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European Constitution

Mr. Cash: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if she will make a statement on her assessment of the constitutional implications for the UK of acceding to the principle of a European Constitution. [107512]

Mr. MacShane: I have been asked to reply.

The Government does not consider that the draft EU Constitutional Treaty being debated by the Convention on the Future of Europe would lead to significant changes in the relationship between the EU and its citizens, or alter the position of the member states as the fundamental basis of the Union. There is no suggestion that it would undermine the principle of Parliamentary sovereignty.

Magistrates and Crown Courts

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many (a) magistrates and (b) crown courts do not have separate waiting areas to ensure that witnesses do not have to mix with individuals against whom they will be testifying. [106868]

Yvette Cooper: The crown court sits at a total of 94 localities of which seven do not provide dedicated facilities for the separation of witnesses from the general

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public. In those cases other arrangements are made to provide for the necessary separation—for example using CPS or police rooms by arrangement. There are 402 magistrates courts of which 40 do not provide dedicated facilities for the separation of witnesses from the general public. Appropriate segregation arrangements are made there also.

Over the last three years £5.3 million has been invested to provide 133 Video Link rooms in magistrates courts. In the last year a further £4.3 million has been invested in 27 crown courts and 21 magistrates courts to provide separate witness facilities at each court.

Market Research

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what expenditure has been incurred by her (a) Department, (b) agencies and (c) non-departmental bodies in 2002 on (i) opinion polling, (ii) focus groups and (iii) other forms of market research; and if she will list the surveys commissioned and the purpose of each. [106267]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is not held centrally, and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. My Department conducts a

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range of exercises to measure public satisfaction with current services and to research future needs. Many surveys are carried out at a local level so that services can be provided to match the needs of local communities.

National Insurance

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what the cost will be to public funds in 2003–04 of the rise in national insurance contributions on the salary bill of the Department. [107903]

Ms Rosie Winterton: It is estimated that the changes to employers' national insurance contributions announced in the 2002 Budget will increase pay costs in my Department, in 2003–04, on average by 0.7 per cent.

PFI Schemes

Mr. John Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if she will make a statement on the expected saving to public funds from the private finance initiative schemes due to become operational in 2003. [105723]

Ms Rosie Winterton: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 10 April 2003, Official Report, column 4000W.

Press Office

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many people are employed in the Department's press office; and how many were employed on 2 May 1997. [108395]

Ms Rosie Winterton: I refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave to the hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws) on 24 February 2003, Official Report, column 20W. My Department employed three full time press officers in 1997; and now employs 10.

Staff Union Duties

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many staff in the Lord Chancellor's Department, agencies and non-departmental public bodies receive paid leave to undertake union duties; how many days they are allocated; and what has been the cost to public funds in 2002. [106777]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The details for staff undertaking trade union duties is as follows:

LCD including the Court Service

108 staff undertook trade union duties during the financial year 2002–03. The number of days varied by individual from two to 203 days, at an overall salary cost of approximately £500,000.

Public Guardianship Office

13 staff undertook trade union duties during the financial year 2002–03. The number of days varied by individual from two to 220 days, at an overall salary cost of £40,730.

CAFCASS

This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

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Information Commissioner's Office


None.

Legal Services Commission

Approximately 23 staff undertook trade union duties during 2002 at an estimated total of 70 days paid leave. The approximate salary cost for this period was £4,000.

Northern Ireland Court Service

Nine staff undertook trade union duties during the financial year 2002–03 at a total of 108 days, and one member of staff was seconded to the trade union for the year, at a total salary cost of £26,499.

National Archive (Public Record Office)

One member of staff is employed 50 per cent. (115 days) of his working time as a Trade Union Side Officer. In 2002, the salary cost amounted to £8,270.

Land Registry

154 staff undertook trade union duties during the financial year 2002–03 at a total of 1,451 days. The Land Registry is a trading fund so the allocations do not draw on public funds; the costs are met from fees paid by the customers.

Statutory Instruments

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if she will list the statutory instruments issued by her Department in the last 12 months, indicating (a) the purpose of each and (b) the cost of each to (i) public funds, (ii) businesses and (iii) individuals. [106324]

Ms Rosie Winterton: A list of statutory instruments has been placed in the Libraries of both Houses. It includes those signed by, or on behalf of my right hon. and noble Friend, the Lord Chancellor during the 12 months from 1 April 2002 to 31 March 2003, and also Orders in Council made during that period for which my Department was responsible. A list of statutory instruments initiated by other Government Departments, but made by the Lord Chancellor, is also included along with a list of Northern Ireland statutory rules signed by, or on behalf of, the Lord Chancellor.

Details of the purpose of each instrument can be found in the instruments' explanatory notes.

Policy decisions implemented by secondary legislation may increase, reduce or have no effect on costs to others. It is not possible, save at disproportionate cost, to attribute specific cost increases or reductions to specific statutory instruments.

Working Hours

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what policy on (a) core hours and (b) flexible working hours is operated by his Department and each agency and non-departmental public body for which his Department is responsible. [107644]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Core hours operated in my Department are as follows:-

LCD, the Court Service, Northern Ireland Court Service, Information Commissioner's Office, Legal Services Commission

10.00 am to 12.00 mid-day and 2.00 pm to 4.00 pm (although different hours may be agreed locally).

Public Guardianship Office

10.00 am to 11.30 am; and 2.30 pm to 4.00 pm.

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Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service

The only definable core hours are in headquarters, where cover is provided between at least 9.00 am to 5.00 pm.

National Archive

Public Record Office 10.00 am to 12.00 mid-day; and 3.00 pm to 4.00 pm.

Historical Manuscripts Commission 10.00 am to 11.30 am; and 2.30 pm to 3.30 pm.

Land Registry

Typically 9.30 am to 11.30 am and 1.30 pm to 3.00 pm.

My Department is committed to accommodate, wherever possible, requests from employees to work flexibly subject to overriding business or operational requirements. A range of flexible working options is offered including flexible full-time hours, part-time, job-share and homeworking.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Jobseeker's Allowance

17. Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to increase the level of jobseeker's allowance. [108721]

Malcolm Wicks: Jobseeker's allowance has been increased for this financial year from 7 April using the Rossi Index (1.3 per cent.), as has been the practice since that benefit was introduced in 1996.

In addition, families in receipt of jobseeker's allowance will benefit from above-inflation increases, as their child allowances have been aligned with the new child tax credit rates.

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his answer of 13 March 2003, Official Report, column 414W, on jobseeker's allowance, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the decline in the number of jobseeker's allowance claimants declaring part-time earnings from 1997 to 2002; and if he will make a statement. [104955]

Malcolm Wicks: The fall in the number of jobseeker's allowance claimants declaring part-time earnings should be viewed in the context of the wider reduction in claimant unemployment over the last five years—down from over 1.5 million in August 1997 to around 925,000 in August 2002.

Over this period we have also introduced a number of initiatives such as the New Deal, national minimum wage and tax credits. These initiatives are helping more jobseekers move into work and ensuring that that work pays. Many people are being helped to gain independence through moving into work and moving away from dependence on jobseeker's allowance.

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