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Service Children's Education

Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions have taken place between his Department, the Department for Education and Skills and the Treasury regarding the funding of local education authority schools which have a significant number of pupils from service families. [147137]

Mr. Caplin: Funding of local education authority schools is a matter for the Department for Education and Skills and the relevant departments in the devolved Administrations. We have frequent contact with the Department for Education and Skills to discuss the issues faced by schools with children from the Service population and ensure that the provision meets their educational requirements.

Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent estimate he has made of the number of children from service families being educated in local education authority-maintained schools. [147142]

Mr. Caplin: We do not hold statistics on the type of school attended by dependent children from service families. However, we estimate that there are between 80,000 and 100,000 attending state schools in the UK.

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Service Pensions

Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence by what date he expects work on illustrative models for the proposed armed forces pensions early departure scheme to be completed; and when he will publish the models. [147131]

Mr. Caplin: Work on the detailed design of the new Early Departure Payment (EDP) payments model is now close to being finalised. I will provide further information on our plans shortly.

Type-45 Destroyers

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the in-service dates are for each of the Type 45 Destroyers. [146852]

Mr. Ingram: Six Type 45 Destroyers are currently on order. The currently approved in service date for the First of Class, HMS Daring, is November 2007, although this date is currently under review. The remaining ships are planned to enter service at intervals up to the end of 2011.

CABINET OFFICE

Departmental Relocation

Ms Walley: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what assessment he has made of the effect of proposals to relocate Government jobs on his Office's ability to meet its policy objectives. [146874]

Mr. Alexander: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer that the Chief Secretary to the Treasury gave her on 12 January 2004, Official Report, column 516W.

Ms Walley: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many staff in his Office work in (a) the West Midlands and (b) North Staffordshire. [146913]

Mr. Alexander: As at 2 January 2004, there were 20 staff working in the West Midlands and no staff working (full-time equivalents) in the North Staffordshire area.

Duchy of Lancaster

Mr. Evans: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the total value is of Duchy grants that have been disbursed to the north west in the last year. [147780]

Mr. Alexander: I am not a Trustee of the Duchy of Lancaster Benevolent Fund. However, the Secretary of the Fund has provided the following information :

Grants made from the Duchy of Lancaster Benevolent Fund during the financial year ending 31 March 2003 amounted to £231,277.

Government Information and Communication Service

Norman Baker: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office pursuant to his answer of 6 January 2004, Official Report, column 221W, on Government Information and Communication Service, if he will break down the total sum quoted by budget head; and what the figures were for each year from 1996. [147398]

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Mr. Alexander: Financial allocations to the GICS centre in 2003–04 consist of:

	£000
Head of Profession (including secretariat)	262
Development centre (recruitment and career & professional development for members)	808
Operations Unit (cross-cutting emergency communications)	1,388
Total	2,458

Allocations to the GICS and its predecessors (the Information Officer Management Unit and the Government Information Service) were:

	Total (£000)
1996–97	607
1997–98	575
1998–99	680
1999–2000	815
2000–01	962
2001–02	1,888
2002–03	4,079
2003–04	2,458

The role and responsibilities of the GICS in the Cabinet Office have evolved and developed since 1996.

The GICS covered Emergency Communications Co-ordination from 2001–02 and HM Queen's Jubilee Media facilities in 2002–03.

The GICS also funded a full-time Head of Profession from 1998 to December 2003.

The Media Monitoring Unit also became part of GICS centre finances in April 1999 and the Government News Network in April 2002. Both charge other Government Departments for their services and so require no budget allocation.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Antisocial Behaviour Orders

Chris Ruane: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many hours, and what budgets were allocated, for (a) training of magistrates and (b) training of magistrates clerks on antisocial behaviour orders in each magistrate authority, listed in descending order according to average amount spent on training for magistrates clerks since the introduction of antisocial behaviour orders. [144832]

Mr. Leslie: The specific information requested is not collected or held centrally and could be researched and provided in the format requested only at disproportionate cost. Statutory responsibility for the training of magistrates currently rests with the 42 independent Magistrates Courts Committees (MCCs).

For magistrates, MCCs generally incorporated Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) training into Bench meetings, new magistrate training days and other meetings or training events. The JSB produced training

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materials on ASBOs from within existing budgets, and the majority of MCCs report having used these along with their own written guidance notes, which they issued to all magistrates.

Training for magistrates clerks was similarly delivered by most MCCs through regular meetings. Where MCCs provided information about time spent on ASBO issues, between one-and-a-half to two hours had been allocated at meetings, not including preparation and private study by individual clerks and legal advisers.

Boundary Changes

Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs when the Government plan to implement the boundary changes recommended by the Boundary Commission when it reports its findings. [147691]

Mr. Raynsford: I have been asked to reply.

The Boundary Commission for England is required to submit its final report by 12 April 2007 and the Boundary Commission for Wales, by 16 December 2006. It is a matter for the Commissions when, within that timescale, they do so. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is required by the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986 to lay the reports before Parliament, together with draft Orders in Council giving them effect, with or without modifications, as soon as may be thereafter.

Justice System (Costs)

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what steps the Government are taking to cut (a) costs and (b) waste in the justice system. [146676]

Mr. Leslie: The question covers a wide range of initiatives being undertaken by Government Departments and agencies involved in the justice system and could be answered fully only at disproportionate cost.

In this Department the principal measures to improve both the efficiency and effectiveness of the justice system include: the creation of the unified courts administration in April 2005, combining the present Court Service with the magistrates' courts; the Tribunal for Users Programme that will create a single new agency responsible for the majority of tribunal; and savings of £210 million in legal aid to be made over the three years to March 2006 from very high cost criminal cases and asylum, civil and criminal legal aid generally.

Magistrates Courts

Vera Baird: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what effect combining magistrates courts with criminal jurisdictions and magistrates courts with civil and family jurisdictions has had, particularly with reference to shared waiting room facilities. [147665]

Mr. Leslie: When magistrates courts combine courts with criminal jurisdictions with courts with civil and family jurisdictions, they will routinely offer separate

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waiting facilities where practicable. However, there may be local and unavoidable circumstances when those waiting for criminal and civil and family hearings are required to share facilities.

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