Written Answers to Questions
Thursday 11 June 2009
Home Department
Animal Experiments
For the purposes of this question we have taken ‘generic licences’ to refer to thematic licences issued for the testing for regulatory purposes of specific classes of test materials in line with specified regulatory requirements. The Home Office does not record information on such licences separately, but we have carried out a special exercise to extract the information requested. We estimate that there are currently 71 ‘generic licences’ extant and that there were 67 at 31 December 2008 and 65 at 31 December 2007. The annual statistical return for 2007, the latest year for which figures are available, indicates 183,909 procedures were conducted during 2007 under the licences identified as generic that were in force at 31 December 2007.
Borders: Personal Records
All passengers seeking entry or admission to the UK are required to provide evidence of their nationality and identity, which is checked against the UK's watchlist. Under e-borders, carriers will be required to provide biographic and travel document information in advance of travel.
This advance passenger check will allow for a significant increase in the volume of coach passengers who can be subsequently checked at the border, without disembarking from the coach.
A pilot scheme is operating with one particular coach company and we continue to develop the best operating models, in discussion with maritime, rail and coach operators.
The e-Borders system will not negatively affect travellers who hold dual nationality. Data from travel documents presented by dual nationals on inbound and outbound journeys will be transmitted to e-Borders and screened against watchlists as normal. Key facts, such as an individual’s date of birth, will remain the same, irrespective of the travel document they use. Any discrepancies will continue to be addressed by UK Border Agency staff at the border.
Departmental Data Protection
Under the mandatory requirements of the Data Handling Report published on 25 June 2008, the Home Office is required to give a summary report on data breaches reported to the Information Commissioner in our annual resource accounts.
The Home Office has published details of the protected personal data related incidents notified to the Information Commissioner’s Office in 2007-08 in its resource accounts published on 8 August 2008 (a copy of which is in the House Library). We will be publishing information on any personal data security breaches reported to the Information Commissioner for the 2008-09 reporting year before Parliament rises in July. The information is currently being compiled and is to be audited and verified before it is laid before Parliament.
In 2008-09, the Home Office made two notifications to the Information Commissioner. One related to the PA consulting data loss incident, which included information set out in my predecessor’s formal notification to the Information Commissioner (a copy of which is in the House Library) about the number of individual subjects affected. The other was a potential incident in the UK Border Agency involving the loss of a data stick on UKBA premises. The data stick was subsequently found at an internal location so this was not in fact a notifiable incident.
The information requested is set out in the following table:
HO UKBA IPS CRB HO UKBA IPS CRB Breaches of data protection requirements 0 1— 8 0 0 1— 7 0 Inappropriate use of personal or sensitive data 1— 1— 0 0 1— 0 1— 0 1Less than five. Note: Where there have been less than five such cases it is the policy of the Home Office to confine this information on grounds of confidentiality.
Departmental ICT
All IT systems across Government are subject to Cabinet Office approved policies and procedures for Information Security Management which are fully compliant with the controls in ISO 27001 and also incorporate the recommendations from the data handling report published in June 2008. Compliance is assessed via a regime known as accreditation.
All IT systems and networks within the Home Office are subject to this continual accreditation process as they enter service for the first time or when significant changes are made to existing systems; there is also a process of periodic review of all accredited systems.
Departmental Internet
The cost of maintaining Home Office websites (i.e. hosting, licensing, domain registration, and updates, but excluding staff costs) has been as follows:
£ 2006-07 750,100 2007-08 620,000 2008-09 577,000
Prior to 2006, costs were embedded in other communications budgets and could not be separately extracted, other than at disproportionate cost.
Deportation: Private Sector
The UK Border Agency has contracts with G4S Justice and Care Services, Serco Home Affairs and Molynes International Security to escort individuals who are being removed from the United Kingdom. The value of contracts between the UK Border Agency and its escorting suppliers is commercially sensitive and cannot therefore be disclosed.
Domestic Violence
The consultation document “Together We can End Violence Against Women and Girls” was considered and cleared by the Domestic Affairs Committee which includes representation from both Her Majesty’s Treasury and the Department for Work and Pensions.
In general, funding decisions for local services are determined by local commissioners based on local areas identifying needs. These are then included in their priorities for improvement with outcomes specifying how the issues will be addressed and how they contribute to wider national aims. Addressing domestic and sexual violence will be a key priority in helping local partnerships to deliver fully on the public service agreement requirements.
The consultation “Together We Can End Violence Against Women and Girls” closed on 29 May 2009. A key theme for consultation was the promotion of better consistency and quality of provision of services for victims of violence against women and girls. This work will be taken forward during development of a cross-Government strategy.
Among other initiatives, the Home Office provides £3.5 million to regional Government offices who then allocate it locally to domestic and sexual violence services.
Educational Accreditation Bodies
The Home Office, including the Identity and Passport Service and the Criminal Records Bureau, has not made any payments to educational accreditation bodies.
Entry Clearances: Tourists
The number of tourist visas issued to each nationality in each of the calendar years 2005-08, including the number issued to persons under the age of 18, is shown in the following tables. I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 20 April 2009, Official Report, columns 175-76W.
2005 2006 Nationality Over 18 Under 18 Total Over 18 Under 18 Total Afghanistan 804 175 979 1,035 320 1,355 Albania 3,354 485 3,839 2,777 485 3,262 Algeria 5,661 446 6,107 6,238 1,027 7,265 Andorra 2 — 2 4 — 4 Angola 2,499 308 2,807 2,332 304 2,636 Antigua and Barbuda 5 1 6 4 1 6 Argentina 35 — 35 24 — 24 Armenia 1,114 74 1,188 1,130 95 1,225 Australia 298 3 301 365 — 365 Austria — — — 3 1 4 Azerbaijan 2 930 252 3,182 3,498 265 3,763 Bahamas 2 — 2 3 1 4 Bahrain 4,437 1,317 6,754 5,081 1,585 6,666 Bangladesh 9,756 1,618 11,374 8,767 2,514 11,281 Barbados 17 3 20 18 — 18 Belarus 3,612 3,582 7,194 4,040 3,946 7,986 Belgium 3 — 3 1 — 1 Belize 4 — 4 2 1 3 Benin 373 27 400 371 34 405 Bermuda — — — — — — Bhutan 116 4 120 87 4 91 Bolivia 34 — 34 74 8 82 Bosnia and Herzegovina 2,353 198 2,551 2,260 243 2,503 Botswana 76 7 83 119 22 141 Brazil 301 21 322 347 13 360 British Citizen 36 1 37 25 3 28 British National Overseas 36 — 36 30 — 30 British Overseas Citizen 6 — 6 9 — 9 British Protected Person 4 — 4 — — — British Subject 7 — 7 2 — 2 Brunei 7 — 7 1 — 1 Bulgaria 13,715 939 14,654 14,676 1,349 16,025 Burkina 174 6 180 211 18 229 Burma (Myanmar) 665 40 705 524 89 613 Burundi 149 25 174 136 18 154 Cambodia 138 15 153 220 41 261 Cameroon 2,697 208 2,905 2,856 327 3,183 Canada 226 1 227 249 2 251 Cape Verde 114 10 124 142 14 156 Central African Republic 41 5 46 71 7 78 Chad 97 5 102 78 7 85 Chile 370 9 379 225 22 247 China 74 897 7,427 82,324 94,073 11,220 105,293 Colombia 10,111 1,239 11,350 10,287 1,821 12,108 Comoros 26 — 26 24 — 24 Congo 649 115 764 706 172 878 Costa Rica 1 — 1 7 2 9 Croatia 11,240 996 12,236 2,064 67 2,131 Cuba 1,358 44 1,402 1,632 50 1,682 Cyprus 261 74 335 397 240 637 Czech Republic 9 — 9 735 21 756 Democratic Republic of Congo 2,320 632 2,952 2,154 642 2,796 Denmark — — — 2 — 2 Dependant Territory — — — — — — Djibouti 161 29 190 132 12 144 Dominica 4 1 5 8 3 11 Dominican Republic 1,336 136 1,472 1,170 139 1,309 East Timor (Timor-Leste) 1 1 2 3 — 3 Ecuador 2,133 185 2,318 2,396 324 2,720 Egypt 18,973 2,183 21,156 20,282 2,506 22,788 El Salvador 16 2 18 9 — 9 Equatorial Guinea 194 10 204 183 5 188 Eritrea 458 57 515 417 90 507 Estonia 92 9 101 162 26 188 Ethiopia 2,779 284 3,063 1,829 157 1,986 Fiji 741 65 806 612 71 683 Finland — — — 8 4 12 France 9 1 10 21 4 25 Gabon 309 29 338 319 41 360 Gambia 2,322 397 2,719 1,992 485 2,477 Georgia 2,231 130 2,361 2,637 219 2,856 Germany 5 — 5 4 — 4 Ghana 11,942 1,709 13,651 10,807 2,372 13,179 Greece — — — — — — Greenland — — — — — — Grenada 6 — 6 8 — 8 Guatemala 7 1 8 17 — 17 Guinea 919 115 1,034 925 96 1,021 Guinea-Bissau 75 8 83 124 19 143 Guyana 1,764 304 2,068 1,921 399 2,320 Haiti 245 22 267 218 10 228 Honduras 7 — 7 17 — 17 Hong Kong 214 13 227 232 19 251 Hungary 521 42 563 363 33 396 Iceland 5 — 5 — — — India 169,722 19,137 188,859 191,902 29,431 221,333 Indonesia 11,025 1,233 12,258 11,500 1,418 12,918 Iran 13 401 1,362 14,763 15,438 3,678 19,116 Iraq 4,388 504 4,892 4,341 877 5,218 Ireland 3 — 3 5 4 9 Israel 147 6 153 101 6 107 Italy 4 — 4 3 — 3 Ivory Coast 1,318 143 1,461 1,414 211 1,625 Jamaica 3,548 210 3,758 3,527 635 4,162 Japan 551 4 555 687 5 692 Jordan 8,068 955 9,023 8,597 1,240 9,837 Kazakhstan 10,998 896 11,894 16,225 3,260 19,485 Kenya 5,610 440 6,050 5,709 1,272 6,981 Korea (North) 17 1 18 13 3 16 Kosovo — — — — — — Kuwait 29,005 10,223 39,228 28,696 10,844 39,540 Kyrgyzstan 789 44 833 1,043 112 1,155 Laos 75 7 82 69 6 75 Latvia 125 6 131 108 17 125 Lebanon 7,933 650 8,583 8,108 965 9,073 Lesotho 2 — 2 6 1 7 Liberia 344 20 364 284 24 308 Libya 5,242 935 6,177 4,663 1,247 5,910 Lithuania 24 7 31 16 1 17 Luxembourg — — — — — — Macau 8 1 9 8 — 8 Macedonia 1,623 89 1,712 1,861 175 2,036 Madagascar 257 11 268 278 16 294 Malawi 117 16 133 1,008 165 1,173 Malaysia 105 3 108 78 6 84 Maldives 8 3 11 3 1 4 Mali 436 29 465 550 48 598 Malta 1 — 1 — — — Marshall Islands 2 — 2 — — — Mauritania 264 10 274 272 32 304 Mauritius 338 48 386 763 108 871 Mexico 581 70 651 665 38 703 Micronesia — — — — — — Moldova 963 79 1,042 1,090 107 1,197 Mongolia 624 54 678 790 64 854 Montenegro — — — — — — Montserrat — — — — — — Morocco 8,666 1,009 9,675 8,205 1,602 9,807 Mozambique 452 44 496 500 36 536 Namibia 7 2 9 10 — 10 Nauru — — — — — — Nepal 2,234 163 2,397 2,538 256 2,794 Netherlands 22 1 23 10 1 11 New Zealand 131 3 134 75 1 76 Nicaragua 8 — 8 5 — 5 Niger 112 7 119 117 10 127 Nigeria 70,030 17,002 87,032 49,816 19,179 68,995 None 17 — 17 7 — 7 Norway 1 — 1 1 — 1 Oman 3,787 856 4,643 3,565 1,082 4,647 Other 873 136 1,009 866 176 1,042 Pakistan 51,797 11,848 63,645 42,865 19,415 62,280 Palestinian Authority 587 107 694 474 75 549 Panama 1 — 1 123 5 128 Papua New Guinea 6 — 6 4 — 4 Paraguay 3 — 3 1 — 1 Peru 3,172 230 3,402 3,652 255 3,907 Philippines 11,953 780 12,733 13,587 1,297 14,884 Poland 332 15 347 210 13 223 Portugal — — — 4 — 4 Qatar 5,185 2,373 7,558 7,439 3,799 11,238 Refugee (Art 1 1951 Convention) 833 165 998 733 247 980 Romania 22,135 1,907 24,042 24,899 2,471 27,370 Russia 92,377 16,765 109,142 105,008 11,014 116,022 Rwanda 292 40 332 392 31 423 Sao Tome And Principe 60 6 66 62 7 69 Saudi Arabia 21,253 7,757 29,010 25,757 9,605 35,362 Senegal 1,436 67 1,503 1,742 128 1,870 Serbia — — — — — — Seychelles — — — 2 — 2 Sierra Leone 2,474 324 2,798 2,217 497 2,714 Singapore 19 — 19 27 — 27 Slovakia 160 15 175 183 10 193 Slovenia 66 8 74 20 2 22 Solomon Islands 1 1 2 1 — 1 Somalia 457 60 517 357 76 433 South Africa 285 29 314 292 34 326 South Korea 59 5 64 121 4 125 Soviet Union 2 — 2 — — — Spain 4 1 5 10 5 15 Sri Lanka 11,534 1,520 13,054 9,680 3,481 13,161 St. Kitts and Nevis 1 — 1 2 2 St Lucia 10 — 10 14 1 15 St Vincent 3 — 3 7 1 8 Stateless (Art 1 1951 Convention) 881 165 1,046 792 225 1,017 Sudan 4,204 946 5,150 4,856 1,355 6,211 Surinam 203 8 211 151 9 160 Swaziland 12 — 12 9 — 9 Sweden 14 — 14 1 1 2 Switzerland 3 — 3 12 8 20 Syria 4,288 515 4,803 4,356 551 4,907 Taiwan 23,757 1,101 24,858 25,853 1,715 27,568 Tajikistan 188 8 196 291 34 325 Tanzania 3,433 336 3,769 3,345 395 3,740 Thailand 24,501 1,740 26,241 22,673 1,856 24,529 Togo 292 15 307 282 20 302 Tonga 2 — 2 — — — Trinidad and Tobago 148 8 156 64 21 85 Tunisia 3,476 359 3,835 2,837 462 3,299 Turkey 42 579 4,196 46,775 45,954 6,008 51,962 Turkmenistan 735 114 849 447 81 528 Uganda 3,548 265 3,813 3,692 446 4,138 Ukraine 17,317 2,960 20,277 20,111 3,379 23,490 United Arab Emirates 11,762 4,809 16,571 13,926 6,216 20,142 United Nations 74 — 74 66 — 66 United States 1,054 13 1,067 1,172 22 1,194 Unspecified Nationality 3 264 517 3,781 3,003 970 3,973 Uruguay 6 — 6 4 — 4 Uzbekistan 1,313 73 1,386 1,236 208 1,444 Vanuatu — — — 1 — 1 Vatican 9 — 9 9 — 9 Venezuela 11 — 11 79 12 91 Vietnam 3,368 210 3,578 3,411 261 3,672 Western Samoa — — — 1 — 1 Yemen 1,914 545 2,459 2,098 569 2,667 Yugoslavia 10,097 865 10,962 11,058 1,479 12,537 Zambia 2,121 218 2,339 2,440 493 2,933 Zimbabwe 5,370 967 6,337 3,292 1,305 4,597 Grand total 965,056 147,440 1,112,496 1,009,875 192,969 1,202,844
Nationality Over 18 Under 18 Total Over 18 Under 18 Total Afghanistan 710 277 987 744 279 1,023 Albania 2,561 466 3,027 2,515 640 3,155 Algeria 5,910 1,118 7,028 5,740 949 6,689 Andorra 5 — 5 — — — Angola 2,467 421 2,888 2,257 412 2 669 Antigua and Barbuda — — — 2 — 2 Argentina 34 — 34 11 — 11 Armenia 1,189 111 1,300 1,162 150 1,312 Australia 365 2 367 373 4 377 Austria 4 — 4 — — — Azerbaijan 3,303 409 3,712 3,080 605 3,685 Bahamas — — — 4 — 4 Bahrain 4,702 1,438 6,140 5,819 1,834 7,653 Bangladesh 6,255 2,456 8,711 6,473 2,168 8,641 Barbados 33 1 34 6 — 6 Belarus 3,686 3,991 7,877 4393 3,499 7,892 Belgium 11 1 12 7 — 7 Belize 4 1 5 4 — 4 Benin 311 22 333 281 11 292 Bermuda — — — — — — Bhutan 82 17 99 62 2 64 Bolivia 95 4 99 11 1 12 Bosnia and Herzegovina 2,264 304 2,568 2,635 316 2,951 Botswana 94 17 111 58 5 63 Brazil 358 20 378 312 14 326 British Citizen 50 13 63 25 6 31 British National Overseas 22 — 22 24 — 24 British Overseas Citizen 2 — 2 6 — 6 British Protected Person 1 — 1 1 — 1 British Subject — — — — — — Brunei 4 — 4 1 1 2 Bulgaria 144 6 150 68 8 76 Burkina 235 20 255 209 6 215 Burma (Myanmar) 721 69 790 706 73 779 Burundi 141 14 155 176 11 187 Cambodia 164 21 185 241 27 268 Cameroon 2,666 287 2,953 2,175 264 2,439 Canada 266 5 271 273 2 275 Cape Verde 134 10 144 83 8 91 Central African Republic 36 8 44 52 10 62 Chad 81 6 87 95 13 108 Chile 10 — 10 10 — 10 China 96,982 14,134 111,116 77,919 12,261 90,180 Colombia 10,698 1,998 12,696 10,240 1,897 12,137 Comoros 16 — 16 34 — 34 Congo 527 90 617 438 106 544 Costa Rica 7 — 7 1 1 2 Croatia 181 13 194 136 1 137 Cuba 1,273 53 1,326 1,170 35 1,205 Cyprus 320 187 507 258 181 439 Czech Republic 1,320 70 1,390 199 7 206 Democratic Republic of Congo 2,005 503 2,508 1,433 364 1,797 Denmark 3 1 4 2 — 2 Dependant Territory 1 — 1 — — — Djibouti 87 15 102 91 10 101 Dominica 3 — 3 3 1 4 Dominican Republic 1,318 199 1,517 963 86 1,049 East Timor (Timor-Leste) — — — — — — Ecuador 2,169 319 2,488 1,835 282 2,117 Egypt 19,787 2,558 22,345 20,040 2,857 22,897 El Salvador 2 — 2 6 — 6 Equatorial Guinea 171 4 175 109 4 113 Eritrea 363 76 439 297 41 338 Estonia 81 2 83 28 2 30 Ethiopia 2,008 176 2,184 1,936 164 2,100 Fiji 811 60 871 594 49 643 Finland 13 5 18 6 4 10 France 34 5 39 23 1 24 Gabon 347 49 396 237 30 267 Gambia 1,534 388 1,922 1,251 333 1,584 Georgia 2,698 276 2,974 2,639 620 3,259 Germany 4 — 4 4 — 4 Ghana 9,559 2,024 11,583 8,837 1,862 10,699 Greece 14 1 15 20 — 20 Greenland — — — — — — Grenada 6 — 6 2 — 2 Guatemala 11 1 12 12 2 14 Guinea 529 52 581 488 42 530 Guinea-Bissau 78 8 86 38 13 51 Guyana 1,653 313 1,966 568 81 649 Haiti 193 13 206 157 8 165 Honduras 8 — 8 1 — 1 Hong Kong 238 32 270 44 — 44 Hungary 189 22 211 118 31 149 Iceland 1 — 1 — 1 1 India 185,143 26,897 212,040 174,657 25,259 199,916 Indonesia 13,198 1,843 15041 11,871 1 561 13,432 Iran 12,653 3,217 15,870 10,869 2,765 13,634 Iraq 2,317 342 2,659 2,778 442 3,220 Ireland 3 1 4 1 — 1 Israel 98 6 104 60 7 67 Italy 7 2 9 2 — 2 Ivory Coast 1,204 176 1,380 1,181 182 1,363 Jamaica 3,767 750 4,517 3,867 769 4,636 Japan 421 8 429 452 10 462 Jordan 7,494 1,116 8,610 7,835 1,177 9,012 Kazakhstan 12,731 5,265 17,996 7,853 2,519 10,372 Kenya 5,616 1,201 6,817 5,948 1,200 7,148 Korea (North) 12 1 13 15 2 17 Kosovo 13 6 19 33 30 63 Kuwait 25,207 8,681 33,888 28,587 10,269 38,856 Kyrgyzstan 758 104 862 484 63 547 Laos 66 6 72 87 8 95 Latvia 120 5 125 57 3 60 Lebanon 8,140 939 9,079 7,155 742 7,897 Lesotho 3 — 3 3 — 3 Liberia 235 22 257 254 18 272 Libya 4,304 1,245 5,549 5,317 1,392 6,709 Lithuania 31 6 36 10 2 12 Luxembourg 1 — 1 — — — Macau 5 — 5 3 — 3 Macedonia 2,027 154 2,181 1,976 223 2,199 Madagascar 308 26 334 312 22 334 Malawi 1,158 227 1,385 976 169 1,145 Malaysia 83 — 83 89 1 90 Maldives 2 — 2 5 — 5 Mali 385 25 410 410 25 435 Malta 2 — 2 1 — 1 Marshall Islands — — — — — — Mauritania 173 16 189 158 7 165 Mauritius 635 105 740 585 71 656 Mexico 574 34 608 166 39 205 Micronesia — — — 1 — 1 Moldova 960 108 1,068 767 103 870 Mongolia 1,074 121 1,195 677 134 811 Montenegro 5 — 5 252 139 391 Montserrat — — — 1 — 1 Morocco 6,047 1,009 7,056 5,241 883 6,124 Mozambique 389 26 415 411 53 464 Namibia 10 — 10 5 — 5 Nauru 1 — 1 — — — Nepal 2,439 248 2,687 1,734 160 1,894 Netherlands 5 — 5 2 — 2 New Zealand 95 — 95 81 — 81 Nicaragua 6 1 7 6 — 6 Niger 139 13 152 91 14 105 Nigeria 45,399 19,269 64,668 45,578 18,957 64,535 None 7 — 7 1 — 1 Norway — — — 67 16 83 Oman 3,733 1,179 4,912 5,146 1,697 6,843 Other 761 139 900 1,713 367 2,080 Pakistan 28,194 13,344 41,538 26,507 11,510 38 017 Palestinian Authority 520 100 620 92 9 101 Panama 111 3 114 101 4 105 Papua New Guinea 3 — 3 — — Paraguay 2 1 3 2 — 2 Peru 3,706 286 3,992 2,822 272 3,094 Philippines 12,872 1,408 14,280 12,530 1,356 13,886 Poland 214 60 274 64 3 67 Portugal 4 — 4 1 — 1 Qatar 6,778 4,093 10,871 8,067 4,733 12,800 Refugee (Art 1 1951 Convention) 542 147 689 440 129 569 Romania 369 18 387 353 20 373 Russia 104,478 11,960 116,438 97,915 20,461 118,376 Rwanda 445 50 495 493 25 518 Sao Tome And Principe 54 13 67 16 4 20 Saudi Arabia 27,477 9,501 36,978 33,606 12,597 46,203 Senegal 1,894 114 2,008 1,815 168 1,983 Serbia 232 26 258 621 55 676 Seychelles 3 2 6 — — — Sierra Leone 1,641 388 2,029 1,100 305 1,405 Singapore 27 — 27 26 — 26 Slovakia 120 6 126 71 6 77 Slovenia 74 9 83 45 3 48 Solomon Islands — — — — — — Somalia 253 27 280 187 23 210 South Africa 199 20 219 293 53 346 South Korea 120 6 126 98 10 108 Soviet Union 3 — 3 3 — 3 Spain 7 3 10 4 — 4 Sri Lanka 8,023 3,038 11,061 7,757 2,607 10 364 St. Kitts and Nevis 1 — 1 1 — 1 St Lucia 11 — 11 8 2 10 St Vincent 4 — 4 1 1 2 Stateless (Art 1 1951 Convention) 595 148 743 479 126 605 Sudan 4,571 1,258 5,829 3,618 838 4,456 Surinam 157 45 202 109 7 116 Swaziland 3 — 3 3 1 4 Sweden 5 — 5 2 — 2 Switzerland 5 1 6 — 1 1 Syria 3,184 419 3,603 3,308 503 3,811 Taiwan 22,705 2,875 25,580 19,431 2,579 22,010 Tajikistan 257 39 296 263 21 284 Tanzania 3,416 501 3,917 3,144 365 3,509 Thailand 24,209 2,262 26,471 24,777 3,108 27 885 Togo 264 17 281 252 26 278 Tonga 3 — 3 — — — Trinidad and Tobago 125 4 129 137 16 153 Tunisia 2,864 370 3,234 2,414 593 3,007 Turkey 46,105 7,777 53,682 55,375 8,961 64,336 Turkmenistan 443 52 495 492 139 631 Uganda 3,888 498 4,386 3,782 577 4,359 Ukraine 21,034 3,851 24,885 19,143 4,975 24,118 United Arab Emirates 12,288 5,434 17,722 15,008 6,804 21,812 United Nations 57 — 57 30 — 30 United States 1 032 31 1,063 936 29 965 Unspecified Nationality 2,823 858 3,681 1,813 431 2,244 Uruguay 7 1 8 3 — 3 Uzbekistan 1,021 61 1,082 1,210 199 1,409 Vanuatu — — — 1 — 1 Vatican 12 — 12 5 — 5 Venezuela 55 2 57 50 4 54 Vietnam 3,721 277 3,998 3,983 410 4,393 Western Samoa 2 — 2 2 — 2 Yemen 1,745 538 2,283 1,477 434 1,911 Yugoslavia 10,092 1,598 11,690 10,259 1,977 12,236 Zambia 2,327 517 2,844 1,971 445 2,416 Zimbabwe 2,830 1,105 3,935 2,449 838 3,287 Grand total 916,752 184,882 1,101,634 879,067 192,958 1,072,025
Extradition: USA
In the given period, the Legal Services Commission advises that legal aid totalling £70,830.70 was paid in 10 cases which involved the extradition of UK citizens from England and Wales to the USA. It is not otherwise possible to provide a complete or accurate breakdown of costs incurred in individual extradition cases by each Government Department and its supporting agencies. In each agency involved, the cases were dealt with as part of its overall and larger case load.
The figure does not include legal aid which may have been granted in Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Immigration Controls
The Government maintain regular contact with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in the area of immigration.
UNHCR intends to deploy a staff member to the Calais area to support local authorities and partners in the provision of accurate support and information for migrants in the area. The Government are not aware of a new humanitarian centre being provided by the UNHCR, and would remain firmly opposed to any kind of permanent accommodation centre that would attract illegal immigrants and the traffickers who prey on them.
Immigration: Gurkhas
Since the rules this Government introduced in 2004 came into force, over 6,000 former Gurkhas and family members have been granted settlement in the UK.
It is not possible to disaggregate the number of Gurkhas who are legally resident here in other categories of the immigration rules from other Nepalese citizens without the examination of individual records at disproportionate cost.
Sexual Offences: Coventry
The Government are committed to tackling sexual violence across the country. In 2007, it published a three year national Cross Government Action Plan on Sexual Violence and Abuse. Since the publication of the action plan, the Government have taken a number of measures including introducing specially trained officers and specialist rape prosecutors; supporting police forces to develop rape action plans; and funding a pilot of a dedicated rape investigation team. In April 2009, the Government announced a package of measures, having worked closely with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), to help ensure that victims of sexual violence receive a consistent, high quality service in every force. These measures include a new Rape Performance Group, led by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to monitor police and CPS performance on rape and undertake continuous assessments of performance; new National Policing Improvement Agency ‘best practice’ guidance for the police and Crown Prosecution Service on investigating and prosecuting rape; an expert NPIA/ACPO/CPS support team to ensure consistent implementation of this new guidance; and helping every police force to ensure that all victims are seen by a specially trained officer within an hour of reporting.
UK Border Agency: Data Protection
Information relating to the number of passports that have been lost by the UK Border Agency in each of the past five years is not centrally recorded and therefore is not readily available.
UK Border Agency: Liverpool
There are no substantive plans at present to relocate departments or significant workstreams to Liverpool in a way that would substantially increase staff numbers at that location.
UK Border Agency: Pay
For the financial year 2008-09:
Total employees UK Border Agency staff paid a bonus of over £10,000 14 UK Border Agency staff paid a bonus of over £50,000 0 UK Border Agency staff paid a bonus of over £100,000 0
Justice
Community Orders
(2) how many warrants in respect of breach of community orders have been outstanding for (a) less than 12 months, (b) between 12 months and two years, (c) between two and three years, (d) between three and four years, (e) between four and five years and (f) five years or more.
The Ministry of Justice does not hold information centrally on the number of warrants in respect of breach of community orders that have been outstanding for the periods asked for. Data are available on the number of warrants outstanding and the number of arrest warrants that were issued as at 30 April 2009 for England and Wales. These are set out in the table. These data come from an internal management system that was developed and introduced in October 2005, which is subject to minimal levels of quality assurance and is based on the data currently available.
England and Wales Number Outstanding warrants for breaches of community orders 7,982 Number of arrest warrants issued 7,545
Crimes of Violence: Reoffenders
The table shows the one year adult reoffending rates for offenders in England and Wales released from custody in the first quarter (1 January to 31 March) of the years 2000 to 2007, who served a custodial sentence of less than two years for a serious violent offence. The table shows the proportion of offenders who committed at least one further offence and the frequency of offences per 100 offenders.
Number of offenders Number of reoffenders Actual reoffending rate Number of offences per 100 offenders Q1 2000 346 107 30.9 100.6 Q1 2002 391 115 29.4 94.6 Q1 2003 343 93 27.1 98.5 Q1 2004 349 75 21.5 78.8 Q1 2005 307 70 22.8 66.8 Q1 2006 283 65 23.0 73.1 Q1 2007 241 63 26.1 72.6 Note: Data for 2001 are unavailable due to problems with archived data
Further information on the one year rates of reoffending can be found in
http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/reoffendingofadults.htm.
Appendix G contains a list of serious violent offences.
The figures for reoffences include offences of all types. An offender whose original offence was serious violence and who reoffended, may not have committed any more serious violent offences.
While the small cohort size makes these measures highly volatile, there has been a decline in both the actual reoffending rate and the number of reoffences committed since 2000.
The available information is shown in the table. The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) holds statistical information on the number of offenders charged with serious further violent offences while under probation supervision. However, this does not include all types of violent offence.
The table contains data on the number of offenders, managed by the National Probation Service for England and Wales, who were charged with certain violent offences, where there was a requirement initially to notify NOMS, in line with Serious Further Offence Probation Circulars 06/2006 and 41/2006.
Data is only held for 2006-07 onwards. Data for 2008-09 will be published in the annual Offender Management Caseload Statistics (OMCS), which is scheduled for publication on 31 July. This will also include those offenders who were notified to NOMS, in line with the Serious Further Offence Probation Circular 22/2008 which took effect on 1 December 2008. OMCS provide the offence breakdown by conviction rather than charge, where notified cases have proceeded to a review. I will write to the hon. Member with an updated table, once OMCS are published, showing the number of offenders who were charged with serious violent offences for 2008-09.
England and Wales notifications Serious violent offence description 2006-07 2007-08 1 April 2008 to 30 September 2008 Aggravated burglary (section 10 of the Theft Act 1968) — 26 75 Aggravated theft 75 59 — Aggravated vehicle-taking involving an accident which caused the death of any person (Section 12A of the Theft Act 1968) — — 1 Arson (section 1 of the Criminal Damage Act 1971) 90 93 42 Attempt to cause explosion, or making or keeping explosive with intent to endanger life or property (section 3 of the Explosive Substances Act 1883) — — 1 Attempt to commit murder or a conspiracy to commit murder 47 62 21 Attempting to choke, suffocate or strangle in order to commit or assist in committing an indictable offence (section 21 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861) — 1 — Burglary with intent to: (a) inflict grievous bodily harm on a person or (b) do unlawful damage to a building or anything in it. (section 9 of the Theft Act 1968) — 11 17 Carrying a firearm with criminal intent (section 18 of the Firearms Act 1968) — 2 1 Causing or allowing the death of a child or vulnerable adult, also called ‘familial homicide’ (Section 5 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004) — — — Causing death by careless driving when under influence of drink or drugs (section 3A of the Road Traffic Act 1988) 1 2 2 Causing death by dangerous driving (section 1 of the Road Traffic Act 1988) 14 8 6 Destroying or damaging property other than an offence of arson (section 1 (2) of the Criminal Damage Act 1971) — 1 — False imprisonment 56 60 35 Kidnapping 65 76 39 Manslaughter 7 9 4 Murder 129 107 64 Other explosives offences 2 — — Other offences against the person 22 15 1 Other serious violent offence 92 65 5 Possession of firearm at time of committing or being arrested for offence specified in Schedule 1 to that Act (section 17(2) of the Firearms Act 1968) — 5 10 Possession of firearm with intent to endanger life (section 16 of the Firearms Act 1968) — 4 20 Robbery or assault with intent to rob (section 8 of the Theft Act 1968) 1 11 18 Use of firearm to resist arrest (section 17(1) of the Firearms Act 1968) — — — Serious firearms offences (SFO) 55 96 — Soliciting murder (section 4 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861) — — 1 Wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm (section 18 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861) 454 567 352 Total 1,110 1,280 715
Departmental Billing
The MOJ has only been collecting performance data for the proportion of invoices paid within 10 days of receipt of a supplier invoice since November 2008. Performance since that date is sent out in the table.
Percentage paid within 10 day target Number of invoices paid within 10 days November 2008 64 63,307 December 2008 59 58,743 January 2009 55 57,679 February 2009 67 67,693 March 2009 66 82,116 April 2009 82 65,422 May 2009 92 61,462
The Ministry of Justice is fully committed to achieving compliance with the Prime Minister’s target of paying suppliers within 10 days where possible, and is a signatory to the Prompt Payment Code.
The Ministry recognised that its performance against the target needed to improve, and it implemented a prompt payment improvement programme to address the issue. The results for April and May indicate that this programme is beginning to have an effect.
Legal Aid
The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
However, figures for the numbers of solicitor offices in England and Wales providing legal aid services in each year since 2002-03 are available and are shown in the following table. Prior to the introduction of the civil unified contract in April 2007 and criminal unified contract in July 2008, legal aid providers delivering services in more than one office would hold separate contracts for each of those offices. In addition, where providers have decided not to continue providing civil legal aid services, they may nevertheless still have an account or accounts with the Legal Services Commission while they continue to deal with their remaining clients.
Over the period there has been a downward trend in the overall number of solicitor offices dealing with legal aid. This is because there has been a continuing process of offices that do only small amounts of legal aid work leaving the market or merging with other offices, so that the work is done in larger volumes at fewer offices. In addition, the Legal Services Commission has over time sought to terminate dormant accounts where no work was being done.
Civil Crime 2002-03 5,372 2,967 2003-04 5,245 2,832 2004-05 5,099 2,695 2005-06 4,106 2,630 2006-07 3,708 2,534 2007-08 3,627 2,230
Legal Aid: South West
The decrease in expenditure in the South West is primarily due to reduced expenditure on criminal matters.
The largest share of this was in the Crown court and here the reported decline is at least in part, only apparent. This is because with the development of contracting for very high cost cases, expenditure on these is assigned to the office from which the contract is managed, rather than the court in which the case is heard. Most high cost cases heard in the Crown court in the South West are not managed in that region.
There has also been a decline in representation costs in the magistrates courts. This is due to the reintroduction of the means test for legal aid.
Probation
The total number of offenders in England and Wales who were categorised as Tier 4 as at 31 March in each of the last three years was as follows:
Number 2006 28,407 2007 37,555 2008 40,117
Information on tier prior to 1 April 2005 was not recorded.
These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
All probation officers undergo a two year training course before qualifying which equips them to deal with a wide range of offenders including those who commit violent offences. The local probation area holds responsibility for the allocation of a probation officer or probation service officer to an individual offender. The most serious offenders should be allocated to the most experienced and competent probation officers available.
Transport
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency: Databases
Private car-parking companies who request vehicle keeper data, via electronic means must be a member of the British Parking Association's (BPA) Approved Operator Scheme (AOS). Ongoing membership requires compliance with BPA's code of practice.
A consultation exercise has recently concluded on extending this requirement to also include private car parking companies who request data via the paper based process. The responses are currently being analysed. The effect of the proposed changes would be that all private car-parking companies will have to comply with the BPA's code if they wish to obtain keeper information from Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.
Driving: Licensing
Holders of non-UK driving licences may continue to drive in the UK for up to 12 months to build experience of traffic conditions and laws in Britain.
Provisional entitlement for the relevant category of vehicle is required before a UK driving test can be taken. Holders of non-UK licences must obtain a UK licence in order to obtain the necessary provisional entitlement.
EU member state licence holders who hold a valid EU licence who wish to obtain further licence categories may obtain a UK counterpart document, which gives the provisional entitlement that allows the holder to take a test in that category.
The Driving Standards Agency does not hold details of previous licences held by driving test candidates.
London Gateway Port
The construction and opening for operation of London Gateway port is a matter for the port developer.
Motor Vehicles: Foreigners
Information relating to the number of foreign registered cars entering the UK is not recorded.
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) records details of foreign registered vehicles as they are circulating in the UK from a range of sources. These include its own automatic number plate recognition cameras, reports from members of the public, the police, local authorities and DVLA’s wheel-clamping contractor. This information allows, on second and subsequent sightings, the length of time a vehicle is likely to have been circulating in the UK to be calculated, supporting wheel-clamping and impounding of non-compliant vehicles as appropriate.
The following figures provide the number of vehicles previously registered abroad that have been registered in the UK in each of the last three financial years.
Number 2008-09 75,101 2007-08 95,038 2006-07 93,233
The information requested is not held.
Road Traffic
The methodologies for the Department's inter-urban and urban congestion PSA indicators can be found on the DfT website at the following web addresses:
Inter-urban
www.dft.gov.uk/adobepdf/162469/221412/221546/226956/coll_congestiononthestrategicroa/cs r07revisedbaseline.pdf
Urban
www.dft.gov.uk/about/howthedftworks/psa/spending review2004psatargets2
While strategic A-roads in rural areas are included in the inter-urban indicator, there is no separate indicator for rural roads.
Speed Limits: Cameras
The Department for Transport has not assessed the effect of the frequency of the re-siting of fixed speed cameras on road safety. Any decision to re-site a fixed speed camera is entirely a matter for individual road safety partnerships and the practice is not monitored by the Department. DFT circular 01/2007, “Use of Speed and Red-light Cameras for Traffic Enforcement: Guidance on Deployment, Visibility and Signing” encourages road safety partnerships to, at least annually, review all their existing camera sites and other collision hot spots. A copy of the guidance is in the Libraries of the House and is also available on the Department’s website.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Fisheries: Manpower
Latest published information from Table 2.6 of UK Sea Fisheries Statistics 2007 showing the number of fishermen operating on UK registered vessels is shown in the following table.
Regular Part-time Total 1997 14,832 3,772 18,604 1998 14,436 3,453 17,889 1999 13,864 3,032 16,896 2000 12,399 3,250 15,649 2001 12,145 2,813 14,958 2002 11,442 2,763 14,205 2003 10,204 2,918 13,122 2004 11,023 2,430 13,453 2005 10,492 2,339 12,831 2006 10,358 2,576 12,934 2007 10,033 2,696 12,729
We are not able to identify the number of fishermen operating in UK waters.
Fisheries: Quotas
In 2009, the 10 metre and under fleet received an initial quota share prior to adjustments of 4.6 per cent. (30.2 tonnes) for plaice and 1.6 per cent. (10.6 tonnes) for cod caught in the Irish sea. Irish sea halibut is not subject to a quota. The Marine and Fisheries Agency significantly increases the fishing opportunities of stocks such as Irish sea plaice which are targeted by inshore fishermen.
Fishing Vessels
Latest published information from Table 2.2 of UK Sea Fisheries Statistics 2007 shows that at 31 December 2007 there were 6,670 licensed UK registered fishing vessels. Of these, 1,515 were over 10 metres in length and 5,155 were 10 metres or under in length.
Rats
My Department has not commissioned nor evaluated any research on rat prevalence and the frequency of refuse collection from multiple occupation properties in the last three years. However, the latest report on rodent presence in domestic properties as revealed by the English House Condition Survey data for 2002-03 and 2003-04 is available on DEFRA’s website. Key findings are that the occurrences of rats inside and outside properties in these years are not significantly different from those observed in 2001. The next report covering the period up to 2006 should be available this year, although at present there is no set date for publication. There is no breakdown in the English House Condition Survey to identify rat populations in multiple occupation properties.
I am not aware that DEFRA holds any information on trends in resistance to poisons in the rat population that is not in the public domain.
The former Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food funded an assessment of resistance to rodenticides in 1998. This was published in: “Kerins, G.M.; Dennis, N.; Atterby, H.; Gill, J.E. and MacNicoll A.D. (2001) Distribution of resistance to anti-coagulant rodenticides in the Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus Berk) in England 1995-98”. In: “Advances in Vertebrate Pest Management Volume II (Eds. H-J Pelz, D.P. Cowan and C.J. Feare) pages 149-159, Filander Verlag, Furth”.
The Health and Safety Executive is aware from literature that rats may be becoming increasingly resistant to anti-coagulant rodenticides. Although it is aware of the research mentioned above, it is not aware of any new studies and has not itself commissioned any recent work of this nature.
Wales
Departmental Billing
The percentage of invoices paid by my Department within 10 days, for the last 12 months is:
Percentage 2008 June 72 July 89 August 94 September 92 October 85 November 90 December 98 2009 January 91 February 98 March 99 April 100 May 97
Changes to payment of invoices were announced by the Prime Minister on 8 October 2008; invoices paid prior to this date had a 30-day payment target for which my Department achieved a 99 per cent. payment score.
Health
Children in Care: Kent
The Department no longer holds any information on Kendall House. Files including those relating to the social services inspectorates’ inspections of Kendall house were transferred to the then Department for Education and Skills, (now the Department for Children Schools and Families) when responsibility for children’s social services was transferred to that Department in 2003.
Drugs
All marketing authorisation holders of medicines for human use in the European Union are obliged by law to provide information on the safety of their products under Regulation 726/2004 and Directive 2001/83/EC (as amended). Detailed guidance is provided in Volume 9A of the Rules Governing Medicinal Products in the European Union and is available at the following link:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/pharmaceuticals/eudralex/vol9_en.htm
Obligations relating to reporting in clinical trials are given in Clinical Trials Directive 2001/20/EC, Articles 16 and 17. Some obligations are associated with specific deadlines for provision of information to competent authorities. Those related to safety of medicines include the submission of serious, suspected adverse drug reactions; the submission of Periodic Safety Update reports; and with respect to clinical trials, the reporting of suspected unexpected serious adverse reactions.
Health Services: Coventry
This information is not held centrally. It is for primary care trusts to commission services in line with local needs and the priorities set out in “The Operating Framework for the NHS in England 2009-10”. A copy of this document is already available in the Library.
The target that no patient would spend more than four hours in accident and emergency (A&E) departments from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge was set in the NHS Plan in 2000. The target became an operational standard in 2005.
In 2003, a 98 per cent. minimum operating figure was set for delivery of the access standard to allow for the minority of patients who clinically need more than four hours in A&E.
The Department is working with the Home Office to deliver the Response to Sexual Violence Programme. The aim is to set up more sexual assault referral centres (SARCs) in line with the Home Secretary’s commitment to increasing provision to one per police force area. SARCs are intended to provide a holistic service for the victims of sexual assaults, including meeting the victim’s clinical needs as well as a forensic examination, counselling and the opportunity to give evidence anonymously.
The Department has also announced £1.4 million for the National Support Team on Response to Sexual Violence, which will work in local areas to bring together experts from the health service, forensics services, the Crown Prosecution Service and the police to advise on meeting local needs.
Within the West Midlands area the police and local partners are working together to agree a strategic approach for providing sexual violence services.
Immediate Care
The phrase ‘hospital services delivering 24 hours, immediate patient care’ was used in the United Kingdom governments’ notification to the European Commission of the intention to take up the option of a derogation under Article 17(5) of the European Working Time Directive (EWTD). The phrase was recommended by the national EWTD Reference Group as the most appropriate descriptor to identify those services most likely to be challenged in implementing rotas for a 48 hour week for doctors in training from 1 August. There is no central collection of data, nor central definition of immediate care beds.
Intensive Care
It is for local healthcare providers, working with healthcare commissioners to determine the allocation of funding for intensive care in accordance with their local population characteristics, anticipated case mix and level of elective and emergency activity.
Local healthcare providers, working with their commissioners and supported by critical care networks determine the optimum number of critical care beds required to meet the needs of their local populations taking account of anticipated case mix and level of activity. They are supported in this by the long-term strategy document published in May 2000 “Comprehensive Critical Care.” A copy has been placed in the Library.
NHS: Public Consultation
The legal duty to ensure local involvement network (LINk) activities are carried on rests with local authorities. It is their responsibility to make sure that the contract with the host organisation provides that the support given to the LINk ensures the LINk is as effective as possible.
Each year LINks must produce an annual report setting out what they have achieved, the activities they have undertaken, the money they have spent on their activities and the impact they have had. Reports have to be completed by 30 June and must be made publicly available. Copies have to be sent to the Department and these will be analysed to see what, if any, additional national support would be appropriate.
Patients: Death
The information requested is not collected centrally.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Afghanistan
The mission of Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) is to extend the ability of the government of Afghanistan to deliver its services and this is conducted in a comprehensive manner by military and civilian personnel. The remit of a PRT is not military in nature, but rather uses military resources to facilitate its activities.
For example, the UK’s PRT spent around £60 million in Helmand in 2008 on stabilisation and development and now has over 80 civilian staff in the province. This assistance has built nearly 2,000 wells benefiting over 400,000 people, contributed to 160 district infrastructure projects reaching over 300,000 families and provided paid work for nearly 19,000 people. The PRT has also supported projects on dispute resolution, which saw considerable progress in 2008: the Helmand Provincial Court is operating more effectively; convictions have risen 400 per cent. since June; and legal representation, including a legal aid office, has been introduced.
China: Censorship
We are aware that access to a large number of foreign and domestic websites in China was blocked in the run up to the 4 June anniversary. Encouraging greater freedom of expression in China, including for domestic and foreign media, remains a priority for us. We urge the Chinese Government to lift restrictions which undermine the fundamental principles of international human rights standards on freedom of expression. We raised the subject of internet access at the last UK-China Human Rights Dialogue in January 2009.
Czech Republic: Treaty of Lisbon
My right hon. Friends the Foreign Secretary and the Minister for Europe have regular contact with their EU counterparts in other member states. These discussions include a wide range of bilateral, European and international issues.
Departmental Finance
The take-up of end year flexibility (EYF) carry over of unspent funds into future years is subject to normal Treasury scrutiny on the basis of need, and in the light of the wider fiscal position. In 2008-09 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office took up £17.3 million EYF. There have been no formal changes to the EYF arrangements in the last two financial years.
European Union: Civil Servants
At present staff at each grade at the UK Permanent Representation to the EU are:
Number In the senior management SMS4 1 SMS3 1 SMS2 1 SMS1 12 In the delegated grades D7 4 D6 37 C5 2 C4 26 B3 6 A2 5 Staff employed locally LEI 6 LEII 5 LEIII 29 LEIV 5
To collate a year-by-year breakdown would incur disproportionate cost. The general staffing levels at the UK Permanent Representation have remained reasonably consistent in recent years.
Iraq: Iran
Our ambassador in Baghdad called on the Iraqi Human Rights Minister, Wijdan Salim, on 13 April 2009 this year to raise the issue of Camp Ashraf and make her aware of the level of interest in this issue in the UK. We took the opportunity to remind her of the Government of Iraq’s earlier assurances towards the proper treatment of the residents of Ashraf. In addition, officials at our embassy in Baghdad have undertaken consular visits to Camp Ashraf to clarify whether any residents qualified for UK consular assistance.
The Iraqi Government have made assurances that no Ashraf residents will be forcibly transferred to a country where they have reason to fear persecution, or where substantial grounds exist to believe they would be tortured.
Middle East
The matter of counter weapons-smuggling to armed groups in Gaza is part of our regular discourse on Middle East Peace Process issues with the EU, US and regional partners, including Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority. Stopping the flow of weapons along with ensuring humanitarian and reconstruction access to Gaza are vital elements to securing a lasting ceasefire.
Taking action to prevent the smuggling of arms into Gaza plays a key role in consolidating the ceasefire.
We will continue to work closely with the EU, US and regional partners to establish how best our expertise, including naval resources, can be used. Officials are attending a meeting on prevention of arms smuggling to Gaza in Ottawa on 10-11 June 2009. This is a follow up meeting to the ones held in Copenhagen and London where a programme of action was agreed by the nine participating countries (Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, the UK, and the US).
Poland: Treaty of Lisbon
My right hon. Friends the Foreign Secretary and the Minister for Europe have regular contact with their EU counterparts in other member states. These discussions include a wide range of bilateral, European and international issues.
Republic of Ireland: Treaty of Lisbon
The Irish Government updated partners in Brussels on their views on preparing the June European Council discussion during the course of the week beginning 25 May 2009. My right hon. Friend the Member for Don Valley (Caroline Flint), the then Minister for Europe, wrote on 5 June 2009 to the chairs of European Scrutiny Committee and the Lords EU Select Committee updating them on these discussions. Copies of this letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
Tibet
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Bill Rammell), the then Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, on 8 June 2009, Official Report, column 694W.
Culture, Media and Sport
Digital Broadcasting: Radio
We have worked closely with a wide range of industry stakeholders since the publication of the Interim Digital Britain Report. We will set out the findings, alongside our proposals for the future of radio, in the Digital Britain Final Report, which will be published shortly.
The Digital Radio Delivery Group has met four times.
Football Foundation: Finance
[holding answer 8 June 2009]: I have regular discussions with the Football Association and the Premier League about football matters, including issues relating to the Football Foundation.
The current agreed annual financial commitment to the Football Foundation by each of the three funding partners is currently £15 million and runs to the end of the financial year 2009-10.
Heroes Return 2 Scheme
[holding answer 8 June 2009]: Through the Big Lottery Fund’s Heroes Return 2 programme 1,184 veterans have received funding. This funding has offered WW2 veterans from the UK, Channel Islands and Republic of Ireland the opportunity to visit the places where they saw active service or to take part in an official commemoration in the UK.
UK Film Council: Pay
The information is as follows:
(a) Four UK Film Council employees receive a salary higher than a Secretary of State. In accordance with the UK Film Council’s annual report and accounts disclosure of senior staff salaries, not including the chief executive officer, is given in salary ranges.
Employee Position Salary John Woodward Chief Executive Officer £170,171 Sally Caplan Head of Premiere Fund £165,000-£170,000 Tanya Seghatchian Head of Development Fund £165,000-£170,000 Will Evans Head of Business Affairs £155,000-£160,000
(b) Board Members of the UK Film Council do not receive remuneration.
Scotland
Departmental Data Protection
Under the mandatory requirements of the Data Handling Report published on 25 June 2008, the Scotland Office is required to give a summary report on data breaches reported to the Information Commissioner in our annual resource accounts.
The Scotland Office has made no such notifications.
Electoral Commission Committee
Local Government: Reorganisation
The Electoral Commission informs me that the Boundary Committee engaged three independent financial consultants to consider the affordability of its draft proposals for Devon, Norfolk and Suffolk. They are Chris Wheeler CPFA, Tony Hall CPFA and Ken Bell CPFA. The committee also engaged Dr. Eric Fisher CPFA to undertake a peer review of their affordability assessments. All were contracted through CIPFA Placements.
The cost to date is £279,949. This figure accounts for work undertaken in relation to Devon, Norfolk and Suffolk from March 2008 to 10 June 2009.
Olympics
Olympic Games 2012
I have been asked to reply.
As at 31 March 2009, the total contributed to the Olympic Lottery Distribution Fund (OLDF) from designated Olympic Lottery games is £390.4 million.
The amount contributed to the OLDF from designated Olympic Lottery Games in each quarter of financial year 2008-09 is:
£ million Quarter 1 31.2 Quarter 2 43.6 Quarter 3 27.3 Quarter 4 24
The National Lottery Commission publishes quarterly reports detailing the level of funds that have been transferred to the OLDF. These are available on its website:
www.natlotcomm.gov.uk/client/content.ASP?ContentId=234
Olympic Games 2012: Finance
The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) has responsibility for staging the Olympic and Paralympic Games at existing venues. The direct costs associated with staging the events at existing venues come from LOCOG's revenues which are primarily derived from commercial sponsorship, broadcast rights, ticket sales and merchandising/licensing—not from the public purse.
There will be attributable costs to the public purse, for example in respect of the security and transport functions associated with the venue. However these costs have not yet been identified separately for individual venues, but they will form part of the overall security and transport budgets.
Olympics Games 2012: Safety
I have been asked to reply.
As part of the wider Home Office led 2012 Olympics safety and security programme, the Government Office for London is currently assessing where further work may be required to ensure that we have the necessary capabilities (i.e. plans, staff, facilities etc.) in London to respond to Olympic specific resilience risks to the safety and security of the Games. Once this analysis is complete, the Government Office for London will take forward a programme of work to build any new capabilities that are required, or enhance existing capabilities, to ensure that relevant risks are effectively managed.
Northern Ireland
Departmental Data Protection
Under the mandatory requirements of the Data Handling Report published on 25 June 2008, the Northern Ireland Office is required to give a summary report on data breaches reported to the Information Commissioner in our annual resource accounts.
The Northern Ireland Office has reported on personal data breaches in the 2007-08 annual resource account and this can be found at:
http://www.nio.gov.uk
We will be publishing information on personal data security breaches reported to the Information Commissioner for the 2008-09 reporting year before Parliament rises in July. The information is currently being compiled and is to be audited and verified before it is laid before Parliament.
Work and Pensions
Bus Services: Greater Manchester
As part of the implementation of the new England-wide concession, which guarantees older and eligible disabled people free off peak travel on local buses anywhere in England, all concessionary passes are now issued as smartcards to a new standard design. Local authorities are responsible for issuing passes, and so central Government does not maintain records of how many individual authorities have issued, though we do know that around eight million passes have now been issued in total across England.
The last information held by the Department for Transport was that as of 31 March 2009, Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive, which administers the concession for residents of Denton and Reddish, had issued around 460,000 of the new smartcard concessionary passes. This includes applications from disabled people as well as those aged 60 and over.
The Department of Health has been unable to provide the number of NHS-funded sight tests for those aged 60 and over in the Denton and Reddish constituency. Information is provided by Primary Care Trust (PCT) and by Strategic Health Authority (SHA) but is not available by parliamentary constituency.
The number of NHS sight tests for those aged over 60, in 2007-08 is available in Table B3 of Annex C of the General Ophthalmic Services: Activity Statistics for England and Wales: Year Ending 31 March 2008 report. This report, published on 20 November 2008, has already been placed in the Library and is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:
http://www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/gosactivitv0708p2
From 1 April 1999, eligibility for an NHS sight test was extended to everyone aged 60 or over. Patients may qualify for an NHS sight test on more than one criterion. However, they would only be recorded against one criterion on the form. Patients are more likely to be recorded according to their clinical need rather than their age. For example, a patient aged over 60 with glaucoma is likely to be recorded in the glaucoma category only. The count by eligibility is therefore approximate. Patients may also have had more than one sight test in the specified time period.
2007-08 is the latest full year for which information is available. Information for 2008-09 is expected to be published by the NHS Information Centre in August 2009.
Cold Weather Payments: Scotland
The £60 payment was a Christmas bonus. More than 15 million customers have been paid this additional Christmas bonus following the Chancellor's pre-Budget announcement on 24 November 2008.
Information about the number of Christmas bonus recipients in specific areas is not available, because the data are not collected in a form which would allow us to identify the geographical location of customers.
For the available estimates on the number of eligible pensioners in each parliamentary constituency, I refer the hon. member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Falmouth and Camborne (Julia Goldsworthy) on 23 February 2009, Official Report, columns 99-100W.
For cold weather payments, the information requested is not available. Estimates of the number of people who received a cold weather payment during the winter of 2008-09 are not available geographically other than by weather station area. Some weather stations cover areas which straddle the border between Scotland and England.
Jobcentre Plus: Digital Technology
[holding answer 20 April 2009]: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the acting chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked the acting chief executive to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mel Groves:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the principles of digital inclusion are applied to Jobcentre Plus. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Jobcentre Plus supports the principles set out in the Government's Digital Inclusion Action Plan and the work of the Cabinet Committee set up last year to ensure that everyone, especially disadvantaged people, benefits from the use of digital technologies in delivering public services.
I recognise how important this is for Jobcentre Plus and for our customers. Many of the people we help are disadvantaged and some are amongst the most vulnerable members of society. We are tackling that challenge by extending access to our online services and by helping people to acquire the confidence and ability to use those online services.
Job vacancies notified to Jobcentre Plus can be accessed online, through digital television and through Jobpoint Kiosks located in all of our local Jobcentres. We are now starting to replace and upgrade that network of Jobpoints. We are also exploring making some online services accessible by mobile telephone which, like digital television, are more extensively owned and used by our customers than home computers.
Customers can already access information which enables them to answer some basic enquiries about their benefit entitlement through the online Benefit Adviser service on Directgov. Later this year customers will be able to make their claim for benefit online and that service will be extended in 2010 to enable customers to track progress of their claim and notify changes of circumstances through a secure personal account. We are also planning to make these services available to intermediaries and welfare rights organisations such as Citizens Advice Bureaux so that customers can access them there or be helped by those organisations to use them.
It is equally important that we provide help for those customers who need to become confident about using digital services. Through the work-focused interviews carried out by our Personal Advisers, we identify people who could benefit from that help and refer or signpost them to a wide range of information technology training offered through DWP's Employment Programmes, Learndirect or UK Online centres.
I also recognise the importance of ensuring that our services are accessible to disabled people or people with other barriers to using digital technology. Our online services are compliant with the Government's Web Accessibility Standards, compatible with the main assistive software packages including JAWS, Dragon, Supernova and Zoomtext. All our services are also accessible by telephone or through our local Jobcentres for those people who need it or who find it difficult to access online services. Later this year, we will be able to offer a new “Text Box” service which will improve the service we provide to speech and hearing impaired people over the telephone.
I recognise that improving digital inclusion is essential to ensuring that all our customers can benefit from the improvements in service that digital technologies can provide to help them move off welfare and into work.
Motor Vehicles: Manufacturing Industries
Ministers and officials have had discussions with representatives of motor industry workers and others about the level of Pension Protection Fund compensation payable to individuals who started to draw pensions from their pension scheme before they reached the scheme's normal pension age.
Pension Credit
Maximising the take-up of benefits is crucial to tacking pensioner poverty. Since its introduction in October 2003 the number of pensioners in relative low income has reduced by around 500,000.
We want to increase take-up of pension credit and council tax benefit and are working hard to encourage those entitled but not yet claiming to do so.
In order to increase take-up of pension credit and council tax benefit we introduced further simplifications to the claims process so that pensioners can now claim state pension, pension credit, housing benefit and council tax benefit in one easy free phone call, without the need to sign and return any claim forms.
The Pension, Disability and Carers Service will continue to promote take-up of benefits by those entitled. It will continue to press forward with data matching to identify eligible non-recipients, home visits for vulnerable customers and ever closer working with partner organisations. We are rolling out a targeted take-up campaign across 20 regions where our insight suggests there are a high number of eligible non-recipients of pension credit. The approach involves local service teams working closely with national and local partners, both in planning and delivering the campaign to ensure we are using all available knowledge to deliver a highly effective take-up campaign.
The new campaign, launched in Sheffield and North Kent in January 2009, is designed to engage with the local pensioner population, using channels of communication and organisations that are likely to be familiar, for example WRVS, Mecca bingo, voluntary organisations. In some areas, for example the North East, the campaign will be extended to the wider region.
In addition, we are taking powers in the Welfare Reform Bill to allow us to pilot new approaches that make better use of the information Government already have available to it for this purpose.
The information requested will be placed in the Library.
Pensioners
The information is as follows:
(a) As part of the implementation of the new England-wide concession, which guarantees older and eligible disabled people free off peak travel on local buses anywhere in England, all concessionary passes are now issued as smartcards to a new standard design. Local authorities are responsible for issuing passes, and so central Government does not maintain records of how many individual authorities have issued, though we do know that around 8 million passes have now been issued in total across England.
The latest information held by the Department for Transport was that, as of 7 April 2008, Plymouth city council had submitted approximately 36,419 applications for the new smartcard concessionary passes to their pass supplier. This includes applications from disabled people as well as those aged 60 and over.
(b) TV Licensing, which administers free television licences for people aged 75 or over as agents for the BBC, can provide breakdown only by postcode. However, according to the records of the Department for Work and Pensions the number of households with at least one person aged 75 or over claiming the winter fuel payment in the Plymouth Devonport and Plymouth Sutton constituencies in 2007-08 was 13,950. Figures for 2008-09 are still being compiled.
(c) The number of NHS-funded sight tests for those aged 60 and over in the Plymouth area during 2007-08 was 29,696.
2007-08 is the latest full year for which information is available. Information for 2008-09 is expected to be published by the NHS Information Centre in August 2009.
The following table shows the numbers of pensioners now living in Great Britain receiving the UK state pension who were previously in receipt of their pension overseas:
Number 2004 7,920 2005 8,960 2006 8,820 2007 8,390 2008 9,270 Notes: 1. Great Britain is defined via the country code recorded on the Pension Service Computer System. Excludes claimants returning from Northern Ireland. 2. British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies are classified as overseas in this analysis. 3. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Source: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study, November 2003-November 2008
Remploy
[holding answer 4 June 2009): Because of data protection regulations, Remploy are not able to share personal details of those employees leaving the factories with the Department for Work and Pensions.
The Department for Work and Pensions does not keep records on Remploy ex-employees separately. It is therefore not possible to provide information about the proportion of people formerly employed at Remploy factories who have found work with Government assistance.
Remploy has provided the information as follows on the 1,637 people who left the factories under the modernisation of the company:
Remploy last contacted these former employees in March 2009, but only received responses from 635 (38 per cent.).
Of the 635 replies, 178 people (28 per cent.) have confirmed they are in work.
232 former factory employees remain employed by Remploy. Of these, 108 are working at a host company on a permanent contract, 80 are on a job placement and 44 are still looking for work.
State Retirement Pensions
The information is in the following table.
2010-11 2015-16 2020-21 2025-26 2030-31 £ billion, cash Men 24 34 47 63 87 Women 32 39 50 69 99 £ billion, 2008-09 prices Men 23 28 34 40 47 Women 30 32 36 43 54 Notes: 1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest £ billion. 2. Forecasts of basic state pension expenditure in 2010-11 are based on the Budget 2009 forecasts. Basic state pension expenditure forecasts from 2015-16 onwards are based on the latest published long-term projections which were published Budget 2008. 3. The real terms figures are calculated from the Budget 2008 GDP deflator. Source: Budget 2009 forecasts and Budget 2008 long-term projections.
International Development
Cabinet: Glasgow
(2) what car journeys he undertook in attending the Cabinet meeting in Glasgow on 16 April 2009;
(3) how many (a) special advisers and (b) officials of his Department accompanied him to Glasgow for the Cabinet meeting on 16 April 2009;
(4) what expenditure on (a) travel, (b) accommodation and (c) food (i) he and (ii) officials in his Department incurred in connection with the Cabinet meeting in Glasgow on 16 April 2009.
The Secretary of State for International Development was not accompanied by officials to the Cabinet meeting on 16 April. He was joined at the venue by his two special advisers who were visiting the Department's joint headquarters in Glasgow on departmental business on the day in question. The Department for International Development (DFID) incurred a total expenditure of £543.65 relating to the Cabinet Office meeting, which was solely for travel. Two car journeys were undertaken.
For further information in relation to the Cabinet and public engagement event held in Glasgow on 16 April I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 3 June 2009, Official Report, column 487W.
Departmental Carbon Emissions
DFID has been working closely with the Carbon Trust on our energy efficiency programme since 2006, when they carried out energy assessment reports on our UK buildings.
Developing Countries: Trade
The Department for International Development (DFID) has not calculated the impact of the completed Doha Development Agenda (DDA) on employment levels. However, one of the most significant impacts of a Doha deal for these continents will be the expected increase in income. A World Bank study gives estimates of annual increases in income as a result of a Doha deal as follows:
$400 million for Sub-Saharan Africa;
$7.9 billion for Latin America and the Caribbean;
$8.1 billion for East and South Asia.
DFID is working to ensure that a final DDA deal delivers on its development mandate.
Treasury
Banks: Regulation
(2) if he will direct the Financial Services Authority to publish the results of its stress testing of UK banks; and if he will make a statement.
The FSA made a statement on stress tests on 28 May 2009. This statement is available online at:
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Library/Communication/PR/2009/068.shtml
Departmental Drinking Water
(2) how much his Department has spent on water coolers in each of the last two years.
Since June 2008, meetings at the Treasury’s 1 Horse Guards Road building have been supplied with in-house bottled filtered water, rather than bottled water sourced from outside suppliers. It is not possible to separately identify costs of bottled water prior to June 2008 as this forms part of the cost of meeting refreshments that includes teas and coffees, bottled water and biscuits.
Water coolers were used in the Treasury’s Norwich building at a cost of £2,250 in 2007-08. The cost for 2008-09 forms part of the Treasury’s resource account which is due for publication in the summer following audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General. The use of water coolers at the Norwich office is being discontinued following their replacement with plumbed in machines.
Departmental Flags
The Union Flag flies permanently above 1 Horse Guards Road.
Insurance: Motor Vehicles
The matter raised in this question is the responsibility of the Financial Services Authority, whose day-to-day operations are independent from Government control and influence. The FSA will respond to the hon. Member directly.
Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander: Isle of Man
Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings and discussions with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government’s practice to provide details of all such meetings and discussions.
Arrangements for depositors in banks in the Isle of Man are a matter for the Government of the Isle of Man.
Loans: Interest Rates
I have been asked to reply.
No such assessment has been made.
Private Finance Initiative: Waste Disposal
Treasury Ministers have discussions with a variety of individuals and organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As with previous Administrations, it is not the Government’s practice to provide details of all such discussions.
Government policy, as announced on 3 March, is to ensure vital infrastructure projects proceed as planned, supporting jobs and the economy and preparing for future recovery. This includes PFI waste projects.
Revenue and Customs: Closures
The following table lists those offices where HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) plans to withdraw back office operations in 2009-10 as part of HMRC's regional review programme, the constituency in which each office is located and whether or not it provides inquiry centre services. Where an office housing an inquiry centre closes, the inquiry centre services will be retained at or near the current location so face to face services to HMRC's customers will not be affected.
Town Building Inquiry centre Constituency Andover London Street Yes North West Hampshire Ashton-under-Lyne Oakglade House Yes Ashton-under-Lyne Belfast Olivetree House No Belfast West Brierley Hill Capstan House No Dudley South Bristol Woodlands Court No Northavon Bromley Northside House Yes Bromley and Chislehurst Burton upon Trent Crown House Yes Burton Bury Minden House Yes Bury North Cheadle Boundary House No Cheadle Chester Eden House No City of Chester Chesterfield Dents Chambers No Chesterfield Coatbridge Muiryhall Street Yes Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill Coleraine Mill House No East Londonderry Cowes The Watch House No Isle of Wight Crewe Crewe House Yes Crewe and Nantwich Derby St. James House No Derby North Dumbarton Meadowbank St Yes West Dunbartonshire Edinburgh Clarendon House No Edinburgh North and Leith Edinburgh Saughton House No Edinburgh South West Enniskillen Custom House No Fermanagh and South Tyrone Finchley Gateway House Yes Finchley and Golders Green Glasgow Blythswood House No Glasgow Central Greenock Dalrymple Street Yes Inverclyde Hamilton Barrack Street Yes Lanark and Hamilton East Harlow Terminus House No Harlow Hastings Ashdown House Yes Hastings and Rye Haywards Heath Oaklands Yes Mid Sussex Horsham Exchange House No Horsham Hove Martello House No Hove Huntingdon Chequers Court Yes Huntingdon Inverness Longman House No Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey Kendal Kentmere House No Westmorland and Lonsdale Leigh Boardman House Yes Leigh Liverpool Norwich House No Liverpool, Riverside Liverpool Regian House Yes Liverpool, Riverside London Lyndhurst House, Mill Hill Yes Hendon Lytham St. Anne’s Petros House Yes Fylde Maidstone Concorde House No Maidstone and The Weald Middlesbrough Fountain Court Yes Middlesbrough Motherwell Civic Square Yes Motherwell and Wishaw Newbury Elizabeth House Yes Newbury Norwich Rosebery Court No Norwich North Nottingham Bowman House No Nottingham South Nottingham Huntingdon Court No Nottingham South Oldham Phoenix House Yes Oldham West and Royton Paisley Gilmour House Yes Paisley and Renfrewshire South Plymouth Custom House No Plymouth, Sutton Salford Anchorage 2 No Salford Skipton Cavendish House Yes Skipton and Ripon Southampton Queen's Keep No Southampton, Itchen Stockport Wellesley House No Denton and Reddish Stockton Dunedin House No Stockton South Sutton Helena House Yes Sutton and Cheam Swansea Custom House No Swansea East Swindon Spring Gardens No South Swindon Taunton Riverside Chambers No Taunton Truro Pydar House No Truro and St. Austell Tunbridge Wells Union House No Tunbridge Wells Walthamstow Church Hill Yes Walthamstow Wembley Valiant House Yes Brent South Whitehaven Blencathra House Yes Copeland Widnes Kingsway House Yes Halton Worthing Teville Gate House Yes Worthing West
Tax Avoidance
Clause 37 and Schedule 17 introduce a reporting requirement for business that replaces the current Treasury Consent rules. This will provide HM Revenue and Customs with early notice of high value cross-border transactions that change the capital structure of multinational groups. This information will be used in considering whether these transactions may have been put in place to avoid tax, and complements other existing anti-avoidance measures. The information provided will also inform policy making, enabling legislation to be introduced where necessary to close down avoidance schemes.
Taxation: Investment Income
Raising the dividend ordinary and upper rates to 20 per cent. and 40 per cent. respectively is likely to involve significant behavioural effects. The estimated yield incorporating these behaviour costs can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Taxation: Rebates
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) seek to strike a balance between issuing repayments as quickly as possible for the benefit of customers and ensuring that the Exchequer is adequately protected against fraud. Therefore some tax repayment claims are subject to security checks, which may delay repayments from being made.
Refunds made from online self-assessment (income tax and capital gains tax) returns are normally made within seven days. For paper returns, HMRC identify returns on receipt marked ‘repayment’ and process these as priority. Sampling of income tax self-assessment repayments from October 2008 to April 2009 indicates that 90 per cent. of repayments are consistently made within 30 days.
Inheritance tax and national insurance contribution repayments are processed in line with and meet the HMRC’s departmental objective 2, i.e. 80 per cent. of cases to be cleared within 15 working days and 95 per cent. to be cleared within 40 working days.
For PAYE, 99.3 per cent. of repayment claims arising from tax on investment income deducted at source in 2008-09 were processed within 15 working days of receipt against a target of 97 per cent.
Refunds processed from online self-assessment corporation tax returns are normally made within seven days.
Full data for previous years is not available.
VAT: Sunscreens
HM Revenue and Customs does not collect data on VAT from individual goods and services.
Welfare Tax Credits: Telephone Services
HM Revenue and Customs operates 0845 numbers for the majority of its customers facing helplines and has no immediate plans to allocate 0300 telephone prefixes to the tax credit helpline or the child benefit helpline.
HMRC keeps its numbering strategy under regular review. However, there is no single numbering solution that meets all of HMRC’s customers’ needs, as call charges to customers are dependent on the tariff arrangements they have with their service provider, the device they use for the call and the location from which they call.
The differing tariff arrangements for customers mean that HMRC is unable to estimate the overall likely savings of any such change to service users. Some customers will pay more, others will pay less and for others there will be no change.
Energy and Climate Change
Air Pollution: Airports
During the negotiation of European directive 2008/101/EC, which includes aviation in the EU emissions trading system, UK-led pressure secured a commitment from the European Commission to come forward with a proposal to regulate nitrogen oxide emissions from aviation. A proposal has not yet been tabled, but the UK continues to press the Commission to produce one.
Carbon Emissions
Since 2007, the Government have run high-profile marketing campaigns to engage citizens on climate change issues. These serve to address the confusion and powerlessness which can impede people from taking action, and encourage genuine and sustained behaviour change to help reduce carbon emissions and meet the UK emissions targets.
These campaigns have been run under the umbrella of ACT ON CO2, a Government-led and multi-partnered behaviour change brand, which aims to provide clarity and consistency across different communications on climate change and, by extension, energy efficiency. The ACT ON CO2 website aims to signpost, interact, coordinate and engage consumers on climate change, providing a clear, consistent, authoritative and credible voice. The website allows other Government departments to build and add further climate change information as and when necessary.
The ACT ON CO2 website, which includes a carbon footprint calculator as the key engagement tool, supports and amplifies all campaign activity. In running the website, DECC aims to maximise opportunities to ‘cross-sell’ behaviour messages between all climate change communications from Government departments, NGOs and other partners. DECC, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department for Transport, Communities and Local Government, the Energy Saving Trust and the Carbon Trust all provide information and advice or run campaigns, or both, under ACT ON CO2. An ACT ON CO2 toolkit has been developed to help facilitate a consistent message and approach.
Additionally DECC is in regular contact with other relevant Government departments and delivery bodies such as the Energy Saving Trust and Carbon Trust to share communication plans and identify potential opportunities to work together to the benefit of consumers. DECC explicitly instructs its media buying agencies to avoid clashes in scheduling of advertising.
DECC also shares analyses and findings on energy savings of various energy saving technologies with the Energy Saving Trust to ensure a consistent approach.
The Government also provide a range of information and support to help businesses improve their energy efficiency, including through the Carbon Trust and Regional Development Agencies. We are taking steps to make that information easier to access through Business Link website at:
www.businesslink.gov.uk
as part of the cross-Government Solutions for Business programme.
Fuel Poverty: Elderly