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Departmental Contracts

Ms Walley: To ask the Solicitor-General if she will list the top 10 companies to which her Department contracted out their construction and refurbishment work in the last 12 months. [6413]

The Solicitor-General: The properties occupied by the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers and the Treasury Solicitor's Department are maintained by DTZ Debenham Tie Leung.

The following 10 companies have carried out construction and refurbishment works for the Crown Prosecution Service: Deedscan Limited; Farebother Engineering Services; G.H. Chambers and Sons; G.W. Interiors; Harold Palfreyman Limited; John Davies Interiors Limited; Rickland Limited; Sandell; Sykes and Son; and Thorndyke Limited.

The following companies have carried out construction and refurbishment works in the last 12 months for the Serious Fraud Office: P. J. Bond Construction Limited; Specialist Computer Centres; Wymer Electricals Limited; and Mitie Maintenance Limited.

Bilking

Margaret Moran: To ask the Solicitor-General if she will estimate the cost of the legal services in prosecution of bilking at petrol stations in each of the last five years for (a) England and (b) Luton. [6386]

The Solicitor-General: Crown Prosecution Service records are held in aggregate form and provide no information on the cost of proceedings in respect of particular offences. An estimate of expenditure on prosecutions for bilking, the offence of making off without payment, could be arrived at only by an examination of individual case files, and this would involve a disproportionate cost.

Christian Sweeting

Harry Cohen: To ask the Solicitor-General if she will make a statement on the handling by the criminal justice system of Mr. Christian Sweeting who was arrested on 16 April. [5506]

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The Solicitor-General: The conduct of the police and the Crown Prosecution Service in respect of Mr. Sweeting is as follows. On 16 April 2001, at 0220 hours, Mr. Sweeting was arrested after being found in possession of an air rifle in a public place. The police charged him with an offence, contrary to section 16A of the Firearms Act 1968, of possession of a firearm with intent to cause another to believe that unlawful violence would be used.

Mr. Sweeting appeared before Torbay magistrates court later that morning. The police provided the Crown Prosecution Service with a file relating to the arrest of Mr. Sweeting. The Crown Prosecutor, in accordance with his duties under the code for Crown Prosecutors, determined that there was not a realistic prospect of a conviction in respect of the offence charged, and the charge was accordingly replaced with one under section 4A of the Public Order Act 1986, using threatening behaviour with intent to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

Mr. Sweeting's case was adjourned until 15 May 2001, and the Crown Prosecutor requested further information from the police. Upon receipt of that information, the file was reviewed again, and the Crown Prosecutor decided that there was no realistic prospect of convicting Mr. Sweeting of the offence contrary to section 4A of the Public Order Act. After discussion with the police, it was decided that the case should, therefore, be discontinued, and formal discontinuance was effected by a letter of 14 May 2001.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Civil Servants (Retirement Age)

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the compulsory retirement ages which apply to employees of his Department and of executive agencies and other public sector bodies for which it is responsible, broken down by grade or job title. [7233]

Jane Kennedy: The information requested is as follows:

Northern Ireland Civil Servants

Senior Civil Servants—retire at 60 ¹

Grade A and analogous—retire at 60 ¹

Grade B1 and analogous—retire at 60 ¹

Grade B2 and analogous—retire at 60 ¹

Grade C and analogous—retire at 60 ¹

Grade D1 and analogous—retire at 65

Grade D2, temporary and analogous—retire at 65

Northern Ireland Office Home Civil Servants

Minimum retirement age 60 for all grades

Maximum retirement age 70 (though exception can be made).

¹ The Department may, in exceptional cases, retain an officer, who would otherwise be required to retire at 60, where it is satisfied that it is in the overriding interest of the service to do so.

With effect from 1 April 1996 new recruits at D1, D2 and analogous must retire at 60.

Terrorist Activities

Lembit Öpik: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions he has had with Northern Ireland political parties regarding the

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implications of the war on terrorism on terrorist activities in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement. [7896]

Jane Kennedy: Security in Northern Ireland is not a devolved matter, therefore no discussions have taken place between the Secretary of State and Northern Ireland political parties on the implications, if any, the international war on terrorism will have for terrorist activities in Northern Ireland.

Faith Schools

Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what assessment he has made on the impact on religious intolerance in Northern Ireland of the separation of children of different faiths into faith schools; [7125]

(2) what percentage of the total number of children in Northern Ireland attend faith schools. [7126]

Dr. John Reid: Responsibility for this subject has been devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly and is therefore no longer a matter for the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

HM Inspector of Explosives

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland for what reasons HM Inspector of Explosives did not include in his annual report statistics on prosecutions and convictions for offences committed under the Explosives Acts in 2000; and if he will publish such information in a consistent form for each year since 1993. [7113]

Jane Kennedy: I regret that information concerning prosecutions and convictions is not available. The processing of court statistics on the court proceedings database was suspended in April 1998. Court data are, therefore, not available for 1998, 1999 and 2000. I understand that work to capture missing data is at an advanced stage, but it will be some time before this information becomes available.

Departmental Contracts

Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the top 10 companies to which his Department contracted out their construction and refurbishment work in the last 12 months. [6415]

Jane Kennedy: The Northern Ireland Office has contracted out construction and refurbishment work to only one company in the last 12 months.

The company which carried out the work is Portview Construction Ltd.

Foot and Mouth

David Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how long it takes foot and mouth blood samples to be processed at the Stormont Laboratory. [2737]

Dr. John Reid: Responsibility for this subject has been devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly and is therefore no longer a matter for the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

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Departmental Buildings

Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what (a) building and (b) refurbishment projects are planned by his Department in (i) the current and (ii) the next financial year; and what the costs will be of each project. [6590]

Jane Kennedy: The Northern Ireland Office has no plans for any building work in this or the next financial year.

The following refurbishment work has been scheduled:

2001–02 financial year

1. Refurbishment of 1,000m ² of existing office accommodation at an approximate cost of £350K.

2. Refurbishment of 1,600m ² of new office accommodation at an approximate cost of £900K.

3. Refurbishment of 465m ² of new office accommodation at an approximate cost of £275K.

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4. Refurbishment of 420m ² of office accommodation at an approximate cost of £250K.

5. Refurbishment of 1,600m ² of new office accommodation at an approximate cost of £700K.

2002–03 financial year

1. Some of the works listed may not be completed until this financial year.

2. There are no new refurbishment projects scheduled to start in this financial year.

HOUSE OF COMMONS

Pre-legislative Scrutiny

Mr. Allen: To ask the President of the Council if he will list the pre-legislative scrutiny of Bills which has taken place since May 1997. [7588]

Mr. Robin Cook: Bills have been scrutinised in a number of ways, and by a variety of types of committee. Those draft Bills subject to parliamentary pre-legislative scrutiny are listed:

Session 1997–98

Draft Bill	Published
Proposals on pension splitting on divorce (subsequently part of the Welfare Reform and Pensions Bill)	June 1998	Considered by the Social Security Committee
Draft Limited Liability Partnership Bill	September 1998	Considered by the Trade and Industry Committee

Session 1998–99

Draft Bill	Published
Draft Financial Services and Markets Bill	January 1999	Considered by a joint committee especially established for the purpose
Draft Food Standards Bill	January 1999	Considered by an ad hoc select committee
Draft Local Government (Organisation and Standards) Bill	March 1999	Considered by a joint committee especially established for the purpose
Draft Freedom of Information Bill	May 1999	Considered by the Select Committee on Public Administration, and an ad hoc Lords committee
Draft Electronic Communications Bill	July 1999	Trade and Industry Committee

Session 1999–2000

Draft Bill	Published
Draft Regulatory Reform Bill	April 2000	Commons Deregulation Committee; Lords Delegated Powers and Deregulation Committee (both were also informally consulted on earlier drafts of the Bill)
Water Bill	November 2000	Select Committee on Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs

Session 2000–01

Draft Bill	Published
Export Control and Non Proliferation Bill	March 2001	Quadripartite Committee (Defence, Foreign Affairs, International Development and Trade and Industry); Lords Delegated Powers and Deregulation Committee

Mr. Allen: To ask the President of the Council if he will introduce proposals to enable Parliament to subject all bills to pre-legislative scrutiny. [7589]

Mr. Robin Cook: We have published more bills in draft since 1997, allowing greater scrutiny. This has clearly been beneficial and has wide support in the House. The Modernisation Committee will look at the legislative process as a whole. I see the attraction of routine pre-legislative scrutiny, but as recent events show it may be sometimes necessary to introduce emergency legislation without such scrutiny.

Mr. Allen: To ask the President of the Council what discussions he has had on putting future pre-legislative scrutiny on the internet in order to facilitate public interaction in the pre-legislative process; and if he will make a statement. [7590]

Mr. Robin Cook: I support measures to make Parliament more accessible to the public and I am keen to facilitate interaction between Parliament and the public. We have made efforts to publish bills in draft so that they can be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny, which in itself allows greater public involvement in the legislative

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process. New technology has the potential to assist in this and I welcome the fact that both Parliament and Government routinely publish material on the internet.

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