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Correspondence

Mr. Amess: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many (a) letters from hon. Members, (b) letters from members of the public and (c) parliamentary questions from (i) hon. Members and (ii) Lords were dealt with by her Department in each year since 1995; in respect of what percentage her Department took (A) more than one month and (B) more than three months to provide a substantive answer; and if she will make a statement. [37411]

Bridget Prentice: The figures, in so far as I am able to provide them, are contained in the following table. I am unable to provide percentage figures for those letters and parliamentary questions that have taken more than one month and more than three months to answer as this information is not collected and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

My Department endeavours to provide prompt, comprehensive and helpful replies to all correspondence, whether from hon. Members or members of the public, and within the targets it sets for itself; and, where possible, to parliamentary questions within parliamentary deadlines.

The Cabinet Office, on an annual basis, publishes a report to Parliament on the performance of Departments in replying to Members/Peers correspondence. The publication of the report for 2004 was announced on 6 April 2005, Official Report, columns 137–40WS. This and reports for earlier years are available in the Libraries of both Houses.

In 2004 my Department began publishing details of its performance on correspondence from members of the public. A copy of the report is available in the Libraries of both Houses.

	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Letters received from hon. Members	4,641	2,876	2,458	2,672	2,038	1,844	1,737	2,577	2,746	3,416	3,179
Percentage of letters from hon. Members answered within 20 working days	81	68	76	82	82	76	74	54	49	64	92
Letters received from members of the public	—	—	—	—	5,961	6,508	6,766	6,505	7,790	11,933	4,846
Percentage of letters from members of the public answered within 15 working days	—	—	—	—	69	61	72	87	85	76	81

Courts Act 2003

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many people convicted of offences have (a) failed to furnish a statement of their financial circumstances in response to an official request and (b) been prosecuted for failing to do so under section 95 of the Courts Act 2003 in the last two years. [47531]

Ms Harman: The information is as follows.

(a) Information on the non-provision of means information by offenders is not collected centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

(b) To date, no offenders have been prosecuted for failure to provide means information under section 95 of the Courts Act 2003.

Data Sharing

Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether the technical specifications for the co-ordinated Online Record of Electors will allow two-way data-sharing with the proposed identity cards database. [43540]

Ms Harman: The technical specifications for CORE will be drafted in the light of responses to the current consultation paper on providing national access to local electoral registration data. There is currently no proposal for these specifications to provide for two-way data-sharing with the proposed identity cards register.

Departmental Catering Budget

Andrew George: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how much and
 
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what proportion of her Department's catering budget was spent on Fair Trade produce in the last period for which figures are available. [49909]

Bridget Prentice: Catering services to meet my Department's requirements are contracted out and provided by commercial suppliers. Consequently, my Department does not procure Fair Trade produce directly.

However, a proportion of spend on Fair Trade produce against total food purchases by commercial suppliers providing catering services to my Department is set out in the following table. These figures relate to financial year 2004–05.
£

Total food purchases	Proportion spent on fair trade produce
2,796,582	171,641

Andrew George: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what her Department's policy is on the procurement of Fair Trade produce for consumption on its premises. [49919]

Bridget Prentice: My Department does not currently have a specific policy in relation to Fair Trade produce.

Catering services to meet my Department's requirements are contracted out and provided by commercial suppliers. Consequently, my Department does not procure Fair Trade produce directly.

However, within the overarching objective of achieving best value, my Department encourages its suppliers to make use of Fair Trade produce.

Departmental Expenditure

Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how much was spent by her Department on refreshments in each year since 1997. [41250]

Bridget Prentice: It is not possible to provide details of how much the Department spent on refreshments in each year since 1997 without incurring disproportionate costs.

However, for overall expenditure on entertainment for the Department from 1998–99 to 30 November 2004, I would like to refer the hon. Member to a previous PQ tabled by the hon. Member for Tatton (Mr. Osborne) answered on 10 January 2005, Official Report, column 118W.

All expenditure on official entertainment is made in accordance with published departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety that is based on principles set out in Government Accounting.

Departmental IT Systems

Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how much her Department has spent on IT systems in each year since 1997; what the purpose of each system is; what the outturn against planned expenditure of each system was; and what the (a) planned and (b) actual date of completion was of each system. [41320]

 
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Ms Harman: The expenditure on IT systems since 1997 is contained within three main areas; Crown and county courts, magistrates courts and headquarters. These three areas are covered by separate contracts: LOCCS, ARAMIS and the LIBRA contracts. Details of the individual contracts are as follows:

LOCCS (Local County Court System) provides operational IT systems to Her Majesty's Courts Service.

Expenditure for each year was as follows:

	£ million
1998–99	5.92
1999–2000	14.35
2000–01	24.9
2001–02	33.4
2002–03	17.5
2003–04	41.46
2004–05	25.13

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

Expenditure for each year was as follows:

	£ million
1997–98	3.07
1998–99	13.54
1999–2000	14.47
2000–01	18.5
2001–02	18.39
2002–03	24.74
2003–04	28.54
2004–05	31

The LIBRA contracts

The first part of the Libra Project provided new IT infrastructure and office automation for the magistrates courts. The second part of the project will deliver a national case management system.

Expenditure on the Libra contracts for each year was as follows:

	£ million
2000–01	11.2
2001–02	22
2002–03	68
2003–04	79.6
2004–05	65.25

All three are overarching contracts through which large numbers of IT projects have been delivered since 1997. Information about individual projects could now be provided only at disproportionate cost.

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