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Gulf War Syndrome
Lord Hanningfield asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they accept the recommendations of the recent reports by the committee chaired by the Lord Lloyd of Berwick and by the United States Veterans Department into Gulf War syndrome. [HL340]
Lord Bach: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence and Minister for Veterans set out our response to the findings of the US Research Advisory Committee in another place on 6 December 2004 (Official Report, Commons, 6/12/04; col. 341W). He set out our views on Lord Lloyd's investigation on 13 December 2004, (Official Report, Commons, 13/12 col. 911–912W).
Sea Wolf Missile
Lord Astor of Hever asked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the anticipated future in-service life of the Sea Wolf missile; and how many of Her Majesty's ships are fitted with this missile. [HL428]
Lord Bach: There are two variants of the Sea Wolf missile, the conventional launch missile, which is fitted to the four Batch 3 Type 22 Royal Navy frigates, and the vertical launch missile, which is fitted to all 16 Type 23 frigates. Both variants have an in-service life of eight years and it is anticipated that the conventional launch missiles will be taken out of service around 2007 and the vertical launch missiles around 2010. Both will be progressively replaced by a new batch of conventional and vertical launch Sea Wolf missiles (known as "Block 2") which will have a design life of 10 years.
Radioactive Waste and Nuclear Decommissioning: Budget
Lord Astor of Hever asked Her Majesty's Government:
How much is provided in the budget of the Ministry of Defence for the current financial year for (a) the management of radioactive waste; and (b) nuclear decommissioning; and how much was provided for each of these purposes in each of the three preceding financial years. [HL444]
Lord Bach: The values of the provisions made by the Ministry of Defence for nuclear decommissioning (including the management of radioactive waste) were as follows:
At 1 April 2004 £7.819 billion
At 1 April 2003 £5.530 billion
At 1 April 2002 £3.888 billion
At 1 April 2001 £3.575 billion
21 Dec 2004 : Column WA147
Explanations of the provisions may be found in Note 16 to the Consolidated Departmental Resource Accounts 2001–02 (HC47), Note 16 to Section 2 of the Annual Report and Accounts 2002–03 (HC 1125), and Note 17 to Section 2 of the Annual Report and Accounts 2003–04 (HC1080).
E-mails: Illegal Use
The Earl of Northesk asked Her Majesty's Government:
What action they are taking to combat phishing attacks against global financial institutions, which increased 568 per cent between June and the end of October 2004. [HL116]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville): The police can take action if it can be proved that a sender of an e-mail has fraudulently obtained information from a subscriber. The sender of such e-mails often also sends unsolicited direct marketing e-mails. The Government implemented the EU directive on electronic communications by introducing the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations in December 2003. The regulations require the sender of an unsolicited direct marketing e-mail to ensure that his identity is clearly stated in the e-mail with a valid e-mail address, which the recipient can use to request that further e-mails are not sent to them.
The Earl of Northesk asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many prosecutions for illegal spamming (a) have been brought; or (b) are pending under the terms of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (S.I. 2003/2426). [HL437]
Lord Sainsbury of Turville: It is not a criminal offence for unsolicited spam e-mails to be sent to individuals and therefore no prosecutions have been brought for illegal spamming.
Under Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has responsibility for enforcing the regulations, which prevent the sending of unsolicited spam e-mails to individuals. A company or individual that contravenes an enforcement notice commits a criminal offence and, upon successful prosecution, could be subject to a fine of up to £5,000 in a magistrates' court. The ICO makes every effort to resolve breaches at an early stage of the proceedings and there have been no signs of a continuous breach of the regulations by UK based spammers and therefore no formal action has been brought or is pending.
21 Dec 2004 : Column WA148
Oil: UK Importation
Lord Marlesford asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Sainsbury of Turville: Paragraph 6.13 of the February 2003 Energy White Paper Our energy future—creating a low carbon economy (Cm 5761) noted that it is "likely that the UK will become a net importer of gas on an annual basis by around 2006 and of oil by around 2010". While projections of both supply and demand are inherently uncertain, on the basis of the latest information available to the Department of Trade and Industry it now seems most likely that the United Kingdom will become a net importer of oil on an annual basis in 2009.
Fluoridated Water
Earl Baldwin of Bewdley asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answers by the Lord Warner on 7 September (WA 137) and 3 November (WA 38), why they did not reply more fully to Written Questions HL3802, HL4226 and HL4227 (Session 2003–04); and why, in particular, they made no reference to the caution expressed by the authors about the results of the Newcastle study into the bioavailability of artificially and naturally fluoridated water; and whether they will now give the information requested. [HL238]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Warner): The study found no evidence for any differences between the absorption of fluoride ingested in artificially fluoridated drinking water, and in drinking water in which the fluoride is present naturally, or between the absorption of fluoride from hard and soft waters, at fluoride concentrations close to one part per million.
The study's findings are consistent with predictions from physical chemistry and existing knowledge on the absorption of fluoride. It provides further evidence that there is no major difference in the absorption of naturally occurring fluoride and that of fluoride from artificially fluoridated drinking water.
Acoustic Neuromas
Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Warner on 16 November (WA 152) and the Interphone study conclusion that the average size of acoustic neuromas was significantly larger in regular mobile phone users, what advice the Department of Health will give to mobile phone users; and [HL354]
How many acoustic neuromas were operated on over the last five years. [HL356]
Lord Warner: Two relatively small parts of the 13-nation Interphone study of brain tumour and mobile phone use have been published this year: a Danish study in January 2004 and a Swedish study in October 2004, both case-control studies of acoustic neuroma incidence. The results are not entirely consistent but emphasise the need for continued high-quality research. We will await the conclusions of the full study due next year.
Department of Health advice on mobile phone use is contained in leaflets published following the Stewart report in 2000. In the light of the Stewart recommendations the leaflets suggest that you can choose to minimise your exposure to radio waves by keeping your calls short and considering relative specific absorption rate values when buying a new phone. The leaflets are available on the Department of Health website (www.dh.gov.uk).
The UK Chief Medical Officers recommend that if parents want to avoid their children being subject to any possible risk that might be identified in the future, the way to do so is to exercise their choice not to let their children use mobile phones.
The department's hospital episode statistics division has recorded the following numbers of operations for acoustic neuromas:
| Year | No. |
| 1999–2000 | 504 |
| 2000–01 | 480 |
| 2001–02 | 435 |
| 2002–03 | 439 |
| 2003–04 | 423 |
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