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5 Mar 2003 : Column 1121W—continued

External Consultants

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much (a) her Department and (b) each agency and non-departmental public body spent on external consultancy in each year from 1995–96 to 2002–03 (planned); and if she will make a statement. [92242]

Mrs. Liddell: The Scotland Office was established in its present form on 1 July 1999.

Since then, expenditure on external consultancy has been as follows:

	£
1999–2000	0
2000–01	5,465
2001–02	17,864
2002–03 (Estimated)	6,100

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Gaelic Language

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much the Government provided to support the production of television programmes in the Gaelic language in (a) 1997 and (b) 2002. [100993]

Mrs. Liddell: Expenditure on this matter is for the Scottish Executive.

Liquefied Petroleum Gas

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) whether she has issued guidelines to local authorities in Scotland on the introduction of facilities for the provision of retail and fleet liquefied petroleum gas; [96463]

(2) whether she has issued guidelines to local authorities in Scotland on the introduction of facilities for the provision of compressed natural gas. [96462]

Mrs. Liddell: Facilities for the provision of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), like all hydrocarbon fuels, are licensed by local petroleum authorities (LPAs) under the Petroleum (Consolidation) Act 1928.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) together constitute the Competent Authority (CA) that enforces the Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations (Scotland) 2000 which apply to such facilities. Those facilities are also subject to the land-use planning system administered by local planning authorities subject to guidance issued by the Scottish Executive.

Scotland Office

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many (a) special advisers, (b) press officers, (c) senior management, (d) ministerial private offices, (e) information divisions and (f) policy divisions there have been in the Scotland Office in each year from 1999–2000 to 2002–03, giving the total cost of each for each year; and if she will make a statement. [90374]

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many (a) special advisers and (b) press officers have been employed by her Department in each year from 1994–95 to 2002–03; and at what cost in each year. [92484]

Mrs. Liddell: The Scotland Office was established in its present form on 1 July 1999.

Details of the number and costs of Special Advisers were given in the reply from my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Cabinet Office on 31 January 2003, Official Report, column 1056W.

The number of Press Officers employed by my Department from 1999–2000 to 2001–02 and their costs in each of these years are as follows:

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	Numbers of Press Officers in January of each year	Cost
1999–2000	4	(32)44,078.16
2000–01	4	139,705.16
2001–02	4	134,702.43

⁽³²⁾ Part year cost

Mrs. Liddell: My Department, which includes the Office of the Advocate General for Scotland, has two special advisers, nine senior civil servants, three ministerial private offices, three policy divisions and one information division, which includes four press officers.

Individual costs are not available in the form requested; but the details of administrative expenditure can be found in the Departmental Report and Resource Accounts for the Scotland Office.

Sickness Absence

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the rate of staff (a) absenteeism and (b) sickness was in her Department in each year from 1990–91 to 2002–03; what the target set is for her Department; and if she will make a statement. [93512]

Mrs. Liddell: The Scotland Office was established in its present form on 1 July 1999.

Details of staff absenteeism are given in the following table:

Dates	Working days lost due to sickness
1 July 1999 to 31 March 2000	396
1 April 2000 to 31 March 2001	662.5
1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002	601.5
1 April 2002 to 30 November 2002	479

My Department is committed to reducing the levels of sick absence and has recently introduced a new management attendance procedure. Absence will continue to be monitored closely but no targets have yet been set.

LORD CHANCELLOR

Northern Ireland Court Service

Mr. Laws: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what reasons underlie the change in spending by the Northern Ireland Court Service between 1998–99 to 2003–04; and if she will make a statement. [99827]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The following table reflects the net resource outturn, both actual and estimated, for the Northern Ireland Court Service for the period from 1998 to 2004.

	Net resource outturn
Appropriation account
1998–99	42,924.00
Resource account
1999–2000	63,160.00
2000–01	70,749.00
2001–02	80,369.00
Estimate
2002–03	97,764.00
Planned
2003–04	94,540.00

The Northern Ireland Court Service has increased spending over the past number of years in order to deliver a substantial increase in customer service.

1. Expenditure on Legal Aid, which is designed to ensure that all sections of the community have access to justice, is demand led and has increased by 59 per cent. over this period.

2. The Northern Ireland Court Service has taken on additional responsibilities, such as the provision of security at courthouses (previously undertaken by the police), the implementation of the Northern Ireland Criminal Justice Review, and the development of reforms such as the Justice (NI) Act 2002 and the Access to Justice (NI) Order 2003.

3. The adoption of resource accounting has led to the introduction of non-cash charges such as depreciation being added in to the cost of running the organisation, which has increased spend by in excess of £10 million.

4. In order to develop modern systems and infrastructure to support the administration of justice and to meet Government targets on electronic delivery of services, the department entered into two PFI arrangements during the period. These arrangements saw the introduction of modern information technology and the construction of the high-tech Laganside Courts Complex in Belfast.

5. In order to achieve these improvements in service delivery, there have been corresponding increases in staff and accommodation.

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Public Records Office

Mr. Laws: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if she will make an assessment of the effects of privatising the Public Records Office; and if she will make a statement. [100391]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Public Record Office was subject to a Quinquennial Review in 1997–98, which concluded that its core functions in relation to its oversight of records management in other government departments and its custody of historical public records can only be carried out from within government. Quinquennial Reviews have now been replaced by other business improvement processes in Government.

The PRO will be joining up with the Historical Manuscripts Commission to form the National Archives on 1 April 2003, and the new organisation will strive to offer services which offer even better value for money than those provided separately by the two organisations.

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

Welsh Language

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what steps she is taking to

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(a) protect and (b) promote the Welsh language, with particular reference to broadcasting; and if she will make a statement; [100990]

(2) what her Department's plans are to protect and promote (a) the Gaelic language and (b) the Welsh language, with specific regard to broadcasting; and if she will make a statement. [100622]

Dr. Howells [holding answer 4 March 2003]: The Government's plans for Gaelic language broadcasting are contained within the Communications Bill. The Bill establishes a new Gaelic broadcasting body, the Gaelic Media Service (Seirbheis nam Maedhanan Gàidhlig) with broader powers to secure that a wide and diverse range of programmes are broadcast or otherwise transmitted for reception in Scotland. The Gaelic Media Service will build on the strengths of the existing Gaelic Broadcasting Committee (CCG), but will have a broader representative base, including the main broadcaster interests and others responsible for the development of Gaelic language and culture.

For the Welsh language, the Government is maintaining index-linkage of the grant in aid to the Welsh fourth channel, S4C, as well as the requirement for the BBC to provide at least 10 hours a week of free programmes to the Welsh Authority. The Communications Bill will update the regulatory structure for the Authority, including a system of approvals for new public and commercial services.

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