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Child Contact Centres

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department when the mapping exercise of child contact centres (a) started and (b) is expected to be completed; how many whole-time equivalent staff are working on the mapping exercise; and what budget is provided for the mapping exercise. [67633]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The work is being carried out under the auspices of the Child Contact Working Group, which is facilitated by the Lord Chancellor's Department. The mapping exercise forms part of the working group's consultation on a new referral mechanism to ensure families are directed to the service that meets their needs. The consultation was launched on 11 May and concludes in October. The mapping exercise will initially be conducted in three areas—Inner London, Manchester and Norfolk. Currently, two LCD staff support the work on a part-time basis. There is no specific budget for the working group, but expenses are paid to members.

Statistics

Mr. Laws: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if she will list the statistics that are collected by her Department by English parliamentary constituency; and if she will make a statement. [67103]

Ms Rosie Winterton: I refer the hon. Member to the letter sent to him by the National Statistician dated 8 July 2002.

Solicitors

Keith Vaz: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what plans she has to meet the Independent Commissioner who will deal with complaints against solicitors. [67934]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Sir Stephen Lander's appointment as the Law Society's first Independent Commissioner has recently been announced. Ministers look forward to meeting him after he takes up his new post overseeing the Law Society's Consumer Redress Scheme in November 2002.

Keith Vaz: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what the backlog of cases is at the Office of Supervision of Solicitors. [67933]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The most recent progress report from the Law Society shows that as at 31 May 2002, the total outstanding caseload at the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors was 8,255.

Judiciary (Northern Ireland)

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many complaints he has received since April 1998 concerning the conduct in Northern Ireland of individual (a) judges, (b) officers of tribunals and (c) resident magistrates. [38291]

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Ms Rosie Winterton: I apologise for the delay in providing this reply which is due to an administrative oversight. There have been three complaints concerning the conduct of members of the judiciary in Northern Ireland since 1998.

(a) Judges—1 complaint was received concerning a High Court Master in 2001

(b) Tribunals—no complaints have been received

(c) Resident Magistrates—2 complaints have been received concerning Resident Magistrates in 1998 and 2000.

Queen's Counsel

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department when he plans to issue his consultation document in response to the OFT report on the reform of the QC system. [65347]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Queen's Counsel system is one of a number of issues relating to the legal profession raised in the OFT report, which fall to my Noble and Learned Friend the Lord Chancellor to consider. The Government plans to consult on those issues before 30 July.

PRIVY COUNCIL

Parliamentary Questions

54. Mr. Luff: To ask the President of the Council what plans he has to implement the recommendations of the Procedure Committee on parliamentary questions. [65354]

Mr. Robin Cook: I broadly welcome the Report on Parliamentary Questions. The Procedure Committee is to be congratulated on their thorough study. The recommendations are far-reaching and justify careful study. It may be sensible for the House to debate this at the same time as the parallel report from the Modernisation Committee.

Scrutiny

55. Mr. Gareth Thomas: To ask the President of the Council what plans he has to ensure that more Bills in the next session are subject to pre-legislative scrutiny. [65355]

57. Helen Jones: To ask the President of the Council what plans he has to ensure more Bills in the next Queen's Speech are subject to pre-legislative scrutiny. [65357]

Mr. Bradshaw: I refer my hon. Friend's to the reply given earlier by my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House.

Privy Council

56. Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the President of the Council when the Privy Council last met; and if he will make a statement on arrangements for convening meetings of the Privy Council. [65356]

Mr. Bradshaw: The Privy Council last met on 26 June. The Queen normally holds a Council every month except January, August and September. Additional meetings are convened if urgent business requires it.

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Lords Reform

58. Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the President of the Council what discussions he has had with representatives of peers about when they will confirm their membership of the Joint Committee on the Future of the House of Lords. [65358]

Mr. Bradshaw: The House of Lords agreed their membership of the Joint Committee on 4 July and the first meeting took place this morning.

Programming Motions

59. Mr. Simon Thomas: To ask the President of the Council what assessment he has made of the impact of programming motions on the number of amendments to Bills discussed. [65359]

Mr. Bradshaw: I understand that some groups of amendments on programmed bills have not been reached. If there is engagement on all sides, I hope the number of such groups can be minimised. We should also remember that in the past, many groups of amendments on guillotined bills were not discussed.

Modernisation

60. Miss McIntosh: To ask the President of the Council what further proposals he plans to put before the Select Committee on Modernisation of the House of Commons on working hours of the House. [65360]

Mr. Bradshaw: My right hon. Friend's proposals were set out in his memorandum to the Select Committee on Modernisation of the House of Commons which the Committee published last December.

Westminster Hall

62. Sandra Osborne: To ask the President of the Council what assessment he has made of the Westminster Hall experiment; and what plans he has to develop the experiment. [65362]

Mr. Bradshaw: Westminster Hall has offered backbenchers and select committees vastly increased opportunities for debate. The Select Committee on Modernisation of the House of Commons will need to review its operation before the end of the Session and I hope their recommendations will build on its success.

Statutory Instruments

Mr. Bercow: To ask the President of the Council how many statutory instruments have been (a) introduced, (b) removed and (c) amended by his Department since 1 January; and what the (i) cost and (ii) saving has been in each case. [64638]

Mr. Robin Cook: Eight statutory instruments have been introduced by my Department since 1 January, of which none removed others and one amended an earlier one. None of these instruments were introduced in my capacity as Leader of the House. A larger number of Orders in and of Council, introduced since the date mentioned, are also statutory instruments. These are included in the parliamentary answers given by the Departments from which they originated, so as to avoid double-counting.

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The other information sought is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

HOUSE OF COMMONS

Visitors' Facilities

61. Jim Knight: To ask the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, representing the House of Commons Commission what assessment he has made of the new visitors' facility in Westminster Hall; and what plans he has to extend the facilities further. [65361]

Mr. Kirkwood: Opening up Parliament to the public is one of the Commission's strategic aims, and the Jubilee Café, which was opened by Mr. Speaker in May, is a welcome development. It seats 100, serves modestly priced light refreshments and is fully wheelchair accessible. It also provides long-overdue toilet facilities for visitors. It is still too soon to make any formal assessment of the success of the new facilities, although early feedback from visitors indicates a high level of satisfaction with the range and quality of food provided. The Finance and Services Committee has asked for a full report from the Director of Catering Services in the autumn.

More generally, a feasibility study on visitor facilities for Parliament is currently under way and will shortly make recommendations. These will include options for an information and visitor centre.

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