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11 Dec 2008 : Column 295W—continued
Departmental Mediation
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many mediations his Department has participated in since its establishment; [240426]
(2) who was appointed as lead negotiator in each of the mediations in which his Department has participated since the establishment of his Department; [240427]
(3) how much his Department has spent on alternative dispute resolution including mediation on (a) training provided by external providers including the Treasury Solicitor's Department, (b) subscriptions to related instruction and (c) facilitation fees; and to whom such payments have been made since the establishment of his Department; [240453]
(4) what training and guidance on alternative dispute resolution including mediation has been (a) published on his Department's intranet and (b) otherwise provided to those of his Department's staff who are involved in resolving disputes in which his Department is a party. [240454]
Mr. Straw: The Ministry of Justice is involved in number of different forms of mediation. These may be internal resolution of conflict for members of staff or alternatives to court activity. The Ministry of Justice does not maintain a record of the number of cases where mediation has been used. However, we are aware of at least 10 mediations conducted since May 2007 when the Ministry of Justice was established.
The Ministry of Justice does not maintain a record of facilitation fees. Members of the Department's legal team attend such training courses as are necessary, although we have no specific record of the expenditure on alternative dispute resolution (ADR) training. Members of the Department's legal team may also attend the ADR awareness sessions run by the Treasury Solicitor's Department.
The Ministry of Justice also has a number of trained workplace mediators who deal with issues involving disputes between employees. Training and guidance on alternative dispute resolution is not published on the Ministry of Justice's intranet.
Departmental Pay
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what bonuses were paid by his Department in 2007-08; to which members of staff; and for what purposes. [240792]
Mr. Wills: Bonus payments within the Ministry of Justice may be made either as “year-end” bonuses, which are paid to high performing staff to reflect their individual contribution throughout the previous performance year, or as “in year” bonuses, paid to recognise exceptional achievements during the performance year.
For the financial year 2007-08, a total of 2,535 “year-end” bonuses and 5,327 “in year” bonuses were paid. These payments to staff amounted to a total of £5,748,037.
This figure includes bonuses paid to senior civil servants, totalling £1,717,322, in the 2007-08 financial year. SCS bonuses were allocated in accordance with guidelines issued by the Cabinet Office following the Senior Salaries Review Body recommendations as recognition of achievement. The remaining amount of £4,030,715 was allocated to staff below SCS level.
The payment of bonuses, which are non-consolidated and non-pensionable, to high performing individuals, is a part of the Department's reward strategy. Such payments are a cost-effective means of encouraging and rewarding high performance. An additional amount of 0.02 per cent. of paybill is set aside for more general reward and recognition purposes.
Departmental Pensions
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many and what proportion of civil servants in his Department and its agencies are members of the (a) Classic, (b) Classic Plus, (c) Nuvos and (d) Premium civil service pension schemes. [240311]
Mr. Wills: Information as at November 2008 is as follows:
| Number of staff in scheme | Proportion of staff in each scheme (percentage | |
|
(b) and (d) Classic Plus + Premium Civil Service Pension Scheme | ||
The figures provided do not include employees who have elected to join a Partnership pension scheme or have opted out of the pension. Therefore the figures provided do not total 100 per cent. of employees currently in the Department.
It is not possible to differentiate between those employees in the Premium pension scheme and those in the Classic + pension scheme. They are not recorded separately on the pension records held by the Department's payroll provider and would be available only at disproportionate cost, if at all.
Disability Equality Duty
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what conclusions his Department has reached in fulfilment of its duty under section 3.111 of the statutory code of practice of the disability equality duty. [240980]
Mr. Malik: The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) is committed to promoting equality of opportunity for disabled people and welcomes its responsibilities under the Disability Equality Duty.
The Department published its corporate Disability Equality Scheme in April 2008 and has recently published its Secretary of State Report on Disability Equality. Key priorities identified by our stakeholders with disabilities are access to justice; offender management and participation in public life.
The MOJ will be publishing its first Disability Equality Scheme (DES) annual review in summer 2009 in which related actions on these priority areas will be reported on.
Employment Tribunals Service: Compensation
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much compensation was awarded by employment tribunals in each year since 2003-04, broken down by jurisdiction. [240419]
Bridget Prentice: The employment tribunals only retain details of awards for the following jurisdictions; unfair dismissal and discrimination on the grounds of sex, race and disability. Compensatory awards in cases of discrimination on the grounds of age, religious belief and sexual orientation will be provided from 2007-08 onwards. Details of the awards for the period of 2003-04 to 2006-07 are listed as follows. We are not yet in a position to release figures for the year 2007-08.
| Unfair dismissal | |||
| Average award (£) | Total number of awards | Total compensation (£) | |
| Race Discrimination | |||
| Average award (£) | Total number of awards | Total compensation (£) | |
| Sex Discrimination | |||
| Average award (£) | Total number of awards | Total compensation (£) | |
| Disability Discrimination | |||
| Average award (£) | Total number of awards | Total compensation (£) | |
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many unpaid employment tribunal monetary awards were registered in county courts in each year since 2003-04. [240420]
Bridget Prentice: The following table shows the number of tribunal awards registered in the county courts of England and Wales for the purposes of enforcement in each year since 2003-04. In 2007-08, these registrations account for approximately 4 per cent. of total tribunal disposals. Figures relating solely to unpaid employment tribunal monetary awards are not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
| Number of tribunal awards issued in the county courts of England and Wales since 2003-04 | |
| Number | |
| (1) Figures for the latest year are provisional | |
Government Departments: Information
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he is taking to improve the capacity of Government Departments and agencies to manage knowledge and information in the light of guidance recently issued in his Department's document “Information Matters”. [240271]
Mr. Wills: “Information Matters: building government's capability in managing knowledge and information” was published on 18 November. An implementation plan for this strategy will be published in spring 2009. The strategy will help Departments manage their information more effectively. It will also develop knowledge and information management professionals within government to ensure that capability across the civil service is raised to deliver more effective services to citizens.
High Visibility Payback Scheme
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the high visibility payback scheme in meeting its objectives; and if he will make a statement. [240739]
Mr. Hanson:
Probation areas have been required to promote the unpaid work community sentence to the public as community payback since 2005. This has been done in a number of ways, including the use of signs on work sites and vehicles. Probation areas have also done
imaginative work to generate local publicity in order to increase public awareness of the work done by offenders to improve local communities.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor announced that offenders sentenced to unpaid work will be required to wear distinctive high visibility clothing from 1 December. Further work is being undertaken to determine the level of public awareness community payback.
Intellectual Property: Training
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment his Department has made of the merits of training in intellectual property law for judges and magistrates and their advisers; and what guidance has been issued to the Judicial Studies Board pursuant to recommendation 44 of the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property. [241330]
Mr. Straw: Responsibility for judicial training lies with the Lord Chief Justice as head of the judiciary and is exercised through the Judicial Studies Board (JSB), an independent body chaired by Lord Justice Maurice Kay. It would not therefore be appropriate for me to issue guidance on judicial training to the JSB.
The JSB’s Magisterial Committee considered this recommendation. Because of the infrequency and relatively straightforward nature of such cases heard in the magistrates courts, and the fact that magistrates have qualified legal advisers to advise them on the principles involved, it was not thought appropriate to train all magistrates and legal advisers.
A paper entitled “The law relating to criminal offences involving infringement of intellectual property rights” was commissioned from a senior QC and is available to judicial office holders and legal advisers on the JSB training website.
Intellectual Property is a specialist area dealt with by a small cadre of specialist judges. It has not been the practice of the JSB to focus on teaching specialist substantive law, and the primary responsibility remains with judges (as with professional lawyers) for updating themselves. The relevant jurisdictional law still provides the background for all JSB training and any important changes will be highlighted at relevant training events.
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