asked Her Majesty's Government:What representations they have made to the government of Israel concerning Palestinian families that have been separated due to problems arising from having different identity cards or nationalities or from the presence of barriers and checkpoints. [HL899]

We remain deeply concerned about the restrictions on freedom of movement for Palestinians into and within the Occupied Territories. These restrictions include the imposition of curfews, the construction of the barrier and tight access controls including permits and identity cards. We continue to call on the government of Israel to do all they can to ease movement restrictions. My right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary and I have raised our concerns with the Israeli Government and the Israeli ambassador in London. Our ambassador in Tel Aviv has also raised these issues with the Israeli authorities.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What steps they are taking to join with European partners to assist in timely, free and fair presidential elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo. [HL1001]

The UK, in conjunction with other major donors, continues to support the transitional Government's efforts to prepare for free and fair elections within the timescale laid out in the peace accords. We have announced a £5 million financial contribution to the United Nations-administered trust fund to support the process. The European Commission has pledged 80 million euros, and at least six other EU partners have also made substantial pledges.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have any plans to introduce legislation similar to the Emergency Workers (Scotland) Bill in England and Wales. [HL578]

We do not consider there is a need to introduce similar offences in England and Wales for attacks on workers in specific sectors. All assaults are wrong and the most important thing is that the severity of the sentence should reflect the relative seriousness of the crime.In England and Wales the maximum sentence for assault is up to six months' imprisonment, and or a fine of up to £5,000. Where more serious injuries are suffered the more serious assault charges of causing actual bodily harm (maximum sentence of five years), and grievous bodily harm or wounding with intent (maximum of life imprisonment) or without intent (maximum of five years).Sentencing guidelines introduced by the Magistrates' Association establish a series of aggravating factors where assaults are concerned. These include whether the assault was on a victim who was serving the public. The Criminal Justice Act 2003 established the Sentencing Guidelines Council, which is charged with drafting and distributing a new set of consolidated sentencing guidelines applicable across all criminal courts in England and Wales. The purpose of the guidelines is to ensure consistency and to require the courts to take account of all the relevant aggravating or mitigating features of a case. We expect that the guidelines will refer explicitly to the fact that a victim was at the time of the offence working with the public as an aggravating feature. We believe such guidelines are the right way to deal with aggravating factors in an offence.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Which police authorities are continuing to administer registration schemes for freemasons within their ranks: and [HL823]How many officers in the Greater Manchester Police Authority have declared themselves freemasons: and [HL824]In view of their agreement to the recommendation of the Home Affairs Select Committee that the membership of secret societies should be declared and that there should be a public register (First Special Report, 1997–98, HC 577), what progress has been made with the implementation of that recommendation. [HL825]

Voluntary arrangements for the declaration of freemasonry membership were established for the police service in 1999. There is no statutory basis for the registers which are held internally by forces. We do not monitor centrally which forces continue to administer such registers.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Falconer of Thoroton on 26 March 2003 (

The information requested, as recorded on the Prison Service central IT

asked Her Majesty's Government:What representations the Prime Minister has received from Patrick Allen of Hodge Jones and Allen Solicitors regarding the report of the Lord Lloyd of Berwick's Independent Public Inquiry on Gulf War Illnesses; what reply he is sending; and whether any further action is being considered. [HL895]

Mr Allen wrote to the Prime Minister on 17 December on issues relating to Gulf veterans' illnesses. This letter has been passed to the Ministry of Defence, where the terms of a reply are currently under consideration.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have information about the Russian test-firing of an SS-18 Satan intercontinental ballistic missile on 22 December 2004. [HL963]

We are aware that Russia launched an SS-18 Satan (Russian designation RS-20) ICBM from a silo at Dombarovskiy, southern Russia on 22 December. The missile, which had a dummy payload, flew 6,000 km and impacted on a test range on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have information about the Russian test-firing of a mobile version of the Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile on 24 December 2004. [HL964]

We are aware that Russia launched a road-mobile version of the SS-27 ICBM (Topol-M) from the Plesetsk space launch site in northern Russia on 24 December. The missile, which had a dummy payload, flew 6,500 km and impacted on a test range on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is their assessment of Russia's continuing capability to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles. [HL965]

Russia routinely conducts test launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), as part of its programme of maintaining a credible and significant strategic nuclear arsenal. The Russian strategic nuclear forces possess over 3,500 deployed strategic nuclear warheads, made up of some 600 silo-based and mobile ICBMs, armed with more than 2,000 warheads; 200 submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with some 800 warheads; and 700 single warhead air-launched cruise missiles. Under the terms of the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT—the Treaty of Moscow) ratified by the US and Russia in 2003, Russia will reduce its deployed strategic nuclear warheads from the current level of over 3,500 to between 1,700 and 2,200 by 31 December 2012.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they have any plans to bring forward the general implementation date of local authority agreements prior to the conclusion of the pilots which are currently in progress; if so, what account they will take of the considerations arising from the pilots in modifying or applying the current scheme. [HL891]

Pilot local area agreements (LAAs) are now being negotiated in 21 areas. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has recently announced a further pilot phase of 40 agreements to be in place by April 2006. This announcement follows consideration of progress in the pilots. We will shortly be inviting expressions of interest from local authorities. A further phase will enable the approach to be tested more fully.In developing the next phase of pilot agreements with local areas, we will draw on lessons from the initial pilots LAAs.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the relationship between the policies set out in the Northern Way documents and the regional planning system; and whether regional spatial strategies must include policies set out in the Northern Way. [HL930]

Regional spatial strategies (RSSs) prepared under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 set out policies relating to the development and use of land. The regional assemblies in the three northern regions are formally designated as regional planning bodies and are currently preparing draft RSSs. It is therefore the assemblies, in consultation with stakeholders, that will determine the content of those draft strategies. Draft RSSs will be subject to statutory processes, involving sustainability appraisal, public consultation and examination in public, before they are finalised by the First Secretary of State my right honourable friend the Deputy Prime Minister.The Northern Way steering group, of which the chairs of the three regional assemblies are members under Sir Graham Hall's chairmanship, prepared the Northern Way Growth Strategy (NWGS). This pan-regional strategy is based on an analysis of the north's economic assets, weaknesses and potential and how best to build on the north's strengths.The NWGS forms an important part of the context for the three northern RSSs and sets out principles which the Northern Way steering group considers should feature strongly in each RSS. The RSS will be a primary delivery vehicle for the NWGS and it is important that the three regional assemblies take it properly into account. The Government expect the spatial implications of Northern Way to be further developed, tested and delivered through the statutory RSS process.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the criteria used to describe individuals as dignitaries or VIPs in Table 12.14, page 43, Volume 3 of the bid for the London Olympic Games varied between the events described; and, if so, in what way. [HL968]

The information provided in Table 12.14 of the candidate file was collated by London 2012 Ltd in the format defined by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). London 2012 advises that the figures were provided by the police authorities responsible for the events shown and Home Office sources. The IOC did not provide set criteria for defining "dignitaries and VIPs". Therefore, local guidelines were applied.

asked Her Majesty's Government:On what grounds the applications by the Bowland and Pennine Mountain Rescue Team to the large grants programme of the community fund and by the Severn Area Rescue Association to the Grants for All lottery scheme were rejected. [HL994]

The distributing bodies for lottery grants make their funding decisions independently of the Government and consider each application on its own merits and against published criteria.I understand that Bowland and Pennine Mountain Rescue Association's application for lottery funding in 2002 was unsuccessful because mountain rescue work did not fit the aim of the particular programme they applied to—the community fund's large grants. The aim of this particular programme was to address deep—seated, long-term problems which cause poverty, joblessness and low-quality of life.I understand that Severn Area Rescue Association's application for an award for all lottery grant was unsuccessful in part because its annual income exceeds the guidelines Awards for All have developed and in part because the association has already received two grants totalling over £8,600.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether, in the light of the decision to reject the grant applications of the Bowland and Pennine Mountain Rescue Team and the Severn Area Rescue Association, they have any plans to review the grounds by which lottery grants are awarded. [HL995]

The distributing bodies for lottery grants make their funding decisions independently of the Government and consider each application on its own merits and against their published criteria.The National Lottery has a good record of supporting mountain rescue activities. Distributors have given nearly £1.8 million to ambulance services, mountain rescue groups and rescue groups for missing and injured people, including £272,884 awarded over four years to the Mountain Rescue Council of England and Wales.The National Lottery is a huge success story—over £16 billion has been raised for good causes. Current reforms proposed by the Government will ensure the public are more closely involved in decision-making, and that it will be easier to apply for and use lottery funding.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many applications to the large grants programme of the community fund or the Grants for All lottery scheme have been rejected on similar grounds to those of the Bowland and Pennine Mountain Rescue Team and the Severn Area Rescue Association. [HL996]

The demand for lottery funding greatly exceeds supply and overall around 64 per cent of applications to the Big Lottery Fund are unsuccessful.By way of comparison 61 per cent of applications from mountain rescue bodies and rescue associations have been unsuccessful. There are various reasons why applications are not successful. In the case of the community fund's Large Grants Programme around 5 per cent of applications fall outside the programme aims. In the case of Awards for All around 23 per cent of unsuccessful applications fail because other applications are given a higher priority for the limited funds available. Reasons for having a lower priority include a higher than average annual income or the applicant having already received one or more Awards for All grants.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Which local authority areas in England and Wales cannot receive a digital radio signal, or can receive only a very poor digital radio signal; and how many of these areas will be able to receive such a signal in 2005, 2006 and 2007. [HL1051]

The information requested is not held centrally. However, the two national multiplexes transmit to about 86 per cent of the population of the UK. In addition, regional and local multiplexes have been awarded to cover 86 per cent of the population, but the build out of transmitters by the broadcasters in each area is not yet complete (the population coverage within a licensed area is currently normally between 70 and 95 per cent). A useful postcode checker for consumers is available from both the BBC and the Digital Development Radio Bureau websites.Responsibility for future plans to increase areas of reception rests with the broadcasters themselves. The BBC has said that it will increase coverage of its national multiplex to 90 per cent of the population during the life of the next charter.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will seek advice from other European Union member states on how to increase productivity in the United Kingdom in the context of their own advice to member states on deregulation as part of the Lisbon Agenda. [HL655]

I and my colleagues regularly meet our counterparts in European Union member states to discuss a range of issues, including how to increase productivity across the EU.The EU has set ambitious goals for productivity through the Lisbon Agenda. The UK is fully supportive of this agenda, which seeks to drive up competitiveness and EU prosperity through a wide-ranging programme to develop, among other things, better regulation, innovation and skills.International studies regularly rate the UK as among the best in the EU for low regulation and good conditions for business.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What are the names and costs of reports and glossy publications which the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has published since the department was established. [HL877]

A list of publications produced by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is detailed on the departmental website ("publications" link on the home page). To collate the information on individual production costs would be disproportionate.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How many comments to include land in the draft stage of the mapping consultation of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 were made by Miss Kate Ashbrook, either as a private individual, board member of the Countryside Agency or director of the Open Spaces Society, in Area 2; how many parcels of land on which Miss Ashbrook commented were subsequently included in the provisional map; what was the total cost to the Countryside Agency in dealing with those parcels which subsequently did not appear in the provisional map; how many of those parcels were successfully appealed against; what was the total cost to the Planning Inspectorate and to the agency; in how many of these appeals costs were awarded against the agency; and what were these costs; and [HL998]How many comments to include land in the draft stage of the mapping consultation of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 were made by Miss Kate Ashbrook, either as a private individual, board member of the Countryside Agency or director of the Open Spaces Society, in Area 3; how many parcels of land on which Miss Ashbrook commented were subsequently included in the provisional map; what was the total cost to the Countryside Agency in dealing with those parcels which subsequently did not appear in the provisional map; how many of those parcels were successfully appealed against; what was the total cost to the Planning Inspectorate and to the agency; in how many of these appeals costs were awarded against the agency; and what were these costs. [HL999]Lord Whitty: Ms Ashbrook submitted no comments at the draft map stage for area 2 or area 3.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What percentage of time the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster works on (a) ministerial and Duchy responsibilities; and (b) other political responsibilities; and, in respect of other political responsibilities, what work has been undertaken since his appointment in September. [HL579]

Ministers spend as long as is necessary to fulfil their ministerial duties.My right honourable friend has a cross-government role in the co-ordination of government policy. He is also responsible for the work of the Strategy Unit and the Policy Directorate.He is a member of Cabinet and sits on a number of Cabinet Committees. He is also responsible for Duchy of Lancaster business.He takes parliamentary Questions in the House on his government responsibilities and deals with correspondence from Members of the House on these issues.As a Minister, he is of course bound by the ministerial code and is therefore required to ensure that he keeps separate his government and party political activities and does not use official resources, including the Civil Service, for party political purposes.