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CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Commencement of Legislation

Brian White: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what pieces of legislation passed in the last 30 years that the Department is responsible for remain to be brought into force, broken down by year of enactment. [195628]

Mr. Lammy: The information requested is as follows:

1985

Administration of Justice Act, sections 34 (in part) and 67 (in part); Schedules 7 (in part) and 8 (in part)

Representation of the People Act. Schedules 1 (in part) and 5 (in part)

1990

Contracts (Applicable Law) Act, sections 2 (in part) and 3 (in part) Courts and Legal Services Act, sections 13, 36 to 39, 41 to 52, 53 (in part), 54, 55, 63 (in part), 70 (in part), 81, 104 to 107 and 125 (in part); Schedules 6 to 9, 13, 17 (in part), 18 (in part) and 20 (in part)

1995

Civil Evidence Act, sections 10 and 16 (in part)

1996

Family Law Act, sections 2 to 15, 18 to 21, 23 to 25, 60, 64, 66 (in part); Schedules 1 to 3, 8 (in part), 9 (in part) and 10 (in part) 1998

Data Protection Act, section 56 (in part)

Statute Law (Repeals) Act, section 1 (in part); Schedule 1 (in part)

1999

Access to Justice Act, sections 28, 77, 80 and 106 (in part);

Schedule 15 (in part)

2000

Freedom of Information Act, sections 1, 2, 9 (in part), 10 (in part), 11, 12 (in part), 13 (in part), 14 to 17, 19 (in part), 21 to 44, 48 (in part), 50 to 66, 67 (in part), 68, 69 (in part), 70, 71, 73 (in part), 77, 86 (in part), Schedules 3 (in part), 4 (in part), 5 (in part), 6 (in part) and 8 (in part) Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act sections 6 (in part), 14 (in part), 16 (in part) and 17; Schedules 3, 21 (in part) and 22 (in part)

2002

Adoption and Children Act, sections 112 to 114

2003

Courts Act, sections 1 to 3, 5 to 41, 43 to 61, 65, 66 (in part), 75, 76, 79, 80, 85, 88 to 92, 98 (in part), 100, 101, 105 and 109 (in part), Schedules 3, 4, 8 (in part), 9 (in part), 10 (in part)

2004

Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc) Act, section 26

 
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Community Legal Services

Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what proportion of calls received by Community Legal Services in the last period for which figures are available were attributable to each of the areas of advice covered by the service. [198522]

Mr. Lammy: Since the launch of Community Legal Service Direct advisers have answered calls in the following proportions:

	Percentage
Debt	53
Welfare Benefits	24
Education	13
Employment	4
Housing	4

The remaining 2 per cent. of calls went to lines which take in more than one category of law, and so it is not possible to determine which category each call concerned.

Debt, Education and Welfare Benefits law advice is available across England and Wales. Housing and Employment advice is available only in selected regions at present.

Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many advisers work for Community Legal Service Direct. [198523]

Mr. Lammy: As at 11 November 2004, the total number of full-time equivalent advisers working for Community Legal Service Direct was 53.

Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many callers have been eligible for legal aid and have received free telephone advice since the launch of Community Legal Services Direct in July. [198524]

Mr. Lammy: For the period 1 July 2004 to 30 September 2004, 4,972 cases have been reported by Community Legal Service Direct advice contractors. Of these, 1,325 (27 per cent.) were matters for clients who passed an eligibility test for legal aid, whilst 489 (10 per cent.) were for clients shown to be ineligible.

Any caller to Community Legal Service Direct can receive up to 30 minutes of advice and/or help finding an alternative source of advice.

The majority of matters reported so far have been cases in which the eligibility of the client was not tested (3,159 or 63 per cent.) because the problem could be dealt within the 30 minute time frame.

Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many calls have been handled by telephone advisers since the launch of Community Legal Services Direct in July. [198526]

Mr. Lammy: As at 11 November 2004, the total number of calls answered by Community Legal Service Direct specialist advisers since the service was launched on 14 July was 15,142.
 
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Compensation Culture

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the evidential basis is for his statement on 10 November that there is a compensation culture in the UK; and if he will make a statement. [198411]

Mr. Lammy: The contents of the Government's statement reflected the evidence presented in the Better Regulation Task Force report "Better Routes to Redress", and the report's key finding that, despite widespread perceptions, it is a myth that society has suddenly become far more litigious and that claims for compensation are spiralling out of control. But the report also recognised that it is a damaging myth and it needs to be tackled. The Government's statement sets out how we intend to tackle it.

Departmental Advertising Costs

Charles Hendry: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the cost of (a) creative work, (b) media spend and (c) administration for his Department's advertising activity has been in each financial year since 1997–98, broken down by contractor. [197304]

Mr. Lammy: The Department for Constitutional Affairs was created in June 2003. Since its inception, my Department has conducted two advertising campaigns:

(i) poster advertising on buses to promote the recruitment of magistrates;

(ii) radio and press and ambient-media advertising targeting court fine defaulters (code-named Operation Payback 1 and 2)

Total spending on these campaigns was £966,000.

The creative and administration costs incurred by advertising agencies cannot be itemised separately as agencies do not charge separately for this work.

Similarly, my Department cannot separately identify its own administrative costs associated with advertising, as departmental administrative staff do not work exclusively on such campaigns.
Department for Constitutional Affairs advertising spend, 2003–04 to 2004–05

	Campaign	Contractor	Spend £
2003–04	Magistrates recruitment	Viacom Outdoor	342,000
	Fine defaulters	Barkers	230,000
2004–05	Magistrates recruitment	Viacom Outdoor	102,000
	Fine defaulters	Barkers	292,000
Total spend—		—	966,000

Departmental Events (Funding)

Charles Hendry: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will list the (a) conferences, (b) publications, (c) initiatives, (d) projects and (e) receptions organised by his Department which have received funding from outside commercial bodies since May 1997, broken down by (i) funding body and (ii) amount paid. [196601]

Mr. Lammy: The Government made a commitment to disclose details of individual amounts of sponsorship valued at more than £5,000 in Departmental Annual
 
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Reports. My Department's 2004 Annual Report was published on 30 April 2004. Copies are available in the Library of the House. However, no funding was received from outside commercial bodies for the threshold mentioned.

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