asked Her Majesty's Government:

How the amount of the consolatory payment of £500 authorised for the family of Gulf War veteran the late Mr T E Walker's family in recognition of the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency's error shortly before his death, in having cut his war pension from 100 per cent to 40 per cent, was determined; how many other such payments have been made; and at what amount in each case. [HL354]

In exceptional circumstances consolatory payments may be made where, for example, worry, distress, suffering or anguish is deemed to have occurred due to error. Each case is considered on an individual basis according to the circumstances. Payments are not intended to put a value on the distress suffered but are made by way of acknowledgement of the error, and apology.

It was considered that the level of payment was warranted in recognition of the error in the late Mr T E Walker's case.

During the financial year 2006-07 there were six consolatory payments and so far this year there have been eight, ranging from £25 to £1,000.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How much has been spent on urgent operational requirements in each of the past five full financial years; how much was claimed back to the reserves by the Treasury in each year; and what are the estimated equipment support costs going forward for purchases in each of those years. [HL256]

The cost of urgent operational requirements (UORs) approved for the last five years is shown in the table below.

UORs funded from the reserve are not subject to repayment. Support costs for UORs are funded separately by the reserve as net additional costs of military operations; we do not hold centrally support costs by individual UOR.

Occasionally, existing funded programmes in the MoD's forward equipment plan are brought forward for operational reasons, and are subject to repayment.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What progress they have made in reallocating the functions of the Defence Export Services Organisation to UK Trade and Investment; and when the reallocation is expected to be completed. [HL552]

I refer the noble Lord to the Written Statement made on 11 December 2007 (Official Report, col. WS 17) on defence exports.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What will be the structure of the successor unit in UK Trade and Investment to the Defence Export Services Organisation. [HL553]

I refer the noble Lord to the Written Statement made on 11 December 2007 (Official Report, col. WS 17) on defence exports. Decisions on the internal structure of the unit in UK Trade and Investment will be taken by the relevant senior management early in the New Year.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

When they will finalise a transparency policy under the defence industrial strategy; and[HL705]

What implications they anticipate the delay in producing the second version of the Defence Industrial Strategy will have for the Ministry of Defence's commercial relationships with industry, and in particular small and medium enterprises, and the maintenance of sovereign capabilities in sectors identified as necessary in the first industrial strategy. [HL706]

The Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS) remains the basis of our relationship with industry. We are driving forward with its implementation, not least through the development of an updated strategy. In doing so, we continue to work to maintain those sovereign capabilities identified in DIS, and to provide further clarity in a number of areas, such as setting out the detail of our transparency policy and our approach to supply networks including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Further, we are developing a package of measures to ensure that SMEs are not disadvantaged in their dealings with the Ministry of Defence, and will implement these measures in advance of the publication of the updated DIS where appropriate. Therefore, we do not anticipate that the change in publication date will fundamentally impact on our commercial relationships with industry.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 5 December (HL524), why the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency records cannot make available the number of drivers who are currently disqualified from driving; and whether this information is held on the police national computer. [HL819]

The driver register has accurate individual records of who is entitled to drive and who is disqualified from driving. The system was not designed to run statistical analysis of the complete register.

It is not possible from the information on driving disqualifications held on the police national computer to calculate the number of people currently disqualified from driving.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What plans they have for the future use of the former Eurostar maintenance depot at North Pole. [HL870]

Following the transfer of the site to Her Majesty's Government in the new year, BRB (Residuary) Limited has been asked to provide a valuation and to dispose of the site. Prior to any disposal, there will be a further check with relevant stakeholders to confirm our initial assessment that there is no further rail use for this site.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What specific steps they will take to ensure that United Kingdom sector regulators will co-ordinate their work increasingly in a European Union-wide single market context; and whether they will give examples of recent such actions. [HL417]

The Government are aware that initiatives from the EU are having an increasing impact on the role of sector regulators. It is for the regulators in the first instance to consider to what extent they need to co-ordinate their work in response to this, either in the UK or with European counterparts; for example, mechanisms are already in place for sector regulators with concurrent UK and EU competition powers to share best practice. Against this background, the Government are also considering their response to the House of Lords Select Committee on Regulators report on UK Economic Regulators ((HL Paper 189-I), including the committee's recommendations on co-ordination between regulators.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What statutory obligations exist on the frequency with which the Royal Mail is required to deliver to premises and to collect mail from public letter boxes. [HL816]

The minimum requirements concerning collection and delivery of postal items are set out in Section 4 of the Postal Services Act 2000: for at least one collection, and one delivery each working day, save where there are exceptional circumstances.

These requirements form part of the universal service obligation which is defined by Postcomm, the postal services regulator, in consultation with users.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

On which date the Royal Mail decided to suspend Sunday collections from public letter boxes; and what consultations were held with user groups before this decision was made. [HL817]

This is an operational matter for Royal Mail. I understand that Royal Mail introduced Sunday collections in 1990 to enhance its service, but there has been very little take up from the public. Sunday postings are very low, but add a huge amount of cost to the business—up to four times more to handle these items than those collected on other days. Royal Mail has to have regard to its costs and has therefore decided to stop Sunday collections. This decision follows an application to Postcomm, the postal services regulator, and consultation with Postwatch which indicated that there was little demand for Sunday services. Sunday and Bank Holiday collections are not part of Royal Mail's universal service obligation and Postcomm has agreed to the withdrawal of the service.