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Local Government Funding (Buckinghamshire)

Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will make a statement on the allocation of central Government funds to (a) Wycombe district council and (b) Buckinghamshire county council in each of the last four years. [14870]

Dr. Whitehead [pursuant to his reply, 19 November 2001, c. 40W]: The general grants (Revenue Support Grant, National Non Domestic Rates and damping grants) and ring-fenced grants for Buckinghamshire for 1989–99 was £211.229 million.

Terrorism

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what have been the estimated costs of (a) emergency planning and (b) other operations undertaken by local authorities in connection with events following the 11 September terrorist attacks; if additional costs will be supported by central Government; and if he will make a statement. [13843]

Mr. Denham [holding answer 9 November 2001]: Central Government have not required local authorities to do any additional emergency planning work since 11 September, but immediately reminded them that they should ensure that their emergency arrangements, including contact details, are up to date. No information is held centrally on 'other operations' which may have been undertaken by local authorities following 11 September attacks.

Subsequently, in October a "Response to the Deliberate Release of Chemicals and Biological Agents—Guidance for Local Authorities" was issued. As with any guidance issued, it inevitably requires local authorities to review their emergency arrangements, and probably revise some aspects of their plans, but this does not attract significant additional costs.

Manchester Airport

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what recent discussions the Government have had with FLS Aerospace about the future of their operation at Manchester Airport. [18273]

Mr. Wilson: I have been asked to reply.

The Government have not had any discussions with FLS Aerospace about the future of their operation at Manchester Airport.

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NORTHERN IRELAND

Criminal Justice Review

Linda Gilroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will extend the period of consultation on the criminal justice review. [19995]

Mr. Browne: In the light of representations made by the political parties and those involved in delivering criminal justice services, I have decided to extend the period of consultation on the Government's response to the criminal justice review by a further four weeks to 7 January 2002.

Police Service of Northern Ireland

Rev. Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland who was consulted before the proposed badges for the Police Service of Northern Ireland were designed; and at what cost. [18877]

Jane Kennedy: No one was consulted before the designs were first commissioned. The aggregate costs for the sample emblem designs were £41,329.45 (inclusive of VAT). This figure includes research, presentation materials and colour photocopying.

Decommissioning

Rev. Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he expects the next event in the decommissioning process to take place. [11993]

Jane Kennedy: The Independent International Commission on Decommissioning reported on 23 October that it had witnessed a quantity of IRA arms being put beyond use according to the terms of the decommissioning schemes and regulations. However, in the interest of furthering the process of putting all arms beyond use, the commission declined to provide further details including on the timing of further events.

The commission's mandate under the terms of the Good Friday agreement is to facilitate the decommissioning of all paramilitary arms. To that end, it reported that it is continuing contact with the IRA representative. The Government have every confidence in General de Chastelain and his colleagues and we should all respect their wishes on how best to proceed to fulfil their mandate.

RUC Policing and Human Rights

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was the attendance at the RUC policing and human rights conference broken down by (a) perceived community background, (b) gender and (c) occupation; and what was the cost of (i) organising and (ii) promoting this event. [17760]

Jane Kennedy: Approximately 230 delegates attended the policing and human rights conference on each of the two days on which the event took place (1 and 2 October). Community background information was not sought from

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delegates, nor were records kept of gender and occupation breakdown. However, the organisations invited to attend the conference are as listed.


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In addition, community representatives from 97 per cent. of district command areas also attended.

The total cost of the conference was £57,880.

Police Informants

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much the police in Northern Ireland paid to informers in the last year for which figures are available; how many informers received payments; and what the average payment made was. [17806]

Jane Kennedy: The police service of Northern Ireland does not comment on matters relating to the number of covert human intelligence sources as defined under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. However, I can say that a total of £176,580 was paid out for information received during the period 1 January 2000 to 1 January 2001.

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DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Regulation

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the cost to businesses of regulations introduced since 1997. [16488]

Mr. Leslie: All regulatory proposals likely to have a significant cost to business require a Regulatory Impact Assessment. Prior to the introduction of the Regulatory Impact Assessment process in 1998, Cost Compliance Assessments were used. These assessments are published by Departments and are placed in the Libraries of the House.

Tim Loughton: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many regulatory measures the Government (a) introduced and (b) abolished in the last year. [16474]

Mr. Leslie: During 2000, 3,487 pieces of primary and secondary legislation were introduced. Over 98 per cent. of the total relates to Statutory Instruments (SIs), the vast majority of which had only a local or temporary effect, such as routine air traffic and road closure orders. A better measure of the regulatory burden is the number of regulatory impact assessments produced by Departments for proposals imposing significant costs on business, charities or voluntary organisations. Last year, less than 5 per cent. of the total imposed significant costs.

An estimate of the total number of regulatory measures abolished in the last year could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

The Government are determined to minimise the burden of regulation on business and others. The Regulatory Reform Act 2001 now provides a powerful tool for reforming over-burdensome, over-complex and outdated primary legislation. The Prime Minister has asked all Departments to identify further areas of legislation that might be reformed under the Act and other procedures.

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