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5 Feb 2010 : Column 543W—continued
Separate performance management arrangements (both in respect to in year and end of year assessment) exist for staff in grades below the SCS. Unlike the SCS, where employees are subject to relative peer group assessment with a guideline distribution between performance groups, below the SCS performance assessment is linked solely to the achievement of an individual's work objectives. Ministry of Justice (excluding the National Offender Management Services) employees receive annual performance appraisals that indicate one of three performance markings-"Outstanding", "Effective" and "Improvement Required". The number of employees receiving an "Improvement Required" or equivalent during the past five years is as follows:
As the award of an unsatisfactory performance marking invokes poor performance procedures but does not directly result in dismissal it has not been possible to provide information on the number of staff who have left as a direct result of an "Improvement Required" rating during the past five years without incurring disproportionate costs. However, we can confirm that in 2009, of the 134 staff below the SCS who were judged "Improvement Required", 22 are no longer employed by the Ministry of Justice.
Appraisals are held annually for staff in the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) in grades below the SCS and there are four possible ratings: "Exceeded", "Achieved", "Almost Achieved", and "Unacceptable". The number of staff in NOMS who received an "Unacceptable" marking during the past five years, and the total number of recorded markings is as follows:
| For year | Number in lowest performance group | Percentage of staff( 1) |
| (1) The percentage does not reflect all poor performers in so far as the appraisal system does not capture those individuals who are exited for capability and performance reasons within a reporting year. The percentages are also different to the SCS position because the performance assessment basis is different. (2) There were fewer markings recorded in 2006-07 due to a change in reporting systems. | ||
Information on the number of staff who received an "Unacceptable" marking and then left NOMS within the following year is contained in the following table (departures could be for any reason).
| Staff receiving unacceptable markings who then left within one year | |||
| For year | Number | As percentage of unacceptable markings | As percentage of all staff |
NOMS processes mirror those in the rest of the Ministry in that performance management is a continuous process, based upon agreed objectives and in-year reviews. The "Unacceptable" marking does not automatically result in dismissal. However, employment may be terminated where the employee fails to meet the appropriate standard despite appropriate warnings and support. It has not been possible to provide information on the number of NOMS employees who have left the service as a direct result of an "Unacceptable" rating as the information is unavailable.
Departmental Recruitment
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department and its agencies spent on recruitment consultants in the last 12 months. [315292]
Mr. Wills: The majority of permanent recruitment is managed internally by the Ministry's HR function. For specialist or senior vacancies, it is sometimes necessary, however, to use recruitment consultants to access a wider pool of talent.
The Ministry's accounting systems do not separately identify expenditure on recruitment consultants. Payments to recruitment consultants are recorded within the wider categories of recruitment expenditure. To specifically identify expenditure on recruitment consultants would involve the disproportionate cost of examining a large number of invoices held locally across the business.
Additionally, recruitment consultants are usually involved in the continuing supply of temporary and contract staff where the fee paid represents the amount paid directly to the contractor, plus the agency's management fee which includes their charge for recruiting the contractor. The management fee element can vary depending on the terms negotiated for individual contracts. Fees to recruitment consultants for the continuing supply of contract and agency staff can only be distinguished from fees for specific recruitment campaigns at a disproportionate cost.
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department and its agencies have spent on font licensing in the last three years. [315331]
Mr. Wills: Payments by the Ministry of Justice for software application licences, for example for Microsoft Windows, include an amount in respect of core fonts used within the application. Software publishers license fonts from foundries and are responsible for passing on the royalty to the foundries from the licence fee. The element of the total licence amount that relates to fonts is not identifiable to the Ministry of Justice as the purchaser of the software application licence.
The Ministry of Justice does, however, make some payments directly in respect of the licence of specialised fonts used in publications. The amounts are not separately identified in accounting records. Payments are normally made via the Government Procurement Card and could be identified only at disproportionate cost by examining thousands of statements held locally around the business.
However, we are aware that £437 has been paid in respect of five font licences in the 2009-10 year to date by the Ministry's central design team which is responsible for group wide publications.
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many job vacancies in his Department and its agencies were filled through external recruitment in the last 12 months. [315332]
Mr. Wills: For the period 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2009 the Ministry of Justice and its agencies, including the National Offender Management Service, filled a total of 4,175 job vacancies through external recruitment. The vacancies advertised were for permanent as well as fixed-term posts.
The Ministry recruits in line with the Civil Service Commissioners' recruitment principles and is committed to recruitment on merit through fair and open competition.
Driving Offences: Fines
Mr. Goodwill: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in other EU member states on the implementation of the Council Framework Decision 2005/214/JHA on the cross-border collection of fines for motoring offences. [316000]
Bridget Prentice: My officials have been in contact with officials at the European Commission, the Scottish and Northern Irish Ministries of Justice both prior to and post-implementation of this EU directive. They conducted a webcast on 9 October 2009 in conjunction with SPARKS in which a member of the EC responsible for MRFP also participated; they attended a European workshop in Stockholm on 15 October 2009 organised by the Commission; and they visited their counterparts in the Netherlands' Central Authority (CJIB) on 4 December 2009.
Fines
Mr. Goodwill: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many applications have been received from other EU member states for the payment of fines under the terms of the Council Framework Decision 2005/214/JHA on the application of the principle of mutual recognition of financial penalties; and how many such applications have proceeded to court. [315999]
Bridget Prentice: The Central Authority for England and Wales has received four mutual recognition of financial penalties (MRFP) applications from EU member states since the Framework Decision was implemented on 1 October 2009. These applications concerned offences in the Netherlands which were convicted prior to the implementation date and therefore had to be returned to the originating state. No applications have yet proceeded to court.
Freedom of Information
John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 9 December 2009, Official Report, column 351W, on freedom of information, if he will bring forward proposals to ensure that public bodies which enter into partnership with other public bodies are subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. [315621]
Mr. Wills: The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) gives the Secretary of State the power to extend the coverage of the Act, by way of a section 5 order, to organisations that he considers to exercise public functions or deliver public authority services under contract.
On 16 July 2009, the Government published their response to the consultation on extending the scope of the FOIA to cover additional bodies by way of a section 5 order. The Government response proposed an initial, focused section 5 order and noted their intention to consult Academies, ACPO, Financial Ombudsman Service and UCAS on their possible inclusion in such an order.
The Government are keeping the possibility of further section 5 orders under review.
Injunctions
Mr. MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme of 28 October 2009, Official Report, column 422W, on Trafigura: injunctions, when he expects to announce the result of his assessment of the effects of the practice of granting injunctions which prohibit the reporting of the grant of the injunction. [315309]
Bridget Prentice:
At my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor's (Mr. Straw) request, senior officials at the Ministry of Justice have
met with representatives of the national press to discuss the issues raised by the Trafigura case and the use of so-called super-injunctions generally. The Justice Secretary is considering matters in the light of this, including engaging with the senior judiciary. He will make a statement to the House after that.
Knives: Sentencing
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many retailers have been (a) cautioned, (b) fined and (c) imprisoned for selling knives to people under the necessary purchasing age in each police force area in each year since 1998-99. [315060]
Claire Ward: The requested information is shown in the following table.
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