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Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 16 February 2000
LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT
Legal Advisers
Mr. Burnett: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what guidance his Department has issued to ensure that legal advisers working on a conditional fee basis make disclosures of that fact to any other party to litigation or to a transaction; and if the guidance provides that such disclosures be made. [110034]
Mr. Lock: At present there is no need for special guidance as the opponent's liability for costs is unaffected if a claimant chooses to finance litigation through a conditional fee agreement. However, the success fee in a conditional fee agreement and the premium for any insurance policy against costs will become recoverable from the losing party from 1 April, when the relevant provisions of the Access to Justice Act 1999 come into force. On 1 February, the Government published a report entitled "The Government's Conclusions Following Consultation on Conditional Fees: Sharing the Costs of Litigation". In view of the opponent's potential liability for increased costs if there is a success fee or insurance premium, the report includes recommendations to the Civil Procedure Rule Committee as to how rules of court might deal with issues of disclosure. Copies of the report have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Nottinghamshire Police (PFI)
Mr. Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the progress of the PFI project involving vehicle supply, support and maintenance for Nottinghamshire Police; and if he will make a statement. [110345]
Mr. Charles Clarke: I understand that negotiations between the Nottinghamshire Police and the preferred bidders for this project are continuing, with a view to a contract being signed early in the next financial year.
Gambling Review Body
Mr. Stephen Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he plans to announce the appointment of the Chairman of the Gambling Review Body and the body's terms of reference. [110759]
Mr. Straw:
Further to the reply I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Dundee, West (Mr. Ross) on 8 December 1999, Official Report, column 534W, I have today appointed Sir Alan Budd as Chairman of the Gambling Review Body.
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Sir Alan Budd is Provost of Queen's College, Oxford, and a former Chief Economic Adviser to the Treasury. The position is unpaid.
We will make a further announcement on the membership of the Review Body in the next few weeks. We hope it will start work shortly after Easter to report by the Summer 2001.
The terms of Reference for the gambling review are as follows:
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many prisoners are undergoing treatment on a sex offender therapy programme; how many prisoners have been recommended for treatment on such a course in the past year; and by how much demand for places outstrips supply; [110082]
Mr. Boateng:
Records are kept centrally of the number of sex offender treatment programmes running at any one time, but not of the number of offenders participating in them. However, given that there is an average of eight inmates attending each of the 48 programmes currently in progress, about 384 prisoners will be receiving treatment at the moment.
No records are kept centrally of the number of prisoners who have been recommended for a place on the programme and this information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The programme is open to all adult male prisoners who have been convicted of a sexual offence, to those whose index offence appears to have had
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a sexual motive and to those who have been convicted of a sexual offence in the past and are assessed as needing to participate in the programme. Candidates must be assessed as suitable for participation in the programme and they must be willing to participate in it.
There are considerable variations between the dates on which individual prisoners are assessed for participation in the programme and the commencement of treatment. It would not be feasible to make places available on demand for all prisoners who need to undergo it, and the Prison Service, therefore, operates a waiting list system. For determinate sentenced prisoners, the order of priority is determined by an assessment of risk of re-offending balanced against time left to serve; for life sentenced prisoners by their tariff date, or by proximity of the next parole review if the tariff has expired or none was set. In addition to that, programme treatment managers need to ensure that each group has a balance of different types of offender. This means that a prisoner at the top of a waiting list may not necessarily be selected for the next programme. For these reasons, average waiting times between assessment and participation have little significance and are not recorded centrally.
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he has taken in response to the report by HM Inspector of Prisons into Wymott Prison; and what plans he has to increase the provision of sex offender therapy programme places there. [110084]
Mr. Boateng:
In accordance with the protocol for handling inspection reports, the Prison Service produced an action plan within 30 working days of publication of the report. All but three of the 104 recommendations have been accepted, and an updated action plan showing the progress made will be produced in April 2000, nine months after publication of the report.
Additional resources have been made available under the Government's Comprehensive Spending Review and the number of sex offender treatment programmes is set to increase as follows: 48 places in 1999-2000, 56 places in 2000-01, and 72 places in 2001-02.
Dr. Godman:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has held with the Scottish Executive concerning a bilateral concordat in relation to the implementation of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999; and if he will make a statement. [109225]
Mrs. Roche:
Implementation of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 in Scotland is being pursued in accordance with the administrative arrangements set out in the general concordat between the Home Office and the Scottish Executive. In particular, the National Asylum Support Service is maintaining close contact with the Scottish Executive to ensure the effective implementation of the new asylum support arrangements in Scotland.
Mr. Key:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list by police force the number of fixed penalty cycling offences committed monthly since 1 August 1999. [110021]
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Mr. Charles Clarke:
Information on the new fixed penalty offences introduced on 1 August 1999 is not yet available.
Each police force has been asked to monitor the fixed penalty provisions which came into force on 1 August 1999, and the figures will be published later in the year.
Monthly figures, however, are not being collected centrally.
Mr. Clifton-Brown:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in relation to the National Fire College at Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, when he will commence implementing the recommendations of the Options Review and over what timescale the implementation will be completed; what discussions he has had with the unions about the recommendations; and what discussions he has had with the private sector about the recommendation to form a private public sector partnership. [110228]
Mr. Mike O'Brien:
I refer to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary to my hon. Friend the Member for Eccles (Mr. Stewart) on 20 December 1999, Official Report, columns 370-71W. This makes it clear that we have invited the views of all interested parties, including the trade unions, by 18 February 2000. We shall also be seeking the advice of the Central Fire Brigades Advisory Council. We will take further decisions on implementation in the light of these consultations.
Consider the current state of the gambling industry and the ways in which it might change over the next 10 years in the light of economic pressures, the growth of e-commerce, technological developments and wider leisure industry and international trends.
Consider the social impact of gambling and the costs and benefits.
Consider, and make recommendations for, the kind and extent of regulation appropriate for gambling activities in Great Britain, having regard to:
their wider social impact;
the need to protect the young and vulnerable from exploitation and to protect all gamblers from unfair practices;
the importance of preventing gambling from being carried out in a way which allows crime disorder or public nuisance;
the need to keep the industry free from infiltration by organised and other serious crime, and from money laundering risks;
the desirability of creating an environment in which the commercial opportunities for gambling, including its international competitiveness, maximise the United Kingdom's economic welfare; and
the implications for the current system of taxation, and the scope for its further development.
Consider the need for, and, if necessary, recommend new machinery appropriate for carrying out that regulation which achieves a more consistent and streamlined approach than is now possible and which is financed by the gambling industry itself.
Consider the availability and effectiveness of treatment programmes for problem gamblers and make recommendations for their future provision, potential costings and funding.
In conducting this review, the body should not consider changes to the National Lottery, but it will need to look at the impact on the Lottery of any proposed changes, including an assessment of the potential effect on the income to good causes.
(2) what is the average time between recommendation for treatment on a sex offender therapy programme and placement on such a course. [110083]
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