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CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Honours

Brian White: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how much time his Department spent dealing with honours in the last year for which figures are available, broken down by civil service grade. [173034]

Mr. Lammy: We have a dedicated honours team consisting of a part time span 7 (senior executive officer), a span 4 (executive officer) and a part-time administrative support officer. Additionally, a number of departmental officials are involved in our internal sifting meetings. No formal records are kept of the time spent by officials on this work, but for the year ending 31 March 2004 we estimate the time spent by them at those meetings to have been as follows:

Grade	Number of hours
Senior civil service	66
Span 9 (grade 6)	2
Span 4	2

The majority of work on honours is undertaken by the departmental honours team. Information is not available on the time spent on honours-related work by departmental staff who are not members of the Department's honours team.

Legal Aid

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many solicitors' firms had legal aid departments in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [177571]

Mr. Lammy: From 1997–98 to 1999–2000 the number of solicitors' firms paid for civil and criminal legal aid work was:

	Number
1997–98	10,601
1998–99	10,751
1999–2000	10,518

From 2000–01 onwards the number of solicitors' offices holding civil and criminal contracts was:

	Civil	Criminal
2000–01	4,952	n/a
2001–02	4,932	2,910
2002–03	4,641	2,900
2003–04	4,301	2,669

The number of offices with contracts does not equal the total number of firms because some offices practised both civil and criminal legal aid before 2000–01, or now hold a contract in both civil and criminal law.

Before the introduction of contracting, (January 2000 for civil work and April 2001 for criminal work) any solicitors' firm could undertake legal aid work.
 
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The reduction in the number of solicitors' firms undertaking legal aid work had little effect on capacity, since those solicitors' firms which withdrew tended to do little publicly funded work.

Magistrates

Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the average age is of (a) male and (b) female magistrates in (i) Surrey, (ii) the South East and (iii) England. [177373]

Mr. Leslie: This information is not accurately available in the format requested. We are able to provide numbers of magistrates within age bands, but not divided by gender, in (i) Surrey:

Up to age 30: 0 magistrates

30–39: 10 magistrates

40–49: 68 magistrates

50–54: 67 magistrates

55–59: 90 magistrates

60–65: 87 magistrates

66+: 44 magistrates.

(ii) the South East. (The South East region is comprised of Kent, Surrey, West Sussex, East Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire):

Up to age 30: 0 magistrates

30–39: 126 magistrates

40–49: 546 magistrates

50–54: 581 magistrates

55–59: 1,004 magistrates

60–65: 846 magistrates

66+: 354 magistrates

(iii) England (including the Duchy of Lancaster):

Up to age 30: 22 magistrates

30–39: 968 magistrates

40–49: 4,377 magistrates

50–54: 4,401 magistrates

55–59: 7,343 magistrates

60–65: 7,004 magistrates

66+: 2,663 magistrates.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Afghanistan

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) what assistance is provided by his Department for the training of (a) members of the judiciary and (b) the police force in Afghanistan; [177111]

(2) what support is provided by his Department to train (a) law enforcement officials, (b) members of the judiciary and (c) Government officials in Afghanistan on the protection of the rights of women. [177117]

Mr. Rammell: The UK funded two senior Afghan police officers to attend the International Commanders Course at the International Faculty at Bramshill in 2003. Two UK police trainers form part of the International Police Assistance Mission that has been
 
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providing basic and conversion police training in Kabul since June 2003. In July 2003 a five-strong team of UK police advisers deployed to Kabul to establish Crime Scene Investigation Units for the Afghan police. A further five UK police mentors are currently being deployed to join the US-led Regional Police Training College in Mazar-e Sharif. All police training in Afghanistan supported by the UK includes an awareness of both human rights and gender issues.

Italy and UNDP lead work on judicial reform in Afghanistan, in conjunction with the Afghan Ministry of Justice. The UK contributed £1 million in 2002–03 to the UNDP Judicial Reform programme. In 2004–05 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is providing £240,000 over two years to the Bar Human Rights Committee to train Afghan legal practitioners in human rights and women's rights advocacy.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the case for expanding protection by the International Security Assistance Force throughout Afghanistan. [177114]

Mr. Rammell: The international community, including the UK, is responding to the need for security throughout Afghanistan with increased commitments of troops and resources, including extension of the network of Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs). Deploying additional PRTs is the key to expansion of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The UK is at the forefront of this, having agreed to lead a second PRT and provide a Forward Support Base for all PRTs in the North. But ISAF expansion can only proceed once NATO's statement of requirements is fully met and we are pressing other nations to contribute the resources needed to meet existing shortfalls.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Government of Afghanistan about the need to criminalise (a) rape, (b) the giving of girls in marriage as a means of dispute resolution and (c) the forcing of women and girls to marry against their consent in Afghanistan. [177116]

Mr. Rammell: The UK and other EU member states have regularly raised human rights issues, including the rights of women and girls with the Afghan Transitional Administration.

Women's rights in Afghanistan are protected by the new Constitution, ratified in January 2004. The Constitution contains specific articles on women's equality and rights to political participation. The Constitution also requires the Government to uphold its obligations under international law. Rape and forced marriage are both prohibited by Afghanistan's obligations under the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, both of which Afghanistan has ratified. It is important that these rights now be implemented in practice.

Practical improvements in women's rights require further progress on security and judicial reform. The UK provided £10 million in 2003–04 for training of the new Afghan National Army and US$4 million in 2003–04 for Disarmament, Demobilisation and
 
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Reintegration of former combatants. In 2004–05 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is providing £240,000 over two years to the Bar Council to train Afghan legal practitioners in human rights and women's rights advocacy.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what efforts he has made to achieve a change in the mandate of the provincial reconstruction teams in Afghanistan to focus exclusively on security. [177120]

Mr. Rammell: We have not sought to change the mandate of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs). They are not resourced to focus purely on security, nor is that their purpose. PRTs aim to extend the authority of the central Government by facilitating reconstruction and security sector reform. Although small in size, we believe that PRTs are succeeding in achieving this through the beneficial effect they have on the security environment in the areas in which they operate. This has certainly been borne out by our experience with the UK-led PRT in Mazar-e Sharif.

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