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4 Sep 2006 : Column 1725W—continued
Hutton Inquiry
Norman Baker: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs pursuant to the answer of 14 June 2006, Official Report, column 1268W, on the Hutton Inquiry, on what basis the Lord Chancellor decided that the formal powers of the Tribunals and Inquiries Act 1921 were not necessary; and how and when it was made clear to Lord Hutton that he could ask for more powers. [80203]
Ms Harman: The Lord Chancellor decided that the formal powers of the Tribunals and Inquiries Act 1921 were not necessary in order to allow the inquiry to proceed quickly. It was made clear to Lord Hutton when he was appointed that he could ask for more powers.
IT Contracts
Mr. Weir: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the value was of each IT contract awarded by her Department in each of the last five years; and who the contractor was in each case. [89001]
Bridget Prentice: My Department holds IT contracts with Fujitsu Services; Sound Technologies Ltd. (STL); Accenture; Cable and Wireless; Oracle; and Microsoft.
The value of each contract is as follows:
Fujitsu Services (magistrates courts IT systems) in 2002 for £232 million over 8.5 years;
STL (magistrates courts IT systems) in 2003 for £38.5 million;
Accenture (magistrates courts IT systems) in 2003 for £36 million;
Cable and Wireless (for web-hosting) in 2002 for £1.5 million. Current value is £2.5 million because of increase to capacity to host additional services;
Oracle (providing licensing for staff to use Oracle software products). Total expenditure since 2003, when the contract was awarded, is £9.7 million;
Microsoft (Enterprise Licensing Agreement for all Microsoft products used within the Department as well as future versions released during contract period) in 2006 for £8.072 million over three years.
Mr. Weir: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs which IT contracts awarded by her Department in each of the last five years have been abandoned; and what the value was in each case. [89002]
Vera Baird: There have been no IT contracts abandoned by my Department in the last five years.
Magistrates
Dr. Vis: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what measures are in place to monitor the sentencing practices of individual magistrates to ensure that they do not discriminate against black and minority ethnic people. [68124]
Mr. Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply
The Home Office’s five-year strategy for protecting the public and reducing reoffending, published in February 2006, outlined the commitment to work with judges, magistrates and other agencies to improve the quality of recording of ethnic monitoring data. This information will be used to ensure all those involved use that data to take action to ensure that black and minority ethnic offenders are being treated fairly by the system.
The Department for Constitutional Affairs has no specific measures to monitor the sentencing practices of individual magistrates. However, the Judicial Studies Board (JSB) through a variety of mechanisms ensures that diversity is addressed at all stages of a magistrate’s development to ensure that they do not discriminate against black and minority ethnic people. The Magistrates National Training Initiative competence framework contains a number of knowledge and performance elements requiring magistrates to demonstrate an understanding of
“diversity and fair treatment issues, including the use of non-discriminatory language”
and magistrates are regularly appraised against these competences.
Simon Hughes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many and what percentage of magistrates recruited in each year since 1997 were (a) women, (b) black or from another ethnic minority, (c) registered disabled and (d) under 30 in each Courts Service region in (i) Wales and (ii) England. [88505]
Ms Harman: The tables provide a breakdown. Figures are provided subject to:
Information on disability is not available. This has been collected systematically for approximately 18 months for new applicants only, and is therefore incomplete.
We collect information on magistrates’ age in the bands under 40, 40 to 49, 50 to 59 and 60 to 69. Figures for those that were under 40 are not available for the years up to 2004.
The figures are not broken down by area because figures less than five are not quoted following established Government statistics guidelines for protecting the confidentiality of data subjects.
| BME | Female | ||||
| Total number of appointees | Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | |
| (1) Figures as at 1 January each year. (2) Figures as at 31 March each year. | |||||
| BME | Female | Age under 40 | |||||
| Total number of appointees | Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | |
| (1) Figures as at 31 March each year. | |||||||
Ministerial Meetings
Mr. Weir: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs when the Secretary of State last met the Scottish First Minister; and what subjects were discussed. [88773]
Vera Baird: Ministers have regular dialogues with ministerial colleagues in the Scottish Executive, discussing a wide range of issues of mutual interest. It is not our practice to disclose details of such meetings.
New Courts
Simon Hughes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs which (a) magistrates courts, (b) Crown courts and (c) county courts have opened since 1995 in each parliamentary constituency. [88506]
Ms Harman: The following courts have been opened since 1995:
| (a) Magistrates courts | ||
| Year opened | Parliamentary constituency | |
| (b) Crown courts | ||
| Year opened | Parliamentary constituency | |
| (c) Combined courts (Crown and County) | ||
| Year opened | Parliamentary constituency | |
| (d) County courts | ||
| Year opened | Parliamentary constituency | |
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