster:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if she will list for the financial year 1998-99 (a) the number and (b) the total value of contracts let by her Department with external consultants and advisers that (i) were put out to competitive tender, (ii) were not put out to competitive tender and (iii) were let on a non-commercial basis, stating in each case the names of the individuals or organisations that have carried out the work. [109269]
Mr. Stringer:
The information requested is not held centrally and is available only at disproportionate cost. It is departmental policy to purchase all goods, services and works by means of competition unless there are convincing reasons to the contrary.
Mr. Gill:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what recent assessment she has made of the effect of performance-related payments in Government Departments. [107470]
Mr. Stringer:
The Cabinet Office began a review of pay and grading delegation within the Civil Service in September 1998. The interim report was published in April 1999 and the findings contributed to the Report on Performance Management, published on 15 December, in support of Sir Richard Wilson's Report to the Prime Minister on Civil Service Reform. The Civil Service will now implement the reform programme and, in particular, the modernisation of its performance management and pay systems.
Copies of all these reports have been placed in the House of Commons Library.
Mr. Maclean:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what is her policy with regard to granting civil servants time off work for counselling. [107575]
9 Feb 2000 : Column: 226W
Mr. Stringer:
Individual Departments and agencies have delegated authority to determine the circumstances when staff may have time off work. Within this framework, Departments and agencies have been consistently encouraged to be sympathetic towards requests for special leave in appropriate circumstances. Last year the Cabinet Office published a resource pack "Managing Attendance in the Public Sector: Putting Best Practice to Work" to help public sector bodies manage attendance in a fair, consistent and supportive way. One of the recommendations was that the public sector organisations should provide or arrange access to welfare and counselling services, and that staff should be encouraged to make full and effective use of those services.
Mr. Llew Smith:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office when she will respond to the Sixth report of the Select Committee on Public Administration on Quangos (Session 1998-99, HC 209). [106729]
Mr. Stringer:
The Government will respond shortly to the Sixth Report of the Select Committee on Public Administration on Quangos.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |