To ask Her Majesty's Government what scientific research they have commissioned to support the United Kingdom delegation to the Copenhagen climate change conference; and when they will publish the research. [HL51]

Early this year DECC and Defra initiated a major new research programme (AVOID), aimed at assessing how the world can avoid dangerous climate change. AVOID is being delivered by a consortium of experts, led by the Met Office, and including the Grantham and Walker Institutes and the Tyndall Centre. A significant component of AVOID during the past 10 months has been to deliver new climate science evidence, specifically to inform the UK delegation ahead of Copenhagen, in particular with respect to emission pathways associated with limiting global temperature rises to 2 degrees Celsius, a review of climate change impacts and the costs associated with impacts and mitigation action. Key results to date are available on the programme website^l and it is expected that associated research papers will, be published in the scientific peer-reviewed literature in the new year.

A summary of results will be presented at the Copenhagen negotiations in December.

¹ www.avoid.uk.net

To ask Her Majesty's Government what are their projections for the carbon dioxide price in the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) over the next five years; and to what extent they intend to support the price of carbon dioxide in the ETS. [HL547]

The Government's forecast for the traded price of carbon, published in July 2009, is €35 in 2020 with an EU reduction target of 20 per cent below 1990 emissions. This published value will be updated on a yearly basis, taking into account the latest evidence. The Government do not publish any other projections on the carbon price.

The Government have no plans to support the price of carbon. Whilst the UK's 2003 energy White Paper said we would leave the option open of intervening in the carbon market, we do not currently consider that there is a case for such an intervention.

To ask Her Majesty's Government what financial penalties they anticipate being imposed by the European Union authorities on the Rural Payments Agency in respect of their administration of the single farm payment scheme in 2006, 2007 and 2008; and what arrangements have been made to finance the payments of any such penalties. [HL293]

The European Commission has yet to reach a view on what, if any, disallowance should be applied in respect of the single payment scheme (SPS). However, provisions totalling £205 million have been made in Defra's accounts in respect of the administration of the 2005 and 2006 single payment schemes in England. No provisions have been made for subsequent scheme years.

Funding for near cash implication of any SPS related disallowance that is finally imposed in the current Comprehensive Spending Review period will be drawn in the first instance from a ring-fenced sum that Defra has agreed with HM Treasury for this purpose. Should any disallowance exceed that sum, the necessary additional funding would be met from within Defra's budget.

To ask Her Majesty's Government why Sutton, Worcestershire, Tameside, Sandwell, Telford and Wrekin, Brent, Leicestershire County, Hounslow, Sheffield, Birmingham City, Knowsley, Bracknell and Suffolk local authorities, who filled in the supplemental questionnaire in relation to home education, do not appear on the list of local authorities to have done so published by the Department for Children, Schools and Families. [HL406]

There have been three separate requests to local authorities for data relating to home education. A list of authorities that responded to the first request is found at (http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/foischeme/subPage. cfm?action=collections.displayDocument&i_document ID=881&i_collectionID=346), the list of authorities that responded to the second request is found at (http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/foischeme/subPage.cfm?action=collections.displayDocument&i_ documentID=899&i_collectionID=347) and a list of authorities responding to the third request is found at http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/foischeme/. Where local authorities responded late to a data request their response may have been too late to be included in any analysis. Sutton, Sandwell, Telford and Wrekin, Brent, Leicestershire County, Birmingham City, Bracknell and Suffolk responded to the third questionnaire but their responses were too late to be analysed. Worcestershire, Tameside, Hounslow, Sheffield and Knowsley did not respond to the third questionnaire, although the published lists show that they did respond to the first and second questionnaires.

To ask Her Majesty's Government for each local authority for which they have data, (a) how many home-educated children are considered to be receiving no education, (b) what is the total number of home-educated children, and (c) how many of the home-educated children considered to be receiving no education (1) are from traveller families, (2) are children who first became home educated in years 10 or 11 with a previous history of irregular attendance, and (3) are children who have not yet been assessed. [HL407]

I attach a table showing the number of electively home educated children in each local authority that responded to the questionnaire on home education distributed in September. The department's policy is not to release any information that might lead to individual children being identified where data released could be combined with other data. As 69 local authorities identified a total of 210 home educated children that they assessed as receiving no education at all, we are not able to release a breakdown of these data by local authority as the numbers for each individual authority would be very small and individual children might be identified.

We did not collect information on the ethnic or cultural background of home educated children receiving no education, nor their age, so we are unable to provide information on the number from a traveller background, or the number that are in years 10 or 11. Home educated children awaiting assessment were included in the data collection as a separate category.

* indicates number < than 10 per LA

To ask Her Majesty's Government for each local authority for which they have data, (a) how many home-educated children are considered to be not in education, employment or training (NEET), (b) how many home-educated children are not considered to be NEET, and (c) how many of the home-educated children in each local authority considered to be NEET (1) are from traveller families, (2) are children who first became home-educated in years 10 or 11 with a previous history of irregular attendance, and (3) are children for whom the local authority has no evidence of their current occupation. [HL409]

The department's policy is not to release any information that might lead to individual children being identified where data released could be combined with other data. As 47 local authorities identified a total of 270 out of 1220 home educated children that were not in education, employment or training when the Connexions Service conducted its autumn survey of year 11 school leavers, we are not able to release a breakdown of these data by local authority as the numbers for each category in each individual authority would be small. The percentages for different authorities are given in the form of a histogram on the Every Child Matters website at http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/ete/independent reviewofhomeeducation/irhome education/.

Data requested in parts (1) and (2) of question (c) were not collected. Only children who had supplied information about their education, employment or training status are included in the survey.

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is meant by “Known to social care includes Section 17, 37 or 47 enquiries” in the Department for Children, Schools and Families' working paper Independent Review of Home Education—safeguarding evidence. [HL434]

Known to social care in this context means children who, at the time of the data collection, were receiving or were planning to receive social care services in local authorities in England under the following sections of the Children Act 1989:

Section 17 (provision of services for children in need, their families and others);

Section 37 (care orders); and

Section 47 (local authority duty to investigate when there is reasonable cause to suspect that a child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm).

Legal definitions can be found at http://www.opsi. gov.uk/acts/acts1989/ukpga_19890041_en_1.

The questionnaire seeking information excluded some children that fell into these categories and this is shown at http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/foischeme/subPage. cfm?action=collections.displayDocument&i_ documentID=801&i_collection ID=322.

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether feed-in tariffs for small-scale electricity generation are available throughout Britain; if not, whether there are barriers to doing so; and whether they will examine their use in Germany, in particular in Freiburg. [HL653]

The Government have published proposals for feed-in tariffs for small-scale electricity generation. The Department of Energy and Climate Change published a consultation document in July, still available from the DECC website at http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/consultations /elec_financial/elec_financial.aspx.

The consultation elicited over 700 replies which are currently being analysed in line with the proposal to introduce a scheme by April 2010.

In the course of developing the proposal Ministers and officials consulted a wide range of organisations, nationally and internationally. A number of supporting studies based on this are also available at the same website.

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the rate of tax charged on recovered fuel oil in the United Kingdom; and whether an assessment has been made of how that rate of tax compares with that charged in other European Union member states. [HL447]

Since 1 November 2008, following the end of a UK derogation from the EU Energy Taxation Directive, recovered fuel oil has been subject to duty at the same rate as fuel oil, the fuel for which it most commonly substitutes. This rate is 10.37 pence per litre.

The Chancellor keeps all duty rates under review, taking account of a wide range of factors including rates in other member states.

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the prospects of moves to ensure that bonuses in the financial sector are not linked to turnover, profits or short-term results. [HL177]

The Government have been clear that the banking sector needs to develop sustainable long-term remuneration policies that take better account of risk.

The FSA has published its remuneration code of practice which comes into force on 1 January 2010. In advance of this all the banks subject to the code had to provide the FSA with a remuneration policy statement to demonstrate compliance.

The Government have introduced the Financial Services Bill to Parliament which contains measures to ensure that the remuneration practices do not incentivise excessive risk taking.

These will ensure that remuneration policies are aligned with long-term success through a greater component of bonuses being paid in the form of shares as well as the use of deferral and claw-back should future performance deteriorate.

Furthermore, in the 2009 Pre-Budget Report the Government announced a temporary bank payroll tax of 50 per cent which will apply to discretionary bonuses above £25,000 awarded in the period from Pre-Budget Report to 5 April 2010 for each individual employee.

This tax will encourage banks to consider their capital position and to make appropriate risk adjustments when setting the level of bonus payments above the threshold, which is at the level of median earnings in the UK.

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the prospects for the full implementation of the Financial Services Authority's draft code of practice for executive remuneration, especially by companies in which the taxpayer has a stake. [HL178]

The FSA has published its remuneration code of practice which comes into force on 1 January 2009. In advance of this all the banks subject to the code had to provide the FSA with a remuneration policy statement to demonstrate compliance.

The Government have also asked the FSA to provide an annual report on remuneration practices, including compliance by firms with the new code. This report will assess whether remuneration practices are likely to lead to a build up of systemic risk, and make recommendations for action if this is thought to be the case.

The banks in which the Government are a shareholder are managed on an arm's-length commercial basis by United Kingdom Financial Investments (UKFI). The Government expect their investee banks to beat the forefront of complying with the FSA's code and UKFI is working with the banks as a shareholder to ensure their remuneration policies are aligned with long-term value creation.

To ask the Chairman of Committees what percentage of the bananas purchased by the House of Lords Refreshment Department were fair trade in financial years 2006–07, 2007–08 and 2008–09. [HL628]

The current fruit and vegetable framework supply contract commenced in April 2008. For the year 2008-09, fair trade bananas were specified in all orders placed but supplies received depended on market availability. For the years 2006-07 and 2007-08, fair trade bananas were not a standard supply specification but were delivered subject to market availability. The Refreshment Department does not have the staff resource to monitor the proportion of fair trade bananas received.

To ask the Chairman of Committees on what date the Peers' Writing Room coffee machine will resume functioning. [HL389]

The coffee machine is now operational once again. I regret any inconvenience caused over the past few weeks.

To ask the Chairman of Committees when the House of Lords Refreshment Department last reviewed the price of British bacon; and what was the result of that review. [HL629]

The price of British bacon is reviewed on a weekly basis as specified in the current meat framework supply contract. For the week ending 11 December 2009, the price quoted was £6.63 per kilo (23.51p per rasher). The equivalent price for Dutch bacon was £4.48 per kilo (15.89p per rasher).