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Article 8 of the treaty also provides that:
“The Court of Justice of the European Union shall have jurisdiction in actions on grounds of infringement of the principle of subsidiarity by a legislative act, brought in accordance with the rules laid down in Article 230 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union by Member States, or notified by them in accordance with their legal order on behalf of their national Parliament or a chamber thereof”.
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No legislation is required to implement this provision. As at present, it would be for the Government to conduct any litigation before the European Court of Justice on behalf of the United Kingdom pursuant to Article 230. This would include cases initiated at the request of Parliament, pursuant to the above provision, on the basis of prior discussion and agreement with the Government.
Government: English Regions
Lord Greaves asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many staff and what proportion of the staff in each of the government offices in the English regions are agency staff or on temporary contracts. [HL1409]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Andrews): The following table shows staff in post (SIP) figures for each government office and the percentage of total staff comprising number of agency staff or those on temporary contracts and on fixed term appointments (FTAs).
| Total SIP | Temporary Contract Including FTAs | % | |
Government: Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have any proposals to allow the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to undertake duties for another department. [HL1237]
Lord Davies of Oldham: As set out in the Ministerial Code, the Prime Minister is responsible for the overall organisation of the Executive and the allocation of functions between Ministers in order to deliver the Government's objectives and priorities.
Home Office: Legacy Directorate
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
On what date the Home Office's legacy directorate started to process cases; how many have been decided to the latest date for which figures are available; of these, how many families have been identified as
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): Work started on selected legacy cases in November 2006 and the Case Resolution Directorate was created on 1 April 2007, tasked with managing the programme. All case files were allocated to a “case owner” in December 2007.
By the end of November 2007, 52,000 cases had been concluded. We do not hold information in regard to the identification of families falling within DP5/96 nor information on those families who have been deported or given leave to remain as this would involve checking through individual case records at a disproportionate cost.
Immigration: Deportation
Baroness Hanham asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many members of the Border and Immigration Agency staff are employed in the deportation of (a) visa overstayers and (b) illegal immigrants. [HL1197]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The Border and Immigration Agency does not distinguish between staff employed in the removal of (a) visa overstayers and (b) illegal immigrants. As of 30 November 2007 there were 1,446 operational staff employed within the local enforcement offices of the Border and Immigration Agency directly engaged in operational activity, including the detention and removal of overstayers and illegal immigrants.
Immigration: Detention
Lord Hylton asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answers by Lord West of Spithead on 1 October (WA 259) and 14 November (WA 21), when members of the Border and Immigration Agency or of the Home Office last met face-to-face with Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID); and why joint letters from BID and the Immigration Law Practitioners' Association of August and October remain unanswered. [HL963]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The Border and Immigration Agency meets regularly with Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID). The last such meeting was on 29 November 2007 at the national asylum stakeholder forum, which is held bi-monthly.
Officials have been discussing with BID the information requested in its letter of August. That as well as the letter of October will be replied to very shortly.
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The Earl of Sandwich asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by Lord West of Spithead on 26 November (WA 103), how many current detainees have been (a) in Haslar, and (b) in other immigration detention centres for more than 12 months; and how many of these have been in two, three or more detention centres. [HL1102]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The available information shows that on 20 December 2007, four detainees had been detained continuously for 12 months or more in Haslar. Of those, one had been detained only in Haslar, the remaining three had been detained in one other removal centre.
The following other immigration removal centres have held detainees continuously for 12 months or more:
Dover—12 (of whom seven have been detained in Dover only and five in one other removal centre);Yarl’s Wood—three (of whom all have been detained in Yarl’s Wood only); and Colnbrook—one who was previously detained in two other removal centres.This information is based on internal management information, is provisional and subject to change, and as such is not published within official statistics.
Information Commissioner
Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer asked Her Majesty's Government:
What guidance they have issued to government departments on when the Information Commissioner's Office should be consulted on proposed legislation and policy development. [HL1306]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has issued general legal guidance on the application of the Data Protection Act for those processing data in the public sector.
The MoJ has not issued guidance to government departments on when the Information Commissioner's Office should be consulted on proposed legislation and policy development. However government departments regularly consult the Information Commissioner's Office on these matters. The MoJ is also normally involved in the development of policies which involve data protection issues and encourages the involvement of the Information Commissioner.
Justice: No-win No-fee Arrangements
Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will review whether no-win no-fee arrangements for lawyers, which include an uplift for success in litigation, are operating in the interests of justice. [HL1287]
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): The conditional fee agreements (CFAs) regime was reviewed in 2004, resulting in the changes introduced on 1 November 2005 when the regulations governing CFAs were revoked and the Law Society amended the Professional Rules of Conduct and the Client Care Code to take account of the changes.
We also published a consultation paper Conditional Fee Agreements in Publication Proceedings Success Fees and After the Event Insurance in August 2007. We are considering the responses and we plan to publish a report of the conclusions of the consultation and any decisions reached by Spring 2008.
Kenya: Travel Bans
Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay asked Her Majesty's Government:
Which current or former members of the Kenyan parliament have been subject to a United Kingdom travel ban within the past three years; and which are subject to such a ban today. [HL1414]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): There are currently five such individuals excluded from the UK but it is not Home Office policy to give details of individual cases.
Local Government: Efficiency Savings
Lord Greaves asked Her Majesty's Government:
What were the efficiency savings found by each local authority in England in each of the last three years; and what proportion of their revenue budgets they amounted to in each of those years. [HL1430]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Andrews): Councils in England report the value of efficiency gains that they have achieved annually in the Backward Look efficiency statement. The data for each of the last three years are published in spreadsheets online at www.communities.gov.uk/localgovernment/efficiencybetter/deliveringefficiency.
The spreadsheets also set out the efficiency target for each council. The target is based on a percentage of their baseline expenditure in 2004-05 (no target in 2004-05, 2.5 per cent in 2005-06 and 5 per cent in 2006-07).
Cumulative achievement of efficiency gains in the SR04 period by English councils collectively has been:
by the end of 2004-05: £760 million (1.89 per cent of 2004-05 baseline expenditure);by the end of 2005-06: £1,931 million (4.81 per cent of 2004-05 baseline expenditure); and by the end of 2006-07: £3,064 million (7.63 per cent of 2004-05 baseline expenditure).24 Jan 2008 : Column WA67
Lord Greaves asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the level of efficiency savings required to be made by a local authority in a particular year should take account of the savings already achieved in the previous year and in the past five years. [HL1431]
Baroness Andrews: During the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review period (2008-09 to 2010-11), there will be no mandatory targets for efficiency gains for individual councils in England. Efficiency targets will only exist where these are negotiated as one of the up-to-35 targets in each local area agreement (LAA). The negotiation of LAA targets will reflect the particular priorities for improvement in that area, hence any efficiency targets agreed will reflect past performance.
Lord Greaves asked Her Majesty's Government:
What level of efficiency savings they are requiring from the government office in each English region in each year in the three-year period starting with the current year; and what proportion of the revenue spending this amounts to in each year. [HL1433]
Baroness Andrews: The Government Office Network was set a target to deliver savings of 2.5 per cent per annum in CSR04. This equated to a required saving of £4.57 million in running costs in 2007-08. Under CSR07 the GO Network is required to make year-on-year running cost savings of 5 per cent per annum, in line with the settlement received by Communities and Local Government.
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