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Russia

Mr. Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent exchanges he has had with the Russian Foreign Minister on human rights. [119504]

Mr. Vaz: During my right hon. Friend's visit to Moscow in February human rights were high on the agenda for talks with Acting President Putin and Foreign Minister Ivanov, with the focus very much on Chechnya. The Prime Minister also discussed Chechnya at length with Acting President Putin in St. Petersburg on 11 March and most recently on 17 April.

19 Apr 2000 : Column: 502W

HOUSE OF COMMONS

Harmon v. HOC Corporate Officer

Mrs. Roe: To ask the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, representing the House of Commons Commission, what steps the House of Commons has taken following the judgment of the High Court in the case of Harmon v. Corporate Officer of the House of Commons. [119804]

Mr. Kirkwood: On 28 October 1999, His Honour Judge Lloyd QC gave judgment on liability in this action, which was brought by an unsuccessful tenderer for the fenestration contract for Portcullis House. The judge held that the Corporate Officer, on behalf of the House, was liable to Harmon for breach of the Public Works Contracts Regulations 1991, of European law and implied contract. The action is now continuing for the purpose of assessing the amount of the damages.

Concerned by the judgment, the House of Commons Commission asked the Clerk of the House to arrange an independent inquiry. On 17 January 2000, the Clerk accordingly appointed Sir Thomas Legg KCB QC, a former Permanent Secretary of the Lord Chancellor's Department, and Mr. Peter Bosworth, a consultant specialising in project management, to consider the judgment in the case, to inquire into the circumstances which led to it, and to advise him, and through him the Commission, on any action to be taken, including any changes in the structure and practices of the Parliamentary Works Directorate.

Sir Thomas and Mr. Bosworth completed their inquiry, and submitted their report, on 21 March 2000. The action is still sub judice but I can tell hon. Members that the inquiry concluded in the first place that serious mistakes were made in the handling of the fenestration contract, which exposed the House to liability; and secondly that in future major projects the Parliamentary Works Directorate should establish more clearly: (a) the roles and responsibilities of key members of the project team; (b) a project management process to include guidelines and control systems; and (c) lines of governance within a culture of professional and technical support; and that these recommendations should be taken into account in the current review of the Parliamentary Works Directorate.

The Commission considered the report of the inquiry on 10 April and accepted its conclusions.

Ministerial Responsibilities

Sir George Young: To ask the President of the Council, pursuant to her oral answer of 6 April 2000, Official Report, column 1152, if she has initiated a review of procedures for making documents available to hon. Members; in what terms she has written to her ministerial colleagues on their responsibilities to the House; and if she will publish their responses and her conclusions at the end of this review. [118657]

Mrs. Beckett: I have written, in my capacity as Leader of the House, to ministerial colleagues reminding them of the importance of making documents available to hon. Members in the House.

I also refer the right hon. Member to Madam Speaker's comments on 18 April 2000, Official Report, columns 829-30.

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HOME DEPARTMENT

Works of Art

Mr. Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much has been spent on (a) the upkeep and (b) the purchase of works of art in his Department for each financial year since 1992. [117477]

Mr. Straw: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him by the Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, my hon. Friend the Member for Newport, East (Mr. Howarth) on 4 April 2000, Official Report, columns 392-93W.

Police Time

Mr. Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the percentage of police officer time in Leicestershire spent on paperwork in the last year for which figures are available. [113169]

Mr. Charles Clarke: Information on the proportion of time spent by police officers on different tasks is not held centrally. The Association of Chief Police Officers is currently recommending a paper-based method of activity sampling which can be subjected to automated analysis, and is examining Information Technology solutions for the future. These will be compatible with systems being developed under the Home Office's National Strategy for Police Information Systems (NSPIS).

The Government are determined to do everything in their power to help increase the effectiveness of the police in fighting crime, and to ensure that officers are able to spend as much of their time as possible on the front line, as the following measures demonstrate:

The NSPIS Custody and Case Preparation systems, in which we recently announced a new £40 million investment, will minimise the effort involved in completing forms from arrest to prosecution. There are about 1.3 million paper case-files a year which travel between the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the courts. In the course of preparing cases, police officers complete many different forms, repeating information which had already been made available for other legal requirements. The Custody and Case Preparation systems will automatically share information for delivery to the relevant bodies. This not only saves the police time completing forms, but also avoids making mistakes which take further time to resolve.

The National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS) will make possible the electronic capture and identification of fingerprints directly from those who come into custody. This eliminates the need for paper copies and clerical activity and speeds up access to any relevant history.

The introduction of the Public Service Radio Communications System (PSRCS), which will provide data as well as voice communications, will give the police direct information links to police computer systems while they are on patrol, reducing the need to return to the station to complete forms or to obtain important operational information and increasing their operational availability.

19 Apr 2000 : Column: 504W

Measures introduced last November following the recommendations of the Narey report on Delays in the Criminal Justice systems have gone some way towards reducing the administrative burdens on police officers, and it may be that action which is now being taken pursuant to the Glidewell report on the Crown Prosecution Service will also help in this respect. But work on prosecution case files forms only a part, albeit an important one, of the paperwork required of the police.

The Cabinet Office 'Public Sector Efficiency Team', set up to investigate and provide ways of reducing the burden of bureaucracy in the public sector, have recently published "Making a Difference: Reducing Police Paperwork". The report examines the impact of paperwork on front-line officers, identifying forms that are a burden to the police. It sets out practical solutions that will lead to a significant reduction in the amount of time police have to spend on paperwork by simplifying or removing reports from the system.

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what methodologies have been developed to estimate the time spent by police officers on (a) paperwork, (b) detection and (c) prevention of crime; and if he will make a statement. [114365]

Mr. Charles Clarke [holding answer 13 March 2000]: Information on the proportion of time spent by police officers on different tasks is not held centrally. The Association of Chief Police Officers is currently recommending a paper-based method of activity sampling which can be subjected to automated analysis, and is examining Information Technology solutions for the future. These will be compatible with systems being developed under the Home Office's National Strategy for Police Information Systems (NSPIS).

The Government are determined to do everything in their power to help increase the effectiveness of the police in fighting crime, and to ensure that officers are able to spend as much of their time as possible on the front line, as the following measures demonstrate:

The NSPIS Custody and Case Preparation systems, in which we recently announced a new £40 million investment, will minimise the effort involved in completing forms from arrest to prosecution. There are about 1.3 million paper case-files a year which travel between the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the courts. In the course of preparing cases, police officers complete many different forms, repeating information which had already been made available for other legal requirements. The Custody and Case Preparation systems will automatically share information for delivery to the relevant bodies. This not only saves the police time completing forms, but also avoids making mistakes which take further time to resolve.

The National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS) will; make possible the electronic capture and identification of fingerprints directly from those who come into custody. This eliminates the need for paper copies and clerical activity and speeds up access to any relevant history.

The introduction of the Public Service Radio Communications System (PSRCS), which will provide data as well as voice communications, will give the police

19 Apr 2000 : Column: 505W

direct information links to police computer systems while they are on patrol, reducing the need to return to the station to complete forms or to obtain important operational information and increasing their operational availability.

Measures introduced last November following the recommendations of the Narey report on Delays in the Criminal Justice systems have gone some way towards reducing the administrative burdens on police officers, and it may be that action which is now being taken pursuant to the Glidewell report on the Crown Prosecution Service will also help in this respect. But work on prosecution case files forms only a part, albeit an important one, of the paperwork required of the police.

The Cabinet Office 'Public Sector Efficiency Team', set up to investigate and provide ways of reducing the burden of bureaucracy in the public sector, have recently published "Making a Difference: Reducing Police Paperwork". The report examines the impact of paperwork on front-line officers, identifying forms that are a burden to the police. It sets out practical solutions that will lead to a significant reduction in the amount of time police have to spend on paperwork by simplifying or removing reports from the system.

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