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14 Mar 2005 : Column 102W—continued
Work-focused Interviews
Mr. Chope:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the target time is for the holding of a work-focused benefit interview following the initial claim by an individual for income support, incapacity benefit or job seeker's allowance; and what the average time between the initial call and the interview being conducted was at the job centres in (a) Blandford,
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(b) Bridport, (c) Christchurch, (d) Poole and (e) Wareham in the most recent period for which figures are available. [212339]
Mr. Pond [holding answer 3 March 2005]: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, David Anderson. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from David Anderson to Mr. Christopher Chope, dated 14 March 2005:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about the target time for holding a Work Focused Interview (WFI) following an initial claim to Income Support, Incapacity Benefit or Jobseeker's Allowance, and the average time between the initial call and the interview being conducted at the Jobcentres in Blandford, Bridport, Christchurch, Poole, and Wareham. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Under Jobcentre Plus operations, a claim to Income Support, Incapacity Benefit or Jobseeker's Allowance usually starts with a telephone call to the Contact Centre. After obtaining initial details, Contact Centre staff call the customer back to obtain the necessary information to complete a claim to benefit. They also arrange an appointment for the customer to attend their local office to see both a Financial Assessor and a Personal Adviser.
At present Jobcentre Plus has separate targets for processing Jobseekers Allowance, Income Support and Incapacity Benefit. These are known as Actual Average Clearance Targets (AACT). The target for Jobseeker's Allowance is 12 days from the first contact with the Contact Centre and the processing of the claim. For Income Support the target is again 12 days however this commences from when a customer has provided all the necessary information to process the claim because Income Support claims are subject to the Evidence Requirement. Incapacity Benefit claims have a target of 22 days from the date of claim to the date of processing. The WFI stage is a component part of the process.
There is no current target for the holding of a WFI following the initial claim to benefit although it is our aim to conduct the interview within 5 days of initial contact. Unfortunately as there is no target the information you require on the performances of particular offices is not available.
As part of Jobcentre Plus' future performance measures, we are looking into the possibility of introducing an internal key performance indicator to measure the time between the customer's initial call and the WFI being conducted. This would be included in a suite of measures to manage the end to end process from when a customer makes contact with us to when they find work or are awarded benefit. A decision will be made on this later in the year.
CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS
Census Records
Mr. John Taylor: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether the Lord Chancellor has ever exercised a power or authority to apply Public Records Act Instrument No. 12 (1966) to decennial population census records for England and Wales that have been retained by the Registrar General and have not been deposited in the Public Record Office/National Archives. [221178]
Mr. Leslie:
Instrument number 12 was signed by the Lord Chancellor in exercise of the power conferred on him under section 5(1) of the Public Records Act 1958. This section governed access to public records in the Public Record Office, now The National Archives, including decennial population records held there.
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The Instrument did not cover those decennial census records held by the Registrar General, including those retained by him under section 3(4) of the Public Records Act 1958, and from which the disclosure of information is protected by the provisions of section 8(2) of the Census Act 1920.
Magistrates/County Courts
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many (a) magistrates and (b) county courts there have been in each of the last 20 years. [221406]
Mr. Leslie: (a) The provision of magistrates courthouses and the collection of statistics relating to the numbers of courthouses is a matter for each of the 42 Magistrates Courts Committees (MCCs). From 1 April 2005 Her Majesty's Court Service (HMCS) will take responsibility for the administration of all courts below the House of Lords. HMCS will be an executive agency of the Department of Constitutional Affairs (DCA). Since 2000, the DCA have collected the information in the table on the number of places used as magistrates courthouses:
| Number of magistrates courts(33) | |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 442 |
| 2001 | 413 |
| 2002 | 394 |
| 2003 | 390 |
| 2004 | 387 |
| 2005 | 387 |
(33)This includes occasional places used as courtrooms (e.g. where a town hall" is used).
(b) Data and information on the number of county courts in each of the last 20 years is not available. However, data since 1989 is provided as follows.
| Number of county courts | |
|---|---|
| 1989 | 292 |
| 1990 | 291 |
| 1991 | 291 |
| 1992 | 290 |
| 1993 | 283 |
| 1994 | 278 |
| 1995 | 262 |
| 1996 | 254 |
| 1997 | 241 |
| 1998 | 233 |
| 1999 | 227 |
| 2000 | 225 |
| 2001 | 221 |
| 2002 | 220 |
| 2003 | 218 |
| 2004 | 218 |
| 2005 | 218 |
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Hammond: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will list the projects being undertaken by his Department in respect of which information cannot be given in answer to parliamentary questions as a result of commercial confidentiality. [216632]
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Mr. Leslie: A decision not to release information relating to any project as a result of commercial confidentiality is made on the basis of the specific request made in each parliamentary question.
An assessment of commercial confidentiality may apply to specific element within a project as well as to an entire project. It is therefore not possible to provide the information requested.
Regional Offices
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs (1) what regional (a) bodies, (b) institutions, (c) taskforces, (d) panels, (e) offices and (f) organisations the Government have established since May 1997 which are the responsibility of his Department; [219910]
(2) which (a) non-departmental public bodies and (b) Executive agencies within the remit of his Department have regional offices based on the Government offices for the regions' regional structure; and when the regional offices were established in each case. [219915]
Mr. Lammy: The Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) is responsible for two organisations which have regional offices. The Legal Services Commission, a non-departmental public body, was established under the Access to Justice Act 1999, replacing the Legal Aid Board. From January 2000, it adjusted its regional boundaries so that in the main they matched those of the Government offices for the regions 1 regional structure in England. However, in addition to the North West (Manchester) Regional Office, they have a Merseyside Regional Office.
The Court Service is an Executive agency of the DCA, which from the 1 April 2005 will become part of a new agency, Her Majesty's Courts Service (HMCS). Both the current and future agencies are made up of seven regions, which match Government regions with the following exceptions. For business reasons, HMCS combines the following into single regions:
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