TNAG-2709-FCO40-3915-House-of-Commons-Select-Committee-on-Foreign-Affairs-and-Par-1993 — Page 183

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379

Written Answers

8 MARCH 1993

Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what arrangements; have been made by his Department to monitor the referendum in> Malawi; and what assistance has been provided by Her Majesty's Government to the Government of Malawi and the main opposition parties in connection with the referendum on a multi-party system.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd: I refer the hon. Member to my Sanswer today on the arrangements for observers. We are ready to consider offering financial assistance through the United Nations toupport the referendum process under the same conditions:

Mr. Meacher: Tp ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations Her Majesty's Government have made to the Government of Malawi concerning the referendum on a multi-party system planned for 15 June 1993.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd: The referendum in Malawi is scheduled to take place on 14 June. We have repeatedly made clear to the Malawian Government that the conditions under which it is held must be fair and in accordance with internationally accepted criteria if it is to have any credibility with the international community.

LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT

Staff (Working Hours)

Mr. David Porter: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will undertake a survey of all offices and agencies for which he has responsibility to ascertain to what extent staff supplying a service to the public are curtailing their work on a Friday afternoon earlier than other days of the week; and if he will make a statement on his policy on hours of staff working each week.

Mr. John M. Taylor: I have no plans to carry out such

a survey.

In common with civil servants generally, the conditioned working hours of most full-time staff in the Lord Chancellor's Department and its agencies are 41 gross per week in London and 42 gross per week elsewhere.

Subject to the for all staff to fulfil their conditioned hours, managers have discretion to vary the office hours of individual staff. Court offices are open to the public from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm Monday to Friday. Chief clerks ensure that sufficient staff are available at all times when courts are open to the public.

Acquired Rights Directive

Mr. Vaz: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will place in the Library copies of all circulars and other advice issued by his Department concerning the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981 and the acquired rights directive.

Mr. John M. Taylor: My Department has no plans to issue any circulars on general advice concerning either the regulations or the directive.

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Written Answers

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Stipendiary Magistrates

Mr. Stephen: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary. Lord Chancellor's Department if he will make it his policy to work towards the appointment of stipendiary magistrates in every town with a population exceeding 70.000.

Mr. John M. Taylor: The Lord Chancellor has no plans to work towards the appointment of stipendiary magistrates in every town with a population exceeding 70,000. Stipendiary magistrate appointments are to commission areas and the Lord Chancellor will consider such appointments normally when he receives requests from those local areas and he considers that the workload warrants that course. The Lord Chancellor has full confidence in the ability of the lay magistracy to cope with the bulk of work. The purpose of stipendiary appointments is to support the lay magistracy.

Law of Domiciles

Mr. Harvey: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department when the Government plan to introduce legislation based on the conclusions of the report of the Law Commission on the law of domiciles; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. John M. Taylor: The Lord Chancellor hopes to make an announcement about this subject in the near future.

Committal Proceedings

Mr. Stephen: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what assessment he has made of the extent to which magistrates are aware of, and use, their powers to hold full committal hearings in cases where there is genuine doubt as to whether the accused has a case to answer before a higher court.

Mr. John M. Taylor: The provisions in the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 in respect of committal proceedings place the onus on the accused's representative to request that the court consider a submission of no case to answer. For this reason it is not appropriate that I make any assessment of magistrates' awareness of the provisions of section 6 of the Act. The future of committal proceedings is one of many issues on which my Department has submitted views to the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice.

Legal Aid

Mr. Boateng: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what representations he has received regarding the accuracy of the statistics given in the leaflet "Legal Aid-How It Works", with particular reference to the average payments to solicitors under the duty solicitor schemes in 1992-93; and how the figure given was arrived at.

Mr. John M. Taylor: No formal representations have been made. However, it has since come to my attention that there is an inconsistency in the way in which the estimate of the average payment to solicitors in 1992-93 under the duty solicitor schemes was calculated. Average payments to solicitors in the years 1988-89 to 1991-92 were derived by dividing gross expenditure on the schemes by the total number of people helped under the schemes. The