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Catholic Sixth-form Colleges
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Further to the Written Answers by the Baroness Ashton of Upholland on 12 January (WA 70–72), whether the 16 Catholic sixth-form colleges may lawfully employ only Catholic principals, teachers and other staff, in order to maintain their Catholic ethos.[HL927]
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: If the 16 Catholic sixth-form colleges wish to give preference to Catholics as regards the employment of staff, they will need to demonstrate that this is a genuine occupational requirement for the particular position under Regulation 7 (Exception for genuine occupational requirement) of the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 (S.I. 2003/1660) in the same way as other employers. The proposed amendment in respect of the admission of students to the colleges does not impact on matters connected with the employment of staff.
Iraq: Conditions of Captivity
Lord Hylton asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they have been consulted about the conditions of captivity of Saddam Hussein, other Baathist leaders and military commanders; and whether British personnel are among their interrogators.[HL739]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach): Conditions of captivity are a matter for the detaining power, which in the case of Saddam Hussein is the United States. Some individuals are held on the UK's behalf by the United States under the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding governing transfers of prisoners. The UK remains responsible for these individuals and has access to the facilities in which they are being held.
The UK is also able to interrogate some prisoners for which we are not the detaining power where information might be obtained that enhances the security of the multi-national force in Iraq. Interrogations are conducted in accordance with all legal obligations.
Armed Forces: Reservists
Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde asked Her Majesty's Government:
- To which countries, and for what duration, members of the Reserved Services of the Armed Forces were posted in the years 2002 and 2003.[HL1011]
Lord Bach: In the past two years reservists have served in the UK, Germany, Turkey, USA, Canada, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Afghanistan, Cyprus, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Kosovo and the Falklands.
Generally, reservists supporting operations have been mobilised between seven and a half and eight months. This usually equates to six months in theatre plus a further one and a half to two months made up of pre-deployment training and post-deployment administration and leave. For those serving on full-time reserve service (FTRS), the length of service overseas is dependent on the terms of their FTRS commitment.
Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How many members of the Reserve Services of the Armed Forces were mobilised in the years 2002 and 2003.[HL1010]
Lord Bach: The number of reservists who were mobilised in the years 2002 and 2003 are as follows:
- 2002: 1,720 reservists
- 2003: 9,550 reservists
Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How many members of the Reserve Services of the Armed Forces lost their civilian employment after being mobilised for Armed Services support in the years 2002 and 2003.[HL1012]
Lord Bach: There is no requirement for reservists to provide the information requested to the Ministry of Defence. There is, therefore, no comprehensive record of the number of reservists who may have lost their civilian job. For 2003, we are aware of only 14 individuals who have brought cases under the Reserve Forces (Safeguard of Employment) Act 1985. No cases were brought in 2002.
Heathrow Airport: Travelators
Lord Acton asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Davies of Oldham on 27 June 2003 (WA 49–50), whether the travelators at Heathrow Airport fell below the required standard in 2003; and, if so, in how many months of 2003; and by how much they did not meet the required standard.[HL933]
Lord Davies of Oldham: The performance of travelators at Heathrow is primarily a matter for the airport operator. However, following an adverse finding by the Competition Commission, the Civil Aviation Authority imposed last year a scheme of standards and rebates for a number of services and facilities at Heathrow, including travelators. The standard for travelators is that in each month they should be available for 98 per cent of the time during the core period of the day from 05:00 to 23:00. The scheme came into effect in July 2003 and applies to each of the four terminals at Heathrow. For the six months from July to December, the airport met the standard in Terminal One, but failed to achieve it in two of the months in Terminal Two, in all six of the months in Terminal Three and in one of the months in Terminal Four. Where the terminals failed to reach the standard, travelator availability was above 90 per cent on seven occasions and above 80 per cent on the other two.
Honours Awards
Lord Strathclyde asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether the science Minister will name the "rogue civil servant" he has said was responsible for resisting the award of an honour to Professor Colin Blakemore; if not, whether they will state in which department the civil servant works; and whether any disciplinary action is being taken against that person.[HL765]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville): The names of members of Honours Assessment Committees are not made public, nor do we comment on confidential discussions held within these committees.
Royal Mail: VAT
Lord Taylor of Warwick asked Her Majesty's Government:
- When Postcomm intends to conclude its investigation into whether the Royal Mail should continue to be VAT exempt.[HL773]
Lord Sainsbury of Turville: This is a matter for Postcomm. I am aware however that Postcomm recently published a consultation document that examines the special privileges enjoyed by Royal Mail including VAT. I understand more information is available on its website: http://www.postcomm.gov.uk and that the deadline for responses is 12 April 2004.
Manufacturing Employment
Lord Taylor of Warwick asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What plans they have to address the reduction in size of the manufacturing workforce by 116,000 workers in the three months to November 2003.[HL835]
Lord Sainsbury of Turville: A trend of declining manufacturing employment has been a feature of advanced economies over the past 30 years. Even so, new jobs are created all the time. Around 250,000 manufacturing vacancies were reported to Jobcentre Plus in the past year. Where there are signficant redundancies in the manufacturing sector, the Rapid Response Service works to move people quickly into new jobs, preventing them becoming detached from the labour market. Overall the UK labour market is performing well, with total employment rising by nearly 1.7 million since spring 1997, and unemployment falling in every region in Britain over the past year.
We published the Government's manufacturing strategy in May 2002—the first such strategy for 30 years—which we developed in partnership with industry, trade unions and other stakeholders, following a summit meeting on the challenges facing manufacturing held in December 2001. The manufacturing strategy aims to create a high value manufacturing sector in the UK with a highly skilled well paid workforce, moving away from competing on the basis of low skill and low wages.
Squirrels
Lord Inglewood asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What measures they are proposing, in compliance with their international obligations and domestic political commitments to biodiversity, to help the Lake District National Park and other parks to address the problem of grey squirrels and the threat which they pose to red squirrels.[HL929]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Whitty): I understand that as a matter of urgency, a special ecological report will be presented to a meeting of the National Park Authority's Implementation Committee in March, in response to concerns raised by members of the public, regarding the dramatic decline in the numbers of red squirrels within the Lake District National Park.
Numerous positive measures to enhance the red squirrel's chances of survival in the Lake District National Park, and other areas where isolated populations exist, are under way or are being planned. Measures include habitat management, targeted control of grey squirrels, operational and land use measures and future forest structure planning aimed at minimising conditions for colonisation of grey squirrels. This is in line with our international
obligations under Article 8 (h) of the Convention on Biological Diversity and with our domestic biodiversity commitments. These are being taken forward by a range of governmental and voluntary organisations working in partnership under the red squirrel Biodiversity Action Plan.
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