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Written Answers to Questions
The following answers were received between Friday 18 July and Monday 1 September 2003
MINISTER FOR WOMEN
Carer's Allowance
Mr. Siôn Simon: To ask the Minister for Women what entitlements are available to women who act as carers who have been receiving Carer's Allowance, once they have become entitled to state pension. [126105]
Ms Hewitt: Women entitled to both Carer's Allowance and State Pension receive the latter because the social security overlapping benefits rules give precedence to payment of State Pension, which is a contributory benefit, over payment of a non-contributory benefit such as Carer's Allowance. If the weekly amount of State Pension paid is less than the weekly rate of Carer's Allowance, the amount by which the Carer's Allowance exceeds State Pension is also paid. In addition, such carers may also be entitled to the carer premium if they are in receipt of an income related benefit, to a State Second Pension, other social security benefits depending on their circumstances, and the Christmas Bonus and Winter Fuel Payments.
Civil Service Pay
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Minister for Women when the pay reviews of civil service departments and agencies will be published; and if she will place a copy in the Library. [125737]
Mr. Alexander: I have been asked to reply.
Departments and agencies are responsible for undertaking their own equal pay review and producing an action plan. It is for individual departments to determine whether they will place a copy in the Library.
The Cabinet Office is considering the actions contained in departmental action plans and will be publishing a summary of the findings after the summer recess.
SOLICITOR-GENERAL
Attorney-General Reference Cases
Keith Vaz: To ask the Solicitor-General if she will make a statement on her practice in appointing trial counsel in Attorney-General reference cases. [125995]
The Solicitor-General: The Crown Prosecution Service instructs counsel on behalf of the Attorney-General in Attorney-General reference cases. These are cases that are referred to the Court of Appeal under section 36 of the Criminal Justice Act 1972 and sections 35 and 36 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 either on a point of law or because they come within the
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unduly lenient sentence provisions, under which the Attorney-General refers a case to the Court of Appeal to have the sentence reviewed on the grounds that it is unduly lenient.
The Crown Prosecution Service usually instructs Senior Treasury Counsel or Junior Treasury Counsel to undertake this work. Treasury Counsel are very experienced counsel, used by the Crown for serious work. When instructing counsel, the Crown Prosecution Service considers the seniority of counsel, the specialist areas of work in which counsel practises and the ability of counsel to return work at the specified time. In deciding which counsel to instruct, the Crown Prosecution Service strives to promote consistency in the decision-making process.
In cases concerning potentially unduly lenient sentences it is considered to be of particular benefit to have new counsel to consider the facts. Consistency in these applications is maintained by restricting them to Treasury Counsel, who build up expertise in this field of work.
Crown Prosecution Service
Keith Vaz: To ask the Solicitor-General how many lawyers left the Crown Prosecution Service in 2002. [125782]
The Solicitor-General: During 2002, 83 lawyers (i.e. 3.56 per cent. of the average legal staff in post) ceased working for the Crown Prosecution Service. Of those, 27 were early retirements, 22 were resignations, eight were standard retirements, 11 were dismissals, nine were transfers to other Government Departments, four were early severance and two were deaths.
Within the same period, and as part of the Government's commitment in the White Paper, "Criminal Justice—The Way Ahead", 251 lawyers (i.e 10.76 per cent. of the average legal staff in post) joined the Service.
Guantanamo Bay
Llew Smith: To ask the Solicitor-General what information the Attorney-General has (a) requested and (b) received from (i) the United States Secretary for Defense and (ii) the US Attorney General in respect of the legal rights and legal representation to be afforded to detainees held at camp X-ray in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba by the United States Administration. [126318]
The Solicitor-General: (a) The Attorney-General has raised the position of the UK nationals detained in Guantanamo Bay with the United States Department of Defense, which has responsibility for this matter, to express the Government's profound concern that if the UK detainees are to be tried they should have a fair trial with all proper safeguards, including legal representation, and to make plain the Government's opposition to the imposition of the death penalty.
During a meeting with the then US Assistant Attorney General in September 2002, the Attorney-General raised the Government's concern about the position of the UK nationals detained in Guantanamo
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Bay. The Attorney-General has had no discussions about the Guantanamo Bay detainees with the US Attorney General.
(b) The Department of Defense has responded to the Attorney-General that detainees in Guantanamo Bay are held as enemy combatants under the laws of armed conflict and as such are not entitled to legal representation. They explained that their view is that the procedures of the military commissions established to try individuals designated under the US President's Military Order of 13 November 2001 provide for detainees to have access to defence counsel if the individual has been charged with an offence. They have also stated that they believe that the military commissions constitute an impartial and regularly constituted court respecting generally recognised principles of regular judicial procedure.
However, the Attorney-General continues to have serious concerns about these issues, and is in Washington on 21 and 22 July to discuss the matter further with senior members of the US Administration.
Illegal Trading Prosecutions
Mr. Watts: To ask the Solicitor-General how many individuals have been successfully prosecuted for illegal trading in the last three years. [125208]
The Solicitor-General: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) among others prosecute offences of companies that continue to trade while insolvent.
The Serious Fraud Office has prosecuted one defendant in the last three years for an offence under section 458 of the Companies Act 1985.
The CPS's centrally held records do not include offence-based information about the cases that it prosecutes. It is therefore not possible to say, without incurring disproportionate cost, how many individuals have been prosecuted for such offences over the last three years.
The CPS is currently rolling out a new Compass Case Management System that will capture offence-based information from across the Service's 42 Areas.
Incitement to Crime
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Solicitor-General how many (a) indictments and (b) convictions there have been in each of the last five years for the offence of incitement to commit a crime; and in what proportion of such (i) indictments and (ii) convictions incitement to commit a crime was the only charge. [126185]
Paul Goggins: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested is not available centrally. The figures collected by the Home Office on persons proceeded against and convicted do not separately identify the offence of incitement to commit a crime.
IT Contracts
Mr. Flight: To ask the Solicitor-General how many outsourced IT contracts have been signed by her Department in each year since 1997; how much each of
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these contracts is worth; with whom they are signed; how many have been renegotiated; how many are still in place; and if she will make a statement. [126210]
The Solicitor-General: The information requested is as follows.
The Compass contract was awarded to LogicaCMG (formerly Logica UK Limited) on 31 December 2001 under a Private Finance Initiative procurement to provide a fully managed IT service .to the Crown Prosecution Service. The Compass contract is for 10 years with the option of extending it for a further 5 years. Over 10 years the cost is currently estimated to be £275 million. This is subject to change as user numbers change and/or additional facilities are required. There has been no renegotiation of the contract.
Serious Fraud Office and Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers
There is one material contract relating to "Outsourced IT contracts" for the provision of IT support services. This contract is with IBM and originated as a comprehensive, PFI outsourcing in 1998. It was re-negotiated at end 2000 as a fixed-price, support agreement, subject to an inflation-related annual increase. The value of the agreement is affected by privity of contract but it has been considered to offer sufficient value for money that it was subsequently extended to provide support for the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers. IBM charges the Serious Fraud Office for this extension and the Serious Fraud Office recharges to the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers. Prior to 1998 IT was supported in-house both at the Serious Fraud Office and the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers.
Since its inception in October 2000, HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate has relied on the Crown Prosecution Service for the provision of its IT services. However, it used separate one-off contracts with commercial suppliers for the initial design and continuous improvement of its website. In 2002 this contract work totalled £5,000.
The design of the website is such that the majority of maintenance work can be conducted in-house. Any specific improvements, or work beyond the in-house capability would be subject to the awarding of separate contracts.
HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate has budgeted for a maximum cost per annum of £5,000 for both this work and the hosting of the website.
Treasury Solicitor's Department
Since 1997, the Treasury Solicitor's Department has entered into no contracts where an external organisation delivers and operates IT service on the Department's behalf. The Department's in-house Information Services team provides the IT services for the Department, generally using commercially available software, supported by contractors where necessary.
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