asked Her Majesty's Government:

When the Ministry of Defence expects to complete a full condition-based survey of all service family accommodation. [HL707]

A survey is currently under way in England and Wales and the vast majority will be completed by summer 2008. A similar survey in Scotland was completed in 2006. For Northern Ireland, a survey is planned to commence and be completed within the next financial year. It is proposed that all leased accommodation in Germany will be surveyed in the next 18 months. A survey of federal accommodation will be carried out over the next four years. For the permanent joint operating bases (Cyprus, Gibraltar and the south Atlantic islands), condition surveys are undertaken on a five-year rolling programme.

asked Her Majesty’s Government:

Further to the statement by Baroness Taylor of Bolton on 22 November (Official Report, col. 997) that “the reserve will continue to pay all additional costs of operations”, whether this represents a change from the Government’s previous policy of the reserve paying for the net additional costs of operations. [HL721]

No. The net additional cost of operations will continue to be paid from the Treasury reserve.

asked Her Majesty’s Government:

Further to the statement by Baroness Taylor of Bolton on 22 November (Official Report, col. 997), what is the mutually agreed total beyond which the Ministry of Defence and HM Treasury will share the cost of urgent operational requirements for the financial years 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11. [HL722]

We continue to discuss our plans with HM Treasury. However, in light of the uncertainty of such forecasts, as a consequence of the tempo of operations, we do not expect to release into the public domain any estimates agreed with HM Treasury for planning purposes.

asked Her Majesty’s Government:

Further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Bolton on 22 November (WA 87), whether the “commissioning target” differentiates between Group A commissions, which attract a liability to call-out, and other groups that do not have a liability to call-out; and, if so, what was the target and outturn for each group for each of the last five years. [HL731]

There is no differentiation between Group A commissions, which attract a liability for call-out, and Group B commissions, which do not attract such a liability.

asked Her Majesty’s Government:

Whether it is their policy that the higher ranks of the Civil Service should be more representative of the population of the United Kingdom as a whole in terms of ethnicity and gender. [HL603]

It is the policy of the Government to have a Civil Service that is representative of the population whom it serves. Progress has been made on gender, black and minority ethnic and disability representation in the higher ranks of the Civil Service. Details can be found on the Civil Service website at www.civilservice.gov.uk/about/diversity/monitoring.asp.

asked Her Majesty’s Government:

Whether they will take action with their international partners to bring about the cessation of deforestation in the Congo basin. [HL500]

The Department for International Development is working with the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the Governments of the Congo basin countries and other members of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership on the initiation of the £50 million Congo Forest Fund, which will be funded from DfID’s Environmental Transformation Fund.

The Congo Forest Fund will help to slow the rate of deforestation across the Congo basin by developing the capacity of people and institutions to manage their forests and by helping local communities to find livelihoods that are consistent with the conservation of the forests. The fund will strengthen the work of international partners already active in the region and will provide a mechanism for new donors to add their support.

DfID is also working with international partners on specific forestry initiatives in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon, which focus on the development of innovative forest management and finance models.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

When they expect to conclude service-level agreements between the Ministry of Defence, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform on their respective roles in relation to defence exports after the reallocation of the functions of the Defence Export Services Organisation to UK Trade & Investment. [HL702]

The service-level agreement between UK Trade & Investment and the Ministry of Defence regarding defence exports will be concluded before the transfer of responsibilities comes into effect. This transfer will take place on 1 April 2008, as announced to the House by my noble friend Lord Jones of Birmingham on 11 December (Official Report, WS 17-18).

asked Her Majesty’s Government:

What metrics the Ministry of Defence is using to measure the success of the defence industrial strategy; and whether they will place a copy of these metrics in the Library of the House; and [HL703]

What are the delivery milestones for implementing the defence industrial strategy in 2007-08. [HL704]

Progress on the defence industrial strategy (DIS) is measured by a set of milestones that cover both internal MoD change and industrial sectors.

Milestones for 2007 were provided to the House of Commons Defence Committee in January 2007 and were published in their Sixth Report of Session 2006-07. Future delivery milestones will be developed as part of DIS v2.0.

asked Her Majesty’s Government:

Whether environmental sustainability has been integrated into the agenda of issues to be discussed during this week’s European consultation by the Commission on Growth and Development, hosted by the Department for International Development. [HL876]

Consultations were held on 10 December with representatives from European Governments and on 11 December with NGOs, the private sector and academia. In both meetings, the issue of environmental sustainability and its relation to growth took up a significant part of the discussion. In my opening address, I noted that perhaps the biggest challenge today is to work out how the world is going to secure the low carbon growth that we need. This theme was also raised with the commission by other government representatives and by NGO and private sector participants.

We anticipate that the final commission report will deal with environment and growth in some detail, including specific references to the challenges raised by global warming. It will also deal with more local environmental issues related to growth.

asked Her Majesty’s Government:

Whether they will provide a summary of each topic subject to a focus group commissioned by or on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Government and its predecessor in each of the last three years. [HL226]

Focus groups frequently play an important role in policy formation, implementation or evaluation, as part of the normal process of public and stakeholder consultation. Information on specific exercises is not available centrally and would result in disproportionate costs to collect.

asked the Chairman of Committees:

What is the total cost of the State Opening of Parliament. [HL840]

The House of Lords contribution to the 2007 State Opening of Parliament is £85,840, which is 40 per cent of the total cost to the Houses of Parliament. This figure includes the cost of the removal and reinstatement of the Corus barriers.

asked Her Majesty’s Government:

To what extent plans to harmonise and integrate public services provided (a) by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, and (b) by the Palestinian Authority, in both Gaza and the West Bank, have so far been discussed; and whether any progress has been made in implementation. [HL635]

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) already works closely with the Palestinian Authority (PA) at local, national and municipal levels, in both the West Bank and Gaza, to ensure parity of health, education and social services. For example, UNRWA contributed to the drafting of the Palestinian reform and development plan. This will be implemented over the course of 2008. There are no formal plans for the PA and UNRWA to deliver services jointly.

asked Her Majesty’s Government:

How many homes have been built in areas designated as being at high risk of flooding in each of the last five years. [HL438]

An estimated 68,100 dwellings were built in areas of high flood risk between 2001 and 2005. The table below gives a breakdown by year over that time.

The definition of high flood risk areas used by Communities and Local Government is the high-risk zone mapped by the Environment Agency as being at a probability of flooding, excluding the presence of flood defences, of at least one in 100 each year for river flooding and at least one in 200 for coastal flooding. High flood risk areas account for about 10 per cent of land in England, including parts of major cities such as London.

Flood risk is a major factor in the location of new development and the Government’s aim is to avoid inappropriate development in such areas. Planning policy statement 25 (PPS25) ensures that flood risk must be taken into account at all stages of the planning process. Development that would not be safe in the higher flood risk areas should be directed to areas of lower risk wherever this is practicable.

asked Her Majesty’s Government:

Whether Network Rail is playing its part in reducing the minutes lost in the public performance measure monitoring data; and, if not, what action they propose to take. [HL828]

The public performance measure for rail reliability continues to improve. The number of delay minutes attributed to Network Rail has remained stable over the last 12 months. It is the duty of the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) to monitor the performance of Network Rail and to take action if Network Rail fails to meet its regulatory targets. For information on the ORR’s enforcement policy, the noble Lord may wish to contact the ORR directly at the following address: Chief Executive, Office of Rail Regulation, 1 Kemble Street, London, WC2B 4AN.

asked Her Majesty’s Government:

Whether the resignation of the chairman of Sport England will lead to a shift of policy towards more support for competitive sport as opposed to the goal of increasing participation in sporting activities by adults of all backgrounds. [HL740]

The resignation of the chairman of Sport England will have no effect on the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport’s announcement on 28 November to focus Sport England on building a world-class community sport infrastructure.

The Government want to build a high-quality community sport infrastructure in order to sustain and increase participation in sport from the grass roots up and to allow people of all abilities the opportunity to develop their sporting talents and fulfil their potential. Competitive sport and participation both play important roles in a high-quality community sport infrastructure.

Sport England is currently developing its new strategy to develop world-class community sport and boost participation in grass-roots sport, particularly among people from poorer backgrounds, women and ethnic minority communities.

asked Her Majesty’s Government:

In the light of the announcement by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Mr Purnell, on 27 November about shifting priorities from encouraging participation in sport towards promoting sporting excellence, how they will ensure the protection of the promotion of physical fitness through activities which will no longer be regarded as sport and which will not in future be within the remit of Sport England; and who will be responsible for providing funding for these activities. [HL825]

On 28 November, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport announced that Sport England’s new focus would be to build a world-class community sport infrastructure.

The Government want to build a high-quality community sport infrastructure in order to sustain and increase participation in sport from the grass roots up and to allow people of all abilities the opportunity to develop their sporting talents and fulfil their potential.

Sport England is developing a new strategy setting out how it will focus more clearly on the delivery of sport. In order to maintain the seamless delivery of wider physical activity, Her Majesty’s Treasury is leading the development of a cross-government physical activity strategy for all.

The two new strategies, for Sport England and for physical activity, will provide absolute clarity on the roles and funding responsibilities for all the different organisations to meet the Government’s aim of 2 million more people being more active by 2012.