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1 Sept 2004 : Column 728W—continued
Departmental Vehicles
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many road vehicles are operated by the Department and its agencies; how many personal injury accidents involving road vehicles operated by the Department have occurred within each of the last five years; and what the Department's policy is for managing work-related road safety. [185912]
Mr. Leslie: My Department and its agencies currently have a total of 559 road vehicles within its fleet.
The provision of vehicles for ministers and the judiciary is through the use of The Government Car and Dispatch Agency, who will provide a response separately.
Within each of the last five years, the number of personal injury accidents involving road vehicles operated by my Department are recorded as follows:
1999–2000—9
2000–01—12
2001–02—5
2002–03—11
2003–04—5
My Department's road safety policy is currently covered by the general duty of care within the Department's main Health and Safety policy.
Duty Solicitor Scheme
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will identify the (a) cost and (b) number of hours claimed for under the duty solicitor scheme in (i) police stations and (ii) magistrates' courts in each year since 1997. [185929]
Mr. Lammy: The table shows the cost under the duty solicitor scheme of work carried out in police stations and magistrates' courts. The LSC records the total costs claimed and then reviews the number of hours on audit. It is not possible to calculate the number of hours from the figures because different combinations of rates are claimed.
(16) From November 1999 the duty solicitor payment system was also used to make payments to solicitors attending Early First Hearings and Early Administrative Hearings, resulting in sharp increases in both the number and average cost of claims paid. However, when the LSC introduced contracting in 2001 it split this work out from the court duty solicitor role, therefore the costs decreased.
(17) From the introduction of contracting in April 2001, claims were consolidated so that the police station claims also included all other pre-charge work, not just advice and assistance at the police station.
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Employment Tribunals
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many cases against the Department, the agencies for which it is responsible and its predecessor organisations have been brought to employment tribunals in each year since 1997 in relation to (a) equal pay, (b) sex discrimination, (c) race discrimination, (d) disability discrimination and (e) unfair dismissal; how many cost awards were made against (i) respondents and (ii) applicants; and how much has been spent (A) settling and (B) contesting claims. [181461]
Mr. Lammy [pursuant to his reply, 12 July 2004, Official Report, c. 972W]: I listed in my previous answer the total number of cases in respect of each type issued since 1997. This answer failed to list the numbers of cases by year. The breakdown of those cases by type and year is shown in the following table.
| (a) Equal pay | (b) Sex discrimination | (c) Race discrimination | (d) Disability discrimination | (e) Unfair dismissal | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | — | — | 2 | — | 1 | 3 |
| 1998 | — | — | 1 | 2 | 5 | 8 |
| 1999 | — | 9 | 1 | 8 | 8 | 26 |
| 2000 | — | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 10 |
| 2001 | — | 2 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 13 |
| 2002 | — | 20 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 34 |
| 2003 | 1 | — | 1 | 3 | 7 | 12 |
| 2004 | — | 1 | — | 1 | 5 | 7 |
| Total | 1 | 34 | 15 | 22 | 41 | 113 |
Green Minister
Mr. Horam: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will make a statement on the activities of the Green Minister in the Department in financial year 2003–04. [185131]
Mr. Leslie: Lord Filkin is the Department for Constitutional Affairs Green Minister. In this role, Lord Filkin oversees work on sustainability within my Department and is also a member of the Ministerial Sub-Committee of Green Ministers.
My Department is committed to continue working with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) on sustainable development and on achieving sustainability in all aspects of its work. To that end, it continues to progress action and respond positively to targets published by DEFRA against the strands of the "Framework for Sustainable Development in the Government Estate". As Green Minister, Lord Filkin oversees this work.
My Department focuses its activities to meet targets set out by DEFRA. My Department has also continued with its programme of energy works, aimed at reducing emissions and energy use, and has set up electricity supplies so that it receives over 10 per cent. from renewable sources. A pilot of Environmental Management Systems has been established at key sites, and consideration will be given to extending this to other locations in the coming year. During the year my Department's Court Standards and Design Guide has been updated so that it better reflects our sustainability requirements by, for example, providing guidance on biodiversity and the need to aim for an "Excellent" BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) rating on all new court buildings. Lord Filkin has also overseen the development of a staff training programme that will increase awareness within the Department of sustainability issues.
Looking more widely, my Department has a commitment to achieve sustainability in the delivery of its business through achieving its Public Service Agreement targets. These include ensuring effective delivery of justice, ensuring a fair and effective system of civil law, reducing social exclusion and increasing customer choice in legal services.
Legal Aid
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many firms have indicated to the Government in each of the last three calendar years that they plan to stop doing legal aid work. [185941]
Mr. Lammy: The question cannot be answered in the terms specified, as the information is not held centrally.
However information relating to firms which have had their contracts withdrawn since 2000 was provided in a previous parliamentary question answered on 21 July 2004, Official Report, column 375W.
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will break down the cost of providing legal aid in immigration cases in each year since 1997 by (a) purpose for which aid was sought and (b) stage of process at which the application was made. [185945]
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Mr. Lammy: The Legal Services Commission is not able to provide the information in the format requested, as it does not differentiate between immigration and asylum cases.
The total cost of providing legal aid for immigration and asylum matters in England and Wales for each financial year since 1997–98 was as follows:
| Total cost | |
|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 35.2 |
| 1998–99 | 53.3 |
| 1999–2000 | 61.4 |
| 2000–01 | 81.1 |
| 2001–02 | 129.4 |
| 2002–03 | 176.2 |
| 2003–04 | 200.5 |
(18) Net cash
Records do not enable us to identify the point in the process at which funding was granted.
Policies (Environmental Impacts)
Mr. Horam: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many new policy proposals or significant changes in policy were produced in (a) 2002–03 and (b) 2003–04; how many of these were screened for their environmental impacts; and how many were the subject of separate environmental appraisals. [185098]
Mr. Leslie: It is not possible to give figures for the number of new policy proposals or significant changes in policy that were produced in the two periods in question without incurring disproportionate cost.
A Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) was required for all policy proposals or significant changes in policy produced in 2002–03 and 2003–04, which were likely to have a direct or indirect impact on business, charities and the voluntary sector. In accordance with Cabinet Office guidance, the RIA covered the full range of potential impacts on stakeholders—including environmental impacts where relevant.
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