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21 Jan 2008 : Column WA1
Written Answers
Monday 21 January 2008
Agriculture: Bluetongue
Baroness Byford asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Marine, Landscape and Rural Affairs, Jonathan Shaw, on 10 December 2007 (Official Report, cols. 20-21W), whether a decision has been reached concerning the bids from three companies for the production of a blue tongue vaccine. [HL1267]
The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Rooker): On 19 December, following a rigorous tender process, Defra announced that it has placed a firm order with pharmaceutical company Intervet to supply 22.5 million doses of bluetongue vaccine for use in England and Wales. This order will ensure that vaccine will be available as soon as possible in early summer.
Agriculture: Climate Change
Lord Dykes asked Her Majesty's Government:
What plans they will bring forward to give farmers more opportunities to work to reduce global warming, in view of the National Farmers’ Union estimate that 1,000 hectares of crops absorbs between 30 and 60 tonnes of carbon per annum. [HL1315]
The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Rooker): We are working with the Rural Climate Change Forum and the Farming Futures communication project to raise awareness among farmers and land managers and encourage them to change their behaviour. We are working to drive faster growth in anaerobic digestion by farmers, businesses and local authorities in a way that is both cost effective and beneficial to the environment. We are exploring the feasibility of market mechanisms to enable the trading of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, forestry and land management. We are looking at how measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions can be included in agri-environment schemes in future. We also plan to publish shortly a critical review of the potential for organic matter returns and reduced tillage practices to influence soil carbon.
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Armed Forces: Pay
Lord Selkirk of Douglas asked Her Majesty's Government:
What was the total number of (a) overpayments, and (b) underpayments made to service personnel for each month in 2007; and [HL1296]
What was the maximum (a) underpayment, and (b) overpayment made to any individual in the armed services through the joint personnel administration scheme in 2007; and [HL1297]
Whether the errors relating to underpayments and overpayments under the operation of the joint personnel administration scheme have been rectified; and, if not, how long they will take; and [HL1298]
Whether service personnel who have been underpaid by the joint personnel administration scheme have been repaid the full sum to which they were entitled; and [HL1299]
Whether action has been taken more quickly to rectify overpayments by the joint personnel administration scheme rather than underpayments; and how overpayments have been rectified. [HL1300]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Baroness Taylor of Bolton): The number of over and underpayments made to Armed Forces personnel in each month between January and November 2007 is provided in the table below. During this period 2.4 million payments (including supplementary payments) were made via the joint personnel administration system. The notes to the table detail the range of identified over and underpayments, the remedial actions taken, and the associated timescales involved in correcting the errors.
Delays or errors in individual payments can also occur as the result of late or incorrect inputs by individuals or unit human resources staff . We do not hold data on this.
All pay errors are rectified as soon as possible with no difference in priority between over and underpayments. Where an overpayment has occurred the Ministry of Defence will seek to recover the moneys owed in accordance with the Department Managing Public Funds (formerly Government Accounting) regulations. Armed Forces personnel who have been underpaid can request cash supplements equivalent to the underpayments from their units.
| Month | Overpaid | Underpaid | Total | Notes |
- 1. Comprised 763 underpayments ranging from £98 to £348 due to a JPA formula error, fixed in month and 620 substitution pay errors (~£150 underpaid) fixed in February.
- 2. A decision was made not to recover some elements of service debt and miscellaneous charges until data accuracy on transition could be proved (13,908). Some of the underpayments (~100) were caused by non-receipt of payable orders while 121 were caused by Late Entry Majors not being transitioned to their correct pay scale and was corrected in June.
- 3. The majority of the 1,181 underpayments were caused by University Officer Training Corps input of bounties and training nights; other factors were mess subscriptions and disturbance allowance. The majority of the underpayments were resolved in May and June. There were a further 3,340 minor errors due to migration of some data elements which were mainly resolved in June, though the breakdown of underpayments versus overpayments is unknown.
- 4. The majority of the overpayments (2,611) were due to double payment of the female clothing grant (£4.50). The underpayments relate to late input of Cadet Force Home to Duty, which was resolved in month.
- 5. Comprised 35,553 incorrect deductions of £3.00 for the discontinued Royal Navy and Royal Marines Dependants' Fund, and 10,752 underpayments of Home to Duty Travel claims for Royal Navy reservists. The former was re-credited to pay accounts in October, and the latter in September.
- 6. 4,249 additional cases occurred where an incorrect rank on JPA generated an erroneous payment. The breakdown between underpayments and overpayments is unknown, corrective action was taken in time for the October 2007 pay run.
- 7. A formula error resulted in 1,978 personnel receiving incorrect refunds of accommodation and CILOT charges. Corrective action was taken in November 2007.
Lord Selkirk of Douglas asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether senior civil servants in the Ministry of Defence are paid through the joint personnel administration scheme; and, if not, whether they are likely to consider any such proposal. [HL1301]
Baroness Taylor of Bolton: Senior civil servants in the Ministry of Defence are paid through the People, Pay and Pensions Agency's payroll service to Civil Service staff. There are no plans to change that arrangement.
Arts: Funding
Lord Denham asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether Arts Council England conducts regular assessments of the artistic quality of the work of their regularly funded organisations; if so, how; and on what criteria. [HL1229]
Lord Davies of Oldham: The Arts Council operates at arm's length from the Government and decisions about which arts organisations to fund are entirely for it. In October 2006 the Arts Council published guidance on how it assesses artistic quality. A copy of the guidelines will be placed in the Library of the House. This is also available on Arts Council England's website at www.artscounciI.org.uk/publications/information_detail.php?rid=0&;sid=&browse=recent&id=92. Arts Council England is reviewing these guidelines this year following the publication of the McMaster Review.
Banking: Sterling and Euro
Lord Dykes asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will hold discussions with the United Kingdom banks to promote reduced charges for transfers between sterling and the eurozone, and to allow internal United Kingdom cheque facilities in euros. [HL1161]
Lord Davies of Oldham: The Government regularly liaise with the financial services industry on a wide number of issues. The Payment Services Directive, which was adopted by the EU Parliament on 13 November 2007, aims to achieve a single market in retail payment services in order to create enhanced competition between national retail payment markets. The Government are currently consulting on policy options within the directive ahead of the 1 November 2009 implementation date.
Bicycles
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many people in Northern Ireland in each of the last 10 years have been charged with an offence which involved a bicycle; and how many were convicted. [HL1236]
Lord Rooker: Figures provided in Table 1 are for all road traffic offences where the definition of the offence includes a reference to a cycle, cyclist, cycling or bicycle. While other offences may involve a bicycle these are included in crime statistics such as theft, criminal damage etc.
Table 1 shows the number of persons reported for prosecution in each year. Figures relating to the numbers of persons charged are not available.
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| Table 1 | ||||||||||
| Year | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
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