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Driving Cautions

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cautions have been issued in the last three years by police officers patrolling the security cordon around the City of London against (a) drivers not wearing seat-belts and (b) drivers speaking on hand-held mobile telephones while driving. [140738]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The information requested is not available centrally.

Child Curfew Orders

Miss Widdecombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many child curfew orders have been (a) applied for and (b) issued in each police authority area of England and Wales since January 1999; and if he will make a statement. [140656]

Mr. Charles Clarke: No applications have been received from local authorities to establish child curfew schemes under section 14 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. Following consultation with local authorities and the police, we propose to extend the upper age limit to 15 and are considering what other improvements might be made.

Electoral Commission

Miss Widdecombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff that (a) are and (b) will be employed in or by (i) the Party Funding Unit, (ii) the Electoral Commission project team and (iii) the

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Electoral Commission are members of political parties; how many members of each political party there are in each of categories (i) to (iii) above; what restriction is to be placed on party membership or political activity by members of the Electoral Commission staff once the Commission is established; what his policy is on members of staff of the Electoral Commission who are members of political parties dealing with confidential information relating to other political parties; and if he will make a statement. [140663]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: Under the terms of the Civil Service Code, civil servants are required to conduct themselves with honesty, integrity, impartiality and objectivity. The restrictions on the involvement of civil servants in political activities are set out in the Civil Service Management Code. There is no requirement on civil servants to disclose membership of a political party.

The Electoral Commission will appoint its own staff in due course. The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Bill has now been amended so as to preclude the chief executive of the Electoral Commission from retaining or taking up membership of a political party. This restriction will not extend to other members of the Electoral Commission's staff. We would expect the Electoral Commission to require its staff to discharge their duties in a similar way to civil servants.

Political Funding

Miss Widdecombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Bill allows for the foreign funding of (a) political parties participating in a referendum and (b) other referendum participants in (i) Northern Ireland and (ii) the rest of the United Kingdom; if it is the Government's policy to allow (A) organisations campaigning in a referendum in Northern Ireland on the constitutional status of Northern Ireland to receive funds from abroad and (B) Northern Ireland political parties subject to an exemption order from Part IV of the Bill to campaign in Great Britain in a UK-wide referendum; and if he will make a statement. [140664]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: Part IV of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Bill will ban political parties from receiving foreign donations. This ban will also, under Part VII of the Bill, extend to other permitted participants in a referendum campaign in any part of the United Kingdom. However, clause 70 of the Bill makes special provision for Northern Ireland parties. It is the Government's intention to exercise the order-making power in clause 70 so as to disapply the provisions of Part IV of the Bill in respect of Northern Ireland parties for an initial period of four years. The restrictions on the acceptance of donations will be disapplied for all purposes; the Bill does not place restrictions on how or where political parties, including Northern Ireland parties, may spend funds received from a particular source.

Political Funding (Electoral Register)

Miss Widdecombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 6 November 2000, Official Report, column 111W, on the electoral register, (a) what mechanisms will be put in place to enable political parties, the Electoral Commission and others to verify that political donations from individuals are

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permissible donations between the commencement of the provisions of Part IV of Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Bill and the establishment of the central record of electors in October 2001 and how it is intended that such donations are to be verified as permissible to the standard required by the Bill, (b) for what reasons it was decided not to proceed with the interim solution previously proposed by his Department, when the decision was made and what consultations there have been with political parties about that decision (i) before its being made and (ii) subsequently, (c) what discussions there have been with political parties about the costs incurred and new administrative arrangements to be put in place as a result of the decision not to proceed with the interim solution; what estimate has been made of the total costs arising for (i) political parties represented in the House and (ii) other political parties; and if such costs are expected to exceed the level of additional expenditure on start up costs announced on 21 November and (d) for what reasons it has not been possible to establish a central record since the publication of Cm 4413; when it was decided by his Department that such a central record would be required; and if he will make a statement. [140667]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Government will be making regulations under the Representation of the People Act 2000 to allow registered political parties and others to obtain copies of the electoral registers free of charge.

We have always recognised that complying with the provisions of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Bill will involve the commitment of resources by parties, but we have not received any detailed information from the majority of the political parties about the costs to them of checking donations against the registers.

We have also recognised the need to make access to the electoral registers easier so as to facilitate compliance with the Bill. The Improvement and Development Agency was asked in April to look at ways of doing so. Pursuant to a reply given on 6 November, we placed a paper in the Library which proposed a solution. The solution proposed is, however, a significant IT project and it cannot be ready before October 2001.

We therefore considered, in addition, whether an interim solution was possible. But we concluded on 17 November that there was none available which could be relied upon or which would give value for money. This conclusion was announced as quickly as possible in the debate in Another Place on the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Bill on 21 November 2000, Official Report, House of Lords, columns 696-97.

We also announced that, to further assist parties with checking the registers at the outset, we intended to increase by £200,000 the sum available under the Bill to help with start-up costs. The Bill has now been amended accordingly.

Lord Birt

Miss Widdecombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 22 November 2000, Official Report, column 211W, on Lord Birt, if he will list the dates on which he has met

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Lord Birt in his capacity as adviser to the Government on crime; what relevant information he has received from him; and if he will make a statement. [140751]

Mr. Straw: I met Lord Birt on 25 May. My officials have also had regular discussions with him in that period. These meetings have focused on analysing existing data on offenders, offences and victims.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Human Rights (Police Training)

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what response he has made to the assessment of the police training programme on the Human Rights Act 1998 prepared by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission; and if he will place a copy in the Library. [140005]

Mr. Ingram: The Chief Constable is preparing a response to the Human Rights Commission's report. I will consider this before commenting.

A copy of the Commission's report has been placed in the Library.

Change Management Team

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to his answer of 17 November 2000, Official Report, column 799W, for what reason he does not consider it appropriate to comment on the perceived community background of members of the change management team. [140028]

Mr. Ingram: There are strict requirements governing the confidentiality and proper use of community background monitoring data. The provision of community background data at the level asked for would breach those requirements.

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