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Marriage and Relationship Support Programme

Jim Knight: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how much has been requested in grants from the Lord Chancellor's Department's marriage and relationship support programme for 2002–03; and how many organisations have submitted applications for grants. [27200]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Lord Chancellor's Department received requests for a total of £9,370,556, from 69 different organisations.

Pension Sharing Orders

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many pension sharing orders have been made to date. [27671]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Pension sharing came into force on 1 December 2000. My Department has been monitoring orders made in the courts and is aware of 133 orders that have been made to date in England and Wales. Six orders have been made in Northern Ireland. I understand that there is no record of any orders having been made by the courts in Scotland, however pension sharing by agreement is possible in Scotland and six such agreements have been recorded.

Judges

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many judges he has admonished for falling asleep on the bench in the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [27149]

Mr. Wills: None—according to records held by the Lord Chancellor's Department's Judicial Correspondence Unit.

Departmental Fraud

Mr. Menzies Campbell: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, what estimate her Department has made of the cost to its budget since 1 May 1997 of fraud; and if she will make a statement. [27307]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Lord Chanellor's Department incurred the following costs to its budget since 1 May 1997 as a result of fraud:

Financial year	£
1997–98	4,838.52
1998–99	59,079.02
1999–2000	11,847.49
2000–01	91,214.39
Total	166,979.42

Figures for the current financial year are not yet available.

Departmental Sickness Absence

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, if she will commission and

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publish an independent report on the reasons for the level of sickness absence in her Department. [26966]

Ms Rosie Winterton: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my right hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office, on 14 January 2002, Official Report, column 37W.

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The Lord Chancellor's Department is committed to managing sickness absence effectively. A great deal of work has been undertaken to raise awareness of our Service Delivery Agreement targets and of the need to manage attendance in accordance with best practice policies.

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