Written Answers
Monday, 29th June 1998.
Chequers Meeting
asked Her Majesty's Government:In relation to the weekend at Chequers referred to in the Viscount Runciman of Doxford's diary (excerpts of which were printed in The
Sunday Telegraph on 7 June 1998), which government Ministers were present that weekend; who, apart from government Ministers, was also present; and what were the reasons for inviting these people. [HL2258]
The Prime Minister of course meets many people in public and private meetings to discuss a wide range of subjects. As with previous administrations, it is not the practice of Her Majesty's Government to disclose details of discussions at private events.
Honours: Advisory Committees
asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will give the names of any committee or committees that advise on the award of honours in the academic and scientific categories, together with their membership and terms of reference. [HL2322]
No. Information about advisory committees in the honours system and the advice they give is protected from disclosure under exemptions 2 and 8 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, and is not made public.
Values Of The Left
asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Privy Seal on 8 June (
WA 59), whether they will specify how each of the terms "justice", "solidarity", and "freedom" are defined as "values of the left"; [HL2319]
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Privy Seal on 8 June ( WA 59), when they will have completed their "rethink" of how to deliver justice, solidarity and freedom as values of the left; and [HL2320]
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Privy Seal on 8 June ( WA 59), whether they regard themselves to be "of the left". [HL2321]
The achievements of the Government in its first year in office have demonstrated how justice, solidarity and freedom are being put into action. The Government was elected, and will govern, as New Labour for all the people of Britain.
River Maine
asked Her Majesty's Government:What representations they have received from Mr. Harold Avery in respect of control of pollution and fish stocks, and related alleged malpractices, on the River Maine; and [HL2307]On what date Clinty Chemicals were first granted a consent by the Environment and Heritage Agency (Northern Ireland) to discharge effluent into the River Maine; and [HL2308]On what date the Environment and Heritage Agency (Northern Ireland) first granted a consent under the Water Act to allow a fish farm on the River Maine at Carcinty Road, Cullybackey. [HL2310]
Responsibility for the subject in question has been delegated to the Environment and Heritage Service under its Chief Executive, Mr. Robert C. Martin. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter to Lord Alderdice from the Chief Executive of the Environment and Heritage Service, Mr. R. C. Martin, dated 24 June 1998.
As Chief Executive of the Environment and Heritage Service (EHS), I am responsible for the operational aspects of environmental protection including statutory responsibilities under the Water Act (Northern Ireland) 1972. While questions No. 805 and No. 807 are solely for my Service to answer, question No. 804 traverses a number of Government Departments and I have been asked to co-ordinate the reply.
Parliamentary Question No. 804
Mr. Avery has made numerous representations to Government Departments. The following is a summary.
DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT FOR NORTHERN IRELAND:
Environment and Heritage Service
- 5 letters covering a range of topics—hydro electric schemes, abstraction of water, compensation flows, aluminium, disposal of sludge from water treatment plants, sewage effluent discharges, disposal of sewage sludge, fluoridation, and industrial effluent discharges,
- 2 letters relating to a Cullybackey fish farm;
- 9 reports of water pollution; and
- 1 meeting with EHS officials to discuss water quality issues.
Water Service
7 letters covering a range of topics—the disposal of water treatment plant effluent and sludges containing aluminium, disposal of sewage sludge to agricultural land, abstraction of water for public supply, compensation water, fluoridation of water supplies, statutory provisions for the protection of fish stocks and the prevention of pollution, and the regulatory relationship between Water Service and Environment and Heritage Service.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR NORTHERN IRELAND:
Fisheries Division
- 27 letters on the hydro electric scheme at Randalstown;
- 1 letter on fish kill/pollution; and
- 1 letter on drainage work affecting fisheries.
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT:
12 letters about fishery and related matters.
I would ask you to note that Mr. Avery often copied his letters widely, (including to Government Ministers), and that Departments would have referred letters which, in part, contained references to matters within another Department's remit for separate reply. The above summaries therefore will include multiple counting where Ministers or Departments were responding collectively or individually to the same letter.
Parliamentary Question No. 805
Clinty Chemicals does not have a consent to discharge effluent to the River Maine. The discharge from the Clinty Quarry site is currently consented in the name of Ready Mixed Concrete. The discharge consent (No. 1705/75) was issued on 12 September 1975. Environment and Heritage Service is in the process of reviewing the situation in order to transfer the discharge consent to Clinty Chemicals.
Parliamentary Question No. 807
Environment and Heritage Service granted a discharge consent (No. 465/96) to the Carcinty Road fish farm on 30 April 1996.
asked Her Majesty's Government:How many exemptions under Sections 58 and 59 of the Fisheries Act (Northern Ireland) 1966 have been granted on the River Maine each year since 1995; and to whom. [HL2309]
| Year | |
| 1995 | |
| 4 exemptions to | (i) Galgorm Manor; |
| (ii) Gallagher Limited; | |
| (iii) A O'Neill; and | |
| (iv) Harperstown Power Limited. | |
| 1996 | |
| 1 exemption to | Hillmount Properties (NI) Ltd. |
| 1997 | |
| 2 exemptions to | (i) A O'Neill; and |
| (ii) Otterburn Trout Farm. | |
| 1998 | |
| 1 exemption to | Shane Castle. |
asked Her Majesty's Government:On what date the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland first issued a permit to move fish and ova to a fish farm on the River Maine at Carcinty Road, Cullybackey. [HL2311]
7 September 1994.
asked Her Majesty's Government:What fisheries projects on the River Maine have been supported by European Peace and Reconciliation Funds. [HL2312]
Applications submitted by the Maine Angling Club in respect of fish pass improvements, in-river works and access improvements, the Demesne Anglers, Shane's Castle, Randalstown Angling Club and Gracehill, Galgorm and District Angling Club, all three in respect of in-river works and access for anglers, have been supported by European Peace and Reconciliation Funds.
Handguns: Northern Ireland
asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they believe that public safety in Northern Ireland is prejudiced by the holding of licensed handguns by members of the public. [HL2253]
Any firearm in the wrong hands can pose a risk to public safety. For this reason the law controls and regulates the legitimate possession and responsible use of firearms. Her Majesty's Government is committed to maintaining rigorous standards of firearms safety in Northern Ireland, as in the rest of the United Kingdom. But to be fully effective the law must be relevant and proportionate to the prevailing conditions. This was the aim of the wide-ranging legislative reform proposals published by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on 2 April which we believe will further enhance Northern Ireland's strict regime of firearm controls.
asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether persons resident in Great Britain may own handguns which are kept in Northern Ireland. [HL2254]
In order to acquire and possess a target handgun in Northern Ireland a person must be a member of an approved firearms club and obtain a firearm certificate. A resident of Great Britain may apply to join a firearms club in Northern Ireland. Membership is a matter for individual clubs to decide.The Firearms (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 provides for residents of Great Britain to apply to the Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary for a Northern Ireland firearm certificate. When considering such applications, the Chief Constable must satisfy himself that the normal legislative criteria of suitability, good reason and public safety have been met. In the latter context this would include the provision of adequate arrangements for secure storage of the firearms concerned.
Vitamin B6
asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether, in recommending an upper limit for general sale of Vitamin B6 of 10 mg, the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment base this figure on animal data divided by a safety factor of 300, as they stated in their initial report last June, or human data divided by a factor of five, as they have more recently stated in their written evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee on Agriculture last month.[HL2382]
The Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment considered both human and animal studies. The animal studies reinforced the evidence from clinical studies in humans, and applications of safety factors to both types of studies led to the same figure for a safe daily intake.
asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether, in stating their preliminary observations on the United States National Academy of Sciences report on a tolerable upper limit for Vitamin B6 that there may be risks of overdosage for vulnerable subpopulations, the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment recognise the risks of underdosage for such groups. [HL2383]
The Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment were asked to advise on the safety of high doses of Vitamin B6 and not the nutritional requirements. The Committee on Medical Aspects of Food and Nutrition Policy advised that the reference nutrient intake (RNI) for Vitamin B6 is 1.4 mg/day. Surveys show that the average intakes of Vitamin B6 in the United Kingdom from food (excluding supplements) are well above the RNI.
Association Of Chief Police Officers
asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will place in the Library of the House copies of the annual accounts for each of the last five years of the Association of Chief Police Officers (England, Wales and Northern Ireland); and why they have not acceded to previous written Questions to provide this information. [HL2398]
I have arranged for copies of the accounts for the Association of Chief Police Officers for the years 1992–93 to 1996–97 to be placed in the Library. I placed a copy of the most recent accounts for 1996–97 in the Library on 2 April (WA 64). This is the first request we have received to provide a copy of the accounts of ACPO for the last five years.
Mr Al Fayed
asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer by Lord Williams of Mostyn on 15 June (
WA 111) whether, in the event of Mr. Al Fayed's current application for British citizenship being refused, they will, in the public interest, publish the reasons for such refusal, together with the reasons for previous refusals, as well as informing Mr. Al Fayed. [HL2374]
No. It is not our practice to disclose information concerning individual applications for British citizenship.
Criminal Cases Review Commission: Case Review Managers
asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they agree with the Criminal Cases Review Commission that it is not necessary to be a trained lawyer to be a case review manager investigating suspected miscarriages of criminal justice. [HL2366]
Under the Criminal Appeal Act 1995 Schedule 1, paragraph 4(1), the Criminal Cases Review Commission has discretion to appoint such employees as it thinks fit (subject to the consent of the Secretary of State as to their number and terms and conditions of service) to enable it to carry out its functions.It would not be appropriate for Her Majesty's Government to comment on the Criminal Cases Review Commission's internal arrangements concerning recruitment.
Independent Commission On The Voting System
asked Her Majesty's Government:What criteria they used in choosing people to serve on the Independent Commission on the Voting System. [HL2389]
The members of the Independent Commission on the Voting System were selected to represent a broad spectrum of political views. They are all eminent and distinguished people, with a wide knowledge of the issues involved.
Prisons: Communicable Diseases
asked Her Majesty's Government:What progress has been made in reducing the risk of the spread of communicable diseases in prisons.
The Government are committed to tackling drug misuse in prisons. In support of the Government's wider national strategy, Tackling Drugs to Build a Better Britain, the Prison Service launched its new drug strategy on 12 May. It builds on existing drug policies and seeks to reduce the number of prisoners testing positive for drugs as a result of mandatory drugs testing. Inmates proved to be misusing drugs are normally punished with a loss of privileges, additional days added to sentence or another penalty and injecting equipment is always confiscated when found. The Prison Service is also working to achieve our manifesto commitment to provide access to voluntary drug testing (so-called "drug-free wings") for all prisoners who request it, supported by treatment programmes to help them stay drug free.
These and other measures are achieving considerable success in reducing drug misuse in prisons. However it is known that a minority of inmates persist in injecting and in sharing injecting equipment. This behaviour poses a substantial risk in terms of the spread of HIV, hepatitis and other communicable diseases, not only to prisoners themselves but to staff who encounter contaminated needles and to the wider community. To help counter such risks, disinfecting tablets have been readily available in Scottish prisons since 1993. They were also introduced in all prisons in England and Wales in 1995 but were withdrawn because of safety concerns. Those concerns have now been allayed following tests by the Health and Safety Executive. In the interests of public health, following consultation with the Department of Health and with the support of the Chief Medical Officer, the Prison Service will provide disinfecting tablets on a trial basis, together with a leaflet explaining how to use the tablets and providing information about hepatitis and HIV. The leaflet will warn prisoners of the dangers of injecting and outline help available to tackle their drug misuse.
The pilot scheme, which is planned to start in July 1998, will operate for three months in 11 selected prisons, and will make disinfecting tablets available to prisoners freely and anonymously. A variety of distribution methods suitable to the geography and regime of the different prisons will be trialled.
The pilot scheme will be evaluated by an independent academic team based at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. If successful, the initiative will be extended to all prisons in England and Wales.