HC Deb 28 April 1994 vol 242 cc240-1W
Mr. Boateng

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many advertisements and in which publications, and at what cost, the Lord Chancellor has placed for new judges since his speech at the Lord Mayor's dinner for judges on 7 July 1993; and how many responses he has received to these advertisements.

Mr. John M. Taylor

No advertisements have so far been placed for judges. However, eight advertisements have been placed for other judicial appointments since 7 July 1993, details of which are shown in the table. The total cost was £663.54.

Work in currently in progress on the development of detailed proposals for the introduction of the measures announced in the Lord Chancellor's speech to Her Majesty's judges, and an announcement will be made soon.

Advertisements placed for judicial appointments since 7th July 1993
Office Publication Number of applications received
Deputy Social Security Commissioners/Deputy Child Support Commissioners (Scotland) Journal of the Law Society of Scotland 38
Scots Law Times
Deputy Taxing Masters The Law Society Gazette 25
Bar News
Mental Health Review Tribunals (Legal Members—part-time) The Law Society Gazette 49
Bar News
Part-time Immigration Adjudicators (Scotland) Journal of The Law Society of Scotland 49
Scots Law Times

Mr. Boateng

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list the total amount spent on judges' lodgings in England and Wales for each of the last 10 years.

Mr. John M. Taylor

The table sets out expenditure on judges' lodgings since 1987–88.

£ million
1987–88 2.3
1988–89 2.9
1989–90 2.7
1990–91 3.3
1991–92 3.7
1992–93 15.5
1993–94 2
1 £5.0 million excluding building purchase.
2 Not yet available.

The Department took over responsibility for collating information on expenditure from the Property Services Agency in 1988 and in 1990 took over full responsibility for the maintenance and administration of the lodgings. For this transitionary period the costs are based on estimates. Figures for the years prior to 1987–88 could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.