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Radioactive Waste

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the planned nuclear decommissioning authority will be given powers to renegotiate existing reprocessing contracts with British Energy when it takes over the ownership and management of the THORP reprocessing plant at Sellafield. [135626]

Mr. Timms: Legislation will be brought forward to establish the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) as soon as parliamentary time permits. We intend that the NDA will come into effect in April 2005.

The NDA will take responsibility for those liabilities and assets currently owned and managed by BNFL at the THORP reprocessing plant. As the required legislation has not yet been introduced, it would be wrong to comment on what role the NDA might have in respect of contracts between BNFL and British Energy.

In her statement to the House on 28 November 2002, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry made clear that the Government would need to contribute significantly to British Energy's historic nuclear fuel liabilities that are managed by

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BNFL in order for the restructuring of British Energy to work. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry also said she will look at how these contracts are managed as part of the creation of the NDA.

Small Business Advice

Linda Perham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to improve the provision of business advice to owners of small businesses in London. [136619]

Nigel Griffiths: During the first six months of the current financial year, Business Link for London has worked with over 31,887 businesses, this compares to the corresponding period of the previous financial year (2002–03) when 16,432 businesses were assisted, this being a 94 per cent. increase, including 23 per cent. that are Black or Minority Ethnic businesses.

Business Link for London has an agreed Delivery Plan with the Small Business Service to provide a high quality business advice and support service to small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) in London.

Client satisfaction levels are currently at 83.1 per cent. (Quarter 2 result 2003–04), a 5.1 per cent. raise in satisfaction levels compared to the corresponding period in the previous financial year, showing that the quality of service is improving as well as the numbers receiving the service.

Small Loans Guarantee Fund

Linda Perham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make it her policy to increase the level at which the Government underwrite the Small Loans Guarantee Fund. [136618]

Nigel Griffiths: The Small Firms Loan Guarantee (SFLG) was extensively revised in April 2003 as part of the DTI's transformed business support programme. The changes, including a new guarantee level of 75 per cent for all eligible businesses and additional sector coverage including retail and catering, simplified the SFLG and widened its scope. From 1 April 2003 to 30 September 2003 take-up increased by 40 per cent over the same period last year. The DTI continues to monitor the operation of the SFLG to ensure that it remains relevant and accessible to small businesses.

Technology Sector

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the state of the technological sector in the United Kingdom. [135511]

Ms Hewitt: During the course of the Innovation Review, my officials have produced a detailed economic assessment of the UK's innovation performance. This includes data and analysis on the technological performance of UK based firms.

This assessment will be published shortly.

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HOME DEPARTMENT

Evidence (Duress)

Mrs. Anne Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what safeguards UK courts have in place to ensure that evidence presented before them has not been obtained under duress; and if he will make a statement. [132644]

Paul Goggins: I refer my hon. Friend to my answer given on 14 October 2003, Official Report, column 102W.

Correspondence

Mr. Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter to him dated 14 August from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton, with regard to Mr. Khalid Rahtin. [133842]

Mr. Blunkett: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 3 September 2003.

Mr. Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter to him dated 2 September from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton, with regard to facilities for the disabled. [133843]

Mr. Blunkett: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 23 October 2003.

Criminal Justice Boards

Mrs. Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many targets he has set for each local criminal justice board in 2003–04. [133485]

Paul Goggins: For the year 2003–04 and in the context of the Criminal Justice System Public Service Agreement, each local criminal justice board has been set the following targets:

A nationally set target to increase by five per cent. the number of crimes for which an offender is brought to justice—this is also known as the 'narrowing the justice gap' target.


The 'Narrowing the Justice Gap' target includes two further locally set sub-targets:


To increase the number (within a range of five— 15 per cent.) of offences brought to justice committed by the core group of persistent offenders.


To reduce the proportion of ineffective trials with locally set targets contributing to a required national level of improvement of 27 per cent. in both Crown court and magistrates courts over the three-year course of the target.


A nationally set target to improve the level of public confidence in the criminal justice system—where a national six per cent point improvement is sought over the three-year course of the target.

Outside of the Criminal Justice System Public Service Agreement, local boards have also been set the following targets for the year 2003–04:

A nationally set target to ensure that the average time from arrest to sentence for Persistent young offenders is halved from 142 days to 71 days or lower in all criminal justice areas.


A number of locally set targets across the time cases take, covering both youths and adults cases from charge to completion in the magistrates courts, and separately the time

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taken to handle a case in the Crown court ('timeliness' targets)—with the proviso that any area currently performing the national average must set an improvement target.

Criminal Records Bureau

Mr. Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what assessment was made of the increase in running costs to the Criminal Records Bureau that necessitated the recent increase in fee levels; [131815]

(2) what the changes were since 1993 in fees from the Criminal Records Bureau to local authorities for applications for posts in the education and social care sectors. [131819]

Paul Goggins: The Criminal Records Bureau began operating in March 2002. Initially, the fee for both Standard and Enhanced Disclosures was £12 (with Disclosures issued free of charge to volunteers). We made it clear that the Bureau would eventually become self-financing through the fees that it charged and that the fees would be reviewed regularly. With effect from 1 July 2003, the fee for Standard Disclosures has risen to £24 and for Enhanced Disclosures to £29. A copy of a Regulatory Impact Assessment containing more detailed information has been placed in the Library.

The Disclosure fee is determined by a combination of CRB costs and the volume of applications. The deferment of the introduction of Basic Disclosures has inevitably meant that the volumes of Disclosures issued has been less than forecast, thereby pushing up the unit cost of producing each Disclosure. In addition, the CRB has experienced some increase in costs, for example, as a result of the introduction of the paper application channel in response to customer demand. The CRB's planned expenditure in 2003–04 is £75 million (on the basis of a projected demand for 2.3 million Disclosures) as compared with an outturn of £59 million in 2002–03 (when some 1.5 million Disclosures were issued).

Mr. Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what the average time taken to assess a Criminal Records Bureau application in the education and social care sectors was in the last quarter for which figures are available; [131816]

(2) what the backlog is of Criminal Records Bureau assessments in education and social care. [131817]

Paul Goggins: The specific information that my hon. Friend has asked for on processing times for applicants in the education and social care sectors is not available from the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) systems. The CRB does monitor and report on the average time to deal with all Disclosure applications, but its systems do not break this information down by sector.

Likewise, the number of applications from individual sectors that are still awaiting a disclosure is not available. At present, however, the Bureau is processing in excess of 90 per cent. of all Enhanced Disclosures in four weeks and 90 per cent. of all Standard disclosures in two weeks. These performance figures are available on the CRB website: www.crb.gov.uk

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The CRB also monitors the number of applications that have been outstanding for more than six weeks. As at 4 October 2003, the latest date for which figures are available, the number of applications over six weeks old and awaiting completion is 1,486.

John Cryer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to reduce the time taken for Criminal Records Bureau checks to be carried out on new staff in care homes. [133272]

Paul Goggins: Over 90 per cent. of Standard and Enhanced Disclosures are now issued within two and four weeks respectively, exceeding current service standards. These have been set based on experience gained of this complex operation. The current targets are realistic but challenging. They will be kept under review.

We are determined to continue to improve the efficiency of the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and the quality of the service it provides to its customers. Measures are currently under consideration in light of the recommendations of the Independent Review Team appointed by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary which are designed to reduce processing time.

As the independent regulator, the National Care Standards Commission (NCSC) has the responsibility to ensure that care homes meet all their statutory obligations. It has stated clearly that where CRB clearances are not in place, and provided that the welfare of care home residents is protected, it will apply its discretion on the use of its enforcement powers on a case by case basis. The NCSC issued a press release on 22 September 2003 setting out its approach to CRB checks for care home staff. A copy is available on the NCSC's website at www.carestandards.org.uk.

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent representations he has received in the increase in fees for security checks charged by the Criminal Records Bureau. [133384]

Paul Goggins: We have received—both direct and through right hon. and hon. Members—a significant number of representations. These have chiefly concerned two issues: the size of the increases in fees, which reflect increased unit costs and the need for the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) to move substantially towards a target of being self-financing by 2005–06; and the short notice of the increases which reflected the need to reduce the possibility of a surge in demand which could have had a detrimental effect on the CRB's operation.

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