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2 Feb 2009 : Column 909W—continued
Bail Accommodation and Support Scheme
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) defendants and (b) offenders have been placed in ClearSprings accommodation since the start of the Bail Accommodation and Support Scheme. [252344]
Mr. Straw: The service commenced on 18 June 2007. Up to 26 January 2009, 1,292 defendants on bail and 1,048 offenders on home detention curfew had been placed in ClearSprings accommodation.
Bail Accommodation and Support Services: Milton Keynes
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) when he expects the second bail hostel planned for Milton Keynes to be operational; and what its capacity will be; [253164]
(2) what the capacity of the bail hostel in Milton Keynes is. [253165]
Mr. Hanson: I take the hon. Member to be referring to the accommodation and support service for bail and Home Detention Curfew provided to NOMS by ClearSprings. The service does not provide hostels. There is currently one property in Milton Keynes with three places. A second three bed roomed property is being sought. It is not possible to predict by when a property will be found and brought into use.
Debt Collection
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what guidance under what title Her Majesty's Court Service has issued to bailiffs in the last 12 months; and when each was most recently updated. [252469]
Bridget Prentice: Her Majesty's Courts Service employs county court bailiffs and civilian enforcement officers as well as private enforcement agent organisations to execute warrants on behalf of Her Majesty's Courts Service in England and Wales.
Her Majesty's Courts Service regularly issues guidance and direction to its staff and enforcement agents on a variety of issues. This includes both operational and personal guidance. The guidance is issued from a number of sources within Her Majesty's Courts Service and the Ministry of Justice.
The cost associated with specifying what guidance and under what title has been issued to bailiffs in the last 12months would be disproportionate and my Department has therefore not been able to provide details.
Departmental ICT
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the (a) first estimate, (b) last estimate and (c) outturn cost was of each of the 30 largest IT contracts his Department has entered into with external suppliers since the Department was established. [250830]
Maria Eagle: The Department was created in May 2007 and most of the Department's IT contracts are legacy contracts from the former Department for Constitutional Affairs, Home Office and Office for Criminal Justice Reform.
Two contracts awarded since the Department was established are ongoing and there are no outturn costs to report. A small number of other IT contracts are managed at local business level and information on these is not held centrally.
Departmental Manpower
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Rochford and Southend East, of 13 October 2008, Official Report, columns 870-1W, on departmental manpower, how many (a) staff without posts and (b) staff classified as priority movers there are in his Department and its agencies; how many of the staff without posts were classified as such after returning from maternity leave; and how many of the staff without posts have been classified as such for at least (a) six months and (b) 12 months. [250089]
Mr. Wills: There are less than five people that are classified as staff without posts in the Department so this information is withheld on grounds of confidentiality.
There are 126 permanent staff classified as priority movers within the Ministry of Justice. The figure comprises both full-time and part-time staff. All are actively in employment. However, due to business reasons, for example, restructuring, relocation, closure of offices/courts, the end of projects/secondments etc, their substantive posts have come to or are potentially coming to an end.
There are no staff who after returning from maternity leave have been classified as without posts, nor are there any staff without posts who have been classified as such for at least six or 12 months. Of the 126 permanent staff that are currently classified as priority movers, less than 10 have been in this category for at least six months and less than 15 for at least 12 months.
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many staff his Department employs. [252346]
Mr. Straw: On 31 December 2008, (the latest date for which figures are available) the Ministry of Justice employed 76,872 full-time equivalent staff.
Departmental Official Residences
Mr. Pickles:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Rochford and Southend East of 17 November 2008, Official Report, column 19W, on departmental official residences, whether the council tax bills for (a) HM Courts Service and (b) HM Prison Service residential
accommodation are paid from public funds; and what his Department's policy is on whether the proposed new charges for the collection of household waste will be funded by the public purse or personally by the occupying staff member. [252215]
Mr. Hanson: For Judges Lodgings the council tax bills for residential properties held by HM Courts Service (occupied by judges’ lodgings managers and court keepers/custodians), are paid for by the individual resident staff who pay rental for their occupation. HMCS does not meet the cost from the public funds.
HM Courts Service has not yet decided on the policy that it will adopt to recover the proposed new charges in respect of the collection of household waste. Where charges may accrue in respect of household waste, HMCS may look to the individual to meet the cost (as in the case of recovering rent), but this would be considered against the actual amount due and the time and cost to recover same.
Staff that occupy National Offender Management Service provided residential accommodation (most commonly known as prison officer quarters) are liable for all local taxes. No consideration has been given to meeting any new local taxes from the public purse.
Departmental Public Consultation
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Dundee East of 30 April 2008, Official Report, columns 511-14W, on departmental public participation, if he will place in the Library a copy of each of the non-confidential individual responses to the 2007 bailiff regulation document. [252355]
Bridget Prentice: 414 readable responses were received following the publication of the 2007 Bailiff regulation document. An analysis of these responses was undertaken and a report was published in March 2008. A copy of this report has been placed in the Library. It is our intention to place in the Library a copy of all 414 readable responses to this paper by the 16 February 2009.
Departmental Public Relations
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the cost of his Department's contracts with public relations consultancies was in each of the last five years. [251250]
Maria Eagle: Since its creation in May 2007 to 31 March 2008, the Ministry of Justice spend on Public Relations consultancies was £290,476. From April 2008 to date the Ministry of Justice has spent £87,797. Due to machinery of government changes it is not possible to identify comprehensive data for the earlier time periods prior to May 2007.
Departmental Training
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department spent on digital media training courses provided by the Internet Advertising Bureau in 2008; how many such training sessions were held in 2008; and how many staff in his Department attended at least one such training course. [252263]
Mr. Wills: There was no expenditure by the Ministry of Justice on digital media training courses provided by the Internet Advertising Bureau in 2008. No such training sessions were held for MOJ staff.
Departmental Working Hours
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the policy of his Department and its agencies is on granting staff time off in lieu for working (a) in lunch breaks, (b) in evenings and (c) at other times outside contracted working hours; and if he will make a statement. [252017]
Mr. Malik: The majority of staff in the Ministry of Justice are covered by flexible working arrangements which, subject to working appropriate core hours, provide staff with a degree of flexibility while enabling the Ministry and its Agencies to provide an effective service for our customers.
Flexible working arrangements mean that staff who work in excess of their contracted hours, whether during lunch breaks, in evenings or at other times, gain credit on their flexi-hours. Those who accrue sufficient hours credit, may (subject to prior management approval) take the appropriate number of hours as ‘flexi leave'.
This approach allows excess hours to be accrued and taken as leave at such times that both meet the needs of the business and support the work-life balance of our staff.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many days off in lieu were granted to staff in (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) its non-departmental public bodies for working (i) in lunch breaks and (ii) at other times outside contracted working hours, in the last year for which figures are available. [252018]
Mr. Malik: Time off in-lieu is available under locally agreed Flexible Working Hours arrangements. The number of hours worked and time taken off in lieu are recorded locally by managers can be provided only at a disproportionate cost.
Driving Offences
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people were convicted of reckless driving offences during their first 12 months as licensed drivers in (a) Ribble Valley, (b) Lancashire and (c) the UK in each of the last five years. [253223]
Maria Eagle: Available information held by the Ministry of Justice on convictions at all courts for offences of dangerous and careless driving in Lancashire police force area and England and Wales for the years 2003 to 2007 (latest available) is provided in the following table.
from Information held centrally it is not possible to provide constituency level data.
Information on the number of findings of guilt during the first 12 months as a licensed driver are not held by the Ministry of Justice.
There is no specific offence for reckless driving, thus the number of findings of guilt at all courts for offences
of dangerous and careless driving for Lancashire Police force area and England and Wales has been provided in lieu.
Data for 2008 should be available in the autumn of 2009.
| Findings of guilt at all courts for offences of dangerous and careless driving, in Lancashire police force area, and England and Wales, 2003-07( 1,2) | ||
| Number of offences | ||
| Police force area | ||
| Findings of guilt | Lancashire | England and Wales |
| (1) It is known that for some police force areas, the reporting of court proceedings in particular those relating to summary motoring offences, may be less than complete. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: The Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Evidence and Analysis Unit Data taken from Table S6.15(b) of Crim Stats Sup vol. 6 (motoring offences), years 2003-07. | ||
Fraud: Elections
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with reference to the answer of 7 January 2008, Official Report, column 150W, on fraud: elections, what progress has been made on the Government's plans to bring forward further legislation to implement its policy on requiring valid signatures for the issue of ballot papers in polling stations. [252484]
Mr. Wills: The Government continue to consider how this measure could most effectively be implemented. We must ensure, however, that any approach to this issue is aligned with other reforms to the registration and electoral processes.
Freedom of Information
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans he has to increase the budget of the Information Commissioner to assist the processing of reports under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. [251713]
Mr. Wills: The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) regularly review funding for the Office's freedom of information work.
In response to business cases made by the ICO, the MOJ has provided the ICO with additional grant in aid over and above its original baseline for this financial year and the previous three. Figures are set out in the following table.
The MOJ has made clear that additional funding must result in increased productivity and efficiency. The ICO has reviewed its internal processes and has adopted new procedures such as senior level triage of new cases as they are received to drive performance improvements. During the last completed quarter the ICO has closed 11 per cent. more cases than in the equivalent quarter in the last financial year.
In the current financial year, in addition to an extra £500,000 on top of the £5 million baseline, the MOJ has promoted a secondment scheme to assist the ICO with its freedom of information casework. Currently, six civil servants are seconded to the ICO, paid for by their home departments.
Discussions are continuing about funding for next year.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with reference to the answer of 7 January 2008, Official Report, column 151W, on Freedom of Information Act 2000, which (a) regional chambers and (b) proposed local authority leaders' boards will be subject to the provisions of the Act. [252152]
Mr. Wills: If approved by both Houses, provisions within the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill (currently before the House) will disband regional chambers and replace them with local authority leaders’ boards. There is currently no provision in the Bill to bring local authority leaders’ board within the scope of the Freedom of Information Act. However, this matter will be given further consideration in due course.
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