---

Firearms Consultative Committee

Andy King: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will lay before Parliament the eleventh annual report of the Firearms Consultative Committee. [44999]

19 Mar 2002 : Column 291W

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: I have today laid before Parliament the eleventh annual report of the Firearms Consultative Committee, copies of which have been placed in the Library.

Mr. John Morris

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the findings were of the inquest into the death of Mr. John Morris in Luton in June 2001; how many persons have been prosecuted for offences connected with this death; and what the outcome was of criminal proceedings. [41105]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 18 March 2002]: The inquest into the death was adjourned after charges of murder were brought against three suspects. One of these subsequently pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. Another pleaded guilty to violent disorder and was sentenced to 21 months' imprisonment. The third was found not guilty of any of the charges brought against him. The coroner decided not to resume the inquest.

Drug Treatment Services

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the availability and quality of drug treatment services. [42895]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The Government are making substantial investment to increase the availability of drug treatment services, particularly for Class A drug users. Through the pooled treatment budget, we are increasing funding from £234 million in 2001–02 to £400 million by 2003–04 to improve services locally and reduce waiting times.

The Government set up the National Treatment Agency (NTA) last year with the clear objective of improving the quality and availability of drug treatment in England. Since then the NTA has:

1. Established challenging waiting time targets for drug treatment and will monitor these at local level

2. Piloted a system of delivery to integrate all the support services that someone undergoing treatment may require—including aftercare and housing, as well as clinical drug treatment.

3. Promoting a shared care approach to enable GPs to work more effectively with specialist services and drug users in their areas.

The Government's drug strategy calls for a doubling of the number of people in treatment in the 10 years from 1998 to 2008. The numbers of people in treatment in 2000–01 was 118,000, an increase of 16 per cent. over 1998–99.

Vetting Procedures

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many professionals working with children were screened in each of the past 10 years; how many people have been prevented from working with children after being screened in each of the past 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [38140]

Mr. Denham: Information is not available in the form requested. Pre-employment screening takes various forms, including taking up references, medical checks and inquiring about previous employment history.

19 Mar 2002 : Column 292W

Criminal record checks have been carried out by the police, principally of employees in the statutory sector in posts (of any nature) involving substantial unsupervised access to children. The table shows available figures for such checks conducted in the years shown under arrangements agreed at national level with the Association of Chief Police Officers:

Year to 31 March
1993	654,472
1994	609,434
1995	607,573
1996	613,163
1997	657,036
1998	712,765
1999	769,515
2000	804,996

The following figures show the number of such checks that revealed convictions:

Year to 31 March
1993	33,894
1994	38,162
1995	39,679
1996	38,809
1997	46,584
1998	49,786
1999	54,060
2000	53,044

Information is not available as to numbers refused employment.

The introduction of the Criminal Records Bureau will make such checks more widely available to employers and voluntary organisations.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Advertisements

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the job advertisements placed by his Department in the last 12 months specifying where the advertisements were placed and the cost in each case. [39065]

Mr. Leslie: In the calendar year of 2001 there were a total of 58 adverts placed for 80 vacancies at a total cost of £205,303.00.

The adverts were published in a variety of media including the national press, local and specialist press, the civil service jobs gateway website and local job centres.

Litigation

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many cases (a) his Department and (b) its agencies have defended in (i) industrial tribunals and (ii) the courts in each year since 1997; how many were concluded in their favour; and what the total cost was to his Department of litigation in each year. [41117]

Mr. Leslie: The information is provided in the following table.

19 Mar 2002 : Column 293W

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
	(a) Cabinet Office
	Tribunals
Number of cases	(25)1	0	0	0	0	(25)1
Cases won	1	—	—	—	—	1
Cost of litigation	£3,643	—	—	—	—	£1,307
Courts
Number of cases	0	0	0	0	0	0
	(b) Agencies(25)
Tribunals
Number of cases	0	0	0	3	0	0
Cases won	—	—	—	2	—	—
Cost of litigation	—	—	—	£15,453	—	—
Courts
Number of cases	0	0	0	0	0	0

⁽²⁵⁾ Denotes same case.

Notes:

Figures given are for current Cabinet Office agencies and the year the case was settled.

The information for 2002 includes cases heard up to 28 February.

The figures are supplied by the Treasury Solicitor's Department, which is responsible for litigation on behalf of the Cabinet Office.

Staff Numbers

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many staff have been employed by his Department in each of the last 10 years. [42466]

Mr. Leslie: The figures are shown in a table, which has been placed in the Library of the House. They show the number of permanent staff in each Department/agency reported to the Cabinet Office at 1 April from 1992 to 2001. The figures include submissions from all Departments and agencies.

The figures for 1992 to 2000 were previously published in the annual civil service statistics publication, copies of which are in the Library of the House. The 2001 figures were published in the Press Notice about civil service staffing levels, released on 8 November 2001, a copy of which is also in the Library of the House.

The figures are calculated on a full-time equivalent basis, and are rounded to the nearest 10. It should be noted that, owing to rounding of figures there may be an apparent discrepancy between the totals and the sum of the constituent items.

Public Appointments

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment has been made of the percentage of (a) paid and (b) unpaid appointments to non- departmental public bodies made to women in each year since 1997. [44399]

Mr. Leslie: Information on the gender and remuneration of the chair and members of the board of public bodies is set out in the annual publication "Public Bodies", copies of which are in the Library of the House.

Government Office for London

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many whole time equivalent posts there were at the Government Office for London as at 1 April 1999 and in each subsequent year for which figures are available;

19 Mar 2002 : Column 294W

and if he will set out for each Government Office for London directorate the changes in staffing levels since 1999–2000. [44203]

Mrs. Roche: The Government Office for London had approximately 390 whole time equivalent posts in April 1999, 370 in April 2000 and 240 in April 2001.

In 1999 GOL comprised three directorates; New London Governance with approximately 60 whole time equivalent posts, Transport and Corporate with 90 and Skills, Education and Regeneration with 240. By August 2000, the New London Governance directorate was wound up and GOL was then restructured into a single directorate.

---