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12 Nov 2003 : Column 380W—continued
Smoking
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has to ban smoking on trains. [137810]
Mr. Spellar: Translink has advised that there has been a smoking ban on trains since April 1997.
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what his policy is on smoking in public houses in Northern Ireland. [137811]
Angela Smith: The policy on smoking in public houses in Northern Ireland is driven by the Public Places Charter, launched by the Federation of the Retail Licensed Trade in October 2000. To date, over 700 licensed premises have signed up to the Charter which aims to encourage venues to improve provision for non-smokers as well as overall air quality. Potential customers are able to make informed choice by identifying the smoking policies in public houses and restaurants through appropriate signage.
The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety published a five year Tobacco Action Plan in July 2003. The Plan identifies 24 separate action points which are being taken forward by an Implementation Group. These include actions to promote the provision of smoke-free public places.
Social Housing
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many social housing properties (a) are vacant and (b) have been constructed in the last five years in each local government area in Northern Ireland. [137714]
Mr. Spellar: At 30 September 2003 the Housing Executive had 6,041 vacant properties. At 31 March 2003 registered house associations had 1,208 vacant properties.
The attached table details the number of social houses completed in the five year period 1998–99 to 2002–03.
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Work-related Stress
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many cases of work-related stress have been reported in his Department in each of the last three years; how much compensation has been paid to employees; how many work days have been lost due to work-related stress, and at what cost; what procedures have been put in place to reduce work-related stress, and at what cost; and if he will make a statement. [136848]
Mr. Pearson: The information requested is not held and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
CABINET OFFICE
Spam E-mails
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what action he is taking to tackle spam e-mails as they affect e-government. [137907]
Mr. Timms: Junk e-mail or spam is a nuisance to all internet users and may slow down and impair the efficiency of networks. There will be new regulatory controls here on the sending of unsolicited direct marketing e-mail under the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, which come into force on 11 December. The UK is also active in international discussions on how to tackle the problem of cross border spam, both in fora like the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, and bilaterally with the US and other national governments (in October this year, for instance, Andrew Finder, the E-Envoy, took part in a visit to Washington to talk to US legislators and officials about spam issues).
CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS
Bankruptcy
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will make a statement on the current costs for which (a) a company, (b) a creditor and (c) a debtor is responsible when petitioning for bankruptcy; how much revenue has been
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generated from the costs of administering (i) company winding up petitions, (ii) creditors' bankruptcy petitions and (iii) debtors bankruptcy petitions in each year since 1997, broken down by (A) nation and (B) region of the United Kingdom; and what plans he has to undertake a review of these costs. [137844]
Mr. Leslie: The cost of insolvency from the point of view of the parties is made up of (a) fees charged by the Court Service, an executive agency of the Department for Constitutional Affairs, on issue and subsequent steps in the court proceedings; (b) fees charged by the Insolvency Service (part of the DTI); (c) lawyers and accountants fees.
My Department is not in a position to provide a breakdown of (a-c) from the point of view of the parties to the proceedings, either nationally or locally as it deals only with the part of the process relevant to (a).
The fees currently payable (relevant to (a) above) on issue of proceedings are:
- Debtor's Petition: £140
Creditor's Petition: £180
Winding up Petition: £180
Lists of the fees payable on issue of insolvency proceedings (and the exemption and remission provisions) are published annually in the Civil Court Practice. Prior to the Civil Justice Reforms of April 1999 the same information was published annually in the County Court Practice and Supreme Court Practice. All of these publications are available in the Library of both Houses.
Figures on cost and income in insolvency proceedings (relevant to (a) above) are published in the Court Service Annual Report and Accounts. In the latest edition, 2002–03 (page 51), the cost of insolvency to the Court Service was put at £9,259,000. Income was put at £7,103,000. The Court Service Annual Report and Accounts is available in the Library of both Houses and on the internet www.courtservice.gov.uk/about us/our performance/annual report 02 03 contents.htm.
The Secretary of State and Lord Chancellor has no plan to carry out a review of the total cost of insolvency from the point of view of the parties to the proceedings.
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs in how many petitions for debtors' bankruptcy in each year since 1997 the court fee was waived because the petitioner was receiving on benefits, broken down by nation and region. [137843]
Mr. Leslie : Figures collected centrally relating to the number of applications for fee exemption and/or remission are not broken down into specific insolvency
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petition type and do not include the reasons therefore. They have been collected since April 1998 and only relate to the county courts in England and Wales.
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The overall number of applications for fee exemption/remission for insolvency petitions since April 1998, by court and region, are provided in the following table.
| Region | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Midlands | 47 | 118 | 169 | 300 | 338 | 327 |
| Eastern | 76 | 302 | 491 | 579 | 747 | 569 |
| London | 4 | 22 | 52 | 82 | 250 | 157 |
| Merseyside | 3 | 32 | 48 | 96 | 165 | 179 |
| North East | 11 | 37 | 161 | 272 | 204 | 595 |
| NorthWest | 132 | 170 | 265 | 479 | 481 | 538 |
| South East | 302 | 307 | 479 | 537 | 719 | 691 |
| South West | 107 | 310 | 372 | 674 | 813 | 948 |
| West Midlands | 121 | 133 | 175 | 234 | 414 | 490 |
| Yorkshire & Humber | 139 | 570 | 901 | 895 | 919 | 586 |
| England | 942 | 2,001 | 3,113 | 4,148 | 5,050 | 5,080 |
| Wales | 38 | 93 | 357 | 536 | 468 | 288 |
| England & Wales | 980 | 2,094 | 3,470 | 4,684 | 5,518 | 5,368 |
Court Buildings
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how much was spent on (a) repairs to and (b) staffing costs in court buildings in (i) Lancashire and (ii) Chorley, broken down by court in the last year for which figures are available. [137507]
Mr. Leslie: The actual expenditure on staffing costs and repairs to buildings is set out in the following table.
| Total expenditure on staffing costs | Total expenditure on maintenance/repairs | |
|---|---|---|
| Preston County Court | 564,509 | 58,144 |
| Preston Crown Court | 1,217,498 | 12,115 |
| Accrington County Court | 118,036 | 9,246 |
| Nelson County Court | 85,734 | 1,312 |
| Rawtenstall County Court | 170,313 | 848 |
| Blackburn County Court | 416,210 | 3,624 |
| Burnley County Court | 248,290 | 11,952 |
| Burnley Crown Court | 301,788 | — |
| Blackpool County Court | 497,451 | 5,636 |
| Chorley County Court | 133,466 | 1,544 |
| Lancaster County Court | 205,910 | 4,231 |
| Total for Lancashire | 3,959,205 | 108,652 |
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