asked Her Majesty’s Government:

What Royal Air Force and Royal Navy assets are available to detect and intercept Russian Bear aircraft which may approach United Kingdom airspace. [HL5273]

UK forces have procedures to detect and intercept unauthorised military flights from any nation, as well as civil airliners that cause concern.

The Royal Air Force is responsible for the detection and identification of aircraft and the dissemination of the recognised air picture within United Kingdom airspace and its approaches, using assets such as RAF control and reporting centres at RAF Boulmer and RAF Scampton and remote air defence radars and communications sites. RAF Sentry aircraft, Royal Navy Type 42 air defence assets and Sea King air surveillance and control Mark 7 helicopters all have the ability to contribute to the recognised air picture when operating around United Kingdom airspace and waters.

Royal Air Force Tornado F3 and Typhoon aircraft maintain continuous quick reaction alert readiness and are normally based at RAF Coningsby and RAF Leuchars.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

When the consultation, mentioned by the Prime Minister in his pre-Queen's Speech statement, on the provisions of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 concerning demonstrations in Parliament Square will take place. [HL5355]

The consultation referred to by the noble Baroness will commence shortly.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What financial and other assistance has been provided to each of the relevant local authorities and other public bodies towards the costs of dealing with this summer's flooding and its aftermath; and what further assistance is planned. [HL5402]

To date, the Government have made available a significant package of up to £57 million to support areas affected by the flooding of June and July 2007. This includes:

£20 million in flood recovery grant for local authorities affected by the floods to support their work in helping those in greatest and most immediate need. Full details of the grant paid out to local authorities is available on the Communities and Local Government website at www.communities.gov.uk/floodrecovery;

£14 million for schools and children's services affected by the floods. Full details of the grants made to local authorities are set out in the table at the foot of this answer;

£10 million for repairs to the local highway with more to come for affected local authorities as claims are submitted;

over £11 million from regional development agencies for businesses affected in their regions. Regional development agencies continue to assess the needs of business in the affected regions and have adapted or expanded their support to meet such demand. Further information is available on the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) website www.berr.gov.uk/regional/regional-dev-agencies/flood-recovery/page40623.html;

£l million which can be drawn on as contingency reserve for use by JobCentre Plus to support additional demand for social fund community care grants. As of 5 October, the Department for Work and Pensions had paid community care grants totalling £695,000 to 1,225 people on qualifying benefits to meet the cost of replacing essential household items; and

£1 million to support rural tourism in England through promoting rural destinations and visitor attractions and a targeted marketing campaign.

This is additional money to that provided under the Bellwin scheme, which provides emergency financial assistance from government to local authorities, to help meet the uninsurable costs of immediate action to safeguard life or property or prevent severe inconvenience to inhabitants in the case of an emergency or disaster. In recognition of the exceptional nature of the recent flooding, we have made it easier for local authorities to claim back additional costs from government by significantly extending the period for which authorities can claim and increasing the proportion of costs they can receive in support grants to 100 per cent above threshold.

In addition, on 20 August the UK Government lodged an application with the European Commission seeking support from the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) to help recovery from the floods. A decision might be expected towards the end of the year or early in 2008.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will standardise the form of Ministers' e-mail addresses. [HL5358]

There are no plans to standardise the form of Ministers' e-mail addresses. It is for individual departments to decide how correspondence and other contact with Ministers should be best handled and directed.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What are the terms of reference of each of the Ministers for the Regions; and in what ways are they accountable to Parliament for their work in that capacity; and [HL5363]

What departmental support and staffing is and will be provided to the Ministers for the Regions; in which departments such support is and will be located; and what is the budgetary provision for such support; and [HL5364]

In what ways the Ministers for the Regions “will provide a sense of strategic direction for the region and give people a voice in central government” as set out on the website of the Government Office for the North West. [HL5366]

The role of regional Ministers, as set out in The Governance of Britain (Cm. 7170 published 3 July 2007) is to:

advise the Secretaries of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and Communities and Local Government on the approval of regional strategies;

represent regional interests in the formulation of central government policy relevant to economic growth and sustainable development in areas that have not been devolved to the RDAs;

facilitate a joined-up approach across government departments and agencies to enable effective delivery of the single regional strategy;

promote achievement of the Government's regional economic performance objective;

champion the region at high-level events and with regard to high-profile projects,

and

represent the Government with regard to central government policy at regional Select Committee hearings and at parliamentary debates focused specifically on the region.

Each regional Minister has initiated a forward programme of visits and meetings with key stakeholders. The role is still developing.

At present, regional Ministers are supported by their departmental private offices and the Government Offices in their respective regions. Their costs are being covered by existing budgets, as no specific budgetary provision has been made.

Regional Ministers are subject to the same level of scrutiny as with any Minister. The Governance of Britain paper recommends that Parliament consider new arrangements for scrutiny of regional business including the work of regional Ministers. However the means and form by which this would occur is a matter for Parliament.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What work the (a) Minister for the North West, and (b) Minister for Yorkshire and the Humber have so far carried out; what engagements they have undertaken; and what meetings they have attended. [HL5365]

The Regional Minister for the North West has set aside time to undertake a demanding programme of county and city region visits. The Minister has held a series of meetings with stakeholders, in Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cumbria to date, and will visit Lancashire and Cheshire within the next two months.

The Minister has also held a range of meetings and discussions as requested by regional partners including meetings with local authority chief executives, the regional development agency and the Chamber of Commerce. She has conducted her first speaking engagement and a forward programme of meetings and events is being developed.

Since her appointment, the Regional Minister for Yorkshire and the Humber has been engaged with the response to and recovery from the flooding that affected the region. This has included meetings with ministerial colleagues and visits to the affected areas of Kingston upon Hull, Wakefield and Barnsley. She has also met with the chairman and chief executive of Yorkshire Forward, the regional development agency and the executive board of the Regional Assembly, and undertaken a number of speaking engagements across the region.

asked Her Majesty’s Government:

Whether they will introduce a planning category for low-impact, low-density housing that is not connected to national distribution networks for water and electricity. [HL4929]

The Government currently have no plans to introduce a discrete planning category for low-impact, low-density housing that is not connected to national distribution networks for water and electricity.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What is the average time taken to issue decisions on planning appeals in England in the three most recent 12-month periods for which figures are available, for major and ordinary applications respectively, dealt with by (a) written representations, (b) informal hearings and (c) local inquiries. [HL5362]

The table below shows the average time taken from start date to decision date for planning appeals for major, minor and all developments, for the three procedure types, (a) written representation, (b) informal hearings and (c) local inquiry. The data include only those appeals decided by the Planning Inspectorate and include three full financial years and 2007-08 from April to September.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What precedents they are considering in planning eco-towns in the United Kingdom; whether they will pilot these plans on a small scale; whether they will draw on the experience of communities that already live in an environmentally sustainable fashion; and whether they have made an assessment of Chinese plans for Dongtan zero-carbon city. [HL4986]

On 23 July this year, the Government published the Eco-towns Prospectus which set out the vision and outline criteria for eco-towns in England. It also included examples of high quality sustainable developments, both here and overseas, that we would like eco-towns to demonstrate.

In developing eco-towns, the Government are working with the Town and Country Planning Association which has expertise and experience of town planning and new settlements, and as part of its work it will also be looking at good practice both nationally and internationally. This will include available evidence on Dongtan and its relevance to UK experience.

The Government will work with the key stakeholders involved with sustainable development and are creating a stakeholder reference group of leading experts. The Government's carbon challenge, which is being run by English Partnerships will help to inform the development of eco-towns.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

When Ministers were first aware of the intention of the Counter Terrorism Division to make public their request for the extradition of Mr Andrei Lugovoy. [HL5356]

There were a number of cross-Whitehall meetings about the murder of Alexander Litvinenko before the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) made its formal announcement on 22 May 2007. During those meetings, CPS made clear that if, in its independent view, there was sufficient evidence to prosecute anyone for the murder, and if necessary, extradition requests would be made.

The CPS further decided that it would be right to make its decision on the case public and to explain how the prosecution would commence. Ministerial approval for this course of action was not sought but Ministers were made aware on 18 May 2007, by their own officials, that the CPS would make a public announcement after it had decided whether to recommend charges against any person. My predecessor, Lord Goldsmith, was consulted about the decision and saw a draft of the press release, which named Lugovoy, that day. A final version of the press release was shown to Lord Goldsmith on 21 May; this was sent to other government departments the morning of 22 May before being issued by the CPS.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

On what date HM Treasury's review of the present non-domiciled tax regulations started; and when they will publish the conclusions. [HL5335]

A review of the residence and domicile rules that govern personal taxation was announced at Budget 2002. The conclusions on the review are published in paragraphs 5.80 and 5.81 of the 2007 Pre-Budget Report.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by Lord West of Spithead on 1 October (WA 262), what is the total number of foreign nationals considered to pose a national security threat to the United Kingdom whose cases are subject to deportation. [HL5429]

Twenty-four foreign nationals are currently subject to deportation on national security grounds.