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Public Guardianship Office

Phil Sawford: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what the average length of time taken by the Public Guardianship Office to determine a case was in the last year for which figures are available. [116140]

Ms Rosie Winterton: In the last financial year, the Court of Protection made around 4,700 orders to appoint a receiver. Of these 40 per cent. (1,942) were made within two months of the date the papers were first received by the Public Guardianship Office (PGO). 86 per cent. (4,100) were made within six months of receipt of the papers.

For the last financial year the total number of Enduring Powers of Attorneys registered was 13,670. The PGO returned and received 99 per cent. of correctly lodged cases within five days after the statutory waiting period of 35 days.

Phil Sawford: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many cases were handled by the Public Guardianship Office in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [116141]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Figures are available from 1 April 2001 when the Public Guardianship Office was established. At the end of 2001, the Agency was protecting the affairs of 23,365 Protection Division clients; directly managing the affairs of 1,533 Receivership clients; and registered 11,405 Enduring Powers of Attorney. At the end of 2002 the figures were 24,007; 632; and 11,965 respectively.

Phil Sawford: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many staff were employed at the Public Guardianship Office in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [116142]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Figures are available from 1 April 2001 when the Public Guardianship Office was established. At the end of the financial year 2001–02 351 permanent, and 187 agency staff were employed. At the end of the financial year 2002–03 the figures were 295 and 159 respectively.

Public Service Agreement

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department (a) how many and (b) what grades of officials are responsible for the monitoring of progress towards the Public Service Agreement targets of the Department. [109472]

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Ms Rosie Winterton: Progress on the Department's Public Service Agreement is monitored by the Department's Corporate Board, with a member of the Corporate Board responsible for each PSA target. They are supported on the management and monitoring of these PSAs by a small number of staff on each target and in their overall delivery by a wide variety of staff throughout the Department and its associated bodies.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what steps the Department has taken to publicise its Public Service Agreement targets; and at what cost to public funds. [114455]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Information on Public Service Agreement targets is published on my Department's website (www.lcd.gov.uk). Information is also included in routine publications such as departmental reports, which involves no significant extra cost.

Sickness Absence

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many staff in the Department have been on long-term sick leave in each of the last two years. [115860]

Ms Rosie Winterton: My Department collates information on the number of days lost to sickness year on year but cannot report on how many days were attributable to long term absence. 20 working days is the review point for considering whether a medical referral is appropriate, following which each case is judged on its own merits.

The number of days lost to sickness absence is collected, averaged to show working days lost per person per annum for each Department and is published annually by the Cabinet Office in "Analysis of Sickness Absence in the Civil Service". The most recent of which (for calendar year 2001) was announced by ministerial statement on 19 December 2002, and copies placed in the Libraries of both Houses. The 1999, 2000 and 2001 reports are available on the Cabinet Office web site at: www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/civilservice/publications/sickness/index.htm.

The figures for 2002 will be announced in due course. My Department is committed to managing sick absence effectively and to meeting the 2003 target for reducing sickness absence in our Service Delivery Agreement.

Unallocated Cases

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many cases in (a) private and (b) public law remained unallocated on (i) 31 December 2002 and (ii) 30 March 2003; and what the average time taken to complete reports was in both categories. [115655]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) recorded 609 unallocated cases in public law nationally on 31 December 2002 and 651 unallocated on the 30 March 2003.

In private law the figures were 1,248 and 1,243 respectively. CAFCASS does not keep data on the time taken to complete reports.

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WALES

Age Discrimination

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what steps his Department is taking to address the issue of age discrimination. [109449]

Peter Hain: I refer the hon. Member to the answer my predecessor gave him on 15 April 2002, Official Report, column 751W.

Fallen Stock

Mr. Simon Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what steps he has taken to ensure that farmers can dispose of fallen stock safely from May 2003 onwards. [115062]

Peter Hain: Responsibility for this matter rests in England with Defra, in Wales with the National Assembly for Wales, in Scotland with the Scottish Executive and in Northern Ireland with the Northern Ireland Office.

Correspondence

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many letters (a) he and (b) the Under-Secretary of State for Wales have received each month since 1999. [115225]

Peter Hain [holding answer 22 May 2003]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer that my predecessor gave to the hon. Member for Ribble Valley (Mr. Evans) on 1 July 2002, Official Report, column 77W.

Figures for later months are in the table:

	Secretaryof State	Under Secretaryof State	Intra-governmental correspondence
June 2002	19	1	419
July 2002	18	8	659
August 2002	19	4	264
September 2002	13	3	391
October 2002	24	1	505
November 2002	30	0	570
December 2002	21	1	408
January 2003	36	4	435
February 2003	28	5	540
March 2003	37	8	627
April 2003	15	0	469

Departmental Invoices

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the occasions on which (a) his Department, (b) agencies and (c) non-departmental public bodies sponsored by his Department failed to pay valid invoices within 30 days or after the agreed credit period in the financial year 2001–02. [104323]

Peter Hain: In 2001–02, 13 per cent. of Wales Office invoices (equating to 180 bills) were paid outside the target time.

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EU Committees

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many officials in the Department serve on EU committees or working parties. [116084]

Peter Hain: None.

Exhibitions

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list events at which his Department has exhibited in each of the last three years, stating for each (a) the purpose of exhibiting, (b) the cost of exhibiting and (c) the number of staff attending for the exhibition. [107621]

Peter Hain: None

External Reports

Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list (a) the title and subject, (b) the total cost to his Department and (c) the commissioned author or organisation of each external report commissioned by his Department and its predecessor in each year since 1997. [103727]

Peter Hain: My Department was created in July 1999.

It has commissioned one external report—a review of its staffing levels, which was carried out by Inbucon in 2001–02 at a cost of £19,000.

Information Technology

Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what his Department's (a) total managed expenditure, (b) total spending on Information Technology and (c) spending on Information Technology as a proportion of its total managed expenditure was in each financial year since 1997–98. [107182]

Peter Hain: My Department came into being on 1 July 1999. Total public spending by the Wales Office (exclusive of the grants it pays to the National Assembly for Wales) was £1.454 million in 1999–2000; £2.980 million in 2000–01; £2.539 million in 2001–02; and (provisional estimate) £4.127 million in 2002–03.

A single PFI contract meets the IT needs of both the Wales Office and the National Assembly for Wales. In 2002–03 the Wales Office share of the contract was estimated to be some £192,000; an apportionment for earlier years is not readily available.

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