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22 Oct 2007 : Column WA69
22 Oct 2007 : Column WA69
22 Oct 2007 : Column WA69
Monday 22 October 2007
Advice
Baroness Thomas of Winchester asked Her Majesty's Government:
What funding they currently provide and intend to provide in the future to the national charity Citizens Advice. [HL5490]
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office & Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (Lord Jones of Birmingham): HM Government provided Citizens Advice with £39.509 million in the last financial year (2006-07). This is about 85 per cent of its total income.
BERR provides Citizens Advice with an annual grant in aid on behalf of all Government. The 2006-07 figure was £21.47 million, and should remain the same for 2007-08. Citizens Advice also received another £18.039 million in government funding for specific projects. Also, £15.4 million is being provided by BERR over two years (2006-08) to fund face-to-face debt advice, helping tens of thousands of families to tackle debt. The remaining funding, including from the financial inclusion fund, comes mainly from other departments to fund such projects as the national homelessness project, veterans project, financial literacy, tax credit training, et cetera.
The final distribution of the CSR allocation for 2008-11 has not yet been finalised, so we are unable to say at present what figure will be allocated to Citizens Advice for 2008-09 or any other year in the future.
Aerospace
Lord Jones asked Her Majesty's Government:
How much has been invested in research and development in (a) the civil aerospace industry; and (b) the military aerospace industry for each of the last 10 years. [HL5332]
The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence & Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (Lord Drayson): In the civil aerospace industry, repayable launch investment has been provided for product development, together with grants for research. The table below shows the launch investment payments to industry and the grant commitments made to industry in each of the past 10 years.
| Year | Repayable launch investments | Research grants commitments |
There have been two major schemes for delivery of DTI grant funding to research and technology projects in the aerospace industry: CARAD (Civil Aircraft Research and Demonstration, later also known as the aeronautics research programme), which ran from 1990 to March 2004, with a budget of about £20 million per year; and from April 2004, the technology programme, which was launched as the single vehicle for all DTI funding for research. The technology programme is now the responsibility of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and delivered through the Technology Strategy Board.
Launch investment is a risk-sharing government investment in the design and development of civil aerospace projects in the UK. It is repayable at a real rate of return, usually via levies on sales of the product. Although civil aerospace programmes have been beneficiaries of nearly £1 billion of government investment, as shown in the table, £1.4 billion has been repaid to the Government over the same period, with repayments continuing.
The latest figures available for Ministry of Defence expenditure on research and development for military aerospace—both combined and separately—are to be found in table 1.7 of chapter 1 of UK Defence Statistics 2006, copies of which are held in the Library of the House.
Afghanistan: Aid
The Earl of Sandwich asked Her Majesty's Government:
What proportion of the United Kingdom's aid budget in Afghanistan is spent in Helmand province; and whether they intend to support more development projects in the northern provinces. [HL5512]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for International Development (Baroness Vadera): In 2006-07 the Department for International Development spent £16.29 million of its £100 million aid to Afghanistan in Helmand province—or roughly 16 per cent. This year DfID has committed up to £20 million for assistance to Helmand, out of our overall £107-million aid budget for Afghanistan (19 per cent). The remaining £87 million of our budget (81 per cent) supports development across the whole of Afghanistan.
DfID Afghanistan has no plans to provide direct support to more development projects in the northern provinces of Afghanistan. DfID supports development
22 Oct 2007 : Column WA71
Afghanistan: Media Portrayal
The Earl of Sandwich asked Her Majesty's Government:
What steps they are taking to publicise development projects in Afghanistan through the British media, and to counter negative images resulting from civil war and insecurity. [HL5510]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for International Development (Baroness Vadera): DfID Afghanistan, together with the cross-departmental press office in the British embassy in Kabul, regularly offers opportunities for British journalists—both those visiting Afghanistan and those based there—to visit development projects. We also offer background briefings to British and Afghan journalists. We are currently recruiting a DfID press officer who will be based in the Kabul press office, in order to step up this effort.
DfID works closely with other UK government partners, both civilian and military, to ensure that a balanced picture of the overall UK effort in Afghanistan is available to both British and Afghan media.
Agriculture: Hedges
Lord Marlesford asked Her Majesty's Government:
Why farm hedges cannot be trimmed under the cross-compliance conditions of the European Union single farm payment scheme until 1 August when similar hedges under the Countryside Stewardship Scheme can be trimmed from 15 July. [HL5539]
The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Rooker): Under cross-compliance rules in England, farm hedges must not normally be cut or trimmed between 1 March and 31 July. The same dates apply in agri-environment schemes, such as Countryside Stewardship and Environmental Stewardship.
22 Oct 2007 : Column WA72
Agriculture: Slaughter of Lambs
The Duke of Montrose asked Her Majesty's Government:
What is their assessment of the welfare slaughter of lightweight lambs in Scotland; and, in particular, whether they have a financial responsibility in this area. [HL5474]
The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Rooker): Certain functions on disease control relating to the Animal Health Act 1981 are transferred to the Scottish Executive under the Scotland Act.
Defra has agreed, however, to make payments on behalf of the National Assembly for Wales and the Scottish Executive for animals killed and property seized due to foot and mouth disease. This does not extend to specific Scottish schemes to protect animal welfare during disease outbreaks. Such schemes remain the responsibility of the devolved Administrations.
Animal Welfare: Wild Birds
Lord Krebs asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by Lord Rooker on 1 October (WA 192), whether “protected animal” in Section 2(b) of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 includes birds that are temporarily restrained for the purposes of attaching wing or web tags, under licence from Natural England. [HL5547]
The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Rooker): Yes. For the purposes of the Animal Welfare Act 2006, a vertebrate animal is a “protected animal” if it is under the control of man whether on a permanent or temporary basis.
Armed Forces: War Pensioners
Lord Morris of Manchester asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will subject war pension claimants who suffer from (a) post-traumatic stress disorder; (b) any mental illness; or (c) any terminal illness to covert surveillance. [HL5321]
The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence & Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (Lord Drayson): Any decision to investigate allegation of fraud and to use covert surveillance would take account of a number of factors including the health of the individual concerned.
Lord Morris of Manchester asked Her Majesty's Government:
22 Oct 2007 : Column WA73
Lord Drayson: It is not possible to give an estimate of the number of ex-service personnel who may become subject to investigation as a result of alleged fraud.
Banking: Financial Stability
Baroness Noakes asked Her Majesty's Government:
What are the Bank of England's role and responsibilities in relation to financial stability; and where are such responsibilities documented.[HL5526]
Lord Davies of Oldham: The Bank of England defines its second core purpose on financial stability in its annual report as follows:
Financial stability entails detecting and reducing threats to the financial system as a whole. Such threats are detected through the Bank's surveillance and market intelligence functions. They are reduced by strengthening infrastructure, and by financial and other operations, at home and abroad, including, in exceptional circumstances, by acting as the lender of last resort”.
In addition, the 2006 Memorandum of Understanding between the Treasury, Bank of England and Financial Services Authority sets out the role of each authority with respect to financial stability. Paragraph 2 of the memorandum sets out the Bank of England's responsibilities.
The full memorandum can be found on the Treasury, Bank and FSA websites. The Bank's annual report can be found on its website.
Banking: Northern Rock
Baroness Noakes asked Her Majesty's Government:
When, how and against what contingencies the tripartite arrangements which operate between the Treasury, the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority had been tested prior to the Northern Rock crisis. [HL5528]
Lord Davies of Oldham: The tripartite arrangements have been tested regularly over recent years. For public policy reasons, details of the scenarios are not published where they cover financial stability events.
The authorities have also regularly tested their responses to operational disruption scenarios. Since 2004, the tripartite has arranged an annual marketwide exercise, involving both the authorities and a cross-section of financial sector firms, to test responses to operational disruption covering terrorist attacks and pandemic influenza outbreak.
Reports on these exercises can be found on the UK Financial Sector Continuity website at www.fsc.gov.uk.
Buses
Lord Bradshaw asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether sufficient funds have been made available in England to enable relevant local authorities to meet their commitment to fund free local bus travel to pensioners and other eligible groups. [HL5580]
22 Oct 2007 : Column WA74
Lord Bassam of Brighton: From April 2006, older and eligible disabled people have been guaranteed free off-peak local bus travel within their local authority area. The Government provided an extra £350 million in 2006-07 and a further £367.5 million in 2007-08, via the formula grant system, to fund the extra costs to local authorities. The Government are confident that this should be sufficient to cover the total additional costs to local authorities of this improvement in the statutory minimum. Any discretionary local enhancements, such as peak bus travel, are funded from an authority’s own resources.
The Government are providing local authorities in England an extra £212 million next year for the English national bus concession. This extra funding is based on generous assumptions about the probable cost impact of the new concession and we are confident this will be sufficient in aggregate.
The Department for Transport is currently consulting on the formula basis for distributing the £212 million by special grant. The consultation closes on 23 November.
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