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22 May 2006 : Column 1468W—continued
YTD (Dec) Mags—33 days from first listing to completion. No formal target.
Persistent Young Offenders (PSA 1)
2005-06 Area (Crown and Mags)—65 days. Target 71 days or less.
2005-06 Mags—89 per cent. Target 81 per cent.
2005-06 Mags—Outstanding Balance rate—5 per cent. Target—less than 50 per cent.
2005-06 Orders closed—35 per cent. Target—greater than 25 per cent.
Percentage cases completed within 40 weeks
2005-06 Care Centre—53.1 per cent. Local target 59.4 per cent.
2005-06 Family Proceedings Court—56 per cent. Local target 52.8 per cent.
2005-06 County—76 per cent. Target 70 per cent.
2005-06 County—70.6 per cent. Target 70 per cent.
2005-06 88.7 per cent. Target 80.5 per cent.
2005-06 82.1 per cent. Target 78 per cent.
2005-06 78.7 per cent. Target 78 per cent.
Court Statistics
Dr. Vis: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many black and minority ethnic people were (a) sentenced and (b) remanded by each court in (i) 2003 and (ii) 2004. [68216]
Mr. Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
Information relating to the number of black and minority ethnic people sentenced and remanded for 2003 is available at www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs05/s95race04.pdf. Data relating to 2004 is not yet available.
Courthouses
Bob Russell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs pursuant to the answer of 9 May 2006, Official Report, column 147W, if she will list (a) the locations of the new private finance initiative courthouses and (b) the companies who provided them. [72409]
Ms Harman: The 15 PFI courthouses built and the companies that provided them are as follows:
1. Hereford, Kidderminster, Worcester and Redditch(1 )magistrates courts in 2001—Hereford and Worcester Courts Ltd. (equity held by Babcock & Brown Properties Ltd.)
2. Hull, Beverly and Bridlington magistrates courts in 2001—Modern Courts Humberside Ltd. (equity held by Mowlems plc and Innisfree)
3. Derby and Chesterfield magistrates courts in 2003—Derbyshire Courts Ltd. (equity held by Babcock & Brown Properties Ltd.)
4. Manchester magistrates court in 2004—UK Courts Services (Manchester) Ltd. (a consortium of Group 4 now GSL, Carillion and Societe Generale).
5. Exeter Combined courts in 2004—Enterprise Civil Buildings Ltd. (a consortium of HSBC Ltd., Alfred McAlpine Ltd. and Sodexho Ltd.)
6. Ipswich and Cambridge Crown courts in 2004—Modern Courts Holdings (East Anglia) Ltd. (equity held by Mowlems plc).
7. Sheffield Family Hearing Centre in 2004—Palecastle Ltd.
8. North Somerset (Worle) magistrates courthouse in April 2006—Services Support (Avon and Somerset) Ltd. (a consortium of Amey, Equion and Bank of Scotland).
(1) Redditch magistrates court was a refurbishment.
Departmental Legislation
Mr. Amess: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will list those (a) Acts and (b) parts of Acts which received Royal Assent between 1976 and 2006 for which her Department has policy responsibility and which remain in force. [70086]
Bridget Prentice: The information requested for the period of time covered by the question can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Electoral Fraud
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many incidents of postal vote fraud were recorded in Coventry South on 4 May 2006. [71753]
Bridget Prentice: I am not aware of any such incidents. Any allegations of electoral fraud should be reported to the returning officer and the police, who will make the appropriate investigations into them.
European Parliamentary and Local Elections (Pilots) Act
Mr. Amess: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will make a statement on the operation of the European Parliamentary and Local Elections (Pilots) Act 2004; and what recent representations she has received about the operation of this Act. [71957]
Bridget Prentice: The European Parliamentary and Local Elections (Pilots) Act 2004 (EPLE(P) Act) provided for the piloting of all-postal voting in four electoral regions at the 2004 combined European and local elections. The Electoral Commission published evaluations of each region's pilot in August 2004. At the same time, they also published an overarching report “Delivering Democracy? The future of postal voting”. All of the Commission's reports are available on its website: www.electoralcommission.org.uk.
The Government published its response to “Delivering Democracy?” in December 2004 (Cm 6436).
All-postal voting in general, including the operation of the EPLE(P) Act 2004, has been debated in both Houses as the Electoral Administration Bill has progressed through Parliament. Aside from this I have received no recent representations on the operation of the Act.
Financial Review
Mr. Meacher: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many applications for financial review have been made in each year since 1990; how many cases the High Court agreed to hear in each year; and in how many cases it found against the Government. [68423]
Ms Harman: The number of applications for permission/leave to apply for judicial review are set out in the following table which also shows the number of applications in which permission/leave was granted in the relevant year. As to whether the cases were against the Government and the results of those cases, this information can be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.
| Judicial review civil and criminal—Applications for permission | ||
| Received | Granted | |
Free Air Miles
David Simpson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many free air miles have been accrued by senior civil servants in her Department on official business in each of the last three years; and how they were used. [70517]
Vera Baird: The Department can provide the information requested only at disproportionate cost.
Inquests (Armed Forces)
Mr. Salmond: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many inquests into the deaths of members of the armed forces as a result of military duties in Iraq have been carried out by (a) the Oxfordshire coroner, (b) the Fairford coroner, (c) the Lyneham coroner and (d) other coroners since 2003. [72151]
Ms Harman: I understand that the number of inquests opened in relation to members of the armed forces who died as a result of military duties in Iraq since 2003 are as follows:
(a) Oxfordshire coroner: 86;
(b) Gloucestershire coroner (for Fairford): 0;
(c) Wiltshire and Swindon coroner (for Lyneham) 11; and
(d) other coroners: 2 (West London and Powys).
Concluded inquests as of 15 May 2006 are
(a) Oxfordshire coroner: 29
(b) Gloucestershire coroner (for Fairford) 0
(c) Wiltshire and Swindon Coroner (for Lyneham): 0
(d) Other coroners: 1 (Powys).
Northern Ireland Legal Services
Lady Hermon: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will make a statement on the strategy for merging the Northern Ireland Tribunal Service and the Northern Ireland Court Service; and when she expects the merger to be completed. [72561]
Bridget Prentice: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland announced on 21 March that the Northern Ireland Court Service will assume administrative responsibility for Northern Ireland departmental tribunals as part of a new Courts and Tribunals Service. A Tribunals Service planning group has been established and will enter into discussions with the relevant Northern Ireland sponsor departments to agree a timescale for the transfer of responsibility of the various tribunals through a staged process which is likely to take several years.
At the same time, the Court Service will be responsible for establishing any new tribunals which are required including the proposed Rating Valuation Tribunal for Northern Ireland.
Parliamentary Boundaries
Mr. Steen: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs when she will lay the order transferring responsibility for parliamentary boundaries from the Boundary Commissions to the Electoral Commission; and if she will make a statement. [72327]
Bridget Prentice: Section 16 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 outlines the arrangements for the transfer of the functions of the Parliamentary Boundary Commissions to the Electoral Commission. The Government are still considering the timings for the transfer to take place. As the functions of the Electoral Commission are currently subject to a review Committee on Standards in Public Life, the Government will wish to take into account the findings of that review before it reaches any decisions in the timings of the transfers.
Party Funding
Lady Hermon: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will list leaders of political parties represented at Westminster to whom the Lord Chancellor has written seeking views on elements of a reporting regime of loans received further to the Lord Chancellor’s statement in the House of Lords on 20 March. [68781]
Bridget Prentice [pursuant to the reply, 8 May 2006, Official Report, c. 124W]: My previous answer provided a list of those to whom the Lord Chancellor had written on 20 March seeking views on elements of a reporting regime for loans. While the Lord Chancellor did write to Lord Rogan, I incorrectly referred to him as the Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party. The Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party is Sir Reg Empey.
Postal and Proxy Voting
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what representations she has received regarding (a) postal voting and (b) proxy voting in London following the local elections. [71844]
Bridget Prentice: In relation to the recent local elections in London, I have received two representations regarding postal voting and no representations regarding proxy voting. Following on from an oral parliamentary question to me on postal voting fraud from the hon. Member for Congleton (Ann Winterton) on 9 May, the hon. Member for Huntingdon (Mr. Djanogly) referred to postal voting allegations in the recent election in the London borough of Tower Hamlets. More recently, I have received a parliamentary question from the hon. Member for Ribble Valley (Mr. Evans), which also refers to the allegations in Tower Hamlets.
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