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10 Jun 2009 : Column 886W—continued
Debts: Court Orders
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many (a) third party debt, (b) interim charging and (c) final charging orders were made by courts in each year between 1996 and 2003; [278350]
(2) how many charging orders in relation to credit card debt have been issued since 1997-98. [278353]
Bridget Prentice: The following table shows the number of interim and final third party debt orders and charging orders made in the county courts of England and Wales in each year between 1996 and 2003.
Figures on the number of charging orders relating to credit card debt are not held centrally. This is because the administrative computer systems used in the county courts do not separately identify cases relating to credit card debt. While the relevant cases will be logged on the system, they cannot be distinguished from other types.
To obtain the required information would require the inspection of individual case files, which would incur disproportionate cost.
| Number of interim and final third party debt orders and charging orders made in the county courts of England and Wales,1996 to 2003 | ||||
| Third party debt orders( 1) | Charging orders( 2) | |||
| Interim | Final | Interim | Final | |
| (1) Third party debt orders secure payment by freezing and then seizing money owed or payable by a third party to a debtor. (2) Charging orders obtain security for the payment against a property owned by the debtor. Source: HMCS Caseman system (2000-03) and manual returns (1996-99). | ||||
Debts: Enforcement
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will place in the Library a copy of the report on his Department’s scoping exercise undertaken in relation to the enforcement provisions of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007. [278357]
Bridget Prentice: I outlined on 25 February 2009, Official Report, column 854W, that the scoping exercise involved a series of meetings with stakeholders to discuss implementation and that a statement would be made following the conclusion of a reassessment of the enforcement provisions contained within the Act.
On 17 March 2009, Official Report, columns 46-47WS, I announced measures to strengthen regulation of the enforcement industry and clarify the rights, responsibilities and legal limits of debtors, creditors and bailiffs following the completion of the reassessment.
Empty Property
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what data the Land Registry gather on vacant (a) commercial and (b) industrial property. [278366]
Mr. Wills: The Land Registry does not gather any data relating to vacant properties.
Family Proceedings
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department has paid Ernst and Young to carry out research into family advocacy services in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [278481]
Bridget Prentice:
The Legal Services Commission (LSC) commissioned the research by Ernst and Young on the family advocacy market to provide additional data for the impact assessment on the effect of our proposed new legal aid payment arrangements for advocacy work from 2010. Following a public tendering exercise the LSC agreed to pay Ernst and Young £65,035 (inclusive of VAT) for this research. The LSC has continued discussions with stakeholders, since the consultation on
“Family legal aid funding from 2010” closed and has agreed to share the outcome of the Ernst and Young research with a number of stakeholders representing legal service providers when it becomes available in the next few weeks.
Fraud and Forgery: Police Cautions
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many cautions were issued for offences relating to fraud and forgery in each year since 1997. [278415]
Maria Eagle: The number of offenders issued with a caution for offences relating to fraud and forgery, in England and Wales, for the years 1997 to 2007 (latest data available) is shown in the following table.
The cautions statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been cautioned for two or more offences at the same time, the principal offence is the more serious offence.
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 police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when these data are used.
Caution data for 2008 will be available in the autumn of 2009.
| Number of offenders issued with a caution for selected offences relating to fraud and forgery( 1) , in England and Wales, 1997 to 2007( 2, 3, 4, 5) | |
| Cautions | |
| (1) Fraud and forgery includes the following offence classes: Fraud by Company Director etc. False Accounting Other Fraud Bankruptcy Offence Forgery etc. of Drug Prescription Other Forgery etc. (2) The cautions statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been cautioned for two or more offences at the same time, the principal offence is the more serious offence. (3) The offence group of fraud and forgery includes ‘indictable only’ and ‘triable-either-way offences’, it does not include summary offences. ‘Indictable only’ are the most serious breaches of the criminal law and must be dealt with at the Crown court. ‘Triable-either-way offences’ may be tried at either the Crown court or at magistrates courts. (4) 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 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. (5) From 1 June 2000, the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 came into force nationally and removed the use of cautions for persons under 18 and replaced them with reprimands and warnings. These are included in the totals. Source: OCJR, E and A: Office for Criminal Justice Reform, Evidence and Analysis Unit, Ministry of Justice. | |
Housing: Sales
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average house sale price recorded by the Land Registry was in (a) England and (b) each local authority area in England in (i) April 1991, (ii) May 1997 and (iii) the most recent period for which figures are available. [278355]
Mr. Wills: Land Registry has only collected these data since 1995. The figures requested are collated in quarterly periods; the tables will be placed in the Library of the House to cover March 1997 to June 1997 and January 2009 to March 2009.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many residential property transactions with a purchase price between £125,000 and £175,000 have been recorded by the Land Registry as being completed since the temporary increase in the stamp duty threshold. [278356]
Mr. Wills: For the period from September 2008 to the end of April 2009, 71,280 properties with a purchase price between £125,000 and £175,000 were sold in England and Wales.
Land Registry
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether the Land Registry is on course to meet its target of producing a complete Land Register for England and Wales by 2012. [278351]
Mr. Wills: Strategic Objective 3 of the Land Registry’s 10 Year strategic plan in 2002 was to complete the registration of all remaining unregistered titles by 2012. Land Registry strived to achieve the objective, making significant progress each year, but recognised that the achievement of a complete land register required compulsion, which would be unpopular and require primary legislation. As a result, Land Registry no longer has a target to produce a complete Land Register by 2012. Instead, it aims to create a comprehensive Land Register as soon as possible and has annual targets. The KPI for 2008-09 was to register 325,000 hectares of voluntary registrations, which was exceeded. The total percentage of England and Wales that is now registered is around 70 per cent.
Land Registry: Fraud
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the number of instances of property fraud involving fraudulent applications to the Land Registry for changes of address in the last 12 months. [278352]
Mr. Wills: It has taken longer than expected to collate the information requested. I will write to the hon. Member as soon as this is available.
Legal Aid
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of cases which attracted legal aid were criminal cases in the most recent period for which figures are available. [278408]
Bridget Prentice: In 2007-08 there were 2,502,500 acts of assistance of which 1,502,100 were for criminal legal aid. Final figures for 2008-09 are not yet available. It must be noted that some individuals may have received more than one act of assistance during the year and some acts of assistance may help more than one person.
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of cases which attracted legal aid were (a) housing and welfare and (b) human rights cases in the latest period for which figures are available. [278409]
Bridget Prentice: For civil legal aid, in controlled work (advice and assistance), of 807,460 new matters started, 253,850 were for housing and welfare benefits. For licensed work (representation), of 137,960 certificates granted, 11,780 were for housing and welfare benefits. It is not possible to provide similar information for human rights cases as these are not a recognised case category in the Legal Services Commission’s management information systems.
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department has allocated for expenditure on legal aid in England in each of the next five years. [278411]
Maria Eagle: The Department has allocated £2,014 million total resource for legal aid expenditure in 2009-10. Budget allocations for 2010-11 have not yet been finalised. Allocations beyond 2010-11 will not be agreed until after the next spending review.
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what expenditure the Legal Services Commission has incurred on family law legal aid in each of the last five years. [278455]
Bridget Prentice: The net cash expenditure incurred on family legal aid by the Legal Services Commission in each of the last five years is shown in the. Figures for 2008-09 are not yet available.
| Cash expenditure on family legal aid | |
| £ million | |
Prisoners
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many offenders were given indeterminate sentences for public protection in each year since 2005; [278248]
(2) how many offenders serving indeterminate sentences for public protection were being held beyond the expiry of their tariff on the latest date for which information is available; [278250]
(3) how many prisoners given indeterminate sentences for public protection have been released in each year since 2005. [278251]
Mr. Straw: The number of offenders given indeterminate sentences of imprisonment for public protection recorded on 21 May 2009 since 2005 is as follows:
| Year of s entence | Number sentenced |
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