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Regulatory Impact Unit
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many members of his Department have been employed in its regulatory impact unit in the past five years; and if he will make a statement. [65978]
Mr. McCartney: From April 1997 to the present date, the Department for Work and Pensions has employed the following numbers of staff in its regulatory impact unit (RIU):
- April 1997 to October 1997: Two full-time members of staff (combining RIU work with other work responsibilities)
October 1997 to April 1999: One full-time member of staff (combining RIU work with other work responsibilities)
April 1999 to the present: One full-time member of staff dedicated to the work of the Department's RIU.
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reform initiative. The unit also works closely with the regulatory impact unit in the Cabinet Office, and with the small business service. A key element of the unit's work is to help minimise the impact on business, charities, and the voluntary sector, of those Departmental regulations which are necessary.
Note:
Data before April 2001 refer to the Department of Social Security.
LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT
Director of Public Prosecutions
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many premises are used by the DPP; where these are located; and what the functions of each are. [39662]
Jane Kennedy: I have been asked to reply.
Seven premises are currently occupied by the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland. Of these, five are located in Belfast, including the Royal Courts of Justice, and cover the Director's Office; Belfast/eastern circuit; northern/southern circuit; High Court and Appeal Office; Fraud and Departmental Office and the Criminal Justice Review Implementation Team.
The two remaining offices which are attached to the northern and southern circuit are in Omagh and Coleraine.
Contact Orders
Vera Baird: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what investigations the Department is undertaking of the cases of 15 children killed while subject to contact arrangements in England and Wales; how many contact orders were involved in these cases; and in how many of these cases the resident parent was advised by court professionals to agree to informal contact arrangements. [68317]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Lord Chancellor's Department is working with the Home Office and Department of Health to identify cases brought to our attention where children may have been killed while the subject of contact orders. In some cases it appears contact orders were in place. We are now looking for court files to determine the basis on which contact was ordered. We have not yet established whether the former Court Welfare Service played a role (if any) in the above cases. Court staff do not give legal advice. The advice given to parents by their legal advisers is subject to professional confidentiality.
Ms Shipley: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many contact centres offering supervised contact there are in (a) Bristol, (b) Birmingham, (c) Bournemouth, (d) Bradford, (e) Cardiff, (f) Coventry, (g) Leicestershire, (h) Liverpool, (i) Manchester, (j) Nottingham, (k) Northampton, (l) Oxford, (m) Swindon, (n) Southampton, (o) Stoke-on-Trent, (p) Swansea, (q) Taunton and (r) Worcester. [68211]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Child contact centres are run by the voluntary sector. No comprehensive data is kept on how many child contact centres offering supervised contact exist. We are aware that of the approximate 280 child contact centres in England and Wales currently
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affiliated to the National Association of Child Contact Centres (NACCC), 35 offer supervised contact. One of these is located in Manchester.
The Child Contact Centre Stakeholder Group, which includes NACCC, is currently working in partnership with the Lord Chancellor's Department to map the provision of child contact centres in England and Wales. This will assist in developing a national network of child contact centres that can provide safe and meaningful contact between children and their non-resident parent.
Ms Shipley: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many contact centres offering supervised contact there are in Wales. [68210]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Child contact centres are run by the voluntary sector. No comprehensive data is kept on how many child contact centres offering supervised contact exist. We are aware that in Wales there are 11 centres currently affiliated to the National Association of Child Contact Centres (NACCC). Of these, one offers supervised contact and is located in Newport. The Child Contact Centre Stakeholder Group, which includes NACCC, is currently working in partnership with the Lord Chancellor's Department to map the provision of child contact centres in England and Wales. This will assist in developing a national network of child contact centres that can provide safe and meaningful contact between children and their non-resident parent.
Overseas Visits
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list the overseas trips on departmental business that have been undertaken in each of the last five years by officials in his Department; and what the (a) cost, (b) purpose and (c) result was in each case. [68736]
Ms Rosie Winterton: All overseas travel by officials in my Department is undertaken in accordance with the principles set in Chapter 8 of the "Civil Service Management Code", and the detailed rules and guidance set out in LCDHQ and Associated Offices Staff Handbook. The detailed information requested about individual trips is not held centrally, and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
The total cost of overseas visits made by officials in the Department, including travel, accommodation and subsistence costs, for the years 1998–99 to 2001–02 is as follows:
| Total cost | |
|---|---|
| 1998–99 | 60,254.52 |
| 1999–2000 | 74,961.47 |
| 2000–01 | 94,146.45 |
| 2001–02 | 85,512.69 |
Prior to 1998–99 overseas and domestic travelling and subsistence costs were not separately identified.
Consultation
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many complaints his Department has received about its 2001 consultations in (a) electronic and (b) printed form. [70464]
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Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department has received four complaints about public consultation papers it issued during 2001. No records have been kept about whether the complaints were received in electronic or printed form.
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department whether his Department has a designated consultation co-ordinator in accordance with the Cabinet Office Code of Practice on Written Consultations. [70466]
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Ms Rosie Winterton: Yes. An assistant consultation co-ordinator has also been designated.
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department in what format his Department has published the results of its 2001 written consultations. [70462]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Response Papers have not been issued for all of the public written consultation papers issued in 2001, but the table below lists the formats used for the Response papers issued so far:
| Response paper title | Published | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Community Legal Service—Financial Conditions for funding by the LSC | July 2001 | Online, hard copy |
| Pre-Action Protocol for Judicial Review | October 2001 | Online, hard copy |
| E-conveyancing—A draft order under section 8 of the Electronic Communications Act 2000 | December 2001 | Online, hard copy |
| Representative Claims—proposed new procedures | April 2002 | Online, emailed on request |
| Distress for Rent | May 2002 | Online, hard copy |
| Towards Effective Enforcement—a single piece of bailiff law and a regulatory structure | May 2002 | Online, hard copy |
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department whether consultation documents published by his Department in 2001 carried the consultation criteria as recommended in the Cabinet Office Code of Practice on Written Consultations. [70461]
Ms Rosie Winterton: All public written consultation documents published by the Department in 2001 carried the consultation criteria as recommended in the Cabinet Office Code of Practice on Written Consultations.
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many consultation documents published in 2001 in (a) electronic and (b) printed form his Department has monitered and evaluated in accordance with the Cabinet Office Code of Practice on Written Consultations. [70463]
Ms Rosie Winterton: All of the eleven public written consultation documents issued by the Lord Chancellor's Department in 2001 were available in both electronic and printed form. All of them were monitored and evaluated in accordance with the Cabinet Office's Code of Practice on Written Consultations. The findings were passed to the Cabinet Office as part of its role in monitoring the effectiveness of public written consultation exercises carried out under the terms of the Code.
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how long her Department allowed for consultation on each consultation document it published in 2001 in (a) electronic and (b) printed form. [70460]
Ms Rosie Winterton: All public consultation documents issued by the Lord Chancellor's Department in 2001 were available in both electronic and printed form. The length of time allowed for consultation is the same for both electronic and printed versions. The length of each public written consultation undertaken by the Lord Chancellor's Department in 2001 was as follows:
| Title | Month | Length of consultation (weeks) |
|---|---|---|
| Representative Claims: Proposed new procedures | February 2001 | 13 |
| Community Legal Service: Financial conditions for funding by the Legal Services Commission | March 2001 | 7 |
| Pre-Action Protocol for Judicial Review | March 2001 | 12 |
| E-conveyancing: A draft order under section 8 of the Electronic Communications Act 2000 | March 2001 | 14 |
| Distress for Rent | May 2001 | 12 |
| Report of the Review Group on the Royal Peculiars | July 2001 | 11 |
| Administrative Court: Proposed changes to primary legislation following Sir Jeffrey Bowman's "Review of the Crown Office List" | July 2001 | 12 |
| Towards Effective Enforcement: A single piece of bailiff law and a regulatory structure | July 2001 | 12 |
| Payments into court in satisfaction of a claim | August 2001 | 13 |
| Report of the Review of Tribunals by Sir Andrew Leggatt | August 2001 | 15 |
| General Preaction Protocol | October 2001 | 16 |
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, which consultation documents published by her Department in 2001 were not made available as paper copies. [70465]
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