To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they propose to change the Act of Settlement 1700. [HL533]

To bring about changes to the law on succession would be a complex undertaking involving amendment or repeal of a number of items of related legislation, as well as requiring the consent of legislatures of member nations of the Commonwealth. We are examining this complex area although there are no immediate plans to legislate. In the mean time, the Government have always opposed discrimination in all its forms, including against Roman Catholics, and we will continue to do so.

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assistance they have given this year to the Independent Directorate of Local Governance in Afghanistan, and the Afghan Social Outreach Program; and with what combined objectives. [HL497]

The UK provided £1.4 million support to the Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) in 2007-08, and is working closely with other donors to determine collectively how the IDLG can best be supported in the medium term. This assistance has helped the IDLG develop its strategic work plan, a draft sub-national governance policy, and supported infrastructure and staffing improvements. The UK has allocated up to $590,000 this financial year to help implement the Afghan Social Outreach Programme (ASOP) in Helmand. By supporting both the IDLG's broad mandate on sub-national governance and ASOP directly, the UK's objective is to help develop an acceptable and accountable local governance structure.

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether it is obligatory for operators of commercial airports in the United Kingdom to ensure that drinking water is available to airline passengers and other airport users free of charge. [HL731]

The provision of free drinking water in public buildings including airports is not generally obligatory but is the responsibility of the building operator. Nevertheless, most airports do provide free water.

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether it is obligatory for commercial aircraft using United Kingdom airports to make drinking water available free of charge. [HL732]

There are no regulations setting out what airlines must provide in terms of meals or refreshments. Therefore, the decision to provide drinking water free of charge is at the discretion of airlines, as it is for rail, coach and ferry operators.

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they propose to review the relationship between the Church of England and the state. [HL534]

The Government have no plans to review the relationship between the Church of England and the state. The Church of England is by law established as the Church in England and the Monarch is its Supreme Governor. The Government remain committed to this position.

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the annual cost to the taxpayer of the Commission for Integrated Transport; and what remuneration or other benefits its chairman and members receive annually. [HL628]

The Commission for Integrated Transport's budget for the current financial year is £1,260,000. The chairman's remuneration is £5,431 (reduced from £30,000 at his request); the two vice-chairs receive £24,000; and 12 further board members each receive £5,431.

To ask Her Majesty's Government what proposals they have to increase penalties for dangerous driving which causes criminal damage. [HL702]

The Government have no plans to increase the penalties for dangerous driving which causes criminal damage.

There is no current specific offence of dangerous driving which causes criminal damage. Indeed, as criminal damage is by definition damage that was caused intentionally, most dangerous driving that causes damage to property would not be classed as causing criminal damage.

The offence of dangerous driving carries a maximum sentence of two years’ imprisonment, an unlimited fine and mandatory disqualification; the courts could take damage caused as an aggravating factor to this offence. An alternative or additional charge would be for causing criminal damage, the maximum sentence for which is 10 years’ imprisonment.

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the average length of a contract for independent domestic violence advisers. [HL542]

We do not hold information on the average length of a contract for independent domestic violence advisers (IDVAs) because they are not employed by government.

The Ministry of Justice allocates a limited amount of funding to run IDVA services which are managed locally. The Ministry is committed to provide three years of funding to the area where the IDVA service is located with the understanding that the amount awarded will be matched locally, that continued funding is dependent on good performance, and that the IDVA service will be mainstreamed into local area budgets within this time.

Funding is derived from victims’ surcharge receipts and currently provides for 125 services most of which support the 104 specialist domestic violence courts (SDVCs). Those services that have had three years’ funding will not receive further funding in 2009-10.

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many crimes involving metal theft affecting the operation of the railways were reported to police forces in Great Britain in the past two years. [HL669]

This information is not held by the Department for Transport but by the British Transport Police, which can be contacted at: British Transport Police, 25 Camden Road, London, NW1 9LN, e-mail: parliament@btp.pnn.police.uk.

To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Statement by Lord Bach on 10 December 2008 (WS 66–67), what guidance will be given to local youth offending teams on how to identify the single priority group of young offenders deemed to pose the highest risk in their area for the purpose of prioritising its members through the criminal justice process. [HL553]

The Youth Justice Board has developed the guidance document Prolific and Other Priority Offender Strategy. This document has been provided to every youth offending team in England and Wales.

To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Malloch-Brown on 24 November (WA 234), when the next meeting of the political dialogue between the European Union and Cuba will take place; and whether at that meeting British representatives will raise the treatment of political prisoners in Cuba. [HL106]

The next round of the EU political dialogue with Cuba has not yet been scheduled.

During the first meeting of the new dialogue in October, held between EU troika Ministers and the Cuban Foreign Minister in Paris, progress on human rights was highlighted as a key issue for the EU. The EU also raised the issue of political prisoners and access to Cuba's prisons.

In a meeting with the Cuban ambassador in November, my honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Gillian Merron, also raised UK concerns about political prisoners in Cuba.

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the requirement for risk assessments under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (SI 1999/3242) is the same for fishermen as for the general workforce ashore. [HL718]

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the requirements of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 apply to all crew on board a fishing vessel irrespective of their contractual status. [HL720]

Although the Health and Safety at Work etc Act and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 regulations do apply to fishermen in certain limited circumstances (eg when unloading vessels in port), the safety of fishermen on fishing vessels at sea is governed by the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 and various sets of merchant shipping and fishing vessel health and safety regulations.

These maritime health and safety regulations, which implement EC health and safety directives, are in the main similar in form to the regulations introduced by the Health and Safety Executive for land-based workers and similarly require assessments of risks to be undertaken by employers albeit that in some instances the risks on fishing vessels are different from those for land-based workers.

In line with the EC health and safety directives, which they implement, these regulations apply to workers. In this context “worker” is generally defined as meaning a person employed under a contract of employment, and includes a trainee or apprentice other than a person who is training in a sail training vessel. This definition does however exclude genuinely self-employed fishermen.

To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answers by Lord Darzi of Denham on 17 November 2008 (WA 166) and 17 December 2008 (WA 41), whether their classification of fluoridation schemes was based on legal advice. [HL640]

I can confirm my replies were based on legal advice.

To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answers by Lord Darzi of Denham on 17 November 2008 (WA 165–66) and 17 December 2008 (WA 41) which state that water fluoridation is a service undertaken under the Water Industry Act 1991, why the Department of Health takes responsibility for it. [HL730]

Because increasing the concentration of fluoride in water to 1 part per million, where it does not occur at this level naturally, protects people from dental disease. Responsibility for undertaking consultations on water fluoridation is delegated to strategic health authorities under Section 89 of the Water Industry Act 1991.

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to address concerns of patient representatives about the proposed measures in the forthcoming NHS Constitution that will allow researchers not clinically engaged in a person's care to access that person's confidential records without their knowledge or consent; and whether they have considered alternative measures that would enable research while protecting patients' rights to confidentiality. [HL675]

The National Health Service Constitution published on 21 January 2009 includes seven principles that will guide the NHS. The third principle refers to the NHS commitment to innovation and to the promotion and conduct of research to improve the current and future health and care of the population.

The NHS Constitution also commits the NHS to two pledges relating to informed choice. In the explanation for these pledges, the accompanying handbook makes the following statement about research.

Research is a core part of the NHS. Research enables the NHS to improve the current and future health of the people it serves. The NHS will do all it can to ensure that patients, from every part of England, are made aware of research that is of particular relevance to them. The NHS is therefore putting in place procedures to ensure that. patients are notified of opportunities to join in relevant ethically approved research and will be free to choose whether they wish to do so.

The procedures under development will not allow the NHS to disclose a person's confidential records to researchers without consent and are intended to inform patients about research so that they can choose whether to take part. The procedures will ensure that, when the NHS supports preparations to notify patients of opportunities to join in relevant ethically approved research, staff who use care records to select those patients are bound by a duty of confidentiality and use confidential information no more than necessary for the purpose. Special permission under Section 251 of the NHS Act 2006 is required before health service bodies may disclose a person's confidential records without consent to researchers not engaged in that person's care.

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure patient safety when prescribing and dispensing immunosuppressant drugs for post-transplantation care. [HL590]

To ask Her Majesty's Government what communications they have received concerning prescribing and dispensing errors relating to immunosuppressant therapies. [HL591]

The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) reviews medication errors on an ongoing basis, and prioritises the production of guidance and recommendations based on the level of harm reported to its Reporting and Learning System, other national and international reporting systems and published literature.

The agency has also produced a series of design guides in the “Design for Patient Safety” series, which aim to improve the labelling and packaging of pharmaceutical products. These have been issued to pharmaceutical companies to assist them in producing products that minimise the risk of mis-selection and other patient safety incidents. These materials are also used by National Health Service medicines procurement groups to purchase products which are safer in use. A design guide on “The Dispensing Environment” which identifies ways that good design of the dispensing environment can help improve the accuracy of the dispensing process has also been produced by the NPSA.

The department, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the NPSA have received communications from Astellas Pharma Ltd, a manufacturer of immunosuppressant medicines, about prescribing and dispensing errors relating to Advagraf and Prograf. The MHRA has, as part of an EU-wide action, agreed to send a “dear doctor/healthcare practitioner” letter to the relevant NHS staff, and made proposals for changes to the packaging for Advagraf to emphasise that it differs from Prograf. In addition, MHRA included the issue in its December edition of the Drug Safety Update, with a further article in the January 2009 edition. These should help to make prescribers, pharmacists and patients aware of the brand being prescribed, whatever the manufacturer, and the associated dose regimen. MHRA has also highlighted the issue to other information providers, including the British National Formulary and the National Prescribing Centre.

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to repeal Sections 14 and 16 of the Human Rights Act 1998 and replace them with a precondition that a state of emergency must be declared by Parliament in order to derogate from certain human rights; and, if so, whether they will permit any person or body to challenge such a state of emergency in court. [HL536]

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in considering legislating for any rights in addition to those in the Human Rights Act 1998, they will introduce provisions for Parliament automatically to agree to legislate for human rights amendments promoted by a devolved Administration. [HL537]

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to repeal Section 22(6) of the Human Rights Act 1998. [HL541]

The Government have no plans to do so.

To ask Her Majesty's Government in the context of the Human Rights Act 1998, what is a public function. [HL538]

Section 6(3)(b) of the Human Rights Act states that “public authority” includes “any person certain of whose functions are functions of a public nature”. The most recent judicial guidance on the interpretation of functions of a public nature in Section 6(3)(b) of the Human Rights Act was given by the Appellate Committee in the case of YL v Birmingham City Council and others [2007] UKHL 27. The specific circumstances of that case were addressed by the further provision in Section 145 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008, which is now in force.

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in considering legislating for any rights in addition to those in the Human Rights Act 1998, they intend to permit any person or body to bring human rights claims in the courts. [HL539]

Any person or body that satisfies the conditions under Section 7 of the Human Rights Act—in particular being a “victim” for the purposes of Section 7(1)—may bring proceedings under that section of the Act.

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in considering legislating for any rights in addition to those in the Human Rights Act 1998, they will extend human rights to legal, as opposed to natural, persons. [HL540]

Legal persons may already benefit from the convention rights in so far as it makes sense for them to do so. Section 7(7) of the Human Rights Act states that a person is a victim of an unlawful act only if he would be a victim for the purposes of Article 34 of the European Convention on Human Rights if proceedings were brought in the European Court of Human Rights in respect of that unlawful act. Article 34 of the convention states that the European Court of Human Rights may receive applications from any person, from non-governmental organisations or from groups of individuals claiming to be the victim of a violation of the convention rights.

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the situation of Dalit Christians in Orissa; and whether it is safe for them to return to their homes. [HL574]

An EU delegation, which included a representative from our High Commission in New Delhi, visited Orissa between 9 and 12 December 2008 to assess the latest situation. They observed that the situation in Orissa remained sensitive, tense and unsettled and that some of those affected by the violence had still not returned to their homes. However, the delegation received assurances from the Orissa State Director General of Police that all measures had been taken to prevent and suppress any repetition of the violence that took place in 2007 and 2008. The EU presidency also wrote to the Indian Government to reiterate EU concerns on this issue. Our High Commission and its EU partners in New Delhi continue to monitor the situation closely.

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the comments directed at the Financial Services Authority (FSA) by the Policyholders' Protection Group in regard to its ruling on the distribution of the Norwich Union inherited estates surplus; and whether they will ask the FSA to review its decision in the light of the dissatisfaction expressed. [HL571]

The regulation of insurance inherited estates is a matter for the Financial Services Authority (FSA), which sets the rules covering the management of with-profits funds.

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people will be affected by the recently announced overpayment in public sector pensions; what, in percentage terms, will be the maximum reduction in pensions payments from any correction; and what arrangements will be made by the Department for Work and Pensions to address any hardship arising from such adjustments. [HL410]

As stated in the Written Ministerial Statement by the Minister for the Cabinet Office on 16 December (Official Report, col. WS 113), an estimated 95,000 pensioners have been overpaid. Full details of the position of each individual affected are not yet available, so it is not possible to say what will be the maximum percentage reduction in pension payments from the correction. When schemes write to individual pensioners with the details, the letters will contain information prepared by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). This will list DWP benefits with brief details on eligibility criteria and contact information. Departments responsible for the schemes affected and DWP are seeking to identify customers who may be more vulnerable, and exploring what additional support could be provided.

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many ex-servicemen are in prison. [HL586]

The information requested is not available. Data from nationally representative surveys of some 2,000 sentenced prisoners near release conducted in 2001, 2003 and 2004 showed the proportion of prisoners who had previously served in the Armed Forces in those years as 6 per cent, 4 per cent and 5 per cent respectively.

We are currently exploring with the Ministry of Defence ways to better identify the number of veterans currently serving prison sentences as well as the factors associated with their offending. A number of options are currently being assessed.

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the withdrawal of the cross-country train service between Brighton and the North via Reading in December 2008 complies in all aspects with statutory closure procedures. [HL639]

The decision to withdraw this service was made after analysing passenger and capacity demand. The withdrawal of this service has resulted in three sections of track in west London no longer being served by franchised passenger services.

The Department for Transport is not proposing to discontinue passenger services over these sections of track and is currently looking at demand to ascertain the frequency of train services over these sections of track. Therefore, initiation of the closure procedure under Section 24 was not appropriate.

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of Network Rail scheduling major engineering works on the East Coast and West Coast mainlines over the weekend of 14 to 15 March. [HL667]

The Government have made no such assessment. This is an operational matter for Network Rail as the owner and operator of the national rail network. The noble Baroness should contact Network Rail's chief executive at the following address for a response to her Question: lain Coucher, Chief Executive, Network Rail, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1 9AG.

To ask Her Majesty's Government what guidance on appropriate locations for the demonstrations project trials they have given to those companies short-listed to deliver any future road pricing schemes. [HL619]

To ask Her Majesty's Government what consultation they have undertaken with local authorities on the road pricing demonstrations project; and how they will consult those local authorities in which trials may take place. [HL620]

To ask Her Majesty's Government what powers local authorities have to permit the use of roads in their area for the road pricing demonstration project trials. [HL621]

To ask Her Majesty's Government what guidance they have given to those companies short-listed to deliver any future road pricing scheme on the scope of consultation they should undertake with local authorities when using their roads. [HL622]

The Government have not given any guidance to their contractors in the demonstrations project on where to carry out the road-user trials in the project. As part of the trials, the volunteers will be driving anywhere in England and Wales but we will also require a focus on the extent of driving within up to 15 local authority boundaries selected by the contractor, forming no more than two contiguous groups.

There are no powers for local authorities to permit or refuse permission for any legitimate use of roads for which they are responsible, including for research activity such as this.

As the actual location of the trial activity has no bearing on the results from the project, there is no reason for the Government to consult local authorities whose boundaries happen to be used for the project. Neither have we required that the contractors themselves should consult those local authorities.

To ask Her Majesty's Government what projects they are engaged in to promote sustainable security through security sector reforms; and what plans they have for future work in this area. [HL408]

In financial year 2007-08, the Government spent over £31 million in support of security sector reform (SSR) initiatives in developing countries, both through the Department for International Development (DfID) and through the Conflict Prevention Pools (CPP). During this period we funded over 40 SSR programmes in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas, many of which span several years.

At a global level, DfID has played a leading role in improving the international community's approach to SSR. We led the development of new SSR guidelines in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) which were launched in April 2008.

Examples of the Government's SSR programmes include:

the Democratic Republic of Congo, where DfID is establishing a £70 million, five-year security sector accountability and police programme;

Sierra Leone, where DfID assisted the police to ensure that free and fair elections could take place in 2007; and

Malawi, where DfID-funded work has improved the awareness, quality and availability of justice services for the poor, particularly women, children and the vulnerable in Malawi.

DfID is committed through its 2008-11 departmental strategic objectives to increase spend on programmes that improve security and access to justice for the poor in priority countries. DfID has already increased its spending by £7 million, from £31 million in 2007-08 to a projected £38 million in 2008-09.

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Maritime and Coastguard Agency this year censured the ferry operator between Ballycastle and Rathlin Island in County Antrim for carrying a fuel tanker along with passengers on the route; and, if so, what form the censure took. [HL601]

On 24 October 2008 marine surveyors from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency issued a formal improvement notice to the MV CANNA requiring the training of its crew in the carriage of dangerous goods and observance of its document of compliance.

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether there is evidence that lorries travelling via the Holyhead ferry to and from Ireland are discriminated against compared to other ferry routes to and from Ireland. [HL714]

The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) carries out compliance checks on heavy goods vehicles at or close to ports throughout the country. In planning checks VOSA takes into account volumes of traffic through each port and the rates of non-compliance. In the first half of the current financial year (April-September 2008) over half of the vehicles checked at Dalar Hir near Holyhead were issued with prohibition notices for mechanical defects, drivers' hours' irregularity or overloading. A similar proportion of vehicles were checked near Liverpool docks with similar rates of offending.

To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost of implementing the proposals in European Commission document SEC (2008) 2953 relating to the rights of passengers in bus and coach transport. [HL700]

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will consult operators in the bus and coach industry about implementing the proposals in European Commission document SEC (2008) 2953; and whether such consultation will include small and large operators. [HL701]

The Department for Transport is currently preparing an initial impact assessment on the European Commission's proposal for a new regulation on bus and coach passenger rights. The department will shortly be consulting on the proposal to help inform the Government's position and it is intended that the initial impact assessment will form part of that consultation. Any operator will be able to respond to the consultation, and the department will be seeking the views of the Confederation of Passenger Transport, the trade association for the bus and coach industry, that represents both small and large operators. An Explanatory Memorandum (EM 16933/08) on the proposal was submitted to Parliament on 13 January 2009. Copies are available in the Libraries of the House.

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will increase capital allocations for transport schemes in response to the current economic circumstances; and on what basis they would allocate such capital. [HL693]

The department has already announced an extra £700 million to be brought forward and spent on capital projects as part of the Government's fiscal stimulus package. This included £300 million on the procurement of diesel units as part of the department's high-level output specification for Britain's railways and £100 million on improvements to the A46.

Further to that, the department has announced details on spending of up to £6 billion to increase capacity on Britain's road network.

Capital is allocated after careful consideration is given to the risks involved, the economic benefits on offer and on value for money.

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in order to facilitate dialogue and promote peace, they will support and lend assistance for moving the United Nations Special Representative from Nairobi to Mogadishu as soon as security conditions permit. [HL723]

The UK fully supports the proposal to move the United Nations Secretary General's Special Representative for Somalia (UN SRSG) and his office from Nairobi to Mogadishu, when security conditions allow. We would look at what assistance we could provide at that time.

To ask Her Majesty's Government how much the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency paid out in refunds for unexpired vehicle licences in each year since 2000; and how much it expects to pay out in 2009 following the change in rules from 1 January 2009, such that only registered users of vehicles will be entitled to claim refunds. [HL623]

The information regarding refunds before 2002 could only be provided at disproportionate cost. The following table sets out volumes since then:

There are no estimates for the volume of refunds in 2009-10.