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11 Nov 2009 : Column 473W—continued
Departmental Ethnic Minority Staff
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he is taking to increase numbers of applications from people from ethnic minorities for posts in his Department. [298215]
Mr. Straw: The Ministry is taking steps to increase the number of job applicants from ethnic minorities with the aim of realising a work force profile that is representative of the communities it serves. The activities associated with these steps are aimed at promoting the Ministry to, and attracting applications from, ethnic minority (BME) candidates. These include:
(a) Advertising all jobs through Jobcentre Plus and the Ministry's web site,
(b) Adverting vacancies in ethnic minority magazines and papers,
(c) Working in local employment partnerships in areas with a high proportion of people from ethnic minorities,
(d) Attending job fairs to promote the Ministry,
(e) Offering work experience opportunities and job shadowing opportunities throughout the Ministry,
(f) For senior civil servant campaigns, using head hunters which have a good track record of attracting a diverse range of applicants,
(g) Interaction with key community groups to inform and involve them in Criminal Justice System.
These activities have resulted in an increased level of applicants from BME backgrounds.
The Ministry has a policy of actively seeking ways of improving its attractiveness to job applicants from ethnic minority communities. Analysis of applications received for Ministry (excluding NOMS) recruitment campaigns in the last two months showed that, of the applicants that voluntarily disclosed their ethnic background, 56 per cent. of applications for jobs in London were from ethnic minorities, 38 per cent. for jobs in Birmingham and 20 per cent. for jobs in Leeds.
Departmental Freedom of Information
Mrs. Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many staff in his Department were employed on the management of freedom of information requests submitted to his Department in each year since 2005; and how much his Department spent on the management of such requests in each such year. [299123]
Mr. Wills:
All freedom of information requests made to my Department are administered by the Data Access and Compliance Unit. Of the 27 staff in the Unit, 19 deal with the management of requests. The remainder
are responsible for handling requests under the Data Protection Act 1998, or have managerial or administrative responsibilities.
The Data Access and Compliance Unit was formed in October 2008, and brought together the freedom of information and data protection compliance functions of the former Department of Constitutional Affairs and the National Offender Management Service. Consequently, staffing figures for preceding years could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Information as to my Department's expenditure on the management of freedom of information requests could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, an assessment of the cost of freedom of information within Government can be found in Frontier Economics' 2006 "Independent Review of the Freedom of Information Act", a copy of which is available in the House of Commons Library.
Departmental Official Cars
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the cost of provision of Government cars to special advisers in his Department was in the last 12 months. [299591]
Mr. Straw: No special advisers are provided with an allocated Government car and driver. As with all civil servants, special advisers may use an official car or taxi in properly defined circumstances. Details of such use are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Generally to work they walk, use public transport or scrounge a lift with me.
Departmental Postal Services
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what percentage of postal services for his Department and its agencies were provided by (a) Royal Mail and (b) other postal service providers (i) in 2007, (ii) in 2008, (iii) between 1 January 2009 and 1 July 2009 and (iv) after 1 July 2009. [298805]
Mr. Wills: The Ministry of Justice currently has no formal contracts for mail services. However, it has a number of local agreements with both Royal Mail and DX Ltd. We recognise that the absence of established contracts is not satisfactory and are in the process of completing a further competition against the Buying Solutions Postal Framework. It is expected that we will have a formal contract in place by January 2010.
Both Royal Mail and DX Ltd. provide postal and courier services to the Ministry of Justice and due to the structure of financial operating systems used it is not possible to separate expenditure for postal services.
Once formal contracts are established the Ministry of Justice will be able to begin compiling data on the provision of postal services.
Departmental Procurement
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether there has been any nugatory cost to his Department and its agencies on procurement under tender because the tender process was cancelled prior to the award of the contract in the last 12 months. [299354]
Mr. Wills: No tenders were cancelled during the tender process and prior to the award of any contracts, so no costs were incurred by the Ministry of Justice.
Departmental Rail Travel
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department and its predecessor spent on first class rail travel for officials in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [293336]
Mr. Straw: Officials who undertake any business- related rail travel do so in line the Ministry's travel and subsistence policies. Officials only undertake first class rail travel where there is a clear business justification to do so. It is Ministry policy to use standard class rail travel for business.
The Ministry's financial accounting systems do not differentiate between the types of rail travel. Therefore, it is not possible to provide the full details of first class rail expenditure for the whole of the period 2006 to 2009. To do so would entail a disproportionate cost.
Some information about expenditure is available from the Ministry's contracted supplier for rail travel covering the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), HM Courts Service and the Tribunal Service. For 2007-08 the expenditure was recorded as £4,121,537 and in 2008-09 it was £5,069,497. The 2008-09 expenditure was higher because staff in the Criminal Justice Group together with some staff in the NOMS previously worked in the Home Office and only began using the Ministry's travel supplier from November 2008.
The Ministry has this year negotiated with its unions changes to eligibility for first class rail travel. The effect of this will be to restrict further the use of first class rail travel to an exceptional basis.
Departmental Statistics
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of the statistical datasets collected by his Department are published. [299664]
Claire Ward: The Ministry of Justice publishes a range of statistics in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics and overseen by the UK Statistical Authority. The vast majority of the Ministry of Justice's statistics are published using administrative data from the IT systems used operationally within the Ministry and its Agencies.
On 30 October 2009, the Head of Profession published the Ministry of Justice's Statement of Administrative Sources, a requirement of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. This can be found at:
This shows the main sources of administrative data currently used to produce statistics by the Ministry of Justice. We will expand the Statement during December 2009 to show all administrative sources which are or could be used to produce Official Statistics.
All surveys run under the Code of Practice are published.
Departmental Travel
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many miles (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department and its predecessor travelled by (i) car, (ii) rail and (iii) air on Government business in each year since 1997. [298542]
Mr. Straw: The requested information is not held in the administrative or finance systems of the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) or its predecessor bodies. To obtain this information, the MOJ would need to collate the information manually for every part of the Ministry, at disproportionate cost.
Election Day: Weekend Voting Consultation
Mrs. Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he plans to publish his response to the Election Day: Weekend Voting consultation. [299074]
Mr. Wills: The Government's response to the Election Day: Weekend Voting consultation will be published shortly in the context of the Government's wider thinking on promoting engagement in the electoral process. The responses to the consultation reveal that there is a wide range of views on whether weekend voting would have a positive impact on turnout.
Forced Marriage: Prosecutions
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps are being taken to increase the number of forced marriage cases which are prosecuted. [298222]
Bridget Prentice: The Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007 was implemented in November 2008 providing greater protection for those at risk, preventing forced marriage and enabling courts to make Forced Marriage Protection Orders (FMPOs). These are civil provisions. We continue to work with agencies including the police and local authorities to ensure they are aware of the Act's provisions.
Since implementation of the Act on 25 November 2008 up to 31 October 2009 a total of 79 FMPOs have been made.
Garth Prison
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what his most recent assessment is of progress in the implementation of the recommendations of the recent report on HM Prison Garth; [299099]
(2) when he expects the National Offender Management Service to publish its response to the report on HM Prison Garth. [299100]
Maria Eagle: Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons published a report of her announced inspection of HMP Garth, carried out in March and April 2009, on 26 August. The National Offender Management Service will provide a detailed response, in the form of an action plan, to address each of the 122 recommendations and this will be submitted to Ministers and the chief inspector shortly. Progress has already been made in implementing a number of the recommendations.
Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice in what (a) print and (b) on-line publications recruitment advertisements for ordinary members of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority have been placed; for what reasons those publications were chosen; and how much has been spent on the placing of such advertisements. [298167]
Mr. Straw: As set out in the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009, the appointment of members to IPSA is a matter for Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether (a) travel, (b) subsistence and (c) overnight accommodation expenses may be claimed by Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) members; and whether IPSA will be subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. [298168]
Mr. Straw: The Parliamentary Standards Act states that IPSA is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
IPSA is an independent body and the appointment of members of IPSA is a matter for the Speaker. Until a suitable mechanism is set up for answering parliamentary questions on IPSA, the hon. Member may wish to contact IPSA directly.
Injunctions
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will direct HM Courts Service to record the number of injunctive orders granted by the courts which provide that the existence of the injunction may not be disclosed; and if he will make a statement. [298704]
Mr. Straw: I will assess whether the number of such injunctions should be recorded as part of my consideration of the outcome of senior officials' discussions with press representatives and the judiciary, to which I referred in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Paul Farrelly) on 28 October, Official Report, column 422W. I will make a statement in due course.
Lands Tribunal
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the (a) fee income and (b) full cost was of Lands Tribunal services relating to (i) rating appeals, (ii) land compensation references, (iii) restrictive covenants, (iv) appeals from leasehold valuation tribunals, (v) appeals from residential property tribunals, (vi) appeals against determinations of the value of land by HM Revenue and Customs, (vii) rights of light cases, (viii) references by consent, (ix) blight notices and objections and (x) compulsory purchases of property whose owner is unknown, absent or untraceable. [297989]
Bridget Prentice: The fee income generated by the Lands Tribunal for the financial years 2008-09 and 2007-08 was:
| Lands Tribunal | |
| Income (£000) | |
The full cost associated with the provision of Lands Tribunal services for the financial years 2008-09 and 2007-08 was:
| Lands Tribunal | |||
| £ 000 | |||
| Tribunal service costs | MoJ corporate overhead | Total costs | |
The Ministry of Justice does not hold information about the income generated from, and the cost of, specific jurisdictions dealt with by the Lands Tribunal. The costs are calculated as a whole. This information could be provided only at disproportionate cost by checking individual records of these jurisdictions against the Ministry of Justice accounting system.
Location
Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he expects to respond to the Reunite report entitled Relocation which was funded by his Department and published in July 2009. [298619]
Bridget Prentice: The Ministry of Justice has not issued a formal response to Reunite on their research project on 'relocation'. My officials have discussed next steps with Reunite. We are very grateful for the work Reunite has done to highlight the complexity of the issues in this area.
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