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Legal Aid

Tom Cox: To ask the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the total cost of legal aid awards within the Greater London area has been in each of the last five years. [203611]

 
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Mr. Lammy: The figures presented here are estimates of legal aid expenditure within Greater London based on the geographical location of courts and offices administering and paying legal aid in the area.
£ million

	Amount
2003–04	705
2002–03	640
2001–02	584
2000–01(32)	522

⁽³²⁾ The figure for 2000–01 does not include residual costs paid to legal aid suppliers for criminal matters who did not subsequently enter into a contract when contracts were introduced.

Estimates for 1999–2000 have not been included as the Legal Services Commission's system for payments underwent a significant change when they introduced contracting in 2000 and comparable estimates can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Mental Capacity Bill

Dr. Iddon: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs when he intends to respond to the Joint Committee on Human Rights' reports on the Mental Capacity Bill, with particular reference to the questions in appendix 1 of the Twenty-Third Report of session 2003–04. [206267]

Mr. Lammy: The Government's response will be available on my Department's website as soon as possible.

The response covers a wide range of issues, including advance decisions. I announced on 14 December that the Government would amend the Mental Capacity Bill to require advance decisions on life sustaining treatment to be written and witnessed.

Parliamentary Questions

Dr. Cable: To ask the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what target his Department sets for the maximum acceptable time to respond in full to a parliamentary question; and what percentage of answers given by his Department failed to meet this target in each parliamentary session from 1997–98 to 2003–04. [202553]

Mr. Lammy: My Department aims to ensure that Members receive a substantive response to their Named Day question on the named day and endeavour to answer Ordinary Written questions within a working week of being tabled. Unfortunately, this is not always possible but my Department makes every effort to achieve these time scales.

We are unable to give accurate figures in each parliamentary session from 1997–98 to 2002–03 without incurring disproportionate cost. In the 2003–04 session, 62 per cent. of parliamentary questions (PQs), including Named Day, were answered within these time scales and 100 per cent. of PQs were answered by the end of the session.
 
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Senior Women

Keith Vaz: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many women there are in senior positions in his Department. [205566]

Mr. Lammy: The Cabinet Office collects and publishes annually statistical information on the civil service by Department. This includes data on the number of women in senior positions in Departments.

The latest available information as at April 2004 is available in the Library and on the civil service website at the following address: http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/management_information/statistical_information/statistics/publications/xls/gender apr04 4nov04.xls

Official Documents

Norman Baker: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will list the criteria used to decide which documents and files should be shredded; and what mechanism exists to ensure that documents and files are not destroyed for other reasons. [202105]

Mr. Leslie: The Department for Constitutional Affairs keeps records for as long as they are needed for administrative and business purposes. Records of enduring historical value are selected for permanent preservation under the guidance and supervision of the National Archives on the basis of guidelines which are published on the National Archives website at: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/recordsmanagement/advice/

Special Advisers

Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether departmental special advisers have written to external (a) bodies and (b) individuals in their official capacity since May 1997. [204291]

Mr. Lammy: All special advisers' contacts with external bodies and organisations are undertaken in accordance with the requirements of the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers.

Working Time Regulations

Mr. Brady: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many officials working in ministerial private offices in the Department have worked more than a 48 hour week at any time in the last 12 months for which figures are available; how many of those had signed a waiver under working time regulations; and what percentage these figures represented of the total in each case. [204149]

Mr. Lammy: The number of ministerial private office staff in the Department for Constitutional Affairs who have worked more than a 48 hour week at any time in the last 12 months is 44, and of these 100 per cent. have signed an opt out agreement.
 
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SCOTLAND

Christmas Cards

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many hours of staff time were taken up in preparation of Christmas cards in 2004. [205150]

Mrs. McGuire: The information requested is not available because the preparation of Christmas cards is a routine administrative task in which the minimal staff time involved is not recorded.

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many departmental staff have responsibility for preparing Christmas cards. [205151]

Mrs. McGuire: The preparation of Christmas cards in the Scotland Office is co-ordinated by one member of staff for whom it is one of a number of routine duties.

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what percentage of official departmental Christmas cards included a contribution to charity in their cost; and which charities benefited from such a contribution. [205152]

Mrs. McGuire: The cost of the Scotland Office 2004 Christmas card does not include a contribution to any charity.

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the cost of postage was for official departmental Christmas cards in (a) 2003 and (b) 2004. [205153]

Mrs. McGuire: The postage costs for official Christmas cards issued by the Scotland Office and the Offices of the Advocate General were (a) £164 in 2003 and (b) £182 in 2004.

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the cost was of purchasing official departmental Christmas cards in (a) 2003 and (b) 2004. [205154]

Mrs. McGuire: The purchase of official Christmas cards for the Scotland Office and the Offices of the Advocate General cost (a) £679 in 2003 and (b) £687 in 2004.

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many official Christmas cards were sent out by his Department in (a) 2003 and (b) 2004. [205155]

Mrs. McGuire: The Scotland Office and the Offices of the Advocate General issued (a) 820 official Christmas cards in 2003 and (b) 865 such cards in 2004.

Engagements

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list his official engagements over the last six months; who was present at each meeting; what the (a) date and (b) location was of each meeting; what issues were discussed; and what plans he has to establish a public register of such information. [202399]

Mrs. McGuire: Ministers meet many individuals and organisations and attend many functions relating to Government business and as part of the process of policy development. To provide the detailed information requested would incur disproportionate
 
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cost. The daily on-the-record briefing by the Prime Minister's official spokesman regularly provides details of Ministers' public engagements.

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