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Court Judges
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many court judges are in post in (a) London and (b) elsewhere; how many court judges' vacancies there are in (i) London and
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(ii) elsewhere; how long the longest vacancy has (A) lasted and (B) is expected to last; and if he will make a statement. [140814]
Mr. Lock: High Court Judges are not posted to a particular location. There are currently 104 High Court Judges in post. One High Court Judge, Mr. Justice Bratza, is a Judge of the European Court of Human Rights and is based in Strasbourg. There are at present no vacancies on the High Court Bench.
Child Contact Centres
Mrs. Brinton: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what representations he has received on the effectiveness of child contact centres in facilitating contact between children and non-residential parents and other family members. [141187]
Jane Kennedy: I have received a number of representations about the effectiveness of child contact centres both from hon. Members and from others. The Government greatly value the work of contact centres and the service they provide for children, their parents and other family members. We firmly believe that it is for the benefit of children as well as parents to remain in contact with each other unless there is some reason why this would be unsafe or inappropriate in a particular case.
Mrs. Brinton: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department which agency will (a) have responsibility for and (b) bear the cost of, police checks on volunteer workers in Child Contact Centres. [141186]
Jane Kennedy: Police checks on volunteer workers in Child Contact Centres are currently the responsibility of the probation service. Consideration is being given to the future responsibility for these checks. I shall write to my hon. Friend with these details shortly and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House of Commons.
Legal Aid
Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department in each of the last three years, what disciplinary inquiries he has made into the inappropriate granting of legal aid in criminal cases; what the value was of payments recovered; and if he will make a statement. [140943]
Jane Kennedy: Earlier this year, the Court Service instigated a disciplinary investigation into one case, that of the granting of legal aid to Kenneth Noye. Three members of staff were involved: one person resigned before the disciplinary process was complete; a second has had a disciplinary penalty imposed, which is currently subject to appeal within agreed procedures; and the third has been found not culpable. There were no investigations in either of the previous two years.
No payments have been recovered in this case. Even if it could be proved that Mr. Noye has misrepresented his financial position on his legal aid form, the Department is unlikely to consider undertaking civil action for damages to recover the costs of legal aid. It would be an unwarranted use of public funds to take such an action where the prospect of recovering any significant sum of money is remote, bearing in mind Mr. Noye's status as a bankrupt and the competing claims of other creditors.
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HOME DEPARTMENT
Closed Circuit Television
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress he has made in providing that business premises open at unsocial hours must protect purchasers of those goods by CCTV as a condition of being licensed to trade at such times. [136234]
Mr. Charles Clarke: Under the Crime Reduction Programme Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) Initiative, businesses may join crime and disorder reduction partnerships to bid for funding for external CCTV systems as a deterrent, and to help identify offenders entering or leaving their premises. The current bidding round under the initiative, which closes on 22 December, specifically encourages bids from small shopping centres to deal with this kind of problem. Protection of goods and persons on these premises falls within the general duty of care owed by employers and service providers towards their staff and customers, and the requirements of Health and Safety legislation. Internal CCTV systems are widely used for this purpose, but since business premises do not require a licence to trade at unsocial hours, their use cannot be a condition of licensing.
Departmental Policies
Mr. Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set out, including statistical information relating as directly as possible to the constituency, the effect on the Manchester, Gorton constituency, of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [136170]
Mr. Charles Clarke: The Home Office is working to build a safe, just and tolerant society in which the rights and responsibilities of individuals, families and communities are properly balanced, and the protection and security of the public are maintained. Detailed information on the impact of the Home Office policies across the full range of responsibilities is set out in Home Office Annual Reports. A copy of the most recent report, Home Office Annual Report 1999-2000, is available in the Library.
The impact of Home Office policies and actions is not normally examined by constituency and the statistics which the Department collects cannot be matched in the way requested although set out as follows are examples relating to Manchester, Gorton constituency or the immediate locality:
Crime data for all recorded offences are collected centrally at police force area level. Manchester, Gorton forms part of "C" Division of the Greater Manchester police, who have provided the following information on the overall number of recorded crimes in this division:
- year ending March 1997--41,373; and
- year ending March 2000--53,475.
A £47,000 burglary reduction project is focusing on students in Rusholme.
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A £500,000 targeted policing project is looking at offending behaviour among armed criminals in South Manchester.
Gorton have a successful neighbourhood wardens bid of £185,000 to provide warden coverage in three parts of Gorton, namely Gorton North, South and West, using five wardens. This project aims to provide a visible, accessible presence in the area, with wardens having a crime prevention focus, complementing other services such as the police. There will also be work around the support of vulnerable people, such as the elderly, environmental and housing management issues.
More generally, all of the policies of the Home Office will impact on the residents of Manchester, Gorton to a greater or lesser extent. For example:
- 376 Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships have been established;
- the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 ensures greater protection for victims in rape trials;
- Ministers have taken proper responsibility for the Prison Service;
- racial harassment and racially motivated crimes have been made criminal offences by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998;
- the asylum backlog has been cut from over 102,000 in January this year to below 76,000 by the end of September; and
- good progress is being made in reducing the incidence of fire related deaths in the home.
Civil Servants (Relocation)
Mr. Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which relocation companies hold contracts with his Department for the relocation of civil servants; when the contracts were last renewed; where the contracts were advertised; and what the length and value of each contract is. [137193]
Mrs. Roche: The current contract for relocation services for the Home Office and Prison Service is held by Hambro Countrywide Relocation (HCR) Ltd. The tender was advertised in the Official Journal of the European Community (OJEC) and the competitive tendering process resulted in a contract for the period 16 June 1995 to 30 November 2000. The value of the relocation business for this period is estimated at £5 million, which includes the basic management fee charged for each case handled by the relocation company but paid for by the Home Office and prison service for the relocation case, such as legal fees, valuations and bridging costs.
The service was advertised again in the OJEC on 23 February 2000. Following a competitive tendering exercise the contract is to be awarded to Cendant Relocation (UK) Ltd. for a maximum contract period of five years, commencing 1 December 2000.
Reporting of Crimes (Internet)
Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what preparations his Department has made to allow members of the public to report crimes via the Internet and email; and if he will make a statement. [137602]
Mr. Charles Clarke: I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library.
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