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Offshore Financial Centres

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on offshore financial centres and the steps he has taken in respect of their regulation and taxation. [3030]

Dawn Primarolo: The Government's policy is to encourage all offshore centres to meet the highest standards of regulation, supervision and to comply with international initiatives to eliminate unfair tax practices. To this end the Government have been working with international organisations such as the Financial Stability Forum, the Financial Action Task Force, the OECD, and also with EU partners.

Public Service Agreements

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on his Department's assessment

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of the extent to which other Government Departments are performing in relation to the targets set out in their public service agreements. [3012]

Mr. Andrew Smith: Departments published performance against their 1998 public service agreement (PSA) targets in their departmental annual reports, so that people can judge for themselves how well they are doing. It is too early to make an assessment against Departments' 2000 PSAs.

Widow's Bereavement Allowance

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much it would cost to allow widowers whose spouses have died in the past six years to claim widow's bereavement allowance. [3181]

Dawn Primarolo: The Inland Revenue does not generally hold information on whether men are widowed and therefore any costing is very approximate. It is

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estimated that the cost of extending widow's bereavement allowance to men retrospectively whose wives died between 1995–96 and 1999–2000 could be about £150 million.

Currency

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the cost to the (a) retail business sector and (b) overall business sector of accepting both sterling and euro as a means of exchange. [935]

Ruth Kelly: No estimate of these costs has been made, and it would not be a simple task to carry out such an assessment. It is a commercial decision for each UK business to determine whether or not it wishes to accept the euro or, indeed, any foreign currency.

LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT

Family Visitor Appeals

Simon Hughes: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many family visitor appeals the Immigration Appellate Authority plans to deal with (a) at an oral hearing and (b) on the papers only in the financial years (i) 2001–02 and (ii) 2002–03. [3310]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Immigration Appellate Authority expects to deal with approximately 8,860 family visit visa appeals during 2001–02 and 10,000 such cases in 2002–03.

Of these numbers, 60 per cent. of cases are expected to be for oral hearing and 40 per cent. for determination on the papers alone.

Simon Hughes: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many (a) oral and (b) paper-only family visitor appeals have been received by the Immigration Appellate Authority since 2 October 2000 in which (i) the Immigration Advisory Service and (ii) a Citizens Advice Bureau has been identified as representing the applicant. [3311]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Immigration Appellate Authority has identified 145 cases received between 2 October 2000 and 30 June 2001 in which the Immigration Advisory Service represented the appellant at the adjudicator tier. Of this number, 124 were for an oral hearing and 21 for paper alone.

A Citizens Advice Bureau has been identified as representing the appellant in one oral hearing over the same period.

Simon Hughes: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many (a) oral and (b) paper-only family visitor appeals have been received by the Immigration Appellate Authority since 2 October 2000 in which (i) a solicitor or barrister and (ii) nobody has been identified as representing the applicant. [3312]

Ms Rosie Winterton: All 1,807 family visitor cases received by the Immigration Appellate Authority record that the appellant has been represented. Of this number, 820 of cases were for oral hearing and 987 for determination on the papers alone. It is not possible to provide a breakdown between solicitor or barrister representation without incurring disproportionate cost.

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Simon Hughes: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what is the average time taken by the Immigration Appellate Authority to process, from receipt to determination (a) oral family visitor appeals, (b) paper-only family visitor appeals, (c) asylum appeals and (d) other immigration appeals. [3314]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The current average times, for this business year, by the Immigration Appellate Authority to process cases from receipt to determination, are:





Asylum Appeals

Simon Hughes: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many (a) full-time and (b) part-time adjudicators are available to deal with asylum appeals. [3313]

Ms Rosie Winterton: There are currently 78 full-time and 323 part-time adjudicators available to hear asylum appeals.

Judicial Appointments

James Purnell: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department when the Lord Chancellor will appoint a judicial appointments commissioner to oversee judicial appointments in Northern Ireland. [3616]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Pending a decision on the devolution of justice matters, which are expected matters under the Northern Ireland Act 1998, and which would require primary legislation, my noble and learned Friend the Lord Chancellor has decided to subject the appointment of judges and silks in Northern Ireland to supervision and scrutiny by a Commissioner. The Lord Chancellor has consulted the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland and others on the necessary adaptations to the model suggested by Sir Leonard Peach for England and Wales, and the post will be advertised in the press from tomorrow.

The early appointment of a Commissioner to audit, oversee and monitor all aspects of the existing appointments procedures is a practical step which will advance public confidence and provide strong reassurance about the integrity of the current system.

Mr. Caton: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what further progress the Lord Chancellor has made in establishing a commission to oversee judicial appointments and Queen's Counsel appointment procedures in England and Wales. [3615]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Professor Sir Colin Campbell was appointed as First Commissioner for Judicial Appointments by Order in Council made on 14 March 2001. He started work immediately on developing the Commission's roles of auditing the judicial appointments and Queen's Counsel appointment procedures and

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investigating individual complaints. Sir Colin and my noble and learned Friend the Lord Chancellor are very keen to progress to the next stage in the establishment of the Commission, which will be the appointment of the first few Deputy Commissioners. There is also to be a

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Commissioner for Judicial Appointments for Northern Ireland, who will additionally serve as a Deputy Commissioner in England and Wales. The posts will be advertised in the press from tomorrow, with a view to the appointments being made around the end of the year.