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8 Jun 2010 : Column 120W—continued
(b) as set out in answer to (a), local authorities are under a duty under Section 69 of the Electoral Administration Act 2006 to encourage participation by electors in the electoral process. The amount spent by local authorities in fulfilling this role is not collected centrally.
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice which local authority electoral registration departments use bar coding on their electoral registration forms. [700]
Mr Harper: I have been asked to reply.
Whether or not individual Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) use bar codes to assist them with the handling of these electoral registration forms is a matter for individual ERO's to determine. The Government do not collect data on the use of bar coding for this purpose.
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the use of telephones to confirm continued entitlement to electoral registration; and which local authorities use telephones for this purpose. [725]
Mr Harper: I have been asked to reply.
The Government have not made an assessment of the use of telephones to support electoral registration. The Electoral Commission has informed me that it will publish some information relating to canvass responses by telephone following their next assessment of Electoral Registration Officers' performance. The expected date of publication of the Commission's next such assessment is spring 2011.
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of total expenditure by local authority registration officers in each of the last 10 years. [729]
Mr Harper: I have been asked to reply.
The Government have not made such an estimate. However, as part of its work in developing Performance Standards for electoral services, the Electoral Commission launched its financial information survey across Great Britain on 10 September 2007. Electoral Registration Officers and Returning Officers were asked to complete the survey and return it by 31 July 2008, and again in July 2009. I understand that the Commission has published its report "The Cost of Electoral Administration in Great Britain", a report into the cost of electoral administration, covering the 2007-08 and 2008-09 financial years. The report is now available on the Commission's website at:
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will assess the merits of ring-fencing funds allocated by his Department to local government for voter registration purposes. [731]
Mr Harper: I have been asked to reply.
The Government are clear that local government needs increased flexibility to take decisions locally and have announced that over £1.7 billion of grants will cease to be ring-fenced in 2010-11. This step will enable local authorities to make the radical change needed to prioritise resources and improve efficiency while protecting essential frontline services. This represents a significant boost to the financial autonomy of local councils.
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what reasons his Department has identified for variations in levels of voter registration in different local authority areas with similar socio-economic characteristics. [733]
Mr Harper: I have been asked to reply.
The Government have not made such an assessment. The Electoral Commission's report published in March 2010, "The Completeness and Accuracy of Electoral Registers in Great Britain", considers local and regional variations in registration levels. The report notes that the highest concentrations of under-registration are most likely to be in metropolitan areas, smaller towns and cities with large student population and coastal areas with significant population turnover and high levels of social deprivation.
The Electoral Commission found that under-registration and inaccuracy are closely associated with the social groups most likely to move home: young people, private sector tenants and BME residents were cited in particular. However, the Commission's Report does not draw broad conclusions.
Law Centres
Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans he has for the future of (a) community legal advice centres and (b) community legal advice networks; and if he will make a statement. [851]
Mr Djanogly: The Legal Services Research Centre has recently completed an evaluation of Community Legal Advice Centres and Networks (referred to as CLACs and CLANs) which is due to be published shortly. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and Legal Services Commission (LSC) will work together to consider the implications of the evaluation on the future of CLACS and CLANs.
In the meantime, the LSC is continuing to tender for CLA services in the areas announced in April 2008. When existing CLAC and CLAN contracts come to an end, these contracts will either be extended or subject to re-tender as appropriate. At present, the LSC is not seeking to develop any new CLACs or CLANs beyond those already announced. Decisions on the future of CLACs and CLANs will be informed by the results of the evaluation.
Rape: Disclosure of Information
Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether the policy proposal in the Coalition agreement: our programme for government to give anonymity to defendants in rape trials is to apply to defendants who have been charged with rape only or charged with other sexual offences. [618]
Mr Blunt: The Government recognise that there is an argument to be made for defendant anonymity in sexual offence cases other than rape. We shall look carefully at this as we consider how best to give effect to our policy on defendant anonymity in rape cases.
Trade Unions
Mr Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans he has to consult trade unions in (a) his Department and (b) its agencies concerning deficit reduction plans. [611]
Mr Blunt: A schedule of meetings is being established in the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and its agencies to consult the recognised trade unions concerning deficit reduction plans.
Young Offender Institutions
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many incidents of segregation have been recorded in each young offender institution in each year since 2006. [461]
Mr Blunt: The information requested is not recorded centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost by asking every young offender institution to analyse its records.
Prisoners may be held in segregation for reasons of good order and discipline or for their own protection. They may also be segregated to await adjudication or, if the prisoner is 18 or over, as a punishment of cellular confinement for offences against prison discipline.
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many strip searches have been recorded in each young offender institution in each year since 2006. [462]
Mr Blunt: Full searches (previously known as strip-searches) may be carried out in order to detect items of contraband secreted on the person. NOMS' National Security Framework permits establishments to full search young people (15 to 17-year-olds) and young adults (18 to 21-year-olds) held in young offender institutions (YOIs), both on a routine and intelligence-led basis. Records of full searches conducted in YOIs are not held centrally. To provide the information requested would involve requesting and collating information from all YOIs which could be done only at disproportionate cost.
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many control and restraint incidents were recorded at each young offender institution in each year since 2006. [463]
Mr Blunt: The information requested is not available centrally prior to January 2010 and could be provided only at disproportionate cost by asking each young offender institution to analyse its records. A new system of collation came into force in January 2010 and the table below sets out control and restraint incidents at each young offender institution in England and Wales from January 2010 to March 2010.
Control and restraint (C&R) is a system of techniques used by a team of three officers as a last resort in order to bring a violent or refractory prisoner under control. The techniques are applied by trained officers for as short a time as possible and only used after all other means of de-escalating the incident have been repeatedly tried and failed.
Deputy Prime Minister
Departmental Pay
Mr Watson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what salary he receives as Deputy Prime Minister. [648]
The Deputy Prime Minister: I am drawing the same salary as other Cabinet Ministers, £68,827 per annum. All Cabinet Ministers have agreed to take a salary of 5% less than previously paid and to freeze it for the duration of the Parliament.
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