Written Answers to Questions
Thursday 21 May 2009
House of Commons Commission
Freedom of Information
Mr. Winnick: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission how much the House of Commons (a) has paid and (b) remains liable to pay in respect of the costs of legal actions concerning freedom of information since the Freedom of Information Act 2000 came into effect. [276329]
Nick Harvey: Legal actions to the end of April 2009 have incurred external costs of £142,838. There are no outstanding liabilities. All internal costs have been absorbed within the cost of running the House Administration and cannot be separately identified.
Members: Allowances
John Mann: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what estimate the House of Commons Commission has made of the number of leaks to outside bodies of information on hon. Members' expenses claims for 2007-08; what assessment the Commission has made of the effects of those leaks, and the subsequent publication of information; and if he will make a statement. [276045]
Nick Harvey: It is clear that there has been unauthorised disclosure of a large amount of data relating to Members' claims, including claims relating to 2007-08. The Commission is monitoring the effects of those disclosures.
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission for what reasons the information on hon. Members' expenses which has been leaked was not processed solely on paper, prior to scheduled publication by the House authorities in redacted electronic form. [276389]
Nick Harvey: The information to be published was taken from a dataset approaching one million separate pieces of paper. The editing of such information in paper format would have required copies to be made and the application of ink or tape to obscure the information and then recopied to ensure that the data remained unreadable. This solution was considered to be impracticable.
Members: Data Protection
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission if he will make it his policy that unredacted private data relating to hon. Members will in future be processed solely on paper until all redactions have been made, prior to publication in electronic form online. [276390]
Nick Harvey: Given the need correctly to process, record and account for claims and expenditure it is inevitable that electronic records are created and maintained. However, from the start of this financial year the way in which such data are collected and processed has been restructured. These processes will be kept under review.
Security
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission whether information is retained by the House authorities on where and when an hon. Member uses their House of Commons pass; and if he will make a statement. [276410]
Nick Harvey: It is not the policy of the Commission to comment on security matters.
Solicitor-General
Police: Assaults
7. Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Solicitor-General what her most recent assessment is of the performance of the Crown Prosecution Service in prosecuting cases of assault against police officers in (a) England and (b) Northamptonshire. [276611]
The Solicitor-General: In 2008-09 the Crown Prosecution Service prosecuted 21,260 cases of assault specifically against police officers in the execution of their duty, under section 89(1) of the Police Act 1996 in England and Wales, of which 185 cases were in Northamptonshire. The outcomes of these prosecutions could be ascertained only by examining individual case records, which would incur disproportionate cost. More serious assaults on police officers may result in other offences being charged, but the nature of the victim is not sufficiently identified by the CPS records.
Government Departments: Legal Profession
Anne Moffat: To ask the Solicitor-General what the policy of the Law Officers' Departments is on encouraging Government lawyers to undertake pro bono work. [276608]
The Solicitor-General: All Government Departments encourage their staff to take an active role in volunteering in the community. The Law Officers' departments support this policy and the provision by lawyers of legal advice and assistance pro bono. As a Law Officer's department, the Treasury Solicitor's Department, through the Government Legal Service Pro Bono network, encourages Government lawyers who wish to provide advice and representation pro bono. In addition to raising awareness and supporting lawyers working at diverse law clinics, the GLS pro bono network operates an advice clinic at the Treasury Solicitor's Department on Tuesday nights, which focuses on employment law issues. A new initiative from the Crown Prosecution Service is a pro bono and volunteering network, which will be launched formally on 10 June 2009.
Members: Allowances
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Solicitor-General what discussions she has had with the Director of Public Prosecutions on the convening of a joint panel with the Metropolitan Police to assess allegations relating to claims for allowances payments made by hon. Members. [276606]
The Solicitor-General: None. Decisions about whether a criminal investigation is called for or not in an individual case fall to the police, with advice from the Crown Prosecution Service. The panel will establish whether there are cases that merit investigation and determine priorities. This will speed up the process. The panel will ensure that decisions in individual cases are taken on a fair and consistent basis with the benefit of advice from the CPS.
Prime Minister
Members: Allowances
Norman Baker: To ask the Prime Minister pursuant to the Answer of 6 May 2009, Official Report, column 183W, on Members: allowances; for what reason he did not reply to the part of the Question relating to the sequence of events. [276762]
The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 6 May 2009, Official Report, column 183W. I also refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the right hon. Member for Witney (Mr. Cameron) at Prime Minister’s Questions on 1 April 2009, Official Report, column 910-911.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland Compensation Agency: Official Hospitality
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much the Compensation Agency spent on hospitality and entertainment in each of the last five years. [276365]
Paul Goggins: The following table shows the Compensation Agency’s expenditure on hospitality in the last five years:
| Hospitality expenditure (£) | |
The Compensation Agency does not have any entertainment expenditure.
Scotland
Borders: Personal Records
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent discussions officials of his Department have had with officials of the Home Office on the proposal to give the police powers to collect advance passenger data on domestic air and sea journeys. [275501]
Ann McKechin: Scotland Office and Home Office officials have had a number of recent exchanges on this proposal. Police powers to require a carrier, on request, to capture passenger data on domestic routes were provided through the Police and Justice Act 2006. These provisions have not been commenced. A formal public consultation will take place prior to the secondary legislation necessary to implement the powers. It is intended that this will focus on crossings between Great Britain and Northern Ireland only.
Departmental Dismissal
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many members of staff in his Department were dismissed (a) for under-performance and (b) in total in each of the last 10 years. [274315]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999. Since this date no members of staff have been dismissed for under-performance.
Leader of the House
Members: Correspondence
Sir Michael Spicer: To ask the Leader of the House when she plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire dated 19 February 2009, on lobbying. [276696]
Chris Bryant: We have no record of receiving such correspondence from the hon. Member, but would be happy to supply an early response on receiving a copy of the original letter.
Transport
Aviation: Human Trafficking
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions he has had with the airline industry on responsibility for meeting the cost of returning persons trafficked by air into the UK to their country of origin. [275414]
Jim Fitzpatrick: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister of State for Borders and Immigration on 20 May 2009, Official Report, column 1463W, to the hon. Member for Totnes (Mr. Steen).
Departmental Conditions of Employment
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will place in the Library a copy of the risk register for his Department's flexible benefits project. [276673]
Mr. Hoon: The risk registers held by the Department for Transport on this matter are either commercial, confidential or sensitive documents and it would not be appropriate to place them in the House Library.
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his Department's response is to the recommendations to standardise processes in areas such as travel and subsistence claims and annual performance appraisals as set out at page 8, paragraph 15f of the National Audit Office report on Shared Services in Department for Transport. [276674]
Mr. Hoon: The Department for Transport agrees that standardisation of processes is an important contributor to the operation of Shared Services and that this will be achieved appropriately where it meets business need.
The NAO has highlighted travel and subsistence, and annual performance appraisals as areas where standardised processes should be considered. The Department will be considering these areas, as well as other areas where work is already under way, such as developing e recruitment, to gain the greatest benefit from shared services.
Departmental Official Cars
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many vehicles over six years old are (a) owned and (b) leased by (i) his Department and (ii) its agencies. [276685]
Mr. Hoon: The requested information on cars owned or leased over six-years-old is provided in the table.
| Organisational unit | (a) Owned | (b) Leased |
The Government Car and Despatch Agency provide vehicles for to a number of Government Departments.
Departmental Official Hospitality
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much his Department has spent on (a) conference services and (b) banqueting services in each of the last five years. [274497]
Mr. Hoon: The requested information is as follows:
| £ | ||
| (a) Conference services | (b) Banqueting services | |
| Notes: 1. Excludes spend in respect of DfT HQ and the Highways Agency as this is the responsibility of local business units/is not centrally collected and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. 2. In some cases spend includes associated costs and not conference costs alone. | ||
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