asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether a review of the Public Trust Office's Framework Document has been carried out, as stated in their original Framework Document published in July 1994. [HL1062]

The Public Trust Office's Framework Document has now been reviewed. As the interval between agency reviews has been extended from three to five years since the Public Trust Office attained agency status, the new document is designed to cover the interim period until the Public Trust Office's first Quinquennial Review, to be completed by the end of 1999. Copies of the revised Framework Document have been placed in the Library of both Houses of Parliament.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is their policy for the ending of the conflict in Kosovo. [HL930]

I refer the noble Lord to the statement I made on 10 March on behalf of the Foreign Secretary. (Official Report, cols. 128–138).

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will ask the Chairman in Office of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to visit Belgrade and Pristina with a view to achieving a ceasefire and an end to repression in Kosovo. [HL931]

The 9 March Contact Group statement on Kosovo supported the OSCE role in resolving the conflict. The OSCE Permanent Council decided on 11 March to support a new mission by former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez as Personal Representative of the Chairman-in-Office for the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, with a mandate for addressing the problems in Kosovo.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What role they consider that the European Union Troika has in preventing the conflict in and around Kosovo. [HL932]

While the EU Troika as such has not played a role in relation to recent events in Kosovo, the Presidency has been active on behalf of EU member states: a Presidency declaration on Kosovo was issued on 2 March: the Foreign Secretary visited Belgrade on 5 March; the Minister of State, Mr. Lloyd, visited the region on 11–12 March as Special Representative of the Presidency; and EU Foreign Ministers discussed the situation in Kosovo in Edinburgh on 13–14 March. I also repeated a statement in your Lordships' House on 10 March which provided details of the previous day's Contact Group meeting in London.

asked the Leader of the House:Whether he will provide a breakdown of the average number of peers attending the House of Lords each week into life peers, peers by succession and by party affiliation (if any). [HL949]

The information is not available on the basis asked for. However, an analysis of the attendance figures for a recent day chosen at random (Tuesday 10 March 1998) shows that the breakdown on that day was as follows:

	Hereditary Peers
Party	Life Peers	Of First Creation	By Succession	Lords Spiritual	Total
Conservative	97	1	134	0	232
Labour	110	1	14	0	125
Liberal Dem.	26	0	17	0	43
Cross Bench	32	0	55	0	87
Other	3	0	2	3	8
Total	268	2	222	3	495

Work is in progress to introduce new computer software into the House of Lords to enable such information to be provided. It is hoped that the new software will be in use by the end of 1998.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What plans they have to extend to all courts the power to make curfew orders enforced by electronic monitoring. [HL1080]

Curfew orders under Section 12 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991, enforced by electronic monitoring, are at present available to the courts as a penalty only in restricted pilot areas. It is our intention that these orders should in due course be made available to all courts in England and Wales.There is a competitive tender for the provision of electronic monitoring services underway throughout England and Wales. The primary purpose of this service, which will be provided, as at present, by the private sector, is to provide electronic monitoring for prisoners under the home detention curfew scheme, under which selected short term prisoners may spend up to the last two months of their sentence under an electronically monitored curfew. We anticipate that the home detention curfew scheme will be operational in early 1999. However, contractors will also be required to provide electronic monitoring for other purposes, including curfew orders, should they be required. Roll-out of curfew orders will follow the establishment of the home detention curfew scheme, according to a timetable to be discussed with those concerned and as resources allow.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will place in the Library of the House copies of all documents requested from the Chief Constable of Derby, by resolution of the Derby Police Authority, at their meeting held on 19 February at 10.30 am at Butterly Police Headquarters in relation to the firearms appeals by Arthur Newton and Albert Goodman heard by H.H. Judge Morrison on 15 January; how many and which documents have been supplied to date; and by what date the chief constable will supply all other outstanding and relevant documents. [HL1010]

The handling of this or any other appeal under the Firearms Acts is entirely a matter for the chief constable concerned. The Home Office has no locus in the operational affairs of police forces.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What action they are able to take, or can be taken, against Chief Officers of Police who refuse to process the grant, renewal or variation or formal refusal of applications for firearms certificates in reasonable time or at all; how many cases are awaiting decision for each force in England, Wales and Scotland; and whether they will give the reason for such delays in each case for Hampshire Constabulary. [HL980]

The processing of applications for firearms certificates is a matter for the chief officer of police for the area in which the applicant resides.The Home Secretary has no powers to intervene in individual cases or to issue directions. It is open to a person who is dissatisfied with the performance of a force in relation to a particular aspect of its duties to pursue the matter with the police authority concerned or to write to Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary for that particular region. Details of outstanding applications are not kept centrally.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer by Lord Williams of Mostyn on 2 March (

The membership of the Firearms Consultative Committee, including the background and qualifications of individual members, has been published each year in the Committee's Annual Report, copies of which are available in the Library.Details of attendance have been published in the Committee's Annual Reports since 1995, but attendance records for individual members since the Committee was established in 1989 could only be provided at disproportionate cost. Members are appointed for a fixed period. Reasons for resignation are a confidential matter between the Home Secretary and the member concerned. No appointments have been terminated prematurely by the Home Secretary.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Williams of Mostyn on 2 March (

The membership of these sub-committees is a matter for the Association of Chief Police Officers for England and Wales, and for Scotland. The detailed information requested is not kept by the Home Office.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What are the criteria for determining whether former government Ministers are entitled to police protection. [HL982]

The provision of police protection is determined by the level of the current threat against the individual. A former government Minister who received police protection while in office would be entitled to retain that protection only for so long as the threat to him justified it.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many individuals who were government Ministers between 1974–79 and 1979–97 are currently provided with security protection by (a) the Metropolitan Police and (b) other police forces. [HL983]

It is not in the public interest to disclose security arrangements relating to public figures.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many individuals who were formerly government Ministers have secure accommodation paid for by the public purse. [HL984]

It is not in the public interest to disclose or aid the identification of security arrangements relating to public figures.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many individuals have agreed to terminate police protection on the advice of the Home Secretary, and how many have refused such a request. [HL985]

In general, those individuals who have been invited to relinquish police protection have agreed to do so. It would not be in the public interest to disclose the number involved, as this could compromise the security arrangements relating to public figures.

asked Her Majesty's Government:In how many operations firearms were issued to police officers in England and Wales in each of the last 10 years for which this information is available and for each of those years, in how many operations shots were fired by police officers, and how many police officers were qualified to carry firearms. [HL1082]

This information is as follows:

Year	Number of authorised firearms officers	Number of operations	Number of operations in which shots fired by the police
1987	7,349	2,185	7
1988	7,194	2,227	2
1989	7,311	2,583	4
1990	7,411	2,874	3
1991	7,717	3,722	5
1992	6,850	4,479	12
1993	6,769	5,625	6
1 April 1994 to 31 March 1995	6,837	5,824	5
1 April 1995 to 31 March 1996	6,554	8,476	5
1 April 1996 to 31 March 1997	6,738	12,379	5

Reasons for the increases in numbers of police firearms operations will vary between forces, and they are best placed to answer specific enquiries. Although the number of authorised firearms officers has dropped over the years, police forces are now much better equipped to deal with armed crime, thanks to armed response vehicles and updated practices. Police firearms have been fired in only five operations in each of the last three years. This very low number confirms that police firearms officers generally carry out their duties with professionalism and restraint.

asked Her Majesty's Government:For each police force in England and Wales (a) how many police officers have been authorised to carry firearms; (b) for how many operations firearms have been issued; and (c) the number of operations involving armed response vehicles, in each of the last three years for which information is available. [HL1081]

The information is as follows:

Issue of police firearms
Number of operations in which firearms were issued
	1994–95	1995–96	1996–97
Total	5,824	8,476	12,379
Avon & Somerset	156	326	312
Bedfordshire	36	264	345
Cambridgeshire	73	47	54
Cheshire	93	219	288
Cleveland	107	487	1,026
City of London	8	25	308
Cumbria	44	54	72
Derbyshire	68	72	109
Devon & Cornwall	29	90	160
Dorset	46	36	36
Durham	100	111	131
Essex	267	267	331
Gloucestershire	27	33	41
Greater Manchester	110	142	214
Hampshire	195	190	245
Hertfordshire	69	47	96
Humberside	49	92	291
Kent	95	82	236
Lancashire	57	227	333