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19 Feb 2008 : Column 598W
Financial year 2006-07
Supplier Objective Value (£)

Deloitte and Touche

Nil return

Ernst & Young

Nil return

KPMG

Project Management consultancy support and advice for Performance Management Division.

31,800

PricewaterhouseCoopers

Diversity consultancy to support better and more focussed use of resources across the staff networks.

55,351

PricewaterhouseCoopers

Business process re-engineering at the Public Guardianship Office and Court of Protection.

459,092

PA

Delivery of project to undertake fundamental review of judicial training

31,564

PA

Consultancy connected with transfer of Access Rights Unit to Information Rights Division.

95,628

PA

Consultancy support connected with the completion and publication of the Carter Review of Legal Aid Procurement.

50,597

PA

Development and implementation of operating procedures to support eDG in management of DISC programme.

1,812,175

PA

Review/ and assurance of supplier project plans for workstream development, including knowledge transfer in the Service Upgrade Programme Study (SUPS).

377,963

PA

Support to develop and implement the National Enforcement Service and HMCS Enforcement Programme.

1,476,563

PA

Expert advice and support to a major IT enabled business change programme within Civil, Family and Customer Services Division.

740,000

PA

Consultancy support to HMCS Enforcement Programme in London including a detailed impositions analysis of traffic offences across the London Region.

115,881

PA

Analysis and review of listing processes to identify potential cost and efficiency savings within the Asylum & Immigration Tribunal.

207,500


Departmental Databases

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what databases are (a) owned and (b) maintained by (i) his Department and (ii) its agencies. [185420]

Maria Eagle: Details of databases owned and maintained by the Department and its agencies are as follows:

As well as this list, other smaller database systems support local business areas. Details of these are not recorded centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental ICT

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many of his Department’s personal digital assistants were (a) lost and (b) stolen in each of the last five years; and what the value of those items was. [185278]


19 Feb 2008 : Column 599W

Maria Eagle: The Department does not have a comprehensive historical record of this information. Records held centrally show that one personal digital assistant was lost in 2003. The estimated value was approximately £100. There have been no reported thefts of personal digital assistants.

Departmental Internet

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many Wikipedia entries have been (a) created and (b) amended (i) by (A) special advisers, (B) Ministers and (C) communications officials and (ii) from IP addresses of (1) special advisers, (2) Ministers and (3) communications officials in (x) his Department and its predecessor and (y) its agencies since August 2005. [185537]

Maria Eagle: The information is not held centrally and could be provided only by contacting every member of staff in post in the areas requested during this period. The Ministry of Justice’s IT Systems are unable to provide a record of Wikipedia entries which have been created and amended by special advisers, Ministers and communications officials since August 2005.

Firearms: Crime

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) non-EU citizens and (b) foreign nationals were convicted of (i) firearms and (ii) drug offences in Britain in each of the last 12 months. [182764]

Maria Eagle: Information on the total number of foreign nationals convicted for firearms and drug offences are not held centrally. The central databases of criminal court cases collect information on defendants’ ethnicities, but do not presently contain information on their nationalities. This is because, as a general rule, nationality is not germane to the outcome of criminal court proceedings. Defendants will not be asked their nationality by the court for this reason. Information on nationality may be recorded where it is specifically relevant to the case (e.g. immigration-related offences) but this would be held on local files and would not be systematically recorded on central databases.

However, in preparation of the implementation of the UK Borders Act 2007, the Crown court IT systems are being changed to allow for the collection of nationality data. This Act introduces automatic—rather than discretionary—triggers for the deportation of foreign nationals who meet certain sentencing criteria, and it will require more detailed recording of data on foreign national criminal defendants. Upgraded systems to meet this requirement are expected to be in place in late 2008.

Data held on the prison IT system do record the nationality of offenders. The following table gives the number of foreign national and EU national prisoners received into all prison establishments in England and Wales under immediate custodial sentences between 2004 and 2006.


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2004 2005 2006

Foreign nationals

8,355

9,612

9,832

EU nationals (not including UK nationals)

2,087

2,457

2,840

Note:
The foreign nationals data are taken from table 7.5 of the Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2006.

It should be noted, however, that only a percentage of defendants found guilty of offences receive a custodial sentence.

HM Prison Service: MC2 Project

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what involvement HM Prison Service has had in the MC2 project. [186276]

Maria Eagle: A representative of the Prison Service has attended one meeting about the Multi Culture 2 (MC2) project in a consultative position. The service has had no further participation.

HM Prison Service's Race Advisory Group

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice who the members are of HM Prison Service’s Race Advisory Group; how much they are paid; what recommendations they have made; and which have been implemented as a result of such recommendations. [186255]

Maria Eagle: There are 18 members of the Race Advisory Group (RAG), which was reconstituted during 2007. They include representatives of voluntary and community sector groups working in prisons, as well as managers from other large organisations and concerned and motivated individuals.

Membership of the RAG is on a voluntary basis, and members receive no payment other than reimbursement for travel and miscellaneous expenses.

The reconstituted RAG has completed two familiarisation visits to prison establishments, but has had only one formal meeting and has yet to make any recommendations to the Prison Service.

Judges

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many judges are expected to be appointed in 2008; what steps he plans to take to promote diversity amongst the judiciary; and if he will make a statement. [185005]

Mr. Straw: Appointments to judicial office are made by the Lord Chancellor following selection and recommendation by the Judicial Appointments Commission. The JAC puts forward its recommendations on the basis of requests from the Lord Chancellor to fill vacancies, the timing of which is determined by business need.


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