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6 Apr 2010 : Column 1182W—continued

			2008( 3)
	Statute	Offence description	Proceeded against	Found guilty	Sentenced
10822	Badgers Act 1973 as amended by the Criminal Justice Act 1991, s.26 and Badgers Act 1991, s.1	Offences of cruelty to badgers and special protection for badgers and their setts.	22	11	11
11120	Badgers (further protection) Act 1991	Failing to give up a dog for destruction or having custody of a dog while disqualified.	14	11	11
(1) The figures given 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. (3) Excludes data for Cardiff magistrates court for April, July and August 2008. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services in the Ministry of Justice.

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Trade Unions

Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 11 March 2010, Official Report, columns 383-84W, on trade unions, if he will place in the Library a copy of the secondment agreement between his Department and the PCS trade union. [322745]

Mr. Straw: Agreements are not generic documents, but are specific to the individual on secondment. We currently have two employees on secondment to PCS, and copies of their agreements will be placed in the Library.

Tribunals: Disability Living Allowance

Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many appeal tribunals relating to disability living
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allowance took place in each of the smallest administrative areas for which figures are available in each of the last five years. [324599]

Bridget Prentice: The Tribunals Service is only able to provide figures for each administrative area from 2007-08. Prior to this, disability living allowance appeals were administered by the Appeals Service, an agency of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The DWP is unable to break down its figures in the way the hon. Member has requested.

The First-tier Tribunal-Social Security and Child Support has seven administrative centres across the country. The following information is the most comprehensive that the Tribunals Service Management Information system can provide.

Disability living allowance: clearances at hearing by centre
	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10 (up to 28 February 2010)( 1)
Birmingham (East and West Midlands and East of England Government Office Regions) and (London Government(2) Office Region)	*	*	6,445	8,846	9,054
Cardiff (Wales) and South West Government Office Region	*	*	7,931	7,285	7,269
Glasgow (Scotland)	*	*	9,601	8,220	6,803
Leeds (Yorkshire and the Humber Government Office Region)	*	*	5,095	5,382	4,330
North West (North West Government Office Region)	*	*	8,034	8,563	8,090
Newcastle (North East Government Office Region)	*	*	3,535	3,452	3,228
Nottingham(3)	*	*	12,847	8,824	5,021
Sutton(4) (South East and London(2) Government Office Regions)	*	*	4,342	3,308	4,282
Total	71,125	65,088	57,830	53,880	48,077
"*" = Figures for April 2006 to March 2007 are unavailable. (1) Figures provided for April 2009 to February 2010 are provisional and subject to further change. (2) Covers whole of Government Office Region London except Hillingdon, Harrow, Barnet, Enfield, Haringey, Islington, Tower Hamlets, Newham, Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Redbridge, Waltham Forest and Hackney which are covered by Birmingham. (3) The Nottingham office transferred its caseload which covered the East Midlands, East of England and part of the London region (see 2 above) to the Birmingham office on 18 December 2009. (4) Prior to 29 June 2009, part of Sutton's caseload was administered by the Nottingham office and is included in the Nottingham figures up until that date. Notes: 1. Figures provided for financial years April 2007 to February 2010 were extracted from GAPS 2 (Generic Appeals Processing System) Statistical Summary Reports dated 25 March 2010. 2. Figures prior to April 2007 supplied by DWP. From April 2006 there was a transitional period when DWP recorded data on more than one computer system (GAPS 1 and GAPS 2). Some information was not updated on the system and as a result a breakdown by area is not available.

Work and Pensions

Children: Maintenance

Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many cases were processed by the Child Support Agency in each of the last 10 years. [324690]

Helen Goodman: The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is responsible for the child maintenance system. I have asked the Child Maintenance Commissioner to write to the hon. Member with the information requested and I have seen the response.

Letter from Stephen Geraghty:

In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Child Maintenance Commissioner.

You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases were dealt with by the Child Support Agency in each of the last 10 years. [324690]

The number of live and assessed cases being handled in each of the last 10 years is provided in the table below. This includes old scheme cases with a full or interim maintenance assessment as well as current scheme cases with a full maintenance calculation or default maintenance decision. Figures include cases processed off the system from 2008. Information on these cases prior to this date is not included as this information can not be broken down into those live or assessed.

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Table 1: Caseload by scheme: live and a ssessed c ases
Period as at:	Old s cheme	Current s cheme	Overall a gency
November 2000	1,044,500	-	1,044,500
November 2001	1,054,800	-	1,054,800
November 2002	1,079,500	-	1,079,500
December 2003	935,400	65,200	1,000,700
December 2004	868,300	169,600	1,037,900
December 2005	816,400	293,700	1,110,100
December 2006	747,600	418,700	1,166,300
December 2007	669,700	556,700	1,226,400
December 2008	607,300	656,200	1,263,500
December 2009	521,900	691,200	1,213,100
Notes: 1. Figures from December 2008 accurately reflect the performance of cases processed off the system. Prior to 2008, the clerical caseload cannot be broken down to show the number of live and assessed cases. 2. Figures include old Scheme cases with a full or interim maintenance assessment as well as current Scheme cases with a full maintenance calculation or default maintenance decision. 3. From 2003, changes were made to the quarterly periods in which figures were recorded. 4. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100.

I hope you find this answer helpful.

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many enquiries made to the Child Support Agency (CSA) were responded to (a) over the telephone and (b) in writing in the latest period for which figures are available; and what the policy is of the CSA on responding to requests that details of a telephone conversation be confirmed in writing. [325397]

Helen Goodman: The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is responsible for the child maintenance system. I have asked the child maintenance commissioner to write to the right hon. Member with the information requested and I have seen the response.

Letter from Stephen Geraghty:

In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Child Maintenance Commissioner.

You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many enquiries made to the Child Support Agency (CSA) were responded to (a) over the telephone and (b) in writing in the latest period for which figures are available; and what the policy is of the CSA on responding to requests that details of a telephone conversation be confirmed in writing. [325397]

Information on how the Child Support Agency (CSA) responded to enquires made by (a) over the telephone and, (b) in writing is not available as the purpose of calls and correspondence is not recorded for management information purposes. There is no specific policy on how the CSA handle requests for written confirmation of a conversation. Management encourage employees to use the telephone when contacting clients as this is the fastest and most effective means of communication, however we will provide written confirmation to clients where there is a valid need.

I hope you find this answer helpful.

Council Tax Benefits

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what (a) representations she has received from and (b) discussions she has had with (i) the Royal British Legion, (ii) other third sector organisations and (iii) other interested parties on the renaming of council tax benefit as council tax rebate. [325458]

Helen Goodman: During the passage of the Welfare Reform Bill the Royal British Legion met with Ministers and officials a number of times to discuss the merits of the case for changing the name of council tax benefit and, subsequently, on how to take forward the change of name to council tax rebate. The Department has continued to receive some correspondence from interested parties concerning the name change.

Departmental Food

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what account her Department's food procurement policy takes of animal welfare. [325523]

Jonathan Shaw: The Department does not procure food directly, but has a contract for the provision of fully serviced accommodation which includes catering. The contract is with Telereal Trillium and its catering services supplier is Eurest (part of the Compass Group UK and Ireland). Since 2003, the Department has been working with these suppliers, actively pursuing a Public Sector Food Procurement Initiative action plan and one of the key objectives of this initiative is to raise farming standards.

Compass Group have confirmed that they endorse the Farm Animal Welfare Council's Five Freedoms concept and provide full traceability of products and suppliers within their approved supply chain to ensure animals reared for meat, fish, milk and eggs are raised to high standards of animal welfare.

Compass Group have also confirmed a long-standing commitment to source their seafood as sustainably as possible. They were the first foodservice company to achieve the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Chain of Custody certification enabling them to serve certified sustainable, MSC-labelled seafood choices. Within the DWP contract many of their sites are buying products to these standards and promotional activities are run to encourage DWP staff to purchase the more ethically sourced products.

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