Written Answers to Questions
Thursday 13 December 2007
Leader of the House
Oral Statements
38. David T.C. Davies: To ask the Leader of the House what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the procedures for oral statements by Ministers. [173667]
Helen Goodman: Oral statements are one of the most valued and effective parts of the House's proceedings. The Government have no plans to propose any changes to present procedures, though we are always open to representations from hon. Members on this as on other matters.
Voting Rights
40. Angela Watkinson: To ask the Leader of the House what the Government's policy is on the right of right hon. and hon. Members representing Scottish constituencies to vote on matters relating to England where responsibility for such matters in Scotland has been devolved to the Scottish Executive. [173669]
Helen Goodman: The Prime Minister has previously set out the Government's policy to the House on the 3 July. This Government do not accept that there should be any discrimination in the rights of hon. Members to take part in the business before the House. ‘English votes for English laws’ would lead to the break up of the Union. This Government believes in the Union and will do nothing to harm it. Constitutional issues are the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Justice Secretary.
Departmental Manpower
Mrs. May: To ask the Leader of the House how many (a) men and (b) women of each Civil Service grade are employed by her Office. [172743]
Ms Harman: The following table gives information for people currently working in my office who are employed by the Cabinet Office.
| Grade | Female | Male |
In addition there are four members of staff who are either on loan or paid for by the Department of Work and Pensions to support me in my duties as Minister for Women and Equalities.
| Grade | Female | Male |
Departmental Meetings
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Leader of the House what the (a) date, (b) location and (c) purpose was of each meeting she attended with the Prime Minister in (i) the week commencing 19 November and (ii) the week commencing 26 November. [173345]
Ms Harman: I have regular meetings with the Prime Minister.
Solicitor-General
Rape
16. Ms Katy Clark: To ask the Solicitor-General what steps she is taking to increase conviction rates for rape. [173642]
The Solicitor-General: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) now monitors all rape cases to ensure consistent good practice. The CPS works with the voluntary and community sector and the police to improve the service to victims and to build stronger cases. A cross government group is overseeing performance to address local variations in investigation and prosecution.
Anti-trafficking Legislation
17. Mr. Bone: To ask the Solicitor-General what assessment she has made of the effect of the UK's anti-trafficking legislation on the ability of the Crown Prosecution Service successfully to prosecute trafficking offences. [173643]
The Solicitor-General: I am satisfied that our human trafficking legislation is as effective as possible to ensure the Crown Prosecution Service is able to prosecute successfully those who commit such offences. In addition the Crown Prosecution Service is tasked with keeping under review the anti-trafficking legislation under the UK Action Plan on Trafficking.
“Undercover Mosque”
18. Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Solicitor-General what discussions she has had with the Crown Prosecution Service over the decision of the west midlands Crown Prosecution Service and West Midlands Police to refer the programme “Undercover Mosque” to Ofcom; and if she will make a statement. [173644]
The Solicitor-General: The matter was referred to Ofcom by West Midlands Police and not the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). There were no discussions about the issue between my office and the CPS.
Criminal Justice Targets
19. Miss McIntosh: To ask the Solicitor-General what progress has been made towards those elements of the Government's criminal justice system targets for which she has responsibility; and if she will make a statement. [173645]
The Solicitor-General: I have responsibility for the persistent young offender and victims and witnesses criminal justice targets. The PYO pledge was to halve the average time from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders from 142 days to 71 days. The average time for the quarter to September 2007 was 62 days. In the year to June 2007, in 59.7 per cent. cases, victims and witnesses were satisfied with the handling of matters by the police and other criminal justice agencies. This is on course to meet the 60.1 per cent. target by the end of March 2008.
Trans-national Bribery
20. Hugh Bayley: To ask the Solicitor-General how many cases of trans-national bribery are under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. [173646]
The Solicitor-General: The Serious Fraud Office is currently investigating 11 cases where there are allegations of trans-national bribery, as well as fraud.
It is not possible for operational reasons to give specific details on these cases but they include an investigation into Energy Financing Team Ltd in Bosnia, an investigation into Kellog Brown and Root in connection with Nigeria and a number of other countries, an investigation into the construction of the Unesco-financed Bibliotecha Alexandria in Egypt and an investigation into reinsurance involving the National Insurance Institute in Costa Rica.
A number of other cases are also currently being considered for investigation in the vetting process.
Church Commissioners
Church Appointments
11. Simon Hughes: To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners what representations the Church Commissioners have received on the Prime Minister’s proposal to change the role that Ministers and civil servants play in relation to some Church appointments. [173658]
Sir Stuart Bell: Following the Government’s Green Paper, the archbishops issued a consultation paper on Crown appointments in the Church in October. In light of the views expressed in the consultation period, which ended on 7 December, the archbishops will shortly decide what proposals to put to General Synod in February.
Home Department
Crime: Internet
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions she has had with (a) the police and (b) Ministerial colleagues on the establishment of a police central e-crime unit. [167104]
Mr. Coaker: I have regular meetings with the police and ministerial colleagues on a range of issues, including fraud and e-crime.
On 17 October 2007, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Darling), announced that funding would be made available through the comprehensive spending review for the establishment of a National Fraud Reporting Centre.
The Home Office is currently considering proposals to improve the handling of e-crime.
Domestic Violence
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps the Government have taken to protect people from domestic violence, since 1997. [170976]
Mr. Coaker [holding answer 4 December 2007]: Since 1997, the Government have been working to: increase the early identification of (and intervention with) victims of domestic violence; ensure that effective advice and support is provided to victims of domestic violence; improve the criminal justice response to domestic violence; and to manage perpetrators to reduce risk.
These aims have been underpinned by the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 and an annual cross-Government National Delivery Plan for Domestic Violence (since 2005) to progress this work both nationally and locally.
The following table sets out some of the key steps that the Government have taken to tackle domestic violence. Main themes have included:
(i) strengthening the criminal justice response to domestic violence through the development and expansion of Specialist Domestic Violence Courts to 64 systems in England and Wales, ensuring that domestic violence coordinators are located in every police force, probation and Crown Prosecution Service area, and rolling out perpetrator programmes to all probation areas; and
(ii) improving the safety of identified high risk victims of domestic violence through the development of Independent Domestic Violence Adviser services and Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences, with over 100 areas currently supported.
This work has had a significant impact: according to the British Crime Survey the prevalence of domestic violence has fallen by 59 per cent. between 1995 and 2006-07.
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