---

Criminal Justice Policy

Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, what proposals he has for the reform of criminal justice policy. [32053]

Mr. Wills: The period of comment on Sir Robin Auld's report "Review of the Criminal Courts" closed on 31 January. The Government are now considering the recommendations in detail, including assessments of costs and benefits, and of comments received. The Government will announce their conclusions by way of a White Paper in the spring.

Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what estimates his Department has made of the costs of the proposals by Lord Justice Auld for reorganisation of the criminal courts in England and Wales; and if he will make a statement. [32715]

Mr. Wills: The Government have taken no decisions on Sir Robin Auld's review report. The period of comment closed on 31 January. The Government are now considering the recommendations in detail, including assessments of costs and benefits. The Government will announce their conclusions by way of a White Paper in the spring.

Magistrates Courts (Merseyside)

Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what his budget for the magistrates courts was on Merseyside in each year since 1992–93. [32052]

Mr. Wills: The Lord Chancellor's Department provides separate grants for revenue and capital (buildings and IT) to local authorities for magistrates courts costs. Grant is paid at 80 per cent. of expenditure, with the remaining 20 per cent. met by local authorities.

The total budget (revenue and capital in 100 per cent. terms) for magistrates courts in Merseyside by financial year is:

Year	£ million
1992–93	9.62
1993–94	9.55
1994–95	10.25
1995–96	9.61
1996–97	9.77
1997–98	10.04
1998–99	10.48
1999–2000	10.73
2000–01	10.92
2001–02	12.72
2002–03	11.28

4 Feb 2002 : Column 709W

Merseyside magistrates courts committee was formed by the amalgamation of five separate committees in April 1999. The cost figures for years before 1999–2000 are aggregates of the budgets of the five committees which then existed in Merseyside.

Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what recent representations he has received about the operation of magistrates courts on Merseyside. [32051]

Mr. Wills: I have received no representations about the operation of the magistrates courts on Merseyside.

Departmental Audit

Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what proposals she has for auditing the efficiency of (a) her Department and (b) the agencies for which she is responsible; and if she will make a statement. [30851]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Lord Chancellor's Department carries out a wide-ranging programme for auditing its efficiency. This is undertaken by a professional internal audit service which operates to Government internal audit standards and which audits risk management, control and governance in the Department and its agencies on an annual basis. The National Audit Office is the external auditor for the Department and its agencies' accounts and also conducts value for money studies.

Census Online

Mr. Hawkins: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, when she estimates the Census Online service will be made available to the public; and what will happen to the profits arising from Census Online. [32142]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Census Online service is currently available at 150 local centres around the country. At present effort is being concentrated on ensuring that, when the service returns to general internet access, it will be reliable. The charges for the census have been calculated on the basis of full cost recovery. Revenue generated by the operation of the service is intended to finance the set-up costs and the future digitisation of earlier census records.

Mr. Hawkins: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, what the contractual arrangements are between QinetiQ and Census Online and the Public Record Office; if she will place copies of these in the Library; and if she will make a statement. [32143]

Ms Rosie Winterton: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Aylesbury (Mr. Lidington) on 16 January 2002, Official Report, column 374W.

4 Feb 2002 : Column 710W

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, what the estimated cost is to QinetiQ of carrying out the enhancements to the 1901 Census Online project. [32305]

Ms Rosie Winterton: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 16 January 2002, Official Report, column 374W.

Criminal Courts Review

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, how many internet users have attempted to access the Public Record Office online site for the 1901 census; and if she will make a statement. [31308]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Public Record Office website and the 1901 census website are two distinct services. The former is attracting an increased number of users and continues to work normally. For an estimate of the number of users attempting to access the 1901 census website, I refer the hon. Member to the answer which I gave the hon. Member for Solihull (Mr. Taylor) on 28 January 2002, Official Report, column 89W.

Mr. Garnier: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, what the results were of the evaluation undertaken by the Review of the Criminal Courts Regional Discussion Events which have taken place to date. [30799R]

Mr. Wills: At each event delegates were handed an evaluation form. The results of the answers are as follows: 93 per cent. of delegates who returned their evaluation forms believed that these events had value, 3 per cent. felt they did not and 4 per cent. abstained. 72 per cent. of these delegates felt they had enough opportunity to air their views, 24 per cent. did not and 4 per cent. abstained. 80 per cent. of delegates responding believed that the format of the event was effective, 13 per cent. felt that it was not and 7 per cent. abstained from answering. 86 per cent. of delegates who returned their forms would attend another event such as this, 11 per cent. felt they would not and 3 per cent. failed to answer. The number of returned forms varied at each event, for example, only seven forms were returned at Cambridge whereas at Birmingham 101 were returned.

Mr. Garnier: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, how many people (a) attended, (b) registered but did not attend and (c) were refused registration at each of the Review of the Criminal Courts Regional Discussion Events which have taken place to date. [30800R]

Mr. Wills: The numbers of those who attended and those who registered but did not attend are included in the table. Registration was refused only where the number booked had reached the capacity of the room. Because of the large non-attendance rate at London, "over booking" was allowed for the events in Cardiff and Manchester.

	Attended	Did not attend	Capacity of room
Newcastle	95	13	150
Cambridge	55	5	130
London	171	129	300
Exeter	59	25	120
Birmingham	144	33	180
Manchester	130	67	180
Bradford	104	56	180
Cardiff	90	28	110
Total	848	356

4 Feb 2002 : Column 711W

Transsexuals

Mr. Rendel: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, what steps she has taken to implement the recommendations of the Home Office report of the Interdepartmental Working Group on Transsexual People. [29880]

Lynne Jones: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, what action she proposes to take in response to the report of the Interdepartmental Working Group on Transsexual People. [30846]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The report has been carefully considered within Government and by other interested groups. The Government are sympathetic to the issues raised in the report and are actively considering how to take the matter forward.

Private Finance Initiative (Consultants)

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what the total external spend by his Department was on Private Finance Initiative consultants in each of the last four years; how many full-time equivalent consultants were employed over this period; how many billed consultancy days there were per year; what the implied average cost of each PFI consultant was; how many consultancy firms were used by his Department over this period; and if he will make a statement. [31038]

Mr. Wills: The total amount spent on PFI consultants over the last four years is as follows:

1998: £836,427

1999: £1,725,782

2000: £1,317,391

2001: £2,288,870.

The total number of consultancy firms used over this period was 25. The other information requested regarding full-time equivalent consultants, billed consultancy days and the implied average cost of each consultant is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

---