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9 Oct 2008 : Column 786W—continued
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| Department area | 2005-06 (£) | 2006-07 (£) | 2008-09 (£) | PR/marketing company |
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| Agency | 2006-07 (£) | 2007-08 (£) | 2008-09 (£) | PR/marketing company |
EU Law
Mr. Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many officials in his Department are wholly or mainly tasked with the negotiation, implementation or administration of EU legislation and consequent policies. [222270]
Mr. Wills: This Government are firmly committed to the importance of the EU in delivering on 21(st) century challenges. The EU is of central importance to the work of HM Government across all Departments. It is relevant to a wide range of policy areas, and to the work of many Government officials.
Within the Ministry of Justice, there are currently 22 officials in total who are wholly or mainly tasked with the negotiation, implementation or the administration of EU legislation and consequent policies.
Offenders: Ex-servicemen
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many ex-service personnel have been convicted of a criminal offence and sentenced to custody in the last five years; [225667]
(2) how many personnel who were discharged from the Army in the last five years have been subsequently convicted of a criminal offence; [225668]
(3) what the prison population is in England and Wales; and how many of those prisoners have served in the armed forces in the last 10 years. [225658]
Mr. Hanson: At the end of August 2008 there were 83,406 prisoners detained in all prison establishments in England and Wales.
This figure was drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Data from nationally representative surveys of some 2,000 sentenced prisoners near release conducted in 2001, 2003 and 2004 show the proportion of prisoners who had previously served in the armed forces as 6 per cent., 4 per cent. and 5 per cent. respectively.
We are unable to identify the occupation of an offender from the Court Proceedings Database. As such, we cannot tell the number of ex-service personnel that are convicted and sentenced to immediate custody.
Information held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform cannot separately identify the occupation of the defendant.
Powers of Entry
James Duddridge: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what (a) primary and (b) secondary legislation sponsored by his Department and its predecessor has (i) amended and (ii) enhanced existing powers of entry since May 1997. [221963]
Mr. Wills: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by the Minister of State for the Home Office my hon. Friend the Member for Gedling (Mr. Coaker) on 7 October 2008, Official Report, column 577W.
Leader of the House
Procedural Reform
25. Mr. Allen: To ask the Leader of the House what procedural reforms of the House of Commons she and her predecessors have instigated since July 2001. [225261]
Chris Bryant: The Government have continued since 2001 to advance their programme of procedural reform in the Commons. This has included modernisation of sitting hours and the publication in advance of an annual parliamentary calendar.
There has been improved topicality with a reduced notice period for oral questions, the introduction of topical questions and debates, more effective limits for speaking times, and introduction of the tabling of written questions in September
The establishment of evidence-taking opportunities at the committee stage of Bills, improved explanatory material and plainer language for legislation, publication of a draft legislative programme, and the introduction of a new process to promote post-legislative scrutiny has enhanced Members’ ability to scrutinise legislation.
The strengthening of Select Committees and payment of salaries to Committee Chairs, had encouraged greater examination of Government, with enhanced scrutiny of the Prime Minster by the Liaison Committee.
Departmental Public Participation
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Leader of the House what (a) listening exercises and (b) public forums her Office conducted in each of the last two years; and what the (i) purpose and (ii) cost to her Office was of each such consultation. [221860]
Chris Bryant: The Leader of the House has initiated the following, which could be considered be either a public forum or listening exercise:
Dorneywood
James Duddridge: To ask the Leader of the House pursuant to the answer to my right hon. Friend the Member for Horsham (Mr. Haude) of 19 June 2008, Official Report, column 1187W, on Dorneywood: Official Hospitality, what use her Office has made of Dorneywood for official engagements in the last 12 months. [222191]
Members' Staff: Redundancy Pay
Lynne Jones: To ask the Leader of the House whether the redundancy arrangements available to staff of hon. Members will be part of the next Senior Salaries Review Body review of parliamentary pay, pensions and allowances. [225975]
Chris Bryant:
The Senior Salaries Review Body is due to conduct a review of parliamentary pay shortly after the next general election. It is expected that this review will also include parliamentary pensions and allowances.
Careful consideration will be given as to the issues across these areas that should be brought to the attention the Review Body. However, as it may be up to 18 months before the Review Body begin their work it would be inappropriate to begin setting out now the detailed topics to be considered.
Lynne Jones: To ask the Leader of the House how much, on average, staff of hon. Members received in redundancy payments in each of the last 10 years. [226012]
Mr. Sarwar: To ask the Leader of the House how much on average staff of hon. Members received in redundancy payments in each of the last 10 years. [225253]
Chris Bryant: Most redundancies involving hon. Members’ staff arise from a Member leaving the House at a general election. Members’ staff contracts specify that when a redundancy occurs the amount payable is set at the statutory rate, which is linked to a formula which takes account of salary, length of service and age.
In addition, Members can, at their discretion, top-up or match this contractual entitlement from their parliamentary allowances, or make a discretionary payment where there is no eligibility to a payment at the statutory rate.
The average redundancy payment in each year since 2003-04 was as follows:
| Amount (£) | |
Information is not readily available for prior years.
Regional Committees
Mr. Heath: To ask the Leader of the House what plans she has to bring forward proposals for the orders of reference for regional Select Committees. [225252]
Ms Harman: On 21 July, the Government published their proposal on the introduction of regional committees—both Select Committees and Grand Committees—in response to the third report from the Modernisation Committee. As indicated in that response, we intend to bring forward the detailed proposals in the period before the end of the current Session with the hope that the committees—if approved by the House—could begin work in the new year.
Prime Minister
Cabinet: Birmingham
Pete Wishart: To ask the Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the number of people from the public who attended the Cabinet meeting events in Birmingham. [225341]
The Prime Minister: The visit of the Cabinet to Birmingham was preceded by several ministerial visits across the region; a public engagement event with approximately 250 people was followed by a formal Cabinet meeting and an economic event.
In addition, I have today placed in the Library of the House the “Response to Cabinet public engagement event Birmingham 2008”, copies are also available on the Cabinet Office website:
Pete Wishart: To ask the Prime Minister what the total cost was of the Cabinet visit to Birmingham, broken down by (a) staff time, (b) staff travel, (c) staff accommodation, (d) Ministerial travel, (e) Ministerial accommodation, (f) hire and additional costs of venue, (g) publicity, (h) security and (i) costs of Ministerial visits and photocalls associated with the Cabinet visit. [225342]
The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Members for Worthing, West (Peter Bottomley) and for North Cornwall (Dan Rogerson) on 17 September 2008, Official Report, column 2229W.
Departmental Buildings
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Prime Minister which organisations have received (a) free and (b) discounted room hire from (i) his office and (ii) its agencies in each of the last five years; and what the commercial value of the discount was in each case. [221593]
The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the then Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Corby (Phil Hope) on 10 September 2008, Official Report, column 1830W.
Departmental Responsibilities
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Prime Minister which projects his office has commissioned form (a) think tanks and (b) charities in each of the last two years for which figures are available; what the aim of each project was; which think tank or charity was commissioned; and how much was paid. [221623]
The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend, the Member for Cardiff, West (kevin Brennan) the Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office on 8 October 2008, Official Report, column 651W.
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