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National Lottery

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the Lottery awards granted in the north-west since 2000. [134897]

Estelle Morris: 8,881 lottery awards have made since 1 January 2000 in the north-west region.

Dates of lottery awards and the names of recipients will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Pleasure Piers

Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) how much National Lottery funding has been provided for the preservation of pleasure piers in the last five years; [134559]

(2) how many pleasure piers have received public funding in each of the last five years; and from what sources of funds; [134560]

(3) which pleasure piers being redeveloped and refurbished are in receipt of lottery funding. [134561]

Estelle Morris: We have contacted the Heritage Lottery Fund, English Heritage and the National Piers Society to request the information required, and I will write to my hon. Friend as soon as it is available, placing copies of my letter in the Libraries of both Houses.

Public Entertainment Licences

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she is taking to ensure that local authorities are able to set fees for public entertainment licences in order to reflect the proportionate risk of each establishment; and if she will make a statement. [134989]

Mr. Caborn: Under current law, an applicant for a public entertainment licence is required to pay a reasonable fee to be determined by the appropriate authority. The existing legislation does not provide a fee structure, however, case law has established that local authorities are entitled to recover the cost of administering the licensing scheme, provided that allowance is made for exemptions or reductions for charities. They are not empowered to raise revenue through a licensing scheme.

The fees charged by local authorities for public entertainment licences are at their discretion but must be no higher than is necessary to allow the full recovery of their costs. On 10 of April 2000, because of concerns about the levels of fees being charged by some local

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authorities, the Home Office issued a circular in conjunction with the Local Government Association asking local authorities to review their public entertainment licensing fee structures to ensure that they abide by the case law and are defensible and proportionate in light of the principles of fairness, transparency and consistency, and do no more than permit full recovery of costs.

Until the Licensing Act 2003 is fully implemented, we have no other mechanism for influencing fee levels.

Under The Licensing Act 2003, provides for the payment of licence fees in relation to applications, notifications, licences and certificates. The fees will be set centrally by the Secretary of State and are intended to be set on the basis of full cost recovery to allow local authorities to do no more than fairly recover their administration, inspection and enforcement costs associated with in respect of the new licensing regime.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Iraq

Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will take steps to ensure that any proposal by the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq to allow Iraqi Government ministries to establish armed security forces will specify that (a) all forces are properly trained, (b) they have a clear command structure and (c) all weaponry is surrendered at the end of each shift. [132386]

Mr. Rammell: I have been asked to reply.

The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) have already taken steps to ensure that armed security services are established correctly and with the permitted authority. CPA Order No. 27 establishes the authority for Iraqi Government ministries to establish a Facilities Protection Service (FPS). The FPS will be recruited directly by Government ministries, but will wear the same uniform and operate to the standards as set out in Order 27 regardless of where they work. CPA Order No. 3 governs the usage of firearms by all armed security services in Iraq, including the FPS. All the texts of CPA orders can be accessed on the internet at: http://www.cpa-iraq.org/regulations/index.html

NORTHERN IRELAND

Decommissioning

9. Angela Watkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many acts of decommissioning have taken place in Northern Ireland since April 1998. [134151]

Jane Kennedy: In 1998 the Loyalist Volunteer Force carried out an act of decommissioning in Northern Ireland. The IRA have carried out three acts of decommissioning (2001, 2002 and 2003) but I am not in a position to comment on where these events took place.

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Belfast Agreement

12. Sir Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on implementation of the Belfast agreement. [134154]

Mr. Paul Murphy: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave earlier to my hon. Friend the Member for Broxtowe (Dr. Palmer) and my hon. Friend the Member for Amber Valley (Judy Mallaber).

Organised Crime

13. Mr. Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the level of co-operation between British and Irish Governments in tackling organised crime in Northern Ireland. [134155]

Jane Kennedy: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave earlier to my hon. Friend, the Member for Dumfries (Mr. Brown).

Unemployment

14. Mr. Borrow: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on unemployment levels in Northern Ireland. [134156]

Mr. Pearson: Labour Force Survey estimates indicate that unemployment in Northern Ireland for the period June-August 2003 was estimated to be 5.6 per cent. Northern Ireland unemployment rates remain at relatively low levels in historical terms and have fallen by 2.9 percentage points from December-February 1998 when the unemployment rate was 8.5 per cent.

Assembly Elections

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he expects elections to be held for the Northern Ireland Assembly. [134153]

Mr. Paul Murphy: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave earlier to the hon. Member for Castle Point (Bob Spink).

Peace Process

Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of recent developments in the political situation in Northern Ireland. [134150]

Mr. Paul Murphy: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave earlier to my hon. Friend the Member for Broxtowe (Dr. Palmer).

Water Charging

Mr. Luke: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the Government's proposal for water charging in Northern Ireland. [134152]

Mr. Spellar: £3 billion must be invested in Northern Ireland's water and sewerage services over the next 20 years, to comply with European Directives on water quality and protect public health and the environment. To sustain this scale of investment it is necessary that

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Northern Ireland's water and sewerage services should become self-financing and be delivered outside Central Government.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Working Holidaymakers

Mr. Stinchcombe: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in respect of each Commonwealth country (a) how many applications for entry clearance as a working holidaymaker have been received since 1 January, (b) how many of the applications were refused, (c) what percentage of the applications were successful and (d) what percentage of the applications were refused. [132981]

Mr. Mullin: Worldwide statistics for all working holidaymaker visas are collated by financial year (1 April–31 March) only and are not available on a monthly basis.

During the financial year 2002–03 the worldwide figures for the number of working holidaymaker visa applications that were received, issued and refused, and their percentages were as follows:

Worldwide working holidaymaker statistics for FY 2002–03

	Number	Percentage
Applications received	53,234	—
Applications issued	49,361	92.73
Applications refused	3,301	6.20
Applications outstanding(13)	572	1.07

⁽¹³⁾ Applications outstanding include those where the application was brought forward into the next accounting period before being resolved. Applications can also be withdrawn during processing and still count as an application received. Numbers of successful applications and entry clearances issued may also not match up because of the way entry clearances are issued: a mother and three children on one passport may count as four applications, but one entry clearance may be issued.

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