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11 July 2006 : Column 1729W—continued
House of Commons Commission
Breastfeeding Facilities
Mr. Hancock: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission if he will make a statement on the availability of breastfeeding facilities for (a) hon. Members and (b) members of the public in the House. [83762]
Nick Harvey: Breastfeeding facilities are available for hon. Members in the Family Room off the Lower Waiting Hall and, if greater privacy is needed, in first aid rooms in various parts of the Estate. For members of the public there is a baby care room just off the Upper Committee Corridor, and there are baby changing facilities off the Lower Waiting Hall and off the Upper Committee Corridor. Details of these facilities for visitors are set out in a leaflet issued by the Serjeant at Arms. These facilities are also open to hon. Members and staff.
Child Care Vouchers
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission whether the Commission plans to reconsider the decision not to offer child care vouchers to hon. Members; and if he will make a statement. [83663]
Nick Harvey: The issue of provision of child care vouchers for hon. Members was considered in passing by the domestic committees and by the Commission in 2003 in the context of the Childcare Feasibility study, which was principally concerned with staff and Members’ staff. I understand that an informal view was taken that hon. Members were sufficiently well remunerated to meet their own child care costs. The Commission has no plans to consider this issue, as any such provision would fall on the House of Commons: Members Estimate which is not the Commission’s responsibility. It would be for the House to decide on any such service, on the basis of proposals from the Leader of the House.
International Development
Debt Cancellation
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the impact of alleviation of debt in Africa on health and education provision in Africa; and if he will make a statement. [83121]
Hilary Benn: Debt relief provides long-term, predictable resources for countries to spend on improving health and education. Recipients of debt relief under the heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) initiative report their expenditure on reducing poverty (health, education, and rural and agriculture investments for example) and these expenditures increased from an average of 6 per cent. of GDP in 1999 to 9 per cent. of GDP in 2005 in the 29 countries receiving HIPC debt relief.
There is good evidence that debt relief benefits health and education provision. For example, after receiving debt relief in 2000, Ghana increased its expenditure on education, increasing the net enrolment ratio of seven to 13-year-olds by 8 per cent. and the number of secondary schools from 937 to 1,024 by 2004. In Tanzania, debt relief received in 2001, helped to increase the number of children in primary schools by over 50 per cent., build almost 2,500 new primary schools and recruit 28,000 extra teachers. If this rate of progress continues, Tanzania will meet the goal for universal primary education in the next couple of years—significantly ahead of the target date of 2015. In Uganda, debt relief has helped make possible the removal of user fees for healthcare. As a result, the number of new out-patient consultations has increased from 9.3 million in 1999-2000 to 24.5 million, indicating a doubling in the use of health services over five years. Immunisation coverage has increased from 41 per cent. in 1999-2000 to 89 per cent. in 2004-05.
When fully implemented, the new multilateral debt relief initiative (MDRI) will provide over US$50 billion of debt cancellation to up to 43 countries. Zambia has used some of its savings under MDRI to abolish health user fees in rural areas, allowing thousands of poor people to access free health care. Ghana also intends to use some of its MDRI savings for health and education, and we expect other countries to make similar commitments when their new budgets are agreed.
Health and education in Nigeria will also benefit as a result of its recent debt deal at the Paris Club. Approximately $1 billion a year that would have been spent by Nigeria on debt service will now be channelled through a poverty reduction fund with a focus on the millennium development goals. As a result, the federal health and education budgets have received an additional $167 million and $143 million respectively in 2006. The Nigerian Government have agreed that this will help to employ an additional 120,000 teachers and put 3.5 million more children into school.
Constitutional Affairs
Queen's Counsel
21. Richard Ottaway: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many solicitors have applied for appointment as Queen's Counsel under the new selection system. [83867]
Vera Baird: 12 solicitors applied for Silk in the current round.
Members of Parliament (Scottish Constituencies)
29. Mr. Khabra: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will make a statement on the right of hon. Members representing constituencies in Scotland to speak and vote in this House on issues related to England. [83875]
32. Mr. Cox: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will make a statement on the right of hon. Members representing constituencies in Scotland to speak and vote on issues related to England. [83879]
Bridget Prentice: All hon. Members who have taken the oath are entitled to speak and vote on any issue before the House.
Electoral Administration Bill
30. Mr. Betts: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what options for data sharing are available to electoral registration officers; and whether this will change under the provisions in the Electoral Administration Bill. [83877]
Bridget Prentice: Electoral registration officers are currently able to:
inspect and take copies of any records kept by their own council, and
to inspect and take copies of records kept by any registrar of births and deaths.
The Electoral Administration Bill does not change this. However, what it does do is require electoral registration officers when compiling the electoral register to make full use of their powers to inspect those records which they are permitted to inspect.
33. Mr. Harper: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what measures she will put in place to monitor the effect of the proposed changes to Services voting in the Electoral Administration Bill. [83880]
Bridget Prentice: In the Electoral Administration Bill the Government inserted a requirement that the MOD would keep a record of the electoral registration information of service personnel. This record will provide statistical information that will be used to provide monitoring on a continuous basis.
Postal Voting
31. Kitty Ussher: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs when she will make it an offence to make a false application for a postal vote. [83878]
Bridget Prentice: The Electoral Administration Bill creates a new electoral offence of falsely applying for a postal vote. We are currently considering implementation of the provisions in the Bill with a view to having them in force in time for the May 2007 local elections.
Freedom of Information
34. Mr. Gauke: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many Freedom of Information complaints have been referred to the Information Commissioner. [83881]
Vera Baird: The Information Commissioner is an independent body created by statute. On 1 June 2006, the Information Commissioner had received 3,521 complaints since the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act. This includes complaints made under the Environment Information Regulations.
Office for Legal Complaints
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will make a statement on the proposed Office for Legal Complaints. [83874]
Bridget Prentice: One of the main proposals in the draft Legal Services Bill which was published by the Government on 24 May is to set up an independent Office for Legal Complaints (OLC). The OLC, which will replace the various complaints services run by the different legal professional bodies, will deal with consumer complaints about legal service providers who are regulated by bodies or organisations that are authorised by the proposed new oversight regulator, the Legal Services Board (LSB). Where things go wrong, the OLC will be empowered to order appropriate redress to consumers.
Action against Medical Accidents
Mr. Baron:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what fees were paid in the last year to Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA); what services were provided by AvMA in respect of
such fees; and whether the engagement of AvMA to provide services was the subject of a tendering process. [84586]
Vera Baird: During 2005-06, the Legal Services Commission (LSC) paid £529 to AvMA as part of a three year contract with Community Legal Service Direct to review the content of the advice leaflet, ‘Medical Accidents’. The value of the contract fell below the threshold necessary for tendering.
Court Service
Mr. Amess: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will make a statement on the recent performance of the Court Service in (a) Southend-on-Sea and (b) Essex. [83771]
Ms Harman: The information is as follows:
Departmental Staff
Roger Berry: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many disabled staff in her Department received support through the Access to Work scheme (a) in each of the last five years and (b) in 2006-07. [82222]
Vera Baird: The DCA has recently appointed a team of dedicated local disability advisers based in the regions who assist in ensuring that the required reasonable adjustments, including specialist equipment and support, for people with disabilities are provided. Those advisers provide support and advice to individuals in making applications to Access to Work.
It is not possible to confirm the precise number of individuals assisted under the Access To Work scheme over the last five years without incurring disproportionate costs, as there is no central record held within DCA.
With effect from 1 October 2006, Access to Work funding will no longer be available to employees of Central Government Departments, and DCA will be responsible for financing any required reasonable adjustments for its own employees.
The Office of Disability Issues (ODI) will be monitoring the situation to ensure that there is no detriment to current and future employees who are disabled.
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