asked the Leader of the House:Whether she will seek an explanation from the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs as to why she has been unable to answer Lord Marlesford's Question about game licences (HL201) after seven weeks when the target time for answering Written Questions is two weeks; and [HL904]What steps are being taken to remind the Home Secretary of the requirement that Written Questions be answered within two weeks, given that 10 of the 21 Questions which are awaiting answer for almost five weeks or more (as of 19 January), are directed to his department. [HL905]

I review all the outstanding Questions with my ministerial colleagues on a weekly basis and remind them of the importance of prompt and accurate Answers.I am pleased to say that all the Questions to which the noble Lord refers have now been answered.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What are the reasons why Mr C Spencer (FT8418) is still detained in prison in the light of the decision of the Parole Board on 25 June 2003 that he should be released on licence. [HL699]

We do not comment publicly on individual cases.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer by the Baroness Ashton of Upholland on 12 January (

"Catholic" students means students who are baptised Roman Catholics."Catholic" sixth-form education means general sixth-form education offered by an institution, directed by Catholic leadership, underpinned by an understanding of Catholic values shared by all teaching staff and governors and where Catholic religious education and pastoral support are available to all students.The "Catholic character" of a sixth-form college manifests itself differently to some extent in each institution but all colleges have in common Catholic leadership through the principal and foundation governor representatives on the governing body as well as an understanding of Catholic values shared by teaching staff and members of the senior management team.The term "religious ethos" is the legislative term used in the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations and is to be understood in the context of that legislation.The "religious character" of an institution describes its religious ethos and mission.It is not necessary to be a professing Catholic in order to benefit from being educated in a Catholic sixth-form college. Many students at Catholic sixth-form colleges are not baptised or practising Catholics but have chosen to attend the colleges to benefit from the opportunities for educational and spiritual development and pastoral support that they offer. The institutions also benefit from the diversity of having students of other faiths and none.The department allocates funds to the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) for provision in the post-16 learning and skills sector. The department does not provide a specific budget to the LSC for Catholic sixth-form colleges. It is for the LSC to determine the right level of investment in sixth-form colleges to meet the needs of learners. Mark Haysom, the council's chief executive, will write to the noble Lord providing details of the public funding of Catholic sixth-form colleges and a copy of his letter will be placed in the Library.The Government do not, and do not intend to, treat the Catholic faith and Catholic institutions differently from other religious or belief institutions. The proposed regulations, which are yet to be laid, are specifically drafted to permit only those institutions listed in a schedule to give preference in their admissions in respect of non-vocational provision to persons of a particular religion or belief in order to preserve that institutions's religious ethos. The amendment is not specific to any religion or belief and the schedule lists Catholic sixth-form colleges because they are the only religion or belief-based institutions incorporated into the further education sector. We have no plans to incorporate any further religion or belief-based institutions into the further education sector. Nothing in the regulations allows an institution to discriminate otherwise against a person of a particular religion or belief.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have any plans to implement a programme supporting healthy and successful marriages. [HL826]

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they intend to follow the policy of the President of the United States in launching a national programme to promote marriage and help the raising of successful families. [HL858]

Her Majesty's Government already make resources available for a marriage support programme. Voluntary and community sector organisations can apply for funding from a £5 million annual grant programme to provide marriage and adult relationship support services.As a result of the machinery of government changes in June 2003, responsibility for marriage and relationship support policy and funding transferred to DfES from the Department for Constitutional Affairs, previously the Lord Chancellor's Department. The DfES intends to continue to support these services as an integral and important element of the wider range of family support services for which it is now responsible.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have sought the views of parents in the Green Paper Every Child Matters; and, if so, which parent groups and how many individual parents were consulted. [HL829]

The Government did seek parents' views on the proposals set out in the Green Paper Every Child Matters.The number of parents who responded to the public consultation on the Green Paper is uncertain as parents may not have chosen to identify themselves as such. We received 29 responses where the respondent can be identified as a parent or an organisation representing parents but the actual number may be higher.The following parent groups are among those that submitted consultation responses: the National Family and Parenting Institute (NFPI); One Parent Families; the Parenting Education and Support Forum; and Parentline Plus. A full list of those organisations and people who are content to be named as responding to the consultation will be made available in due course.We have commissioned the NFPI to hold a series of focus groups for parents to assess their attitudes and opinions on some under-researched issues arising from the Green Paper. These focus groups are currently ongoing.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What are their responsibilities and the responsibilities of the child's parents and the child's wider family respectively for the care and education of a child; and whether these responsibilities are clearly defined in law or elsewhere. [HL843]

The Children Act 1989 defines parental responsibility as "all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and his property". Members of the child's wider family may acquire parental responsibility by court order in appropriate cases. Government department and local authority responsibilities for care and education of children are set out in statute, case law and guidance.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether school governing bodies are required to consult with parents before agreeing to make substantive changes to the school day. [HL888]

The Changing of the School Session Times (England) Regulations 1999 set out to the governing bodies of a community, voluntary controlled or community special school the procedure for changing school session times. The regulations do require that consultation be undertaken with parents before agreeing to make substantive changes to the school day.The regulations do not apply to foundation, foundation special, or voluntary aided schools but we advise these schools to follow the general principles of the regulations in terms of consultation and the giving of notice.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have given approval to Kings Heath Primary School, Birmingham, to move to a four-and-a-half day week. [HL890]

The School Standards Minister has not given approval to Kings Heath Primary School, Birmingham, to move to a four-and-a-half day week.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether, in considering an application by Kings Heath Primary School, Birmingham, to change statutory school time to four-and-a-half days a week, they will require the local education authority and governors to seek the views of the parents. [HL891]

The consultation required will depend upon the nature of any application. A proposal to change the length of school sessions with effect from the following September would require (under the The Changing of School Session Times (England) Regulations 1999) the governing body to consult and seek the views of parents before making changes. The local education authority has an opportunity to comment on the proposal; but there is no requirement on the local education authority to seek the views of parents.However, if the governing body wished to make such changes earlier, or to reduce the number of sessions, it would need to apply under the Education Act 2002 ("Power to Innovate"). In this case it would need to consult the local education authority and such persons as appear to the government body to be appropriate. Guidance advises applicants to consult "all persons who are likely to be affected by a proposal".The Schools Standards Minister in making his decision will have regard to the consultation that has taken place.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What was the response of the War Pensions Agency to the report of Lieutenant-Colonel Graham Howe of the British Forces Health Service in Germany on Lance Corporal Alex Izett's previously unexplained illnesses since receiving multiple vaccinations for deployment to the Gulf for the 1990–91 conflict. [HL738]

It is normal practice for the Veterans Agency to obtain medical reports on claims for war pensions. The report in question was a medical opinion relating to Mr Izett's war pension claim. It formed part of the evidence considered when determining that claim. The Veterans Agency decided, taking account of all the evidence before it, that a reasonable doubt was not raised that disablement was caused by service and the claim was not accepted. On appeal, the Pensions Appeal Tribunal disagreed, finding that a reasonable doubt was raised. The Ministry of Defence has accepted this decision and an award has now been made.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many applications there have been for incapacity benefit since May 1997; how many of these applicants have been successful; how many unsuccessful; and what proportion of the applications have been successful; and [HL802]What proportion of the population have applied for incapacity benefit in each region of the United Kingdom; and what has been the rate of success in each region. [HL803]

In order to make a successful claim for incapacity benefit, a person must satisfy the appropriate contribution conditions; in cases where an application does not result in an award, it is usually because these conditions have not been met. Occupational and personal pensions may also be taken into consideration, with an award reduced by half of any excess over £85; however, people who receive the highest rate of the care component of disability living allowance are not affected.The available information is in the table.

The number of incapacity benefit claims made, claims refused and commencements since September 1997
Period between	Claims received1	Claims refused1	%Claims refused	Claims commencing2
Sept 1997–Aug 1998	1,227,210	n/a	n/a	842,000
Sept 1998–Aug 1999	1,807,855	n/a	n/a	805,000
Sept 1999–Aug 2000	1,284,645	466,865	36·3	775,600
Sept 2000–Aug 2001	1,216,785	435,010	35·8	757,700
Sept 2001–Aug 2002	1,180,505	428,555	36·3	725,300
Sept 2002–Aug 2003	1,131,380	432,640	38·2	685,400
Source:
1Central Data Unit (CDU) 100% count.
2DWP Information Centre, 5% sample.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Which clubs have received funding, and how much, under the Community Club Development Awards Programme during 2003–04. [HL897]

The Community Club Development Programme was launched in April 2003 and the first nine months have largely been about planning and bid preparation. To date, 11 awards have been made totalling £ 2,289,316. Of those awards, eight have gone to football clubs, two to tennis clubs and one to a rowing club. Only the award to Bradford Rowing Club has been publicly announced.The national governing bodies of sport are currently awaiting acceptance of all the other awards offered to date. Once those acceptances are received they will then publicly announce the awards. As the noble Lord will appreciate, it would be inappropriate to release the names of those clubs in advance of this official public announcement.

asked Her Majesty's Government:For the most recent year for which figures are available, and assuming no change in each individual's pension savings payments before receiving tax relief:

(a) The average marginal rate on both individual and employers contributions is estimated to have been around 30 per cent in 2002–03. If there were no changes in contributions or behaviour this would be a tax neutral single rate compared with the current system, (b) Assuming the current rate of contributions and again no change in behaviour a 1 per cent reduction in a single rate of relief would reduce the current annual cost of tax relief by around half a billion pounds, (c) Around 2.5 million higher rate taxpayers would see the relief on their contributions reduced compared with now, which would also include a new tax charge on those with employer contributions, and around 13 million non-higher rate taxpayers would see their rate of relief on their contributions increased.However, introducing a single rate of relief would not necessarily result in increased pension savings. There could be significant behavioural changes by individual pension contributors, employers and pension schemes. This is particularly likely for defined benefit schemes where the current net pay arrangements deliver relief at the individual's marginal rate of income tax and where employer contributions are typically made to satisfy the overall funding of the scheme rather than being attributable to particular individuals. Given the uncertain direction of these behavioural effects on contributions, it is unlikely that the figures given above would be realised.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What estimate they make of the total annual cost, net of tax, to all employers currently offering stakeholder pension schemes to their employees of contributing to them at a rate equivalent to 3 per cent of those employees' earnings; and [HL776]What estimate they make of the total annual cost, both gross and net of tax relief, to all employers of (a) five or more employees and (b) one to four employees, of making pension fund contributions at a rate equivalent to 3 per cent of those employees' earnings. [HL777]

Due to the complexity of modelling such schemes the information could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.

asked Her Majesty's Government:For the most recent year practicable, what pensions savings payments were made in total by self-employed people; what percentage these represented of their total taxable earnings; and what actual amounts these represented on average for each self-employed person. [HL778]

Available estimates for 2002–03 are contained in the table below. The estimates are provisional and based on the Survey of Personal Incomes 2000–01 projected to 2002–03 levels of earnings and prices.

Self-employed contributors and contributions to private pensions1
	Estimates
Number contributing to a private pension	1·5 million
Total contributions	£3·7 billion
Total taxable profit of contributors	£42·8 billion
Contribution as a percentage of taxable profits for contributors	8·5%
Average contribution by contributor per year	£2,500
1 This includes contributions to personal and stakeholder pensions and retirement annuity contracts.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What proportion of public sector employees is covered by (a) defined benefit occupational pension schemes; and (b) defined contribution schemes; and what proportion of defined benefit schemes has been closed to new members in the past 12 months for which reliable estimates are available. [HL818]

Information is not held centrally on all public sector occupational pension arrangements. The design of pension schemes is largely a matter for public service employers, who have differing needs. However, the main multi-employer schemes covering public service occupations for teachers, the NHS, Civil Service and local government, police and fire services all offer defined benefit pensions to eligible employees. There are over 4 million active members of these major public service schemes, but this number does not include employers in the wider public sector like the Bank of England, BBC or Post Office.Public service schemes are reviewed regularly to ensure that they are a cost effective part of the overall remuneration package. Modernisation of pension arrangements may mean that a scheme or section of a scheme, closes to new members as a new scheme or section replaces it. In October 2002 the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme opened a new section giving all new civil servants the choice of a defined benefit or defined contribution pension. Similar closures of schemes or sections may result from the pension scheme reviews of benefit structure to reflect, among other things, the decisions announced in the Green Paper

asked Her Majesty's Government:For each of the standard regions and nations of the United Kingdom, what was the cost of tax credits for research and development in 2002–03. [HL815]

This information is not available. Claims for R&D tax credits do not disclose where in the UK R&D was performed.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What public expenditure has been incurred in relation to building work taking place in the offices of the Inland Revenue at Somerset House; what is the purpose of those works; and by what authority and on what departmental vote the costs are being borne. [HL838]

The works being carried out on the west side of new wing of Somerset House involve external stone cleaning and repairs, external redecoration of woodwork, and repairs to the Lancaster Place Vaults, as part of routine maintenance. The project is funded and managed by the Somerset House Trust from the Somerset House Service Charge. The Somerset House Trust is responsible for the external maintenance of that building.The tenants, of which the Inland Revenue is one, contribute to the service charge in accordance with their lease terms. The service charge is paid by the Inland Revenue to the Somerset House Trust under the authority of the vote (RFR1).

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they can explain the fall in earnings growth from 3.7 per cent to 3.2 per cent in November 2003; and whether this fall might undermine consumers' ability to afford an increase in the cost of borrowing. [HL836]

Whole economy average earnings growth has remained well within sustainable limits over the past two years, responding flexibly to global developments and supporting UK employment. The decline in the 12-month rate of earnings growth between October and November 2003 reflects private sector bonus effects and timing effects in the award of public sector settlements. Nevertheless, earnings growth in the three months to November remained above rates recorded for most of the year. Macro-economic stability based on low and stable inflation, low interest rates and high employment supports consumers' ability to meet the costs of borrowing.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How they intend to respond to the Financial Services Authority's expressed concern that too many consumers lack an adequate understanding of finance to make sensible investment decisions. [HL947]

We welcome the publication by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) of its Financial Risk Outlook for 2004. As the outlook explains, it highlights economic, financial, political and social developments that affect its ability to meet their statutory objectives. It puts its regulatory work in context by explaining the risks it is responding to. The FSA publishes the document to increase awareness of these risks and understanding of its actions.The outlook refers to seven separate priorities, including challenges to the life insurance industry, reform of retail regulation, other reforms, the threat from terrorism, financial crime, and consumers' inadequate understanding of financial concepts and issues.The Government have long recognised the challenges consumers face. That it is why the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 gave the FSA statutory objectives to promote public understanding of the financial system and secure the appropriate degree of protection for consumers.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Under what circumstances the Inland Revenue can lawfully pass on information which it has received in the course of its duties. [HL934]

The position under successive governments has been that the law on taxpayer confidentiality allows the Inland Revenue to pass on information outside the department only if it has the individual's consent or the disclosure is otherwise permitted by law.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will take any action to introduce legislative measures or any other initiatives to encourage the appointment of more women as non-executive directors to the boards of FTSE 100 top companies. [HL688]

In 2003, my right honourable friends the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and the Chancellor of the Exchequer commissioned Derek Higgs to report on how the quality, independence, and effectiveness of non-executive directors might be strengthened. Following the recommendations of this review, my right honourable friend asked Dean Tyson from the London Business School to examine how companies might recruit directors from more diverse backgrounds in order to improve board effectiveness. Both these reports made a number of proposals which boards must consider how to apply in practice.The Tyson report also made recommendations about director training and the measurement of board diversity. These are being pursued by government and business organisations.In addition, since November, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and my right honourable friend the Minister for Industry and the Regions have been meeting chairs, chief executives and senior figures from business to raise awareness about the business case for greater diversity on UK boards and to gather examples of good practice already in place, which we plan to disseminate further, by means of a resources pack for companies.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Sainsbury of Turville on 5 January (

The department does not collect data on the capacity cost for different forms of electricity generation. Figures used in the course of modelling work for the 2003 energy White Paper suggested the following costs for new plant for each of the four technologies in £/MW:

	£
Oil	1,000,000
Gas	400,000
Nuclear	1,300,000
Coal	1,100,000

Total generation costs for each technology measured in terms of £/MWh will depend on the cost of fossil fuels, the efficiency and load factors achieved by each type of plant and the discount rate.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they endorse the view attributed to the Science Minister by the chairman of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee that "The Lords don't really scrutinise science policy". [HL940]

I welcome and value the considerable scrutiny given to science by my noble colleagues in the House, not least the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee. Recent examples of scrutiny are:

• the debate on the Select Committee report on Fighting Infection on 8 December, and present Select Committee inquiries on international agreements and renewable energies;
• the speech and subsequent debate raised by the Baroness Greenfield on 9 December 2003 regarding science and politics, and,
• Questions in the House such as those from the Earl Attlee on tidal power on 8 December 2003, and the debate on the Energy Bill of 11 December.

I recently commented to the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee that I am rarely asked Questions on science in this House.As a Member of this House and as Minister for Science, I seek to further improve scrutiny of science. I have recently agreed to meet the Science and Technology Committee of the Commons for more frequent, general discussions. My hope is that this will drive science further up the agenda within the arena of the Commons, and enhance understanding of what is happening in the world of science. I do, of course, value any Questions from this House on the subject of science.