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18 Apr 2006 : Column 43W—continued
Electoral Registration Officers
Mr. Spellar: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs pursuant to her answer of 22 March 2006, Official Report, column 456W, on the electoral register, what advice is given to electoral registration officers (EROs) on prosecuting those failing to return an electoral registration form; and if she will ascertain from EROs whether any prosecutions have been brought. [63586]
Bridget Prentice: No advice is issued centrally to EROs on prosecuting those who fail to return an electoral registration form. The independent Electoral Commission has within its remit a general duty to issue advice and guidance to electoral administrators. EROs are aware of their powers under electoral law to initiate prosecutions against those who commit the offence of failing to give, or providing false, information required for the purposes of maintaining registers of parliamentary and local government electors. As this is a matter for local discretion, records of such prosecutions are not held centrally and therefore the information relating to prosecutions could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.
Grievance Procedures
David Simpson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many grievance procedures have been initiated in her Department in each of the last three years. [63542]
Ms Harman: There are no figures available for the number of grievances initiated in my department, save for the numbers of grievances involving equality and diversity issues.
Harassment
David Simpson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many complaints of (a) bullying and (b) sexual harassment have been investigated in her Department in each of the last three years; and how many complaints have been upheld. [63543]
Ms Harman: The numbers of these types of complaints investigated by the department over the last 3 years is as follows:
| Cases | Upheld | Dismissed | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bullying behaviour | |||
| 2003–04 | 12 | 2 | 10 |
| 2004–05 | 12 | 6 | 6 |
| 2005–06 | 21 | 13 | 8 |
| Sexual harassment | |||
| 2003–04 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2004–05 | — | — | — |
| 2005–06 | 1 | 1 | — |
18 Apr 2006 : Column 44W
Sexual Harassment
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many cases of sexual harassment were brought in the West Midlands in which the defendant was subsequently acquitted of all charges in the last year for which figuresare available, broken down by criminal justice area. [62682]
Ms Harman: Information regarding the number of cases of sexual harassment is not specifically recorded and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost to the Department.
James Collinson
Pete Wishart: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the cost was of the coroner's inquest into the death of James Collinson. [62156]
Ms Harman: The cost of this inquest is not yet available. I shall write to the hon. Member and place a copy of my reply in the Library of the House when the costs of the inquest are known.
Land Disputes
Mark Williams: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many civil cases related to neighbourhood land disputes have been taken to the courts in each of the last 10 years. [63958]
Ms Harman: Information about the number of civil cases related to neighbourhood land disputes is not separately collected and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost to the Department.
Legal Aid (Recoupment)
Paul Rowen: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many (a) cases and (b) firms of solicitors are expected to be affected by the Legal Services Commission (LSC) recouping legal aid payments in financial years (i)2005–06 and (ii) 2006–07; what average amount firms of solicitors owe; what average payment solicitors have made; and after what period of time the LSC would assess a case as being too old to merit recovery of legal aid funds. [61601]
Ms Harman: The information requested is not available. However, firms of solicitors do have a duty to report accurately to the LSC at the end of each case so that financial matters can be settled. Additionally, the LSC runs ongoing initiatives to identify those cases which have concluded but where the solicitors have not reported this to them. There is no period of time after which the LSC would consider a case being too old to merit the recovery of legal aid funds.
Ministerial Visits
Keith Vaz: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many EU member statesshe has visited on official business since her appointment. [61008]
18 Apr 2006 : Column 45W
Ms Harman: I have visited one EU member state since my appointment, which was Ireland. The Department for Constitutional Affairs Minister responsible for EU policy, Baroness Ashton of Upholland, has visited 14 EU member states. These are listed as follows:
National Archives
Richard Burden: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what representations she has received on the charging of broadcasters to use National Archive footage for transmissions. [62483]
Ms Harman: I have not received any representations on this issue.
Richard Burden: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs when National Archives introduced charging for the use of footage by broadcasters. [62582]
Ms Harman: The National Archives has operated a commercial Image library for about the last 10 years, and throughout that time it has had a policy of charging production companies a reproduction fee for broadcasting images of its files or documents, or showing close-up footage of its files or documents in commercially produced programmes.
Richard Burden: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will make a statement on the use of proceeds received by National Archives from broadcasters using footage for transmissions. [62583]
Ms Harman: Any revenue above operating costs generated by the National Archives Image library is retained within the National Archives as a contribution toward running costs or is used to fund new projects.
Richard Burden: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what guidance is given to broadcasters regarding charges for the use of footage from National Archives. [62584]
Ms Harman:
The National Archives' policy of charging for the use of footage is clearly stated under 'reproduction fees' on the relevant page on the website http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/news/press/filming. htm
18 Apr 2006 : Column 46W
When broadcasters visit the National Archives, they are explicitly advised that a reproduction fee will be payable in respect of the footage used in the broadcast version of the programme, and that they will be required to provide the National Archives Image library with the details required for a fee to be calculated.
Richard Burden: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what income her Department has received from fees paid by broadcasters using footage from National Archives for transmission in each of the last five years. [62585]
Ms Harman: It is not possible to distinguish income received by the National Archives through the use of footage filmed by broadcasters from the reproduction fees of static images paid by commercial production companies without incurring disproportionate cost. Total income from these sources over the last five years is as follows:
| Amount (£000) | |
|---|---|
| 2000–01 | 80 |
| 2001–02 | 118 |
| 2002–03 | 86 |
| 2003–04 | 84 |
| 2004–05 | 90 |
Richard Burden: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether her Department plans to re-examine the charging of broadcasters for use of footage from National Archives for transmissions. [62586]
Ms Harman: This is an operational matter for the National Archives, which has no plans to review the policy of charging for the reproduction of footage of documents from the National Archives in commercial television productions.
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