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Regulatory Impact Assessments
Mrs. Browning: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what the gross costs were of the Regulatory Impact Assessment for the (a) Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2001, (b) Land Registration Bill and (c) Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill. [17689]
Mr. Wills: These costs are shown in the published regulatory impact assessments which are in the House Libraries.
Civil Claims
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what recent representations she has received on the inability of people to pursue civil claims because of the lack of public funding for the service; and if he will make a statement. [14671]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Neither the Department nor the Legal Services Commission is aware of any case, within the scope of the scheme, where an applicant has passed the statutory tests of means and merits but has been unable to get help because funds are not available.
Government Information
Mr. Robathan: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department on how many occasions the conclusions of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration on a question of disclosure of information under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information have not been accepted by the Government in the last 10 years. [16866]
Fair Trade
Mr. Weir: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what is the value of fairly traded (a) tea and (b) coffee used in his Department in each of the last five years. [17558]
Mr. Wills: We do not specify to our catering contractors in contractual terms what supplies must be purchased and contractors are required to provide a service which represents good value for money. We have been able to establish, however, that in the Court Service at least half of the catering contractors supply fairly traded tea and coffee although this is not always branded as such. We are unable to quantify the value.
Mr. Weir: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what fairly traded products, other than tea and coffee, have been purchased by his Department in each of the last five years; and what was their value. [17559]
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Mr. Wills: It has not been possible to identify the purchase of any fairly traded products, other than tea or coffee, either directly or indirectly through our third party suppliers, in the last five years. However, in accordance with the policy across Government, we will take every opportunity to encourage the use of Fair Trade products through our procurement activities and in particular during the course of the review of the arrangements for contracted catering services in the Court Service that is planned to take place during the next 12 months.
Jury Service
Mr. Lilley: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many people were (a) called for jury service and (b) served on juries in the most recent year for which figures are available. [17145]
Mr. Wills: For the period January to December this year, 579,033 summonses for jury service were issued, to supply around 187,000 potential jurors to the courts. There are no figures available on how many people actually served on juries. However, a recent Home Office research project confirmed that, in a sample of 50,000 people summoned for jury service in June and July 1999, only one-third was available to attend. About one-third of these had their service deferred until a later date. Of the remaining two-thirds, 13 per cent. were ineligible, disqualified or excused as of right, 38 per cent. were excused and 15 per cent. either failed to attend on the day or their summonses were returned as "undelivered".
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Burns: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department (1) what proportion of those named day parliamentary written questions to her Department that received a holding answer between 15 October and 5 November received the substantive answer (a) within three parliamentary days, (b) within seven parliamentary days, (c) within 10 parliamentary days, (d) within 15 parliamentary days and (e) over 15 parliamentary days after the holding answer was issued; [13320]
- (2) how many named day parliamentary written questions were tabled to her Department between 15 October and 5 November; and what proportion of these have received holding answers. [13301]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 16 November 2001]: According to departmental records, 24 named day written questions were tabled to the Lord Chancellor's Department during the relevant period. Of these, 12 received holding answers. Of the 12 which received holding answers, six received a substantive answer within three parliamentary days, five received a substantive answer within seven parliamentary days and one received a substantive answer within 10 parliamentary days. None received a substantive answer beyond 10 parliamentary days from the holding answer.
Lay Magistracy
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will state the (a) cost in
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2001–02, (b) objectives and (c) components of the national strategy to raise the profile of the lay magistracy and encourage recruitment from all parts of the community. [15031]
Mr. Wills: The proposals for the national strategy are being developed. My noble and learned Friend the Lord Chancellor hopes to be able to announce the details of the strategy early next year and it is not anticipated that there will be any costs incurred during 2001–02.
The objectives of the strategy will include: to raise the profile of the magistracy; to encourage more people to apply to be magistrates, from as wide a cross-section of the community as possible; and also to make employers understand the benefits to them, in terms of transferable skills, of releasing workers to be magistrates.
Public Service Agreements
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will make a statement on the public service agreement target for increasing public confidence in the fairness of the criminal justice system. [17063]
Mr. Keith Bradley: The Government have a comprehensive programme to improve the criminal justice system and thereby promote confidence. It will measure the confidence of the public generally in the following areas: the treatment of victims and witnesses; efficiency; speed and the treatment of defendants. We will also be measuring the confidence of ethnic minorities alone in these areas. Public confidence in the system also depends on the public's understanding of the system. Initiatives are under way to improve understanding and to demystify the system.
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Magistrates (Huntingdon)
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many people applied to become magistrates in Huntingdon in each year from 1996; and how many were women. [17478]
Mr. Wills: The information sought is provided in the table.
| Year | Men | Women | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 1997 | 15 | 18 | 33 |
| 1998 | 5 | 2 | 7 |
| 1999 | 13 | 15 | 28 |
| 2000 | 9 | 5 | 14 |
| 2001 | 1 | 7 | 8 |
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
Parliamentary Ombudsman
Mr. Robathan: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on his responsibilities in respect of the Parliamentary Ombudsman. [17731]
Mr. Leslie: The Parliamentary Commission for Administration is an Officer of the House of Commons, appointed by Her Majesty the Queen, and independent of Government. He reports to Parliament.
As Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office, I have responsibility for taking forward the Government's commitment to reform the Parliamentary Ombudsman and the other existing public sector ombudsmen moving towards a new unified and flexible ombudsman body; and for other general issues relating to the Parliamentary Ombudsman.
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ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS
GM Foodstuffs
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of (a) pigmeat, (b) sheepmeat and (c) beef products consumed in the UK was from animals reared on foodstuffs containing genetically modified ingredients in the last 12 months. [8290]
Margaret Beckett [holding answer 18 October 2001]: The Government do not keep statistics on meat and meat products consumed in the UK from animals reared on feed containing GM ingredients.
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