| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
15 May 2006 : Column 730W—continued
Uninsured Drivers
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what proportion of drivers prosecuted in each of the last five years for driving while uninsured had six to eight penalty points on their driving licence. [68869]
Mr. Byrne: Information is not available in the detail required.
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful prosecutions of uninsured drivers there have been in each year since 1997. [68871]
Mr. Byrne: Available information from 1997 to 2004 (latest available) is given in the following table.
The figures given in the table are taken from the Home Office publication “Offences relating to motor vehicles, England and Wales, Supplementary tables”. Copies are available in the Library.
Data for 2005 will not be available till early 2007.
| Number of proceedings at magistrates courts for offences of using motor vehicle uninsured against third party risks( 1) by outcome, England and Wales, 1997-2004 | ||||
| Number of offences | ||||
| Total proceedings | Proceedings discontinued( 2) | Charges withdrawn/dismissed | Total findings of guilt( 3) | |
| (1) Offences under the Road Traffic Act 1988 s. 143(2). (2) Also includes discharges under section 6 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980. (3) Includes findings of guilt at the Crown Court. Note: Coverage and recording practice affecting the statistics: (A) It is known that for some police force areas the reporting of court proceedings, in particular those relating to summary motoring offences, may be less than complete. (B) Since 1990, due to the delays in implementing new counting procedures, corrective action on non-keying errors was reduced resulting in deterioration in the quality of data on summary motoring proceedings. |
Yarl's Wood
Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will publish a response to the report by the Children's Commissioner on his visit to the Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre on 21 October 2005. [70862]
Mr. McNulty: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer given on 25 April 2006, Official Report,column WA13.
Youth Crime
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assistance is being given to Staffordshire constabulary by his Department to tackle incidents of youth crime and antisocial behaviour in Tamworth constituency; and if he will make a statement. [68359]
Mr. Byrne: Staffordshire youth offending service has a legal duty to and works closely with Staffordshire police and other partner agencies in preventing and tackling youth crime and antisocial behaviour in Staffordshire. This includes partnership around the priority and other prolific offenders strategy, on which the youth offending service leads in respect of the prevent and deter strand. Staffordshire youth offending service has established a prevention team which will be working very closely with the police, district and borough councils, the voluntary sector and schools to identify and work with young people who are at high risk of committing crime and antisocial behaviour.
The respect action plan is central to the Government's drive to go broader, deeper and further on antisocial behaviour by tackling its root causes; preventing it occurring in the first place for example by ensuring better parenting provision and family support while not letting up on stopping anti-social behaviour that blights many communities.
Constitutional Affairs
Child Contact Orders
Tim Loughton: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many parents with custody of their children have been prosecuted for contempt of court in relation to a breach of child contact orders in each of the last five years. [69357]
Ms Harman: A contempt of court can arise within family proceedings in a variety of circumstances and it is not possible to identify the number of cases in which failure to comply with a contact order leads to the matter being dealt with as a contempt of court.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many child contact orders have returned to court due to alleged breaches in each of the last five years. [69381]
Ms Harman: This information is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate cost. However, an analysis of a sample of court files published in the Green Paper "Children's Needs and Parents' Responsibilities" indicated that there were repeat applications in respect in half of the cases concerned and that a third of these repeat applications arose from breaches of contact orders.
Civil Servants (Overseas Visits)
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what costs were incurred by her Department as a result of sending civil servants on overseas visits in each of the last 10 years. [46289]
Bridget Prentice: Total overseas travel costs for civil servants for the Department, which includes the Court Service, the Public Guardianship Office and the Department for Constitutional Affairs Headquarters, are set out in the following table:
| Period | Amount (£) |
There has been an increase in travel costs since 2002-03, because of the increased responsibilities of the Department.
Information on previous years is not readily available.
All civil service travel is undertaken in accordance with the rules set out in the civil service management code, copies of which are available in the Libraries of the House.
Community Courts
Mr. Allen: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what recent progress has been made in establishing community courts; and if she will make a statement. [70213]
Ms Harman: There are currently two community justice projects—the Community Justice Centre, North Liverpool and the Salford Community Justice Initiative. Both of which were launched at the end of last year.
We will consider the lessons learned from the Liverpool and Salford projects and work with local agencies to determine ways the concept can be applied elsewhere.
Coroners' Officers
Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will make a statement on the role of Coroners Officers. [69995]
Ms Harman: Coroners officers perform a vital investigative and administrative role for their respective local coroner. My oral statement to Parliament on 6 February, and the accompanying briefing note, outlines the proposals for change in the coroners' system more broadly.
Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what steps her Department is taking to assist the coroners' service with its workload following the increase in the number of reported deaths in 2005; and if she will make a statement. [69996]
Ms Harman: Resourcing of coroners services is a local responsibility.
Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what plans she has to reform the work of coroners officers. [69997]
Ms Harman: The Government plan to reform the coroners' system as a whole. My oral statement tothe House of Commons on 6 February, and the accompanying briefing note, outlines the proposals for change. A draft Bill, for scrutiny, will be published shortly.
Corporate Hospitality
David Simpson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs on how many occasions she has accepted corporate hospitality in the last 12 months. [67522]
Ms Harman: None. Paragraph 5.28 of the ministerial code sets out the rules on the registration of hospitality.
County Court Judgment Records
Mr. Todd: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what assessment she has made of the implications for competitiveness of the restriction to a single third-party distributor of information based on county court judgment records. [67795]
Ms Harman: No such assessment has been made.
The ‘Registrar’ is a statutory function established by the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines Regulations 2005. Registry Trust Ltd., which is a non-profit making company, kept the Register of County Court Judgments for the Department, under the terms of a contract, since 1986. Following a review of the service in 2002 to 2004 and subsequent consultation, the Department concluded that the contract for the keeping of the register should be put out to tender from time to time.
To ensure continuity of the provision of the register service and a smooth implementation of new regulations (which include the provision of new data in the register on unpaid fines), the Department decided in the short-term to negotiate a revised contract with Registry Trust Ltd. They have been re- appointed as Registrar to run the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines until 2009.
We will be reviewing the options for the longer term in 2007, taking into account competitiveness issues. We currently expect to hold a competition in 2008 for the post-April 2009 contract.
Mr. Todd: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether she has conducted a survey of users of county court judgment records to obtain their views on the value of such records. [67799]
Ms Harman: The Department carried out a review of the service and method of service delivery of the Register of County Court Judgments in 2003 prior to public consultation. This included research among users of county court judgment records of the use to which records are put, their current and future value and sought views on how the service could be improved.
Mr. Todd: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what recent assessment she has made of the accuracy of county court judgment records; what plans her Department has to recover the cost of improvement from the users of the records; and if she will make a statement. [67800]
Ms Harman: An audit of the accuracy of the county court judgments recorded in the Register of County Court Judgments was carried out in 2004. This advised the drafting of amendments to the Civil Procedure Rules, the objective of which is to improve the accuracy of the data supplied to the courts by parties on issue of a claim. The cost to the courts of implementing the requirements of the amended Civil Procedure Rules is to be recovered from Registry Trust Ltd. through the charges raised by the Department for the supply of judgment records.
Departmental Assets
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will list the items of departmental property worth over£100 that have been reported as (a) lost and (b) broken in the last 12 months. [47688]
Bridget Prentice: The Department has had two 15-inch flat screen monitors reported as lost in the last 12 months. The total value of this loss to the Department was £1,143.
Departmental Entertainment
Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how much was spent on entertainment by her Department in 2004-05; and how much of that sum is accounted for by (a) food, (b) alcohol, (c) staff and (d) accommodation. [50886]
Bridget Prentice: It is not possible to list the entertainment costs spent by the Department broken down by (a) food, (b) alcohol, (c) staff and (d) accommodation without incurring disproportionate cost.
However, total expenditure on entertainment for the Department, which covers costs for the Court Service, the Public Guardianship Office and DCA Headquarters in 2004-05 is £78,097.
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.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |