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Family Law Act 1986
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what plans he has to implement Part II of the Family Law Act 1986. [109676]
Jane Kennedy: I refer the right hon. Member to the written Parliamentary Answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Dartford (Dr. Stoate) on 17 June 1999, Official Report, column 213W. The position remains unchanged.
Circuit Judges
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many circuit judges were appointed from the solicitors' profession in (a) 1992-93, (b) 1993-94, (c) 1994-95, (d) 1995-96, (e) 1996-97 and (f) 1997-98; and if he will make a statement. [109578]
Mr. Lock:
The information requested is set out in the table.
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| Number of circuit judges from the solicitors profession appointed in the financial year | Total number of circuit judges appointed in the financial year | |
|---|---|---|
| 1992-93 | 10 | 50 |
| 1993-94 | 5 | 45 |
| 1994-95 | 6 | 32 |
| 1995-96 | 16 | 53 |
| 1996-97 | 4 | 37 |
| 1997-98 | 3 | 25 |
The Lord Chancellor welcomes applications from both solicitors and barristers to be considered for appointment to the Circuit Bench. He considers that the skills and experience needed to be a Judge may as well be shown by a successful litigation solicitor as by an experienced barrister. The Lord Chancellor wants to appoint the Judges with the best potential--regardless of whether they come from the ranks of barristers or solicitors.
Children and Family Court Service
Mr. Coleman: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if the new training manual for the Children and Family Court Service is complete; and if he will make a statement. [109560]
Jane Kennedy: The Project Team charged with taking forward the development of the Children and Family Court Advisory Service is preparing a training strategy, along with unified National Standards and guidelines for the officers of the new service. In doing so the Project Team will consider the existing National Standards for those services being amalgamated, and take account of any guidelines in existence. It will also consider all submissions on the subject.
Family Assistance Orders
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what steps he is taking to standardise the issuing of family assistance orders. [109571]
Jane Kennedy:
Section 16 of the Children Act 1989 enables a court to issue a family assistance order requiring a probation officer or local authority officer to advise, assist and (where appropriate) befriend a child, any parent or guardian of a child, or any person with whom the child is living or who has an order for contact with the child. Family assistance orders last for a maximum of six months. They require the consent of any person named in the order other than the child himself or herself, and may not be made unless the circumstances of the case are exceptional. Consequently, the number of such orders made is small (in 1999 there were 43 in the High Court and 701 in county courts). The decision whether or not a case is exceptional, and whether a family assistance order
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would be in the best interests of the child, if those concerned agree, is necessarily one for the courts to take in the light of the facts of each case. Standardisation would therefore not be appropriate.
Departmental Occupational Health Services
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if Government Departments and agencies provide occupational health services specifically for drug and substance misuse. [109177]
Mr. Ian McCartney: Responsibility for the provision of occupational health services rests with individual departments and agencies. Precise arrangements will therefore vary from department to department. Most main departments have issued policy statements on the help available to staff with problems of drug abuse.
In the Cabinet Office, should a case occur, staff would receive counselling from the welfare officer who would be advised by the contracted occupational health services provider. Referral to an NHS programme or another provider would also be considered.
Departmental Staff
Caroline Flint: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what childcare provision was made available in the financial year 1998-99 for use by (i) her departmental staff and (ii) employees of executive agencies under the control of her Department; what was the cost to parents of this childcare; and how many parents used the facilities. [108838]
Mr. Stringer: The Civil Service as a whole is striving for an improved worklife balance. The report on Civil Service Reform by Sir Richard Wilson to the PM states
that the Civil Service is strongly committed to a dramatic improvement in our record on diversity. It attaches a lot of importance to developing policies to enable staff to achieve a better balance between their work and private lives.
As a department, the Cabinet Office places great importance on maintaining and developing a wide range of family friendly policies. Childcare is just one element of these policies.
The following table shows the type of childcare provision in my Department and executive agencies; the number of parents who used it; and the cost to parents:
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Caroline Flint:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office in each of the last five years, what proportion of women employees in (i) her Department and (ii) executive agencies under the control of her Department (a) returned to work after childbirth, (b) returned to work after childbirth before the end of maternity leave, indicating the (1) time-range and (2) mean time, (c) returned to work after childbirth on reduced working hours, indicating the average hours worked and (d) returned to work after childbirth full-time and subsequently reduced their hours. [108968]
Mr. Stringer:
There is no requirement to keep data on the patterns of women returners after maternity leave. As a result this information is not available for the Cabinet Office, the Civil Service College or the Central Office of Information. Information is available from the following Cabinet Office Agencies.
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(a) maternity leave, (b) maternity pay, (c) paternity leave, (d) parental leave, (e) flexible working hours, (f) part-time work, (g) job sharing, (h) leave to care for sick children, (i) home-working, (j) term-time contracts, (k) annual hours contract, (l) child care allowances, (m) careers leave and (n) career break schemes; and what criteria are used to judge eligibility in each case. [108845]
Mr. Stringer:
The Civil Service as a whole is striving for an improved work-life balance. The Cabinet Office recognises the importance of policies on work-life balance to the Civil Service Reform programme and is running pilot studies on five issues (working practices, working patterns, childcare, long hours culture, and alternative working). The lessons which emerge from the pilot studies will be communicated to departments and agencies when they are available early next year.
Within the Cabinet Office and its Agencies the following provisions are currently available;
(a) maternity leave
The Cabinet Office and its Agencies give 18 weeks full paid leave to their women employees provided they; a. are in paid service at the time maternity leave begins; b. have completed at least one year's paid service; c. intend to return to work in the Civil Service after their confinement and leave, or after a combination of maternity leave and a career break; d. agree to repay any non-statutory payments made during the maternity leave if they do not return to work; and e. are not employed on a casual basis or on a fixed term appointment of less than two years. Maximum of 52 weeks paid and unpaid leave.
(b) maternity pay
The Cabinet Office and its Agencies pay Statutory Maternity Pay within full pay.
(c) paternity leave
The Cabinet Office, Government Car and Despatch Agency and PACE allow seven days; CCTA, Civil Service College, Security Facilities Division and TBA allow five days; COI allow two days.
(d) parental leave
The Cabinet Office allows all staff with parental responsibility who have one years' service 13 weeks parental leave. Applications for periods of unpaid parental leave above the statutory entitlement would be considered favourably. The Agencies have all implemented the Parental and Maternity Leave Regulations 1999. TBA allow up to five years' unpaid parental leave.
(e) flexible working hours
The Cabinet Office operates a formal flexible working hours scheme in some parts of the Department, elsewhere line managers are responsible for agreeing hours of attendance for staff, providing that a core time of 10.00-12.00 and 14.00-16.00 hours is observed and
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conditioned hours are worked. CCTA, PACE, Security Facilities Division and TBA all operate flexible working hours. Civil Service College operates flexible working hours which is available to the majority of staff below Grade 7, with the exception of some occupational groups eg drivers. COI operates flexible working hours except in areas where operational needs make this impossible. Government Car and Despatch Agency allows flexible working hours to all non-industrial staff.
(f) part-time work
(g) job sharing
Cabinet Office considers all requests to work part-time or jobshare sympathetically and accommodates staff wishes where possible. Under the Departmental Job Advertising Scheme the presumption is that all posts advertised will be open to part-time or job share applicants unless there are specific reasons for restricting it to full time staff only. The Agencies consider requests to work part-time or jobshare on a case by case basis.
(h) leave to care for sick children
The Cabinet Office and its Agencies all allow special paid leave under their special leave arrangements for domestic situations.
(i) home working
Cabinet Office, CCTA, Government Car and Despatch Agency, PACE and Security Facilities Division members of staff are all eligible to apply for home working. All cases are considered on their merits. Civil Service College have no provisions. COI does not generally have provision for home working as it does not fit in with the work of the agency. TBA consider each case on merit and has a number of staff who are home based.
(j) term time contracts
(k) annual hours contracts
The Cabinet Office, CCTA, PACE and Security Facilities Division will consider cases on merit. COI, Civil Service College, Government Car and Despatch Agency and TBA have no provision.
(l) child care allowances
Cabinet Office staff with under school age children who fulfil certain criteria will be eligible for childcare vouchers which were negotiated as part of the 1999 pay agreement. Criteria are still being negotiated with the Departmental Trade Union side. Staff are also able to claim for additional childcare costs associated, for instance, with attendance on a training course. The responsibility for decisions about whether extra costs can be claimed has been delegated to line managers. No provisions exit in CCTA, COI, Civil Service College, Government Car and Despatch Agency, PACE, Security Facilities Division and TBA.
(m) careers leave
(n) career break schemes
The Cabinet Office, CCTA, PACE and Security Facilities Division allow up to five years' unpaid special provided that staff: a. are permanent members of the Cabinet Office with at least one year's service; b. have a satisfactory attendance record; and c. have a good record of performance. COI provides careers' leave on an unpaid basis but there is no provision for career breaks. Civil Service College provide special unpaid leave for careers' leave and career breaks. Government Car and Despatch
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Agency have no specific scheme in place but consider each case on merit. TBA provide special unpaid leave but consider each case on merit.
Caroline Flint:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what provisions are made available to (i) departmental staff and (ii) employees of executive agencies under the control of her Department, for
CCTA
1995 one maternity leave case: returned to full-time working
1996 one maternity leave case: left three months later under VES Scheme before the end of her maternity leave
1997 one maternity leave case: returned to full-time working, took career break three months later
1998 one maternity leave case: returned to full-time working, resigned one month later
1999 four maternity leave cases: three returned part-time (average 18 hrs); one returned full-time
PACE (PACE records start from its creation on 1 April 1996)
1996 two maternity leave cases: one returned part-time; one returned full-time
1997 one maternity leave case: returned full-time
1998 four maternity leave cases: one returned part-time; three returned full-time
1999 three maternity leave cases: one returned part-time; two returned full-time
Security Facilities Division
two maternity leave cases: one took a 12 month career break immediately at the end of the leave period and returned to her previous part-time hours; one returned full-time
1998 one maternity leave case: returned part-time two days, previously worked four days
1999 one maternity leave case: resigned at end of leave period
TBA
1995 three maternity leave cases: one returned part-time (16 hrs); two returned full-time
1996 two maternity leave cases: one returned part-time (16 hrs); one took career break immediately following maternity leave
1997 one maternity case: returned full-time
Government Car and Despatch Agency
Since the Agency was formed there have been no women who have taken maternity leave.
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