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Official Report

Mr. Dismore: To ask the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, representing the House of Commons Commission if he will make arrangements to permit hon. Members to proof read the Hansard report of their speeches made in Westminster Hall in the Hansard office above the Chamber; and if he will make a statement. [170194]

Sir Archy Kirkwood: The Editor of the Official Report appreciates that some hon. Members may have been inconvenienced by the need to move staff who report Westminster Hall proceedings to offices at 7 Millbank. He will make arrangements as soon as possible for Members to read Westminster Hall speeches in the Hansard offices in the Palace of Westminster before publication.

SOLICITOR-GENERAL

Iraq

Llew Smith: To ask the Solicitor-General whether she discussed with other ministerial colleagues a draft of the Attorney General's legal opinion on the legality of military action against Iraq prior to his presentation of the opinion to the Cabinet. [168729]

The Solicitor-General: It is the established practice not to disclose details of internal discussions between Ministers. This information is withheld in accordance with exemption 2 of Part 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Unexplained Infant Deaths

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Solicitor General what steps the Government has taken since the statement on 20 January, Official Report, column 1215, on unexplained infant deaths, to (a) identify civil cases and (b) learn from these cases; and if she will make a statement. [167812]

The Solicitor-General: The process of identifying prosecutions which may be affected by the Appeal Court's judgment in the appeal against conviction of Angela Cannings has been completed. Since the Appeal Court's judgment on 19 January the 300 relevant cases have been identified, of which 86 involve defendants in custody. There are three stages to the review process. To date, 167 cases have been reviewed and I will be in a position to tell the House the outcome of those reviews very shortly.

Of the 16 ongoing prosecutions which may have been affected by the Cannings judgment, all have been reviewed and two have been discontinued. A Hampshire case was discontinued before trial and a Coventry case was discontinued before a retrial.
 
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Any lessons to be learnt from the review will be considered at the conclusion of the review process.

LEADER OF THE HOUSE

Sub Judice Rule

Mr. Andrew Dismore: To ask the Leader of the House if he will bring forward proposals for amendment of the House's resolution on matters sub judice to permit parliamentary questions and early day motions to be tabled concerning cases before the Special Immigration Appeals Commission concerning withdrawal of UK nationality in circumstances where the case has become substantially delayed and is unlikely to be heard in the immediate future; and if he will make a statement. [169802]

Mr. Hain: I have no plans to do so, though I am willing to consider suggestions for change on this, as on other matters. I understand that the particular issue to which the hon. Member refers has been resolved.

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

Free Television Licence

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of how many eligible senior citizens over the age of 75 in Northern Ireland did not avail themselves of the free television licence in 2003. [170485]

Estelle Morris: These figures are unavailable. However, I understand that for the year to 31 March 2004, 86,493 free licences for people over 75 were issued in Northern Ireland. Also, the BBC runs regular publicity campaigns in Northern Ireland, which receive widespread press coverage, to encourage people to take up the concession.

Departmental Annual Report

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much the production of her Department's latest annual report cost; how many copies were printed; how many copies of it were sold at its cover price; to whom copies of the report have been provided free of charge; and how many copies were provided free of charge. [171138]

Mr. Caborn: The information requested is as follows.

1. The design, typesetting, production and printing of this year's annual report was £57,000

2. 1,500 copies were printed.

3. 700 copies are to be sold at cover price of £26

4. Remaining copies for media, NDPBs, visitors to DCMS and DCMS staff (two copies for each of 28 Divisions)

Libraries (Oldham, West and Royton)

Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much money has been spent on the digitisation of content in libraries in Oldham, West and Royton since 1997. [170944]

Estelle Morris: This information is not held centrally.
 
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The New Opportunities Fund £50 million Digitisation of Learning Materials Programme has delivered 150 projects across the UK to enable resources which support learning of all kinds held in libraries as well as museums, archives and other public-sector institutions, to be made available online through the People's Network and the National Grid for Learning. This initiative has created a body of material containing over 2 million images, tens of thousands of sound and video clips and documents and over 1,000 learning packages. All projects can be accessed via the EnrichUK portal at http://www.enrichuk.net

Information on grants awarded to individual local authorities and their expenditure can be obtained from the relevant authority.

Parliamentary Questions

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many (a) Ordinary Written and (b) Named Day Questions her Department received in (i) 2002–03 and (ii) this parliamentary session up to the most recent date for which figures are available, broken down by month. [170778]

Mr. Caborn: The information requested is as follows:
2002–03 Session

	Named day	Ordinary written
November 2002	39	112
December 2002	28	52
January 2003	24	114
February 2003	11	105
March 2003	14	116
April 2003	10	110
May 2003	16	153
June 2003	18	150
July 2003	6	104
August 2003	0	0
September 2003	8	68
October 2003	6	69
November 2003	22	63
Total	202	1,216

2003–04 Session

	Named day	Ordinary written
November 2003	1	37
December 2003	12	105
January 2004	23	84
February 2004	9	106
March 2004	20	160
April 2004	13	65
Total	78	557

These figures exclude those questions either withdrawn by the Member or transferred to another Department.

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of (a) Ordinary Written Questions to her Department were answered within five sitting days of tabling and (b) Questions for a Named Day received a substantive answer on that day in (i) 2002–03 and (ii) this parliamentary session up to the most recent date for which figures are available, broken down by month. [170779]

 
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Mr. Caborn: The information requested is as follows:
2002–03 Session

	Named Day		Ordinary Written
	Number answered on time	Percentage	Number answered within 5 sitting days	Percentage
November 2002	25	64.10	50	43.86
December 2002	9	32.14	20	40.82
January 2003	11	45.83	89	74.79
February 2003	9	69.23	58	56.31
March 2003	9	69.23	79	65.29
April 2003	3	30.00	37	32.17
May 2003	9	60.00	39	27.86
June 2003	8	44.44	96	61.15
July 2003	3	50.00	50	51.02
August 2003	0	0	0	0
September 2003	3	37.50	25	37.31
October 2003	5	83.33	47	56.63
November 2003	18	81.82	52	89.66

2003–04 Session

	Named Day		Ordinary Written
	Number answered on time	Percentage	Number answered within 5 sitting days	Percentage
November 2003	1	25.00	28	75.68
December 2003	6	66.67	73	69.52
January 2004	16	69.57	61	70.93
February 2004	6	66.67	71	61.74
March 2004	14	63.64	131	80.37
April 2004	11	84.62	32	52.46

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