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29 Mar 2004 : Column 1173W—continued
Lord Chancellor
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether the rules preventing former Lord Chancellors from returning to practise law are to be waived in the case of the present incumbent. [162597]
Mr. Leslie: No. I refer my hon. Friend to the Prime Minister's written answer to the hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire (Mr. Heald) of 25 June 2003, Official Report, column 792W.
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs for what reasons former Lord Chancellors are prohibited from practising law; and if he will make a statement. [162599]
29 Mar 2004 : Column 1174W
Mr. Leslie: By convention, judges have not returned to practice after retirement (and this is now included in judicial terms of appointment). The convention ensures the integrity and impartiality of the justice system. This convention has also been adhered to by former Lord Chancellors given their judicial status and role in the administration of justice. The rules, set out in the Ministerial Code, relating to the acceptance of appointments after leaving ministerial office, also apply.
Munby Judgment, November 2001
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what assessment he has made of the ruling of November 2001 by Mr. Justice Munby. [161933]
Margaret Hodge: I have been asked to reply.
In R(L and others) and R(R and anon) v. Manchester City Council, Mr. Justice Munby found that Manchester City Council's policy on payment to relatives and friends as carers breached Articles 8 and 14 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
The impact of the judgment is that local authority policies need to demonstrate that payment differences relate to the child's needs or the skills of the carer or some other relevant factor that is used as a basis for an authority wide policy.
Secondments
Mr. Cousins: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what secondments (a) PricewaterhouseCoopers, (b) Deloitte & Touche, (c) Ernst & Young and (d) KPMG have made to the Department since 2001; for what (i) periods and (ii) tasks the secondments were made; whether secondments of staff from the Department have been made to those firms; and for what (A) periods and (B) tasks. [156929]
Mr. Leslie: Since 2001 there have been two secondments to the Department from Deloitte & Touche. Both worked in the Business Support Office (BSO) in the Department's headquarters. The BSO was set up to support the introduction of programme and project work in Policy Group. Their roles contained both development work (setting up the Business Support Office and defining its roles and responsibilities) and supporting work underway in Policy Group. Their appointments were effective from 29 October 2001 until the end of July 2002.
Since 2001 there have been no secondments of staff from the Department to any of the companies specified.
Wrongful Convictions
Bob Spink: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many convictions have been found by the Court of Appeal to be wrongful in each of the last five years; and how much compensation has been paid in respect of such convictions. [163592]
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Mr. Leslie: Figures for the number of convictions found by the Court of Appeal to be wrongful in each of the last five years are provided in Table 1. The figures provided by the Home Office in Table 2 do not identify the amount of compensation awards to successful appellants as they also include payments made under the Home Secretary ex-gratia scheme for wrongful conviction and/or charge.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| 1998 | 290 |
| 1999 | 171 |
| 2000 | 150 |
| 2001 | 135 |
| 2002 | 166 |
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 1998–99 | 5.302 |
| 1999–2000 | 5.647 |
| 2000–01 | 8.051 |
| 2001–02 | 6.172 |
| 2002–03 | 8.120 |
NORTHERN IRELAND
Cancer
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many new cancer diagnoses were made for teenagers and young adults in the 13 to 24 years age range in each of the last five years in Northern Ireland. [163888]
Angela Smith: The following table shows the annual incidence of cancer in teenagers and young adults (aged 13 to 24 years) in Northern Ireland in the last five years for which accurate cancer registration figures are available.
| Ages 13–24 | Number |
|---|---|
| 1997 | 64 |
| 1998 | 72 |
| 1999 | 80 |
| 2000 | 68 |
| 2001 | 70 |
29 Mar 2004 : Column 1176W
Census 2001
Mr. Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many households in Northern Ireland contain two or more persons, excluding students, who do not see themselves as a couple, according to the 2001 Census; how many people there are in such households; how many people there are in such households where both are pensioners; and how many people he estimates there are in such households who are related. [163061]
Mr. Pearson: According to the 2001 Census, there are 69,754 households in Northern Ireland containing two or more persons who are not full-time students, where none of the people in the household see themselves as living in a married or co-habiting couple.
These 69,754 households contain 190,583 people of whom:
- (i) 9,127 are living in "All Pensioner" households; and
- (ii) 176,813 are related to another member of the household.
Mr. Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many same-sex households there are in Northern Ireland according to the 2001 Census. [163084]
Mr. Pearson: According to the 2001 Census, there are 288 households in Northern Ireland containing couples of the same-sex who indicated they are living as partners.
Computer Misuse
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many cases of computer misuse there were in his Department in each of the last seven years, broken down by category of misuse; and how many of those cases resulted in disciplinary action. [163229]
Mr. Pearson: Within the 11 Departments of the formally devolved Northern Ireland Administration and the Northern Ireland Office, there have been a total of 866 cases of computer misuse reported over the last seven years, with disciplinary action having been taken in 688 of those cases.
Cases where misuse falls into more than one category have been broken down and counted separately. The breakdown by year and category is as follows.
| Category | 1997–98 | 1998–99 | 1999–2000 | 2000–01 | 2001–02 | 2002–03 | 2003–04 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Use of inappropriate or offensive material(4) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 31 | 25 | 153 | 219 | 430 |
| Using unlicensed software, forging e-mail addresses | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5 |
| Using e-mail facilities for personal use without permission | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 12 | 25 |
| Unreasonable extensive personal use | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Unauthorised access to customer accounts | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 22 |
| General misuse of a minor nature (games, using unofficial screensavers) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 280 | 88 | 380 |
| Total | 1 | 1 | 5 | 33 | 40 | 454 | 332 | 866 |
(4) Viewing, creating, distributing, storing or downloading inappropriate or offensive material that could bring the department into disrepute or expose it to legal action.
29 Mar 2004 : Column 1177W
Invest Northern Ireland
Mr. Trimble: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on how many occasions since April 2002 Invest Northern Ireland has taken equity in companies in Northern Ireland; and what the value is of equity taken by Invest Northern Ireland in companies in Northern Ireland since April 2002. [159743]
Mr. Pearson: Invest NI has taken equity investments in 38 companies since April 2002, these investments cost Invest NI £14.5 million.
Police Recruitment
Rev. Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many applicants have commenced their courses since recruitment for the Police Service of Northern Ireland began; and how many have completed their training. [163711]
Jane Kennedy: A total of 1,202 candidates have been appointed up to and including 14 March 2004 with 946 student officers attested as at 19 March 2004.
There are currently four separate intake groups undergoing the training prior to attestation.
Rev. Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to the answer of 27 February 2004, Official Report, column 583W, on police, how many recruits (a) dropped out of their training, (b) proved unsuitable and (c) did not take up their places. [163712]
Jane Kennedy: I have been advised that as at 1 March 2004 and in total (a) 22 student officers resigned (b) 10 were dismissed and two were suspended and (c) 33 chose not take up their places.
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