asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the statement by Baroness Scotland of Asthal on 6 February (H.L. Deb., col. 1047) that the final version of the Nice Treaty is to be signed in Nice on 26 February: (a) what is the present legal status of the documents signed at the Inter-Governmental Conference in Nice in December 2000; (b) what are the differences between those documents and the documents to be signed on 26 February; (c) how were any changes between the two agreed; and (d) what would be the effect of the United Kingdom withholding its signature on 26 February. [HL721]

Document SN 1247/1/01 REV1 contains the text of the Treaty of Nice in its definitive form. That text was signed in Nice on 26 February and is available in the Libraries of both Houses.Following the Nice European Council, minor changes were made to the draft treaty at the meetings of the Permanent Representatives Committee on 20 and 21 December. These addressed inconsistencies in the text and between language versions and provided legal clarification of the decisions taken. The text was then finalised from a technical and linguistic point of view by the lawyer-linguists of the Council in conjunction with lawyers from the member states.For the Treaty of Nice to enter into force it must be signed and ratified by all the member states. Therefore if the UK had not signed and did not go on to ratify the treaty it could not enter into force. The Government did not withhold their signature and will introduce legislation to enable them to ratify the treaty.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the principle of subsidiarity applies to European Single Market Legislation. [HL805]

Article 5 of the treaty establishing the European Community provides that the principle of subsidiarity applies to all Community legislation except for any which comes within the exclusive competence of the Community. Single market legislation does not fall within the exclusive competence of the Community and therefore the principle of subsidiarity applies to it.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the present status in European law of the Luxembourg Compromise. [HL807]

The Luxembourg Compromise derives from a political agreement reached in 1966. It has never appeared in the Community treaties and has no formal legal status.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What representations they have made to Ariel Sharon as Prime Minister of Israel to continue the land for peace negotiations with the Palestinians. [HL900]

The Prime Minister has urged the Israeli Prime Minister elect, General Sharon, to work for a negotiated peace on the agreed basis of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338. The Foreign Secretary and the Minister of State, Brian Wilson, and the noble Lord, Lord Levy, as the Prime Minister's personal envoy, have reinforced this message in discussions with representatives of the new administration.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 6 February (

The policy of the United Kindom towards participating in measures under Title IV of the treaty establishing the European Community is to review each proposed measure individually and to opt in when it is in the interests of the UK to do so. In a reply to a Written Question from the honourable Member for Penrith and the Borders (David Maclean) in another place on 12 March 1999 (Official Report, col. 380) the Home Secretary confirmed his statement that day at the Justice and Home Affairs Council that, while we would maintain our frontier controls in line with the Amsterdam Treaty Protocol, we wished to co-operate in all other justice and home affairs areas which did not conflict with this objective. In relation to Title IV, the Home Secretary highlighted areas in which the UK would look to participate as asylum and civil judicial cooperation measures and measures to control illegal immigration where these did not conflict with maintenance of national immigration controls. In accordance with these stated principles, the UK has notified its intention under Article 3 of the Protocol on the position of the United Kingdom and Ireland to participate in the application and adoption of the following proposed measures under Title IV of the treaty establishing the European Community:

asked Her Majesty's Government:On what basis Mr Arkady Gaidamak was given indefinite leave to remain in the United Kingdom and on what date; and whether they have now received an international warrant for his arrest, issued by a French magistrate. [HL766]

Information about an individual's immigration status is treated as confidential. As regards whether an international arrest warrant has been received, it is our long-established policy neither to confirm nor deny whether such a warrant has been received. The issue of an international arrest warrant is a matter for the issuing state to comment on.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether explanatory notes in asylum applicants' own languages are being given at the same time as the statement of evidence form; and, if not, when this will be done. [HL793]

The statement of evidence form is currently accompanied by explanatory notes in English. These notes are being revised and translated into the main languages spoken by applicants from the prinicpal counries of origin. The first group of revised and translated documents will be available by the end of March.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the likely effect on the staffing structure of the Immigration Advisory Service if the present level of funding cannot be maintained; and [HL836]What is the likely effect on the Immigration Advisory Service if the present level of funding cannot be maintained. [HL837]

This is a matter for the chief executive and board of trustees of the Immigration Advisory Service.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is their estimate of the size of the prison population in England and Wales over the next 10 years; and what is their estimate of the public expenditure to be incurred in housing the prison population over that period of time. [HL905]

Revised projections of the prison population in England and Wales in December

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will publish periodic reports on Oakington Reception Centre, giving the number of people processed; their nationalities; the number who are granted asylum and exceptional leave to remain respectively; the number of people who disappear after being granted temporary admission; the number whose appeals are successful or whose applications are conceded before their appeals are heard; and the number who are transferred to detention centres or prisons. [HL914]

We have no present plans to do so but will consider what information might be published routinely in due course.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the estimated cost of running Oakington Reception Centre in the first year of its operation; and how many asylum seekers they expect to accommodate at Oakington over this period. [HL915]

The estimated cost of running Oakington in the first year of operation is £12.8 million, with a further £2.8 million capital expenditure expected to arise during the same period. It is anticipated that, following the gradual expansion of capacity throughout the year, around 5,000 principal asylum applicants plus 1,000 dependants will have been accommodated at Oakington during this period.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many families, after being detained at Oakington, have been split up by detaining the head of household and releasing the dependants to a location beyond reasonable visiting distance, up to the latest convenient date. [HL916]

This information is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the Strategic Communications Unit is responsible for the webcasts by the Prime Minister from Downing Street. [HL799]

The Strategic Communications Unit is responsible for the Downing Street website; the Prime Minister's webcasts are published on that site.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What directions have been given under Section 193(4) of the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1992 in respect of the form of, and required particulars in, obligatory notifications by employers to the Secretary of State of proposed redundancies. [HL743]

Form HR1, copies of which are available from my department's Redundacy Payments Service, sets out the information employers are required to give in notifications under Section 193(4) of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. I have arranged for a copy of the form to be placed in the Libraries of both Houses. Notifications may also be submitted by any other form of written communication, provided the same information is given.

asked Her Majesty's Government:(a) What steps they take to ensure that a copy of a notice, given to the Secretary of State by virtue of Section 193 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 by an employer concerning forthcoming redundancies, is given to representatives of the affected employees or the relevant trade union; (b) How many such notices were given in the years 1998, 1999 and 2000 and the first two months of 2001; (c) What were the sectors of industry or employment connected with those notices and the date on which each was given; (d) How many such notices were affected by special circumstances within the meaning of the section; and (e) Whether the Secretary of State has given any general or special directions under Section 194 of the Act to any person in respect of prosecution of defaulting employers, and, if so, to whom. [HL892]

Although there is no express provision for my department to enforce this requirement, employers giving notice to my department, under Section 193 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, of proposed redundancies are reminded of their obligation to copy such a notice to representatives of the employees being consulted and to declare the date on which, and with whom, consultation commenced on form HR1. The operation of this requirement is being considered in the context of the current review of the collective redundancy provisions. The number of notifications received by my department for the years 1998, 1999 and 2000 and the first two months of 2001 were 4,017, 4,189 and 4,418 and 709 respectively. Information on the sectors of industry connected with those notices will have to be compiled from the records of the Redundancy Payments Service, and I shall write to the noble Lord. The number of notices affected by special circumstances within the meaning of the section for the same periods were five, three and one; there were no notices affected by special circumstances for the first two months of 2001. No special or general directions have been given under Section 194 of the Act.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether, when credit cards are used, a legally-binding contract is established only when the authorisation slip is signed by the purchaser and not when the card is swiped through the machine. [HL773]

A number of different contractual relationships arise when a purchase is made using a credit card, and I have confined myself in this response to the question of the contractual relationship between the buyer and the seller in respect of a sale of goods.In this context, the question of precisely when a legally binding contract is made will depend upon the principles of the law of contract, including those relating to offer and acceptance. The application of these principles will vary according to the facts of each case, and the time of payment (whether determined by reference to swiping a card or signing a slip authorising payment or some other event) will not necessarily be a material factor in pinpointing the time at which a contract was made.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What action they can take to reduce the cost of compact discs to British consumers to the level of their European Union counterparts. [HL775]

A competition inquiry into the supply of compact discs was launched by the Office of Fair Trading on the 9th February. The inquiry will consider whether the way in which the record companies have responded to imports of cheaper CDs from elsewhere in the EU amounts to a breach of the Competition Act 1998. The inquiry is expected to take six months.

asked Her Majesty's Government:When they expect to publish the report into the usage of the Mirror Group Newspapers' pension funds by the late Robert Maxwell. [HL889]

No report is expected into the usage. of Mirror Group Newspapers' pension funds by the late Robert Maxwell. However inspectors were appointed to investigate and report on the affairs and membership of Mirror Group Newspapers Plc and, in particular, to look at the flotation of the company in 1991. My right honourable friend the Secretary of State hopes to be in a position to make an announcement in the near future.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What provisions of the Human Rights Act 1998 and of the European Convention on Human Rights provide a means for patients who consider they have been discriminated against on grounds of age within the National Health Service to obtain an effective legal remedy. [HL847]

Section 7 of the Human Rights Act 1998 provides that an individual may invoke convention rights in any legal proceedings, including an application for judicial review, and also provides that individuals may bring cases on convention grounds alone. Aritcle 14 (Prohibition of Discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights provides for people to enjoy the protection of the convention rights without discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, colour, Ianguage, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status. This list is not exhaustive and could also include age, although it is not expressly mentioned. A case cannot be pursued on Article 14 grounds alone however; another convention right to which a claim of discrimination is attached must be involved. Discrimination for the purposes of Article 14 is a difference in treatment that has no reasonable and objective justification. In a health context, the articles most likely to be engaged are Article 2 (right to life), Article 3 (prohibition of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment) and Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life).The provision of first-class care in the National Health Service on the basis of clinical need is a priority. Discrimination of any kind—whether it is on the basis of age, race or gender—is completely unacceptable in the NHS and action is and will be taken to challenge and correct any such practices.The forthcoming National Service Framework (NSF) for Older People will for the first time set national standards and define service models for older people's health and social care. The NSF will also stipulate that age discrimination will not be tolerated in the NHS, ensuring that any arbitrary policies based on age alone are eliminated. The NSF will ensure fair access for older people to health and social care services and promote their dignity, security and independence.