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Respite Beds

Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many respite beds there are in (a) Buckinghamshire, (b) South Buckinghamshire and (c) Wycombe constituency. [137903]

Dr. Ladyman: The data are not available centrally.

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Speech/Language Therapy

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many initial contacts there were between patients and speech and language therapy staff in the NHS in London in each year since 1992. [134856]

Mr. Hutton: The information requested is shown in the table.

Speech and Language therapy initial contacts, London, 1992–93 to 2002–03Thousand

	Initial contacts
1992–93	45
1993–94	45
1994–95	52
1995–96	51
1996–97	55
1997–98	57
1998–99	54
1999–2000	54
2000–01	55
2001–02	55
2002–03	59

Source:

Department of Health Statistics Division 3G KT29.

Trust Performance Ratings

Mr. Lyons: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the performance ratings for (a) acute and (b) specialist trusts for 2002–03. [135921]

Mr. Hutton: Information on the performance ratings for 2002–03 for all organisation types are available in the Library and on the Commission for Health Improvement's website at www.chi.nhs.uk/ratings.

Volatile Substance Abuse

Phil Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to receive the Flemen report on volatile substance abuse. [127796]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The Department of Health commissioned independent research work on volatile substance abuse (VSA) to inform future policy work on VSA and the national drug strategy. As is customary in such situations, there are no plans to publish this report.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Magistrates Courts

Mr. Wood: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether the budget of magistrates' courts for administration of licensing will be transferred to local authorities when responsibility for the work is transferred [137313]

Mr. Leslie: On 10 July 2003, the Licensing Act received Royal Assent. The Act will transfer responsibility for the administration of licenses from the magistrates' courts to local authorities.

Under current arrangements, the principle is that the cost to magistrates' courts of the administration of licensing is covered by the licensing fees charged. As such, there is no separate budget in the magistrates'

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courts that is allocated to licensing that could be transferred to local authorities. The intention of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, who have overall responsibility for the Act, is that a similar system will operate after the transfer of responsibility. I understand that licensing fees will be set at a level that will folly cover the administration, inspection and enforcement costs incurred by local authorities in relation to licensing.

Delayed Trials

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many trials were delayed because of late arrival of prisoners from (a) police cells and (b) prisons in 2002–03, broken down by court in Lancashire. [137342]

Mr. Leslie: Performance data was not collected centrally on late delivery of prisoners in 2002–03. However, I am able to provide data on late delivery between prisons and the Crown Court from July to September 2003.

Data for Lancashire Criminal Justice Area for this period reveals that an average of 8 trials per month in the Crown Court were delayed due to late delivery. This equates to an average of 5.6 per cent. of all cases listed for trial in any one month. The average delay was an hour and a half per case. The length of delay, however, varies significantly from 10 minutes to 3 and a half-hours.

Data by court average from July-September 2003

Lancaster Crown Court	None
Preston Crown Court	4.3 cases
Burnley Crown Court	0.3 cases
Carlisle Crown Court	3.7 cases

Unfortunately, I am unable to provide like data for the Magistrates' Courts relating to the late delivery of prisoners as this is not collected.

Divorced Parents

Sir Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs pursuant to his answer of 22 October 2003, Official Report, column 630, on divorced parents, if he will (a) commission research into the number of divorced fathers who maintain effective contact with their children and (b) take steps to monitor the welfare of children, when the children's mother is granted leave to remove them from the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement. [136101]

Mr. Lammy: Before granting leave to take children abroad, the courts will consider all the relevant issues and, as required by the Children Act 1989, have the best interests of the child as their paramount concern. Therefore, children will only be taken abroad with the leave of the court where it judges such a step to be in their best interests. Such children will be living in many parts of the world and it would not be appropriate or practical for the UK Government to exercise a monitoring role. There are, therefore, no current plans to commission research or to introduce a monitoring role in this area.

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Electoral Fraud

Mr. Drew: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what research he has collated on the level of electoral fraud in (a) postal ballots and (b) voting in person. [137335]

Mr. Leslie: The independent Electoral Commission has evaluated every all-postal electoral pilot scheme undertaken since April 2002. The evaluations included consideration of the issue of fraud and the findings from the 2003 pilots informed the Commission's recent 'Shape of elections to come' report, which concluded that 'there is only very limited evidence of any increase in fraud linked to all-postal ballots.'

Mr. Drew: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what criminal sanctions there are in relation to electoral fraud. [137336]

Mr. Leslie: There are a number of offences relating to electoral fraud which carry a variety of penalties including a minimum fine of £200 (in some circumstances no maximum is specified) and custodial sentences ranging from 6 months to 2 years. In addition, these offences may be classified as either illegal or corrupt practices, which carry different sanctions, depending on the offence. These include disenfranchisement and disqualification from standing as a candidate for specified periods.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will list cases of electoral fraud that have resulted in a custodial sentence in the last five years. [137337]

Mr. Leslie: I regret that information on electoral fraud cases has not been systematically collected or held centrally. The Electoral Commission is working with the Crown Prosecution Service to develop a process to identify and monitor electoral fraud cases.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what discussions he has had with the Electoral Commission on electoral fraud. [137338]

Mr. Leslie: My officials and I are in frequent communication with the Electoral Commission on a range of electoral issues, including electoral fraud. Following such discussions, and recommendations made by the Commission, consideration is currently being given to a number of changes to electoral procedures, some of which are aimed at fraud prevention. Meanwhile, we have included in the current European Parliamentary and Local Elections (Pilots) Bill, an extension of the offence of 'personation' (to cover remote voting) and a power to extend the time limit by which a prosecution for such an offence must begin.

Family Courts

Mr. Goodman: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what representations he has received on the legal provisions which apply in relation to the division of property in family courts; and if he will make a statement. [137086]

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Mr. Lammy [holding answer 10 November 2003]: Under current legislation, the courts are empowered to make a number of orders in relation to the division of family property and must consider a range of issues in each case. They have the discretion to make the orders that they see as appropriate and fair with regard to the specific circumstances of a case. The representations I receive are by way of correspondence from right hon. and hon. Members on behalf of their constituents and from members of the public. In the main they relate to general queries or complaints about the way the legislation will be or has been applied in particular cases.

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