asked Her Majesty's Government:What plans they have to justify the decision-making process surrounding the budget of the Language Implementation Body and including consultation with the bodies concerned. [HL2463]

The budget for the North/South Language Body is determined in accordance with normal budgeting procedures on the basis of business plans as set out in the financial memorandum. This includes consultation with both agencies.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How much money each Northern Ireland department spent in the year 2003–04; whether there was an underspend in any department; and, if so, what was the amount and why. [HL2514]

Information on the extent of any underspends for Northern Ireland Departments for 2003–04 is not yet available. It is expected to be available before the Summer Parliamentary Recess.I will ensure the noble Lord is sent a copy of this information and copies are placed in the Library of the House.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How much money has come into Northern Ireland through the Northern Ireland block grant for children aged up to 14 years for each of the past five years; how this money was proportioned to each Northern Ireland government department; and what impact this money has had on children's services. [HL2699]

Public expenditure allocations to Northern Ireland are determined through the application of the Barnett formula, which provides a population-based share of changes in comparable Whitehall spending programmes. This approach does not allow for the tracking of additions to the NI block arising from general issues such as spending on children aged up to 14 years.

asked Her Majesty's Government:On what basis the relocation of the headquarters of a cross-border implementation body is justified under a policy of care and maintenance. [HL2734]

The answer to the noble Lord's Question would depend on the circumstances, but in general the care and maintenance principle applies to the functions of a North/South body as opposed to where its headquarters is located.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Which activities may be undertaken by cross-Border implementation bodies under the policy of care and maintenance; and whether these include the relocation of headquarters. [HL2750]

It is not possible to provide an exhaustive list of all those activities that would be consistent with the policy of care and maintenance. However it may be helpful if I were to remind the noble Lord that the Statement of Clarification issued by the two Governments on 20 December 2002 said:"We intend to take only those decisions required to ensure proper care and maintenance of the Implementation Bodies and Tourism Ireland in the peformance of their necessary public functions. We intend only to pursue the policies and actions already agreed in the NSMC and not to introduce any new policies".I would refer the noble Lord to my Answer of 19 January 2004 (

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer by the Lord President on 10 May (

This visit was among those included in the Written Answer I gave on 10 May (Official Report Col WA 1). In April 2001 officials undertook a number of engagements in Washington. This included attending a reception organised by the Ulster-Scots Agency.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the Ministry of Defence has submitted a proposal to the local planning authority for consent to build a large facility at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston; and, if so, what is the purpose of the facility. [HL2821]

A notice of proposed development has been submitted to the local planning authority in support of a proposal to build a replacement laser facility at AWE, which is being considered by the Ministry of Defence. If built, the facility would contribute to the certification of warhead performance and safety assurance.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many pleasure craft are licensed to operate on the Thames to carry more than 50 members of the public; what is the total passenger capacity of all such craft; and what is the total passenger capacity of all pleasure craft licensed on the Thames. [HL2796]

There are 80 pleasure craft licensed to operate on the tidal Thames that can carry more than 50 members of the public, with the total passenger capacity of all such craft being 18,254. The total passenger capacity of all pleasure craft licensed on the tidal Thames is 19,059.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Who owns Network Rail and its assets. [HL2920]

Network Rail Limited is a company limited by guarantee which is owned by its members. Its wholly owned subsidiary, Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, owns the Great Britain rail infrastructure.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will discuss with the directors of the major national art galleries the purchase of works by living British artists, such as Ken Howard, Jack Vettriano and John Ward, not currently represented in their collections. [HL2823]

The acquisition policies of the major national art galleries sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport are a matter for the trustees of those bodies. However, I understand that a number of these institutions hold works by some of the artists mentioned.

asked Her Majety's Government:Which electoral pilots in each of the past four calandar years have involved e-counting in whole or in part; which such pilots involved a manual count of some or all of the ballot papers to check against the results of the e-counting technology; and what were the results of such checking. [HL2738]

Electronic counting can take two forms. First, where votes have been cast electronically, e.g. through the Internet or telephone, they are counted electronically automatically. The second form is the electronic counting of ballot papers. The table lists those local authorities that have piloted this latter form of electronic counting since May 2000:

Year	Name of Local Authority	Comments
2000	Broxbourne Borough Council
	Three Rivers District Council
2001	No electoral pilots held
2002	Broxbourne Borough Council
	Chorley Borough Council	Combined with all-postal voting
	Epping Forest District Council
	London Borough of Hackney	Combined with all-postal voting
	Liverpool City Council	Combined with e-voting
	Rugby Borough Council
	South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council	Combined with all-postal voting
	City of Westminster
2003	Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council	Combined with e-voting
	Broxbourne Borough Council
	Chester-le-Street District Council	Combined with all-postal voting
	Chorley Borough Council	Combined with all-postal voting and e-voting
	Derwentside District Council	Combined with all-postal voting
	Epping Forest District Council	Combined with e-voting
	Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough Council	Combined with all-postal voting and e-voting

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many children have been sexually or physically abused by:

The criminal statistics, published annually, do not categorise offences against children who have been sexually or physically abused in this way. The Home Office Court Proceedings database, can identify sexual or physical offences against children only where the age of the victim is identified by the offence. It does not hold information on the individual circumstances of the offence, thus the status of the defendant and relationship between victim and offender is not available.A research paper by the Home Office published in 1998, entitled

asked Her Majesty's Government:

(a) how many drug treatment and testing orders (DTTOs) have been made in England and Wales in each year that figures are available; and

(b) what targets they have set for the years 2004–05 and 2005–06 for the number of DTTOs to be made; and [HL2655]

How many people with additional mental health problems have, since 2000

The number of drug treatment and testing orders (DTTOs) made since rollout of the order across England and Wales in October 2000 is:

• 2000–01 (six months)—1,256
• 2001–02—4,854
• 2002–03—6,145
• 2003–04—8,515

The DTTO commencment target for 2004–05 is 13,000 orders, including 1,000 of the new lower intensity variant. This will increase to 16,000 orders in 2005–06, including 4,000 of the lower intensity variant.Information relating to the number of offenders with mental health problems who have received treatment under a DTTO and have successfully completed this treatment is not centrally available and could be collected only at disproportionate cost.There are no plans to roll-out drug abstinence orders or drug abstinence requirements as a requirement of a community order. Drug testing will become available as a licence requirement when the relevant section of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 is introduced. Under the new legislation the drug rehabilitation requirement will be introduced, which, similar to the DTTO, does not require abstinence but does require regular drug testing.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer by the Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean on 6 April (

For all federal and regional elections in Belgium (including for the Chamber and Senate), candidates must be Belgian by birth or be naturalised Belgian; be in full possession of their civil and political rights (the right to vote can be withdrawn if convicted of serious criminal offences); be at least 21 years-old; and be resident in Belgium. There is no stipulation on the number of years resident in Belgium or the number of years since naturalisation.To stand for election to the French Sénat, one must be a French national and resident in France. There are no limitations for naturalised French citizens on how long they need to have had French nationality before they can stand.In Luxembourg the closest body to an upper chamber is the Conseil d'Etat (Council of State). It consists of 21 Members, of which a minimum of 11 have to hold lawyers' degrees. They are nominated by the Grand Duke. Candidates must be a Luxembourger (there is a five-year minimum residency to obtain citizenship); a resident of the country (no minimum time for EU 14 citizens); and be at least 30 years of age, with the exception of the Crown Prince. Membership ends after 15 years, or when a member turns 72.In Austria the Bundesrat functions as the "second chamber", representing the interests of the federal provinces in the legislative process. The 62 Members of the Bundesrat are not directly elected but are chosen by the regional parliaments (Landtag) in each of the nine federal provinces (Bundesland), in proportion to the representation of the politcal parties within the respective regional parliament. The candidates do not have to be Members of the regional parliament, but must fulfil the criteria to be elected to the Landtag. These are: Austrian nationality; having the main residence (Hauptwohnsitz) in the relevant Bundesland; no criminal record.Members of the Upper House (the Bundesrat) in Germany are appointed by the governments of the federal states (the Länder). As specified in the Federal Basic Law (Grundgesetz), Article 51(1), they must be Members of the respective Land government. In most Länder, the Minister President (Head of the Land Government) can freely pick their Ministers. They usually do not have to be Members of the Land parlaiment, or even necessarily resident in the Land. In theory, Länder could impose their own residence criteria for membership of their governments, but in practice none does so and any such criteria would need to be compatible with German federal law.All of these countries operate restrictions on their labour market for citizens of eight of the new EU member states which acceded on 1 May 2004 (the two exceptions being Cyprus and Malta.)

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the integrated continence services to be established by April 2004 will include specialist services and paediatric clinicians to support children with bladder and bowel conditions; and [HL2613]Whether every primary care trust is expected to have established the post of director of continence services by April 2004, as set out in the good practice in continence service guidelines in the older people's national service framework. [HL2614]

Common childhood conditions, including enuresis and paediatric continence, will be considered under the forthcoming national service famework for children, young people and maternity services.The information on whether each primary care trust will have established the post of director of continence services is not collected centrally.The National Service Framework for Older People includes a milestone that, by April 2004, all local health and social care systems should have established an integrated continence service.Each National Health Service trust is responsible for creating its own business plan which shows how it will deploy its resources to deliver on both national and local priorities and fit within the plans of its PCT commissioners. These local plans will not be anlaysed centrally.Strategic health authorities will bring together those PCT plans into a comprehensive local delivery plan for their area.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the integrated continence services set up in April 2004 include assessment, treatment and equipment for children. [HL2782]

The National Service Framework for Older People includes a milestone that, by April 2004, all local health and social care systems should have established an integrated continence service.Common childhood conditions, including enuresis and paediatric continence, will be considered under the forthcoming national service framework for children, young people and maternity services.Each National Health Service Trust is responsible for creating its own business plan which shows how it will deploy its resourcese to deliver on both national and local priorities and fit within the plans of its Primary Care Trust commissioners. These local plans will not be analysed centrally.Strategic Health Authorities will bring together those PCT plans into a comprehensive Local Delivery Plan for their area.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Warner on 28 April (

The Department of Health and the National Health Service have information on the number of patients waiting for orthopaedic surgery, the length of time patients wait and the number of patients who had hip replacements in previous years. This information is used to help forecast capacity required in future years.Strategic health authorities are currently developing detailed plans to reduce maximum waiting times in orthopaedics to six months by December 2005, taking into account likely trends in demand. These plans will be in place by June.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What progress has been made towards achieving a unified regime of self-regulation for psychotherapists: and what efforts they have recently made towards encouraging the different branches of the profession to reach agreement on this issue. [HL2781]

Department of Health officials have had a series of meetings with organisations representing psychotherapists, counsellors and other practitioners of talking therapies since February 2001. Originally these meetings involved individual bodies but since September 2002 joint group meetings have been held. Discussions have centred on roles, competences and the training and standards of proficiency required, all of which are a prerequisite for statutory regulation. Progess has also been made on developing national occupational standards in this area.