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25 Oct 2005 : Column 362W—continued

Marked Electoral Registers

Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs pursuant to the answer of 23 May 2005, Official Report, column 38W, on marked registers, whether VAT is payable on the charges listed. [17466]

Dawn Primarolo: I have been asked to reply.

I understand that VAT is currently being charged on the fees payable for accessing marked registers. HMRC are currently discussing the matter with the Department for Constitutional Affairs.

Volunteering

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many volunteering positions her Department has offered in each of the last five years. [17867]

Bridget Prentice: The main routes through which my Department has the greatest contact with the voluntary and community sector are through the appointment of magistrates and via the DCA's main non-departmental public body, the Legal Services Commission and their role in administering legal aid. In terms of annual appointments, 1,766 magistrates were appointed year ending March 2005. In the previous years the appointments were 1,768 (2004), 1,623 (2003), 1,447 (2002), 1,618 (2001).

My Department and the Legal Services Commission jointly provide funding of £200,000 p.a. to the LawWorks volunteering project. In its first three-year phase the project created over 2,000 volunteering opportunities in law clinics, provided training sessions in key areas of law for those volunteering and developed on line advice provision.

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