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18 Nov 2004 : Column 1708W—continued
Consultants
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Solicitor-General how many consultancy firms or companies have been retained by the Law Officers' Department since June 2001; what the projects are for which each has been retained; and what the total is of the fees paid or incurred in each case. [193413]
The Solicitor-General: Since June 2001, the Treasury Solicitor's Office, including the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers, has retained the services of 41 consultancy companies, firms or individual consultants at a cost of £2,915,469. Their services have covered the upgrading and development of IT for finance and accounting systems, development of Practice and Case Management System, document management, Legal Information on Line, database development and IT infrastructure and network development, security, firewall development and remote access; time recording and billing, electronic records management, IS and IT training; accommodation relocation advice; Human Resources development on pay and grading assessment, staff surveys, IiP and training; business processes review and continuity planning preparation for LEXCEL accreditation.
Since June 2001, HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate has retained the services of five consultants, at a cost of £46,040. Their services have covered the development of staff recording and analysis, business planning, analysis and advice on new casework management software, the development of service level agreement for support services and IiP assessment.
Since June 2001, the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers has retained the services of one consultant at a cost of £7,200 for analysis of financial management.
Since June 2001, the Serious Fraud Office has retained the services of 15 consultants at a cost of £1,865,000. Their services have covered development of electronic presentation of evidence, financial systems, strategic effectiveness, Human Resources, IT infrastructure and BS 7799 and GSI accreditation.
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The Crown Prosecution Service employs the services of consultants but does not hold central records of the individual number and cost of their retention. Details could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, five consultants have been used on a regular or continuous basis since June 2001 at a cost of £4,896,000. Their services have covered project management support for the Charging programme, Direct Communications with Victims project and No Witness, No Justice project; advice on provision of telephony services; advice on contracting, and project management support for the Compass IT system and on the diversity monitoring project.
Crown Prosecution Service (Pre-charging)
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Solicitor-General if she will make a statement on the Crown Prosecution Service's role in (a) collecting, (b) reviewing and (c) analysing data on which they bring prosecutions; and what measures are in place to ensure that the Crown Prosecution Service fulfils this role. [197444]
The Solicitor-General: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Mr. Dominic Grieve: To ask the Solicitor-General (1) what assessment she has made of the impact that the involvement of the Crown Prosecution Service in the decision on whether or not to charge a person with an offence has had on the number of charges brought; and if she will make a statement; [199148]
(2) what assessment she has made of the impact on the number of cases listed at magistrates' courts for a first hearing resulting from Crown Prosecution Service involvement in the pre-charging process at police stations. [199149]
The Solicitor-General: Crown Prosecution Service records indicate a gradual increase in the number and the proportion of decisions to charge a defendant over recent months. In April 2004, the CPS charged 1,436 defendants; 20.9 per cent. of all charging decisions made during the month. By October 2004, this had risen to 20,083 defendants or 54.7 per cent. of all charging decisions. Over the same period, the number of convictions in cases subject to a pre-charge decision has risen from 2,152 in April 2004 to 7,939 in October 2004.
The efficiencies gained through CPS involvement in the decision to charge frees up the police to re-direct their efforts to the investigation and detection of more crime. Furthermore, cases in which the pre-charge decision is to take no further action are gradually replaced by cases that proceed to charge.
CPS records include no indication of the number of cases listed at the magistrates' courts. However, they do show a rise in the number of guilty pleas entered at a first hearing in cases subject to a pre-charge decision, from 850 in April 2004 to 2,680 in October 2004.
The charging initiative aims to increase the number of charged cases which proceed to a conviction by improving the quality of those cases, and increasing capacity by removing the number of cases which have no realistic prospect of conviction.
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Departmental Estate
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Solicitor-General if she will list the properties occupied by (a) her Department and (b) its agencies in (i) 1997 and (ii) 2004, showing (A) for each and (B) in aggregate the area; and what in aggregate the annual rental value was. [196366]
The Solicitor-General: The properties occupied by the Law Officers' Departments and the information requested in relation to area are shown in the tables and annexes, which have been placed in the Library.
The Departments do not hold details of rental values and to identify these for each of the many properties would incur disproportionate cost.
Departmental Staff
Mr. Wilshire: To ask the Solicitor-General how many agency temporary staff have been working for the Law Officers' Departments in each of the last five years, excluding those working for agencies for which no data is kept centrally. [196061]
The Solicitor-General: The number of agency temporary staff working for the Treasury Solicitor's Department and Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers on a financial year basis is:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 82.9 |
| 2000–01 | 101.0 |
| 2001–02 | 138.7 |
| 2002–03 | 139.9 |
| 2003–04 | 130.3 |
Their policy is to employ agency staff for short periods for work on a specific task, to cover a vacant position pending substantive recruitment or where there is a need for specialist skills.
The number of agency temporary staff working for the Serious Fraud Office, on a calendar year basis from 2000 is shown in the following table. Central records were not maintained in 1999.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 80 |
| 2001 | 114 |
| 2002 | 82 |
| 2003 | 108 |
Their policy is to employ agency staff for short-term employee absence, temporary periods of high workload, to provide regional case support and to obtain specialist skills.
The Crown Prosecution Service does not maintain central records on the engagement of agency temporary staff over the last five years and to investigate further would incur disproportionate cost. Their policy is to allow agency temporary administrative staff to be
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employed to cover shortages due to short-term absence of substantive staff or as a result of a temporary increase in workload.
HM Crown Prosecution Service also does not maintain records of individual, engagement of agency staff and to investigate further would incur disproportionate cost. Such staff are mostly engaged on an ad hoc basis to cover specific short-term needs.
Freedom of Information Act
Mr. Randall: To ask the Solicitor-General what assessment she has made of the likely costs to the Law Officers' Departments in the first quarter of 2005 of compliance with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000; and if she will make a statement. [199080]
The Solicitor-General: In preparing for implementation of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Law Officers' Departments (LODs) have considered their experience of dealing with requests under the Code of Practice on Access to Government and the Data Protection Act.
Staff are being provided with training. The LODs have put in place processes for dealing promptly with requests. The costs and resource implications will be kept under review following implementation.
LODs' websites, are being developed to meet the requests for information by these means.
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