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Warships

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to replace (a) HMS Diligence when she is decommissioned in 2006 and (b) HMS Sir Belvedere in 2011. [190187]

Mr. Ingram: FA Diligence is currently programmed to remain in service until around the end of the decade. Studies are underway to look at options for maintaining the capability provided by RFA Diligence, but no decisions have been taken on a replacement. The capability provided by RFA Sir Bedivere will be met largely by the introduction of the Landing Ships Dock (Auxiliary); however, the need to replace some aspects of its capability is still under review, and no decisions have been made.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Antisocial Behaviour Orders

Mr. Lepper: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what monitoring takes place of the penalties imposed in respect of breaches of antisocial behaviour orders. [192387]

Mr. Leslie: The antisocial Behaviour Unit at the Home Office receives information annually on breach of antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) and disposals. Breach and disposal data up to December 2003 are anticipated to be available by the end of November.

On receipt of this data, the antisocial behaviour unit will analyse it in order to better understand how ASBOs are working and the types of disposals being issued. In undertaking this exercise the antisocial behaviour unit will have regard to wider Home Office priorities, such as prevention, sentencing and prisons.

Mr. Lepper: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many cases of breaches of antisocial behaviour orders have been heard by (a) Brighton and (b) Hove magistrates courts in each month since January 2003. [192389]

Mr. Leslie: Brighton and Hove magistrates courts have been amalgamated and operate as a single court.

Antisocial behaviour order (ASBO) breach data are compiled through a manual matching process (primarily using names and dates of birth) between those ASBOs reported to have been issued since 1 June 2000 and breaches reported on the Home Office Court
 
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Proceedings Database. (Prior to 1 June 2000 only data on numbers of ASBOs issued and refused were collected from police forces).

Since it takes several months for court proceedings data to be received by the Home Office, and then validated and corrected, the Research, Development and Statistics Directorate at the Home Office will be publishing statistics on breaches on an annual basis. Breach data for 2003 will be available in the late autumn.

Mr. Lepper: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many antisocial behaviour orders were issued in the Brighton and Hove city council area in each month since January 2003. [192390]

Mr. Leslie: The number of notifications reported to the Home Office of antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) issued by all courts, where restrictions imposed are specific to the Brighton and Hove city council area, from January 2003 to 31 March 2004, are set out in the following table. (No notifications of antisocial behaviour orders issued, where restrictions were imposed within the Brighton and Hove city council area, were received in the months of January, February, March, June and August 2003).

	Number
2003
April	1
May	3
July	3
September	1
October	2
November	4
December	1
2004
January	1
February	1
March	1

District Judges

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many Welsh-speaking criminal district judges there are on the Wales and Chester circuit. [192213]

Mr. Leslie: There are seven full-time district judges (magistrates courts) who sit in the area covered by the Wales and Chester circuit. Of these, two are able to hear cases in the Welsh language.

Court users in Wales have a statutory right to use Welsh in any legal proceedings in Wales. Appointments to all judicial offices are made on merit. My Department welcomes, however, applications from eligible Welsh-speaking lawyers for any judicial positions in Wales.

Freedom of Information Act

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many disclosures of information he estimates have been made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. [192408]

 
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Mr. Leslie: The Government remain fully committed to the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The Act is due to come into force on 1 January 2005, 11 months earlier than required. This means, however, that at this time no requests have yet been made under the Act.

Currently requests for information fall under the Open Government Code of Practice that the Freedom of Information Act 2000 will replace. The Monitoring Report for the Code of Practice in 2003 will be published in November of this year, while that of 2004 will be published in autumn 2005. These will set out the volume of requests that have been made under this regime over the last two years.

The handling of information requests under the Freedom of Information Act by central Government Departments will be monitored by the Department for Constitutional Affairs. We intend to publish an interim monitoring report on central Government's operation of the Freedom of Information Act in late 2005 and an annual monitoring report in 2006.

House of Lords Reform

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what Government policy is on reform of the House of Lords; and what the timescale is for its reform. [192709]

Mr. Leslie: The Government are determined to proceed with further reform of the House of Lords. It is important to consider its proper role and functions then to look at questions of composition. Policy will be developed in the context of the Labour party manifesto.

Ministerial Visits

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what official meetings the Lord Chancellor has had with the Lord Chief Justice during the past six months. [192698]

 
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Mr. Leslie: The Lord Chancellor has meetings and discussions with a wide range of organisations and individuals. As with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information (internal advice and discussion) on the grounds that it would harm the frankness and candour of internal discussion.

Supreme Court

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many letters he has received from members of the judiciary opposing plans for a Supreme Court; and if he will make a statement. [192652]

Mr. Leslie: Seventeen members of the judiciary, including a number retired from judicial office, indicated via their written responses to the Government's Consultation paper, "Constitutional Reform: a Supreme Court for the United Kingdom", that they opposed plans for a Supreme Court.

Eighteen members of the judiciary, including the Senior Law Lord, indicated that they supported or were not opposed to the proposals. A collective response in favour of the Supreme Court was also received from the Judges Council. All of the responses to the consultation paper can be viewed on the Department for Constitutional Affairs' website.

CABINET OFFICE

Civil Servants

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many civil servants her Department has employed in each main grade for each year since 1997. [189717]

Ruth Kelly: The number of staff employed in each grade in my Department for each year since 1997 is shown in the table. Numbers quoted are on a full-time equivalent basis as at 1 April each year. Detailed statistics are available from www.civil-service.gov.uk/statistics.
Cabinet Office staffing by grade responsibility including agencies Full-time equivalent, as at 1 April

Grade responsibility	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Non-Industrial Staff:
SCS Level	100	130	120	150	150	200	180	190
Grade 6	60	60	180	0	50	0	0	0
Grade 7	250	230	150	300	340	420	410	380
SEO Level	200	220	120	0	50	90	80	70
HEO Level	270	240	300	310	300	470	430	420
EO Level	400	410	410	350	380	420	380	360
AO Level	450	480	470	370	400	390	380	350
AA Level	250	180	200	160	160	110	120	110
Unreported	0	0	0	70	0	0	0	0
Total Non-Industrial Staff	1,980	1,950	1,950	1,710	1,840	2,100	1,980	1,880
Industrial	580	530	570	280	260	210	210	210
All Staff	2,570	2,480	2,510	1,980	2,100	2,300	2,190	2,090

 
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