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RJB Mining Plc changed its name to UK Coal plc in 2001.
Lord Lofthouse of Pontefract asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have made an assessment of the loss of pension rights by former employees and current pensioners maintaining entitlement under the former British Coal pensions schemes. [HL3113]
Lord Truscott: When the British Coal Corporation was privatised in 1994, the Government guaranteed that the pension entitlements of members of the Mineworkers' Pension Scheme and the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme would always be met and would always rise in line with inflation. That commitment has been, and continues to be, honoured. Additionally, scheme members are entitled to a 50 per cent share of any periodic valuation surpluses. This has helped enable very substantial bonus pensions to be awarded over and above guaranteed, index-linked pensions.
Care Services
Lord Morris of Manchester asked Her Majesty's Government:
What study they have made of the findings and recommendations of Carers UK's report Caring for Sick or Disabled Children: Parents' Experiences of Combining Work and Care; and what action they are considering arising from the report.[HL2634]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Truscott): The report is wide ranging. In so far as parents' experiences of combining work and care is concerned, the Government have an excellent track record in providing choice and flexibility to help parents balance their work and family responsibilities. We introduced the right to request flexible working for parents of young and disabled children in 2003. We have been monitoring the impact of this legislation and have recently extended it to carers of adults. The law has been a considerable success: almost 25 per cent of employees with dependent children under the age of six have requested flexible working in the past two years and four out of five requests are accepted.
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The report also highlights several issues under the term “the benefits trap”. We are aware of these concerns and there is pre-existing work in development as well as existing policy measures in places. For example, we are developing an information provision strategy to improve information provision for carers across all DWP services and channels, including DWP customer-facing staff at agencies (Jobcentre Plus, Disability and Carers Service and Pensions Service), leaflets, relevant marketing campaigns and helplines. This will aim to co-ordinate messages and information for carers about benefits, work options, training and pension planning.
Lord Hanningfield asked Her Majesty's Government:
How much money has been moved from funding acute healthcare to social services closer at home in the last financial year, in line with the targets set in the White Paper Our Health, our Care, our Say. [HL2916]
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): Figures are not available. The White Paper does not set any numerical targets for the National Health Service or social care. Primary care trusts will however need to demonstrate in the 2008 planning round that they have a clear strategy for the development of primary and community services, including ambitious goals for the shift of resources rooted in the White Paper vision. In the mean time, we are developing metrics that can be used to measure the shift of care closer to home, which includes the need to promote preventative interventions and health and well-being, with stronger local services and support to reduce the prevalence of physical and mental illness.
Lord Hanningfield asked Her Majesty's Government:
How they reconcile their aspirations relating to choice, early intervention, prevention and local services as set out in the White Paper, Our Health, our Care, our Say, with the current local authority social care budgets and the need for local authorities to set higher eligibility thresholds in regard to social care. [HL2917]
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: We are committed to the delivery of the vision and goals of the Our Health, our Care, our Say White Paper. We continue to make substantial investment to support local authorities in placing more emphasis on prevention, early intervention and bringing about the transformation of services to give service users more choice and control. This is backed up by the recent commissioning framework for health and well-being which provides primary care trusts and local authorities with a framework to work together to improve the health, well-being and independence of their populations.
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We are investing £60 million over the years 2006-08 in the partnerships for older people projects, to enable councils to develop innovative ways to help older people avoid emergency hospital admissions and to live independently in their own communities. The projects are testing and evaluating innovative ways of enabling health and social care communities to create a sustainable shift in their whole system towards prevention. We are also piloting individual budgets, designed to increase choice and control, and to support people in decisions about their own lives. Learning from these projects and others will help local authorities, working together with their partners in the National Health Service, to make locally appropriate decisions about the most effective use of their resources.
The department has provided guidance to councils with social services responsibilities, but local authorities set eligibility criteria for who qualifies for local authority funded social care.
Climate Change
Lord Dykes asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have proposals for an official, simple, climate change adverse emissions tabulation, showing the carbon effects for different product usages, to serve as a guide for the public on best practice. [HL2736]
The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Rooker): The Government recognise the need to work with business and individuals to help make changes that benefit the environment, including becoming more energy efficient.
As a key part of this work, the Government will make efforts to help people understand the link between their own actions, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and climate change. We are developing, in partnership with the Energy Saving Trust (EST) a web-based CO2 calculator for individuals and households. Based on an individual's or household's lifestyle, the calculator will provide a profile of the user's direct CO2 emissions. It will also give tailored recommendations about how these can be reduced.
Lord Palmer asked Her Majesty's Government:
What steps they are taking to establish the proportion of global warming caused by natural, solar or cosmic forces as against the influence of man-made carbon dioxide. [HL2859]
Lord Rooker: The Government fund extensive research into the effects of natural and human factors on the climate through the research councils, predominantly the Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC), and Defra. Defra's activities include the funding of the world-leading Met Office Hadley Centre.
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UK research made a significant contribution to the recently published Fourth Assessment Report, Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis, of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This report assessed the relative contributions of different natural and man-made forcings on the climate over the past century. It concluded that it is very likely that observed global warming over at least the past 50 years was predominantly caused by increases in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations. Changes in solar output may have contributed to some early 20th century warming, but cannot explain the recent strong rise in global temperatures.
Over the century as a whole, the warming effect of changes in solar output is estimated to have been only around one-tenth of that due to the rise in greenhouse gas concentrations. There is no evidence suggesting that cosmic ray variations have played a significant role in warming over the past century.
Embryology
Lord Alton of Liverpool asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, with reference to paragraphs 2.51 and 2.52 of the White Paper on the Review of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, genetic modification of either embryonic stem cells or tissue stem cells is clearly distinct from genetic modification of cells which are still part of an embryo; and what the ultimate aims or purpose of such research might be, in particular if such genetically modified embryos are not intended for use in reproduction. [HL2935]
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): As stated in the White Paper Review of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act: Proposals for Revised Legislation (including establishment of the Regulatory Authority for Tissue and Embryos), the Government are not convinced of the need to preclude research activities that involve alteration of the genetic structure of the embryo, as part of legitimate research projects. This position is, in principle, already recognised in the legislation by the provision of a secondary legislative power.
The Government intend to remove, for research purposes only, the restriction on altering the genetic structure of a cell while it forms part of an embryo. This is distinct from genetic modification of embryonic stem cells or tissue stem cells not forming part of an embryo. Aims of such research on embryos could include, for example, understanding how specific gene defects lead to symptoms of disease or failure of embryo implantation.
Licensing controls applicable to projects of research involving human embryos will continue to apply. Licences cannot authorise any activity unless it appears to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to be necessary or desirable for one or more of the purposes specified in legislation, and unless the
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Energy: Biofuels
Baroness Byford asked Her Majesty's Government:
What proportion of biofuels in the United Kingdom is sourced from British crops, and what proportion from imported commodities.[HL3053]
The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Rooker): Current biofuel sales in the UK are from both domestic and imported sources. We do not hold statistics on the relative share of each.
To further develop the supply of biofuels, a renewable transport fuel obligation (RTFO) will be introduced in April 2008 which will require 5 per cent of fuel sold in the UK to come from a renewable source by 2010. To ensure that biofuels are sourced sustainably, the Government are proposing to develop a carbon and sustainability scheme as part of the obligation. Obligated companies would be required to report on the level of carbon savings achieved and on the sustainability of their supplies. This will help us to identify the source of the biofuel.
We anticipate that the RTFO will be met from both imported and domestic sources. A number of companies are building, or planning to build, biofuel processing plants in the UK which will use UK-grown crops (such as oilseed rape, wheat and sugar beet) as feedstocks. The current production capacity is 614,000 tonnes per year (not including minor-scale plants). The majority of this has only come on stream in recent months.
Energy: Household Generation
Baroness Byford asked Her Majesty's Government:
How much money has been paid out from the grant scheme to help householders generate their own power through solar panels and wind turbines; and how many homes have received such a grant. [HL3124]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Truscott): The up-to-date statistics for the Low Carbon Buildings Programme Phase 1 household stream can be found at www.lowcarbonbuildings.org.uk/info/ and by going to the view statistics pages.
Health: Audiology
Baroness Howe of Idlicote asked Her Majesty's Government:
What is their assessment of the impact on waiting times for digital hearing aids of the ending of the public/private partnership in this area; and
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How they propose to integrate training, qualifications and standards between the National Health Service and the independent sector in delivering the Audiology Framework set out in the Department of Health document, Improving Access to Audiology Services in England; and [HL2888]
Whether they will set targets and dates for the number of patient pathways to be delivered under the Audiology Framework set out in the Department of Health document, Improving Access to Audiology Services in England, in order to ensure that waiting time targets are met; and [HL2889]
When they will introduce a national tariff for the provision of digital hearing aid services. [HL2890]
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): The current public/private partnership ended on 31 March 2007. The department is working with strategic health authorities (SHAs) to finalise the numbers of audiology pathways that will be commissioned in future, with the waiting time objectives set out in Improving Access to Audiology Services in England firmly in mind. These pathways will be commissioned in part from National Health Service providers and in part from the independent sector.
Some independent sector activity may be procured locally. In addition, the department is procuring activity on a national regional basis on behalf of local commissioners. The first of this activity—part of the independent sector treatment centre phase 2 diagnostics procurement—is due to come on stream shortly. Further activity will be procured nationally subject to the outcome of the current work with the SHAs. The waiting time objectives are set out in the aforementioned document and will drive local activity levels. Activity targets are not necessary in this context.
It is important that common standards should apply to NHS services whichever organisation provides them, and the department is working with NHS providers and the independent and voluntary sectors to ensure harmonisation. This work includes the development of education and training programmes for introduction during 2007-08. As the recent document made clear, the department is committed to considering the introduction of national audiology tariffs as soon as practicable bearing in mind the recommendations of the Lawlor review of payment-by-results.
Health: Dyspepsia
Lord Walton of Detchant asked Her Majesty's Government:
What action they propose to take in order to encourage doctors who treat patients with dyspepsia or gastro-oesophageal reflux to follow the National Institute for Health and Clinical
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The Minister of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): Health professionals have a duty to provide the best possible healthcare for their patients based on current guidance, including that issued by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).
Health: Stem Cell Therapy
Lord Acton asked Her Majesty's Government:
What assessment they have made of the use of stem cell therapy in cases of liver cancer, reported by surgeons at the University of DÃ1/4sseldorf in Radiology; and what implications their research has for liver cancer patients in the United Kingdom; and [HL3029]
What research is being done in the United Kingdom into the use of stem cell therapy in cases of liver cancer. [HL3030]
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): We are aware of the recent report of clinical research at the University of Dusseldorf on a small number of patients, which suggested that the use of bone marrow stem cells could enhance current treatments of patients with liver cancer. However, as with all clinical research, these studies must be extended to larger numbers of patients and replicated by other clinical research groups before we can make any firmer conclusions about the safety and efficacy of the technique.
The Government are fully committed to exploring the promise of stem cells in all areas of medicine, including cancer, diabetes and Parkinson's disease. Despite rapid progress in this area, much more laboratory and clinical research, in both stem cells and other areas of medicine, must be carried out before we can see benefits to patients. That is why we have doubled our levels of support for stem cell research to £100 million for the period 2006-07 and 2008-09.
National Minimum Wage: Migrant Workers
Lord Hylton asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the Department for Work and Pensions has received complaints from migrant workers about wages of less than the national minimum; and, if so, how many complaints have been received. [HL3094]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Lord McKenzie of Luton): The information is not collected centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
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The national minimum wage, which is enforced by HMRC on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry, applies where non-agricultural work is undertaken. The Agricultural Wages Order, which provides for an agricultural minimum wage rate, is enforced by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in England and by the National Assembly for Wales's agriculture department in Wales. Any complaints received by the Department for Work and Pensions are passed to the relevant department for consideration.
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