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9 Mar 2004 : Column 1416W—continued

Sick Leave

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the average number of sick days taken by each grade in 2003 in (a) the Department and (b) its agencies. [158298]

Mr. McNulty: In 2003 the total number of days sick absence recorded for the Department for Transport and its Agencies was 164,364 days. This is monitored on an overall average days per staff year basis, and the 2003 figures were:

	Days
Department for Transport (Central) (DfT(C))	5.7
Driving Standards Agency (DSA)	12.7
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)	12.7
Highways Agency (HA)	8.3
Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA)	8.4
Vehicle Certification Agency (VGA)	5.9
Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA)	9.0
Total Department for Transport	10.4

The average number of sick days taken by each grade in DfT(C) was recorded as:

	Days
Pay Band 1/Secretarial	5.5
Pay Band 2	6.9
Pay Band 3	6.6
Pay Band 4	4.9
Pay Band 5	3.9
Pay Band 6	2.0
Pay Band 7	2.1
Senior Civil Service	0.6
Average DfT(C)	5.7

The Agencies are responsible for their own staffing arrangements and have their own grading structures. Similar breakdowns of average days by grade levels for the Agencies are not readily available.

The Department and its Agencies are committed to managing sickness absence effectively. This includes actively reviewing statistics and trends and gaining a clearer understanding of the reasons for non-attendance.

South Hampshire Rapid Transit

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to announce a decision on the Government's funding of the South Hampshire Rapid Transit system. [159880]

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Mr. McNulty: The Secretary of State recently received further information on this scheme following a significant increase in the proposed level of central Government funding. A decision will be made in due course.

Thames Gateway

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the cost of the integrated transport infrastructure requirement for the Thames Gateway. [159648]

Mr. McNulty: The Government have already committed more that £600 million to transport projects within the Thames Gateway. These include DLR extensions to City airport and improvements to the A2/A282 near Dartford.

In his statement on 30 July 2003, my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister identified some of the transport infrastructure projects that could potentially help to support housing growth including domestic services on the channel tunnel rail link, extensions to the Docklands light rail (DLR) network and bus transit systems for east and south east London and Kent Thameside.

In relation to local transport schemes, it is for local authorities in the Thames Gateway area to bring forward major schemes through the Local Transport Plan process for consideration by Ministers.

Westminster Hall

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make it his policy to have senior Ministers reply to debates in Westminster Hall. [159618]

Mr. McNulty: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by the Leader of the House on 8 March 2004, Official Report, column 1234W.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Legal Aid

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs under what circumstances legal aid is available to those contesting legal cases involving children; and if he will make a statement. [158956]

Mr. Lammy: Legal aid is available for parties involved in contested proceedings involving children. In certain special cases under the Children Act 1989 funding is available free to people who have parental responsibility, without any means or merits tests. These cases are mostly to do with public authorities intervening in the relationship between parents (or those with parental responsibility) and children, such as care proceedings. All other grants of funding are subject to means and merits criteria. The means criteria are set out in the Community Legal Service Financial Regulations 2000 (as amended) and considered against the relevant merits criteria set out in the Funding Code determining income and capital thresholds above which legal aid is not available. The merits criteria are also set out in the

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Funding Code and aim to ensure that funding is only available in circumstances where a reasonable private paying client would be prepared to proceed.

Legal aid must also take into account the Legal Services Commission's (LSCs) published guidance which further encourages cost effective dispute resolution. All grants of legal aid are subject to limitations as to what steps can be undertaken and what level of costs may be incurred.

The LSC also funds family mediation services with a view to resolving cases amicably without contested proceedings. With certain exceptions, funding for court proceedings will be refused unless the client has seen a mediator to assess the suitability of the case for mediation.

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what restrictions are placed on the availability of legal aid for use in cases where costs orders cannot be made; and if he will make a statement. [158957]

Mr. Lammy: Each application for legal aid is subject to the statutory tests of the applicant's means as set out in the Community Legal Service Financial Regulations 2000 (as amended) and considered against the relevant merits criteria set out in the Funding Code.

A funded client's liability for costs is limited to the amount, if any, which is reasonable for him to pay, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, including the means and conduct of both parties. The awarding of costs is a matter for the court, whether a party is publicly funded or not. Whether a cost order can be made is not taken into account in determining eligibility for legal aid.

Cost protection has always been a feature of the legal aid scheme; it provides that costs orders cannot be enforced against a funded client except to the extent that the court considers it reasonable. In limited circumstances a successful opponent may be entitled to costs from the Community Legal Service fund.

Parliamentary Elections

Dr. Whitehead: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will list the 20 constituencies in which the highest number of electors have been lost from the parliamentary register between 2000 and 2004. [158959]

Ruth Kelly: I have been asked to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Dr. Alan Whitehead, dated 9 March 2004:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning the 20 constituencies with the highest loss of electorate between 2000 and 2004. (158959)

A table showing the total and percentage change of the 20 parliamentary constituencies with the greatest fall in number of registered electors over the period 16 February 2001 to 1 December 2003 (or to 2 February 2004 for Northern Ireland) is shown. The Office for National Statistics did not publish electoral data for parliamentary constituencies for 2000 and therefore the

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2001 figures have been used. 2004 data are not available (except for Northern Ireland) therefore the most recent data available, 1 December 2003, have been used.

It should be noted that these figures represent the number of 'registered' electors. In many cases, especially in Northern Ireland, large decreases may be due to 'cleaning' of the registers rather than actual falls in the number of electors. In the case of Northern Ireland, the Electoral Commission carried out a review of the

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workings of the Electoral Fraud (Northern Ireland) Act 2002. This act introduced a new system for registering electors in Northern Ireland. The Electoral Commission's review report ¹ on the Act's first year of operation stated that the number of registered electors in Northern Ireland fell by 10 per cent. in the first register published under this new system.

¹ "The Electoral Fraud (Northern Ireland) Act 2002, an Assessment of its First Year in Operation, Research Report December 2003"

Parliamentary constituencies with the 20 largest falls in the numbers of registered electors between 2001 and 2003 ⁽⁶⁾, ranked by size of absolute change

Constituency		Electors 1 February 2001	Electors 1 December 2003	Absolute change	Percentage change
1	Brentford and Isleworth	83,420	67,934	-15,486	-18.6
2	Belfast West	60,377	47,139	-13,238	-21.9
3	Belfast North	61,646	49,054	-12,592	-20.4
4	Portsmouth South	77,372	66,162	-11,210	-14.5
5	Belfast South	59,937	49,207	-10,730	-17.9
6	Edinburgh Central	66,296	55,714	-10,582	-16.0
7	Foyle	71,835	62,321	-9,514	-13.2
8	Belfast East	59,044	49,930	-9,114	-15.4
9	South Antrim	71,316	62,906	-8,410	-11.8
10	Strangford	72,948	64,718	-8,230	-11.3
11	Lagan Valley	73,494	65,545	-7,949	-10.8
12	North Down	63,944	56,030	-7,914	-12.4
13	Rhondda	56,096	48,332	-7,764	-13.8
14	Glasgow Maryhill	55,087	47,525	-7,562	-13.7
15	Bradford West	72,193	64,663	-7,530	-10.4
16	Edinburgh South	64,437	57,274	-7,163	-11.1
17	Brent East	58,082	51,114	-6,968	-12.0
18	East Antrim	61,597	54,644	-6,953	-11.3
19	Bolton South East	68,080	61,198	-6,882	-10.1
20	Dulwich and West Norwood	70,301	63,489	-6,812	-9.7

⁽⁶⁾ 2 February 2004 for Northern Ireland

Source:

Office for National Statistics

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