---

27 Mar 2003 : Column 341W—continued

RPIX Inflation

Mr. Flight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assumptions were behind his assessment made in paragraph 2.28 of the pre-Budget report that RPIX inflation would fall below the Government's 25 per cent. target. [105337]

27 Mar 2003 : Column 342W

Ruth Kelly : A discussion of the RPIX inflation forecast can be found in paragraphs A55-A59 of Annex A of the pre-Budget report.

Stamp Duty

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will conduct a public consultation on modernising stamp duty, with particular reference to (a) lease duty, (b) anti-avoidance measures and (c) tax reliefs. [105600]

Ruth Kelly: The Chancellor announced a wide-ranging reform of stamp duty on land and buildings in the UK in his 2002 Budget. Consultation on this reform was launched with the publication of a consultative document on 17 April 2002 entitled "Modernising Stamp Duty on Land and Buildings in the UK", seeking views on the detail of the modernised regime. This document included the three particular aspects to which the question refers. In addition, a number of discussions were held last year with representative bodies.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Active Community Unit

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what initiatives are planned for the constituency of Buckingham funded by the Active Community Unit; and what target he has for involvement in volunteering of residents in the constituency. [104689]

Beverley Hughes: The Active Community Unit funds a wide range of national voluntary and community sector organisations which benefit every area of England although no separate projects for Buckingham alone. The Government are committed to increasing community participation, including volunteering, by 5 per cent. by 2006; there is not a separate target for Buckingham alone.

Aldershot Barracks (Bomb)

Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made in securing convictions against those responsible for the bomb at the Aldershot military barracks on 22 February 1972. [104131]

Mr. Blunkett: The case remains open. Should any new evidence or intelligence come, to the attention of the police service, in this or any other similar cases, it will, of course, be investigated fully.

Civil Contingency Planning

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements are in place to establish a national network of observers to monitor and report evidence of chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear attacks on the UK population. [103430]

Mr. Blunkett: The Government have taken several approaches to monitor for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear releases, accidental or deliberate. These approaches include the well-established Radiological Incident Monitoring Network

27 Mar 2003 : Column 343W

(RIMNET), air pollution monitors, the Department of Health's surveillance system and also the experience of the health and emergency services.

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many units in the civil Departments are trained to respond to a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear terrorist attack. [103431]

Mr. Blunkett: The emergency services are trained to provide the immediate response to a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) incident, whether it is accidental or deliberate. There are also specialist bodies within the health service, such as the Chemical Incident Response Service; specialist agencies within Departments, such as the Environment Agency; and public bodies such as the National Radiological Protection Board or the Food Standards Agency.

These organisations, and others like them, are trained in the short, medium and long-term responses required to any incident involving CBRN material. They have assisted and continue to work with the Government in reviewing and maintaining contingency plans to make sure we maintain an effective response to potential CBRN incidents.

Community Support Officers

Richard Ottaway: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what security policing community support officers have provided in central London in the last month. [104012]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: There are currently 196 community support officers fulfilling an important security role in the City of Westminster.

The precise deployment of police and community support officers involved in security roles is regularly reviewed and varied in line with the latest intelligence. It is not the Metropolitan Police Service's policy to disclose this information for security reasons.

Connexions Service

Mr. Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average time taken to process a Criminal Records Bureau check on an employee or consultant of the Connexions service has been. [103682]

Hilary Benn: There are no IT procedures at present to extract the information requested from the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) database. The estimated average turnaround of checks processed by the CRB remains at approximately five weeks. This is measured from the point at which a correctly completed form is received by the CRB, accompanied by all relevant supporting details.

Data Protection

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what items of personal data which the Security Service has released to data subjects following requests under the Data Protection Act 1998; and if he will make a statement. [104409]

27 Mar 2003 : Column 344W

Mr. Blunkett : I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Lewes (Norman Baker) on 24 February 2003, Official Report, column 328W.

Drug Testing

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which EU countries have compulsory drug-testing on arrest; and what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of adopting this policy. [104589]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: We are not aware of any European Union countries which have, on arrest, compulsory drug testing on a comparable basis with the provision for testing persons in police detention after charge, introduced in England and Wales under the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000.

That provision, with other provisions introduced under the Act for testing persons under probation supervision, is being fully evaluated as part of the drug testing pilot programme operating in nine sites in England and Wales. A preliminary findings report was published as HO Findings 176 in May 2002. A further interim report on the emerging findings from the pilot programme is being published very shortly as HO Findings 180 and will be placed in the Library. A full final evaluation report is due in spring 2004.

Experience Corps

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what initiatives are being undertaken by the Experience Corps for volunteering in the constituency of Buckingham. [104686]

Beverley Hughes: The Experience Corps is a national initiative. Its aim is to encourage more people aged 50 and over to become or to remain active in their local communities. It encourages participation by people who have not volunteered before and provides mechanisms to assist the sector to ensure that new volunteers are invited to participate in the full range of volunteering opportunities. It has no initiatives specific to Buckingham but its services are likely to benefit people nationwide, including residents of Buckingham.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the Experience Corps that have been set up in the constituency of Buckingham; and how much funding each corps has received. [104687]

Beverley Hughes: The Experience Corps is a national initiative. Funding for the Experience Corps amounts to a total of £19.9 million over three years to March 2004. To date they have received £11.67 million. Funding has not been allocated by constituency.

Illegal Drugs (Afghanistan)

Mr. Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of (a) heroin, (b) cannabis and (c) other illegal drugs used within the United Kingdom which come from Afghanistan. [104685]

27 Mar 2003 : Column 345W

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Her Majesty's Customs and Excise estimates that up to 95 per cent. of the heroin consumed in the United Kingdom each year originates from opium produced in Afghanistan. There are no indications that cannabis or any other illegal drugs originating from Afghanistan are being smuggled into the UK.

Immigration Rules

Mr. Simon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what changes will be made to the definition of public funds in Rule 6 of the Immigration Rules to reflect (a) the forthcoming abolition of certain benefits and (b) the introduction of new tax credits. [104440]

Beverley Hughes: From April the Inland Revenue is introducing two new tax credits, child tax credit (CTC) and working tax credit (WTC). These will replace working families tax credit (WFTC) and disabled person's tax credit (DPTC). WFTC and DPTC will be removed from the list of public funds given at paragraph 6 of the Immigration Rules, and WTC and CTC will be added in their place, by means of a rules change later this year.

Mr. Simon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether a claim under the terms of Regulation 3(2) of The Tax Credits (Immigration) Regulations 2003 (S.I. 2003, No. 653, by a couple including a person who is subject to immigration control will not be considered to be a breach of any restriction contained in a visa. [104441]

Beverley Hughes: The provisions of Regulation 3(2) of The Tax Credits (Immigration) Regulations 2003 will be fully taken into account when any changes are made to the list of public funds given at paragraph 6 of the Immigration Rules. In line with this regulation, receipt of tax credits by a couple, including one member who is a person subject to immigration control, will not be regarded as a breach of any condition of leave to enter or remain.

---