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Buying Agency
Mr. Coaker: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what targets she has set for the Buying Agency for 2000. [111439]
Mr. Ian McCartney: The information is as follows:
Financial
to generate a return on capital employed of 8 per cent.
Value for money
to ensure that the TBA price index for a basket of top products is 5 per cent. lower than the external equivalent.
Service quality
to raise customer satisfaction to 75 per cent.
Staff
to secure category 3 of the Health at Work Award.
Private Health Insurance
Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office when the private health insurance offer to civil servants which was advertised in Government offices was discontinued. [109325]
Mr. Stringer: Any discounts offered by private health care companies to civil servants are done so in the context of a private transaction between the individual and the provider. There is no central arrangement between the Government and any private health care company.
LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT
Judicial Appointments (Northern Ireland)
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list each category of judicial appointment in Northern Ireland; and the numbers serving in each category, broken down by (a) gender and (b) perceived community origin. [110658]
Mr. Lock: The various categories of judicial appointments in Northern Ireland include full-time and part-time judicial office-holders. The perceived community origin of appointees is not a factor in judicial
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appointments and so is not recorded as part of the judicial appointments process. Details of the current complement and the gender balance in each of these categories are outlined in the table.
| Percentage | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Office | Complement | Male | Female |
| Supreme Court Judges | 11 | 100 | -- |
| County Court Judges | 14 | 93 | 7 |
| District Judges | 4 | 75 | 25 |
| Resident Magistrates | 17 | 88 | 12 |
| Masters | 7 | 71 | 29 |
| Deputy County Court Judges | 40 | 87 | 13 |
| Deputy District Judges | 7 | 71 | 29 |
| Deputy Resident Magistrates | 19 | 74 | 26 |
Northern Ireland Court Service
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list each category of employee within the Northern Ireland Court Service and the numbers employed in each category, broken down by (a) gender and (b) perceived community origin. [110655]
Mr. Lock: There are 668 staff employed within the Northern Ireland Court Service. In terms of community background monitoring 445 (66.6 per cent.) are Protestant, 199 (29.8 per cent.) are Roman Catholic. The community background of the remaining 24 (3.6 per cent.) is non-determined. The table sets out the numbers of staff in each of the main categories showing the numbers of males and females in each as at 15 January.
| Administrative staff | Support staff and others | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 584 | 84 |
| Male | 181 | 65 |
| Female | 403 | 19 |
Magistracy
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list each category of appointment to the magistracy and the numbers presently serving in each category, broken down by (a) gender and (b) perceived community origin. [110660]
Mr. Lock: The current full-time complement of Resident Magistrates is 17. The current complement of Deputy Resident Magistrates is 19. The perceived community origin of appointees is not a factor in judicial appointments and so is not recorded as part of the judicial appointments process. Details of the gender of these judicial office-holders are outlined below.
| Percentage | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Office | Complement | Male | Female |
| Resident Magistrates | 17 | 88 | 12 |
| Deputy Resident Magistrates | 19 | 74 | 26 |
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SCOTLAND
Departmental Staff
Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what child care provision was made available in the financial year 1998-99 for use by his departmental staff; what was the cost to parents of this child care; and how many parents used the facilities. [108856]
Dr. Reid: The Scottish Office provided two work place nurseries in Edinburgh. A total of 51 full-time places were available. The cost of a full-time place in 1998-99 was £79 per week. Subsidised places at holiday playschemes are also offered to staff in Edinburgh and Glasgow. These operate during the Easter and summer school holiday periods. Subsidies are paid to the playscheme operators and not directly to staff. The cost to parents varied between £5 and £7 per child per day, depending on the number of children placed there from each family. Details of the numbers of staff using the playschemes in 1998-99 are not held centrally.
Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what provisions are made available to Departmental staff for (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 contracts, (l) child care allowances, (m) careers leave and (n) career break schemes; and what criteria are used to judge eligibility in each case. [108839]
Dr. Reid: The Civil Service as a whole is striving for an improved balance between work and family life and a number of family friendly policies are being developed as part of the Civil Service Reform programme. Details were given in the reply from my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office on 15 February 2000, Official Report, column 519W. Staff in my Department are currently on loan from the Scottish Executive and we have adopted a number of provisions with them. These are:
- In addition to statutory Maternity Leave/Pay an enhanced maternity scheme is available to staff who have satisfactorily completed one year's service.
Fathers are allowed five days paid paternity leave at the time of the birth or during the weeks immediately following.
Permanent staff may be granted up to five days paid special leave for domestic purposes, such as caring for sick children. Unpaid special leave is available in addition to this. We also comply with our obligations under the Parental Leave Directive.
Most full and part-time staff can participate in the Flexible Working Hours scheme.
Part-time work and Job Share opportunities are available to all staff, subject to availability.
Staff with child care responsibilities have the benefit of flexible working arrangements. In addition there are two work place nurseries in Edinburgh and holiday play schemes operate during the Easter and summer holidays in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Our Career Break policy is currently being reviewed. We propose that discretionary periods of up to three years unpaid leave (five in exceptional circumstances) will be available to help staff cope with their domestic responsibilities. Permanent employees who have completed their probation and have a satisfactory record of attendance, performance and conduct will be eligible to apply.
We do not operate a system of Term-time working or Annual Hours contracts. However, we would consider any requests from our staff to do so.
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Cold Weather Payments
Mr. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will discuss with the Secretary of State for Social Security a review of the location of monitoring stations used to calculate the additional cold weather payments; what assessment he has made of the performance of the monitoring stations; and if he will make a statement. [109926]
Dr. Reid: The Secretary of State for Social Security is responsible for the Cold Weather Payments Scheme. He consults ministerial colleagues in the UK Government as necessary. As well as the Cold Weather Payments Scheme, the Government have also provided substantial help to eligible elderly households through Winter Fuel Payments. Under these payments, we estimate that this winter around £70 million has been paid to over 900,000 Scottish pensioners.
Departmental Functions (Food)
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if all food served at his Department's official functions meets the standards of production required of domestic producers. [109772]
Dr. Reid [holding answer 11 February 2000]: All food served at my Department's official functions is provided by contractors who meet the standards of production required of domestic producers.
Murder Statistics
Mr. Quentin Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will set out on a comparable basis the number of murders recorded in Scotland in each of the past 30 years. [110563]
Dr. Reid: The total number of crimes initially recorded as murder or culpable homicide by the police in Scotland, and the number currently recorded as murder, are given in the table.
(18) The figure for 1988 includes the 270 victims at Lockerbie
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