Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
23 Nov 2006 : Column 177Wcontinued
b) County courts | |
Court | Date of closure |
Mr. Marsden: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the role is of the central authority in (a) child abduction cases and (b) cases where the parents live in different countries and the child custody arrangements have been breached; and if she will make a statement. [100914]
Ms Harman: The central authorities transmit documentation and co-operate with other central authorities around the world as well as acting as a contact point for parents, as set out in by the main provisions of the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and EU Council Regulation 2201/2003, known as Brussels II(a).
John Bercow: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs when she expects to publish her Departments gender equality scheme. [101480]
Ms Harman: We expect to publish my Departments gender equality scheme by 30 April 2007.
John Bercow: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what steps she is taking to ensure that private organisations contracted to work (a) in her Department and (b) for non-departmental public bodies and Executive agencies for which her Department is responsible are aware of their duties under gender equality legislation when exercising public functions on behalf of public bodies. [101507]
Ms Harman:
Work will be undertaken with those organisations contracted to my Department, non-departmental public bodies and agencies to ensure
that they are aware of their obligations as a consequence of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (Public Authorities)(Statutory Duties) Order 2006 (No. 2930) before that legislation comes into force.
John Bercow: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what plans she has to carry out gender impact assessments of her Departments major policy developments and new legislation. [101539]
Ms Harman: From April 2007, my Department will carry out Gender Impact Assessments of major policy developments and new legislation in line with the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (Public Authorities) (Statutory Duties) Order 2006 (No. 2930). We will refer to the Equal Opportunities Commissions (EOC) Code of Practice on the Gender Equality Duty and their specific guidance when available.
John Bercow: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what steps she is taking to ensure that (a) her Department and (b) the non-departmental public bodies and executive agencies for which she is responsible are taking steps to meet the requirements of the forthcoming duty on public bodies (i) to end unlawful discrimination and harassment and (ii) to promote equality between women and men. [101555]
Ms Harman: In order to ensure better performance on the general gender equality duty which will require public authorities to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination and harassment and promote equality of opportunity between women and men, my Department will be taking the steps outlined in the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (Public Authorities) (Statutory Duties) Order 2006 (No. 2930) which should come into force on 6 April 2007.
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what effect the new regulations on age discrimination will have on the retirement age for lay magistrates. [101869]
Ms Harman: There are no plans to change the retirement age for magistrates.
The new age regulations provide that discrimination will not be unlawful if it is undertaken in order to comply with a requirement of any statutory provision. The retirement age for magistrates is set at 70 by s.12(2) and 13(1) of the Courts Act 2003. Therefore, moving magistrates on to the Supplemental List at age 70 will not constitute unlawful age discrimination under the Regulations.
It is our policy to increase judicial diversity and it is particularly important that magistrates, whose great strength is that they are local people delivering local justice, reflect the diverse communities they serve. Nationally, 80 per cent. of magistrates are over 50. We need to recruit substantially more magistrates under the age of 50, and allowing magistrates to sit beyond 70 would work against this important objective.
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much was paid in bonuses to civil servants in his Department each year since 2001-02; and how many civil servants received bonuses in each year. [101044]
Mr. Hain: Bonuses prior to April 2004 were paid through the National Assembly for Wales systems. In 2003-04, 25 staff received bonuses in relation to significant achievements in 2002-03, and two staff for achievements in 2003-04. These bonuses totalled £10,800.
No bonus payments were made in 2004-05. In the 2005-06 financial year, one member of staff received a bonus payment of £300 before tax. In the current financial year three members of staff have received bonuses. All of the bonuses together came to £862.30 before tax, and the largest single payment was £362.30.
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what criteria a civil servant in his Department must fulfil (a) to be considered for a bonus on top of their regular salary and (b) to be awarded a bonus. [101045]
Mr. Hain: The Wales Office operates the Department for Constitutional Affairs bonus scheme. This gives the opportunity to recognise and reward exceptional performance on specific tasks by individuals and teams, i.e. performance above and beyond what could normally be expected of the individual in fulfilling their normal duties. This may include a one-off action, a contribution over a period of time or an exceptional one-off performance where it turns out to be particularly challenging.
Any member of staff can be nominated by their manager for a bonus, which is then considered by a panel drawn from the Wales Office Management Boardexcluding the direct line manager of any nomineewho can award the bonus.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many staff were employed on a consultancy basis in (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies in each of the last five years for which information is available; and what the (i) average and (ii) longest period was for which a consultant was employed in each year. [102971]
Mr. Hain: The Wales Office does not employ staff on a consultancy basis.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what his Department's annual budget is for employing workers on a consultancy basis; and how much of this budget was used in each of the last five years for which records are available. [103030]
Mr. Hain: Nil. The Wales Office does not employ staff on a consultancy basis.
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what steps he is taking to ensure that private organisations contracted to work in his Department are aware of their duties under gender equality legislation when they are exercising public functions on behalf of public bodies. [101525]
Mr. Hain: All private organisation contracts for the Wales Office are undertaken via the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA). These follow the strict conditions set out in the DCA Terms and Conditions, Clause 26 Legislative Compliance, which can be found at:
http://www.dca.gov.uk/procurement/pdfs/conditions.pdf
Any breach of this Clause 26 shall entitle the Department to terminate the contract in accordance with Clause 17.2 (Termination) and recover the amount of any loss resulting from such termination.
All suppliers and contractors accept the DCA Terms and Conditions of Contract.
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what financial settlement was made to (a) the Wales Office and (b) the Welsh Assembly Government each year between 1990 and 2006 under (i) the Barnett formula and (ii) any other financial heading. [101490]
Mr. Hain: The Wales Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) for the years 2000-01 to 2007-08 is shown in Table 1.12 of the Treasury publication Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2006 (Cm 6811). Data for previous years are not available on a consistent basis.
The Wales Office Annual Report (Cm 6835) also contains information on spending in Wales.
The workings of the Barnett Formula are set out in the Treasury publication Funding the Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales and Northern Ireland AssemblyA Statement of Funding Policy.
Copies of these publications are available in the Library of the House.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales which information technology projects are being undertaken by his Department; what the (a) start date, (b) original planned completion date, (c) expected completion date, (d) originally planned costs and (e) estimated planned costs are of each; and if he will make a statement. [101588]
Mr. Hain: : There are no IT projects being solely undertaken by the Wales Office. Since 2004, all IT services in the Wales Office are supplied by the Department for Constitutional Affairs.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether his Department has a traffic light system in place for processing parliamentary questions, where questions are categorised using a colour code. [103163]
Mr. Hain: No. My Department targets answering ordinary written questions within five parliamentary sitting days of receipt of the question. Named days are answered on the date specified by the Member of Parliament tabling the question.
Mr. Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales which staff in his Department are seconded from organisations with charitable status; and which have (a) costs and (b) salaries met (i) in part and (ii) in whole from (A) public funds and (B) by the charity from which they are seconded. [102421]
Mr. Hain: The Wales Office has no staff seconded from organisations with charitable status.
22. Julie Morgan To ask the Solicitor-General what specialist training staff in the Crown Prosecution Service receive in dealing with cases of domestic violence. [102278]
The Solicitor-General: The joint police and CPS national domestic violence training manual was launched in February 2005. The training schedule began in April 2005 and all Crown prosecutors, designated caseworkers and Crown court caseworkers will be trained by 1 April 2008. To date 2,109 staff have been trained.
23. John Bercow: To ask the Solicitor-General if he will take steps to ensure that proceedings are initiated against those suspected of responsibility for the death in Iraq of Terry Lloyd. [102279]
The Solicitor-General: The Attorney-General is considering the issues, including the complex questions of jurisdiction. I will report to the House when decisions have been taken.
Next Section | Index | Home Page |