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Domestic Violence

26. Mr. Edwards: To ask the Solicitor-General what steps she is taking to improve guidance to the Crown Prosecution Service on cases of domestic violence. [154535]

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The Solicitor-General: During 2003, Her Majesty's Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) undertook a thematic inspection of how domestic violence cases were investigated and prosecuted. The final report is due to be published later this month.

In order to address the findings and recommendations of the inspection and to reflect changes in law and practice, notably the pre-charge advice scheme and possible statutory developments arising from the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Bill, the detailed guidance that accompanies the Crown Prosecution Service policy on handling domestic violence cases will be updated in autumn 2004.

27. Mr. Caton: To ask the Solicitor-General if she will make a statement on the relationship between the proposed commissioner for domestic violence and the Crown Prosecution Service. [154536]

The Solicitor-General: The Crown Prosecution Service, along with other authorities, will work constructively with the Commissioner to champion the interests of victims and witnesses.

Nottingham Criminal Justice Board

28. Mr. Allen: To ask the Solicitor-General if she will make a statement on progress made in recent weeks on the work of the Crown Prosecution Service with the Nottingham criminal justice board in connecting the criminal justice system with local people. [154537]

The Solicitor-General: My hon. Friend asked a very similar question last year, which I answered on 30 October 2003. and earlier this year, which I answered on 19 January 2004.

Ms Kate Carty, the Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS Nottinghamshire, is an active member of the Local Criminal Justice Board.

I am aware that my hon. Friend met with the Lord Chancellor on 2 February 2004 to discuss the work of the Nottingham Criminal Justice Board.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Cockling

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what health and safety regulations apply to the cockling industry; what steps are being taken to ensure that these regulations are communicated to workers of foreign origin; and if he will make a statement. [154450]

Mr. Pond: The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 applies to the cockling industry as to other industrial sectors and work activities in Great Britain.

The Act places the primary duty on the employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all their employees.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require employers to assess the risks to health and safety at work of their employees and others affected by their work activity; provide their employees

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with comprehensible information on the risks to their health and safety identified by the assessment and the preventive and protective measures; and ensure employees are provided with adequate health and safety training. All workers, including those of foreign origin, are entitled to equal protection under health and safety legislation.

Guidance on those regulations makes it clear that employers should provide information in a form which takes account of any language difficulties and that they may need to make special arrangements for employees who have little or no understanding of English. These could include providing translation, using interpreters, or replacing written notices with clearly understood symbols or diagrams.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) provides basic information in other languages. It is revising existing advice for workers that will be available in a wider range of languages, and HSE will proactively publicise this to help ensure it reaches target audiences. HSE's confidential public inquiry service, Infoline, also offers a telephone interpreting service for callers in over one hundred languages.

Objective 3 Funds

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions where the distribution of Objective 3 takes place with regard to (a) location and (b) financial amount for the 2000–06 period. [155223]

Mr. Pond: European Social Fund (ESF) Objective 3 is available in all parts of the UK except: the Objective 1 areas of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, and West Wales and the Valleys; and the transitional Objective 1 areas of the Highlands and Islands, and Northern Ireland. The amount of Objective 3 funding for the UK in 2000–06 is £2,940 million.

Benefit Fraud

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many cases of benefit fraud were detected in each of the last six years; and how many of these have resulted in (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions. [151015]

Mr. Pond: The number of cases of benefit fraud detected is not available. The number of cases resulting in prosecution, and cases resulting in conviction, are in the table:

	Prosecutions		Convictions
	DSS/DWP	Local authorities	DSS/DWP	Local authorities
1997–98	11,523	n/a	11,386	700
1998–99	10,129	n/a	9,967	800
1999–2000	9,272	n/a	9,129	900
2000–01	11,584	n/a	11,403	1,100
2001–02	11,355	2,101	11,183	1,732
2002–03	9,396	3,187	9,267	2,503

Notes:

1. For local authorities, figures prior to 2001–02 have been rounded to the nearest 100 because they include estimated values for non-responding local authorities.

2. Figures for local authority prosecutions which did not lead to conviction are not available prior to 2001–02.

Source:

1. DSS/DWP: Fraud Information By Sector

2. Local authorities: From 2001–02 onwards the numbers are taken from subsidy claim forms. Prior to this the numbers are taken from management information returns.

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Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate, for each local authority, the total amount saved in benefit expenditure arising from anti-fraud initiatives in the most recent year for which figures are available; if he will express the figures as a percentage of the total expenditure on social security benefits administered by each local authority; and if he will provide an aggregate estimate for Great Britain. [152845]

Mr. Pond: Estimates of savings in benefit expenditure by local authorities due to anti-fraud initiatives are not available at local authority or national level. It is not possible to readily estimate savings from the data the Department collects on detected overpayments. This is largely because it is not possible to know how long the overpayments would have continued for had they not been detected at that point in time.

Benefits

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of (a) the interaction between income support and disability benefits, (b) the complexity of this interaction and (c) whether eligible recipients are deterred from claiming disability related benefits by the complexity of the process. [153379]

Mr. Pond: Income support is intended to help people whose resources are insufficient to meet their day-to-day living expenses; it provides extra support to meet the needs of disabled customers with the automatic award of disability premiums. In addition, disability benefits, such as disability living allowance and attendance allowance, are fully disregarded.

Jobcentre Plus has worked to enhance services with the use of electronic interfaces; a new interface between disability living allowance and income support has been developed in order to improve services to those who claim both benefits. It is intended that the new interface will be put into operation later this year.

We do not believe these arrangements deter people eligible for benefit from taking up their entitlement.

Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how much was spent by his Department on incapacity benefit pilots in 2003; and what his estimate is of expenditure on such pilots in 2004; [153390]

(2) how much his Department will spend on incapacity benefit pilots in 2005. [153392]

Maria Eagle: "Pathways to Work—Helping People into Employment" Cm 5690 set out a strategy for enabling people on incapacity benefits to move into work. The first tranche of three pilot areas (Bridgend and Rhondda Cynon Taff, Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, Argyll and Bute, and Derbyshire) went live from October 2003.

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The second tranche of areas (Gateshead and South Tyneside, Somerset, Essex, and East Lancashire) are on track to go live in April.

Spending Review 2002 announced just under £100 million in additional funds for these pilots (£15 million for 2003–04 and £41 million for each of 2004–05 and 2005–06). £3.9 million was spent in the period April 2003 to December 2003; we estimate expenditure will be £7.45 million for January 2004 to March 2004, and £42.6 million for April 2004 to March 2005. These estimates include running costs, learning and development costs for personal advisers and other staff, the return to work credit, the NHS condition management programmes, and marketing and publicity costs.

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