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Written Answers to Questions
Monday 26 July 1993
LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT
Judicial System (Probity)
Mr. Mates : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will make a statement on his responsibilities in respect of the maintenance of the integrity and probity of the judicial system ; and what role his Department plays in relation to allegations of bribery involving judges.
Mr. John M. Taylor : The Lord Chancellor regards integrity and probity as essential qualities for all those working in the judicial system. The investigation of allegations of bribery involving judges is a matter for the police. Consideration will also be given by the Lord Chancellor to any further action that may be required in the light of the results flowing from any such investigation.
Industrial Deafness
Mr. Sheerman : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department (1) what steps he is taking to help victims of industrial deafness who are deterred from pursuing claims against their employers by the new regulations governing legal aid ; (2) what steps he is taking to help victims of industrial deafness to pursue their claims for compensation against their employers.
Mr. John M. Taylor : No separate assessment has been made of the effect of the legal aid eligibility changes on litigants with specific categories of case. However, the financial limits for personal injury actions remain higher than those for other categories of civil proceedings. The disposable income limit for personal injury cases is £7,500 (£6,800 for other proceedings) and the disposable capital limit is £8,560 (£6,750 for other proceedings).
No specific steps are proposed for the handling of industrial deafness cases, but they will benefit from a number of jurisdictional and procedural changes introduced for personal injury cases generally over the past two years. In the coming months the Lord Chancellor intends to issue a public consultation document setting out proposals for a less formal method than trial in open court for handling smaller personal injury claims. Depending on the financial limit set, a number of industrial deafness cases may benefit.
Vulnerable Witnesses
Dr. Godman : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department in how many cases defence counsel have objected to the use of video-link television equipment for the purpose of interviewing child witnesses and other vulnerable witnesses in each of the past three years ; of these objections, how many were accepted by the court ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. John M. Taylor : The information sought by the hon. Member is not collected, and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Dr. Godman : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department in how many cases and in which courts video link television equipment has been used for the purpose of interviewing child witnesses and other vulnerable witnesses outwith the actual court room in each of the past four years ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John M. Taylor : The number of cases in which child witnesses has given evidence via live television links at suitably equipped Crown court centres is set out in the table provided in answer to the hon. Member's previous question.
Dr. Godman : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department in how many court cases a screen has been used in order to shield child witnesses from those being proceeded against in each of the past three years ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John M. Taylor : The hon. Member asked a similar question on 16 November last year, to which I gave an answer that the information was not collected. I am pleased to be able to report that from 1 January 1993 my Department introduced a mechanism for collecting this information in the Crown court. Since that date there have been 18 reported cases in which a screen has been used to shield a child witness in court.
Dr. Godman : To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many courts have video-link television equipment installed for the purpose of interviewing child witnesses and other vulnerable persons ; where such courts are located ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. John M. Taylor : Live television link equipment, for the purpose of children giving evidence under the provisions of section 32 Criminal Justice Act 1988, has been installed at the 47 Crown court centres listed in the table, which also provides the answer to the hon. Member's further question.
TV links statistics
Court |1989 |1990 |1991 |1992
|Used |Used |Used |Used
--------------------------------------------
Birmingham |10 |26 |16 |18
Bradford |- |- |- |0
Bristol |- |- |4 |4
Caernarfon |- |- |- |0
Cardiff |- |- |12 |10
Carlisle |- |- |- |0
Central Criminal Cour4 4 3 2
Chelmsford |11 |4 |16 |7
Chester |- |- |0 |0
Croydon |- |- |- |1
Derby* |- |- |- |-
Exeter |2 |7 |4 |1
Gloucester |- |- |- |2
Grimsby |- |- |- |1
Guildford |7 |5 |7 |3
Harrow |- |- |- |0
Hull |- |- |- |0
Ipswich* |- |- |- |-
Kingston upon Thames*- - - -
Leeds |3 |8 |17 |13
Leicester |- |- |6 |0
Lewes |- |- |- |0
Lincoln |- |- |- |0
Liverpool |16 |11 |13 |6
Luton* |- |- |- |-
Maidstone |15 |18 |4 |3
Manchester |2 |6 |1 |0
Mold |9 |3 |1 |1
Newcastle |- |- |11 |5
Northampton |- |- |1 |1
Norwich |- |- |2 |1
Nottingham |16 |15 |14 |3
Peterborough* |- |- |- |-
Plymouth |- |- |- |0
Portsmouth |- |- |- |1
Preston |- |- |1 |0
Reading |- |- |1 |0
St. Albans |- |- |- |0
Sheffield |- |- |5 |3
Southwark |2 |6 |5 |7
Stafford |- |- |0 |0
Swansea |6 |15 |3 |3
Teesside |- |- |- |0
Truro |- |- |- |0
Winchester |5 |0 |5 |0
Wolverhampton |- |- |3 |3
Woolwich* |- |- |- |-
Installation of equipment at the courts
marked "*" took place in 1993.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Benefits Agency
Mr. Frank Field : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when the Benefits Agency business plan for the current year was laid before Parliament.
Mr. Ancram : It is expected that the Social Security Agency's 1993- 94 business plan will be published in August 1993. The agency's service and financial targets for the year have, however, already been set and are as follows. They are in line with the Government's policy of improving the service provided to customers and fully support the standards established in the Northern Ireland citizens charter. I am satisfied that the targets present a demanding challenge for the agency.
1. Benefit clearance times (a)
|Per cent.|In days
----------------------------------------------------------------
Social fund crisis loans-on the day the need arises
Social fund community care grants |65 |7
|95 |20
Income support |71 |5
|90 |13
Sickness/invalidity benefit |65 |10
|95 |30
Child benefit |73 |10
|95 |30
Family credit |60 |13
|95 |42
Disability living allowance |65 |30
|85 |55
Retirement pension |65 |20
|95 |60
Unemployment benefit |7.5
2. Benefit accuracy--
Income support : to pay the correct amount in at least 92 per cent. of cases. Sickness/invalidity benefit : to pay the correct amount in at least 97 per cent. of cases.
Family credit : to pay the correct amount in at least 92 per cent. of cases.
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Disability living allowance : to pay the correct amount in at least 96 per cent. of cases.Retirement pension : to pay the correct amount in at least 99 per cent. of cases.
3. Customers satisfaction-- (b)
90 per cent. of customers to regard the agency's service as satisfactory or better.
4. Financial recovery--
Recovery of social fund loans--£16.1 million.
Recovery of income support overpayments--£1.2 million.
Recovery of centralised benefits overpayments--£0.18 million. Benefit savings from detection and prevention of fraud-- £10.8 million.
Increase number of contribution surveys to 6,000--including 1,400 employer educational visits.
Increase class 1 identified from survey--arrears and in-year savings--to £0.38 million.
5. Resource management--
To live within a gross allocation of £28.5 million for social fund loans and community care grants.
To live within the agency's gross administration budget of £119.5 million, of which £113.6 million relates to running costs. A cash efficiency saving of £2.8 million--2.7 per cent.--has been deducted from the running costs--excluding Benefits Agency work.
Notes :
(a). Clearance times normally cover the period from the date of receipt of the claim in the agency to the formal decision by the adjudication officer or equivalent. Notification of the result is normally issued the following day. All days refer to working days. (b) The customer satisfaction target covers a two-year period and will be measured by an independent survey in 1994-95.
Hospital Opthalmic Departments
Rev. Martin Smyth : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what guidelines are given to health and social services boards for keeping and collating statistics in hospital ophthalmic departments ; and what data from hospital ophthalmic departments boards are required to collate.
Mr. Ancram : The same data are collected for the specialty of ophthalmology as for all other hospital specialties. Details of the forms and how to complete them are given in the guidance manual for Korner central requirements for hospital services. This is supported by a data dictionary which lists the standard definitions to be used throughout Northern Ireland. In addition, anonymised records of patients' diagnoses and any operative procedures carried out are also collected for analysis centrally.
Rev. Martin Smyth : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the average cost of a visit to a hospital ophthalmic out- patient department.
Mr. Ancram : This information is not available at present.
Rev. Martin Smyth : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many referrals from general practitioners and optometrists to hospital ophthalmology out-patients clinics there have been since 1985.
Mr. Ancram : This information is not available in the form requested. The total number of referrals to hospital ophthalmology out- patient clinics in Northern Ireland since 1985 is as follows :
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