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Asian Community Functions

Mr. Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the Asian community functions (a) he and (b) his Ministers have attended since 7 June. [18744]

Mr. Blunkett: I attended the Asian community 30th Anniversary of Gujurat Samachar (Asian Voice) event on 31 October, which took place at the HoC. I also visited the Industry Road Mosque in Sheffield on 5 October. In addition I and several of my Ministers have had a large number of meetings with representatives of the Asian faiths as well as chairing meetings of the Race Relations Forum and speaking at the Ethnic Minority Network Conference organised by my Department. Ministers within my Department who have attended specific functions are as follows.


Heather Arnold

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will determine the parole application of Heather Arnold. [13921]

Beverley Hughes: The Parole Board has considered Mrs. Arnold's case and has made a recommendation. In line with normal practice, the Secretary of State will need to consider whether the Parole Board's recommendation may be accepted. The Secretary of State will make a decision on this case as soon as possible.

LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT

Community Legal Service

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what (a) number and (b) percentage of advice providers listed in the Community Legal Service Directory have failed to make a positive commitment in writing to the aims and objectives of the Community Legal Service and to commit to making a Quality Mark application by the deadline of October; and if she will break these figures down (i) with reference to type of advice provided, (ii) with reference to client group and (iii) excluding legal firms. [18846]

Ms Rosie Winterton: There are 9,878 organisations listed in the current Community Legal Service Directory (3rd Edition) and 7,112 (72 per cent.) have either made an application or have obtained the Quality Mark. Of the remaining 2,766 (28 per cent.), most have made a formal commitment in writing to apply for the Quality Mark by October 2001 but a small number have not applied. The organisations who failed to meet the October deadline may write to the Legal Services Commission setting out the reasons why they were unable to apply by that date and consideration will be given as to whether or not to accept the application.

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The Legal Services Commission is working with the London Learning and Skills Council to help support small and ethnic groups achieve the Quality Mark. A pilot is being run in two London boroughs and includes disability groups.

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department when she intends to remove advice providers without Quality Marks from the Community Legal Service directory; and what target she has set for the (a) number and (b) percentage of advice providers who should have a Quality Mark by this date. [18845]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Those organisations which have not applied for a Quality Mark will not appear in the next edition of the Community Legal Service Directory, which is to be published in April 2002 (4th Edition). The deadline for applications was the end of October 2001. Organisations which have failed to meet this deadline may write to the Legal Services Commission setting out the reasons why they were unable to apply by that date and consideration will be given as to whether or not to accept the application. There are currently 502 Quality Mark holders at the General Help and General Help including casework levels, and over 1,700 organisations that have applied for the Quality Mark at General Help and General Help including casework level. The target for the number of advice providers to April 2002 is 1,250 at the General Help and General Help including casework levels.

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what estimate she has made of the (a) cost and (b) burden to an advice provider of applying for a Quality Mark; and what plans she has to offer small voluntary organisations help to meet these costs and burdens. [18843]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Legal Services Commission is working with the Learning and Skills Council to assess the resource implications for an advice provider in applying for a Quality Mark. This work is due to be completed in April 2002 and will feed into the Legal Services Commission's Quality Mark support strategy. The Legal Services Commission has commenced a number of initiatives that have the potential to provide information about the needs of advice providers and identify barriers to accessing the Quality Mark. A number of the projects are targeted at smaller organisations including Black Minority Ethnic groups and refugee support groups.

CAFCASS

Mr. Steen: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department (1) what steps she has taken by the Children and Family Courts Advisory and Support Service to negotiate with NAGALRO and guardians ad litem following the judgment of Mr. Justice Scott Baker on 14 September; [16465]

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Ms Rosie Winterton: The Lord Chancellor issued a statutory direction to CAFCASS on 3 October instructing them to begin consultation about the issue of the self- employed guardians' contracts. This consultation is under way, and CAFCASS have written to all self-employed guardians. The discussions with NAGALRO will be chaired by an independent person, and the responses of the guardians to consultation will also be assessed independently.

The information we have received from CAFCASS shows that of 716 self-employed guardians, 28 have withdrawn their services altogether, and a further 90 are not accepting new cases. 175 previously self-employed guardians have accepted contracts as employed guardians. The remainder of the guardians, employed or self- employed, continue to work normally, as do the other employees of CAFCASS. In addition CAFCASS has advertised for and identified 197 people eligible for appointment as guardians.

At the week ending 16 November, guardians were working on 11,930 cases nationally. A further 282 cases were allocated that week. The number of unallocated cases was 177. In the hon. Member's South West Region there were 848 active cases. A further 26 cases were allocated that week and six cases awaited allocation.

CAFCASS is subject to independent inspection by HM Magistrates' Court Service Inspectorate. The Inspectorate will complete its first inspection next year. Its preliminary view, based on the initial visits it has carried out so far, is that:


The Lord Chancellor and I are monitoring the situation closely. I am having weekly meetings with the Chairman of CAFCASS, and am also receiving weekly reports from him. We value extremely highly the work of all the guardians and other staff of CAFCASS, whether they are employed or self-employed, and I hope that all sides can now move on to develop the child-focused service that we all want to see.

Correspondence

Mr. Burns: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many letters her Department received from right hon. and hon. Members between 20 June and 20 July. [18565]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Information on the volume of correspondence from Members of Parliament received by ministerial agency chief executives, and Departments and agencies and performance in handling them is published annually by the Cabinet Office. The most recent report, covering 2000, was announced by the then Minister for the Cabinet Office on 6 April 2001, Official Report, column 325W. Between 20 June and 20 July 2001, 149 letters were received directly by the Lord

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Chancellor's Department; however, 27 of these letters were transferred to other Government Departments, and 19 were transferred to agencies of the Lord Chancellor's Department. Of the 103 letters dealt with by the Lord Chancellor's Department 65 per cent. were replied to within the 20 day departmental target.

Mr. Burns: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many and what proportion of letters received by his Department between 20 June and 20 July were replied to (a) in under 15, (b) in under 20, (c) in under 30, (d) in under 40 and (e) in over 40 working days. [18585]

Mr. Wills: For general correspondence received at LCDHQ 320 letters were received within the period. 282 (88.1 per cent.) were responded to in under 15 days, 303 (94.7 per cent.) were responded to in under 20 days, 317 (99.1 per cent.) were responded to in under 30 days, 319 (99.7 per cent.) were responded to in under 40 days, one (0.3 per cent.) responded to in over 40 days.

For the Court Service, 565 letters were received within the period. 542 (97.4 per cent.) were responded to in under 15 days, 563 (99.11 per cent.) were responded to in under 20 days, 565 (100 per cent.) were responded to in under 30 days, nil under 40 days, nil over 40 days.

For the Public Guardianship Office, 6,103 letters were received in June. 5,686 (93.2 per cent.) were responded to in under 15 working days. In July 5,063 letters were received, (93.4 per cent.) were responded to under 15 working days.

Further information about PGO response times is not available.

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