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Lord Saville

Mr. Blunt: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department which Department is paying the salary of Lord Saville of Newdigate; what the total capitation cost for a Lord Justice of his seniority was in 2001; and how much has been paid to him during the time the Saville Inquiry has been sitting. [33075]

Mr. Wills: Lord Saville of Newdigate is a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, not a Lord Justice. The salaries of Lords of Appeal in Ordinary are paid from the

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Consolidated Fund and the payments are administered by HM Treasury. The current annual salary for a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary is £157,699.

In addition to his salary, Lord Saville has been paid expenses allowance of £50 per day for each day that he has been in Londonderry engaged in the Inquiry. To date Lord Saville has been paid £9,700 in respect of this daily allowance. This allowance is paid from a budget held by the Northern Ireland Office.

North-South Ministerial Council

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what the findings were of the reserved judgment read in the Belfast High Court on 30 January 2001. [34125]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Judgment was delivered in the High Court in Belfast on 30 January 2001 In the Matter of an Application by Bairbre de Brun and Martin McGuinness for judicial review. Copies of the judgment have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Industrial Action

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many days have been lost owing to industrial action by staff in her Department, agencies and non-departmental public bodies in each of the last four years. [36188]

Ms Rosie Winterton: This answer covers the Headquarters of the Lord Chancellor's Department (including associated offices), the Court Service, Public Guardianship Office, Land Registry, Public Record Office, Northern Ireland Court Service, Legal Services Commission and the Children and Family Courts Advisory and Support Service. No industrial action has been taken in the Departments, agencies and NDPBs for which the Lord Chancellor has responsibility in any of the last four years, with exception of the Land Registry, which lost 170 days due to industrial action in April 2001.

Union Duties

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many staff in her Department, agencies and non-departmental public bodies receive paid leave to undertake union duties; how many days they are allocated; and what has been the cost to public funds in each of the last four years. [36212]

Ms Rosie Winterton: This answer covers the Headquarters of the Lord Chancellor's Department (including Associated Offices), the Court Service, Public Guardianship Office, Land Registry, Public Record Office, Northern Ireland Court Service, Legal Services Commission and the Children and Family Courts Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS).

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The position is as follows:

LCD HQ

2000–01: 11 staff spent 216 days on union duties at a cost of £16,920.


1999–2000: 12 staff spent 216 days on union duties at a cost of £16,080.


1998–99: Nine staff spent 163 days on union duties at a cost of £11,552.


1997–98: 10 staff spent 179 days on union duties at a cost of £12,077. Court Service

The information relates to trade union representatives working for the Court Service who are allocated 50 per cent. or more of their time to undertake industrial relations duties. Information on trade union representatives who spend less than 50 per cent. of their time on union activities is not held centrally.

2000–01: 28 staff spent 4,887 days on union duties at a cost of £484,126.


1999–2000: 27 staff spent 4,517 days on union duties at a cost of £447,472.


1998–99: 28 staff spent 4,331 days on union duties at a cost of £429,046.


1997–98: 28 staff spent 4,419 days on union duties at a cost of £411,017. Public Guardianship Office

The PGO was established as an executive agency of LCD on 1 April 2001. In April 2001, two staff were allowed to work full-time on union duties and a third for 50 per cent. of their time at a total cost of £47,339. Figures for the Public Trust Office, which was abolished in 2001, are not available.

Land Registry

The details show the total hours spent by staff given special leave to undertake union duties. Because the Land Registry is a Trading Fund the allocations do not draw on public funds; the costs are met from fees paid by customers.

2001–01: 155 staff spent a total of 1,267 days on union duties.


1990–2000: 154 staff spent a total of 1,322 days on union duties.


1998–99: 152 staff spent a total of 1,545 days on union duties.


1997–98: 158 staff spent a total of 1,646 days on union duties. Public Record Office

The Public Record Office allows a part-time Trade Union Side officer 18 hours per week for union business. The cost of this was £8,180 in 2001, £7,803 in 2000, £7,509 in 1999 and £7,176 in 1998.

Northern Ireland Court Service

The cost of 13 staff who received paid leave to undertake union duties each year is as follows:

2001: £24,200


2000: £23,300


1999: £22,400


1998: £21,600.

These costs have been based on the average salary costs for each employee who has received paid leave to undertake union duties.

Legal Services Commission

Paid time off for trade union duties is granted with management agreement but is not monitored centrally.

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Children and Family Courts Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS)

CAFCASS is currently negotiating a Partnership Agreement with the trade unions which will cover trade union facilities and time off. It is hoped that the new policies will be approved in March 2002.

Community Fines

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many community fines were cancelled in the west midlands up to and including the year ending September 2001. [36121]

Mr. Wills: There are two types of non-custodial sentences: fines and community penalties. If a community penalty is breached the offender is brought back before the court for whatever action the court deems appropriate. This could mean that the court imposes further hours on the order or an additional condition. Alternatively it could result in the order being revoked and the offender instead receiving a term of imprisonment if such a sentence was available for the original offence. 1,398 community penalties were revoked in the west midlands in the year 2000.

A fine may be cancelled (remitted) in whole or in part by the courts if circumstances have changed since the conviction. A large proportion of financial penalties cancelled are where a defaulter is imprisoned for wilful refusal or culpable neglect to pay, or where a defaulter is already serving a prison term for a separate offence.

Statistics on the number of fines cancelled are not kept. The value of all impositions, including fines, cancelled in the West Midlands Magistrates Courts Committee area amounted to £7,643,470 in the year ending September 2001.

Judicial Appeals

Miss Widdecombe: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will seek to change the rules of court to permit (a) the Court of Appeal to correct an order of the court if it can be shown that the Lord Justices reached their conclusion inappropriately and (b) a right of appeal against a decision of the Court of Appeal where it over-ruled the original decision of the court; and under what powers the Court Service may reject or delay an application for an appeal against a Court of Appeal ruling. [39433]

Mr. Wills: It is not clear whether this question relates to the civil courts or to the criminal courts and so I have answered for both jurisdictions.

In the civil courts:

(c) the recent Court of Appeal decision in Taylor v. Lawrence ([2002] EWCA Civ 90) sets out the circumstances in which it might consider reopening an application or appeal;

(d) there already is a right of appeal against a decision of the Court of Appeal where it "over-ruled the original decision of the court" (of first instance)—that appeal lies to the House of Lords and permission is required.

In the criminal courts:

(c) the Court of Appeal has an inherent jurisdiction to reopen cases where it considers that an earlier hearing was listed in error and the Criminal Cases Review Commission may refer a case back to the Court;

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(d) the position is the same as with civil cases, except that the Court of Appeal has to certify that there is a point of law of general public importance involved before an application for permission can be made.

The Lord Chancellor has no plans to propose any alteration to the present rules in either jurisdiction.

The Court Service does not reject any application which is properly made and is within the Court's jurisdiction. When any application to the Court is listed for hearing is a case management decision, usually made by a member of the Court's listing staff acting under general instruction from the Court.

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