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TV Licences (Northern Ireland)

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many people have television licences in Northern Ireland. [126500]

Estelle Morris: The number of television licences in force in Northern Ireland as at 31 March 2003 was 546,000, excluding Accommodation for Residential Care composite form licences, records for which are not available for individual nations and regions.

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many prosecutions there were in 2002 for failure to hold a television licence in Northern Ireland. [126501]

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Estelle Morris: The number of prosecutions proceeded with by TV Licensing in Northern Ireland in 2002 for installation or use of television without a licence was 1,448.

World Sports Events

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she is taking to promote the United Kingdom as a venue for world sports events. [128235]

Mr. Caborn: The Government are in the process of developing a long-term major events strategy aimed at attracting further world class sporting events to the UK. This plan will enable us to identify suitable major events and will help us to develop effective strategies to improve our chances of bidding for these events successfully.

On 15 May 2003, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced the Government's decision to support a bid to host the Olympics and Paralympics in London in 2012. We will work enthusiastically with the other stakeholders, the Mayor of London, and the British Olympic Association, and with London 2012, to ensure that the bid to bring the Games to London and the United Kingdom is a winning one.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

No Win, No Fee Cases

Brian Cotter: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will make a statement on the implications for the insurance industry of legal costs in relation to no win, no fee cases. [127804]

Mr. Lammy: Conditional Fee Agreements (CFAs), the most common type of 'no win no fee' agreements, were first introduced in 1995. In April 2000 success fees and after the event insurance premiums were made recoverable from the losing party to help redress the problem of the legal system being open only to people who were legally aided or who had adequate private means. The intention was to make it easier and more affordable for a wider range of people to enforce their rights. The reforms also provided defendants and their insurers with a fairer system by which to recover costs in successfully defended cases, whereas under Legal Aid, defendants were rarely entitled to recover costs from their legally aided opponent. The reforms provided increased deterrents to the bringing or defending of weak claims and stronger incentives for parties to settle cases early and cheaply because of the increased potential liability in costs.

It is not possible to say yet whether legal costs to insurers have increased directly as a result of the introduction of CFAs, recoverable success fees and ATE insurance premiums. Recent research by Fenn, Gray and Rickman (January 2003) for the Civil Justice Council on the cost of road traffic accident cases up to £15,000 in value found that data on costs and damages from around April 2002 onwards showed large fluctuations in the volume and duration of settled claims and could not be relied upon. However, the research did indicate that there seemed to be little difference between

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CFA and non-CFA claims with respect to agreed base costs and disbursements, and that success fees and ATE premiums remain a relatively small part of overall costs recovered from insurers.

The OFT commented in its recent fact finding study of the liability insurance market that it seemed unlikely the cost of individual claims has risen substantially as a result of the reforms and it was unclear whether they have had a significant impact on the frequency of claims. The OFT also said that while it had frequently been suggested the number of claims has risen because the reforms have made the claiming process easier and associated publicity has drawn more attention to the availability of compensation, the evidence for this was in fact largely anecdotal.

EU Directives

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will list the EU directives implemented by the Department and its predecessors since 8 June 2001. [126595]

Mr. Lammy: No Directives have been implemented by the Department for Constitutional Affairs or the former Lord Chancellor's Department in the period from 8 June 2001.

European Constitution

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what discussions he has had with (a) colleagues in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and (b) counterparts in the European Union about the legislative competencies covered by the draft European Constitution. [124784]

Mr. Lammy: As part of the normal Whitehall process, I and my officials have had regular correspondence with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to discuss all aspects of the Convention, including legislative competences. We have also had regular contact with Member and Accession States to discuss issues arising in the Convention. In line with exemptions 1 and 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, it is not the normal practice of Governments to disclose details about internal discussions, or information whose disclosure would harm the conduct of international relations or affairs.

Judicial Appointments

Keith Vaz: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what research he has commissioned into judicial appointments since Judicial Appointments: the European and North American end to possible implications for the United Kingdom, published in 1997. [127876]

Mr. Leslie: My Department has not commissioned further external research on this matter. However, in drafting the consultation paper on the new Judicial Appointments Commission, Department for Constitutional Affairs officials carried out research using a variety of sources, which included making inquiries via the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in order to make any necessary amendments to update the information contained in the 1997 papers.

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Ministerial Visits

David Davis: To ask the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will list the (a) foreign and (b) UK visits the Secretary of State has made since 1st April; what the cost was to public funds of each trip; who he met; and what gifts were received. [126893]

Mr. Leslie: The Government publishes the overall costs of all Ministerial overseas travel and a list of all visits overseas by Cabinet Ministers costing in excess of £500 on an annual basis. The list for the period 1 April 2002 to 31 March 2003 was published by the Prime Minister on 16 July 2003 Official Report column 327W. The next list for the period 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004 will be published at the end of the financial year.

In respect of gifts received, I refer the right hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 14 March 2003, Official Report, column 482W.

With regards to domestic visits undertaken since 1 April 2003, the Lord Chancellor visited the Channel Islands at a cost of £1713.43 where he met members of the Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark Governments. He received a miniature milk churn, a tie, a paperweight and a book about Jersey.

He also visited Stratford-upon-Avon, at a cost of £288.00, where he met members of the Justices' Clerks' Society; Manchester, at a cost of £807.00, where he met members of the North West Law Centres Federation and the Solicitors Pro Bono Group; Hemsworth, at a costof £769.35, where he met various members of the public, and, the Isle of Man, at a cost of £551.32, where he met Her Majesty The Queen, HRH the Duke of Edinburgh and representatives of the Manx Government.

The Lord Chancellor also visited Belfast, at a cost of £311.05, where he met the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland; Edinburgh, at a cost of £358.00, where he met Lord Cullen and Lord Gill; Preston, at a cost of £513.30, where he met members of the Lancashire Local Criminal Justice Board; and, Newcastle, at a cost of £877.43, where he met members of the Northumbrian Local Criminal Justice Board.

Office for the Supervision of Solicitors

Keith Vaz: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs when he established the most recent review of the work of the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors. [127402]

Mr. Lammy: The Department continuously monitors the situation at the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors (OSS) closely. The most recent large-scale review of the work of the OSS was completed in July.

School Exclusions

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many unsuccessful judicial appeals against fixed term exclusions from secondary schools in the UK have proceeded to the High Court in the last five years; and what has been the legal cost of defending these cases. [116937]

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Mr. Lammy: The information requested is not collected centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

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