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Energy Savings
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what the savings were in (a) 1998–99, (b) 1999–2000 and (c) 2000–01 from energy efficiency in her Department. [14922]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The latest figures for 1998–99 were placed in the Libraries of both Houses in response to a question from the hon. Member for Hertsmere (Mr. Clappison) on 12 December 2000. Those for 1999–2000 will be included in Part 2 of the Third Annual Report on Greening Government due to be published on 27 November. The figures for 2000–01 are not yet available.
Mediation
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if she will make a statement on
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the (a) cost and (b) savings in 2000–01 of the pilot scheme at Leeds combined court offering mediation to all parties in defended cases. [15032]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The pilot scheme based at Leeds combined court was managed in a way that was cost neutral for the Court Service. The evaluation of the scheme, undertaken by Leeds Metropolitan university, found that most parties that responded to the survey thought that the mediation had saved them money on the total potential costs of resolving the dispute. However, take-up of the scheme was low, with only 15 mediation appointments taking place between 1 July 2000 and 31 August 2001.
Criminal Justice Strategy Committees
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what the cost is in (a) 2000–01 and (b) 2001–02 of the Area Criminal Justice Strategy Committees. [15034]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The total cost of the 42 Area Criminal Justice Strategy Committees in the financial year 2000–01 was approximately £366,000. This comprises the salary costs of the National Co-ordinator, nine full-time equivalent Area Co-ordinator posts and their travel expenses. In addition, six Regional Conferences were held during the year for members of the Area Committees.
In the current financial year, the cost is approximately £1.4 million which includes the salaries and expenses mentioned, local conferences arranged by the Area Committees, and £1 million which was earmarked for the Area Committees from the Criminal Justice Reserve for projects aimed at improving joined-up working among the local criminal justice agencies.
Circuits for Part 51 Work
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what additional resources, referred to on page 10 of the departmental report 2001, have been directed to the circuits for Part 51 work. [14982]
Mr. Wills: An additional £1 million was allocated to the circuits during the 2000–01 financial year to deal with Part 51 work.
Absence
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what the cost was in 2000–01 of absence through sickness in her Department. [15030]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The salary cost of sickness absence in the Lord Chancellor's Department (including the Court Service and the Public Guardianship Office) for 2000–01 is estimated as £8,757,000. This is based on the average number of working days lost through sick absence per person per annum, as a percentage of total working days per annum, multiplied by the total salary bill.
Resource Accounts
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if she will publish the unqualified audit opinion that was obtained on her Department's 1999–2000 resource accounts. [14923]
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Ms Rosie Winterton: The Lord Chancellor's Department's 1999–2000 resource accounts received a qualified audit opinion. The Certificate and Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General to the House of Commons is reproduced in the Lord Chancellor's Department Resource Accounts 1999–2000, which was published in March 2001 by the Stationery Office (Cm 5056).
"Criminal Justice Working Together"
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what savings have been achieved in (a) 2000–01 and (b) 2001–02 as a result of her Department's response to the National Audit Office report, "Criminal Justice Working Together". [14926]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The National Audit Office report made a number of recommendations on joint working which we welcomed. My Department, in co-operation with the Home Office and Crown Prosecution Service, is pursuing a programme to implement those recommendations and others to improve joint working in the Criminal Justice process. Information is not specifically collected on savings arising from the individual recommendations in the NAO report.
Capital Grants
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how much her Department gave in capital grants to the private sector in (a) 1998–99 (b) 1999–2000, (c) 2000–01 and (d) 2001–02; and if he will specify the purposes for which they were made. [14927]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department did not make any capital grants to the private sector in any of those years.
Unallocated Reserve
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if she will make a statement on the initiatives funded from the unallocated reserve established for that purpose. [14991]
Ms Rosie Winterton: No reserve has been specifically created for initiatives in my Department. For 2001–02, my Department received £39.49 million from the Criminal Justice System Reserve to cover a number of
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criminal justice initiatives including increased workload and improving timeliness in the courts, better service to victims and witnesses and improving fine enforcement. In addition a further £1 million has been allocated for service to victims in 2002–03.
Allocations from the Reserve require the joint agreement of the Home Secretary, Lord Chancellor and Attorney- General prior to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury releasing the money from the Reserve. Further allocations for 2002–03 and 2003–04 are being considered.
Cost Recovery
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if she will make a statement on progress towards his Department's objective of achieving full cost recovery in the civil courts. [14928]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Lord Chancellor announced in another place on 19 November 1998 1 that charging for civil court fees should not prevent access to justice; that protection should be provided for litigants of modest means; but litigants should not expect the taxpayer to pay for court services if they could afford to do so themselves. My Department is currently working on a major programme to establish the right balance between those principals in order to achieve its objective of full cost recovery in the civil courts.
- 1 Written answer in response to a question [HL 3925] from Lord Burlison.
Dispute Resolution Methods
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many copies of her Department's information booklet on dispute resolution methods were issued in 2000–01; and what the cost was of its publication. [15033]
Ms Rosie Winterton: During the period 2000–01 the booklets were supplied on a demand-led basis, when requested by local courts and advice agencies and some individuals. Although no detailed record of the numbers supplied in this period was kept, the information that is held shows that the total number for the year would have been in excess of 10,000. The booklets were produced using my Department's internal printing services. We estimate the cost of producing 10,000 copies of the booklet was £2,650.00.