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18 Oct 2007 : Column 1240W—continued
Equality and Human Rights Commission: Finance
Mrs. May: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what the total budgets were of the (a) Commission for Racial Equality, (b) Disability Rights Commission and (c) Equal Opportunities Commission in the most recent period prior to the establishment of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. [157117]
Barbara Follett: The following tables show the resource and capital budgets on an annual basis for the Disability Rights Commission, Equal Opportunities Commission and Commission for Racial Equality.
| £000 | |
| Organisation | Resource budget for financial year 2007-8 (expressed as annual figure) |
| £000 | |
| Organisation | Capital budget for financial year 2007-8 (expressed as annual figure) |
Mrs. May: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what the annual budget of the Equality and Human Rights Commission is expected to be. [157118]
Barbara Follett: As stated in the explanatory notes to the Equality Bill, the estimate of the annual budget for the Equality and Human Rights Commission when it is fully operational is £70 million.
Mrs. May: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what the total annual cost was of (a) salaries, (b) pension contributions and (c) bonuses of staff employed by the (i) Commission for Racial Equality, (ii) Disability Rights Commission and (iii) Equal Opportunities Commission in the latest period available prior to the establishment of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. [157111]
Barbara Follett: We do not have the information available to give an accurate answer to this question at present. Salary information will be available following completion of the final accounts of the three Commissions.
Equality and Human Rights Commission: Redundancy
Mrs. May: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality how much was spent on redundancy packages for staff employed by (a) the Commission for Racial Equality, (b) the Disability Rights Commission and (c) the Equal Opportunities Commission prior to the establishment of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. [157108]
Barbara Follett: No staff were made redundant. However, the cost of the voluntary severance scheme, excluding the ongoing costs of annual compensation payments (ACP) for people over age 50, is expected to be as follows: CRE cost £3,839,617; DRC cost £1,884,707 and the EOC cost £1,780,364.
Flexible Working
Jo Swinson: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what plans the Government has to extend the right to request flexible working to all employees. [157755]
Barbara Follett: The right to request flexible work has been a huge success—and in April this year we extended the right to carers of adults—that is another 2.65 million employees.
In the recently published Priorities for the Ministers for Women Command Paper, I made a commitment to support the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform in considering whether to extend the right to request flexible work to parents of older children.
Refugees: Forced Prostitution
Harry Cohen: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities what assessment she has made of the extent and causes of Iraqi women and children who have become refugees being forced into prostitution; what action the UK Government are taking in this regard; and if she will make a statement. [156087]
Barbara Follett: The UK Government are concerned at reports, including from the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), that some Iraqi refugee women and young girls have been forced to resort to prostitution and children forced into labour or other forms of exploitation to survive. We will continue to support the efforts of UNHCR, who are working closely with host country Governments to assess and address the needs of all Iraqi refugees.
So far this year the UK Government have committed £15 million to support humanitarian agencies working in Iraq and the region , bringing our total humanitarian assistance for vulnerable Iraqis to over £130 million since 2003. We remain in close contact with our humanitarian partners to ensure they are adequately resourced to respond to needs on the ground.
Justice
Alcoholic Drinks: Children
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will take steps to ensure that court hearings, including appeal hearings, relating to underage sales of alcohol are conducted promptly. [159101]
Maria Eagle: All cases, in both the magistrates court and appeals to the Crown court, are dealt with on their merits and are heard as quickly as possible. The Government's Criminal Justice Simple, Speedy, Summary (CJSSS) programme is under way to improve court processes in the magistrates courts to ensure that cases are dealt with as fairly and as quickly as possible. Early indications are that the programme will have a significant impact on eliminating unnecessary hearings and reducing the time from charge to disposal for adult charged cases. This should also allow summons cases such as underage sale of alcohol to be heard more quickly.
Arms Trade: Israel
Mr. Arbuthnot: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether the Legal Services Commission is funding a case brought by Mr. Saleh Hassan against the UK Government in relation to Israeli policy in the West Bank. [159040]
Maria Eagle: Saleh Hasan is receiving legal aid to fund a judicial review of the British Government in relation to the granting of export licences for the sale of arms to Israel. Individual funding decisions are made by the Legal Services Commission in accordance with the Access to Justice Act 1999 and other documents laid before Parliament.
Coroners
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what the oldest outstanding inquest is in each coroner’s jurisdiction; [156048]
(2) what estimate he has made of the average time taken to complete an inquest in England and Wales in each year since 2001, broken down by coroner’s jurisdiction; [156049]
(3) how many inquests were pending before coroners in England and Wales at the end of each calendar year since 2001, broken down by coroner’s jurisdiction. [156050]
Bridget Prentice: For the oldest outstanding inquest in each district, as at 31 December 2006, I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Cardiff, Central (Jenny Willott) on 25 July 2007, Official Report, columns 1157-60W, in response to a similar question. More up-to-date information is not held centrally.
The average time in weeks taken to complete an inquest in England and Wales, for each coroner’s district, in each year since 2004 (the earliest year for which figures are available) is shown in the following tables.
The number of inquests outstanding within each coroner’s district as at 31 December 2006, and at the end of each calendar year since 2001 is shown in the following tables.
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