| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
16 Jan 2006 : Column 1047W—continued
Stakeholder Pensions
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of stakeholder pensions. [41871]
Mr. Timms: Stakeholder pensions were introduced to provide a good value pension option for moderate earners who do not have access to an occupational pension scheme or to a cost effective personal pension plan. Figures from HM Revenue and Customs for the 2003–04 tax year, the latest available, show that around two-thirds of stakeholder pensions sales have been to people in work earning less than £20,000 a year.
Figures from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) show that at 30 September 2005 2,622,160 stakeholder pensions had been sold since their introduction in April 2001.
The impact of stakeholder pensions on saving for retirement may extend beyond their sales alone. There is evidence that annual management charges for other personal pensions fell by around a third between 1999 and 2001, to around the 1 per cent. level of stakeholder
16 Jan 2006 : Column 1048W
pension charges, suggesting that the stakeholder pension initiative has benefited the personal pension market as a whole.
Winter Fuel Payments
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what discussions he has had with representatives of people of pensionable age on increasing the winter fuel payment in line with fuel prices. [40524]
Mr. Timms: The Department has had no such discussions. The winter fuel payment is intended to be a significant contribution towards fuel costs and has risen above the level of inflation from £20 in winter 1997–98 to £200 from winter 2000–01 and to £300 for those aged 80 or over from winter 2003–04. We have no plans to increase the winter fuel payment.
CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS
Bail Requests
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many police requests for denial of bail were received by Northamptonshire magistrates in the last year for which figures are available; and how many such requests were turned down. [38099]
Fiona Mactaggart: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested is not available. The Court Proceedings Database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform does not hold information on police requests for denial of bail.
Child Maintenance
Mr. Laws: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs in how many cases of separation where children are involved consent orders have been set by the courts on the level of child maintenance to be paid in each of the last 10 years. [40470]
Ms Harman: This information cannot be provided without incurring disproportionate cost.
Civil Servants
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many and what proportion of each Civil Service grade in her Department is located in each (a) region and (b) nation of the UK; what the average salary is for each grade; and if she will make a statement. [35915]
Ms Harman:
My hon. Friend, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Cabinet Office will write to the hon. Member with details for the civil service of the percentage of staff in post by region and grade responsibility and the median salary of staff in post by region and grade responsibility as at 1 April 2004. Copies of his letter will be placed in the Library.
16 Jan 2006 : Column 1049W
Correspondence
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs when the Secretary of State will reply to the letter dated 22 November 2005 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton, with regard to Mrs. S. Ali. [41839]
Ms Harman: The Secretary of State and Lord Chancellor wrote to the hon. Member on 21 December in response to his letter of 22 November.
Court House (Colchester)
Bob Russell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will make a statementon proposals to build a new court house at Colchester. [41479]
Ms Harman: The Essex magistrates court scheme, of which Colchester is part, continues to be within the programme of new court projects. However, my Department is still finalising investment plans, as part of the development of a Business and Estates Strategy for Her Majesty's Court Service. A further announcement will be made once spending plans have been agreed with Treasury. As part of our continuing commitment to the Essex magistrates court scheme, we are currently in the process of purchasing a site for the new courthouse in Colchester. The purchase is expected to be completed by the end of March 2006.
Criminal Justice (Statistics)
Judy Mallaber: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what assessment she has made of the requirement to collect data on women and the criminal justice system to enable criminal justice bodies to monitor the impact of policies on women under the proposed gender equality duty in the Equality Bill. [38370]
Fiona Mactaggart: I have been asked to reply.
The Office for Criminal Justice Reform is monitoring the passage of the Equality Bill and the duties it will place on criminal justice bodies, including the impact of policies on women. We will take forward our obligations once the regulations have been laid later this year.
Crown Court Hearings
Mr. Bone: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many Crown court hearings were (a) held and (b) scheduled and then subsequently postponed in (i) England and Wales and (ii) Northamptonshire in each year since 1997. [41056]
Ms Harman: Figures relating to how many Crown court hearings were (a) held and (b) scheduled and then subsequently postponed in (i) England and Wales and (ii) Northamptonshire in each year since 1997, can be found in the tables.
The figures in the following table show the number of hearings arranged, those which took place, and those which were removed from the list before the hearing date.
16 Jan 2006 : Column 1050W
Departmental Expenditure
Mr. Weir: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how much was spent on external consultants and advisers by (a) her Department, (b) each (i) non-departmental public body and (ii) executive agency for which her Department is responsible and (c) each independent statutory body, organisation and body financially sponsored by her Department in each year since May 1997. [39083]
Ms Harman: Since its inception in June 2003, my Department has used consultants to support its wide-ranging and fast-paced programme of modernisation and change, to increase efficiency, provide better customer service, and value for money for the taxpayer.
Information on consultancy expenditure is not held centrally, and is collected once a year for the previous financial year from the Department, its Executive agencies and NDPB's.
The exercise relating to expenditure in 2004–05 is under way, and on completion details will be sent to the hon. Member.
Expenditure with consultants in year 2003–04 was as follows:
| £ | |
|---|---|
| (a) DCA and Court Service | 9,016,488 |
| (b) (i) Legal Services Commission | 319,800 |
| Information Commissioner | 417,429 |
| (ii) Public Guardianship Office | 766,200 |
| Court Service | (56)— |
(56)Included in DCA figure.
(c) Information on expenditure by independent statutory bodies is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost
16 Jan 2006 : Column 1051W
Mr. Spellar: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how much her Department spent on bottled water in 2004–05. [40341]
Ms Harman: My Department has a contract for the provision of chilled water and water coolers. The cost of this contract in 2004–05 was £16,734.00 but this is solely for mains fed water machines. Bottled water is occasionally supplied by our caterers for meetings; it isnot possible to separate the cost of this from overall refreshment costs.
This answer relates solely to the Department for Constitutional Affairs, HQ Estate and not to Her Majesty's Court Service, related agencies or NDPB's as to gather this information would incur a disproportionate cost.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |