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Census (1901)
Ms Walley: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what contingency plans exist in the Public Records Office to keep the 1901 census online in the event of financial failure at QinetiQ. [50532]
Ms Rosie Winterton: As is standard in PPP arrangements of this kind, the PRO's contract with QinetiQ includes a clause which would allow it to terminate in the event of contractor default and to acquire the contractor's interests in the services infrastructure. In the highly unlikely event of a default because of financial failure at QinetiQ, the activation of this clause would provide the basis for an alternative way of delivering the 1901 online census service.
Ministerial Training
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how much has been spent by his Department on voice coaching for Ministers and officials in each of the last five years. [52697]
Mr. Wills: The Lord Chancellor's Department has spent £2,700 on voice coaching in 2001–02 for five senior officials. No specific spending on voice coaching was made in the previous years.
| £ | |
|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 0 |
| 1998–99 | 0 |
| 1999–2000 | 0 |
| 2000–01 | 0 |
| 2001–02 | 2,700 |
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how much has been spent by
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his Department on training by the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts for Ministers and officials in each of the last five years. [52736]
Mr. Wills: The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts has not provided any training to the Lord Chancellor's Department in the last five years.
Census Online
Mr. Brady: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what value of pre-payment vouchers for 1901 Census Online sold by the Public Record Office (a) has been refunded, (b) is eligible for refund and (c) is ineligible for refund by virtue of having been opened. [52753]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The answers to the hon. Member's questions are as follows:
- (a) It is estimated that vouchers to a total value of £1,380 have been refunded, of which the PRO has refunded £560 and QinetiQ the remainder.
- (b) Total sales of vouchers to date amount to £285,000, some of which have been completely used or opened and partially used. All vouchers that remain intact may be returned by the purchaser to the point of purchase for a refund.
The value of vouchers which have been opened and are therefore ineligible for a refund is not known. However, their validity has been extended for a further six months, starting from the date when the online census service resumes.
Mr. Brady: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department when internet access will be restored for 1901 Census Online. [52921]
Ms Rosie Winterton: General online searches over the internet will be available as soon as practicable following the completion of the testing programme, which will include availability of the online census at the service centres.
Mr. Brady: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how much revenue the Public Record Office has received from the sale of pre-payment vouchers in connection with the 1901 Census Online service. [52752]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Under the terms of the PRO's PPP arrangements with QinetiQ Ltd., the latter is responsible for the sale of pre-payment vouchers. To date QinetiQ has received a total of £278,019 from the sale of these vouchers.
Mr. Brady: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if she will instruct the Public Record Office to consult their counterparts in Scotland on lessons to be learned from the launch of an Online Census service in Scotland. [52751]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The two sites are very different in character—the Scottish census site manages 4.5 million names as opposed to 32.5 million names on the 1901 Census for England and Wales, and the present population of Scotland is approximately a tenth of that in England and Wales. The payment model chosen for the online sensus in Scotland imposes an initial £6 charge for access to the site and units of £6 thereafter. The 1901 Census for England and Wales has an entirely free index search facility, which can be used without any restriction; the
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minimum fee for access to transcriptions or record images is £5, in return for which the user can obtain between six and ten copies. The PRO undertook extensive consultations with users who indicated that, out of a range of possible payment models, their preference was for a payment system based on the delivery of record images.
Families of Murder Victims
Tim Loughton: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what financial assistance for legal action is available to families of murder victims where the convicted murderer is related to the victim and has a claim as a beneficiary of the deceased estate. [53264]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Matters of probate are included within the scope of public funding under the Legal Services Commission's (LSC's) Funding Code which is approved by Parliament under the Access to Justice Act 1999. As a result, public funding for Legal Help or Legal Representation (formerly legal aid) could be available in such a case to individual family members who could demonstrate their financial eligibility, subject to a funding assessment of the merits of the case by the LSC.
Financial eligibility is determined by assessing the gross income, disposable income and capital of the applicant; a funding assessment is carried out to establish whether it is reasonable, taking all the circumstances into account, for public funding to be granted.
Access to Information
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how much his Department is planning to spend on advertising the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information to the general public in (a) 2002 and (b) 2003. [53372]
Mr. Wills: None. Information about the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information is available on the websites of the Lord Chancellor's Department (www.lcd.gov.uk) and the parliamentary ombudsman (www.ombudsman.org.uk).
Young People
Dr. Starkey: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department on what subjects and on which dates her Department has consulted organisations representing young people; and if she will list such organisations. [52497]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is not held centrally and a comprehensive reply can be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, it is the practice of this Department to consult organisations, including those representing young people, both in the circulation of formal consultation papers and by way of on-going discussion. For example, in March 2002, the consultation paper 'Promoting Inter-agency Working in the Family Justice system' was sent to the National Council for
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Voluntary Child Care Organisations and the Association of Lawyers for Children, while the Connexions service is consulted regularly on a whole range of operational issues.
In addition, this Department is committed to the new core principles for the involvement of children and young people published by the Minister for Young People in November 2001. The Department will shortly be publishing an actin plan setting out for the first time how it will implement these principles to extend the participation of children and young people in the design, provision and evaluation of policies and services that affect them.
Immigration Advice
Lynne Jones: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if she will provide a breakdown of the number of (a) solicitors' firms and (b) not-for-profit advice providers holding a Legal Services Commission contract in immigration and the number of matter starts for each such contract in each of the National Asylum Support Service-designated asylum dispersal areas. [54062]
Ms Rosie Winterton: As at 30 April 2002, the Legal Services Commission (LSC) had issued 492 solicitor immigration contracts and 78 not-for-profit agency immigration contracts.
The commission cannot at the present time provide a breakdown of the contract figures by National Asylum Support Service designated asylum dispersal areas. Figures can be provided by the Legal Service Commission regions. The table shows the number of contracts issued, and the contract awards by LSC region. Not-for-profit contractors are awarded 'hours' rather than 'matter starts'.
| LSC region | Number of solicitor contracts | Matter starts allocated | Number of Not-for-profit contracts | Number of hours allocated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | 312 | 103,711 | 38 | 68,347 |
| South-east | 24 | 5,864 | 3 | 21,340 |
| South-west | 13 | 1,250 | 4 | 7,700 |
| Wales | 9 | 2,034 | 3 | 4,290 |
| West Midlands | 31 | 9,272 | 5 | 15,326 |
| North-west | 23 | 3,652 | 9 | 20,364 |
| North-east | 14 | 4,114 | 1 | 0 |
| Yorkshire | 28 | 7,628 | 4 | 21,450 |
| East Midlands | 19 | 6,738 | 5 | 6,186 |
| Eastern | 16 | 3,416 | 4 | 3,520 |
| Merseyside | 3 | 1,420 | 2 | 4,400 |
| All regions | 492 | 149,099 | 78 | 172,923 |
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