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Data Protection

John Hemming: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will increase individuals' rights under the Data Protection Act 1998. [30686]

Ms Harman: The Data Protection Act 1998, which accurately reflects the requirements of the Data Protection Directive (Directive 95/46/EC), puts in place a firm regulatory structure to ensure the legitimate processing of individuals' personal data. It provides substantial rights for individuals in respect of their personal data, including the right of subject access, the right to prevent processing likely to cause damage or distress, the right to prevent processing for the purposes of direct marketing, rights in relation to automated decision-making, compensation for failure to comply with certain of the Act's requirements, and the right to have data rectified, blocked, erased or otherwise destroyed in certain circumstances. The Freedom of Information Act 2000 also extended individuals' right of subject access, in respect of all public authorities, to include a much wider range of non-computerised records. We currently have no plans to review the Act.
 
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John Hemming: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the (a) number and (b) average size of awards by the courts for compensation for breaches of the Data Protection Act 1998 was in the last year for which figures are available. [30687]

Ms Harman: The information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Salaries

Mike Penning: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will list the 10 highest-paid employees in her Department, broken down by (a) job title and (b) salary including bonuses; and whether the individual concerned is (i) a civil servant and (ii) a contractor in each case. [27574]

Bridget Prentice: It is not possible to provide the information in the way requested without revealing the identity of those concerned. I can, however, confirm that the eight highest paid senior civil service staff in the DCA and its agencies earn in excess of £120,000, as follows:

Salary range	Number of staff
£120,000 to £129,999	4
£130,000 to £139,000	1
£140,000 to £149,999	1
£150,000 to £159,999	2

Bonus payments in addition this year for these employees have ranged from nothing to £14,000.

All of these salaries are contained within the senior civil service pay ranges and paid in accordance with the arrangements for civil service reward, details of which can be found at http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/index.asp.

The two other highest paid employees in the DCA are specialists employed on a fee paid basis for particular projects whose daily remuneration is £800 and £2,100 retrospectively.

Departmental Spending

David T.C. Davies: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how much the Department spent on items of art in 2004–05. [23477]

Bridget Prentice: My Department has not incurred any expenditure on items of art in 2004–05. This will be confirmed once the Department's resource accounts are published.

EU Citizen Franchise

Mr. Bone: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many citizens of EU member states other than the UK exercised their right under Article 19 of the Treaty Establishing the European Community to vote at the last European, parliamentary and local elections within the United Kingdom. [31071]

 
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Ms Harman: No record is kept of categories of electors who cast votes in UK elections based upon nationality. Elections are conducted on the basis of the relevant electoral register which does not identify the nationality of electors. Whilst there is no definitive data on turnout among electors of different national groups, the Office for National Statistics compiles and publishes each year the annual register of those entitled to vote in elections in the UK. Resident citizens of the Irish Republic or of other EU States like Cyprus and Malta that are also members of the Commonwealth are included indistinguishably with British citizens in the register of parliamentary electors. The register of local electors reveals that as of 1 December 2003 the number of citizens of other EU states who were eligible to vote in June 2004 at local elections in Great Britain was 407,145. No separate record is kept of such EU citizens who have opted to vote in the UK rather than in the state of which they are nationals at European parliamentary elections.

Freedom of Information Act

Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs pursuant to the answer of 13 October 2005, Official Report, column 593W, on the Freedom of Information Act, what guidance has been produced on the status of non-judicial inquiries not established under the Inquiries Act 2005 as public authorities under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. [23636]

Ms Harman: My Department has not produced specific guidance on the status of non-judicial inquiries not established under the Inquiries Act as public authorities under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

My Department has produced general guidance on coverage of the Act, which is publicly available on our website. It is not possible to produce specific guidance on the coverage of non-judicial inquiries not established under the Inquiries Act as they will be established in a number of different ways.

It is possible that most non-judicial inquiries will not be public authorities or part of other public authorities and so not covered by the Act. However, once an inquiry has been completed, its records are generally held by a public authority, such as a Government Department or the National Archives and become subject to the Act.

Human Rights Act

Mr. Cash: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs in what circumstances she would propose amendments to the Human Rights Act 1998. [32379]

Ms Harman: It is necessary from time to time to make amendments to the Human Rights Act 1998 consequential upon new legislation. For example, if the United Kingdom becomes party to any further Protocols of the European Convention on Human Rights, it may also be desirable to amend the Human Rights Act to append any new substantive rights to those listed in Schedule 1 of the Act. Otherwise, I do not intend to propose any amendments to the Human Rights Act at this time.
 
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IT Projects

Dr. Cable: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many of the IT projects costing over £1 million in use in her Department and introduced since 1997 have been scrutinised by the Public Accounts Committee; and if she will list them. [26608]

Ms Harman: The only IT project costing over £1 million in use in her Department and introduced since 1997 which has been scrutinised by the Public Accounts Committee is Libra, which supplies modern IT services and infrastructure for the magistrates courts.

Dr. Cable: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many IT projects which cost over £1 million and were introduced since 1997 are in use in her Department. [26609]

Ms Harman: For my Department, expenditure on IT Projects in excess of £1 million since 1997 is contained within three separate contracts, namely LOCCS, the Libra contract and ARAMIS.

LOCCS refers to Local County Court Systems which provide operational IT systems to Her Majesty's Court Service.

Libra provides case management and Office Automation to magistrates courts, and it will deliver a standardised IT system.

ARAMIS is the Accounting Resource and Management Information System which provides accounting, financial, HR/payroll and management information services to the Department.

Legal Aid

Susan Kramer: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many solicitors in Richmond-upon-Thames borough and the Royal borough of Kingston-upon-Thames provide legal aid services for (a) housing, (b) social welfare, (c) mental health, (d) employment, (e) family and (f) criminal defence; and if she will make a statement. [31439]

Bridget Prentice: The Legal Services Commission contracts with suppliers throughout England and Wales to provide a range of legal and advice services across different categories of law.

The following numbers of contracted suppliers currently undertake legal aid work in Richmond-upon-Thames borough and the Royal borough of Kingston-upon-Thames:

	Richmond-upon-Thames	Kingston-upon-Thames
Housing	5	7
Social Welfare(56)	5	7
Mental Health	5	6
Employment	5	7
Family	1	3
Criminal defence	3	3

⁽⁵⁶⁾'Social Welfare' includes the contract categories 'Debt', 'Welfare Benefits' and 'Community Care'.



 
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The Commission does not hold information about the number of solicitors employed in each office. Solicitors located in other areas may regularly undertake legal aid work in Richmond-upon-Thames and Kingston-upon-Thames.

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