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Written Answers to Questions

Friday 21 October 2005

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Domestic Violence

Ms Dari Taylor: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what monitoring is undertaken of the handling by the courts of domestic violence cases. [19497]

Bridget Prentice: Responsibility for inspection of court administration and for CAFCASS passed to the new HM Inspectorate of Court Administration in April 2005.

Following a thematic review of the handling of domestic violence issues by CAFCASS and the administration of family courts, the Inspectorate published its report "Domestic Violence, Safety and Family Proceedings" on 11 October 2005.

My Department posted its "Overall Response" on the HM Courts Service website and is finalising a detailed Action Plan. The primary aim of the Action Plan is to ensure that HMCS procedures reflect safety concerns, so that the experiences and fears of domestic violence survivors are recognised. We will achieve that by, among other things:

mapping, in consultation with key stakeholders, front-line court staff and the judiciary, current provision of information and special facilities and developing a strategy to ensure that vulnerable court users are properly informed of special facilities as early as possible in their case;

reviewing health and safety policies and risk assessment procedures for all courts to ensure appropriate safety measures are taken to protect vulnerable parties as well as staff and judiciary;

reviewing staff training to include awareness-raising of domestic violence to equip staff to deal appropriately with vulnerable victims and witnesses.

A copy of the report have been placed in the Library of both Houses.
 
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Electoral Register

Lynda Waltho: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will place a duty on electoral registration officers to have a complete register. [18481]

Ms Harman: The Electoral Administration Bill, introduced on 11 October, includes a new duty on electoral registration officers to take all necessary steps to ensure comprehensive registers. Those steps include the following specific measures:

(a) Sending the canvass form more than once to any address;

(b) Making house to house inquires on more than one occasion;

(c) Making contact by such other means as the registration officer thinks appropriate with persons who do not have an entry in a register;

(d) Inspecting any records held by any person which the registration officer is permitted to inspect; and

(e) Providing training to others carrying out the duty.

Electoral System

Keith Vaz: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what performance standards the Government will put in place on (a) security of and (b) access to the electoral system. [19596]

Ms Harman: The Electoral Administration Bill, introduced on 11 October 2005, makes provision for the Electoral Commission to set performance standards for electoral registration officers, returning officers and counting officers at a referendum. The Commission will be required to consult the Secretary of State and others when determining the standards to be set, and must lay a copy of the published standards before both Houses of Parliament.

Judicial Appointments

Keith Vaz: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many (a) district judges and (b) immigration judges are (i) Asian, (ii) black and (iii) women. [18946]

Ms Harman: The number of (a) district judges and (b) immigration judges who are (i) Asian, (ii) black and (iii) women can be found in the following tables. The number of judges in post who are of mixed or unknown ethnicity has also been included for clarity. The figures for district judges (which can also be found on the DCA website) and those for the immigration judges, have been obtained from the DCA Judicial Database.
District judges currently in post

Judicial post	Asian	Black	Mixed	Unknown	Female	Total number in post
District judge (civil)	5	0	4	30	79	417
District judge (family division)	0	0	0	1	8	18
District judge (magistrates courts)	3	0	1	2	27	129
Total	8	0	5	33	114	564

Immigration judges currently in post

Judicial post	Asian	Black	Mixed	Unknown	Female	Total number in post
President of tribunal	0	0	0	0	0	1
Deputy president	0	0	0	0	1	2
Senior immigration judge	2	2	0	0	9	34
Salaried immigration judge	4	6	3	2	38	123
Designated immigration judge	1	0	1	1	5	27
Fee paid immigration judge	18	12	5	10	116	388
Total	25	20	9	13	169	575

 
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Keith Vaz: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many persons applied for the post of Chairman of the Judicial Appointments Commission. [18947]

Ms Harman: 48 people applied for the post of Chairman of the Judicial Appointments Commission. The following table gives the gender and, where known, the ethnicity of the applicants.

	Applicants
Total number of applicants	48
Percentage
Male	58
Female	42
White	78
Asian	14
Chinese	2
Non-respondent/unknown	6

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will make a statement on the Department's progress in promoting judicial diversity. [18729]

Ms Harman: The Lord Chancellor launched the judicial diversity programme in March, following a public consultation. The programme focuses on three main areas: encouraging applications from and raising awareness among groups currently under-represented in the judiciary; removing barriers to appointment; and ensuring that the way the judicial office operates encourages a more diverse judiciary, for example, by increasing opportunities for flexible working.

On 13 July the Lord Chancellor announced his intention to legislate to widen eligibility to apply for judicial appointment and progress on other steps he was taking to increase diversity, 13 July 2005, Official Report, column 26WS. He will make a further announcement shortly.

Jury Service

Mr. Drew: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will bring forward proposals to remove the upper age bar on jury service. [19218]

Ms Harman: The Government agree with Lord Justice Auld's finding in his "Review of the Criminal Courts" that there is no compelling case for changing the present age limit of 70 for jury service.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what was the total cost of jurors' expenses in England between 2001 and 2005. [19318]

Ms Harman: Juror expenses which constituted loss of earnings allowance, travel and subsistence amounted to:
 
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	£
2001–02	33,785,360
2002–03	40,105,495
2003–04	38,742,968
2004–05	37,046,603

Polling Station Guidance

Lynda Waltho: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will provide guidance in polling stations in languages other than English. [18480]

Ms Harman: My Department introduced the Electoral Administration Bill on 11 October. It includes a clause aimed at improving access to voting for all by providing for guidance to voters at polling stations to be made in languages other than English and Welsh, as well as graphical representations.

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