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LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT

Human Rights Act

Mr. Gareth Thomas: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what assessment he has made of the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 on the eligibility criteria for the determination of the public funding by the Legal Services Commission of cases before employment tribunals. [142382]

Mr. Lock: Sir Andrew Leggatt is conducting a review of all tribunals. He will, among other things, assess the extent to which current procedures and other arrangements, including representation, comply with our ECHR and EU obligations; and to identify the options for

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ensuring compliance in the future. It would be premature to make any decisions on extending publicly funded representation in employment tribunals until Sir Andrew's review has been completed.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what assessment he has made of the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 on the work of his Department. [142381]

Jane Kennedy: The Lord Chancellor's Department prepared at all levels for the implementation of the Human Rights Act 1998; for example, ensuring that all judges and magistrates and the Department's staff were trained; that judges have speedy access to ECHR case law, and that the High Court has sufficient judges, if needed, to deal with any additional workload. Guidance was issued to clarify best practice in certain areas and necessary changes to procedure were made.

It is too early to make an assessment of the impact of the Act on court workload but so far there has been no turbulence in the courts.

Enforcement Review

Mr. Chope: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what action has been taken to implement the recommendations of the report of the First Phase of the Enforcement Review; and if he will make a statement. [142269]

Mr. Lock: Those proposals not requiring primary legislation and not likely to be affected by Phase 2 of the Review will be considered by the Civil Procedure Rule Committee in the New Year. Phase 2 of the Enforcement Review is itself continuing.

Commonhold and Leasehold

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department when he plans to introduce his bill on commonhold and leasehold. [142149]

Mr. Lock: Following this Government's policy of exposing their legislation to maximum expert scrutiny at the earliest convenient stage, the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill was published in draft in August this year and the consultation period ended on 20 October. The great majority of responses were encouraging and many contained helpful advice and comment on points of detail. Taking advantage of this expert input to the legislative process, the Government continue to develop their proposals in light of the consultees' comments. We hope to introduce a Bill as soon as parliamentary time allows.

Departmental Policies (Blackpool, South)

Mr. Gordon Marsden: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will set out, including statistical information relating as directly as possible to the constituency, the effect on the Blackpool South constituency of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [142224]

Jane Kennedy: The policies developed by this Department generally relate to England and Wales as a whole and it is therefore not possible to say what the specific impact is on the Blackpool, South constituency.

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However, the Blackpool Community Legal Service Partnership (CLSP), which covers Blackpool, South constituency, is one of 145 CLSPs throughout England and Wales. The Commission's total expenditure in the Blackpool Community Legal Service Partnership area, including both new legal help matters and contingent liability, is £935,933.79. The Community Legal Service Partnership covers the whole borough of Blackpool. It does not include any of the surrounding areas, which are part of the North West Lancashire Community Legal Service Partnership.

In the Blackpool, South constituency, 18 agencies have been awarded contracts with the LSC. This includes 17 law firms and one CAB. The total value of the contracts awarded amounts to £626,920. The 18 agencies are all holders of the CLS Quality Mark. In addition there are a further 12 organisations in the constituency who provide General Help or General Help with Casework who have committed themselves to applying for the CLS Quality Mark by October 2001.

Additionally a contract has been let with Wyre CAB at Cleveleys to give Debt advice and some of this work is carried out in Blackpool. A contract with Preston and Western Lancashire Race Equality Council in Preston includes delivery of part of their service in Blackpool.

In addition I have set out details of claims issued at Blackpool county court in the 12 months period either side of the Civil Justice Reforms in April 1999. This allows for a comparison to be made of any changes in the levels of claims made as a result of the Civil Justice Reforms, and is a more useful indicator than just providing all the claims issued since May 1997.

Month claims issued	Number
1998
May	438
June	534
July	560
August	526
September	603
October	380
November	594
December	550
1999
January	427
February	510
March	663
April	657
Introduction of Civil Justice Reforms
May	176
June	454
July	401
August	465
September	410
October	395
November	358
December	407
2000
January	181
February	342
March	544
April	501

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Asylum Appeals

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many asylum appeal cases awaiting a decision there were at 31 December (a) 1996, (b) 1997, (c) 1998, (d) 1999 and (e) at the end of each month in 2000. [142780]

Jane Kennedy: Asylum appeals outstanding at Adjudicator level on each of the dates specified were as follows:

(a) 31 December 1996--20,455

(b) 31 December 1997--22,482

(c) 31 December 1998--12,602

(d) 31 December 1999--4,327

(e) 31 January 2000--3,825

29 February 2000--3,581

31 March 2000--3,805

30 April 2000--4,354

31 May 2000--5,048

30 June 2000--6,957

31 July 2000--9,894

31 August 2000--11,853

30 September 2000--13,233

31 October 2000--14,216

30 November 2000--14,641.

These figures represent all cases within the system at the relevant points in time. The increase in cases in the system over the last few months reflects the higher throughput of cases as the capacity of the Appeals system has increased significantly.

Asylum appeals outstanding at Tribunal level on each of the dates specified were as follows:

(c) 31 December 1996--207

(d) 31 December 1997--1,018

(c) 31 December 1998--1,703

(d) 31 December 1999--2,050

(e) 31 January 2000--1,996

29 February 2000--1,725

31 March 2000--950

30 April 2000--755

31 May 2000--576

30 June 2000--492

31 July 2000--471

31 August 2000--424

30 September 2000--401

31 October 2000--432

30 November 2000--491.

Once again these figures represent all cases within the system at the relevant points in time.

CABINET OFFICE

Regulatory Impact Unit

Mr. Pond: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what joint progress the Department for Education and Employment and the Cabinet Office Regulatory Impact Unit have made in reducing bureaucracy and red tape in schools. [142682]

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Marjorie Mowlam: The Department for Education and Employment and the Cabinet Office have today published a joint report setting out the outcomes of their project to reduce school paperwork. The estimated potential savings for schools are around 4.5 million hours every year. For a typical school, that constitutes a saving of over 200 hours per year.

Copies of the report have been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Official Publications

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if she will list her Department's spending on official publications for (a) 1996-97, (b) 1997-98, (c) 1998-99, (d) 1999-2000 and (e) 2000-01 and the planned expenditure for 2001-02. [141440]

Mr. Stringer: The Cabinet Office spending on publications is given in the table.

	£
Actual
1996-97	2,660,505
1997-98	2,114,993
1998-99	2,752,521
1999-2000	3,105,505
To end November
2000-01	1,591,508
Plan
2001-02	n/a

Notes:

1. Cabinet Office currently comprises Cabinet Office administration (including the Prime Minister's Office, Government Car and Despatch Agency, and NDPBs) and Central Office of Information, which is a trading fund.

2. Figure for 1996-97 includes the costs of Her Majesty's Stationery Office, Chessington Computer Centre, Recruitment and Assessment Services, and Occupational Health and Safety Agency. These Executive Agencies were privatised during 1996-97 and expenditure for that year is available in their respective Completion Accounts.

3. Figures are taken from accounting definitions and may include procurement of publications not produced by the Cabinet Office, but will not include staff costs or external consultant costs.

4. Planned expenditure for 2001-02 is not yet available.

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