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Passports
Lord Marlesford asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will levy an appropriate charge to cover the additional costs incurred by the Identity and Passport Service in investigating the circumstances of loss, destruction or theft of a passport for which a replacement application has been received. [HL2419]
The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal): The Identity and Passport Service already levels a full replacement fee on applications received where a passport has been lost, destroyed or stolen. Details of the original passport are entered on to a database to ensure that no future fraudulent use of the document can be made.
Lord Smith of Leigh asked Her Majesty's Government:
What progress has been made to enable local passport offices to allow easier processing of applications in person in order to provide greater security. [HL3260]
Baroness Scotland of Asthal: Joan Ryan, Under-Secretary of State for nationality, citizenship and immigration, announced the start of passport interviews in May in a Written Ministerial Statement on 20 March 2007. A document on the introduction of passport application interview has been placed in the Library of the House.
Passport interviews will be introduced gradually, starting in a limited number of interview offices, with further offices being added progressively through to the end of 2007.
Police: Fixed Penalty Notices
Lord Tebbit asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many fixed penalty notices have been issued by the Metropolitan Police in 2005 and 2006; how many of those notices have been paid; how many have gone to be determined in court; and how many have remained unanswered. [HL2018]
The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal): Information on fixed penalty notices issued for endorsable and non-endorsable motoring offences by offence groups and police force area can be found in the annual Home Office publication Offences relating to motor vehicles, England and Wales, 2004 Supplementary tables (latest available)—tables 20(a) to 20(c) refer. Copies are available in the Library. 2005 data will be available later this year; 2006 data will be available in 2008.
Data are also collected centrally on the disposal (that is, paid, fine registration certificate issued et cetera) of fixed penalty notices issued. However, because of the time taken for the procedures for payment to be enforced, the data are collected approximately nine months later than the period of issue. Tables 21 (a) and 21(b) of the above
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In 2005, 18,047 penalty notices for disorder (PNDs) were issued by the Metropolitan Police. Of these, 7,867 were paid in full and 945 recipients elected to have their case heard in court. A further 8,786 had a fine of one and a half times the penalty amount registered against them by the courts as they both failed to pay the penalty and request a court hearing. An additional 145 PNDs were cancelled due to administrative error or mitigating circumstances and, in the remaining 304 cases, the outcome was unknown as they were still in progress at the time annual figures were submitted.
Provisional data for January to June 2006 show that 9,663 PNDs were issued by the Metropolitan Police. Provisional data for the whole of 2006 will be available in April 2007.
Information on fixed penalty notices for environmental offences and payment rates broken down by area are available via the below weblink at www.defra.gov.uk/environment/localenv/legislation/fpn/index.htm.
Railways: Level Crossings
Lord Bradshaw asked Her Majesty's Government:
What further proposals they have for enhancing safety at level crossings beyond those measures which have already been enacted or are contained in secondary legislation due to be brought forward. [HL3325]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: It is for the level-crossing operator—Network Rail in the majority of cases—to apply such measures as are necessary to reduce risks at individual level crossings. To assist in the discharge of these duties, the Office of Rail Regulation is reviewing and revising its guidance on level crossings to identify and link legal provisions with roles, responsibilities and required action.
There are currently no further proposals for legislative change, though the Government will be keeping the existing policy under review.
Railways: Points
Lord Lucas asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many sets of facing points there are on the high speed rail network; what plans there are to replace them with trailing points; and how frequently facing points are inspected. [HL3345]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: These are operational matters for Network Rail, as the owner and operator of the national rail network.
The noble Lord should contact Network Rail's Chief Executive at the following address for a
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The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) is continuing its investigation into the cause of the Grayrigg derailment, which is concentrating on a set of facing points. The RAIB will produce a full report with recommendations on preventing a similar accident.
Railways: Service Disruption
Lord Berkeley asked Her Majesty's Government:
What obligations there are on passenger train operating companies to provide information, including timetables, about bus substitutions at stations where services are affected. [HL3162]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: Franchise agreements do not specifically require train operators to provide this information. It is nevertheless in their own interests to ensure that passengers are kept informed of both planned and unplanned service disruptions and of any arrangements that have been made to help them continue their journeys. The passengers' charters issued by individual operators generally include a commitment to ensure passengers are provided with information of this sort.
Schools: Learning Outside the Classroom
Baroness Knight of Collingtree asked Her Majesty's Government:
What assistance with travel costs they propose following the publication of the Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto in November 2006. [HL3166]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Skills (Lord Adonis): The Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto brings together more than 450 signatories, including Government, in support of its key aim: that every young person should experience the world beyond the classroom as an essential part of learning and personal development whatever their age, ability or circumstances. Many signatories have also pledged specific action. The department has pledged to work with partners to improve the quality of visits and activities, as well as helping schools through guidance and training for teachers. We are not proposing to assist with travel costs.
Sudan: Darfur
Lord Alton of Liverpool asked Her Majesty's Government:
What is their estimate of the number of refugees in Darfur who may now be reached by humanitarian aid workers compared with July 2005.[HL3176]
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The Lord President of the Council (Baroness Amos): In July 2005, 86 per cent of the nearly 3 million conflict-affected and aid-reliant population were accessible to UN humanitarian aid. The latest figures available indicate that by the beginning of March 2007, the number in need of aid has reached 3,897,352 while the proportion accessible by the UN has dropped to 77 per cent.
Lord Alton of Liverpool asked Her Majesty's Government:
What reports they have received concerning (a) Salaam camp, in north Darfur, which cannot take any more displaced people due to water shortages; (b) Abu Shouk camp, which has been closed to newcomers; and (c) Zam Zam, which is close to maximum capacity. [HL3178]
Baroness Amos: We are gravely concerned for the 2.1 million people displaced in Sudan. The numbers continue to rise with 267,000 newly displaced people over the past six months. The sheer scale of need is putting a great strain on the local environment and infrastructure as well as the capacity to deliver services.
Given the constraints in and around the three camps near El-Fasher, the UN is planning to open a new site nearby. Security and environmental issues make finding a suitable site difficult and UN negotiations are continuing with the Government.
DfID is contributing £40 million to the UN-administered common humanitarian fund in 2007 which allows the humanitarian co-ordinator to direct funding at the most pressing and emerging needs. DfID is also exploring ways to support the UN environment programme in Sudan, focusing on issues such as water and resource management in Darfur.
Lord Alton of Liverpool asked Her Majesty's Government:
What is their estimate of the number of people (a) who were displaced across Darfur in February 2007, and (b) who have fled violence in the region since January 2007; and what is their assessment of the International Committee of the Red Cross report of 22 March 2007 that the plight of the most needy rural communities in Sudan's strife-torn region of Darfur is worsening. [HL3179]
Baroness Amos: The UN estimate that 30,000 people were displaced in Darfur during February 2007. These constitute part of the 107,405 people displaced between 1 January and 1 April; the majority (79,000) were in south Darfur.
We share the concerns of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) about the vulnerability of rural communities in Darfur. The pervasive insecurity and the growing number of attacks and car-jackings targeting humanitarian agencies, has made consistent access to rural areas very difficult in most areas and impossible in some others. We are supporting the ICRC and other humanitarian agencies with substantial
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The UK utterly condemns the continuing violence targeting civilians and humanitarian workers in Darfur and calls on all sides to cease the violence immediately, renew the ceasefire and political process, and accept the AU/UN peacekeeping force for Darfur.
Tourism: Northern Ireland
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
What plans the Northern Ireland Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure has for genealogy as a tourism attraction. [HL3187]
Lord Rooker: A major project to make the catalogues of the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) available and searchable online will be available before the end of 2007 that will open up PRONI's archives to a worldwide audience and particularly for genealogical research. All of PRONI's holdings of ordnance survey maps that will help the overseas visitor to locate where their family came from will shortly be made available online.
In addition, PRONI is currently redesigning its website, which will include specific pages on genealogy that will guide the overseas visitor to the archives available in PRONI for genealogical research. Genealogy will also feature at the Smithsonian festival in Washington in June and July this year, which will be a unique opportunity to promote genealogy.
Both PRONI as a division of the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure and the Centre for Migration Studies, partially funded by the department, as well as the Ulster Historical Foundation, will be taking part.
Ulster Historical Foundation
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
How much the “futuresearch” genealogy conference held in Londonderry in March 2004 cost; who organised the event; how the delegates were selected; what role the Ulster Historical Foundation had in the event; and what benefit has accrued from this conference to date. [HL3186]
Lord Rooker: The “futuresearch” genealogy conference held in Londonderry in March 2004 was organised by the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure with the assistance of a stakeholders planning group drawn from the public, private and voluntary sectors from across the UK and Republic of Ireland. The stakeholders planning group helped to design the conference, agree the list of stakeholders to be invited and the main issues to be considered.
Selection of delegates was made through nominations listed by the stakeholders planning group from its knowledge of the sector.
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The cost of the conference was £13,575.66.
The Ulster Historical Foundation was represented on the planning group and was an invitee to the conference.
The conference identified the need for a greater co-ordinated approach to genealogy in Northern Ireland and also for more quality products for both the local and overseas markets. Digitisation and the creation of a family records centre to act as a central signposting facility for anyone doing genealogical research are key to meeting these needs, both of which are being actively progressed.
UN: Human Rights Council
Lord Patten asked Her Majesty's Government:
What assessment they have made of the performance of the United Nations Human Rights Council over the first nine months since it was set up; and whether they have sought an explanation of why thus far it has criticised only one state for human rights violations. [HL3180]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Triesman): We continue to have ambitious goals for the new UN Human Rights Council. It has taken some encouraging steps. For example, it has begun to address the situation in Darfur, most recently through a consensus resolution adopted on 30 March to follow up on recommendations made by the council's high-level assessment mission for Darfur. We were, however, disappointed by a disproportionate and unbalanced focus in the council's early months on the situation in the Middle East, while other situations were comparatively neglected. Negotiations on the council's future tools and mechanisms are due to be completed in June 2007. Their results will be key to the council's long-term potential.
Over the past nine months, the council has held four special sessions devoted to country situations: three on the Middle East and one on Sudan. In addition to resolutions passed on the Middle East, it has also adopted three resolutions on Darfur and two decisions on Nepal and Afghanistan.
Vehicles: Licensing
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the Northern Ireland vehicle licensing section requires a date of birth on any of its forms; and, if so, why. [HL3236]
Lord Rooker: When making an application to register a vehicle for the first time, an applicant is required to furnish such particulars as may be required by the Secretary of State. In order to enable checks to be carried out, where necessary, to confirm the name and address given by an applicant to register a vehicle, forms used throughout the UK require the completion of the applicant's date of birth.
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In addition, applicants for other services, such as the renewal of a tax disc, are also asked to provide their date of birth, but it is pointed out that the provision of the information is entirely voluntary. Having the date of birth enables cross-checks to be made with the driver licensing database, where date of birth is one of the indexes used. This cross-referencing means that changes of address notified on vehicle licensing forms can be used to update the driver licensing record.
Waste Management
The Countess of Mar asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have made an assessment of the 1970 pollution summary by Monsanto in St Louis, now in the public domain, in which Monsanto stated that they were jointly responsible with Monsanto Chemicals Limited for the United Kingdom problem. [HL3209]
The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Rooker): No assessment of the pollution summary referred to has been undertaken by Defra.
The question of responsibility or liability for pollution concerning individual companies or locations are, in the first instance, matters for the relevant regulatory body.
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