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Judicial Appointments

Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many judicial appointments she has made since taking up office; what criteria are used to select people suitable for judicial appointments; and how many judicial appointees she has made who are (a) women and (b) from ethnic backgrounds. [32582]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Drawing on information currently held on the judicial appointments database, we estimate that the Lord Chancellor has appointed or recommended for appointment a total of 15,703 judicial officers in the courts and tribunals, between 2 May 1997 and 31 January 2002. This figure includes full-time and part-time professional legal judicial officers and professional non-legal judicial officers (including first appointments and re-appointments), lay magistrates and General Commissioners of Income Tax. Of all these appointments, the database shows that 5,326 were women and 1,530 declared themselves as from minority ethnic backgrounds, with 2,953 appointments being of unknown ethnic origin.

The criteria and personal qualities against which candidates for judicial office are assessed are as follows:

Professional judicial appointment

Criteria

Legal knowledge and experience, intellectual and analytical ability, sound judgment, decisiveness, communication and listening skills, authority and case management skills.

Personal qualities

Integrity and independence, fairness and impartiality, understanding of people and society, maturity and sound temperament, courtesy and commitment, conscientiousness and diligence.

Lay magistracy

Personal qualities

Good character, understanding and communication, social awareness, maturity and sound temperament, sound judgment, commitment and reliability.

General Commissioners of Income Tax

Personal qualities expected include:

Good reputation, personal integrity, a manner which inspires confidence, the ability to identify and comprehend relevant facts reasonably quickly, the ability to think logically, ability to communicate effectively, the ability to advance views firmly but tactfully, combined with a readiness to listen to and take on board others' views, the ability to work with others, awareness of personal prejudices and readiness to put them aside, the ability to reach a decision reasonably quickly having weighed all relevant evidence and arguments, some experience, understanding or knowledge of life outside the candidate's own immediate circle of family and work.

Statutory Publications Office

Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many staff from the Statutory Publications Office are located outside London. [32572]

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Ms Rosie Winterton: There are no staff from the Statutory Publications Office located outside London. All staff of the Statutory Publications Office are located within the Lord Chancellor's Department headquarters in Selborne House in central London.

Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many staff are employed (a) whole-time and (b) part-time in the Statutory Publications Office. [32571]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The total number of (a) whole- time staff employed by the Statutory Publications Office is 25. The total number of (b) part-time staff employed by the Statutory Publications Office is two.

Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many publications were processed by the Statutory Publications Office in each year since 1992. [32570]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Responsibility for all hard copy publications previously processed by the Statutory Publications Office was, with one exception, transferred on 1 April 1997 to Her Majesty's Stationery Office within the Cabinet Office. The exception related to the publication "Statutes in Force" (SIF) which contained the revised text of all in-force UK Acts and Measures. All revision work on SIF was suspended in September 1993 when the work had been revised to 1 February 1991. Work in relation to the issue of newly enacted Acts for inclusion in SIF continued until the end of 1999. Except as mentioned above, during the period mentioned in the question, the Statutory Publications Office has been concerned solely with the development of the Statute Law Database, a historical database of in-force statute law which represents the electronic successor to SIF.

Official Solicitor

Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what official foreign visits the Official Solicitor has made since his appointment; and what was the purpose of such visits. [32398]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Official Solicitor has made one foreign visit. In April 2000 he attended and spoke as the sole representative for England and Wales at the 4th International Conference of Public Trustees and Public Guardians held in Singapore.

Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many (a) whole-time and (b) part-time staff work in the Official Solicitor's office; and how many were employed (a) whole-time and (b) part-time when he took up his office. [32568]

Ms Rosie Winterton: On 1 August 1999 there were 99 full-time staff and five part-time staff in the office of the Official Solicitor. On 1 April 2001 30 members of staff left the Office of the Official Solicitor for the newly established Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS), and on the same date 90 staff from the former Trust Division of the Public Trust Office transferred into the office of the Official Solicitor, which became the office of the Official Solicitor and Public Trustee. There are currently 154 full-time staff and nine part-time staff working in the combined office.

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Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what the case load has been for the Official Solicitor in each month since he took up his office. [32567]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Official Solicitor's records show that his active cases (in all areas of his then work) as at August 1999 numbered 3,921; as at December 2001 the active cases for the combined office of the Official Solicitor and Public Trustee numbered 5,647. Annual figures are published in the Official Solicitor's annual reports, which are available in the Library of the House. A monthly breakdown, if required, may be obtained from the Official Solicitor and Public Trustee's office.

Legal Aid

Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many legal aid applications have been (a) granted and (b) refused in each year since 1992. [32578]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The number of legal aid applications granted and refused was as follows:

	Granted	Refused
	Civil legal aid applications(19)
1991–92	382,642	101,715
1992–93	431,072	125,869
1993–94	379,908	125,961
1994–95	400,813	123,126
1995–96	387,614	125,103
1996–97	334,469	133,975
1997–98	277,847	156,289
1998–99	315,084	97,870
1999–2000	277,336	65,477
2000–01	174,017	52,087
	Criminal applications(20)
1992(21)	144,938	7,638
1993(21)	140,148	6,691
1994(21)	150,784	6,343
1995(21)	158,190	6,606
1996(21)	150,863	7,502
1997	543,549	49,013
1998	506,124	42,903
1999	596,861	45,339
2000	585,704	31,608

⁽¹⁹⁾ Financial year

⁽²⁰⁾ Calendar year

⁽²¹⁾ Excludes applications granted or refused in the magistrates courts as these figures are not available prior to 1997.

Domestic Legal Services

Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many staff employed on domestic legal services are located outside London; and in which locations. [32577]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Court Service has staff located throughout England and Wales, providing a wide range of services to court users, including family related work. We are unable to provide a breakdown of the number of staff working on family related work, although the total number of staff employed by the Lord Chancellor's Department, by region of the UK, was provided in an answer given to the hon. Member for North Tayside (Pete Wishart) on 15 October 2001, Official Report, column 1017W.

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Community Legal Services

Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many staff employed by her Department on community legal services are located in offices outside London; and in which locations. [32576]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Lord Chancellor's Department employs nobody outside London on community legal services. The Community Legal Service is delivered by the Legal Services Commission through the Community Legal Service Partnerships and contacted suppliers, and these include both lawyers in private practice and organisations in the not-for-profit sector.

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