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15 July 2008 : Column 368W—continued
Human Trafficking
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many of the victims of trafficking discovered by Pentameter II have been provided with legal representation. [217967]
Maria Eagle: All the victims that were referred to the UK Border Agency and the Poppy project will have had access to independent legal advice relating to immigration issues.
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether he plans to establish more refuges for victims of trafficking throughout the UK. [217974]
Maria Eagle: This year we are investing a further £1.3 million into the Poppy project to support women trafficked into sexual exploitation. This covers the core bespoke support services, the outreach service and the continuation of the capacity building work that started during Operation Pentameter II which resulted in service level agreements being put in place with other women's refuges across the country.
The Government have given their commitment to ratify the Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Beings by the end of the year. This will require us to enhance our existing arrangements by continuing to build capacity to support these victims and to develop support arrangements for victims trafficked into forced labour.
Legal Services Commission: Complaints
Mr. O'Hara: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many claims for redress and compensation the Legal Services Commission received in respect of (a) the unified contract, (b) online services provided by the Commission and (c) late payments by the Commission in (i) 2006-07, (ii) 2007-08 and (iii) 2008-09; what action the Commission has taken in response; and which claims remain outstanding; [217287]
(2) how the Legal Services Commission records complaints under its complaints procedures; what complaints databases it maintains; what classes of information are recorded on such databases; which departments in the Commission maintain records of complaints; and what grade of official is responsible for the (a) entry, (b) verification and accuracy, (c) audit and (d) security of the data of such information; [217293]
(3) how many complaints handlers there are within the Legal Services Commission to handle complaints made to the Commission; and where each is located; [217296]
(4) how many complaints were received about information relating to account holders’ payments held by the Legal Services Commission being (a) sent to the wrong suppliers and (b) sent in a unusable format since 1April 2008; [217298]
(5) how many payments have not been made by the Legal Services Commission on the due date to suppliers since 1 April 2008; [217299]
(6) how many of the complaints under the Legal Services Commission’s complaints procedures have been made by (a) hon. Members, (b) those seeking legal services funded by the Legal Services Commission and (c) providers of services funded by the Legal Services Commission in each year since 2004-05; [217301]
(7) how many telephone complaints have been made to (a) the Chief Executive’s Office, (b) the Central Customer Service Unit and (c) the North of England Regional Office of the Legal Services Commission on (i) non-compliance with the Commission’s complaints procedure guarantee and (ii) failures to respond to complaints about the Commission’s non-compliance with its complaint procedure guarantee; and in what form such complaints were recorded; [217303]
(8) how much in due payments was not processed by the date due by the Legal Services Commission since 1 April 2008; [217304]
(9) what (a) interest, (b) compensation and (c) other costs have been paid by the Legal Services Commission to suppliers to whom the Commission failed to make due payments by the due date since 1 April 2008. [217305]
Maria Eagle: Seven members of staff work in the Legal Services Commission’s Central Customer Service Unit in London, which is responsible for handling complaints. Many other staff deal with a wide range of telephone, email and written inquiries from both providers and clients in the LSCs other offices including the regions and Wales. The information is not held centrally in the format requested and could be compiled only at disproportionate cost.
Members: Correspondence
Sir Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when the Minister of State plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire dated 15 May 2008, on prisoners' pay (Reference: 201584). [217782]
Mr. Hanson: I apologise for the delay in responding to the hon. Member. A letter has been issued today.
Motor Vehicles: Registration
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people were (a) prosecuted and (b) convicted for the fraudulent registration of vehicles in each of the last three years for which figures are available. [218916]
Maria Eagle: Data collected centrally combine all the offences within the offence group “Fraud, forgery etc. associated with registration and licensing documents”. As a result we are unable to identify separately prosecutions involving fraud for offences under ss. 44 and 45 of the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994.
Parole
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many cases were dealt with by the Parole Board's (a) oral hearings team and (b) paper hearings team in each of the last five years. [217630]
Mr. Hanson: Information from the Parole Board about the number of cases dealt with by their oral hearings team and paper hearings team in each of the last five years is provided in the following table.
| (a) Number of oral hearings | (b) Number of paper hearings | |
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the (a) average, (b) maximum and (c) minimum period was between prisoners becoming eligible for a Parole Board (i) oral hearing and (ii) paper hearing and the hearing taking place in the latest period for which figures are available. [217631]
Mr. Hanson: The Parole Board does not hold this information and it is not available from any other source.
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners are awaiting a decision letter following a Parole Board (a) oral hearing and (b) paper hearing. [217632]
Mr. Hanson: The Parole Board has a target of issuing oral hearing decisions within five working days and paper hearing decisions within two working days. Information from the Board is that on 9 July 2008, 13 oral hearing cases and 18 paper hearing cases were awaiting the issue of a decision letter.
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners are awaiting a Parole Board oral hearing. [217633]
Mr. Hanson: I am advised by the Parole Board that there were 949 prisoners awaiting an oral hearing at the end of June 2008.
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what arrangements the Parole Board has made to protect the security and confidentiality of communications between its staff and prisoners’ solicitors. [217634]
Mr. Hanson: In response to Government initiatives at the beginning of this year, the Parole Board carried out a general review of security matters throughout their organisation including the way in which communication is conducted with prisoners’ representatives. A new security policy and manual for staff was issued in April 2008.
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many Parole Board dossiers were destroyed in each of the last 12 months; and on what criteria the decisions to authorise their destruction were based. [217638]
Mr. Hanson: I am advised by the Parole Board that for the period between June 2007 and June 2008, 323 files were destroyed. It is normal practice for files for oral hearing cases to be destroyed after nine months from the date of the hearing unless further action has been initiated.
Parole Board: Civil Proceedings
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice on how many occasions legal proceedings were brought against the Parole Board for alleged failure to release prisoners in a timely fashion in each of the last five years; in how many of these cases the proceedings were successful; and how much compensation was paid in respect of each. [217643]
Mr. Hanson: The Parole Board does not hold records of all claims for compensation, only those where a payment is made. In some cases, payment may have been ex-gratia and not necessarily as a result of successful legal proceedings. Records of payments made in compensation for unacceptable delays in conducting a hearing have been kept by the Parole Board since April 2006. There have been 29 payments made since then and the amounts of each of these are contained in the following table:
| £ | |
Parole Board: Correspondence
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what arrangements the Parole Board has for sorting incoming mail; whether there have been changes to the arrangements in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [217639]
Mr. Hanson: I am informed by the Parole Board that their incoming mail is initially scanned centrally for suspect devices, as is all mail for secure Government buildings in London. It is then delivered by Government messenger service to the board’s London offices. The mail is not opened until it has been received by individual teams within the board who then open and action the mail. Following a recent review a new central services team will be set up to handle incoming mail once it arrives with the board and will be supported by a new post database that has been developed for that purpose.
Parole Board: Lost Property
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many Parole Board dossiers have been lost in the last 12 months. [217640]
Mr. Hanson: The Parole Board is not aware of any dossiers being lost during this period.
Parole Board: Manpower
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many caseworkers were employed by the Parole Board to deal with (a) oral hearings and (b) paper hearings in each of the last five years. [217629]
Mr. Hanson: Information from the Parole Board on the numbers of caseworkers employed to deal with oral and paper hearings is contained in the following tables.
| (a) Number of caseworkers on oral hearings | ||
| Permanent | Temp/agency | |
| (b) Number of caseworkers on paper hearings | ||
| Permanent | Temp/agency | |
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