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Zimbabwe

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action the UK will take to support Zimbabwean refugees in South Africa forced to return to Zimbabwe. [138750]

Mr. Mullin: The issue of Zimbabwean refugees in South Africa is a matter for the South African authorities and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent action the Government has taken to ensure that Zimbabwe has (a) legitimate and (b) democratic government. [138751]

Mr. Mullin: We continue to work with our EU, Commonwealth and other international partners to bring about a return to legitimate and democratic government in Zimbabwe, which respects the rule of law and human rights.

We have consistently condemned the Mugabe government's harassment of the opposition, independent media and civil society. We will continue to support all those working peacefully for a return to a democratically elected government.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Appointments Commission

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if the Secretary of State will direct the House of Lords Appointments Commission to disqualify applicants for a people's peerage who are (a) knights, (b) dames and (c) other holders of a peerage. [138511]

Mr. Leslie: The Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs has no power to direct the current House of Lords Appointments Commission which is an independent non-departmental public body sponsored by the Cabinet Office.

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Any British, Irish or Commonwealth citizen over the age of 21 is eligible to be nominated for membership of the House of Lords, and the Appointments Commission assesses all nominations it receives against the criteria which are published on its web-site at www.houseoflords appointmentscommission.gov.uk

Asylum Seekers

Andy King: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what estimate he has made of the number of unqualified legal advisers who represented asylum seekers in the last year for which figures are available. [138690]

Beverley Hughes: I have been asked to reply.

I will write to my hon. Friend and place a copy of my letter in the Library.

Bankruptcy

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many (a) company winding-up petitions, (b) creditors' petitions and (c) debtors' petitions were issued in each quarter since the third quarter of 2002. [139817]

Mr. Leslie: Figures showing the number of insolvency and bankruptcy petitions issued in the county courts of England and Wales for the period set out above are provided in the following table.

Quarter	Company winding-up petitions issued	Creditors bankruptcy petitions issued	Debtors bankruptcy petitions issued
Q4 2002	3,257	4,601	4,174
Ql 2003	2,650	4,366	4,357
Q2 2003	2,577	4,271	4,776
Q3 2003	2,385	4,243	4,755

Fines

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the total value was of fines imposed at magistrates courts in London in 2002–03; what the default rate was; and what the value of arrears is. [139243]

Mr. Leslie: The amount imposed by Greater London Magistrates Courts Association (GLMCA) for the financial year 2002–03 was £64,793,641. The payment rate for the same period was 40 per cent. The value of arrears was £72,288,339. DCA officials from the Targeted Intervention Project are now working with GLMCA to drive up performance on fine enforcement

House of Lords Reform

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many staff are employed on the House of Lords reform programme; and at what cost in the last year for which figures are available. [139244]

Mr. Leslie: Since August 2003, five officials have been working on the House of Lords reform programme. It is estimated that the final cost for this year will be around £227,000.

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The cost of the unit for the last full financial year was £181,000 (although at that time fewer officials were working on House of Lords reform and they were also engaged on other duties within the Department).

Judicial Appointments

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many (a) high court judges, (b) circuit judges, (c) district judges, (d) recorders and (e) assistant recorders there were in the last month for which figures are available; and how many were (i) black and (ii) Asian. [138764]

Mr. Leslie: Figures for October 2003 show that there were (a) 108 high court judges of whom (i) none were black and (ii) none were Asian; (b) 609 circuit judges of whom (i) 1 was black and (ii) 3 were Asian; (c) in total there were 535 district judges broken down as follows: 429 district judges (civil) of whom (i) 1 was black and (ii) 8 were Asian; 106 district judges (magistrates' courts) of whom (i) none were black and (ii) 2 were Asian; in addition there were a total of 987 deputy district judges broken down as follows: 761 deputy district judges (civil) of whom (i) 4 were black and (ii) 7 were Asian; 176 deputy district judges (magistrates' courts) of whom (i) 4 were black and (ii) 5 were Asian, (d) 1367 recorders of whom (i) 19 were black and (ii) 18 were Asian; (e) the post of assistant recorder was abolished on 12 April 2000.

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many (a) high court judges, (b) circuit judges, (c) district judges, (d) recorders and (e) assistant recorders were appointed in 2002; and how many were (i) black and (ii) Asian. [138765]

Mr. Leslie: The 2001–2002 Judicial Appointments Annual Report gives the following figures for appointments made between 1 April 2001 and 31 March 2002: (a) 9 high court judges were appointed, of these (i) none were black and (ii) none were Asian; (b) 20 circuit judges were appointed, of these (i) none were black and (ii) none were Asian; (c) in total 12 district judges were appointed, broken down as follows: 4 district judges (civil) of whom (i) none were black and (ii) 1 was Asian; 8 district judges (magistrates' courts) of whom (i) none were black and (ii) none were Asian. In addition a total of 40 deputy district judges (civil) were appointed of whom (i) none were black and (ii) none were Asian; no deputy district judges (magistrates' courts) were appointed during this period; (d) 98 recorders were appointed, of whom (i) none were black and (ii) 1 was Asian; (e) the post of assistant recorder was abolished on 12 April 2000 and subsequent appointments were made direct to the office of recorder.

The 2002–2003 Judicial Appointments Annual Report gives the following figures for appointments made between 1 April 2002 and 31 March 2003: (a) 6 high court judges were appointed, of these (i) none were black and (ii) none were Asian; (b) during this period no new general circuit judge competitions were held; (c) in total 15 district judges (civil) were approved for appointment, of whom (i) none were black and (ii) none were Asian; there was no new general competition for appointment as district judges (magistrates' courts), in addition a total of 69 deputy district judges were

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appointed broken down as follows: 42 deputy district judges (civil) of whom (i) 1 was black and (ii) 2 were Asian; 27 deputy district judges (magistrates' courts) of which (i) 1 was black and (ii) 2 were Asian, (d) 93 recorders were appointed of whom (i) 2 were black and (ii) 2 were Asian; (e) the post of assistant recorder was abolished on 12 April 2000 and subsequent appointments were made direct to the office of recorder.

Copies of both reports are available in the Libraries of both Houses.

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many magistrates in England and Wales were in post in the last month for which figures are available; and how many were (i) black and (ii) Asian. [138766]

Mr. Leslie: There were 28,344 active magistrates in England and Wales on 1 April 2003. Of that number, 609 classified themselves as of Black origin and 845 Asian.

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Mr. Oaten: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many magistrates were appointed in England and Wales in 2002; and how many were (i) black and (ii) Asian. [138767]

Mr. Leslie: 1,474 new magistrates were appointed in England and Wales in 2002. Of these 40 classified themselves as of Black origin and 66 Asian.

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many (a) justices' clerks, (b) deputy clerks, (c) ushers and (d) administrative clerical and secretarial staff were in post in magistrates' courts in England and Wales in the last month for which figures are available; and how many were (i) black and (ii) Asian. [138768]

Mr. Leslie: The following table, using the current job titles, provides the information requested. The figures provided are drawn from the latest survey, which was conducted for magistrates' courts staff in post in England and Wales as at 31 March 2003.

Magistrates' courts staff in postFigures as at 31 March 2003

Post	(34)Total	Black	Asian	Other	Mixed	Not known
Justices clerks	97	—	—	—	1	—
Senior legal manager	374	9	8	3	4	11
Senior admin manager	168	1	1	1	1	5
Court clerk	1,408	28	51	14	10	34
Principal administrative division	934	34	13	3	8	27
Administrative grades	6,342	198	190	45	40	212
Clerical	1,347	15	19	1	4	29
Total	10,669	285	281	67	68	318

⁽³⁴⁾ These are full time equivalent figures

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