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21 Feb 2005 : Column 303W—continued
CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS
Children and Young People Action Plan
Charles Hendry: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the total costs of publishing the Involving Children and Young People Action Plan 2004–05 were; and what he estimates the total costs of implementing the plans set out in the document will be. [217208]
Mr. Leslie: The total cost of publishing the Involving Children and Young People Action Plan 2004–05 was £3,748.20. The total cost for implementing the plans set out in the Proposal section and the Appendices of the Action Plan could be supplied only at disproportionate cost. The DCA Schools Conference held in September 2004 cost £9,314.90.
Electoral Registration
Mr. Gale: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what steps his Department is taking to ensure that only the names of bona fide electors appear on the electoral register and are eligible and permitted to vote in any forthcoming general election. [216252]
Mr. Lammy: The annual canvass form which is sent to all households provides information about who is eligible to register. Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), who are responsible for compiling the electoral register as accurately as possible, may require a person applying to register to give additional information if they are in doubt as to whether that person is eligible to be registered. They may also refer to other records kept by the council or the registrar of births, marriages and deaths if they consider that further checks are necessary. It is an offence under the Representation of the People Regulations 2001 to fail to comply with a request for information from an ERO or to provide false or inaccurate information to a registration officer. The electoral register is available for public inspection which enables checks to be made that only eligible electors are on the register. It is an offence to register fraudulently as another person and also for a person who has so registered subsequently to vote in an election.
Equality of Opportunity
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether under the Equality Bill it will be the responsibility of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights to promote equality of opportunity regardless of religion and sexual orientation. [215294]
Ms Hewitt: I have been asked to reply.
The Commission for Equality and Human Rights will have the function of promoting equality, diversity and human rights generally, and will do so particularly in relation to religion or belief and sexual orientation as well as age, disability, gender (including reassigned gender) and race.
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Freedom of Information
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 were received by Government departments between 1 and 12 January; and how many (a) had been answered, (b) had been refused and (c) were still outstanding 20 working days from the date of receipt. [217121]
Mr. Lammy: The Department for Constitutional Affairs will be publishing full monitoring statistics of central Government's operation of the Freedom of Information Act in spring 2005.
The monitoring regime is published at: http://www.foi.gov.uk/map/gus-v4-appf.pdf. It does not require Government departments to provide statistics broken down into specific time periods. Consequently, the information requested is not immediately available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
However, given the public interest in the volume and handling of Freedom of Information requests, the following figures are available for the Department for Constitutional Affairs.
The Department for Constitutional Affairs received 106 requests between 1 January and 12 January. Of these:
(c) 12 were still outstanding 20 working days from the date of receipt (including nine cases extended in accordance with section 10(3) of the Act).
Judicial Studies Board
Vera Baird: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will make a statement on the training programme of the Judicial Studies Board (JSB) in relation to section 101 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003; how many judges were trained by (a) 15 January and (b) 15 February; and how many judges he anticipates will have been trained by 15 March or the conclusion of the JSB training programme, whichever is the later. [216791]
Mr. Lammy:
The Judicial Studies Board (JSB) has developed a training package to support the implementation of the Criminal Justice Reforms, which include the Criminal Justice Act 2003, the Courts Act 2003 and the Sexual Offences Act 2003. The core of the programme is a series of two-day residential seminars held during the period January to March 2005 to which all judges exercising the criminal jurisdiction have been invited. The training package also includes seminar and distance learning materials in hard copy and electronic format. Section 101 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 forms a significant element of the seminars and training materials. All criminal judges were issued with written materials on the provisions of Section 101 before their implementation in December 2004, which are available on the JSB's website at www.jsboard.co.uk. Numbers of judges trained in the CJR programme are: (a) 268; (b) 1,146. It is anticipated that 2,212 judges will have been trained by the completion of the seminars on 23 March 2005.
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Departmental Costs
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how much has been spent on (a) the provision of parking spaces for civil servants and (b) parking tickets and penalties incurred by civil servants in the Department and its predecessors in each year since 1997. [213837]
Mr. Lammy: The cost of parking spaces for civil servants is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Civil servants are personally responsible for meeting the cost of parking tickets and penalties and therefore, there is no cost to the Department.
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how much has been spent on postage by the Department and its predecessors in each year since 1997. [215026]
Mr. Lammy: Total postage cost for the Department, which covers costs for the Court Service, the Public Guardianship Office and DCA Headquarters, was £7.7 million in 1998–99, £7.2 million in 1999–2000, £7.6 million in 2000–01, £5.8 million in 2001–02, £7.6 million in 2002–03, £7.3 million in 2003–04 and £6.0 million in 2004–05 (to 31 December).
These figures cover cost of distribution, postage, franking machines, IDX and DX. The Department has a general policy where all post is sent out second class unless it is stated otherwise.
Information on 1997–98 is not readily available.
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how much has been spent on (a) entertainment lunches involving civil servants and guests and (b) working lunches, in each year since 1997. [215043]
Mr. Lammy: It is not possible to list the entertainment costs spent by the Department broken down by (a) entertainment lunches involving civil servants and guests and (b) working lunches, in each year since 1997 without incurring disproportionate costs.
However, for overall expenditure on entertainment for the Department, I refer the hon. Gentleman to my previous answer on 10 January 2005, Official Report, column 118W.
Prince of Wales
Norman Baker: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether the Privy Council was consulted on the date for theproposed marriage between His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and Mrs. Camilla Parker Bowles; and if he will make a statement. [217192]
Mr. Leslie: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the min Minister today.
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