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25 Mar 2009 : Column 416W—continued
HM Court Service: Redundancy
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many redundancies HM Court Service expects to make in 2009-10. [264664]
Mr. Straw: Her Majesty's Courts Service has no current plans to make redundancies during the financial year 2009-10.
Land Registry
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice in relation to how many low value personal injury claim cases the Land Registry has authorised surveillance operations on employees; what the cost of conducting surveillance was in each case; who authorised the hiring of private investigators in such cases; and what procedures are followed by the Land Registry to ensure that any surveillance of staff by private investigators is proportionate. [265532]
Mr. Wills: Land Registry has drawn no distinction between the value of personal injury claims. There have been six personal injury claims in Land Registry where controlled and limited surveillance was authorised on employees. These were all part of one overall investigation.
The cost of conducting the surveillance in each case was as follows:
| Cost of conducting surveillance (£) | |
The costs awarded to Land Registry following the successful defence and withdrawal of the claims exceeded these amounts. The authorisation of the surveillance was given by the then acting director of HR.
In deciding to authorise surveillance, Land Registry considered the seriousness of the issue, the potential cost of the case and the impact on the organisation’s core business and weighed this against the potential impact on the privacy of the individuals and their friends and family as well as the ongoing employment relationship. The surveillance was restricted to public environments, which limited the level of intrusion. The nature of this as a test case established a likelihood of high costs in the defence of the case, in payments to individuals if the cases were found proven and potentially in significant change to the organisations core business processes and the equipment used. With supporting legal advice it was agreed that the surveillance was a proportionate and justified action in defending this case.
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many unfair dismissal cases were brought against the Land Registry in each of the last two years; how many of them were settled before a hearing in each year; how many of them progressed to a full hearing; how many of these cases were lost by the Land Registry in each year; what costs were awarded against the Land Registry in relation to such cases in each year; and what the cost of (a) solicitors' and (b) barristers' fees for such cases was in each year. [265534]
Mr. Wills: Seven unfair dismissal cases were brought against Land Registry in 2007-08. 10 unfair dismissal cases were brought against Land Registry in 2008-09.
One case was settled in 2007-08. No cases were settled in 2008-09.
No unfair dismissal cases progressed to full hearing in either 2007-08 or 2008-09.
As no unfair dismissal cases progressed to a hearing, none have been lost by the Land Registry in either 2007-08 or 2008-09.
There were no costs awarded against Land Registry for unfair dismissal in either 2007-08 or 2008-09.
Solicitors' fees for such cases in 2007-08 were £5,739.49 and in 2008-09 were £33,099.30.
Barristers' fees for such cases in 2007-08 were £1,353.50 and in 2008-09 were £6,067.70.
All 2008-09 figures are as of 24 March 2009.
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many personal injury claims have been brought against the Land Registry in each of the last two years; how many out-of-court settlements of such cases there were in each year; what the cost to the Land Registry was of such cases in each year; how many cases progressed to court in each year; and what the cost for (a) medical advice and (b) legal advice of defending these cases was in each year. [265535]
Mr. Wills: 14 personal injury claims have been brought against the Land Registry in 2007-08 and 10 in 2008-09.
There was one out-of-court settlement in 2007-08 and one in 2008-09.
The cost to Land Registry of such cases in 2007-08 was £1,200 and in 2008-09 was £1,575.
No cases have progressed to court in either 2007-08 or 2008-09.
The cost for medical advice in defending these cases in 2007-08 was £305.50 and in 2008-09 was £517.
The cost for legal advice of defending these cases in 2007-08 was £2,132.63 and in 2008-09 was £34,906.08.
All 2008-09 figures are as of 24 March 2009.
Land Registry: Manpower
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people the Land Registry (a) employs and (b) employed in each of the last five years. [265244]
Mr. Wills: The information requested is contained within the following table. The figures reflect the headcount (rather than full-time equivalent) of full and part-time payroll staff, on-strength. The full-time equivalent figure would be lower.
| As at 1 March each year | Headcount |
Magistrates Courts: Hertfordshire
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many cases were heard in the magistrates courts in (a) Hemel Hempstead and (b) Hertfordshire in each year since 1997. [265809]
Bridget Prentice: The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts, heard at magistrates courts and committed for trial at the Crown Court, for all offences in Hertfordshire police force area, 1997 to 2007 is contained in the table.
Information held centrally cannot be broken down to constituency or court level, thus Hertfordshire police force area data have been provided in lieu.
These data are on the principal offence basis. The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offence for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences, the
offence selected is the one for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
Court proceedings data for 2008 will be available in the autumn of 2009.
| N umber of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts, heard at magistrates courts and committed for trial at the Crown c ourt, for all offences in Hertfordshire police force area, 1997 to 2007( 1,2) | |||
| Of which: | |||
| Proceeded against | Heard at magistrates courts( 3) | Committed for trial at the Crown c ourt | |
| (1) These data are on the principal offence basis. (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, and police forces. 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. (3) Includes proceedings discontinued, discharged, withdrawn, dismissed, and found guilty at the magistrates courts. Source: OCJR—E & A: Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Evidence and Analysis Unit | |||
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what percentage of sentences imposed in magistrates courts in (a) Hemel Hempstead and (b) Hertfordshire were appealed against to the Crown Court in each year since 1997. [265810]
Bridget Prentice: Information is only available for Hertfordshire on the number of offenders sentenced and the number of appeals against sentences and convictions from 1997-2007, which is set out in the table. It is not possible to calculate a percentage between these two methods of counting, as one counts offenders and the other offences.
| Hertfordshire | ||
| Total sentenced | Total appealed against sentence( 1) | |
| (1) Figures include appeals against both conviction and sentence | ||
Magistrates Courts: Hertfordshire
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many trials in magistrates courts in (a) Hemel Hempstead and (b) Hertfordshire did not take place on the initial agreed date of hearing in each year since 1997. [265811]
Bridget Prentice: Information is only available on the number of trials that failed to take place on the agreed hearing date in each year since 2003 in the magistrates courts in Hertfordshire. This information is set out in the following table:
| Period | Total number of trials | Number of trials which did not take place on agreed date |
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