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Court Bailiffs

Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the average length of time taken by court bailiffs to execute a warrant of
 
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possession was in (a) the Central London County Court jurisdiction and (b) England and Wales in 2004–05; and if she will make a statement. [59283]

Ms Harman: Information about the average length of time taken by court bailiffs to execute a warrant of possession in (a) the Central London County Court jurisdiction and (b) England and Wales in 2004–05 is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Elder Abuse

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what systems are in place in her Department to record the number of cases of elder abuse which are dealt with by the courts. [60249]

Ms Harman: Information about the number of cases of elder abuse which are dealt with by the courts is not collected centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Freedom of Information

Mr. Dunne: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the maximum period is for a response from a body subject to an appeal after refusal to provide information for a freedom of information request. [57067]

Ms Harman: There is no maximum period for the completion of an internal review requested after a refusal to provide information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). However the Secretary of State issued a code of practice

http://www.foi.gov.uk/codepafunc.htm under section 45 of the Act advising public authorities that complaints on the handling of freedom of information requests should be dealt with in accordance with their own complaints procedures. They may set their own target times for dealing with complaints, but these should be reasonable and subject to regular review.

Guidance issued by my Department to public authorities:

http://www.foi.gov.uk/guidance/proguide/chap09.htm on conducting internal reviews advises that they should be completed in a reasonable timescale. It recommends that simple reviews should be dealt with within two-three weeks. Complex reviews should be dealt with within six weeks.

A person concerned that a public authority's internal review has taken too long, can complain to the Information Commissioner who could then issue a (statutory) good practice recommendation—this could lead to the public authority improving its procedures for carrying out internal reviews.

Headstones

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what estimate she has made of the cost to the burial authorities of testing the safety of headstones in the last five years. [56388]

Ms Harman: Information on such costs has not been collated centrally.
 
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HM Court Service

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will make a statement on the future of the Chorley magistrates court house. [48106]

Ms Harman: Chorley courthouse has three courtrooms and these are in use on most weekdays. If the business of the court increases, it is likely that the courtrooms will be in constant use each Monday to Friday. At the present time, this courthouse not only deals with criminal offences committed in the Chorley local justice area but also assists a neighbouring local justice area by dealing with all the cases, where defendants have been kept in custody, from the Leyland district.

Kelly Inquiry

Norman Baker: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what factors led to the decision to appoint Lord Hutton to head the inquiry into Dr. David Kelly's death; who took that decision; and who was consulted upon it. [60924]

Ms Harman: I will reply to the hon. Member as soon as possible.

Magistrates

Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many magistrates were (a) recruited and (b) left the service in (i) 2003–04, (ii) 2004–05 and (iii) 2005–06; and how many magistrates there were at the end of each year. [56799]

Ms Harman: Statistics are collated for the financial year ending 31 March.

	Recruited	Left	Serving
2003–04	1,768	1,446	28,029
2004–05	1,766	1,436	28,300
2005–06	n/a	n/a	(47)28,996

n/a = not available
⁽⁴⁷⁾ At 3 March 2006

Middlesex Guildhall

Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how much has been spent to date on the project to site the Supreme Court at Middlesex Guildhall. [56801]

Ms Harman: The amount spent to date on establishing the Supreme Court is set out as follows. These costs are made up of both capital and resource expenditure and reflect the work to date in respect of developing the designs for both construction projects: the refurbishment of Middlesex Guildhall, to adapt it for use as the Supreme Court, and the creation of additional Crown court courtrooms.
£

	Capital	Resource	Amount
April 2003 to March 2004	—	228,602	228,602
April 2004 to March 2005	—	699,235	699,235
April 2005 to January 2006	3,035,495	405,520	3,441,015
Total	3,035,495	1,333,357	4,368,352

 
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Sark

Justine Greening: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether the Lord Chancellor is able to intervene in laws passed in the Sark parliament and passed via the Lord Chancellor to the Privy Council for the Queen's Assent; and if she will make a statement. [60951]

Ms Harman: Lord Falconer and I, in our capacity as members of the Privy Council Committee for the Affairs of Jersey and Guernsey, scrutinise every piece of legislation from those Crown Dependencies, including Sark, before deciding whether to recommend it to Privy Council for Royal Assent. That decision will be based on advice from my department's legal advisers and officials after consultation with other UK Government Departments, and the report written by Her Majesty's Procureur (Guernsey's Attorney General) which accompanies Sark legislation when it is submitted to my Department.

Justine Greening: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what record was taken of the meeting held on 8 February in Guernsey between her Department's officials and representatives of Sark; if she will place the minutes in the Library; and if she will make a statement. [60952]

Ms Harman: On 8 February officials from my Department attended a meeting hosted by Guernsey. At that meeting they set out to Guernsey and Sark representatives the process through which legislation from Sark must go before it gains Royal Assent.

The Guernsey Law Officers wrote to Sark on 16 February about the options for modernising Sark's constitution. That letter refers to the meeting on 8 February and is available from the Sark authorities. It has also been placed in the Libraries of the House.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Argentina

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of progress by the Government of Argentina in introducing its proposed law on the repression of trafficking in persons and assistance to its victims. [60490]

Mr. Douglas Alexander: The draft law was presented to the Argentine Congress on 4 August 2005 by the Procuratio"n General de la Nation, the Argentine equivalent of the Attorney General's Office. It was passed to the Justice and Penal Affairs and Rights and Constitutional Guarantees congressional committees for deliberation on 11 August 2005, where it remains.

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on progress made by the Argentine authorities in resolving the case of Marita Vero"n. [60491]

Mr. Douglas Alexander: Our Embassy in Buenos Aires continues to monitor this case. We are not aware of any developments that suggest that the Argentine authorities are close to resolving it.
 
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