---

14 May 2003 : Column 303W—continued

Transco

Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his answer of 10 April, Official Report, column 395W, on Transco, whether an exemption certificate was issued to Transco by the HSE from the requirement to reassess its engineers' qualifications by the approved competency standard before 3 March 2002. [111552]

Mr. Nicholas Brown: I am advised by the Health and Safety Executive that it has never issued a certificate to exempt Transco from the requirement for its engineers to be assessed or re-assessed against nationally approved competency standards.

Exercising its powers under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, the HSE issued, on 1 April 2002, a certificate temporarily suspending the requirement on Transco to be registered with CORGI until such time as the new national vocational qualification, referred to in my previous answer, had been aligned with the nationally accredited certification scheme for individual gas fitting operatives. The certificate was issued in order to enable the national gas emergency service to continue without interuption, in the interests of public safety. The alignment and assessment processes were successfully completed by the certificate's expiry date of 31 October 2002.

Travel-to-work Areas

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many travel to work areas have (a) less than five per cent. (b) six to 10 per cent. (c) 11 to 15 per cent. (d) 16 to 20 per cent. and (e) over 20 per cent. of the work force turning over each year. [110688]

Mr. Nicholas Brown: The information requested is not available.

However, a measure of turnover is available in Great Britain at government office region level using the quarterly Labour Force Survey. The definition of turnover used for this analysis is the number of people who have been with their employer for less than three months at the time of the survey. By adding the quarterly figures together we are able to estimate the number of people who have changed jobs over the year.

In 2002 we estimate that six of the 11 regions in Great Britain had a turnover of 16 to 20 per cent. of the workforce over the year, whilst the remaining five regions had turnover of over 20 per cent. of the workforce.

LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT

All-Postal Voting

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, if he will introduce all-posting voting at general elections. [112369]

Yvette Cooper [holding answer 12 May 2003]: All postal voting is currently possible only in local elections. The independent Electoral Commission is currently evaluating all the electoral pilot projects which took

14 May 2003 : Column 304W

place on 1 May, including the all-postal voting pilots. We will consider carefully their assessment and any recommendations they may make.

Council Tax

Ms Drown: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many liability orders for non-payment of council tax bills were (a) heard and (b) refused by magistrates courts in England in the last year for which figures are available. [112544]

Yvette Cooper: Central Government does not collect information on the number of liability orders for non-payment of council tax bills heard or refused by magistrates courts in England. However, estimates are available on the number of liability orders granted by local authorities in England. The most recent information available is given in the table attached. These estimates are based on information supplied to The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) on its Revenue Collection Statistics return. The most recent information available is for 2000–01 and is based on returns from 227 local authorities in England (out of a possible 354). The information provided in the table has been grossed by CIPFA to provide totals by class of authority.

Local authorities in England	Number of liability orders granted in 2000–01
London Boroughs	468,000
Metropolitan Districts	558,000
English Unitaries	513,000
Shire Districts	677,000
Total England	2,216,000

Document Classification

Harry Cohen: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many documents are held by the Lord Chancellor's Department that are subject to security classification, broken down by category of classification. [107361]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The information is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. My Department follows the Cabinet Office Guidance on document marking and control.

Legal Professional Privilege

Mr. Barnes: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will introduce proposals to remove legal professional privilege involved in the provision of advice to Government departments in the drafting of legislation. [113008]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Government has no plans to introduce any proposals to limit extent to which legal professional privilege applies to advice to Government departments. Legal professional privilege is a general principle of the common law which protects confidential communications with a legal adviser from disclosure in legal proceedings.

14 May 2003 : Column 305W

Mental Health

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department (1) how many sick days were lost over the last year by the Department through staff mental health problems; [111995]

(2) many staff in the Department have taken sick leave due to mental health problems in the last year. [111981]

Ms Rosie Winterton: This information is not yet available. My Department will be carrying out an analysis of sick absence by type of illness for the financial year 2002–03 over the next few weeks, after which I will write to the hon. Member with details, a copy of which will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

My Department is committed to managing sickness absence effectively. A great deal of work has been undertaken to raise awareness of our Service Delivery Agreement targets, and of the need to manage attendance in accordance with best practice policies. My Department is also committed to providing a safe working environment for employees, by seeking to reduce absence due to work related injuries and illness arising from the government's Revitalising Health and Safety initiative.

Public Guardianship Office

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department who the chief executive officer of the Public Guardianship Office is. [112706]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The chief executive officer of the Public Guardianship Office (PGO) is David Lye.

Further information is available on the PGO's website: www.guardianship.gov.uk.

Timber

Ms Walley: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how much timber will be used in the redevelopment of Clive House; what types of timber will be used and for which purposes; from which countries it will come; and which companies will be providing the timber. [111032]

Ms Rosie Winterton: 3.47m ³ of carcassing timber and 94m ² of plywood will be used in the redevelopment of Clive House. The softwood timber for the window

14 May 2003 : Column 306W

frames will be sourced from Sweden and will be obtained through Sampsons. The timber for the remaining items such as kitchen base units, reception desk, coat cupboards, bench unit, vanity units, CCTV monitor enclosure, joinery suites and doors has not yet been sourced. Brown and Carroll will be supplying the timber for these items.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Assembly Elections

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what his estimate is of the total cost of postponing the Assembly elections; and how this sum is made up. [112616]

Mr. Paul Murphy: Payment to registered parties and candidates to reimburse expenditure which may have been incurred in connection with the election which was to have taken place on 29 May could total up to £4 million. The cost to the Electoral Commission of administering this scheme will be up to £50,000. The Electoral Office estimates that they have incurred costs of £67,000 as a result of the postponement of the election. All these costs will be met from the UK Consolidated Fund.

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much the electoral offices in Northern Ireland have spent to date on the Northern Ireland Assembly elections due in May; and what the estimated total cost is. [112908]

Mr. Browne: The Northern Ireland Assembly (Elections and Periods of Suspension) Bill is currently before the House. The purpose of the Bill is to postpone the date of the poll for the election of the next Northern Ireland Assembly from 29 May 2003, and to provide a mechanism for setting the date of the next poll.

As at 9 May the Chief Electoral Officer had spent approximately £250,000 on the Assembly elections. Around £183,000 of this expenditure has been spent on material which can be used at the next Assembly election. The Chief Electoral Officer had estimated the total cost of the elections due to take place in May at £3 million. This does not take account of other costs arising from the postponement of the election including reimbursing political parties and candidates.

14 May 2003 : Column 307W

---