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Railways: St Pancras Train Shed
Lord Berkeley asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether Section 7 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 applies in respect of the St Pancras train shed; and, if not, whether Section 9 of that Act does. [HL5092]
Lord Davies of Oldham: The St Pancras train shed is a listed building and is therefore subject to provisions in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, including Sections 7 and 9.
Roads: A55
Lord Roberts of Llandudno asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether any progress has been made in talks with the Government of the Republic of Ireland about breaches of road safety law being detected on the A55 in north Wales. [HL5190]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: The Department of Transport's Vehicle Operator and Services Agency (VOSA) routinely reports all breaches of road safety law to the Irish Road Safety Authority (RSA) for follow-up action. VOSA has also recently seconded a senior member of its staff to the RSA to help focus attention on non-compliant operators, and to advise on appropriate and effective enforcement action.
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Roads: Young People
The Earl of Dundee asked Her Majesty’s Government:
What are the educational initiatives targeted at 14 to 18 year-old road users within each local highway authority area in 2006-07 and 2007-08; and what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the initiatives in connection with young road users. [HL5201]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: Reducing accidents involving 14 to 18 year-old road users is a key issue for the department. Currently a variety of organisations, including the department, the Driving Standards Agency, local authorities, schools, the police and fire services, and voluntary bodies provide educational initiatives aimed at improving the safety of young people on Britain’s roads. No central record of initiatives or activities is maintained.
The department believes there is considerable variability in the nature, quality, content and provision of these road safety education initiatives aimed at young people. In 2007, the department published the results from a one-off survey of pre-driver education provision in local authorities and other organisations in 2006-07. This survey, available at www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/research/rsrr/theme2/predrivereducationsurvey.pdf found that a number of pre-driver education initiatives had not been evaluated. The department also published a review of the literature on the effectiveness of pre-driver education, available at www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/research/rsrr/theme2/predrivereducation.pdf. The research found that generally there was limited evidence of the effectiveness of pre-driver education.
In order to develop a strategic framework for road safety education for children and young people, the department has recently commissioned a project to review existing materials and then produce a comprehensive set of road safety educational material. It is intended that these resources will cover everything from the time young people first start using the roads to becoming drivers, for all age groups.
The Earl of Dundee asked Her Majesty’s Government:
What plans they have to include any evaluation in the current road safety programme of the Department for Transport in connection with young road users. [HL5202]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: The Department for Transport is developing a new road safety strategy for Great Britain, for the period beyond 2010. In that context, the department is considering how current policies impact upon young road users.
The department has also engaged EdComs—a marketing company specialising in the education field—to develop over three years a comprehensive set of educational materials to reflect the needs of different age groups.
Also relevant is the Driving Standards Agency’s current consultation on the reform of driver training and testing. This includes a proposal to introduce a
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Schools: Educational Psychologists
Lord Bradley asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many (a) fully qualified and (b) trainee educational psychologists the relevant local authority employs in each of the 10 districts of Greater Manchester. [HL5014]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Children, Schools and Families (Lord Adonis): The following table provides the full-time equivalent number of educational psychologists employed in the local authority maintained sector in each of the 10 local authorities of the Greater Manchester metropolitan area in January 2007.
Answers received between Tuesday 12 August and Monday 18 August 2008
Airports: Passport Queues
Baroness Valentine asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by Lord West of Spithead on 16 June (WA 121-22), whether they will place in the Library of the House the records on which his reply was based. [HL4677]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): Queue measurements are taken on three separate days during the reporting week, which runs from Saturday to Friday. Each port measures a minimum number of queues, depending on its size, the number of passengers it receives and the number of staff operating the passenger controls. Measurements are taken throughout the day in order
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The records on which this reply was based form part of locally held management information for individual ports and as such are not for publication.
British Citizenship
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will place in the Library of the House an anonymised copy of the letter from the Nepalese Ministry of Home Affairs (Ref: 064/65, Dispatch No. 33, dated 12 September 2007) which was submitted by Mr DBG (born in Hong Kong and holder of British overseas citizen passport 752015444) in connection with his successful registration as a British citizen under Section 4B of the British Nationality Act 1981.[HL4960]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): A copy of the letter has now been placed in the Library of the House.
Crime: DNA Database
Lord Hanningfield asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many people have been found guilty of crimes through use of the DNA database whose details were stored on the database but who had not previously been convicted of a crime. [HL4980]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): Information on the number of people who have been detected and found guilty of crimes through use of DNA subject sample profiles on the National DNA Database (NDNAD) taken from persons with no previous convictions is not collected centrally, as detections are achieved through integrated criminal investigation and not by forensic science alone. Some research information is, however, available on the number of DNA profiles taken from those arrested but not charged and from those arrested and charged but not convicted of an offence that have resulted in a DNA match, thus providing the police with an intelligence link on the possible identity of the offender and assisting in the detection of crimes. In April 2004, an amendment to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 came into effect which enabled the police to take and retain DNA and fingerprints from persons who had been arrested for a recordable offence. In the period April 2004 to December 2005, the retention of DNA profiles of arrested persons who had not been charged or proceeded against had resulted in matches with crime scene profiles from over 3,000 offences including 37 murders, 16 attempted murders and 90 rapes.
In May 2001, an amendment to PACE 1984 came into effect which enabled the police to retain DNA samples taken from persons who had been charged
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Crime: Knives
Lord Hanningfield asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many knives were collected in total under amnesty schemes in (a) the United Kingdom, (b) the east of England, and (c) Essex in each of the last five years. [HL5072]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The Home Office does not collect centrally information on knife amnesty initiatives led by local police forces.
A national knife amnesty, which ran from 24 May 2006 to 30 June 2006, encouraged people to dispose of knives and other weapons in secure bins at police stations throughout England and Wales. A total of 89,964 knives were handed over during the programme, according to figures compiled by forces in England and Wales. A table of returns from each force is attached.
| Knife amnesty: total items surrendered 24 May-30 June 2006 | |||||
| Force | Domestic | Non-Dom | Weapons | Of Interest | Total |
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