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We are currently enforcing the return by charter flight of individuals from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) area of Iraq. Ministers and officials have discussed the issue of returning failed asylum seekers to Iraq with the Kurdish Regional Government on a number of occasions.
Enforced removals of failed asylum seekers to Zimbabwe were recently reviewed and put on hold pending the resolution of a test case relating to such removals. On 6 March 2007 the Court of Appeal found that, in reaching its determination that the enforced return of failed asylum seekers to Zimbabwe does not put them at risk of mistreatment, the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal did not fully consider material parts of the evidence of two of the witnesses in this case. It has asked the tribunal to look at that evidence again.
Returns will be undertaken only where we are satisfied that the individual will not be at risk.
Justice: Civil Litigation
Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the statement by the Advocate-General for Scotland on 2 May (Official Report, col. 1125) that “the primary benefit of civil litigation is usually that the parties involved are those that receive the benefit”, what is their response to the view of the Civil Justice Council that there is “collective benefit in the administration involved in proceedings”, and that “it is in the collective interest that an efficient and authoritative means for resolving disputes should exist, that the law should be clarified and that human rights should be safeguarded”. [HL3597]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Baroness Ashton of Upholland): We fully accept that an effective civil justice system delivers a collective benefit to society as well as helping those people specifically involved in individual cases. But it does not follow that taxpayers should subsidise the level of court fees generally. Rather, help should be directed at those least able to pay court fees. Litigants that can afford to pay the full cost should do so. To set fees at a lower level, or remove them altogether, would allow corporations and other wealthy litigants to benefit from taxpayer contributions. Further, the reduction in income would increase pressure on other budgets such as legal aid.
NHS: Fire, Health and Safety
Lord Dykes asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will return to the practice of collecting data on fire, health and safety repairs, and modernisation, from those National Health Service estates which are not included in the fire, health and safety repairs, and modernisation programmes. [HL3612]
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): The Government's aim is to keep the amount of management information they collect from the National Health Service to an absolute minimum so as not to impose an unnecessary burden. These matters are kept under constant review.
Data are collected from the NHS on the investment needed to bring the estate up to an acceptable standard analysed by the level of inherent risk. This replaced an earlier, and larger, collection which included identifying fire and health and safety investment requirements separately. The new arrangements provide a more accurate understanding of the condition of the NHS estate and there are no plans to reintroduce the previous data collections.
All NHS trusts are responsible for managing their assets to ensure that they are fit for purpose and safe for patients and staff. This will include managing investment to maintain the estates quality, including safety issues, with prioritisation based on risk assessment, reconfiguration planning and available resources.
Passports
Lord Marlesford asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will investigate the feasibility of arranging for British passports to be delivered by the Identity and Passport Service to the holder's nearest police station and requiring the holder to collect the passport from that police station providing proof of identity on collection. [HL3496]
The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal): Directing passports to the holder's nearest police station would place a considerable administrative burden on IPS, which would be required to identify the station in question, and the police who would be obliged to deal with a further 6 million personal callers a year as a consequence. It would also incur considerable cost which would have to be recovered through the passport fee. Travelling to a police station would create considerable difficulties and expense for many passport applicants, especially those in rural areas. It is therefore not regarded as practical that passport applicants should collect their passports from police stations.
Lord Marlesford asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the full replacement fee for a lost passport is a standard fee; if so, how much this standard fee is; and, if not, whether it depends on the costs of investigating the circumstances of the loss, and what the lowest charged fees were during the most recent 12 months. [HL3539]
Baroness Scotland of Asthal: The fees to replace lost passports are the same as for applications for new passports and renewals. For the standard service the fees are £66 for adults and £45 for children, for the one-week fast-track service the fees are £91 and £80 respectively.
Prisoners: Mental Illness
Baroness Howells of St Davids asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether those whose mental illness is drug-induced by cannabis will be excluded when new hospital prison wings are built for those with mental illness. [HL3518]
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): We are committed to modernising prison health services, and will be issuing guidance to prison healthcare teams on the management of dual diagnosis; that is, problems of both mental illness and substance misuse, much of which involves cannabis, later this year.
There are no plans to build hospital wings in prisons for those with mental illness. The National Health Service commissions health services for all publicly run prisons in England and Wales. As in the wider community, prisoners receive health services solely on the basis of need.
Roads: Traffic Commissioners
Lord Bradshaw asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the centralisation of licensing staff by the Vehicle Operator and Services Agency at Leeds allows the traffic commissioners to carry out their supervisory role over road transport operators properly. [HL3657]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: Centralisation will deliver a better service to operators by providing a single point of contact and more consistent procedures across the country. It will also deliver efficiency savings for VOSA.
Traffic commissioners were fully involved in developing the proposals, and their role in carrying out their statutory functions is not affected.
Schools: Creative Partnerships
Lord Harrison asked Her Majesty's Government:
What funding and resources the Department for Education and Skills will provide to schools, additional to their current budgets, with regard to the Creative Partnerships initiative, currently being piloted and due to be rolled out nationwide in 2008-14. [HL3713]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Skills (Lord Adonis): The Government allocate resources to departments on a three-year cycle through spending reviews. DfES received its settlement for 2008-09 to 2010-11 in the 2007 Budget. We are now thoroughly evaluating the financial implications and are working to allocate funding as effectively as possible to ensure the maximum benefit to children and young people.
Schools: Educational Psychologists
Baroness Sharp of Guildford asked Her Majesty's Government:
To what extent local authorities are experiencing difficulties in recruiting appropriately qualified educational psychologists to meet their responsibilities for children with special educational needs and for more general support for schools, especially those in disadvantaged areas; and what estimates there are of current unfilled vacancies. [HL3659]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Skills (Lord Adonis): Educational psychologists (EPs) are employed by local authorities, and it is for those authorities to determine how many to employ in light of their assessment of local needs and available resources, and to plan for future needs including predicted vacancies.
The Government do not undertake any manpower planning assessment for this group of local authority employees but, as part of an annual survey, we do collect data on the number of full-time equivalent number of EPs in post in local authorities in England, and the number of full-time vacancies. A summary of that data, covering the period between 1997 and 2007 (provisional data), is given in the table below.
I am aware that there has been some uncertainty about the future supply of new EPs, following changes in both their entry training requirements, and the central funding arrangements operated by the employers' side. In order to help find a constructive way forward, the Children's Workforce Development Council has been facilitating, at our request, further discussions about future arrangements between the employers' side, representatives of the EP professional interests, and EP training providers. I have asked to be kept informed of progress and will continue to monitor the situation closely.
Serious Fraud Office
Lord Dykes asked Her Majesty's Government:
How morale at the Serious Fraud Office has progressed since the cancellation of the investigation into the British Aerospace Al Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia at the end of 2006. [HL3545]
The Attorney-General (Lord Goldsmith): Morale within the SFO remains high—the SFO has a heavy and continuing caseload across a wide variety of investigations apart from those relating to overseas corruption.
SFO staff members are professionals and well used to ongoing assessment of the various factors that may affect the continuance of an investigation. They recognise that not all investigations result in prosecution.
Shipping: Liability of Carriers
Lord Pearson of Rannoch asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the European Union's proposed regulation on the liability of passenger carriers by sea and inland waterways in the event of accidents would apply to chain-and-cable ferries operating in the United Kingdom. [HL3656]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: The European Parliament has recently voted to exclude inland waterways from the scope of the proposed regulation. The proposed regulation must be agreed by both the European Council and Parliament. Like the UK, many other EU member states continue to oppose the inclusion of inland waterways in the scope of the regulation and it is hoped that the final regulation will apply only to travel by sea. This would exclude chain-and-cable ferries operating in the United Kingdom from the application of the regulation.
Taxation: Heating Oil
Lord Marlesford asked Her Majesty's Government:
By what procedure a householder who takes delivery of over 2,300 litres of heating oil for domestic use in a private dwelling can reclaim the difference between the standard rate and reduced rate of VAT. [HL3538]
Lord Davies of Oldham: Where a customer has been charged the standard rate of VAT on a supply that was correctly liable to a reduced rate of VAT, the customer should contact their supplier to obtain a refund of the amount they consider the supplier has overcharged. In turn, the supplier should be able to recover from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) the VAT for which he has over-accounted to them. In cases of doubt, the supplier should contact HMRC's national advice service on 0845 010 9000.
Telephone Numbers: DoH
Lord Tyler asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many non-geographic telephone numbers are in use by the Department of Health and its agencies; what services can be accessed by calling each of them; and what revenue has been received from them between September 2004 and September 2006. [HL3269]
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): The only non-geographical telephone number that is used by the department is for staff to remotely access the internal computer network via dial-up connection. The department does not derive any income from this number.
The department's main public-facing service, the customer service centre, has an 020 7210 4850 number. The department also uses a switch board service used under the contract and that is 020 7210 3000. The department's executive agencies, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency also have geographic numbers.
The department funds a wide range of voluntary and charitable organisations, via Section 64 and similar grants, to provide services in connection with healthcare and healthy living. Some of these services include advice telephone lines. However, it is not possible, without incurring disproportionate costs, to identify individual projects and telephone services.
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