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Commons Act 2006
Lord Greaves asked Her Majesty's Government:
Which statutory instruments have been made under the Commons Act 2006; and whether they propose to table any further statutory instruments under that Act. [HL1250]
The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Rooker): The following statutory instruments have been made under the Commons Act 2006:
The Commons (Severance of Rights) (England) Order 2006 (SI 2006/2145)
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The Commons Act 2006 (Commencement No. 1, Transitional Provisions and Savings) (England) Order 2006 (SI 2006/2504)
The Commons Act 2006 (Commencement No. 2, Transitional Provisions and Savings) (England) Order 2007 (SI 2006/456)
The Commons (Registration of Town or Village Greens) (Interim Arrangements) (England) Regulations 2007 (SI 2006/457)
The Commons (Severance of Rights) (Wales) Order 2007 (SI 2007/583)The Commons Act 2006 (Commencement No 1, Transitional Provisions and Savings) (Wales) Order 2007 (SI 2007/2386)The Commons (Registration of Town or Village Greens) (Interim Arrangements) (Wales) Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/2396)The Commons Act 2006 (Commencement No. 3, Transitional Provisions and Savings) (England) Order 2007 (SI 2007/2584)The Commons (Deregistration and Exchange Orders) (Interim Arrangements) (England) Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/2585)The Works on Common Land (Exemptions) (England) Order 2007 (SI 2007/2587)The Works on Common Land, etc. (Procedure) (England) Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/2588)The Deregistration and Exchange of Common Land and Greens (Procedure) (England) Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/2589).Regulations have also been made under the Commons Registration Act 1965. Further instruments are expected to be made in due course in connection with the implementation of Parts 1, 2, 4 and 5 of the Act in England and Wales, and the implementation of Part 3 in Wales.
Crime: Drugs
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many people were charged with drug-related offences in Northern Ireland in 2006 and 2007 respectively; and how many were convicted. [HL1241]
Lord Rooker: The information is not available in the format requested. Table 1 gives the number of recorded drug offences and the subsequent number that were cleared by means of a charge or summons 2004-05 to 2006-07.
Prosecution and conviction data for 2006 and 2007 are not yet available and therefore figures documented in Table 2 refer to the calendar years 2004 and 2005. Data are collated on the principal offence rule; so only the most serious offence with which an offender is charged is included.
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Recorded crime data cannot be routinely reconciled with prosecution and conviction data as the former relate to the number of offences whereas the latter relate to the number of offenders brought before the courts. In addition, recorded crime data denote each offence as has been initially recorded and this may differ from the offence for which a suspect or suspects are subsequently proceeded against in the courts.
| Table 2: Number prosecuted and convicted for drug offences 2004 and 2005 | ||
| Prosecuted | Convicted | |
| Source: NIO, Statistics and Research Branch | ||
Crime: Northern Ireland
Lord Maginnis of Drumglass asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the year-on-year reduction in crime levels in Northern Ireland, whether there has been any comparable improvement in crime detection. [HL1119]
Lord Rooker: The following table shows the number of offences recorded and cleared by the PSNI.
| % cleared | ||||
| Year | Recorded | Sanction Clearance Rate | Non-sanction Clearance Rate | Total Clearance Rate |
| Source: Central Statistics Unit, PSNI | ||||
In April 2006 PSNI adopted a higher evidential standard in respect of non-sanction clearances to bring these clearance types more closely in line with England and Wales. While this has had the effect of reducing the overall clearance rate, sanction clearances (those where a formal sanction is taken against an offender by means of charge, summons, caution or where the offence is taken into consideration at court) remain unaffected.
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This year's policing plan includes a specific target to increase the sanction clearance rate by three percentage points by 31 March 2008. Progress against this target is being made by a range of actions, including improving volume crime investigation, developing public protection units within districts, improving working arrangements with the PPS, improving forensic conversion rates and seeking out best practice in other police services.
Elections: Local Government
Lord Greaves asked Her Majesty's Government:
What progress is being made on consulting local authorities, political parties, electors and others on changing the normal polling day for elections to the weekend. [HL1248]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): In July 2007 the Government published The Governance of Britain Green Paper which sets out our commitment to consulting local authorities and others on the merits of moving the voting day for general and/or local elections from Thursday to the weekend, and on the best way to do this. Work is currently being undertaken to finalise the consultation process for weekend voting.
Energy: Fossil Fuel Prices
Baroness Miller of Hendon asked Her Majesty's Government:
What effect the increasing cost of fossil fuels from areas of political instability and increasing world demand have on the economic viability of nuclear generated power, taking into account future potential decommissioning costs. [HL1147]
Lord Bach: Global fossil fuel prices have increased significantly in the last year due to continued strong growth in demand and supply constraints. This will have increased the costs of generating electricity from fossil fuels—oil, gas or coal. Therefore, in relative terms, nuclear’s cost-effectiveness will have improved. In the cost-benefit analysis of nuclear generation we published a table showing the economic welfare balance under different gas and carbon prices and nuclear costs, which included all waste and decommissioning costs. This is available at www.berr.gov.uk/files/file39525.pdf.
We also estimated the impact of different fossil fuel price scenarios on the economics of different types of electricity generating plant. Since fuel costs account for around two-thirds of the cost of gas-fired generation and about 40 per cent of the costs of coal-fired generation, increases in fossil fuel prices have a significant impact on the cost of generation from these sources.
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Energy: Oil and Gas Storage
Lord Maginnis of Drumglass asked Her Majesty's Government:
What are the current levels of (a) crude oil; (b) petroleum products; (c) natural gas; (d) liquid natural gas; and (e) liquid petroleum gas currently maintained in strategic storage for United Kingdom use; what is the cost of storing each of these products; and, in the event of disruption to supplies, how long these reserves would last assuming current demand. [HL1203]
Lord Bach: The UK does not hold strategic stocks of oil and gas. As a member of the European Union and of the International Energy Agency, the UK is required to hold oil stocks equivalent to 67.5 days' national consumption for release in the event of disruption of international supplies. It meets these obligations by directing oil companies to hold stocks under powers derived from Section 6 of the Energy Act 1976. These stocks are held by companies together with the stocks they hold for commercial purposes and the cost of storage is not separately recorded.
At the end of October 2007 the following stocks were available to the United Kingdom:
crude oil and refinery process oils—7.42 million tonnes;
petroleum products—7.66 million tonnes;
liquefied petroleum gas—0.21 million tonnes.
These stocks were equivalent to 75 days' national consumption.
Lord Maginnis of Drumglass asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they plan to increase the levels of strategic storage of (a) crude oil; (b) petroleum products; (c) natural gas; (d) liquid natural gas; and (e) liquid petroleum gas. [HL1204]
Lord Bach: Member states of the European Union (EU) are required to hold stocks of oil and oil products equivalent to 90 days' national consumption. Because the UK is a producer of crude oil its obligation is reduced by 25 per cent to 67Â1/2 days. As UK production declines, this reduction will be phased out and the obligation will gradually increase to 90 days when UK production ends.
As a member of the International Energy Agency (IEA) the UK is required to hold stocks of oil or oil products equivalent to 90 days' net imports. Unlike the EU, the TEA excludes “tank bottoms” from qualifying as emergency stocks; this effectively means the obligation is equivalent to 99 days' net imports. The UK became a net importer of oil and oil products in 2006 and had an obligation to hold stocks as an IEA member with effect from 2007.
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Member states can use the same stocks to meet both sets of obligations. We currently expect the obligation to hold stocks as an IEA member to result in a net increase in the UK obligation from about 2016.
The Government believe that these measures are sufficient and have no plans to increase the levels of stocks held beyond those already referred to.
There are no similar requirements for natural gas or liquefied natural gas and stocks data are not supplied to the department.
Lord Maginnis of Drumglass asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether any other country maintains strategic stores of crude oil, petroleum products or gas products within the United Kingdom. [HL1205]
Lord Bach: The European Union Oil Stocking Directive 2006/67/EC allows member states to hold strategic stocks of oil and oil products in, or on behalf of, other member states provided that appropriate inter-government bilateral agreements are in place to release these stocks in an emergency. At present the UK has bilateral agreements with Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden. Currently, Denmark, Ireland and Sweden hold some of their strategic stocks in the UK.
There are no obligations to hold strategic stocks of gas products.
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