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7 Jan 2010 : Column 542W—continued
Crimes Against Humanity: Jurisdiction
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether he has any plans to introduce legislation to restrict the universal jurisdiction of UK courts for crimes against humanity; and if he will make a statement. [309027]
Claire Ward: The offence of crimes against humanity is found in the International Criminal Court Act 2001. It covers crimes committed in England and Wales and Northern Ireland by any person and crimes committed outside the UK by UK nationals, persons subject to UK service jurisdiction and UK residents (including persons who subsequently become resident in the UK).
The Government have no plans to restrict this jurisdiction of the UK courts for crimes against humanity.
Debt Collection
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice in what circumstances bailiffs can be used to collect unpaid credit card debts. [308812]
Bridget Prentice: Credit card judgment debts are treated as any other civil judgment debt for the purposes of enforcement, subject to any challenges the debtor makes in respect of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (as amended by Consumer Credit Act 2006). However consumer credit debts remain in the county court for execution and they cannot be transferred up to the High Court for enforcement by a High Court enforcement officer as a normal county court judgment can.
Departmental Billing
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many and what proportion of invoices submitted to his Department have been paid within 10 days in each month since October 2008; and if he will make a statement. [307958]
Mr. Wills: The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is fully committed to achieving compliance with the Prime Minister's target of paying suppliers within 10 days, and is a signatory to the Prompt Payment Code. The MoJ has been collecting prompt payment data since November 2008 and the number and proportion of invoices paid within 10 days is shown in the following table.
| Period name | Total MoJ invoices paid in month | MoJ prompt invoices as percentage | Number of invoices paid in 10 days |
Departmental Conferences
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice which conferences held overseas have been attended by civil servants based in his Department in the last three years; and what the cost to the public purse was of such attendance at each conference. [305870]
Mr. Wills: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only by manually collecting the data from each division within the Ministry of Justice at a disproportionate cost. Expenditure on conferences must be incurred in accordance with the principles of the Treasury publications Managing Public Money and Regularity, Propriety and Value for Money.
Departmental Legislation
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what criminal offences have been (a) created and (b) abolished by secondary legislation sponsored by his Department since 1 May 2008. [307797]
Claire Ward: The Ministry of Justice has been responsible for 237 statutory instruments since May 2008. The number of offences which these created and abolished can be established only at disproportionate cost since a manual trawl of the legislation would be required.
Driving Offences: Disqualification
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent discussions he has had with the Magistrates' Association on sentencing policy for people convicted of driving whilst disqualified. [308213]
Claire Ward: The Chairman of the Road Traffic Committee of the Magistrates' Association corresponded in 2009 with Ministers on the subject of sentencing for the offence of driving while disqualified.
Drugs: East Sussex
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) trials and (b) convictions there were for drug offences in East Sussex between 2000 and 2009. [308460]
Claire Ward: The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts in the Sussex police force area for drug offences, from 2000 to 2007 (latest available) can be viewed in the following table.
Information held centrally cannot be broken down sufficiently to supply data for East Sussex, therefore Sussex police force area data have been provided in lieu.
Data for 2008 are planned for publication on 28 January 2010.
| Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for drug offences, Sussex police force area 2000 to 2007( 1, 2) | ||
| Proceeded against | Found guilty | |
| (1) The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence 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. (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. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services-Ministry of Justice. | ||
Insider Trading: Convictions
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people were convicted for offences related to insider dealing in each year since 2005; and if he will make a statement. [308376]
Claire Ward: The number of persons found guilty at all courts in England and Wales for offences under the Criminal Justice Act 1993 and the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 from 2005 to 2007 (latest available) can be viewed in the following table.
Data for 2008 are planned for publication on 28 January 2010.
Iraq Committee of Inquiry
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) documents and (b) other items of information held in electronic format by his Department of each security classification have been submitted to the Iraq Inquiry; and if he will make a statement. [309371]
Bridget Prentice: I refer the hon. Lady to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Minister of State for the Cabinet Office (Angela E. Smith) on 14 December 2009, Official Report, columns 840-41W. The Ministry of Justice is in the process of providing the Iraq Inquiry with all the documents and electronic information it holds which has been requested to date. This information spans every level of Government security classification.
Jamie Douglas
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when the Parole Board expects to consider the application for parole of Jamie Douglas. [308229]
Claire Ward: I will write to my hon. Friend shortly with details of this case.
Legal Advice and Assistance
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice for what reasons the Legal Services Commission has chosen the period between April and August 2009 to assess the annual run-rate of new matter start allocations for providers of the Advice and Assistance Scheme (Legal Help). [308468]
Bridget Prentice: The Legal Services Commission chose the period April 2009 to August 2009 as this was the most up to date information available from legal aid providers when a review was undertaken in September 2009.
Legal Aid: Finance
Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many responses he received to the consultation paper 18/09 on legal aid funding reforms; [308962]
(2) if he will publish the responses to the consultation paper 18/09 on legal aid funding reforms; and when he plans to announce his decisions on policy changes to be made in the light of the consultation responses. [308963]
Bridget Prentice: I refer the hon. Member to my written ministerial statement of 16 December 2009, Official Report, column 141WS, in which my noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Lord Bach) announced the publication of a partial response to the consultation on Legal Aid Funding Reforms.
A total of 435 responses were received. There are no plans to publish the responses to the consultation. A copy of the consultation response and accompanying impact assessment has been placed in the House Library. A response to the proposals in relation to experts fees will be published in the new year. The documents are also available on the consultation section of the Ministry of Justice website at:
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