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27 Jun 2005 : Column 1333W—continued
Court Ushers
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will undertake a consultation on a code of practice for coroners courts on services for court ushers, with particular reference to bereaved relatives. [6851]
Ms Harman: We plan to issue a White Paper and a draft coroner and death certification Bill during the first parliamentary session. Meanwhile as the charter takes effect, the Department is supporting a range of local initiatives aimed at improving the quality of support, and opportunity for participation, provided to bereaved people who currently have contact with the coroner system.
Criminal Cases
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what plans she has to reduce the cost of large criminal cases. [7254]
Bridget Prentice: We intend to set out our vision for the future of legal aid, outlining the Department's long-term strategy for reform, including work to control high cost criminal cases, and summarising the key findings of the Fundamental Legal Aid Review, in due course. In addition the Legal Services Commission has made a number of detailed reforms to the way it purchases services in high cost cases, including the introduction of individual case contracts to control expenditure.
Departmental Relocation
Mr. Gale: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many of her Department's posts (a) have been relocated and (b) are under consideration for relocation from London to the deprived areas of the South East. [6258]
Bridget Prentice: My Department is implementing the Lyons Review recommendations to relocate 200 posts out of London and the South East by 2010. This will not exclude consideration of relocating some posts to relatively deprived areas in the South East. So far my Department has not identified any posts suitable for transfer to deprived areas in the South East.
Entry Clearance Appeals
Keith Vaz:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many appeals against the
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refusal of entry clearance to the UK have (a) been submitted, (b) been acknowledged to the applicant and (c) received an appeal date since 4th April. [6442]
Bridget Prentice: Following the recent commencement of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT) on 4 April 2005, and the required changes to its electronic records database, the information requested is not currently available, and could not be produced without incurring disproportionate costs. The AIT aims to process all appeal receipts arising from a refusal of entry clearance decision within five business days. Notification of the appeal's receipt will be forwarded to the appeal parties as soon as is practicable thereafter.
Keith Vaz: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many appeals against the refusal of entry clearance to (a) the Immigration Appellate Authority and (b) the Immigration Appeals Tribunal, (i) were submitted, (ii) were acknowledged to the applicant and (iii) received an appeal date in each year since 1995. [6443]
Bridget Prentice: Following the recent commencement of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT) on 4 April 2005, and the changes required to its electronic records database, the information requested is not currently available and could not be produced without incurring disproportionate costs. Prior to the AIT, the Immigration Appellate Authority (IAA), and the Immigration Appeals Tribunal (IAT) did not differentiate between different categories of immigration appeal. The available data for the IAA and the IAT, for the calendar years 1997 to 2004, show the number of immigration appeals received, and decided, as follows:
Keith Vaz: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many cases of appeals against the refusal of entry clearance to the UK made in 1995 remain to be concluded. [6444]
Bridget Prentice: Following the recent commencement of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT) on 4 April 2005, and the required changes to its electronic records database, the information requested is not currently available, and could not be produced without incurring disproportionate costs.
Keith Vaz:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the Department's current estimate is of the average length of time an
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applicant appealing against the refusal of entry clearance to the UK waits for (a) a date for an appeal hearing and (b) an appeal hearing. [6445]
Bridget Prentice: The Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT) aims initially to process all out-of-country immigration appeal receipts within five business days. Where such an appeal arises from a refusal of entry clearance, served prior to 4 April 2005, the appeal is listed for a hearing date approximately six weeks from the AIT taking receipt of the appeal.
Where the appeal arises from a refusal of entry clearance, served on the appellant on or after 4 April 2005, the AIT notifies receipt of the appeal to the parties within five business days. The AIT will list these appeals for a hearing date once it has taken receipt of the respondent's bundle of appeal documents. The appeal is then listed for a hearing date four to six weeks from receipt of the bundle.
Due to recent changes to the AIT electronic database, as part of its implementation, the average time to a hearing is not currently available and could not be provided without incurring disproportionate costs.
Honours
Mr. Pope: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many officials currently in the Department received honours in the recent Queen's birthday honours list; and at what rank of honour. [5122]
Ms Harman: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on 22 June 2005, Official Report, column 1059W.
Legal Aid/Salaries
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what percentage of solicitors' firms ceased performance of their criminal legal aid contracts before the expiry of the contract's term. [7253]
Bridget Prentice: There are 2,648 current contracts for criminal defence services.
490 of these contracts are for work in London having being issued on 31 July 2004, and are due to expire on 31 December 2005.
2,159 contracts were issued for work outside London on 31 July 2004, and are due to expire on 31 March 2007.
Of the 2,648 active national contracts, 3.9 per cent. (104 contracts) were terminated before the expiry of the contracts' term.
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what checks have been undertaken to ensure that the criminal legal aid budget is sufficient to meet human rights requirements. [7255]
Bridget Prentice:
We constantly review our forecasts for both civil and criminal legal aid and take any action necessary to fully fund all those cases which require legal aid from within the Department's Delegated Expenditure Limit (DEL). No individual who satisfied the interests of justice test could be denied legal aid.
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Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what plans she has to increase the criminal legal aid budget. [7256]
Bridget Prentice: The resource expenditure for the Criminal Defence Service (CDS) for 2004–05 was £1.151 billion (subject to end of year audit). The projected expenditure for 2005–06 is £1.211 billion.
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many law firms competed for each civil legal aid contract, on average, in each of the last 10 years, broken down by region. [7424]
Bridget Prentice: There are no competitive tendering for civil legal aid contracts. In the most recent bid round in 2003, approximately 90 per cent. of existing contracted solicitors re-bid for their contract, with the other 10 per cent. being let to solicitors firms moving into new categories of law or who were new to legal aid and not-for-profit agencies.
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will make a statement on the progress of competitive tendering for civil legal aid contracts. [7425]
Bridget Prentice: We do not have any plans to introduce competitive tendering for civil legal aid contracts.
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what estimate she has made of the average salary of (a) a barrister in first tenancy, (b) a one-year qualified barrister, (c) a trainee solicitor, (d) a newly-qualified solicitor and (e) a one-year qualified solicitor conducting criminal legal aid work in each of the last 10 years, broken down by region. [6593]
Bridget Prentice: The Bar Council does not hold information centrally about the earnings of barristers in their first tenancy or those who have been qualified for one year. This information is difficult to collect since barristers are not salaried, they are self-employed and their earnings will depend on where they work and the work they carry out. Many junior barristers will have a varied caseload that can include civil and criminal work. The Bar is considering the possibility of collecting such data.
The Law Society has provided some information about the average earnings of solicitors generally. Figures for average salaries earned from criminal work are not collated separately. In 2004, the average salary of a solicitor in the first year of their training contract was £20,013 and the average salary for newly qualified solicitors was £32,139. The figure of £32,139 is however based on a survey with small sample sizes. Solicitors' earnings are generally dependent on the grade they operate at, the size and location of the firm.
There is a minimum starting salary for trainee solicitors recommended by the Council of the Law Society. The 2004 minimum figure is set at £15,900 for Central London and £14,200 for Outer London and the rest of England and Wales.
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