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Middle East
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) when meetings have taken place since 1 April between members of his Department and (a) Israeli officials and (b) members of
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the Israeli diplomatic staff in the United Kingdom; what topics were discussed on each occasion; and if he will make a statement; [58295]
- (2) when meetings have taken place since 1 April between members of the British diplomatic staff in Israel and Israeli officials; what topics were discussed on each occasion; and if he will make a statement. [58293]
Mr. Bradshaw: Officials in London and our embassy in Tel Aviv have regular, almost daily, contact with their Israeli counterparts. These cover a number of issues, but the Israeli-Palestinian crisis predominates. Contact with the Israelis is a key part of the international effort to secure progress in the peace process.
Delegations (Scottish Representation)
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs for what reason no devolved Administration Minister attended the 2425 European Union Council of Ministers meeting (General Affairs) on 13 May; which particular suggestions and matters of concern from the Scottish Executive were raised in their absence by the United Kingdom Government delegation; and what information and evidence was provided by his Department to enable post-council security by the European Committee of the Scottish Parliament. [58305]
Peter Hain: Decisions on Ministerial attendance at Council meetings are taken on a case-by-case basis by the lead UK Minister. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and I attended this meeting, representing all parts of the UK.
It is the responsibility of the European Committee of the Scottish Parliament to scrutinise the Scottish Executive's involvement in preparations for and follow- up to EU Council meetings. These arrangements are a matter for the Committee and the Scottish Executive. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office provides information to Scottish Executive officials as part of that process.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Child Sex Offenders
Ms Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he will publish the protocols for cross- border information-sharing on child sex offenders and child abusers. [55286]
Jane Kennedy: The protocols currently being developed for information sharing on a variety of subjects including child sex offenders and child abusers will be confidential to the participating agencies. They have no plans to publish.
Motor Fuel
Lembit Öpik: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many successful prosecutions there have been in each year since 1997 for smuggling motor fuel products into Northern Ireland; and what penalties were imposed. [54294]
Mr. Boateng: I have been asked to reply.
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For the number of prosecutions each year since 1997 I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Hull, North (Mr. McNamara) on 20 November 2001, Official Report, column 266W.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Criminal Records Bureau
Mr. Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) which umbrella bodies registered with the Criminal Records Bureau do not charge a fee for processing applications for disclosures from volunteers; and if he will make a statement; [55450]
- (2) what criteria the Criminal Records Bureau uses to define umbrella bodies as (a) open and (b) closed; [55449]
(3) if he will list by (a) region and (b) county the number of open voluntary sector umbrella bodies registered with the Criminal Records Bureau; [55452]
(4) what arrangements his Department has made to obtain information on the fees charged to process applications for disclosures by umbrella bodies registered with the Criminal Records Bureau. [55451]
Mr. Keith Bradley: An "open" umbrella registered body is an organisation in the public, private or voluntary sector that is prepared to countersign applications for higher level disclosures at the request of others outside their own circle or sector. A "closed" umbrella registered body is one that provides the countersignatory service to those within its circle or sector only.
Information is not kept as to the charging of fees by umbrella bodies, and there are no plans to collect such information. In guidance for umbrella bodies, the Criminal Records Bureau urges that any such charges are kept to a minimum. Those wishing to use the services of an umbrella body would be well advised to ask whether charges are made and, if so, compare charges.
As at 10 May 2002 the number of open voluntary sector bodies was as follows:
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Sentences
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) detention and training orders and (b) referral orders have been imposed in each police force area in England and Wales; and if he will make a statement. [55854]
Beverley Hughes: The information requested is contained in the table.
Statistics on detention and training orders for 2001 will be published in the autumn.
(3) Introduced 1 April 2000
(4) All areas, 1 April 2000 to 31 December 2000
(5) Piloted in seven areas from April 2000—to be introduced nationally from May 2002. Figures are approximate as orders made in August and September 2001 have been estimated.
(6) Pilot areas, 1 April 2000 to 31 December 2001
(7) Staffordshire police force were only able to submit sample data for persons proceeded against and convicted in the magistrates courts for the year 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robust enough at a detailed level and have been excluded from the table.
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Prison Service
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many Prison Service pay queries have been outstanding at the end of each month since July 2001; [55729]
- (2) how many Prison Service personnel have been (a) incorrectly paid and (b) unpaid following the implementation of Payfact. [55728]
Beverley Hughes [holding answer 13 May 2002]: Payment of Prison Service personnel is handled by the Home Office Pay and Pensions Service. This service operates 28 payrolls for 69,000 employees. Of these over 40,000 are in the Prison Service. Up until now, the Pay Service has not kept figures for the number of Prison Service pay queries outstanding at the end of each month. However, ways of measuring the number of pay queries on a month by month basis are currently being developed and therefore this information will be available in the future.
Pay Service's priority must be to concentrate on paying personnel correctly, accounting for the disbursement of funds from the payroll and providing financial management information. Pay Service does not retain statistics specifically related to the number of people paid incorrectly or unpaid each month. However, the feasibility of doing so is currently being examined. It does retain statistics for the number of payments made outside payday, both for manually calculated payments and those made through the Payfact system. The figures provide a good indicator of where there are problems. The figures include the numbers of advances of overtime requested by individuals and advances of salary for new entrants; as
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such, they cannot be used to indicate the number of personnel who have been unpaid or paid incorrectly each month.
| Month | Number of prison service personnel | Combined total of manual payments and advances |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | ||
| July(8) | 45,024 | 219 |
| August | 46,943 | 588 |
| September | 45,074 | 953 |
| October | 45,551 | 780 |
| November | 46,358 | 1,185 |
| December | 44,870 | 737 |
| 2002 | ||
| January | 45,148 | 648 |
| February | 45,609 | 1,001 |
| March | 45,408 | 636 |
(8) Date from when Payfact went live.
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