17 Mar 2010 : Column 851W

17 Mar 2010 : Column 851W

Written Answers to Questions

Wednesday 17 March 2010

Leader of the House

Written Questions: Government Responses

John Mason: To ask the Leader of the House when she plans to answer Question (a) 311222, (b) 311223, (c) 311224, (d) 311225 and (e) 311226, on public duty costs allowance, tabled on 12 January 2010. [322735]

Barbara Keeley: These five parliamentary questions were transferred to the Cabinet Office as I informed the Member in my letter of 14 January 2010.

International Development

Somalia: Overseas Aid

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer of 8 March 2010, Official Report, column 67W, on Somalia: overseas aid, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of arrangements for food supplies to be delivered and disbursed in the camps at Afgooye; and if he will make a statement. [322373]

Mr. Thomas: According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), current arrangements for distributing food aid to internally displaced people (IDPs) in the Afgooye corridor are inadequate. Between October and December 2009, IDPs in the Afgooye corridor received only half of the allocated food rations. Since the suspension of the United Nations World Food programme's (WFP) work in Afgooye in January, no food rations have been distributed.

On 10 March, the Secretary of State for International Development announced an additional £7.5 million to be channelled through UNICEF, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and United Nations Humanitarian Response Fund (UN HRF) to help deliver emergency food for hundreds of thousands of malnourished children and provide lifesaving water supplies. UNICEF is already working in the Afgooye corridor, providing emergency nutrition to starving children and their mothers, and is considering expanding its remit. UN HRF and ICRC are exploring possibilities of providing food aid to the Afgooye Corridor.

Justice

Care Proceedings

David Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average time taken to complete care proceedings in the courts was in each local authority area in each year since 2003-04. [322412]


17 Mar 2010 : Column 852W

Bridget Prentice: The following table shows the average number of weeks from the date of application to order made for care and supervision cases in England and Wales (where completed cases are counted by child for family proceedings courts and by orders made for County courts). Data are provided by court area, as a local authority area breakdown is unavailable. Data are presented by court type, from 2006-07; the earliest year for which data are available.

Average number of weeks from application to order for care and supervision cases in England and Wales, for orders made in each year
Court area County court Family proceedings court

2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09

Avon and Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, and Gloucestershire

58

62

57

43

45

44

Bedfordshire, Essex and Hertfordshire

52

53

62

45

40

51

Birmingham, Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire

62

67

69

47

52

50

Black Country, Staffordshire and West Mercia

48

52

56

45

48

47

Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk

45

49

49

39

39

39

Cheshire and Merseyside

55

58

57

43

46

55

Cleveland, Durham and Northumbria

48

57

59

45

47

46

Cumbria and Lancashire

51

53

61

42

41

44

Dorset, Hampshire and Isle of Wight, and Wiltshire

50

58

54

45

42

44

Greater Manchester

55

57

59

43

42

40

Humber and South Yorkshire

41

45

46

38

36

39

Kent

53

61

67

45

45

50

Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire

51

54

55

42

41

42

London (Civil and Family)

56

66

65

51

53

49

Mid and West Wales

52

53

47

42

52

46

North and West Yorkshire

49

48

53

38

37

39

North Wales

62

51

58

45

31

38

Nottingham and Derbyshire

44

42

45

43

45

45

South East Wales

51

60

59

42

47

51

Surrey and Sussex

50

55

54

50

47

45

Thames Valley

47

51

55

41

39

44

England and Wales: Average number of weeks

52

56

57

44

45

46

England and Wales: Total number of care and supervision orders made(1)

4,161

3,923

3,636

3,730

3,746

3,596

(1) The figures for County courts count the number of care and supervision orders disposed in each year. Family proceedings courts figures count the number of children disposed.
Notes:
1. The data are taken from the HMCS FamilyMan System and from the Case Tracker system.
2. The figures only cover cases where a care order or a supervision order was made. The figures do not include other care and supervision disposals (e.g. order refused, order of no order) and do not include other order types (e.g. emergency protection, secure accommodation).
3. The figures reflect the mean number of weeks from application to order. This means that the numbers of weeks taken for each order have been added up, and the total has then been divided by the number of orders.

17 Mar 2010 : Column 853W

Children in Care: Child Trust Fund

Ruth Kelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what percentage of Child Trust Funds managed by the Official Solicitor or Accountant of Court on behalf of looked-after children have been re-allocated to a different provider following concerns about investment performance. [322393]

Bridget Prentice: 15.12 per cent. of Child Trust Funds (969) managed by the Official Solicitor have been reallocated to a different provider following concerns about investment performance. At the time of the review of providers, the Official Solicitor acted as the registered contact for 6,076 children's Funds. To date, the Official Solicitor manages 6,406 Funds.

Scotland

Departmental Surveys

Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will place in the Library a copy of the benchmark results of the Civil Service People Survey for his Department. [322574]

Ann McKechin: The 2009 People Survey results are now available in the Library. Information about the survey will also be put on the Scotland Office website in due course.

Defence

Afghanistan and Iraq: Peacekeeping Operations

Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service personnel who were repatriated from Afghanistan and Iraq were seriously wounded and subsequently died in each year since the start of each conflict started in each of those countries. [322184]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Since operations began in Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003) up to 10 March 2010 (latest date for which data is available), a total of 17 UK armed forces personnel who were categorised as very seriously or seriously injured on operations have subsequently died following repatriation as a result of the injury sustained, as shown in the following table:

Operation

Iraq Afghanistan Total

All

8

9

17

2001

0

0

0

2002

0

0

0

2003

2

0

2

2004

0

0

0

2005

0

0

0

2006

1

1

2

2007

5

1

6

2008

0

0

0

2009

0

7

7

2010

0

0

0


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