---

Gibraltar

Sir John Stanley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the dates of meetings that have taken place between British and Spanish ministers under the Brussels Process since it was set in place. [70625]

19 Jul 2002 : Column 612W

Peter Hain: On 10 April 1980 Lord Carrington and the Spanish Foreign Minister (Sr Oreja) agreed a joint statement (the Lisbon Declaration) "to start negotiations aimed at overcoming all the differences between them on Gibraltar". On 27 November 1984, Sir Geoffrey Howe and the Spanish Foreign Minister (Sr Moran) agreed the Brussels Communique which established a formal negotiating process under the Lisbon Declaration. The Brussels Communique stated that "Both sides accept that the issues of sovereignty will be discussed in that process". Between November 1984 and February 1999 more than 60 meetings (including 16 at ministerial level) were held under the Brussels Process. Since the relaunch of the Brussels Process in July 2001, three ministerial meetings have been held (on 26 July 2001, 20 November 2001 and 4 February 2002).

Mrs. Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs who will construct the wording for any referendum in Gibraltar concerning its future status. [70722]

Peter Hain: No decisions have been made on the timing or modalities of any referendum because there is no Agreement to have a referendum about.

SOLICITOR-GENERAL

Private Finance Initiative

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Solicitor-General what estimate she has made of the total savings to public funds of the Private Finance Initiative contract for the Docman IT project for the Serious Fraud Office by comparison with a non-Private Finance Initiative alternative. [49668]

The Solicitor-General [holding answer 17 April 2002]: The original contract, which covered the Docman project as well as the provision of internal IT services was signed in January 1998.

The reasons for taking the PFI route were:
The size of the task was too great for the SFO to manage in house;
The main task was the creation of an on-line document management system and this represented a major item of software which was to be written by suppliers;
The contract transferred the majority of the project risk to the suppliers;
The contract included a significant element of service, which permitted the suppliers to be paid in terms of the number of cases using the completed system.

The whole project represented value for money. It is not practical to quantify the savings, which would have been made from adopting the PFI route as opposed to a non PFI route as the Docman project did not proceed on the lines planned. The contract was amended in September 2000 to exclude the Docman project. This is now being carried forward separately on a non-PFI basis. The first case went live on the Docman system in June 2002.

Comprehensive Spending Review

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Solicitor-General how many staff have contributed to her Department's input to the Spending Review. [68683]

19 Jul 2002 : Column 613W

The Solicitor-General [holding answer 12 July 2002]: The Spending Review involves a comprehensive assessment of the performance priorities and resource requirements of all the Departments for which the Attorney General is responsible and a range of staff make a contribution.

Performance Targets

Tony Wright: To ask the Solicitor-General if she will list the performance targets that her Department, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies are required to meet, apart from those set out in the public service agreements for 1999 to 2002 and 2001 to 2004; and if she will specify for each target (a) who sets it and (b) who monitors achievement against it. [60460]

The Solicitor-General [holding answer 10 June 2002]: There are many performance targets contained in public service agreements or service delivery agreements that affect the Departments for which the Attorney General is responsible. Government targets set and monitored centrally cover a range of initiatives and projects. The information provided below is based on additional performance targets: Crown Prosecution Service

Apart from those set out in the public service agreements for 1999–2002 and 2001 to 2004, the CPS Business Plan for 2002–03 requires the following targets to be met:
Serving committal papers to the defence within agreed timescales in 80 per cent of cases.
Submitting briefs to counsel within agreed timescales in 83.5 per cent of cases.
Reducing to 6 per 100,000 the number of cases dismissed on a submission of no case to answer in the magistrates' courts which are attributable to failures in the review process.
Reducing to 5 cases per 1,000 the number of nonjury acquittals in the Crown Court which are attributable to failures in the review process.
Increasing to 86 per cent the proportion of relevant cases where the prosecution comply with statutory duties of primary disclosure.
Increasing to 83 per cent the proportion of relevant cases where the prosecution comply with statutory duties of secondary disclosure.
Increasing to 7 per cent the proportion of advocates whose performance is significantly above normal requirements.

Targets are set by the CPS Board and achievement against targets is monitored quarterly by the CPS Resources and Performance Group, who report to the CPS Board. Treasury Solicitor's Department

The Treasury Solicitor's Department has one published target whish is not incorporated in the current Public Service Agreements. This relates to ill-health retirements. The Treasury Solicitor's Department will be seeking to achieve a level of ill health retirements consistent with or better than the best quartile of 3.72 retirements per 1,000 employees by 2005. The target is st by the Attorney General and achievement is monitored by the Treasury Solicitor.

19 Jul 2002 : Column 614W

HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate

The purpose of the Inspectorate is to promote continuous improvement in the efficiency, effectiveness and fairness of the prosecution services within a joined-up criminal justice system through a process of inspection and evaluation, the provision of advice and the identification of good practice.

The Inspectorate strives to achieve excellence in all aspects of its activities and in particular to provide customers and stakeholders with consistent and professional inspection and evaluation processes together with advice and guidance, all measured against recognised quality standards and defined performance levels.

In the year 2002–03 the Inspectorate is committed to:
completing the first cycle of inspections of CPS Areas and Headquarters Directorates;
consulting with CPS Headquarters and Areas on its approach to, and the planning and organisation of, the second cycle;
commencing the second cycle of CPS inspection activity;
undertaking the pilot inspection of Manchester Customs and Excise prosecution function;
conducting a joint inspection of West Midlands with HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and HM Magistrates' Courts Service Inspectorate;
continuing with thematic and joint inspection activity.

The Inspectorate's strategic plan for 2002–05 contains four strategic objectives and its Business Plan for 2002–03 contains 28 objectives which, taken together, provide the targets against which current Inspectorate performance will be judged.

These objectives are systematically measured against criteria set out in the annual Business Plan which also contains a series of challenging deadlines for the achievement of each objective.

The Inspectorate's Strategic and Business Plans are agreed by its management team in consultation with the Attorney General's Advisory Board. Progress against the Business Plan objectives is monitored monthly by the management team on the basis of information collected and supplied by the Inspectorate's Corporate Services Manager. At each of its meetings, the Advisory Board receives a report detailing the action which the Inspectorate has taken towards the achievement of its objectives.

Further monitoring is provided by the quarterly and annual reports which the Chief Inspector provides for the Attorney General.

Entertainment Costs

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Solicitor-General what the cost was of the Department's 2001 staff Christmas party; and how many people attended. [61649]

The Solicitor-General [holding answer 18 June 2002]: Any Christmas parties for staff in any of the Departments for which the Attorney General is responsible will have been financed by the staff themselves.

Information on their cost or numbers of attendees is not held.

19 Jul 2002 : Column 615W

Serious Fraud Office Annual Report

Helen Jones: To ask the Solicitor-General when the Director of the Serious Fraud Office will publish her Annual report. [72131]

The Solicitor-General: I have today placed copies of the Annual Report in the libraries of the House.

Review of the Year

Helen Jones: To ask the Solicitor-General when the law officers will publish their "Review of the Year". [72130]

The Solicitor-General: I have today placed copies of the Law Officers' "Review of the Year" in the libraries of the House.

---