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25 Feb 2009 : Column 839W—continued
Departmental Translation Services
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many language translators are employed in each of his Department’s executive agencies; and what the cost of translating services provided by such people was in the latest period for which information is available. [257156]
Mr. Straw: Her Majesty’s Courts Service does employ one translator within the Welsh Language Unit. Where other services are required, they are secured as and when required. Individuals providing those services are not directly employed by the MOJ.
Translator costs for HMCS and National Offender Management Service (excluding HMPS and probation service) are detailed as follows.
| Financial year 2007-08 | £ |
Tribunals are unable to differentiate between the cost of translators and interpreters. The total cost of those services in 2007-08 was £6,058,000.
Information for Her Majesty’s Prison Service and the probation service is not held centrally and is available only at disproportionate cost.
Electoral Register
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) which local authority electoral registration departments (a) do and (b) do not use bar coding on their electoral registration forms; [257323]
(2) how many local authorities have a (a) Plain English Campaign award and (b) Charter Mark certificate for their electoral registration forms. [257326]
Mr. Wills: A prescribed canvass form is available to all local authorities for the purpose of the annual canvass. The MOJ has not applied for this form to be awarded the Plain English Campaign award but will consider doing so. The design of rolling registration forms is a matter for electoral registration officers.
Charter Mark is awarded to organisations who successfully pass an accreditation process but there is no certification process for registration forms. Local authorities with Charter Mark status may endorse the Charter Mark emblem on any of their publications; it is not known how many print it on their canvass forms.
Information on which local authorities use bar coding on their registration forms is not collected centrally and to do so now would result in disproportionate costs, as we would need to contact every local authority.
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the demographic profile of those people who are most likely not to be registered to vote; and if he will make a statement. [257490]
Mr. Wills: As the Under-Secretary of State for Justice, my hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham (Bridget Prentice) explained in answer to a similar question from my hon. Friend on 26 June 2008, Official Report, column 474W, the Government have not commissioned or evaluated any specific research on the demographic profile of people who are most likely not to be registered to vote. However, the Government do utilise some existing research concerning the attitudes and motivations of the electorate, as commissioned by the then Department of Constitutional Affairs in 2005, as a basis for further work towards identifying an evidence base for policy development and service targets in the electoral field.
The Electoral Commission found in their report, ‘Understanding Electoral Registration’, published in September 2005, that the most likely electors not to be registered to vote included young people, those residing in private rented accommodation and those belonging to certain minority ethnic groups.
Information arising out of the evidence base and the Electoral Commission’s report were used to mount a registration campaign in London for 18 to 24-year-olds and to inform work on registration, which fed into various measures in the Electoral Administration Act 2006.
Electoral Register: Telephone Services
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what rules govern registration to vote by telephone; and whether he plans to change these rules; [257716]
(2) which local authorities use telephone registration to register electors. [257717]
Mr. Wills: Sections 10 and 10A of the Representation of the People Act 1983, in combination with regulations made under that Act, require an application to be added to the electoral register to be made in writing and signed by the applicant. This applies whether the application is made in response to the annual canvass or at any other time. The effect is that a fresh application for registration cannot be made by telephone.
By virtue of section 10A(5)(a) of the Representation of the People Act 1983, once a person is registered, he is entitled to remain on the register until such time as the registration officer is unable to satisfy himself that the person is resident at the address—either because the annual canvass form was not returned or because insufficient information was obtained as to whether the elector was resident at the address at the conclusion of the canvass. There is nothing in this provision to prevent a registration officer from satisfying himself that a person is still resident at the address on the basis of information provided by telephone by the person. As a result, it is possible for registration officers to accept telephone
confirmation of a person’s continued entitlement to registration and, in such a case, the person’s entry could remain in the register.
There are no current plans to change these rules.
Maintaining the registers is the responsibility of local electoral registration officers and no central record is kept regarding how many registration officers accept telephone confirmation of continued entitlement to registration.
Electronic Commerce: EC Law
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2009, Official Report, column 1171W, on homophobia, what compliance issues with the EU e-commerce Directive remain to be resolved. [257415]
Mr. Straw: The E-commerce Directive requires us to apply the offence to domestically established electronic service providers when they provide their services in other European economic area states.
In order to do this, we intend to make regulations under the European Communities Act 1972. But, as the offence relating to hatred on grounds of sexual orientation carries a maximum sentence of seven years imprisonment, we need powers to create penalties greater than those permitted by section 2(2) of that Act. Clause 123 of the Coroners and Justice Bill will amend the 1972 Act to allow us to do this.
HM Courts Service: Pay
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what financial settlement was reached with the former Chief Executive of HM Courts Service at the end of his tenure. [258243]
Mr. Straw: Details of the financial settlement reached with the former chief executive, HM Courts Service is available in the public domain as detailed in the Ministry of Justice’s resource account 2007-08.
Sir Ron De Witt left the Department on 14 December 2007. He received a lump sum compensation payment upon the date of his departure of £405,000-£410,000. This included a special severance payment of £130,000-135,000.
Libra Project
Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much the Libra project (a) has cost to date and (b) is expected to have cost on completion; and what implementation milestones have been set for the project. [258013]
Bridget Prentice:
Rollout of the Libra application is now complete in all magistrates’ courts. The outturn
cost of the project is £444 million. A Welsh version of the application is scheduled to be available in September 2009.
Magistrates' Courts
Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many times magistrates courts hearings in each district have had to be postponed because the prosecution case paperwork was incomplete or misdirected in the last 12 months. [258012]
Bridget Prentice: The Ministry of Justice does not hold information centrally concerning how many times hearings in each district have been postponed due to prosecution casework being incomplete or misdirected and this could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
However, figures for the prosecution's administrative lack of readiness in relation to vacated and ineffective trials are shown in the following table by Local Criminal Justice Board area. The data are gathered as part of the joint ineffective and vacated trial monitoring exercise and rely on the accurate recording of reasons that may, over time, be subject to amendment.
Nationally, the data for January to December 2008 show that 4.3 per cent. of all vacated trials were vacated because of reasons associated to the prosecution's administrative lack of readiness. In relation to ineffective trials, the reasons associated to the prosecution's lack of readiness led to 1.7 per cent. of all trials being ineffective.
Despite these relatively low figures, the Crown Prosecution Service has introduced a number of significant changes to its working practices to improve the effectiveness of its work in the magistrates' courts. These are under an initiative known as the ‘Optimum Business Model’ (OBM). The OBM comprises nine recommendations, the key element being the introduction of proactive case progression teams that ensure cases are ready in advance of the court hearing. OBM has focused on eliminating waste and duplication, streamlining processes and improving timeliness. It has been implemented across 40 of the 42 Crown Prosecution Service areas to date and considerable benefits have been gained not least in the improved timeliness of the prosecution review of cases, in better rates of readiness for trial and responses to correspondence. A system has been introduced to record numbers of adjournments and the reasons why they occurred which is currently under review. Early indications show a reduction of adjournments overall in line with the introduction of criminal justice simple speedy summary (CJSSS) processes and the contribution of OBM.
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